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 A SCOTS EARL 
 IN COVENANTING TIMES 
 
 A SEQUEL TO 
 
 THE GREAT MARQUESS
 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR 
 
 A Shetland Minister of the i8th Century : 
 Being passages in the life of the Rev. John Mill 
 (17 1 2-1 805). Second thousand : cloth 2s 6d. 
 
 Sir Thomas Urquhart of Cromartie, Knight, 
 (1611-1660) cloth extra, illustrated, 6s. 
 
 The Great Marquess : Life and Times of 
 Archibald 8th Earl, and ist(and only) Marquess 
 of Argyll (1607- 1 661). Art cloth, 2nd and 
 cheaper edition, 5s net. 
 
 OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER 
 Edinburgh and London
 
 ARcHir.Ai.i), 9TH Earl of Aiu.vll.
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 IN COVENANTING TIMES: BEING 
 LIFE AND TIMES OF ARCHIBALD 
 9TH EARL OF ARGYLL (1629-1685) 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN WILLCOCK, B.D 
 F. R. Hist. Soc. 
 
 EDINBURGH 
 ANDREW ELLIOT 
 
 17 PRINCES STREET 
 1907
 
 DEDICATED 
 BY SPECIAL PERMISSION 
 
 TO 
 
 JOHN DOUGLAS SUTHERLAND CAMPBELL 
 9TH DUKE OF ARGYLL, K.T.
 
 God of our fathers ! What is man, 
 
 That Thou, towards him, with hand so various, 
 
 Or might I say contrarious, 
 
 Temper'st Thy providence through his short course, 
 
 Not evenly, as Thou rulest 
 
 The angelic orders, and inferior creatures mute, 
 
 Irrational and brute ? 
 
 Nor do I name of men the common rout, 
 
 That, wandering loose about. 
 
 Grow up and perish, as the summer fly, 
 
 Heads without name, no more remember'd ; 
 
 But such as Thou hast solemnly elected. 
 
 With gifts and graces eminently adorn'd. 
 
 To some great work. Thy glory. 
 
 And people's safety, which in part they effect ; 
 
 Yet toward these, thus dignified. Thou oft. 
 
 Amidst their height of noon, 
 
 Changest Thy countenance, and Thy hand, with no regard 
 
 Of highest favours past 
 
 From Thee on them, or them to Thee of service. 
 
 Milton : Samson Agonistes. 
 
 Si magnus vir cecidit, magnus jacuit. Non magis ilium 
 contemni, quam cum aedium sacrarum ruinae calcantur, quas 
 religiosi aeque ac stantes adorant. 
 
 (Seneca, De Comolatione^ Chapter XIII). 
 
 Non tamen pigebit vel incondita ac rudi voce memoriam 
 prioris servitutis ac testimonium praesentium bonorum composuisse. 
 
 (Tacitus, JuUi Agricolae Vita).
 
 PREFACE 
 
 The reception which our life of the 8th Earl 
 and I St. and only Marquess of Argyll ^ met with 
 was extremely gratifying to us, and quite in excess 
 of any hopes in connexion with the matter which 
 we were bold enough to form. Many words of 
 kindly appreciation were uttered, even by some 
 who were inclined to form a less favourable opinion 
 of the Covenanting leader than that which we had 
 expressed. Some of our critics resented the use of 
 the title. The Great Marquess^ as involving an 
 admiration of his character and political career 
 which they were not inclined to render. We 
 think, however, that this is an erroneous idea. 
 Few people would deny that the epithet " great " 
 is applicable to his contemporary, Cromwell, even 
 if they loathed his politics and had but faint 
 respect for his personal character. His mere 
 prominence in public life, won by the exercise of 
 very remarkable intellectual and moral qualities, is 
 sufficient to warrant such a use of the word. We 
 think that the objection to it in the case of Argyll 
 is really based upon misapprehension of the position 
 he occupied for many years in the public life of 
 Scotland. From the depreciatory notices of him 
 
 ' Published by Olipluvit, Anderson and Fcrricr : Edinburgh and London.
 
 vlii PREFACE 
 
 in certain quarters, the impression is left on the 
 mind that he was an insignificant personage who 
 played a secondary and by no means heroic part in 
 the events of his time, and that he was more 
 remarkable for petty spitefulness than for any 
 other quality. Such certainly was not the impres- 
 sion left by him upon his contemporaries. They 
 speak of his " Cromwelling it " in Scotland, and 
 thus imply that he was, for a time at least, as 
 prominent in that country as the Protector in 
 England. In a State Paper of the year 1683 the 
 astonishing position held in Scotland by the 
 Marquess of Argyll for many years is vividly 
 described by a writer fiercely hostile towards him. 
 He says : " The Marquess so zealously headed the 
 Covenanters, and so successfully managed their 
 rebellious designs that he was absolute in Scotland 
 during the whole time that the Covenant was the 
 idol of that nation. " He further speaks of him 
 as virtually giving Charles II the throne of Scot- 
 land in 1650 and he describes the Presbyterian 
 Clergy as being " his slaves. " ^ All this implies a 
 strength of will, a boldness of enterprise, and a poli- 
 tical sagacity which are not suggested by the 
 figure of a mean and crafty bigot, which writers of 
 a certain school have set before the world as " the 
 counterfeit presentment " of Argyll. The whole 
 purpose of our biography was to depict his com- 
 plex and most interesting character, and to show 
 the actual place he occupied in the public life of 
 his time. We did not seek to show him to have 
 been a " plaster saint, " but set down the faults 
 
 1 S. p. Doin. Charles II, Dec. 20th, 1683.
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 which marred his excellence, as well as the fine 
 moral and spiritual qualities which fitted him to 
 be, for nearly a quarter of a century, the trusted 
 leader of the most devout section of the nation to 
 which he belonged. 
 
 In writing the life of the Marquess of Argyll 
 we were declared by some of our critics to be in 
 the position of a barrister holding a brief for a 
 client. In the case of his son, the 9th Earl, no 
 such simile is called for, as the general consensus 
 of public opinion both in his own time and in 
 later generations has been favourable to him. In 
 dealing, therefore, with his character and career we 
 have not had, as in the case of his father, to 
 undeceive the prejudiced and to track down the 
 calumniator as he pursued his devious and unsavoury 
 way. 
 
 Our position with regard to the Covenanting 
 party during the period of their depression covered 
 by this volume is very easily stated. Our sympa- 
 thies most certainly are with those who were 
 deceived and ill-treated by the Government of the 
 Restoration, and especially with that section of 
 them who did what they could to remedy matters 
 and to restore peace by accepting the terms off^ered 
 by Lauderdale in the various Acts of Indulgence 
 brought in by him. Nevertheless in writing even 
 of the irreconcilable party, whose politics were 
 wholly impracticable and whose temper was often 
 soured by the suff'erings to which their resistance 
 of the Government exposed them, we cannot bring 
 ourselves to write with harshness. The Govern- 
 ment was so corrupt and cruel that our sympathies
 
 X PREFACE 
 
 are with those who sought to overthrow it. Of 
 course they took their hves in their hands and 
 could not complain when they forfeited them. 
 Our attitude towards both the agents of the 
 Government and those who assailed it is precisely 
 similar to that which, we suppose, would be taken 
 up by any person of decent character in writing a 
 history of the reign of Ferdinand II (" Bomba ") 
 over the two Sicilies, and of the overthrow of 
 Bourbon tyranny in Southern Italy. He would 
 probably approach his task with the impression on 
 his mind that the willing instruments of so foul a 
 despotism could not be men of a high type of 
 character, and that all attempts by generous and 
 self-sacrificing persons to deliver their country from 
 oppression deserved some measure of admiration. 
 It can scarcely be maintained that the cherishing 
 of an impression of this kind incapacitates one for 
 writing history. Historians are not automata : 
 " if you prick them, they bleed, if you tickle them, 
 they laugh. " 
 
 But some may say : " Why should a soldier who 
 dies bravely in the cause of law and order be spurned 
 as a roistering and bloodthirsty miscreant while the 
 gaunt fanatic who gets shot in resisting him is 
 hailed as a martyr ? " To this we would reply 
 that the circumstances leading the latter, a man, 
 we presume, otherwise upright and God-fearing, 
 to take up arms, need explanation ; and also that 
 the career of the former may be found less satisfac- 
 tory on closer inspection. If a grinding tyranny 
 is to blame for the gauntness and fanaticism, some 
 of the respect usually bestowed upon martyrs is due
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 to the man who loses his hfe in resisting it. He 
 falls in a noble cause at any rate. While if the 
 soldier has had no strong conviction of the right- 
 eousness of the cause he has defended, and if to boot 
 he has been enriched by the spoils of his victims, 
 he may not have been after all more than a " hired 
 butcher ", even if he had a face " such as limners 
 love to paint and ladies to look upon. 
 
 The article on the 9th Earl of Argyll in the 
 D. N. B. (vol. VIII, p. 329) is the fullest narrative 
 of his career which had previously been written. 
 Our present work will be found to contain a great 
 number of details concerning him which are 
 wholly new. His adventures during the Royalist 
 rising under Glencairn and Middleton in the time 
 of the Commonwealth, the part played by him at the 
 time of the Pentland Hill Rising, and his relations 
 with Lauderdale, are all described with many parti- 
 culars hitherto unknown ; while the circumstances 
 of his trial in 1681, his escape, his relations with 
 Shaftesbury and the Rye-House conspirators, and 
 his invasion of Scotland in 1685 are also recorded 
 at considerable length and with fuller information 
 than, so far as we know, exists elsewhere. In the 
 story of his unsuccessful rebellion and of his death, 
 we have had to go over ground already traversed by 
 Lord Macaulay. Our narrative, however, is quite 
 independent of his and to a certain extent is based on 
 sources which have been opened up since his time. 
 
 From the nature of the case a volume like the 
 present could not have been prepared without the 
 co-operation of many interested in the subject and 
 in historical literature.
 
 xii PREFACE 
 
 We are indebted to His Majesty for permission 
 to use the portrait of the Earl of Argyll from a 
 miniature by T. Flatman in the Royal Collection 
 at Windsor. 
 
 We have received many valuable suggestions and 
 items of information from the Duke of Argyll, to 
 v^hom this volume is dedicated. He has also 
 furnished us with the illustration of the Earl's 
 handv^^riting, with that of the medal struck on his 
 and Monmouth's execution, and also with a copy 
 of the Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell. The 
 original of the latter is among the Wodrow MSS. 
 in the Advocates' Library. The document is 
 interesting, both as a record of her personal piety 
 and as containing references to incidents in the 
 history of the family with which she was associated. 
 
 Lord Archibald Campbell has also taken a deep 
 interest in the work and in the most painstaking- 
 manner has assisted us on several occasions in 
 opening up new sources of information. 
 
 We are especially indebted to the great kindness 
 of Niall D. Campbell, Esq., for freely placing at 
 our disposal his MS. collections of documents 
 bearing on the history of his family, and for giving 
 us the benefit of his wide acquaintance with anti- 
 quarian and historical lore. Miss Elspeth Campbell, 
 too, has materially assisted us by the loan of priv- 
 ately-printed volumes which throw light on 
 Argyll's expedition in 1685. 
 
 We have mentioned in a note on the text our 
 great debt to Dr. A. Taylor Innes's Studies in 
 Scottish Church History, and we add here our 
 acknowledgement of that unfailing courtesy in
 
 PREFACE xiii 
 
 in giving aid with opinion and information, with 
 which all who know him are so well acquainted. 
 
 For the remaining illustrations in the volume 
 our thanks are due to Prof. Firth, Oxford, for the 
 contemporary Dutch engraving of the Earl's 
 capture ; ^ to Lord Balcarres for the portrait which 
 forms our frontispiece ; to the Earl of Ancaster for 
 that of the Duke of Lauderdale ; to the Duke of 
 Bedford for that of Monmouth ; to the Hon. Hew 
 Dalrymple for that of the ist. Viscount Stair ; to 
 the Trustees of the British Museum for the port- 
 rait of the Earl by Loggan and for the curious 
 playing-cards from the unique pack in their pos- 
 session illustrating Monmouth's expedition ; and 
 to Miss Hunter, Edinburgh, for drawing the map 
 to illustrate the campaign of 1685. In the prepar- 
 ation of this last-named item we have also had the 
 aid of maps and charts and of details of local 
 information furnished by A. Harvie Anderson, 
 Esq., Knockderry, Dumbartonshire. To Alex. 
 O. Curie, Esq., Edinburgh, we are indebted for 
 information regarding an account-book of the Earl's 
 in his possession ; and to J. C. Grierson, Esq., 
 Helendale, Lerwick, for the copy of the portrait 
 of Claverhouse which appears in this volume. 
 
 From Messrs. Macmillan and Co. we have 
 received permission to use the engraving of 
 Cooper's miniature of Shaftesbury which appeared 
 in Christie's life of that stateman. 
 
 ' This engraving is from a collection of pictures published at Amsterdam 
 by Adrian Schoonbeck, containing seventy-three plates. It is called Eui^elants 
 Schoiiwtoneel, etc., or Lc theatre d'Anglctcnc, rcprescntantlafuitc dc Jacques II, 
 Roy dc la Grande Hretaf>nc, son arrivcc en Yrlandc et autres aventurcs. It is 
 in four parts and comes down to 1695.
 
 xiv PREFACE 
 
 We gratefully acknowledge the kindness of Sir 
 James B. Paul, Lord Lyon ; F. J. Grant, Esq. W.S., 
 Rothesay Herald ; and J. M. Thomson, Esq., 
 LL.D., Register House, Edinburgh ; for furnishing 
 us with many genealogical details : of Sheriff 
 Moffatt, Falkirk ; Sheriff MacKenzie, Kilmar- 
 nock ; R. C. Haldane, Esq. North Roe, Shetland ; 
 and J. A. Fairley, Esq., Edinburgh ; for help in 
 the matter of books bearing on our subject : of 
 F. A. H. Eliot, Esq., London ; Hew Morrison, 
 Esq., LL.D., Edinburgh ; J. Mair, Esq., United 
 Free College Library, Glasgow ; G. Stronach, Esq. 
 M.A., Advocates Library, Edinburgh ; and Miss 
 Kemp, Edinburgh ; for help in looking up refer- 
 ences : of J. Small, Esq., and of J. J. H. Burgess, 
 Esq., Lerwick, for information in legal matters and 
 in matters of literary interest respectively : and of 
 J. L. Caw, Esq., of the Scottish National Portrait 
 Gallery, for many items of information with regard 
 to portraits of historical personages of the 17th. 
 Century. 
 
 For aid in correcting proofs we render our most 
 cordial thanks to the Rev. A. C. Welch, B. D., 
 Glasgow ; the Rev. W. J. Cairns, M. A., Aber- 
 nethy ; to R. S. Rait, New College, Oxford ; and 
 the Rev. D. Houston, M. A., Lerwick. 
 
 We may explain that a portion of Chapter VI 
 was given as a paper at a meeting of the Royal 
 Historical Society, in May, 1906, and was printed 
 in their Transactions, N.S., vol. XX. 
 
 JOHN WILLCOCK. 
 
 Lerwick, July i6th. 1907.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGES 
 
 Preface vii-xiv 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Introduction — Birth of Archibald Campbell, afterwards 9th Earl of 
 Argyll — " Fostered " at Glenurquhay — Enters the University of 
 Glasgow 1-17 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 Lord Lome's foreign travels — Marriage — Becomes Colonel of the 
 Royal Guards — Battle of Dunbar — Lord Lome returns to Inveraray 
 — Father and son take different sides in politics .... 18-39 
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Royalist rising in the Highlands — Lord Lome joins in it — His father's 
 remonstrances with him — The Royalists invade Kintyre — Quarrel 
 between Lord Lome and Lord Kenmore 40-53 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Correspondence with Captain Hill — Royalist leaders dissatisfied with 
 Glencairn — Middleton supersedes him — Monck suppresses the 
 rising — Lord Lome surrenders to the English Government. . . 54-74 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Lord Lome suspected of intriguing against the Government— Impr s- 
 oned in Edinburgh Castle — Meets with a serious accident — Liber- 
 ated on parole — The Restoration — Trial and Execution of the 
 Marquess of Argyll— Ecclesiastical Parties in Scotland . . 75-93
 
 xvi CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Sharp's action in the re-introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland — 
 Meeting of Scotch ParHament — Rescissory Act— Deliberations 
 concerning Church-government — Episcopacy decided upon — 
 Bishops appointed 94- 1^4 
 
 CHAPTER \II 
 
 Intrigues to ruin Lord Lome — He is supported by Lauderdale — He is 
 accused of Leasing-making and condemned to death — He is 
 imprisoned again in Edinburgh Castle — Severity towards Presby- 
 terian recusants — The Billetting Act — Downfall of Middleton — 
 Lord Lome released and the Earldom restored to him — The search 
 for the Spanish Treasure 1 15-135 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " The Bishops' Drag-net " — Misgovernment of Scotland — Risk of insur- 
 rection — Emeute in Galloway — Insurgents march to Edinburgh — 
 Defeated at Rullion Green — Argyll's energetic support of the 
 Government — Humiliation of Sharp — Glimpses into Argyll's family 
 life — Death of the Countess of Argyll 136-157 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Attempt to assassinate Sharp — ist Act of Indulgence — Protest against 
 it by Episcopalians — Meeting of Scotch Parliament — Lauderdale 
 Royal Commissioner — His strangely mixed character — Supremacy 
 of the King in ecclesiastical affairs asserted — Proposal for Union 
 with England — Argyll's second marriage — Displeasure of Lauder- 
 dale at it. 158-176 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 A " clanking Act " against conventicles — Leighton's endeavours after 
 a compromise — Widespread misery and dissatisfaction in Scotland 
 — Another Session of Parliament — 2nd Act of Indulgence — Strong 
 political opposition to Lauderdale — Increase of conventicles in 
 Scotland — Petition of women to the Privy Council — Members of 
 Argyll's family sympathize with recusants — Conflict between the 
 Government and the Advocates — Proposals for a National Synod. 177-196
 
 CONTENTS xvH 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 Argyll's difficulties with McLeans of Mull — Failure of attack on Lau- 
 derdale — "Letters of Intercommuning " — Sir George Mackenzie 
 becomes Lord Advocate — Sir James Dalrymple and Argyll, 
 spokesmen of the Presbyterian Party — Increased activity of 
 extreme party — Imposition of a Bond on landowners — The 
 " Highland Host" brought into the West of Scotland . , 197-216 
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 "Bonds of law-borrows" — Appeal from Scotch nation to Charles II — 
 Meeting of Convention of Estates — Lauderdale supported by the 
 King — The Popish Plot — Recrudescence of rebellion in Scotland 
 — Assassination of Sharp — Claverhouse employed against insur- 
 gents — Demonstration at Rutherglen — Battle of Drumclog — 
 Argyll summoned to support the Government — Monmouth sent 
 down into Scotland— Battle of Bothwell Bridge . . . 217-239 
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 The 3rd Act of Indulgence — Duke of York sent to Scotland — He 
 declines to take the Oath of Allegiance — He courts popularity in 
 Scotland — The Sanquhar Declaration — Execution of Cargill — 
 Lauderdale resigns office — Duke of York visits Argyll at Stirling 
 — Meeting of Scotch Parliament — Argyll's position threatened — 
 The Test Act — Argyll and Dalrymple dismissed from the Court 
 of Session — Argyll takes the Oath with an explanation — Im- 
 prisoned — Accused of Treason 240-267 
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 Trial of the Earl of Argyll — His condemnation — Escape from Edin- 
 burgh Castle — Popular indignation at the Trial and Sentence — 
 Argyll's journey South by Torwoodlee and Newcastle . . 268-287 
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 Adventures of the Earl on his journey from Newcastle to London — 
 The Smith family at Battersea — Death of Lauderdale — Main inci- 
 dents of his career — The position of politics in England — Shaftes- 
 bury— Viscount Granard— Argyll takes refuge in Holland . 288-305
 
 xviii CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 Sir James Dalrymple retires to Holland — Argyll's petition to Charles II 
 — The Carolina Project — Conspiracy against the English Govern- 
 ment — Rye-House Plot — Major Holmes apprehended — William 
 Spence and the letters in cipher — Impoverishment of the Earl 
 and Countess of Argyll — The condition of matters in Scotland — 
 Claverhouse's activity 306-326 
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 Argyll prepares for invading Scotland — Inveraray occupied by his 
 enemies — Death of Charles II — Monmouth urged to co-operate 
 with Argyll — Negotiations with Scotch and English exiles — Omens 
 and portents — Council of War formed to support and control 
 Argyll— Mr. Veitch sent to the north of England — Prominent 
 members of the invading forces 327-342 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 Departure of the invading ships from Holland — William of Orange's 
 assistance in the project — Preparations for the defence of Scotland 
 — The disaster at Orkney — Landing in Islay — Arrest of Countess 
 of Argyll and other members of the family — Arrival of the Expe- 
 dition at Campbeltown — The DecUxration published and also a 
 personal statement by Argyll 343-365 
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 Relations between Argyll and his colleagues — Tidings from the 
 Lowlands — Journey to Tarbert — Great controversy as to where 
 the seat of war should be — The invaders take possession of Bute 
 — A reverse in Cowall — An attempt at Greenock — Occupation of 
 the Castle of Ellan-Gheirrig — Spence and Blackader brought to 
 Edinburgh — Operations on land in Glendaruel . . . 366-383 
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Resolution to march to the Lowlands — Garrison left in the Castle — 
 The Castle abandoned — Divided counsels — Journey by the Gareloch 
 and Kilmaronock — Meeting with Royal forces — Rebels desert in 
 large numbers — Flight by night to Kilpatrick — Argyll arrested at 
 Inchinnan — Brought into Edinburgh — Fate of other insurgent 
 leaders — Argyll threatened with torture but not tortured. . 384-408
 
 CONTENTS xix 
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 Manner of death decided upon — The Earl's serenity and gentleness — 
 His last messages and greetings — The circumstances of his execu- 
 tion — His speeches and death — His character — Later history of 
 the Countess and of other members of the Earl's family — Closing 
 remarks 409-430 
 
 Appendices : — 
 
 I. An account-book of Archibald, 9th. Earl of Argyll . . 431-432 
 II. A letter written by the Earl asking support in his rebellion. 433-43^
 
 ERRATA 
 
 p. 20, line 22, for " misgovernment " read " government. " 
 P. 21, line 6, for " Parliamentary " read " Frondeur. " 
 P. 38, line 34, for " adhered " read " pretended to adhere. " 
 P. 339, line 25, for " in Dumfriesshire " read " near Dumfries.
 
 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Frontispiece : Portrait of Archibald, 9th Earl of Argyll, from original 
 
 in possession of Lord Balcarres, by an unknown artist. To face title-page. 
 
 Second portrait of Archibald, 9th Earl of Argyll, from an engraving by 
 
 David Loggan (1635-1700), in the British Museum . To face p. 131 
 
 Portrait of the Duke of Lauderdale by Caspar Netscher (1639-1684), 
 from original in possession of the Earl of Ancaster in Drummond 
 Castle To face p. 164 
 
 Portrait of Sir James Dalrymple, ist Viscount Stair, about 1690, by Sir 
 John de Medina (1659-1710), from original in possession of the 
 Earl of Stair at Oxenfoord Castle To face p. 205 
 
 Portrait of John Graham of Claverhouse, probably by a Dutch artist, 
 
 before 1677 : " The Leven Portrait. "... To face p. 225 
 
 Portrait of the Duke of Monmouth by Mrs. Mary Beale (1632-1697), 
 from original in possession of the Duke of Bedford in Woburn 
 Abbey To face p. 234 
 
 Portrait of ist Earl of Shaftesbury from miniature by Samuel Cooper 
 (1609-1672), in possession of the Earl of Shaftesbury at Wimborne 
 St. Giles To face p. 299 
 
 Third portrait of Archibald, 9th Earl of Argyll, from a miniature by 
 Thomas Flatman (1637-1688), in the Royal Collection, Windsor 
 Castle To face p. 312 
 
 Map to illustrate Argyll's expedition in 1685 ... To face p. 352 
 
 Playing cards illustrating incidents in the invasion of Scotland in 1685, 
 from a unique set in the British Museum : 
 Argyll's landing in Islay To face p. 354 
 
 Capture of Argyll from a contemporary Dutch engraving. To face p. 395 
 
 Colonel Ayloff and others brought prisoners to Glasgow. I 
 
 Colonel Ayloff desperately wounded. ... I 
 
 Rumbold taken prisoner. 1 ^ r 
 
 r. u 1A ^ A r To face p. 400 
 
 Rumbold executed J 
 
 Letter written by Argyll to his son John on the day of execution, from 
 
 original in possession of the Duke of Argyll. . . To face p. 414 
 
 Medal in commemoration of the defeat of Argyll and Monmouth, 
 designed by Robert Arondeaux, from a specimen in possession of 
 the Duke of Argyll To fage p. 426
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Introduction. — Birth of Archibald Campbell, afterwards 9th Earl of Argyll. 
 — " Fostered " at Glenurquhay. — Enters the University of Glasgow. 
 
 In a former volume, entitled The Great Marquess^ we 
 have given an account of the leading events in the 
 history of Scotland from the beginning of the reign of 
 Charles I down to the Restoration. It so happened that 
 the entrance of the Marquess of Argyll on public life 
 coincided with the accession of that monarch to the 
 throne, and that from that time onward he was a pro- 
 minent figure in the national life until his execution in 
 1 66 1. It was, therefore, comparatively easy to weave 
 together a biography of him and a narrative of the events 
 that took place during the momentous period of British 
 history in which he flourished. The main purpose of 
 the present volume is to give some account of the more 
 important occurrences in Scotland from the Restoration 
 to the Revolution, and to complete the story of the 
 Covenant — a story that was left but half told at the close 
 of the career of the Marquess of Argyll. For the sake 
 of continuity we have resolved to group events about 
 the life of the 9th Earl of Argyll, though we candidly 
 admit that it is less suitable for our purpose than was that 
 of his father in the case of the earlier period. For, 
 though he was a man of an interesting personality and 
 romantic history, he did not play so conspicuous a part 
 in public life as the Marquess had done, and during a
 
 2 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 considerable portion of his career he was somewhat out 
 of sympathy with the poHtical and religious causes which 
 were dear to the majority of his fellow-countrymen. Yet 
 as he was more or less involved in public affairs in Scot- 
 land from the death of Charles I down to the beginning 
 of the reign of James II, and was a man of worth, it 
 seems to us that no more suitable or attractive central 
 figure for our history could be chosen. The only other 
 possible competitor is Lauderdale. He, however, labours 
 under two serious disqualifications for our purpose. The 
 first is that his death in 1682 would leave us several years 
 shorter of the goal which we have above indicated than 
 does that of Argyll, and the second is that his personal 
 character was in many respects so corrupt and repulsive 
 as to deprive his history of much of the interest which 
 might otherwise have been aroused by his astonishing 
 ability and force of will. To a dispassionate student of 
 human nature, or to a theologian in search of illustrations 
 of spiritual degeneration and depravity, Lauderdale's 
 biography might be of rare interest and value ; but pro- 
 bably the ordinary reader would turn with aversion from 
 a book which announced itself as a record of his career. 
 Perhaps on the whole this is a condition of things which 
 the moralist would not wish to be different. 
 
 In one matter we desire our readers to extend to us a 
 certain measure of liberty, and, if necessary, of condona- 
 tion. In the title of this volume, as in that of its prede- 
 cessor, we have used the phrase " Life & Times ". The 
 Marquess of Argyll was so closely associated with the 
 public affairs of his time that in our history of them he 
 was but seldom, and never for long, off the stage. If it 
 should happen that in the ensuing pages his son should 
 for any length of time be absent from the scene, we hope 
 that the latitude claimed in the title will be taken into 
 account in the way of excuse. 
 
 Archibald, afterwards 9th Earl of Argyll, was born at 
 Newbattle Abbey, Dalkeith, on Thursday, Feb. 26th, 
 1629. He was the eldest son of the 8th Earl, then
 
 BIRTH AT DALKEITH 3 
 
 still Lord Lome, and of his wife, Margaret Douglas, 
 second daughter of William, 9th Earl of Morton, 
 Shortly before the birth of this her first child. Lady Lome 
 had been seriously ill, and the doctors who attended her 
 gave it as their opinion that her life could not be preserved 
 without sacrificing that of the infant. But to this sug- 
 gestion she would by no means consent, and in the end 
 it so happened that the lives of both the mother and child 
 were preserved. ^ The only notice of the birth, which is 
 known to us, is contained in a letter written by Lord Lome 
 to his father-in-law to announce the advent of a son and 
 heir. A tone of exultation, as was natural, pervades the 
 little document in question. ^ The father and mother 
 were young ; for, though they had been married for two 
 years and a half, they were only twenty-two and eighteen 
 years of age respectively. Little did they anticipate the 
 stormy and chequered careers which lay before father and 
 son, which were both to be closed by a bloody death. 
 
 Before the publication of the above letter those who 
 had written notices of the 9th Earl of Argyll either made 
 no allusion to the date of his birth or gave a conjectural 
 date. In every case he is represented as having been 
 older than he actually was — the conjecture being some- 
 times no less than nine years wide of the mark. It is very 
 curious that a similar and as serious a blunder should have 
 been made with regard to his father's age. It is quite 
 inexplicable to us that such errors should have occurred 
 in the case of men so prominent as they were in public 
 life, though of course the original mistake as to the 
 father's age prepared the way for that as to his son's, 
 when calculations were based upon the former's supposed 
 age and the probable date of his marriage, 
 
 A word of explanation is needed as to how the subject 
 of our biography came to be born at Newbattle Abbey, 
 the seat of the Lothian family. Annabella Campbell, an 
 elder sister of Lord Lome, had been married to the 2nd 
 
 ' Wodrow, Analccta, vol. II, p. 135. 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 361.
 
 4 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Earl of Lothian in 1611 and was now a widow with a 
 family of two daughters. At her residence in Dalkeith 
 Lord Lome was a frequent visitor. A dark and 
 mysterious tragedy had occurred in that house some five 
 years before the birth of the child whose fortunes we are 
 to follow. One Saturday morning in the end of March, 
 1624, the Earl of Lothian was found dead in bed with 
 his throat cut ; and the author of the crime, if the death 
 were not a case of suicide, was never discovered. Rumours 
 unfavourable to the Countess sprang up and were widely 
 credited. A young fellow named William Douglas, an 
 irregular connexion of her mother's family, had been 
 resident In the house for some time, and in the scandalous 
 gossip of the day his name had been somewhat unpleasantly 
 associated with hers. It was now insinuated that he had 
 done the deed and that she had been an accomplice. But 
 nothing to confirm this transpired, and in course of time 
 the rumours, whether well or ill founded, died away. A 
 year later than the period in which we are interested her 
 eldest daughter married a kinsman of her own, who was 
 created 3rd Earl of Lothian ; and shortly after this 
 marriage the Dowager-Countess with her younger 
 daughter retired to the Continent, where she died in 1652. 
 All that is known of the fate of William Douglas is that 
 he went to Holland where shortly after he was killed at 
 the siege of some city. ^ 
 
 The family of the 8th Earl of Argyll consisted of two 
 sons and four daughters. The second son, Neil, was but 
 a year or so younger than Archibald and was born some 
 time in 1630. In the course of the four following years 
 two girls, Anne and Jane, were born. The former of 
 these is known to history in connexion with an abortive 
 scheme of a marriage alliance with Charles II, at a time 
 when it was thought advisable for him to conciliate the 
 Presbyterian party. She died before the Restoration. 
 Her sister Jane afterwards married the 4th Earl and ist 
 
 1 Scot, Staggering State, p. 91 (1872) ; Masson, Life of Drummond, p. 297 : 
 Correspondence of the Earls of Ancrum &■ Lothian, p. C.
 
 FOSTERED AT GLENURQUHAY 5 
 
 Marquess of Lothian, outlived her brothers and sisters, 
 and died well on in the reign of Queen Anne. Two 
 other daughters belong to a time after 1634 — Mary who 
 married the Earl of Breadalbane, upon whose name the 
 Massacre of Glencoe has left so serious a stain, and 
 Isabella, who was born on the day of Montrose's execu- 
 tion, (Tuesday, May 21st, 1650) and died young. ^ 
 
 As an infant Archibald Campbell had poor health and 
 suffered so much pain that his father often said that the 
 tidings of his death would almost be a relief, " but he 
 soon grew robust, and in later times he was able to 
 undergo many hardships in war and travel. When he 
 was still of a very tender age, being only between four 
 and five years old, he was " fostered " or brought up 
 away from home by one of his father's kinsmen. The 
 custom in question was prevalent in Argyll and Breadal- 
 bane and in other parts of the Highlands and extended 
 to all classes. The original object of it was to procure 
 friends and allies in case of need — a consideration of great 
 importance in days when the protection afforded by the 
 laws was but slight and intermittent. There is something 
 very engaging in the idea which lay at the root of this 
 custom, that in a bond of friendship there is something 
 more enduring than could be secured by treaties written 
 with a pen and liable to be affected by the changing moods 
 and circumstances of the contracting parties. ^ Various 
 members of the House of Campbell would have been 
 glad to " foster " the eldest son of their chief — for such 
 Lord Lome had virtually been from the time that his 
 father had abjured his religion and forsaken his country. 
 But the person to whom Lord Lome committed the 
 weighty charge of his son's upbringing was Sir Colin 
 Campbell, 8th Laird of Glenurquhay. He was a man of 
 fifty-six years of age, and had but two years before suc- 
 ceeded to the title and property. His wife, Juliana, was 
 
 • The Great Marquess, p. 344. 
 
 * Wodrow, Analccta, vol. II, p. 139. 
 ' Black-book of Taymouth, p. XVIII.
 
 6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 a daughter of Hugh, Lord Loudon, and so belonged to 
 another branch of the House of Campbell. They had no 
 children of their own, and therefore, no doubt the 
 " foster " son whom they now received would be doubly 
 welcome. 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell was a man of considerable culture, 
 being versed in Latin, French and Italian literature, 
 and he lived in a more luxurious style than one would 
 have expected to find in the case of a Highland country- 
 gentleman in the early part of the 17th Century. Thus 
 we read of his providing Arras hangings, silk beds, and 
 other costly furniture, and of his importing damask 
 napery from West Flanders, for his house at Balloch. 
 His chronicler was more impressed than modern readers 
 are likely to be by the fact that he gave ;^ 1,000 Scots 
 (;^8 3-6-8 Sterling) to " ane Germane painter, " and 
 entertained him in his house for eight months, in order 
 that he might furnish him with three dozen or so 
 portraits — the " counterfeit presentments" of Kings and 
 Queens and of Lairds of Glenurquhay. His patronage 
 of George Jamesone, " the Scottish Vandyke ", was on a 
 less colossal scale, but yielded more valuable results, for 
 some of the best pictures of that graceful artist owed 
 their origin to it. ^ 
 
 In the charter-room of Taymouth Castle, which was 
 erected on the site of the house or castle of Balloch, " 
 Sir Colin Campbell's principal residence, are preserved 
 some curious and interesting documents relating to the 
 " fostering " of Archibald Campbell or " Archie " as his 
 father called him. They consist of letters between the 
 parties concerned, and of accounts of the boy's expenses 
 which were carefully kept according to the fashion of 
 " the antique world. " * 
 
 The first journey which Archibald Campbell made to 
 
 ' Black-hook ofTaymouth, pp. 75, 77. 
 
 * A small piece of wall on the right hand side of the front door of 
 Taymouth Castle is all that exists of Balloch Castle. The old well remains 
 though covered over with soil. 
 
 ^ Black-book of Taymouth, p. XXII.
 
 LIFE AT GLENURQUHAY 7 
 
 the house which for some years was to be his home was 
 from Stirling, where one of his father's residences was 
 situated. In the letter in which Sir Colin agreed to 
 receive him he stipulated that some " discreet woman 
 and a tutor acquainted with both Gaelic and English 
 should accompany the boy and have charge of him in his 
 new home. A woman named Maro-aret Neill was the 
 person who in the matter of discretion and of other 
 desirable qualities was thought suitable for waiting upon 
 the child ; while a Mr. John Maclean was appointed to be 
 his tutor or paedagogue. At a little later time a lad 
 named Duncan Campbell, one of his own clan, probably, 
 was assigned to him as his page. 
 
 There can be no doubt that in the house of his kinsman, 
 Archibald Campbell enjoyed all the happiness that life 
 could give a boy. His guardians were sensible and good- 
 natured and watched over him with affectionate care. It 
 is not probable that lessons were very burdensome to him, 
 thoup^h it is recorded that some trouble had to be taken 
 to keep him up to the mark in the use of the Gaelic 
 language ; while we may be sure he would find an endless 
 source of delight in all that was to be seen and done in 
 Sir Colin's various castles and country-seats from time to 
 time during the changing seasons of the year. As was 
 natural in the circumstances, he soon learned, somewhat 
 to his parents' amusement, to speak of his " home " as 
 being in Perthshire rather than at Inveraray, and to long 
 to be back in it on occasions when he visited Argyllshire. 
 In the earliest letter of his which has been preserved he 
 writes with childish eagerness to Sir Colin Campbell, 
 whom he addresses as " my loving foster-father and 
 respected freind the Lard of Glenvrqhey, " and entreats 
 him to send horses " in all the heast and diligence " he 
 can to bring him and his tutor back from Inveraray. He 
 concludes by saying : " I wil seie you my shelf shortlie, 
 if ye doe your deutie, not duting but ye wil doe the same 
 [and] comiting you to God's protection for euer. " ^ 
 
 ' Black-book of Taymoutfi, p. XX.
 
 8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 The incidents of his childhood which have been 
 recorded are very few in number. His tutor, John 
 Maclean, turned out rather unsatisfactorily and misbe- 
 haved himself in some way so seriously as to necessitate 
 dismissal. In one of the letters to which we have 
 referred as our source of information about this part of 
 the history. Sir Colin Campbell himself writes to Lord 
 Lome to recommend Maclean's services being dispensed 
 with and a more trustworthy person being employed in 
 his place as tutor \ In the account of the boy's expenses 
 we read of visits paid by him to Perth, Stirling, Rosneath 
 and Edinburgh before he was nine years of age. It is 
 somewhat amusing to notice that it is recorded in the case 
 of each visit that a sum of money was " given to the bairne 
 to play him withall. " A less satisfactory notice is that 
 of the visit of a Dr. Kincaid from Edinburgh to see him 
 at Balloch when he was sick. Those who are curious in 
 such matters may be interested to learn that the physician 
 received a fee of £,2^ Scots (;/^2 Sterling), and ^,48 Scots 
 (;^4 Sterling) for the expenses of himself and of his man 
 in making the journey ^. 
 
 One of the visits which Archibald paid to Stirling was 
 to see his " guidsire ", i. e. his grandfather, William, 
 9th Earl of Morton, his mother's father. This nobleman, 
 who was cousin and father-in-law of the 8th Earl of 
 Argyll and had been almost his foster-father, was one of 
 the foremost public men in Scotland. In the struggles of 
 the reign of Charles I he took the Royalist side, and his 
 relations with his kinsman and former ward were marked 
 by that bitterness which so often intensifies the hostility 
 of those who have been friends in youth. Archibald 
 never saw his other grandfather, the 7th Earl of Argyll. 
 The only mention made of him in the correspondence to 
 which we have referred above is in a letter from the 
 8th Earl to Sir Colin Campbell announcing his father's 
 death and asking his friend to arrange for the boy's 
 
 ' Black-book of Tav month, p. XXI 
 2 Ibid, pp. XXII, XXIII.
 
 POLITICAL TROUBLES 9 
 
 being provided with mourning clothes. ^ The old Earl 
 of Argyll had had a chequered life, in the course of which 
 he had suffered many things both from the machinations 
 of enemies and the importunity of creditors. He had 
 been for some years in exile and had on returning to 
 England experienced all the irritations and inconveniences 
 which in that age attended upon those who abandoned 
 Protestantism for Roman Catholicism. But for some 
 years past he had lived in great retirement in London. ^ 
 The date of his death may be approximately guessed 
 from the above notice with regard to his grandson's 
 mourning-clothes, but to the best of our knowledge no 
 more definite notice of it is recorded. From this point, 
 therefore, we shall use the title Lord Lome as designating 
 the subject of our biography ; and our readers will 
 understand for the present that the Earl of Argyll of 
 whom we may make mention is the 8 th Earl, created in 
 1 64 1 the Marquess of Argyll, who played so prominent a 
 part in the history of Scotland during the second half of 
 Charles I's reign and the period of the Commonwealth. 
 
 It was in the early boyhood of Lord Lome that the 
 discontent in Scotland which the misgovernment of 
 Charles I had occasioned broke out into open rebellion 
 against his authority. There is no need for us to recount 
 here the particulars of that strife, especially after the full 
 narrative of the events of the period in question which 
 we have given in telling the story of the life of the 8th 
 Earl of Argyll. Suffice it to say, that political and 
 religious grievances were so galling that the patience of 
 the people of Scotland became exhausted, and that all 
 classes from the highest to the humblest united to insist 
 upon their being redressed. We need do no more than 
 mention the outcome of this agitation in the drawing up 
 of the National Covenant in 1637, and the abolition of 
 Episcopacy at a meeting of the General Assembly in 
 
 ' BUick-book of Taymouth, p. XXI. 
 
 ^ For particulars with regard to the 7th Earl of Argyll we may refer our 
 readers to the notices of him given in The Great Marquess.
 
 lo A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Glasgow at the close of 1638. The criticism to which in 
 the 19th Century a certain school of writers subjected 
 the Covenanting movement reminds one of the satirist's 
 line about coxcombs vanquishing Berkeley by a grin, ^ 
 A few scornful words and grimaces were supposed suffi- 
 cient to confute those who saw in that movement a heroic 
 resistance to the tyranny of King and Priest, and one of 
 the powerful influences which have moulded and streng- 
 thened the Scotch national character. Truth, however, 
 does not reveal herself to such shallow and ungenerous 
 scrutiny. We have no desire to defend all that was done 
 in the name of the Covenant. An admission that its 
 course was marked by some faults and shortcomings is 
 involved in the fact that its supporters were human. 
 That an admixture of evil should have defaced the cause 
 which so many regarded as that of righteousness, and 
 should in the end have disappointed the glowing hopes 
 associated with it and have seemed to nullify the sacrifices 
 made for it, is one of those illustrations of mortal destiny 
 which should touch mortal hearts. 
 
 The temper in which the nation prepared to enter on 
 the struggle is admirably reflected in the minutes of 
 procedure of the nobles and gentry of Perthshire and 
 Argyllshire in 1638. These persons, in accordance with 
 instructions from " The Tables " in Edinburgh, a central 
 committee that was virtually the Government of Scotland 
 at the time, drew up lists of all men in the various 
 parishes within the above shires who were capable of 
 bearing arms, and made out full inventories of the 
 weapons in their possession. Those who were unprovided 
 with arms received an admonition somewhat like that 
 once given to the Apostles to buy them with all speed. 
 Those who had had any experience of war abroad and 
 were now at home were required to put themselves in 
 communication with the local " Commissioners " in order 
 that their services might be employed for the defence of 
 " the guid cause ; " while at the same time elaborate 
 
 ' T. Brown, Essay on Satire, published by Warbuiton in Pope's Works.
 
 PREPARATIONS FOR CONFLICT ii 
 
 arrangements were made for circulating important news 
 by means of beacon-fires. As a necessary consequence of 
 the decision on the part of the Covenanters to ascertain 
 their own strength, orders were issued for a strict enquiry 
 to be made in every district as to the numbers and 
 resources of those who had refused to sign the Covenant. ^ 
 
 Sir Colin Campbell was prominent among those who 
 were thus zealous in preparing for conflict ; and there is 
 no doubt that the remarkable foresight, unanimity, and 
 resoluteness which marked the proceedings in question 
 were not a little due to the influence he exercised upon 
 his colleagues. In a note sent by him to a meeting of 
 " Commissioners " at Perth (July 26th, 1638), he inti- 
 mates that he and his servants are sufficiently provided 
 with armour and weapons, including two field-pieces on 
 carriages, and he declares his intention to see that every 
 tenant of his should soon be in the same satisfactory 
 condition. ' We may be certain that the serious grievan- 
 ces, which led such a grave and wise personage as Sir 
 Colin Campbell to resolve upon resisting the royal 
 authority by force of arms, were matters which would be 
 discussed from time to time in the hearing of his foster- 
 son ; and no doubt the latter took a boyish delight in the 
 weapons of war which were collected and furbished up for 
 use. He was afterwards in the course of his eventful life 
 to learn by his own experience how uncertain and brief 
 the triumphs were which could be won by such means, 
 and that those who took the sword generally perished by 
 the sword. 
 
 A slight indication of the unsettled state of the country 
 and of the shadow which the general disorder was casting 
 even upon the life of this child, is given in the last of the 
 letters in the little bundle of correspondence to which 
 we have already several times alluded. In it the Count- 
 ess of Argyll writes to Sir Colin Campbell concerning 
 her son's journeying from Perthshire to Inveraray. The 
 
 ' Black-book of Taymoiith, p. 391. 
 - Ibid, p. 394.
 
 12 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 date of the letter is June 14th, 1639, The Countess 
 lays great stress upon the necessity of Lord Lome's 
 having a sufficient escort on the road, and upon a secure 
 lodging-place being chosen for the night which he would 
 have to spend on the journey before reaching home. ^ 
 The anxiety which the letter expresses was not without 
 cause. The country was on the brink of war. A Scotch 
 army under the command of General Leslie was encamped 
 on Duns Law, and was confronted by an English army 
 commanded by the King in person. At the same time a 
 hostile fleet was in the Firth of Forth, and an invasion 
 of the Western Highlands by an Irish army was dreaded. 
 The Earl of Argyll was now with the Covenanting army 
 and was regarded by Charles I as his most dangerous 
 opponent. ^ In these circumstances we can easily under- 
 stand that the Countess would be specially concerned 
 about the safety of her eldest son, and that the precautions 
 which she was anxious should be taken for protecting 
 him on the journey were by no means unnecessary. 
 
 It is almost certain that Lord Lome did not return to 
 Glenurquhay, except perhaps to attend the funeral of his 
 foster-father who died on the 6th of September, 1640. 
 On this latter occasion it is recorded that there was a 
 great gathering of the Campbells to do honour to the 
 memory of their distinguished kinsman. For the next 
 three years or so after the boy's return to Inveraray 
 he was doubtless busily employed in his studies under 
 the direction of a tutor with the view of preparing 
 himself for the University. These were years during 
 which momentous events occurred in the three kingdoms. 
 In Scotland the Covenanting Party triumphed all along 
 the line and gained every object of their desire ; and 
 Charles I was constrained by force of circumstances to 
 bestow honours and offices upon his most strenuous 
 opponents. The Earl of Argyll received a Marquessate 
 and a pension, though not long before the King had been 
 
 ^ Black-book of Taymoulh, p. XXI. 
 " The Great Marquess, pp. 62, 73.
 
 ARGYLL AND HAMILTON 13 
 
 supposed desirous to have his head. The outbreak of 
 rebellion in Ireland, the meeting of the Long Parliament, 
 and the Civil War in England may be mentioned as 
 great events that happened during the period in question. 
 Even to the remotest parts of the country some echoes 
 of insurrection and of political revolution must have 
 penetrated ; and we can well believe that at times the 
 heart of the growing boy in Inveraray would throb with 
 pride at the thought of the commanding part which his 
 father played in public life, and of the powerful aid 
 which he was able to give the cause which still seemed 
 to the vast majority of his fellow-countrymen that of 
 civil and religious liberty and of national independence. 
 The name of Lord Lome emerges in a curious way in 
 connexion with the political intrigues in which his father 
 was involved towards the end of the year 1641 and the 
 early part of 1642. The Marquess of Argyll at the 
 outset of his career as an opponent of Charles I's political 
 and ecclesiastical schemes had had as a principal antagonist 
 the Marquess of Hamilton, who acted as Royal Commis- 
 sioner to Scotland in 1638 and was deep in his master's 
 confidence. The course of Hamilton's intrigues is too 
 devious and obscure for us to attempt to trace it, but 
 the upshot of matters was that in the year 1641 he and 
 Argyll were political allies of the most intimate type. 
 Their joint action on the occasion of what is known in 
 history as The Incident^ when they fled from Edinburgh, 
 was regarded by Charles as casting a deep slur upon his 
 honour. Hamilton recovered favour with him more 
 speedily than might have been expected, and was 
 requested by him to endeavour to secure the influence 
 of Argyll in support of the Royal cause. " By the King's 
 particular command", says Burnet, " [Hamilton] entered 
 into a close friendship with Argyle, considering that 
 besides the great power of that family, his interest with 
 the clergy and covenanters was such, that none could be 
 so useful to his majesty's service as he. " ^ In order to 
 
 * Dukes of Hamilton, p. 239.
 
 14 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 further this design a marriage was proposed between 
 Lord Lome and Lady Anne, the second daughter of the 
 Marquess of Hamilton, and a contract embodying the 
 proposal was drawn up in formal terms. So definite were 
 the arrangements entered into by the parents of the 
 young people that the lady's marriage-portion and yearly 
 jointure were named, and a heavy fine fixed as the 
 penalty to be inflicted upon the party resiling from the 
 contract. ^ The penalty was perhaps an indication of 
 the precarious nature of the alliance between the two 
 statesmen. At any rate the ink with which the contract 
 was written was scarcely dry before they had drifted 
 asunder. The friendship between them grew cold and 
 very soon changed into hostility, and all thought of 
 carrying out the marriage scheme was given up by both 
 parties. ^ As we shall see in the course of this history 
 Lord Lome was twice married, his first wife being Lady 
 Mary Stewart and his second the dowager-countess of 
 Balcarres. The lady who had been contracted to him 
 married Lord William Douglas and died in 1716.^ We 
 need scarcely remind our readers that her father, the 
 Duke of Hamilton, after invading England in Charles I's 
 interests, was defeated at Preston, and some months later 
 was beheaded in London on Friday, Mar. 9th., 1649. 
 
 Another slight but interesting notice of Lord Lome 
 about the same date is given in a letter of his father's to 
 one of his friends in the north of Scotland concerning the 
 raising of a body of men to serve as a regiment of guard 
 
 ' Dukes of Hamilton, p. 239 : Napier Life of Montrose, vol. II, p. 374n. 
 The marriage portion was to be 100,000 merks (;^5555-ii-i3 Sterling) the 
 yearly jointure 15,000 merks, (^833-6-8 Sterling), and the penalty of resiling 
 36,000 merks, (;^2,ooo Sterling). 
 
 ^ Since both parties were willing to resile from the arrangement the fine 
 would of course be dropped. 
 
 ^ Lady Anne was the second but eldest surviving daughter of James, ist 
 Duke of Hamilton and was born about 1630. She married on Tues., Apr. 
 29th., 1656, Lord William Douglas, eldest son of William, ist Marquess of 
 Douglas, who was afterwards created Earl of Selkirk and in 1660 Duke of 
 Hamilton. His wife succeeded to the Dukedom on the death of her uncle 
 William and in terms of the destination in the patent. She died on Oct. 17th, 
 1716. From her the present family are descended.
 
 THE SCOTS GUARD 15 
 
 to the King of France. ^ The struggles between King 
 and people in Scotland which had kept the country in 
 turmoil for four or five years were now happily over, 
 though in England civil war was on the point of breaking 
 out ; and consequently many in the northern kingdom 
 who desired military employment were free to enter 
 foreign service. Charles I accordingly consented to a 
 regiment's being levied in Scotland by the Earl of Irvine, 
 a half-brother of the Marquess of Argyll, ^ which was to 
 occupy a place of honour in the army of Louis XIII. 
 For more than two hundred years the Scots Guard had 
 been a permanent institution of the French Court, and 
 indeed, it survived in name until the monarchy itself was 
 swept away by the Revolution. The Marquess of Argyll 
 was specially interested in raising the troops which were 
 now to enter the French service. The Covenanters had 
 received aid and encouragement from Richelieu in their 
 revolt, and they were willing to acknowledge the kindness 
 in this way on condition that the Scotch soldiers should 
 have their own Protestant chaplains and should be allowed 
 the free exercise of their religion. These terms were 
 granted and in the autumn of the following year, 1643, 
 a regiment of two thousand men under the Earl of Irvine 
 landed at Dieppe. The captains of the regiment were all 
 young noblemen and gentlemen of quality, and at the 
 head of the list Lord Lome's name figured, though his 
 connexion with the company, which his father had raised 
 by his own personal efforts, was but nominal. A kinsman 
 of his, also named Archibald Campbell, was appointed to 
 act as his lieutenant. ^ 
 
 The records of Glasgow University testify to the fact 
 that Lord Lome entered upon the curriculum there 
 
 1 The Great Marquess p. 370. 
 
 ^ The Earl of Irvine was a half-brother of the Marquess of Argyll by a 
 second marriage of his father, the 7th Earl of Argyll. 
 
 3 Much interesting information regarding the Scots Guard is given in 
 Burton's Tlie Scot Abroad and in Scott's Qucntui Durward. Our author- 
 ities for the above notice of the Earl of Irvine's regiment are Gordon's 
 Britanc's Distemper, p. 6, Montereul's Correspondence, vol. II. p. 604 
 (S. H. So.), and Tlic Family of Kilravoclc, p. 329 (Spalding Club).
 
 i6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 during the session of 1642-3, when he was still under 
 fourteen years of age. The Marquess of Argyll had been 
 in his time a student at St. Andrews. Probably in the 
 unsettled state of the country, now that in England a 
 civil war was raging into which Scotland might be drawn, 
 the fact that Glasgow was nearer home and that the 
 Covenanting influence was strong there, was taken into 
 account in fixing upon a University for Lord Lome. 
 About a year or so later his brother. Lord Neil Campbell, 
 also entered the classes at Glasgow. ^ The graduation- 
 lists of that time are extant but they do not contain the 
 names of either of the brothers. It is probable that they 
 both took the full course of studies at the University, 
 but there is no evidence to show that they distinguished 
 themselves there, or that they bore away with them more 
 than boys usually do in our own day from a public 
 school. The early age at which students then entered 
 the University forbids us to suppose that their studies 
 were either very deep or very exacting. Lord Lome in 
 later years had considerable facility in writing verses 
 which at their best are somewhat animated and pleasing, 
 but we can well believe that this was an accomplishment 
 which found but little exercise in his academical career. 
 We may think of him at this time as a slight, fair-haired 
 youth, below the medium stature in height, neat in 
 person, and bearing in his manners evidence of an 
 ingenuous and high-spirited disposition. Lauderdale 
 afterwards spoke of certain tricks of manner which he 
 had — "winking with the eye whenever he speaks ", and 
 " keeping his little finger [i. e. his thumb] generally in 
 his hand " — and said that they were ill signs which were 
 prophetic of a violent death. ^ Another notice of him, 
 also of a later period, speaks of him as being " witty in 
 knacks ", i. e. clever in the invention of small contri- 
 
 ^ This is mentioned in the Dedication of David Dickson's Exposition of the 
 Catholic Epistles, in Latin (1645). In the Dedication of the volume to the 
 Marquess of Argyll Lord Lome is associated with his father. 
 
 ^ Argyll Papers, p. 16.
 
 YOUTHFUL FOIBLES 17 
 
 vances, as evidenced, e. g., in having nearly twenty 
 pockets in his clothes, " some of them very secret in his 
 coat and breeches. " ^ Doubtless this foible like that of 
 his versifying goes back to an early time in his life. 
 
 1 Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 195.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Lord Lome's foreign travels. — Marriage. — Becomes Colonel of Royal 
 Guards. — Battle of Dunbar. — Lord Lome retires to Inveraray. — 
 Father and son take different sides in politics. 
 
 It was during Lome's college days that the series of great 
 disasters occurred which not only lowered the prestige of 
 his father and clan and seriously impoverished them, but 
 also weakened the Covenanting cause. Our readers will 
 remember that after peace had been secured in Scotland 
 by the King's complete submission to the Covenanting 
 party, that country remained for some time an inactive 
 spectator of the Civil War in England, and that it only 
 departed from this attitude in consequence of a piteous 
 appeal from the Parliamentary party, which was in dire 
 need of " the brotherly aid " which it sought from 
 Scotland. After the Solemn League and Covenant had 
 been subscribed by the EngHsh Houses of Parliament and 
 the Westminster Assembly of Divines, a powerful army 
 under the Earl of Leven crossed the border and contri- 
 buted largely to the victory won by the Parliamentary 
 forces at Marston Moor. The Marquess of Argyll had 
 accompanied the army of invasion but was suddenly 
 recalled to Scotland to act as Commander-in-Chief of the 
 forces of the Estates and to suppress a Royalist rising 
 under the Marquess of Huntly, his brother-in-law. He 
 had scarcely succeeded in this enterprise when Montrose 
 began his victorious career. In the course of a year the
 
 FOREIGN TRAVEL 19 
 
 latter fought and won six great battles in which he 
 shattered the armies of the Covenanters, only to be 
 himself overwhelmed by the troops which they were 
 compelled to recall from England. The loss inflicted upon 
 the Marquess of Argyll by these victories of Montrose 
 was both deep and humiliating. At an early stage in the 
 contest he resigned his office of Commander-in-chief, and 
 shortly thereafter his territories were invaded repeatedly 
 by the victorious Royalists and devastated with ruthless 
 severity, A considerable sum of money was voted by 
 Parliament as compensation to the Marquess of Argyll 
 and to his tenantry, but the losses sustained were far 
 greater than the grant could cover, and for many years 
 the Marquess received no income from his Argyllshire 
 property. 
 
 Early in 1647 Lord Lome and his brother, along with 
 a tutor and servants, set out upon a Continental tour 
 through France and Italy which lasted for fully two 
 years, ^ One incident which occurred during the time is 
 well worth recording. It seems that when the Covenant 
 was drawn up in Scotland the leaders of the party 
 adhering to it were anxious to have the sympathy and 
 support of the Calvinistic Churches on the Continent. 
 Among others they consulted the Church of Geneva and 
 of Switzerland, and Mr. John Diodati, a minister of 
 Geneva, was appointed by his colleagues to express the 
 general opinion of the Swiss Protestants. The reply he 
 sent was to the effect that while the Presbyterian form of 
 Church government was in harmony with a Republic 
 such as that under which he lived, he and his colleagues 
 were of opinion that in Scotland Episcopacy should be 
 accepted and retained as more agreeable to Monarchical 
 government. This reply was very unwelcome to the 
 Covenanting leaders and was at once suppressed. Nine 
 years later Lord Lome on visiting Geneva heard the 
 particulars of the incident from the lips of Diodati 
 himself, who was naturally irritated at the way in which 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Com. Report, vol. VI, p. 631b.
 
 20 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 his letter had been treated. Additional interest, probably 
 of a somewhat unwelcome kind, must have been excited 
 in the mind of the hearer by his knowing or being 
 informed that his own father was certainly more respons- 
 ible than anyone else in Scotland for the adoption of the 
 policy of repression. The incident is not without a 
 humour of its own as an illustration of the fact that we 
 often ask for advice with the definite, though unacknow- 
 ledged determination, not to take it unless it agrees with 
 what we have already decided to do. ^ The opinion of 
 the Continental Churches may have been of some faint 
 value in the earliest stage of the movement ; but it was of 
 no value whatever after the heather had been set on 
 fire in Scotland and was burning fiercely all over the 
 country. " 
 
 During some part of his travels Lord Lome had the 
 companionship of a kinsman. Lord Mauchline, the eldest 
 son of the Earl of Loudoun, Lord Chancellor of Scotland, 
 who belonged to the house of Campbell. The young 
 men were in France on the outbreak of the war of the 
 Fronde. Our readers will remember that during the 
 regency of Anne of Austria the misgovernment of 
 Mazarin, involved the state in serious financial embarrass- 
 ment and that attempts to impose fresh taxation created 
 general discontent and ultimately led to civil war. The 
 Parliament of Paris espoused the cause of the malcontents 
 and came into direct antagonism to the Crown and was 
 supported energetically by the turbulent citizens of the 
 capital. Through the intervention of the Prince of 
 Cond6, the Commander-in-Chief of the French army, an 
 accommodation was effected by the unconditional accept- 
 ance on the part of the Regent of the demands of the 
 Parliament (Oct. 24th, 1648). A short time after this the 
 tumult broke out afresh. Cond6 joined with the Court 
 
 1 Gordon, Scots Affairs, vol. I, p. 52. 
 
 ^ For other attempts to elicit the opinions of the Reformed Churches on the 
 Continent with regard to Episcopacy and Presbyterianism see Wodrow, 
 History, vol. I, p. 46 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 28 : Reliquiae Baxterianae, 
 p. 216.
 
 DISORDER IN FRANCE 21 
 
 to control the insubordination and insolence of the 
 Parisians and an open revolt took place. The Court 
 withdrew from Paris while the Parliament ordered the 
 banishment of Mazarin and raised an army to oppose 
 that of Conde. The latter's brother, the Prince of Conti, 
 was appointed General-in-Chief of the Parliamentary for- 
 ces. After a serious engagement at Charenton and much 
 aimless and frivolous disorder a temporary restoration of 
 peace took place on March iith, 1649. During the 
 confusion with which this year opened Lord Lome and his 
 friends were journeying through France. Anxiety began 
 to be felt with regard to their safety by their relatives at 
 home and accordingly the matter was brought before the 
 Estates of Parliament by the Lord Chancellor. Letters 
 were written by order of the Estates to the King of 
 France and to the Prince of Conti, as the head of the 
 Parliamentary forces, requesting that care might be taken 
 to prevent any harm occurring to the young travellers, 
 their companions, and servants in this time of public 
 confusion. ^ What special precautions may have been 
 taken on their behalf we do not know, but as a matter of 
 fact they arrived home in safety. 
 
 At the time that Lord Lome started on his foreign 
 travels the Civil War in England had come to an end 
 and Charles I had been for eight months in the custody 
 of the Scotch contingent of the Parliamentary army. His 
 letter of safe-conduct, indeed, was signed at Newcastle by 
 the King (Jan. 7th, 1647,) shortly before the Scotch 
 troops withdrew beyond the Tweed and left him in the 
 hands of the English Commissioners. During the three 
 years of their Continental travels the two young men 
 doubtless heard many faint and broken rumours with 
 regard to the course of events at home. The seizure of 
 Charles by the army, the growing power of the Independ- 
 ents, the failure of Royalist schemes, the flight of the 
 King to the Isle of Wight, the abortive invasion of 
 
 ' Ads of Pari, of Scot. vol. VI, part 2, p. 149b. The date of the minute to 
 the above effect is Jan. 25th., 1649.
 
 22 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 England under the Duke of Hamilton, and the act of 
 Regicide, were matters which could not fail to come to 
 their knowledge and excite very deep feelings in their 
 minds. 
 
 We are not left altogether to conjecture in this matter, 
 for there is still extant a letter written by Lord Lome to 
 Queen Henrietta Maria after the death of Charles I and 
 the abolition of Monarchy in England, in which he 
 expresses his unquenchable loyalty to the dynasty now 
 under so disastrous an eclipse. From this letter we 
 learn several interesting particulars concerning the author 
 of it. He says that he has been for two years past such 
 a stranger to home that he had but seldom heard even of 
 the state of his parents' health. He is still on the 
 Continent and would be glad if he could have an 
 opportunity of paying his respects to his new Sovereign 
 and of kissing his hand. He is very eager to clear the 
 credit of his father from the slur that had been cast upon 
 it by the suspicion — a suspicion which he fears their 
 Majesties entertain — that he had approved of the trial 
 and execution of the late King, and he affirms his 
 unshaken confidence in his father's loyalty to the Throne. 
 In proof of it he refers not only to the part he had taken 
 as one of the Committee of Estates in protesting against 
 the revolutionary proceedings in England, but also to a 
 speech he had lately made in Parliament in which he 
 testified upon his oath that the assertions made in some 
 quarters as to his sympathy with the regicides were 
 calumnies. In words the sincerity of which his after 
 conduct was to render beyond all question Lord Lome 
 declares that he will serve the King even against his 
 father, if the latter really meant otherwise than he 
 professed. Some point was added to this declaration 
 by the fact that the writer had now reached his 
 twenty-first birthday and was therefore entitled, if he 
 chose, to express his independent judgment in a 
 matter of this kind. Certainly he must have felt that his 
 protestations and offers of service could not be dis-
 
 POLITICAL DIVISIONS 23 
 
 missed as the mere vapourings of a boy not yet of age. ^ 
 Some writers both of that day and of our own time 
 have suggested that the divergence in politics between 
 the Marquess of Argyll and his eldest son was the result of 
 collusion between them, in order to secure themselves 
 against ruin whichever side might prevail in the long 
 run. ^ Examples of such a policy are to be found in the 
 history of Scotland at this time, ^ but we have no reason 
 whatever for believing that in the present case there is 
 ground for suspecting either the father or the son of 
 such dishonourable procedure. The Marquess's attach- 
 ment to the Covenant was unswerving, and his sympathy 
 with the policy of the Parliamentary party in England, 
 down to the time of the King's being brought to trial, 
 was thorough and was based upon well-grounded prin- 
 ciples. His son, however, was from the first a Royalist 
 in his sympathies and political creed, and he adhered to 
 that cause until misgovernment in Scotland compelled 
 him late in the reign of Charles II to become the leader 
 of a party of opposition to the Court policy. Had there 
 been collusion between him and his father and had he 
 affected a loyalty which he did not feel, we may be quite 
 sure that both those to whom he offered himself as a 
 political associate and the King himself would have 
 speedily discovered the fraud and would have rejected 
 with contempt his professions of devotion to the Monarchy 
 and to the House of Stewart. For the Royal cause 
 he hazarded his life repeatedly, and there can be no 
 doubt that Charles II's conviction of his sincerity saved 
 for him the earldom and the family property when his 
 father was attainted and put to death. Had there been 
 any reasonable suspicion of his loyalty at that time he 
 would most certainly have been deprived of his rank and 
 
 ^ Clarendon MSS. XLII, p. 409 : quoted in Firth, Scotland and the Common- 
 wealth, p. XLVII. The reference to the late proceedings in the Scotch 
 ParHament when taken together with the fact that his birthday was Feb. 26th, 
 seem to us to justify the statement in the text as to his being newly of age. 
 
 * Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, pp. 57, 130 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 238. 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, pp. 63, 91.
 
 24 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 of the estates upon which so many greedy eyes were 
 fixed. 
 
 We do not know whether Lord Lome obtained the 
 interview with Charles II for which he expressed a desire, 
 but it is probable that, after clearing himself in his letter 
 from the suspicion of disloyalty, he abstained from any 
 further action which might tend to embarrass or discredit 
 the policy of which his father was at this time the main 
 supporter. For the Estates of Parliament in Scotland 
 which had proclaimed Charles II King in the room of his 
 father on the day after the news of the tragedy at 
 Whitehall had arrived in Edinburgh, ^ were determined 
 not to allow him to reign until be had accepted the 
 conditions which they judged it expedient to impose. 
 To thorough-going Royalists the Estates were almost as 
 guilty as the faction in England which had put the King 
 to death, and it was not until hope of doing better for 
 himself had died out, that Charles II consented to the 
 terms. 
 
 The proposals of the first Commissioners from the 
 Estates were rejected and Montrose's scheme of invading 
 Scotland received Charles's full support. But ultimately 
 negotiations with the Estates were resumed, and the 
 expedition of Montrose was in the end employed as an 
 attempt to coerce the authorities in Scotland into modi- 
 fying the terms which they desired to impose upon their 
 King. The admirers of Montrose seem to be under an 
 error with regard to the purpose of his last enterprise. 
 They generally quote the bombastic lines written by him 
 after the execution of Charles I, in which he speaks of 
 the tears needed for lamentino^ that Monarch's death as 
 being sufficient to produce a second Deluge and promises 
 " to write his epitaph with blood and wounds ", ^ and 
 then they proceed to tell the story of his invasion of 
 Scotland as though it were a fulfilment of that vow. 
 There is, however, a considerable diff"erence between 
 
 ^ Acts of Pari, of Scotland, vol. VI part 2, p. 157. 
 
 - Quoted in Dr. Gardiner's Commonwealth and Protectorate, vol. I p. 22.
 
 MONTROSE'S FATE 25 
 
 avenging the death of the Royal Martyr and attacking 
 people who were innocent of any share in it in order to 
 bully them into surrendering their liberties. Had 
 Montrose desired to punish those who put Charles to 
 death one would have expected him to land in Kent 
 rather than in Caithness. That before he set foot on the 
 mainland of Scotland he was aware of the ignoble part 
 that he was to play is evident from Charles II's letter to 
 him, which he duly received and to which he replied 
 from Kirkwall, " Your vigorous proceeding ", wrote 
 the King, " will be a good means to bring them to such 
 moderation in the said treaty as probably may produce an 
 agreement and a present union of that whole nation in 
 our service. " ^ At the beginning of May 1650, 
 Charles II signed a draft agreement with the Scotch 
 Commissioners, and there is reason to believe that he 
 stipulated for the safety of Montrose on the latter's 
 laying down his arms. But already the battle had 
 been fought in Sutherland which crushed the Royahst 
 enterprise and left Montrose a prisoner in the hands of 
 those whose righteous anger he had done so much to 
 provoke. The wanton and wicked invasion of Scotland 
 at a time when Charles II had begun negotiations with 
 the Committee of Estates earned for its promoter the 
 penalty of death. His brilliant and chivalrous qualities, 
 however, make us wish that in the manner of his death 
 his judges had been more like " sacrificers " and less like 
 " butchers ". ^ 
 
 At the close of the year 1649 Lord Lome returned 
 home to Scotland after his Continental travels, ^ and in 
 the following year he married Lady Mary Stewart, eldest 
 daughter of the 4th Earl of Moray. * The marriage 
 took place on Monday, May 13th, at Moray House, 
 
 ' Gardiner, Commonwealth and Protectorate, vol. I p. 209. The italics are 
 ours. 
 
 * Julius Caesar, Act II Sc. i. For details of the treatment Montrose 
 received see NicoU, Diary, p. 12. 
 
 ^ Case of the Earl of Argyll (1683), p. 61. 
 
 * Lamont, Diary, p. 20
 
 26 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Edinburgh, and it has been maliciously suggested that 
 part of the wedding festivities was furnished by the sight 
 of Montrose being led as a prisoner up the Canongate. 
 We need not at any rate suppose that the joy naturally 
 belonging to such an occasion was seriously damped by 
 the thought that a public enemy and one who had 
 devastated the territory and crippled the military power 
 of the House of Campbell was at last in the hands of the 
 authorities. One regrets, however, to read of the pro- 
 cession being witnessed from the balcony of Moray House 
 and of the cart in which the prisoner sat being delayed 
 for a few moments before the door. ^ Yet it is gratifying 
 to know that the ferocity of mutual hatred with which 
 some have credited the principal personages concerned 
 is largely the figment of modern political partisans. As 
 a matter of fact the children of the Marquess of Argyll 
 and the Marquess of Montrose were reconciled. The 
 son of the man who had won the battle of Inverlochy 
 visited Inveraray as a guest in the August of 1667,' and 
 at his funeral two years later the then Earl of Argyll was 
 present both in the capacity of a friend and in that of 
 guardian of the boy who had then become the 3rd 
 Marquess of Montrose.^ 
 
 A few weeks after the execution of the envoy whom 
 he had sent to terrorize the people of Scotland, Charles II 
 himself landed in that country and entered upon the 
 brief but troubled sovereignty which his feigned accept- 
 ance of the Covenants had procured for him. A regi- 
 ment of horse and one of foot were raised as Life 
 Guards, and Lord Lome was appointed Colonel in 
 
 1 Napier, Life of Montrose, vol. II, p. 781 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, 
 p. 185. There is no evidence to prove that orders had been given for the 
 cart to stop. The crowd in the street outside Moray House may have blocked 
 its progress for a moment, or the driver may have paused in the belief that 
 this would gratify those on the balcony. The exit of some from the balcony 
 into the house (Xapier, Life of Montrose, vol. II, p. 779) suggests that the 
 incident was unforeseen and disconcerting. 
 
 2 Add. MSS. Brit. Mus. 23,127: fo. 211 : see also Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. II. p. 54. 
 
 » Hist. MSS. Com. 6th, Report, p. 609a.
 
 LORNE AND CHARLES II 27 
 
 command of the foot. His Lieutenant-Colonel was a 
 James Wallace who had seen a good deal of service in 
 Ireland and Scotland during the Civil Wars, and who 
 afterwards played the most prominent part on the 
 Covenanting side in the Pentland Rising of 1666. The 
 soldiers under their command are described as the 
 "choicest of the army and fittest for that trust", i. e. for 
 immediate attendance upon the Sovereign. The cause 
 which they were pledged to maintain was inscribed in 
 " grate gold letters " upon their standards : " Covenant 
 for Religione, King and Kingdomes ".^ For five or six 
 years past military commissions had been issued on the 
 authority of the Estates of Parhament ; but Lord Lome 
 refused to accept his colonelcy without a direct commis- 
 sion from the King. This was granted, and no doubt 
 Charles was gratified by the respect thus manifested for 
 his royal authority at a time when it had been reduced 
 to little more than a name.^ 
 
 In the position which he held, it was in the power of 
 Lord Lome to render the situation of the King even 
 more irksome than it was for some time after his return 
 to Scotland. By sullenness of disposition, a disloyal 
 temper, or personal animosity he might easily have 
 become more like the gaoler in whose charge Charles 
 was than his officer and servant. But we have reason to 
 believe that he discharged his office in such a way as to 
 earn, if not to secure the gratitude of the King. The 
 latter soon learned that he had in Lord Lome a devoted 
 servant and a most trustworthy adherent. Bishop 
 Burnet says of him that " he made his court more dex- 
 terously [than his father] ; for, he brought all persons 
 that the King had a mind to speak with at all hours to 
 him, and was in all respects not only faithful but 
 
 1 Balfour, Annals, vol. IV, p. 84: Acts of Pari, of Scotland, vol. VI, p. 568. 
 For notices of Wa.\\ace see McCrie, Memoirs of Vcitch, etc. p. 355 : Acts of 
 Pari, of Scotland, vol. VI, p. 633. 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argyll (1683), p. 6i. This commission is still preserved 
 at Inveraray Castle.
 
 28 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 zealous."^ Lord Clarendon does, indeed, speak of Lord 
 Lome's having treated Charles II at this time with rude- 
 ness and barbarity. This historian, however, is not 
 always deserving of credit in matters lying outside of his 
 own personal knowledge while his prejudices against 
 both the Marquess of Argyll and his son are unsleeping.^ 
 There can be no doubt that in this particular instance he 
 was indebted to his imagination for his facts and that his 
 imagination played him false. Lord Lome was at this 
 time and for long afterwards a genuine and thorough- 
 going Royalist, and out of sympathy not only with the 
 policy of the more extreme adherents of the Covenant 
 but even with that of his father, which, though more 
 moderate than theirs, still aimed at imposing serious 
 checks upon the royal prerogative. Apart from the 
 inherent improbability of Clarendon's statement and from 
 the testimony contradictory of it which Burnet gives, we 
 have abundant proof that Charles II regarded Lord 
 Lome with very different feelings from those with 
 which harsh and disloyal treatment would inevitably have 
 inspired him. 
 
 The treaty between Charles II and his Scotch subjects 
 and his restoration to the throne of his ancestors were 
 a menace to the English Commonwealth, and almost 
 necessarily involved war between the two countries. The 
 challenge was swiftly taken up, and on Monday, July 
 22nd, 1650, Cromwell entered Berwickshire with an army 
 of sixteen thousand men. After six weeks of desultory 
 warfare in which he failed to induce the Scotch general to 
 come to an open engagement, and just when he was on 
 the brink of a great disaster the English Commander won 
 the decisive battle of Dunbar (Tuesday, Sept. 3rd). Lord 
 Lome's regiment took part in this conflict and suffered 
 very severely. In a letter written shortly afterwards by 
 
 ' History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 57. 
 
 2 Life, p. 499. 
 
 ^ We may refer our readers in proof of this to an extraordinary series of 
 palpable falsehoods with regard to the Marquess of Argyll, which we have 
 noted in The Great Marquess, p. 330 n.
 
 CORONATION OF CHARLES II 29 
 
 Charles II to the Committee of Estates it is described as 
 having been " altogether broken, and most of the officers 
 killed or prisoners. " ^ In consequence of this, the King 
 requests that steps be taken to raise the regiment to its 
 former strength and he entrusts the nomination of new 
 officers to its Colonel, " our cosen, the Lord Lome ". 
 The latter's military experiences were doomed to be 
 unfortunate all through his career, but he never again 
 witnessed a more crushing defeat than on the occasion of 
 this his first battle. Nor was the calamity one from which 
 the party upon which it was inflicted recovered. The 
 power of those who had welded together for a time 
 Scotland and England in the Solemn League and Cove- 
 nant was for ever shattered, and the nation which had 
 furnished soldiers and statesmen to support what it 
 believed to be the cause of religion was unable to do more 
 than furnish martyrs on its behalf in the evil days after 
 the Restoration. 
 
 After the battle of Dunbar the more extreme section 
 of the Covenanters refused to fight any longer in the 
 cause of Charles II. Their action weakened the Cove- 
 nanting authorities to such an extent that they were no 
 longer able to exclude the royalist party from a share of 
 the government of the country. In consequence of this 
 change in the position of political parties, Charles II won 
 a considerable measure of personal freedom, and was 
 crowned at Scone, on Sunday, Jan ist, 1651.^ Cromwell 
 held the capital and the south of Scotland but for some 
 time was unable to induce his opponents to risk a battle. 
 Ultimately when he crossed into Fife and marched north 
 to Perth the Royalist army undertook an expedition into 
 England, only to be overtaken by Cromwell and defeated 
 at Worcester, Wednesday, Sept. 3rd. 
 
 By the time Charles left Scotland on this expedition 
 his relations with the House of Campbell had become 
 somewhat strained. He had found the Marquess of 
 
 ' Dated, Perth, Sept. 12th, and given in Thurloe, Stale Papers, vol. I, p. 164 
 * For an account of this ceremony see The Great Marquess, p. 259.
 
 30 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Argyll predominant in Scotland and occupying a political 
 position strongly defended by the Act of Classes, which 
 virtually excluded all Royalists from office and even 
 from service in the army. The change in the political 
 situation wrought by the battle of Dunbar made the 
 repeal of this Act and the consequent overthrow of 
 the power of Argyll inevitable. But Charles II with 
 considerable astuteness contrived to avoid an open break 
 with the discredited statesman, until he could with 
 safety cast him aside. Immediately after Dunbar he 
 declared that he would still be guided by his counsels, 
 and promised to bestow upon him the highest honours 
 in his power. At the same time he pledged himself to 
 repay the large sums of money expended by Argyll in 
 the public service and supplied to the King himself. ^ 
 Lord Lome had been on terms of intimacy with Charles 
 both as a devoted partisan and as Colonel of his regiment 
 of Guards. The bond between them would have become 
 still closer if a scheme which was then proposed had 
 been carried into effect ; for a suggestion was made that 
 Charles should marry Lady Anne Campbell, the eldest 
 daughter of the Marquess of Argyll. The object of such 
 a proposed alliance was of course to steady the tottering 
 throne by the support of the more ardent Presbyterians 
 who for long had looked to the Marquess as their 
 leader. It is not quite certain with whom the proposal 
 in question arose, buti the evidence seems to us to point 
 to its being a device of the King or of the Royalist party 
 to bind the Marquess to their cause at a critical time 
 when the policy he had supported was being reversed ; 
 and as a matter of fact the negotiations in connexion 
 with it were prolonged until the crisis was over. ^ 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll and his more intimate politi- 
 cal associates were distinctly opposed to the plan of 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Com., vol. VI, p. 606. 
 
 ^ We have given a full narrative of this curious incident in The Great 
 Marquess, p. 263 ct scq. We have only to add to what is there said that 
 Burnet distinctly asserts that the scheme was one proposed by Charles II to 
 Argyll after coming to Scotland (History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 57).
 
 SUBJUGATION OF SCOTLAND 31 
 
 invading England which was adopted by Charles II and 
 declined to take part in it. ^ Clarendon admits that the 
 reasons on which they based their declinature were not 
 frivolous, ^ and indeed on the part of the leading coun- 
 cillors of the King, if not of the King himself the 
 undertaking was like the gambler's final and desperate 
 casting of the dice. ^ At Stirling the Marquess took 
 leave of Charles II and returned to Inveraray, the 
 ostensible ground of his departure being the illness of 
 his wife. * We have no special information with regard 
 to Lord Lome's procedure at this time, but it is highly 
 probable that he accompanied his father into Argyllshire." 
 Had he remained with the small force left in Scotland 
 under the Earl of Leven, we should have expected to 
 find his name in the list of nobles and gentry arrested at 
 Alyth on Wednesday, Aug 27th., when General Monck 
 with eight hundred cavalry captured at one fell swoop 
 the principal supporters of Charles II's government. ^ 
 
 After the battle of Worcester the disarmament and 
 subjugation of Scotland were carried out with prompti- 
 tude. The country was formally united with England 
 and its principal strongholds were occupied by English 
 soldiers. The Marquess of Argyll endeavoured, but 
 without success, to preserve some trace of national inde- 
 pendence. It would seem as if he had desired to repeat, 
 if possible, though on a reduced scale, his political move 
 in 1648, when after the defeat of the Royalist army at 
 
 1 Whitelocke, Memorials, pp. 501, 502. 
 ' History ; vol. Ill, pt. i, p. 513. 
 
 ^ Gary, Memoirs of the Civil War, vol. II, p. 305 : Whitelocke, Memorials, 
 p. 501- 
 
 * State Trials, (Cobbett), vol. V, p. 1376. 
 
 * It is quite certain that Lord Lome took no part in the invasion of 
 England on this occasion. There is not the faintest evidence that he dis- 
 sented from the resistance offered by his father and other Scotch politicians 
 to the scheme in question. He vvab certainly not one of the numerous band 
 of Scotch nobles taken prisoner at Worcester. He makes no mention in the 
 brief narrative of his life when on trial in 1681 of any such episode in his 
 career. It would certainly have been to his interest then to lay stress upon 
 it if it had occurred. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 8 : Life of Robert Blair p. 281: 
 Nicoll, Diary, pp. 56, 108 : Lamont, Diary, p. 41.
 
 32 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Preston, the Whigs seized the reins of power in Scot- 
 land. Had his overtures been accepted, some form of 
 ParHamentary government would have been set up in 
 close alliance with the English Commonwealth and almost 
 necessarily in complete subordination to it. But the 
 English statesmen, after having experienced two formi- 
 dable invasions from Scotland in the course of three 
 years, were resolutely determined to prevent further 
 danger of the kind from that quarter, and refused to 
 allow the exercise of any authority in Scotland which 
 was not derived from the Parliament of the Common- 
 wealth of England. ^ Reluctantly the Marquess of 
 Argyll submitted to the pressure of circumstances, though, 
 with a pertinacity which irritated the English authorities 
 but should win favour for him from the friends of 
 national independence, he postponed final acceptance 
 of the terms offered him until Parliamentary troops 
 had already entered the Highlands to compel his 
 assent. ^ 
 
 In a news-letter of Tuesday, Mar. 2nd, 1652, we 
 learn that Lord Lome was then at Inveraray with his 
 parents and sisters. An air of depression hung about 
 the place which for so long had been a centre of influence 
 and activity, whenever the Marquess had been resident 
 there. For besides the members of the family already 
 specified there were, we are told, no persons of equality 
 about the house. A messenger from the English Com- 
 missioners had visited Argyllshire with some communica- 
 tion from them and it is from him that the information 
 is derived. He said that he saw no soldiers at Inveraray, 
 and that he considered that there was no evidence to 
 verify the rumour that the Marquess was levying another 
 army for a renewal of the conflict with the English 
 authorities. He also reported that the chaplain in the 
 castle usually prayed for the King under the general 
 
 ' Nicoll, Diary, p. 80. 
 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 280.
 
 ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT 33 
 
 description of " a distressed prince " — a practice which at 
 that time was widespread. ^ 
 
 On Thursday, Aug. 12th. of the same year, the 
 Marquess accepted the Union of England and Scotland 
 and promised to live quietly under the Parliament of 
 the Commonwealth of England, until the system of 
 Government without King or House of Lords was 
 extended to Scotland. A week later Major-General 
 Deane concluded an Agreement with him the stringency 
 of the terms of which indicates both fear of his power to 
 disturb the public peace and a suspicion of his good faith 
 occasioned by his long hesitancy. The Agreement in 
 question prescribed that the Marquess should not only 
 bind himself to do nothing directly or indirectly to the 
 prejudice of the authority of the Commonwealth, but 
 should also use his influence to secure a loyal obedience 
 to it on the part of the members of his family and clan. 
 In case of his learning of any active disaffection among 
 the latter he pledged himself to report the fact to the 
 officers of the nearest garrison, or to the Commander-in- 
 Chief in Scotland. He also promised that either he or 
 Lord Lome would be willing to surrender to the Parlia- 
 ment or Council of State, if required, and not to remove 
 without leave from any place appointed for their resi- 
 dence, and that he would pay assessments and other 
 public burdens duly levied, and give up a number of his 
 strongholds to be garrisoned by English soldiers. The 
 only provisos in his favour were that he was not to be 
 held as prohibited from seeking to promote and establish 
 religion in accordance with his conscientious convictions, 
 that neither he, nor Lord Lome, if called upon to give 
 themselves up to the English government and submit to 
 surveillance, should be confined within a compass of less 
 than twenty miles, that they should have free access to 
 Parliament and to the Council of State, and that neither 
 the Castle of Inveraray nor that at Carrick should be 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 38. For the rumour referred 
 to see Ibid, p. 17.
 
 34 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 garrisoned unless upon extraordinary necessity. On 
 condition of the Articles of Agreement being faithfully 
 adhered to the Marquess was assured of liberty and of 
 the full possession of all his property and rights. ^ 
 
 The most galling of the obligations under which he 
 came was his pledging himself to give notice to the 
 military authorities of any active disloyalty on the part 
 of his family or clan ; and there can be no doubt that 
 this obligation was imposed upon him because the fact 
 was notorious that Lord Lome was a devoted partisan of 
 Charles II. It can scarcely be held that this was a 
 stipulation which the English Government had no right 
 to make. The Marquess as the head of a clan was 
 understood to exercise an almost royal power over all 
 acknowledging his authority, and this mere fact imposed 
 upon him a certain measure of responsibility for their good 
 behaviour, and for their observing obligations incurred by 
 him with regard to them. However mortifying, therefore, 
 the Articles of the Agreement might be to Argyll's pride 
 and dignity, the English authorities would have been 
 foolish had they made them less stringent. Yet in the 
 manner in which Major-General Deane conducted the 
 negotiations there was nothing but what was peaceful 
 and conciliatory. " We ", says one of his brother 
 officers, " are turning every stone, stroking every man, 
 and seriously endeavouring a right understanding from 
 [.f* with] these people, if it may be to a compliance with 
 us, or at least to no hostility against us ". ^ Yet they 
 were conscious that their endeavours were likely to be in 
 vain, and but for the risk of exciting an immediate rising 
 they would doubtless have taken the Marquess away with 
 them as a prisoner. ^ 
 
 Their apprehensions were by no means without foun- 
 dation, for Deane had no sooner turned his back upon 
 Argyllshire than three of the five garrisons he had left 
 
 • Firth, Scotland and the Commofiwcalth, p. 48. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 365 : a letter from Inveraray, Aug. i8th, 1652. 
 3 Ibid, pp. 365, 366.
 
 A MILITARY EXPLOIT 35 
 
 there — those of Loch, Kincairn and Tarbet — were sur- 
 prised by the Highlanders.^ Years afterwards, when 
 Lord Lome was being tried for his life, he mentioned as 
 a proof of his loyalty that he had planned and carried out 
 this exploit. " General Major Deane", he said, " coming 
 to Argyllshire and planting several garrisons, he no 
 sooner went away but we fell upon the garrisons he had 
 left, and in one day took two of them, and cut off a 
 considerable part of a third and carried away in all about 
 three hundred prisoners."^ The Marquess interposed 
 to secure the safety of the English soldiers who had been 
 taken prisoners, and evidently offered to restore the 
 garrisons. The military authorities however, did not 
 re-occupy the posts which had been so easily over- 
 powered, and a short time afterwards (Wednesday, Oct. 
 27th, 1652) they made a fresh arrangement by which 
 they retained possession only of Dunstaffnage and 
 Dunolly Castles. ^ 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll had been a reluctant party to 
 these various negotiations, and as he afterwards alleged, 
 the Articles of Agreement were virtually extorted from 
 him ; * but he was resolutely opposed to a renewal of war 
 in the then condition of Scotland. Apart from the fact 
 that his territory was specially liable to invasion by sea 
 the military power and resources of those now forming 
 the Government of the Commonwealth had been illus- 
 trated too often to allow him to believe that anything 
 but ruin would result from a premature rising in favour 
 of Charles 11.*" In the country at large, however, the 
 general discontent was so great as to convince many that 
 such an undertaking was feasible. Of the two factions 
 into which the Church was divided that of the Resolu- 
 tioners was Royalist in its politics, while that of the 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 366. Dunstaffnage and 
 Dunolly made up the five garrisons. 
 
 ^ Case of the Earl of Ar/^'ll, p. 61. 
 
 ^ P'irth, Scotland and the Commoinvealth, pp. 368, 55, 60. 
 
 * Wodrow, History vol. I, p. 144. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 134.
 
 36 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Protestors had no love for the English Sectaries. The 
 Assessment levied to maintain the large number of troops 
 needed as an army of occupation was a heavy burden 
 upon a small and impoverished country, and was difficult 
 to collect. In addition to this a considerable number of 
 the nobility and gentry were in such a position that 
 rebellion had attractions rather than terrors for them. 
 The large majority of them were insolvent in consequence 
 of debts incurred during the long years of war which 
 their country had experienced, and of the diminution of 
 income occasioned by the devastation which had taken 
 place in so many places in Scotland.^ When peace was 
 established and the ordinary legal machinery for the 
 recovery of debts was again in operation, they were hard 
 pressed by their creditors and threatened with ruin. 
 The condition of many became so desperate that a 
 successful revolution seemed the only way in which to 
 effect a change for the better in their circumstances.^ In 
 short the question was soon forced upon the consideration 
 of the ruling powers as to whether a comparatively small 
 number of persons should receive immediate payment of 
 the debts due to them or the peace of the whole nation 
 be disturbed.^ In these circumstances when the causes 
 of discontent in the country were so numerous, it is not 
 wonderful that some of the leading Royalists thought 
 that the war with Holland in which England was involv- 
 ed in the Summer of 1652 provided a convenient 
 opportunity for attempting to recover Scotland for 
 Charles II. 
 
 About this time a number of the Scotch nobility and 
 
 • Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 249 : " Our nobilitie vveell near all are 
 wracked ". He goes on to describe the ruin of all the great houses and the 
 general impoverishment which prevailed : see also Ibid, p. 387. 
 
 2 Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 185. They were in a similar 
 position to Otho who said shortly before his rebellion against Galba " nihil 
 referre, ab hoste in acie, an in faro sub creditoribus, caderet, " (Suetonius, 
 Otho, c. 5). 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp. 267,296. This condition of 
 matters surely reached its acme in Dec, 1653, when we read of there being 
 thirty-five thousand " captions ", i. e. warrants for apprehension, out against 
 men (Ibid, p. 289) : Lauderdale Papers vol. I, p. 9 n.
 
 MIDDLETON COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF 37 
 
 gentry sent an account to Charles of the state of matters 
 in their country and urged him to take action. He had 
 indeed little power to do anything in the way of assisting 
 the would-be insurgents, but he appointed Lieu.- 
 General Middleton Commander-in-Chief of forces that 
 might be raised for carrying out the enterprise in 
 question. ^ Middleton had, like many other men of his 
 time, fought both against and for the Royal cause. He 
 had been a Lieutenant of Montrose when that versatile 
 soldier was a furious Covenanter and had also used his 
 sword effectively on the Parliamentary side at Marston 
 Moor. His services, however, in the Royalist interests 
 at Mauchline Moor and at Worcester might be held to 
 condone his earlier exploits. After the last named battle 
 he had been a prisoner in the Tower but had succeeded 
 in escaping " disguised in his wife's clothes " and in 
 joining Charles II in Paris. ^ His military ability was 
 considerable and his present political opinions were such 
 as to gain for him the confidence of the King and his 
 principal advisers. Hyde says of him : " He is the 
 soberest man I have met with and very worthy of any 
 trust, having the greatest sense of the errors he hath 
 formerly committed, and the best excuses for them that I 
 have found from any".^ Doubtless Hyde remembered with 
 a twinge of contrition that he himself had been an opponent 
 of Charles I in the early days of the Long Parliament. 
 
 Scarcely anything was done in the way of promoting 
 the insurrection in the Highlands for nearly a year. 
 A serious illness of Middleton's and Charles's empty 
 exchequer amply account for the delay. In the meantime 
 the Highland chiefs were growing impatient to begin 
 operations, and in March, 1653, the Earl of Glencairn, 
 who had offered his services, was appointed Commander- 
 in-Chief in Scotland until Middleton should arrive. * The 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Comtitotnt'calth, p. 46. 
 
 * Kirkton, History, p. 6711. 
 
 ' Clarendon Stale-papers, vol III, p. 56. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 99.
 
 38 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 attitude taken up by the Marquess of Argyll towards this 
 movenient was hostile from the first. He had promised to 
 live quietly under the Government of the Commonwealth 
 and he kept his promise. He also lay under the oblig- 
 ation to assist that Government in keeping order in 
 Scotland. Had he been merely a private citizen it would 
 have been tyrannical on the part of the English authorities 
 thus to impress him into their service. But as he was 
 virtually a semi-independent potentate it was but reason- 
 able that he should be required by those who had 
 confirmed him in his tenure of office to use his power 
 for the maintenance of order. His son, Lord Lome, 
 however, chose to ignore the Articles of Agreement with 
 the English Government and to cast in his lot with the 
 Royal cause. In a report as to the condition of matters 
 in Scotland sent by Sir Robert Moray to Charles II, 
 Argyll is said to oppose the rising merely for self-preserv- 
 ation, and to be firmly convinced that it would come to 
 nothing, and that it would be disastrous for both the 
 Highlands and Lowlands. " But my Lord Lome ", he 
 goes on to say, " as your Majesty will find by his letters, 
 hath ever been without the meerest shaddow of com- 
 plyance of any kind most invincibly constant and 
 faithfull to your Majesty's service and interest, [and] 
 will most fully, heartily and actively joyne with those 
 that appear here for your Majesty, as they all know, 
 should it cost him all he values most on earth. So will 
 his brother and friends ", ^ 
 
 We have already referred to the opinion that father 
 and son in thus taking diflFerent sides in politics acted in 
 collusion with each other. Some who have formed an 
 unfavourable estimate of the Marquess of Argyll have 
 compared his conduct to that of such men as Lord Lovat 
 a hundred years later, who adhered to the Hanoverian 
 Government while he sent his son out to assist the Young 
 Pretender. We think, however, that the comparison is 
 unfounded. Argyll was in the grip of the Government 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 134.
 
 ARGYLL IN DANGER 39 
 
 of the Commonwealth, and his position was most seriously 
 compromised and endangered by the action of his son. 
 The enterprise to which Lord Lome committed himself 
 was in his father's opinion utterly desperate. Accordingly 
 it seems to us that the idea of collusion between them is 
 quite out of the question. From Argyll's point of view 
 his son's procedure was frantic folly : while Lord Lovat 
 believed that the cause of the Young Pretender was by 
 no means hopeless. The very astuteness with which 
 Argyll is credited even by his enemies forbids one to 
 suppose that with his strongholds in the possession of 
 English soldiers, under the jealous surveillance of a 
 Government that was ready to crush him if they were 
 convinced that he was playing them false, he would have 
 consented to his son's embracing a cause which he 
 believed to be at the time doomed to failure.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 Royalist rising in the Highlands — Lord Lome joins in it — His father's 
 remonstrances with him — The Royalists invade Kintyrc — Quarrels 
 between Lord Lome and Lord Kenmore. 
 
 Late in 1652 and early in the following year the 
 English Government received information which led 
 them to suspect that a new rebellion was brewing in 
 Scotland. The landing in Fife of an emissary from 
 Charles II and the suspicious movements of Macdonald 
 of Glengarry whose disaffection towards the Government 
 was well-known, convinced Lilburne, the Commander-in- 
 Chief, that "the clouds were gathering and threatening 
 some disturbance ". The Marquess of Argyll had inform- 
 ed him that Glengarry was holding frequent meetings 
 with Highlanders and Islanders, but that he did not 
 know for what purpose. Lilburne, however, had no 
 doubt as to what was in the wind, for in writing to 
 Cromwell he says : " The arrival of a messenger from 
 young Charles hath putt a great deale of life into these 
 kinde of cattell, and itt is to bee reade in many of their 
 countenances what they shortly intend " \ For a time 
 at least the Commander-in-Chief of the English forces in 
 Scotland regarded the movement with contempt. " I 
 doe not value much ", he said, " all that can bee done 
 against us by such a rable ". As, however, he had reason 
 to believe that some of Argyll's own clan and kindred 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commomvealth, pp. 83, 84.
 
 REBELLION BREAKS OUT 41 
 
 sympathised with the rebels, he hinted to the Marquess 
 that a word of warning to them would be seasonable. 
 He also said that some of those who had been summoned 
 by the rebels to assist them and were unwilling to do so 
 would, he was sure, be glad to receive definite orders 
 from the Marquess to abstain from affording them any 
 help \ There can be no doubt that these hints were 
 taken and that the Marquess who was as anxious as 
 Lilburne himself could be that the country should 
 remain in peace, used his influence to hinder the outbreak. 
 He wrote at once from Castle Campbell where he was 
 staying at the time, to Lilburne, protesting his ignorance 
 that any of his people were engaged in the business, and 
 promising on his return to Inveraray, which was soon to 
 take place, to send for some of those known to be 
 disaffected to the Government and to try to convince 
 them of the folly of any attempt on their part to 
 overthrow it '. 
 
 The first overt act of rebellion took place in the island 
 of Lewis. Lord Seaforth, the then proprietor, was one 
 of those engaged to rise in favour of Charles II and was 
 at that time in the island. An English agent of the 
 King's calling himself Crawford, " a black proper man ",^ 
 as Lilburne describes him, was with him. Early in June 
 a man-of-war appeared off the coast and was first thought 
 to be a vessel that had come to take away the Royal 
 emissary. It turned out, however, to be a privateer, 
 The Fortune^ commanded by a Captain Edwards, sailing 
 under letters of marque from the Government of the 
 Commonwealth. Some gentlemen from the island board- 
 ed her and gave permission for a boat's crew to be sent 
 ashore for fresh meat. A lieutenant and seven men 
 accordingly went off but were arrested on landing ; and 
 when signals were made for their return a letter signed 
 by Seaforth was sent on board ordering the Captain to 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 85. 
 
 » Ibid, p. 88. 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 157. The phrase of course means " a dark handsome man ".
 
 42 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 deliver up the vessel for His Majesty's service. Edwards 
 replied by indignantly demanding that his men should be 
 sent back to him. After some days' detention they were 
 set at liberty. ^ Lilburne's irritation at the incident was 
 very great. He promptly gave orders for the arrest of 
 the principal members of the clan Mackenzie, of which 
 Seaforth was the head, and requested Cromwell to give 
 orders for several men-of-war to proceed to the scene of 
 the outrage. " I doubt nott ", he said " but what wee 
 may bee able to doe uppon that Island will soe startle 
 the whole Highlands and Islands that wee shall nott bee 
 much troubled with them in such like cases hereafter. 
 Undoubtedly to make the Lord Seaforth and his Island 
 (called the Lewes) exemplary will bee a very great ad- 
 vantage to the peace of this nation. " ^ His request was 
 complied with and Colonel Cobbett with several war 
 frigates proceeded to the island. They, however, did not 
 meet with any resistance on landing. The Earl of Sea- 
 forth after doing something to fortify the port of Storn- 
 oway had, together with many of the leading inhabitants 
 of Lewis, crossed to the mainland of Scotland, leaving a 
 natural brother of his as governor of the island. On 
 the approach of the English forces the governor and his 
 men fled to the hills, but shortly after on Colonel 
 Cobbett's issuing a proclamation ordering submission and 
 the surrender of arms, they came in and gave up their 
 weapons. Several companies of English soldiers were 
 stationed there and they fortified the port of Stornoway, 
 not only to guard against a fresh outbreak of the Royal- 
 ists but to hinder any attempt on the part of the Dutch 
 to possess themselves of the place, for it was supposed 
 that they had an eye upon it. ^ 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp. 140, 157, 160. 
 
 » Ibid, p. 148. 
 
 ^ Ibid. pp. 221, 226 : VVhitelocke, Memorials, p. 564. It is a rather 
 remarkable fact that the RoyaHsts were quite wiUing to pawn or give Skye, 
 Lewis, or the Shetland Isles to the Dutch for the use of their fishing fleet 
 or their navy (Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp. 158, 185, 234 : 
 Thurioe, State-Papers, vol. I, p. 478).
 
 GUERILLA WARFARE 43 
 
 A more formal declaration of war was communicated 
 to Colonel Lilburne by the Earl of Balcarres and Sir 
 Arthur Forbes, both of whom were prominent leaders of 
 the Royalist party, and had eighteen months before 
 capitulated to the English Goverment. By mutual 
 arrangement they now both wrote to the Commander-in- 
 Chief complaining that the most important Articles of 
 Agreement with them had been violated either at his 
 instigation or with his consent, and stated that they no 
 longer held themselves bound to obey the Articles in 
 question. The resolution to which both had come was 
 expressed by Lord Balcarres. He said he had felt 
 obliged notwithstanding ill-health ' to retire himself 
 somewhat further out of the way where he might have 
 some more hope of freedom than he had reason to 
 expect where he was. ' Both of them gave the wild 
 mountainous region of Lochaber as their present address. 
 It was somewhat vague, but in the circumstances this 
 was no disadvantage, at any rate so far as they were 
 concerned. ^ 
 
 On Wednesday, July 27th, 1653, the standard of 
 Charles II was set up at Killin in Perthshire, and from 
 various parts of the Highlands and of the adjoining 
 country armed men began to gather for the defence of 
 the cause which had already cost Scotland so dear. The 
 hopes of those who thus plunged the country once more 
 into the misery and disorder of war did not rise very 
 high. Their plan was to avoid meeting the forces of the 
 Commonwealth in open field, to attack small parties of 
 the enemy, and by sudden raids and all the various 
 methods of guerilla fighting to exhaust the patience and 
 resources of their opponents. For carrying on war on a 
 larger scale than this they trusted to foreign help, and 
 they imagined that the readiest way of obtaining this 
 was to have an army of some kind on foot in Scotland. 
 Aid from abroad would probably be but slowly afforded 
 in response to mere promises to begin proceedings, but 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonweallh, pp. 146, 147.
 
 44 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 it might be expected to flow more freely if it could be 
 reported that the campaign had already begun/ 
 
 It is quite certain that Lord Lome had from the first 
 decided to join the insurgents. He wrote fom Inveraray 
 on Thursday, April 14th, to Lord Wilmot and to 
 Charles II to assure them of his " constant loyalty to 
 His Majesty's royal persone, family, and government", 
 and of his desire to do His Majesty service according to 
 his power. In the same letter he referred to an earlier 
 missive of the same kind which he had sent, and to 
 tidings with regard to the state of the country which he 
 and his kinsman, the Earl of Loudoun, late Lord Chancell- 
 or of Scotland, had despatched to the King by another 
 envoy.^ Almost two months before the Royal Standard 
 was set up there had been a meeting of Royalist leaders 
 near Killin at which the commission to Glencairn had 
 been read, and oaths of mutual fidelity and of secrecy 
 had been taken. Neither Lome nor the Earl of Loudoun 
 was present at this meeting, but both were represented 
 at it by proxy, and so were pledged to what was then 
 done. ^ From this date, therefore. Lord Lome was 
 committed to the formidable enterprise of attempting to 
 overthrow the military rule which had established itself 
 so firmly upon the ruins of the monarchy and had time 
 after time shattered the powerful armies which Scotland 
 had raised for the support of the Royal cause. 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll had promised Lilburne to use 
 his influence with the disaffected in his neighbourhood to 
 hinder, if possible, their entering upon violent courses. 
 As he tells us himself, in one of the letters which he 
 wrote to Lilburne and which was afterwards used at his 
 trial to secure his condemnation, on his return home he 
 resolved to know if ' he was clear in his own family.' 
 He sent for Lord Lome and asked him if he had come 
 under any engagement to those who were now stirring. 
 
 ' Lament, Diary, p. 75 : P'irth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 147. 
 * Ibid, pp. 120, 121. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 144.
 
 A DISOBEDIENT SON 45 
 
 The answer was that he had not, but that he would give 
 no promise to keep aloof from them. From some 
 expressions he had let fall in private conversation it was 
 thought by those who had reported them to his father 
 that he had no intention of joining the insurgents. His 
 real purpose, however, was soon revealed, for immediately 
 after this conversation with his father he left the house 
 and rode off to Glenurquhay, where he met with Sir 
 Arthur Forbes, Sir Duncan Campbell of Auchinbreck, a 
 kinsman of his own, and other Royalist leaders. ^ 
 
 So far as Lord Lome was concerned, his joining the 
 insurgents was perhaps to his mind a matter of duty, 
 now that the Earl of Glencairn by the authority of 
 Charles II summoned all loyal subjects to the defence of 
 the Royal cause ; but the breach of filial duty which 
 resulted from his obedience to that summons was deplor- 
 able in the extreme. He not only disobeyed his father 
 but seriously compromised him with the authorities, and 
 virtually compelled him to secure himself against present 
 danger by that active co-operation with the Government 
 of the Commonwealth which afterwards cost him his 
 head. Of course he did not foresee this result ; for 
 while our actions are voluntary the consequences to 
 which they may lead are governed by laws which are 
 quite out of our control. " There is a way " says the 
 Royal Seer, " which seemeth right unto a man, but the 
 end thereof are the ways of death. " ^ 
 
 The Marquess immediately despatched after his son a 
 letter of remonstrance and entreaty which must have 
 been very bitter for him to write and for his son to read. 
 In it he conjures his son by the fear of God, by the law 
 prescribing obedience to parents and the penalty for the 
 sin of despising father or mother, to forbear his present 
 course. The intensity of feeling which inspires the 
 closing words of the letter gives them tragic power. " If 
 yet for all this ", he says, " God harden your heart to 
 
 ' The Great Marquess, p. 381. 
 2 Prov., XIV, V. 12.
 
 46 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 your owne destruxion and tryall or trouble of others. 
 Then let all the guiltinesse and prejudice that may follow 
 such waies fall on yourselfe and cleave to you and your 
 adherents and noe other belonging to you : And let all 
 the curse and judgements pronounced in God's word 
 against disobedient children to parents come upon you 
 and pursue you til they overtake you, and let no thing 
 you take in hand prosper, for you are a crosse (I may say 
 a curse) to your father and heavinesse to your mother, if 
 you continue in your waies. But if you repent and 
 returne, God will have mercy, you shall escape the 
 miserye and I shall remayne. Your loving father ". ^ 
 We do not envy the mental acumen or the moral temper 
 of the critic who can discern nothing in the letter but a 
 device to blind the eyes of the Government of the 
 Commonwealth, and who can persuade himself that Lord 
 Lome went out to support the Royalist cause at his 
 father's instigation or with his father's consent. 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll and his son both appealed for 
 support to the principal members of their clan. The 
 former raised a few men for the defence of his own 
 person, since his opponents had the audacity to assemble 
 within five miles of Inveraray, ' and he summoned a 
 meeting of the leading gentlemen of Argyllshire to con- 
 sider the present state of affairs in their district. The 
 same persons immediately thereafter received a summons 
 from Lord Lome to join the Royalist party. But though 
 political feeling ran high between different sections of the 
 clan Campbell, the authority of the Marquess was still 
 strong, and the majority of those to whom both father 
 and son had appealed adhered to the party of their chief. 
 A letter was sent to Lord Lome from a meeting held at 
 Inveraray by his father's supporters, in which in moder- 
 ate but firm language they deprecated his departure to 
 assist in the rebellion and entreated him to return. ^ 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. l66. 
 
 * The Great Marquess, p. 381. 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commomvealth, p. 167.
 
 BATTLE OF THE TEXEL 47 
 
 Both his father's commands and the entreaties of his 
 " affectionate friends and cousins " were, however, in 
 vain, for the extent to which Lord Lome had already 
 compromised himself forbade his retracing his steps, 
 even if he had been willing to do so. His father accord- 
 ingly had no option but to declare all who adhered to 
 him to be traitors, and to co-operate with those whose 
 duty it was to maintain law and order in Scotland. ^ 
 
 It would be a task of extreme difficulty to give any 
 kind of connected narrative of the guerilla war that went 
 on in Scotland for the next thirteen or fourteen months. 
 The first aim of the insurgents was, as we have said, to 
 have an army on foot even if it were but little more than 
 an army in name, in the hope that it would be brought 
 up to full strength and equipment by the troops, arms, 
 and ammunition which, it was thought, Middleton would 
 bring with him from the Continent. The hope was strong 
 also that the Dutch fleet would render some aid to their 
 cause in order to injure the Government of the Common- 
 wealth with which they were now at war. This latter 
 hope, however, was soon dissipated by the news of the 
 battle of the Texel (Sunday, July 31st, 1653), in which 
 the Dutch fleet was shattered by Monck and the great 
 Admiral Tromp slain. ^ 
 
 The first gathering place of the insurgents was in the 
 region between Lochaber and Inverness, and they 
 assembled there to the number, as Lilburne was informed, 
 of about twelve hundred. He, however, attached but 
 little importance to the rising which he thought would 
 soon come to an end, as he was led to believe that there 
 was no general inclination even among the inhabitants of 
 the district to join them. But three days later he had to 
 report to Cromwell that there was risk of Stirling and of 
 Perth being attacked by the enemy, and that the 
 
 ' Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 563. Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, 
 
 P- 193- 
 
 ^ Ibid, pp. 122, 151 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 562 : Life of Robert Blair, 
 p. 309.
 
 48 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 rebellion was spreading into the Fraser country beyond 
 Inverness. Lilburne's position was certainly not to be 
 envied as the troops at his command were utterly unable 
 to cope with the danger that threatened them. In the 
 warfare now being waged cavalry were needed above all 
 things, and in this department he was very ill provided. 
 His stock of ammunition also was at a low ebb and he 
 was at his wits' end for money. The soldiers' allowances 
 were several months in arrears, and it seemed as if the 
 work of building the fortifications decided upon as abso- 
 lutely necessary for holding the country would have to 
 be stopped in consequence of inability to pay the work- 
 men their wages. ^ 
 
 Lilburne's pressing entreaties for more cavalry were 
 not answered until five months later when two regiments 
 of horse along with one of foot were despatched into 
 Scotland. ^ The forces at his command when the rebel- 
 lion broke out were about twelve thousand infantry and 
 two thousand two hundred cavalry. '^ With these he 
 had to maintain a great number of garrisons throughout 
 the country, to guard passes by which raids might be 
 made from the Highlands into the Lowlands, to hinder 
 parties of rebels from joining those who had now taken 
 the field, and to put down the moss-troopers on the 
 Borders who had again begun their old marauding 
 practices. In the meantime until help arrived from 
 England he impressed as many horses as he could lay 
 hands on, and turned some of his infantry into cavalry. * 
 Constant employment used up the horses in a very short 
 time, and by the end of the year Lilburne declared that 
 he had not more than twelve or thirteen hundred cavalry 
 fit for service. '' 
 
 The insurgents, however, were by no means a very 
 efficient or united force. Their leaders were jealous and 
 
 1 Firth, Scotland and the Com^nomccalth, pp. 164, 194, 195. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 30Sn. 
 
 2 Ibid, p. XXXIII. 
 
 "• Ibid, p. L : Lamont, Diary, p. 78. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 305.
 
 A DIVIDED PARTY 49 
 
 suspicious of each other. The Highland chieftains were 
 indisposed to serve under Glencairn who was a Lowlander, 
 while the Lowlanders were anxious to be independent of 
 the Highlanders whom they regarded as " barbarously 
 cruel and treacherous. " Only the commission from 
 Charles II authorizing Glencairn to act as Commander- 
 in-Chief until Middleton's arrival secured his position. ^ 
 One Highland chief desired an Earldom as the reward of 
 his loyalty, and this gave rise to endless heartburnings 
 among his colleagues who resented his claim. ' Glencairn 
 distrusted Lord Lome and very soon the latter had a 
 serious quarrel with his own cousin, Lord Kenmore, who 
 had joined the insurgents in consequence of his estates 
 having been confiscated by the Government. ^ Indeed 
 Lord Lome's whole career in this insurrection was a 
 stormy one, in so far as his relations with his brother- 
 officers were concerned. Though he was but little in 
 stature his spirited courage was of the most inflammable 
 type, * and he might have stood as a representative of his 
 nation which for centuries had provided Europe with a 
 standard of chivalrous bravery by which the claims of 
 others to that quality might be measured. ^ No sooner 
 had he and Glengarry set eyes on each other in the insur- 
 gents' camp than they flew at each other like wild-cats, as 
 Campbells and Macdonalds had done for generations. 
 Lilburne had the satisfaction of reporting this incident 
 to Cromwell, and he added, perhaps with a touch of 
 disappointment natural to one who loves a well-fought 
 fray, that " they were prevented from fighting, yet parted 
 great enemies. " ® 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp. 99, 185, 251. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 310. 
 
 ^ Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 250 : Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 400. 
 
 ^ Compare Kinglake's description of Dr. Keate : " He was little more (if 
 more at all), than five feet in height and was not very great in girth, but in 
 this space was concentrated the pluck of ten battalions '^(Eothen, chap. XVIII). 
 
 ^ Fier comnie tin Ecossois. 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 222 : Thurloe, State-Papers, 
 478 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 565, but " Glencairn " erroneously given for 
 Glengarry.
 
 so A SCOTS EARL 
 
 As the insurgents were not strong enough to take the 
 open field against their opponents they broke up into 
 marauding bands and departed into different districts of 
 the country. Lord Lome and his cousin, Lord Kenmore, 
 with about two hundred and sixty horse and foot, lay for a 
 short time in the region of Menteith a few miles to the 
 west of Stirling. ^ Colonel Reade who was in command 
 of the garrison in that town determined to make an 
 attempt to root them out. Lilburne's report of the 
 skirmish that followed gives us a vivid little picture of 
 the fruitless, irritating character of the warfare in which 
 the English forces in Scotland were now compelled to 
 engage. " Colonel Reade, pursuing them ", he said, 
 " about a mile and half amongst cragges and strange 
 places, killed but 2 or 3 in the pursuite[and] was glad 
 to retreate, the night being neere, and noe provisions to 
 bee had for man or horse in that place, which the 
 Higlanders perceiving run very fast to the Hills that 
 flank't him as hee retreated, killed 2 of his men, and 
 Major Creede's trumpett[er], and 2 horses, and gall'd 
 divers both men and horse besides. " ^ 
 News of this success, trifling though it was, attracted 
 numbers to Lome and Kenmore's standard only to be 
 scattered again when news arrived that Lilburne himself 
 had marched unto the west to save Glasgow from falling 
 into the hands of the insurgents. The latter then retired 
 by Loch Lomond to the head of Loch Long and thence 
 into Argyllshire. A somewhat amusing description is 
 given of the rebels in a weekly newspaper of the time 
 (Oct. 2oth-27th) : "his [Kenmore's] men run away from 
 him daily so that what he increaseth one day he loseth 
 another. He marches with a rundlet of strong waters 
 before him which they call 'Kenmore's Drum*. " ^ This 
 last-mentioned circumstance suggests that the value of 
 
 ■ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 203. 
 * Ibid, p. 204. 
 
 ' Mercurius Politicus, quoted in Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War, 
 p. 209 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 567.
 
 ARGYLL AND LILBURNE 51 
 
 ardent spirits for promoting loyal ardour had been discov- 
 ered even in those early days of distillation. 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll had already shown his fidelity 
 to the Government of the Commonwealth in the aid he 
 had given to Colonel Cobbett in his expedition to the 
 Western Isles. The latter had been crippled by losing 
 several ships by shipwreck, and had had to return over- 
 land from Dunstaffnage. He freely declared that he 
 would never have got through in safety but for the 
 protection which the Marquess had been able to afford 
 him.^ In the divided condition in which his clan then 
 was Argyll was unable, as he assured Lilburne, to hinder 
 the forces under Kenmore and his son from advancing 
 into his country, though they amounted to no more than 
 five or six hundred horse and foot.^ Lilburne repeatedly 
 complained that the people of Scotland in general and 
 even the ministers of religion sympathised with the insur- 
 gents and would give no information regarding their 
 movements until they were well out of reach.^ The 
 people of Argyllshire shared the sentiments of the nation 
 at large. The Marquess had expressed a hope that some 
 opposition would be offered to the entrance of the 
 insurgents into his country, but he discovered as he now 
 told Lilburne that his "countrymen and clan" would 
 not oppose his son.* He, however, sent word that in 
 Kintyre there was a section of the population from whom 
 resistance might be expected. These were Lowland 
 planters from Ayrshire who had been settled in that 
 region during the past twelve or thirteen years, and were 
 ardent Covenanters ^ and adherents of the Western 
 
 * The Great Marquess, p. 292 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 565. 
 - Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 242. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 271 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 567. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 242. 
 
 * The late Duke of Argyll in Scotland as it Was and Is (1887), describes the 
 survival of the same type of character in one of their descendants in 
 Kintyre whom he had known and visited : " He was exactly the sort of man 
 who would have led the singing in a congregation in the hills when the 
 ruffians of Charles II and of Lauderdale were already galloping upon them" 
 (p. 223.) The Earl of Rothes afterwards called Kintyre "a nest of cneaffs " 
 [knaves] from the presence there of this class of people, (Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. I, p. 222).
 
 52 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Whigs who had repudiated Charles II. A number of 
 them had held commissions as Colonels, Lieutenant- 
 Colonels and Majors in the section of the Scotch army 
 which after Dunbar had refused to fight any longer for 
 the " Chief Malignant " and had made overtures to 
 Cromwell/ Lilburne declared that if these men whose 
 political views were so strongly opposed to those of the 
 insurgents and with whom the Marquess's influence was 
 very strong were to offer no resistance to the invasion, 
 he would be forced to believe that he was being trifled 
 with in the matter, or as he himelf phrased it, that there 
 was some "jugling" among those whom he expected to 
 support him.^ The Lowlanders on the approach of the 
 Royalists fortified and held the Castle of Lochheid in the 
 hope of getting aid from the English troops stationed at 
 Ayr or from the Marquess of Argyll. The insurgents 
 demanded the surrender of all arms and ammunition and 
 a contribution of eighty horses, and on being refused 
 plundered the houses of the enemy and drove off their 
 cattle. As no aid came to them from any quarter the 
 Lowlanders after some ineffective skirmishing made 
 terms with Lord Lome and gave up the Castle. We 
 can easily believe that Lord Lome was inclined to 
 condone the resistance he had met with, in view of the 
 fact that these Covenanters were among the very best of 
 the tenants on the estates which would probably one day 
 be his own. At any rate his colleague. Lord Kenmore, 
 thought that they had been far too leniently treated, and 
 went off in great indignation to lay a complaint before 
 Glencairn.^ Lilburne reports a conversation with the 
 Marquess at Dalkeith while these matters were in pro- 
 gress. " He seemes ", says the English commander, 
 " to bee very much afflicted with these proceedings, and 
 threatens his sonne very much and seemes to wish that 
 there were a good force of ours in the Country, [even] 
 
 ' Carlyle, Cromwell, vol. Ill, p. 80. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 234. 
 
 * Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 250.
 
 THANKS FROM CHARLES H S3 
 
 though hee gave us his owne house for our entertain- 
 ment. But att this season of the yeare noe officers I can 
 advise withall thinke itt practicable to venture into those 
 parts." ^ We need not suppose that the desire expressed 
 for a strong force of EngHsh soldiers at Inveraray was a 
 mere device to blind Lilburne. With part of his clan 
 hostile to him and being himself unable without exciting 
 suspicion to raise any considerable body of troops for his 
 own protection and the maintenance of his authority, he 
 had no resource but to draw into yet closer association 
 with the English Government. Indeed the Marquess 
 was forced very soon after this to apply formally to 
 Lilburne for a guard to protect him at Inveraray.^ 
 
 The devotion of Lord Lome to the royal cause was 
 recognised by Charles II and a special message of thanks 
 was sent to him. " You shall lett the Lord Lome 
 know, " ran the King's instructions to an envoy, " that 
 though the Rebells bragge much of the great assistance 
 and benefit they have received by his Father's communi- 
 cation with them, yett wee are well pleased with the 
 professyons he makes for himselfe and his Brother of 
 their resolucions heartily to engage in our service." The 
 gratitude expressed was, however, rather due to expecta- 
 tion than to retrospect, for Charles went on to say that it 
 was his confident hope that all the friends and dependents 
 of the family would follow their loyal example and that 
 every endeavour would be made to stir them up to do 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 257 : Whitelocke, Memorials, 
 p. 568. 
 
 * The Great Marquess, p. 294. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 254.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Correspondence with Captain Hill. — Royalist leaders dissatisfied with 
 Glencairn. — Middleton supersedes him. — Monck suppresses the rising. 
 — Lord Lome surrenders to the English Government. 
 
 After the raid into Kintyre Lord Lome and Lord 
 Kenmore found their way back separately into the heart 
 of Scotland. The former betook himself into the 
 neighbourhood of Glenurquhay in which many happy 
 days of his childhood had been passed, though he found 
 no countenance from his kinsman, the present laird, who 
 was a steadfast supporter of the Marquess of Argyll and 
 was on the best of terms with the Government of the 
 Commonwealth. ^ 
 
 One of the main difficulties in the way of the insur- 
 gents was the existence of strongholds garrisoned by 
 English soldiers in various parts of the Highlands. No 
 general movement in the way of invading the Lowlands 
 could take place with any hope of success while the 
 country in their rear was thus firmly held ; yet of course 
 mere guerilla soldiers such as they were, possessed no 
 appliances for attacking and storming these fortresses. 
 One of them, the Castle of Ruthven, dominated the 
 the region of Badenoch, and was held for the Common- 
 wealth by a Captain Hill, who many years afterwards 
 took a prominent part in the proceedings which led up 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, pp. XLVIII, 268 : Thurloe, 
 Stale-Papers, vol. VI, p. 352.
 
 GLENCAIRN SS 
 
 to the Massacre of Glencoe.^ A correspondence between 
 him and the Royalist leaders deserves a passing notice, 
 more, however, because of its interesting character and 
 Lord Lome's share in it than because of any decisive 
 result which it produced. 
 
 One of Glencairn's accomplishments was an ability to 
 write letters and proclamations in a vein of sanctimonious 
 piety, a practice usually supposed to have been in those 
 days confined to Puritans and Covenanters, but in which 
 even Charles II himself was no mean adept when it 
 seemed to him expedient to use " the language of Can- 
 aan ".^ He now wrote to Hill to suggest that his 
 fidelity to his " unjust masters " indicated a strain of 
 nobility which might shine forth eminently if it were 
 based upon principles of honour and virtue — a change 
 which he would gladly aid in effecting. He pointed out 
 that there was no fixed form of Government in England, 
 but that the country lay at the mercy of Cromwell's 
 lawless ambition. ^ The idea which Hill had that the 
 army now on foot would soon vanish, Glencairn compass- 
 ionately ascribed to want of information resulting from 
 his being in a remote place. " You may, indeed ", he 
 said, " look upon this as the Lord's work ; returning 
 [i.e. bringing back] the abused spirits of all his Majesty's 
 subjects to their duty to their King ; and now most of all 
 Scotland are in arms, and many gallant English are 
 already in arms, and have marched through the greatest 
 part of England to join with His Majesty's forces in 
 this Kingdom,* besides what is doing in Ireland. All 
 Christian princes are arming against those you now serve, 
 
 • Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 270 : Macaulay, History of 
 England, chap. XVIII : D. N. B., vol. XXVI, p. 396. 
 
 2 Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. I, p. 510 : The King to the Scottish Clergy, 
 Oct. 22nd, 1654, (Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 197). 
 
 ^ The Long Parliament had been forcibly dissolved on Apr. 20th of 
 this year, 1653. 
 
 * The allusion is to Colonel Wogan's exploit : Firth, Scotland and the 
 Commonwealth, p. 296, Gardiner, Commonwealth and the Protectorate, vol. II, 
 p. 403. Our readers will probably remember the allusions to Wogan in 
 Scott's Waverley. For the strange inaccuracy of the allusions see Notes and 
 Queries, loth, S., I., Apr. 9th, 1904.
 
 56 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 and ere long will bring a flood of strangers upon them, if 
 the Lord do not bring them to prevent their ruin by a 
 timeous submission ". ^ 
 
 In a few scornful words Captain Hill brushed aside 
 this attempt, as he described it, ' to convince him of the 
 erroneousness of his principles and of his blindness for 
 want of information '. He expressed his opinion that 
 Glencairn would have been in the Lowlands and in more 
 comfortable quarters than those he now occupied, if his 
 statements had been true as to the number who were 
 supporting the Royalist cause. " But were you ", he 
 said in conclusion, " ten times the number that you are, 
 it should not cause me to own that power which you 
 call kingly, or to betray that trust committed to me by 
 my just masters, the deliverers under God, of the poor, 
 oppressed, and enslaved people of the Commonwealth of 
 England, and Scotland, from regal tyranny and bondage ; 
 but shall through the Lord's assistance, prove myself 
 faithful to them, whilst called by the name of John Hiir\'^ 
 
 Lord Lome had already called upon the inhabitants of 
 Badenoch to furnish two hundred well armed men as 
 their proportion of a levy in the Highlands for the 
 cause of the King ; and Captain Hill had warned them 
 that any help whatever given to the insurgents would 
 draw down condign punishment upon them. * He now 
 issued a second warning to them in which he denounced 
 in vigorous terms the character of many of those who 
 professed to be fighting in a holy cause, and made 
 special reference to the part Lord Lome was playing. 
 " I see ", he said, " the destruction of many of them 
 imminent, who are murtherers, thieves, drunkards, 
 swearers, whoremongers, heady, high-minded, proud, yet 
 beggars, disobedient to honest and good parents, truce- 
 breakers and promise-breakers, bankrupts and lawless 
 persons, and generally such as scripture excludes from 
 
 1 Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. I, p. 657. 
 
 ' Ibid, vol I, p. 658 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 580. 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 268.
 
 A FORCIBLE REBUKE 57 
 
 heaven. ^ And think you can these men prosper ? " 
 The terms in which he alluded to Lord Lome were no 
 less pointed and forcible than those in which he had 
 depicted his present associates. " Indeed ", he said, " I 
 cannot but much wonder that your young master (who is the 
 son of so good a father) should concur with those beasts 
 of prey, to defile his own nest, and with those caterpillars, 
 to eat up and destroy those people that have their 
 dependence upon him ; but surely if he be a man, that 
 hath any spark of grace or honesty, he will rather die 
 than suffer those men to wrong and abuse his own 
 innocent people. But certainly if he do otherwise, 
 destruction will be his portion. " " These words cannot 
 have been pleasant for Lord Lome to hear or to read. 
 For even if he could justify to himself the line of action 
 which had led to alienation from his father, the fact of 
 such alienation could not fail to be to him a source of 
 deep regret. It was part of the cost at which he evinced 
 his loyalty to the ungrateful House of Stewart. 
 
 The Earl of Glencairn and Lord Lome were associated 
 together in the vain attempt to induce the governor of 
 Ruthven Castle by arguments or threats to surrender 
 that stronghold into their hands. Probably their co- 
 operation was due to the fact that Lochaber was a district that 
 had passed for the time from the control of the Marquess 
 of Huntly into that of Lord Lome's father. It is quite 
 certain, however, that from this time forward they were 
 on the worst of terms with each other. The causes 
 of their enmity were numerous. Lord Kenmore had 
 already, as we have seen, made mischief between them 
 by his complaints with regard to what had happened 
 during the invasion of Kintyre. Lord Lome had been 
 slighted by Glencairn, and treated as either of doubtful 
 fidelity or as unfit for command. The account of him 
 which about this time the English Government received 
 
 ' Captain Hill seems to have been recently reading 2 Tim. III. Perhaps 
 he would have modified his rebuke if he had remembered I Sam. XXH, i, 2. 
 2 Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. I, 658.
 
 58 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 was that he was by no means considerable with the 
 enemy : that first a regiment of foot of his own raising 
 had been taken from him, and that afterwards a troop of 
 horse which had been given him in place of it had also 
 been transferred to another Commander. ^ But fresh 
 fuel was added to the fire by Glencairn's claiming to 
 exercise supreme authority in districts occupied by 
 Lome's, or rather his father's tenants. The Marquess 
 of Argyll had connexion with these Badenoch lands, as 
 we have said, in consequence of the fact that portions of 
 the Huntly estates to which they belonged had come 
 into his hands. ' Accordingly Glencairn told Lord Lome 
 that " although his father took up the rents of the country 
 the men were the Marquess of Huntley's, and that Lord 
 Lome had nothing to doe with them but he [Glencairn] 
 would use them as he pleased. Whereupon high words 
 arose between them, and Glencairn offered to draw his 
 sword and Lome went away in great rage, swearing that 
 rather than he would see his owne people abused by 
 Glencairne he would lose his life ". ^ The question as 
 to whether tenants of lands " apprized " by a Highland 
 Chief were his vassals equally with those occupying lands 
 which he had inherited is rather a subtle one, and, 
 " much might be said on both sides ". It would be 
 waste of time now to discuss it. Probably under a leader 
 possessed of any tact or savoir faire it would never have 
 arisen. Glencairn's deficiency in this respect was noto- 
 rious, and consequently in spite of the sacrifices that he 
 had made for the Royalist cause and of the tenacity with 
 which he clung to his command, he was superseded on 
 the earliest opportunity. ■* The unfortunate Badenoch 
 tenants were more harshly treated than ever, and but 
 little was left to them that could be either eaten or carried 
 away. Lome made an attempt to rally the gentlemen of 
 
 1 Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 250 : Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. IV, p. 162. 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 226. 
 ^ Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 4. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. XXV : Scotland and the Common- 
 wealth, p. 309.
 
 QUARREL WITH GLENCAIRN 59 
 
 the country about him, but without success, as Glencairn 
 lost no time in dealing with the insubordination which 
 had so suddenly sprung up within his own ranks. 
 
 From the first a strong party among the Scotch Royal- 
 ists were disinclined to accept the leadership of Glencairn, 
 and differences of opinion both concerning the plan of 
 campaign and political questions intensified their dissat- 
 isfaction. ^ Baillie tells us that Lord Lome while pro- 
 fessing strong attachment to the King and to the Royal 
 cause was unwilling to take orders from Glencairn until 
 he knew more particularly the King's pleasure in the 
 matter, and that he and Lord Balcarres and others wrote 
 to Charles expressing their discontent with their com- 
 mander. These letters were intercepted and brought to 
 Glencairn. ^ The anger which they not unnaturally 
 provoked almost led to an immediate conflict between 
 the two factions. Lord Lome withdrew with his men 
 to a short distance and encamped on the other side of a 
 small stream, which now formed a line of demarcation 
 between the hostile parties. Glencairn ordered Glengarry, 
 his faithful supporter at this crisis, to arrest Lord Lome, 
 but the latter made good his escape. Together with a 
 Colonel Meynes and six horsemen he rode off in the 
 darkness of the night and joined some other band of 
 insurgents.^ The men who had been under his command, 
 some five hundred and fifty horse and foot, chiefly 
 belonging to Badenoch, were entrusted by Glencairn and 
 his Council of War to the Marquess of Montrose who 
 had lately joined the cause of the insurgents.* 
 
 Very wild reports were soon circulated with regard to 
 this quarrel between Lome and Glencairn. One was to 
 the effect " that the Lord Lome lately laboured with much 
 
 ■ Burnet, History of My Own Time, vol. I, p. 59 ; Firth, Scotland and the 
 Protectorate, p. 29. 
 
 * Letters, vol. Ill, p. 251. 
 
 ^ Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 4 : Military Memoirs of the Great Civil 
 War, p. 164 : Burnet, History of my own Time, vol. I, p. 58. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 53 : Military Memoirs of the Great 
 Civil War, p. 167 : Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 580. The above was of course 
 the 2nd Marquess of Montrose, son of the famous commander.
 
 6o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 earnestnesse to perswade a Lieutenant Collonell under his 
 command to kill the Earl of Glencairn that soe the said 
 Lord Lome might get the command of all the forces in 
 the Highlands. " ^ Such a monstrous accusation unsup- 
 ported by a particle of evidence does not deserve serious 
 refutation. In a letter to Lilburne from the Captain 
 Hill in command of the garrison in Ruthven Castle, to 
 whom reference has already been made, he is charged 
 with another and a scarcely less detestable act of treachery. 
 Captain Hill states that he has been told that the letter 
 of Lord Lome's which had been intercepted had been 
 addressed to him, and had contained information as 
 to how Glencairn's forces might be best assailed. ^ 
 The fact, however, that at a little later time Lome was 
 appointed to high command under Middleton renders it 
 impossible to believe that he could have been guilty of 
 such a base action. Surely if proof of his treachery 
 had been in the possession of Kenmore or Glencairn 
 they would have taken action upon it and excluded 
 him from further employment in the Royal service. 
 Apart, however, from this consideration we have 
 Baillie's distinct assertion that the letter in question 
 was addressed to the King and that it contained 
 expressions of discontent with Glencairn's command. 
 We may perhaps be allowed purely as a matter of 
 conjecture, to suggest an explanation of the discordant 
 statements with regard to this letter. It is very probable 
 that the complaints against Glencairn were accompanied 
 by some statements as to the methods of warfare pursued 
 by him, and that if Captain Hill had intercepted the 
 letter he would have derived information from it as to 
 the best way of falling upon the insurgents. If this fact 
 were freely spoken about we can easily understand how a 
 rumour might arise that the letter had been actually 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 53. That Glencairn did not 
 believe the story, if it had reached his ears, is conclusively proved by the tone 
 of his letter to Lord Lome in 1655, which our readers will find referred to 
 later on. 
 
 * Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 4.
 
 FRIENDSHIP WITH GLENCAIRN 6i 
 
 addressed to Captain Hill and was meant to give him 
 information of the kind above referred to. As a mere 
 matter of fact Lord Lome's fidelity to the Royal cause 
 all through this campaign was fully recognized by 
 Charles II and by his principal advisers, and, as we have 
 already shown, the feeling of dissatisfaction with Glencairn 
 was sufficiently widespread and strong to result at last in 
 his being superseded. ^ Of course Lord Lome may 
 have been to blame for acts of indiscretion and for faults 
 of temper, but it was well known both by the English 
 authorities and by the Royalists that the cause of 
 Charles II had no supporter whose zeal was greater than 
 his. It is quite certain that Glencairn himself did not 
 believe that Lome had been guilty of any act of treachery 
 towards him, for shortly after the rising in the Highlands 
 had been suppressed he wrote a letter seeking a renewal 
 of friendship with him. The whole tone of the letter of 
 Glencairn is that of one who has done rather than 
 suffered wrong, and he asks for favourable consideration 
 at the hands of his correspondent. The document in 
 question was afterwards produced as a testimonial of 
 character when the Earl of Argyll was tried on a capital 
 charge in 1681. ^ 
 
 The kind of warfare which the Royalists had kept 
 on foot in Scotland consisted in swooping down on 
 unguarded positions, cutting off small parties of the 
 enemy or taking them prisoners, carrying off horses for 
 cavalry purposes, and in doing as much harm as possible 
 to their opponents without taking the open field against 
 them. When hotly pursued they found but little diffi- 
 culty in making their way to retreats whither it was 
 impossible to follow them. The whole population was 
 in sympathy with them and there was every probability 
 that the least appearance of success on their part would 
 
 1 Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. XXV : Thurloe, State-Papers, 
 vol. IV, p. 245. In August of 1654 the King and his Council proposed to 
 appoint Lord Lome Lieutenant-General in Scotland, Ihid, vol. II, p. 574. 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argyll, p. 65.
 
 62 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 be followed by large accessions to their numbers. ^ 
 Though report probably erred by exaggeration in credit- 
 ing them with having eight thousand men at command, 
 the state of matters at the close of the year was so serious 
 that Lilburne began to contemplate the possibility of 
 giving up to the enemy the whole country beyond 
 Dundee (except Inverness) in order to draw together a 
 sufficient number of troops with which to take the field 
 against them. ^ 
 
 The strain upon the English Commander-in-Chief in 
 Scotland was very great. His appeals for money and for 
 reinforcements, especially of cavalry soldiers, were but 
 slowly responded to and at last he declared that the diffi- 
 culties of the situation were so great that some one was 
 needed who was " more fit to wrestle with them " than 
 he was. ^ The political disquiet in England during 1653 
 — a year which witnessed the forcible dissolution of the 
 Long Parliament and the scarcely less sensational circum- 
 stances of the resignation of the Nominated Parliament — 
 and the long war with Holland, explain the delay in 
 attending to Lilburne's most reasonable demands. 
 A great disaster in Scotland would have compelled 
 attention, but as long as Lilburne was able to maintain 
 the semblance of authority in that country his statements 
 regarding the difficulties of his position and his entreaties 
 for aid produced but little immediate effect. At the 
 close of the year he expressed his pleasure at the news 
 that he would soon be relieved of his post. " I heere ", 
 he says, " that a Commander-in-Chief is to be sent down 
 hither. 1 only wish such a one as may pay the people for 
 their knavery. Mee thinkes Monke's spiritt would doe 
 well amongst them. " * 
 
 Some three months or so were, however, to elapse 
 before the close of the war with Holland would allow 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Commomvealth, p. 283. 
 ' Ibid, p. 305n. 
 ' Ibid, p. 302. 
 * Ibid, p. 308.
 
 ARRIVAL OF MIDDLETON 63 
 
 Monck to come down into Scotland to deal with the 
 insurrection which had proved too serious to be suppress- 
 ed by Lilburne with the limited means at his command. 
 In the meantime as we have said two regiments of horse 
 and a regiment of foot were despatched to his aid. 
 
 At the end of February, 1654, Lieutenant-General 
 Middleton landed in Sutherlandshire, with a few other 
 officers and about eighty men, and with a small stock of 
 arms and ammunition.^ The hope of substantial aid from 
 Holland had proved vain ; and Middleton's being sent 
 over at this present juncture was largely due to the need 
 that was felt by Charles to put an end to the quarrels 
 among the Royalist leaders in Scotland. At the first 
 rendezvous Glencairn, Glengarry, Forbes, and others, 
 appeared with an army of between two and three 
 thousand men, of whom about five hundred were 
 serviceable cavalry. ^ A few days later, at a meeting of 
 officers in Dornoch, Middleton presented his commission 
 as Commander-in-Chief and was received with acclama- 
 tion. But the announcement that Sir George Monro, 
 whose arrogance and brutality were notorious, had been 
 appointed second in command, excited considerable 
 discontent. Glencairn fully expected to receive this post 
 in consequence of the sacrifices which he had made for 
 the Royalist cause, and of his arduous labours in carrying 
 on the insurrection during the past nine months. His 
 rage at being superseded, though suppressed at the time, 
 broke out with great violence at a dinner which he gave 
 shortly afterwards to Middleton and the other officers. 
 From all accounts the causes of quarrel at this dinner 
 were so numerous, and the stock of wine so large, ^ that 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate pp. 52, 56 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 122 ; 
 Lament, Diary, p. 83 : Mercurius Politictis, Mar. 4th., 1654. 
 
 '^ Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 119. The anonymous author of 
 Glencairne's Expedition pubhshed in Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War 
 gives the number as 3500 foot and 1500 horse : but the numbers given above 
 are taken from an official report to Charles II's Secretary of State. 
 
 ' A small English " pink " had been cast away on the coast of Suther- 
 land shortly before with about 30 or 40 tunb of French wine on board 
 of it.
 
 64 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 it would have been almost miraculous if matters had gone 
 off peaceably. Glencairn was sore at the slight which 
 had been cast upon him, and he had to sit and listen to 
 Monro's expressions of his favourable opinion of Lord 
 Lome and of his wishes to confer on him high command 
 in the Royalist army. ^ On the other hand Monro 
 resented the ill-treatment which a brother of his who 
 belonged to the opposite faction had received from 
 Glencairn. " After dinner the latter addressed Middleton 
 and referred to the gallant army which he and a few other 
 had raised out of nothing, and entreated the Commander- 
 in-Chief to bestow upon them the encouragement which 
 their devotion and labours merited. He was interrupted 
 by Sir George Monro who started up from his seat with 
 an oath, and declared that the men spoken of were nothing 
 but a pack of thieves and robbers and that in a short time 
 he would show them soldiers worthy of the name. 
 Macdonald of Glengarry was eager to defend the honour 
 of the Highland troops, but Glencairn ordered him 
 to leave the quarrel alone, and directing his attention 
 to Monro he called him " a base liar " and declared that 
 the men were better than any he could raise. Middleton 
 ordered both of them to keep the peace, but next morning 
 a desperate duel took place between them. Both were 
 on horseback and after exchanging pistol-shots without 
 effect they fought with broad-swords. Glencairn was 
 slightly wounded but he almost severed Monro's bridle- 
 hand at the wrist. They then alighted from horse-back 
 and fought on foot, when Sir George received a severe 
 wound across the brow which bled so profusely that he 
 could not see to continue the duel. So furious was the 
 mood of Glencairn that but for the interference of his 
 own servant he would have thrust his sword through 
 the body of his prostrate antagonist. Middleton placed 
 him under arrest for a few days, but shortly afterwards 
 he left the Royalist army, and six months later he capitu- 
 
 1 Life of Robert Blair, p. 315. 
 
 * Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 89.
 
 MONCK COMES TO SCOTLAND 6s 
 
 lated to Monck (Monday, Sept. 4th, 1654), in the full 
 persuasion that it was utterly hopeless to continue the 
 struggle with the Government of the Commonwealth. ^ 
 
 Late in April Monck came to Scotland and found 
 matters fully as serious as Lilburne had represented them 
 to be. One of his first actions was to proclaim the 
 Protector at Edinburgh and to publish an ordinance 
 which had been recently passed by the English Govern- 
 ment uniting Scotland with England in one Common- 
 wealth. At the same time a proclamation was issued 
 declaring that twenty-four of the leading Royalists, of 
 whom Lord Lome was one, had forfeited their estates in 
 consequence of their rebellion, and imposing fines varying 
 from ;^ 14000 Sterling to ;^500 Sterling upon seventy- 
 five others belonging to the same party. In accordance 
 with a custom of the time specially repulsive to modern 
 feelings he also set a price upon the heads of Middleton 
 and of four of his principal colleagues. ^ 
 
 The military measures taken by Monck were charac- 
 terized by thoroughness and promptitude. Peace having 
 been concluded with Holland, the English authorities 
 were at liberty to devote full attention to Scotch affairs, 
 and consequently Monck was far more successful than 
 Lilburne had been in obtaining reinforcements of men 
 and supplies of money for carrying on war. He did not 
 enter upon active proceedings until the grass had grown 
 sufficiently to provide forage for his cavalry, but in the 
 meantime he did what he could in the way of guarding 
 the passes leading from the Highlands to the Lowlands, 
 and of hindering fresh parties of rebels from joining the 
 insurgents. He burned boats on lochs that had been or 
 might be employed by the enemy for transporting their 
 
 1 Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War, p. 185 : Firth, Scotland and the 
 ConiDioiiwealth, pp. 89, 163. 
 
 2 Nicoll, Diary, p. 124 : Acts of Pari., Scotland, vol. VI, pt. 2, pp. 817, 821 : 
 Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 261 : Lamont, Diary, p. 86. In like manner 
 the Committee of Estates set a price upon the head of Montrose — a procedure 
 which ignorant and prejudiced writers of a certain school represent as an 
 unparalleled atrocity and as Argyll's personal act.
 
 66 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 forces from one district to another, and fords that could 
 not be otherwise secured he rendered impassable for their 
 cavalry by sowing them freely with " crows' feet " — a 
 detestable little contrivance for laming horses by piercing 
 their hoofs. ^ 
 
 After he had by these means secured the valley of the 
 Forth and that of the Tay and had arranged for a strong 
 garrison of soldiers from Ireland to be stationed on the 
 west coast at Inverlochy, Monck was ready to take the 
 field, and accordingly he started from Perth with two 
 regiments of horse and three and a half of foot. ^ In the 
 meantime Middleton who had been cooped up in Suther- 
 land and Caithness by the force under the command 
 of Colonel Morgan which lay at Dingwall, managed to 
 give the latter the slip and to escape south over the hills 
 without coming to an engagement. ^ Morgan followed 
 upon his traces and by an arrangement with Monck 
 took up his position in Ruthven. The plan of 
 operations which the English Commander adopted was 
 very simple. It was to catch Middleton between his 
 forces and those of Morgan, and compel him to fight 
 with either the one or the other of them. * For five 
 weeks he kept the Royalist troops incessantly on the 
 move and to use his own phrase " march't them from 
 3,000 to 1,200. " '' Wherever he went through the 
 territory of hostile clans he ruthlessly burned houses and 
 destroyed crops in order that the enemy's forces might 
 find neither shelter nor food there during the next 
 winter.^ At last on Wednesday, July 19th, 1654, a 
 decisive engagement was fought. Middleton's forces 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, pp. XIX, 93, 95, 107. " Crows' 
 feet " are like " caltrops ", an instrument armed with four spikes so 
 arranged that one always stands upright. 
 
 - Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. XX. 
 
 ' Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 388. 
 
 * Ibid. vol. II, p. 483. Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 597 : Firth, Scotland and 
 the Protectorate, p. XX. 
 
 * I. e. the Royalist infantry. 
 
 ^ Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II, p. 526 : Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, 
 P- M5-
 
 ROYALIST DEFEAT 67 
 
 were surprised by Colonel Morgan at the head of Loch 
 Garry near Dalnaspidal. The Royalist cavalry and 
 infantry, eight hundred and twelve hundred in number 
 respectively, were straggling over the country with an 
 interval of five miles between them. Middleton on 
 perceiving the enemy sought to draw off without an 
 engagement, but before he could do so Morgan was 
 down upon him. " We presently, " says the latter, 
 " put them to the Rout, persued them about six miles, 
 and forced them to disperse three waies. " Middleton 
 himself was dismounted and wounded, and his charger, 
 his commission and instructions from Charles II with 
 other personal property, fell into the hands of the enemy. 
 Out of the eight hundred Royalist cavalry only one 
 hundred could be gathered together after the fight. 
 The infantry after some slight resistance dispersed to 
 their homes. ^ This virtually concluded the campaign, 
 though a few small parties of Royalists, never more than 
 a few hundred at most, held the field in different parts of 
 the country until the early months of the following year. 
 Lord Lome's share in these events had been but 
 slight. Soon after Middleton's arrival in Scotland he 
 had written expressing his devotion to the cause of 
 Charles II and offering his services with a contingent of 
 six hundred men, but owing to his quarrel with Glencairn 
 his overtures at first met with no very cordial response. ^ 
 But in a short time it became evident that the quarrel on 
 Glencairn's part had sprung from private animosity and 
 not from zeal for the Royal cause ; and accordingly as 
 the reputation of Glencairn declined that of Lome was 
 re-established. None of his exploits, however, were of a 
 conspicuous kind, and none led to any decisive result. 
 Some two or three of them are recorded, and these 
 derive their interest principally from the light which 
 they cast upon the relations between him and his 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 402 ; Whitelocke, Memorials. 
 PP- 597, 598. 
 
 " Ibid, pp. 74, 126.
 
 68 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 father at this time. Thus on Sept. I2th Monck reported 
 to Cromwell that he had been informed by the Marquess 
 of Argyll that a vessel laden with provisions and ammu- 
 nition for the supply of English forces expected at 
 Inveraray had been seized by Lord Lome. " He came," 
 says the Commander-in-Chief, " with thirty horse and 
 first fell upon the guard of twenty fower musketeares 
 which were on shoare, killed two of them, and tooke the 
 rest (except two that gott into the Marquesses howse), 
 and afterwards seized on the vessell and provisions. " ^ 
 Two days later he writes to say : " I understand the 
 Lord Lome gott not above six scores bagges of biskett 
 out of the shippe, but the Countrey people got out 
 much of the rest, onely the shipp and some provisions 
 were saved. " At the close of his letter Monck says : " I 
 cannot finde but that the Marquesse of Argyll is rightous 
 [i. e. straightforward] though the Countrey more incline to 
 his Sonne then [than] to him. " ^ The general sympathy 
 of the country with Lord Lome was, he thought, quite 
 plain from the fact that he had ventured on such an exploit 
 attended by a mere handful of men. A month later we read 
 of cattle for the supply of the Royalist forces being driven 
 off from Argyllshire. The chronicler who relates the 
 matter sets down the bare fact in terms which rob it of 
 all romance : " Nov. 1 5th. the Lord Lorn sent parties 
 into his father's country to steal cows. " ^ The quaint 
 statement is made that the Earl of Loudoun, late Lord 
 Chancellor of Scotland, rambled up and down with his 
 kinsman Lome and his party " to give countenance to 
 their designs. " ' The idea of so grave a personage as a 
 Lord Chancellor accompanying a party of hungry 
 marauders on the errand of stealing cows, in order to 
 deprive the action of any semblance of illegality, is not 
 without its humorous side. The situation in which he 
 
 ' Kirth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 175. 
 
 ^ Ihid,p. lyO : Whilelocke, Memorials, p. 606. The ship contained 600 bags 
 of biscuit and ten tons of cheese. 
 » Jbid, p. 608. 
 * Nicoll, Diary, p. 140 : Mercurius Politicus, Nov. 9-16, p. 4007.
 
 AN UNNATURAL CONFLICT 69 
 
 was placed himself was one in which he was exposed to 
 danger both from the resentment of the owners of the 
 cattle and from the ingratitude of some of his companions. 
 For we read that the latter on one occasion proposed to 
 make their peace with the Government by giving him 
 up, and that they seized him for this purpose. He got 
 off, it seems, in the end, but in the melee he received a 
 shot in the neck. ^ But for this serious termination of 
 matters the episode would have seemed more appropriate 
 for the libretto of a comic opera than for the page of 
 history. 
 
 One of the most dreadful results of civil war, in its 
 sometimes arraying against each other those who are 
 bound by the closest ties of kinship, was illustrated in 
 the case of Lord Lome and his father. The latter was 
 compelled by the position he occupied in the country 
 and by his obligations to the English Government to 
 drive his son and those who adhered to him out of 
 Argyllshire. In some one of the conflicts by which this 
 was effected we are told that " they [i. e. Lome's party] 
 sank the Marquesses boates efter they haid supprysed 
 thame, and durst not encounter the Marques, quho 
 killed sum few, and woundit utheris of his men." " And 
 now, " adds the same authority, " seing bluid hath bene 
 drawin betwix the father and the sone, ane can hardlie 
 imagine they are in spoirt, or that thai can be reconcealit 
 upon easie termis. " It is humiliating to read that the 
 Marquess of Argyll was constrained to apply for an 
 English garrison to defend him against his son's 
 violence. " The members of his clan were divided in 
 their allegiance between him and his son, and the num- 
 ber of armed retainers he was permitted to keep for 
 the protection of his person was small : so that he had 
 scarcely any option but to ask for a guard. Baillie 
 tells us that when the company of soldiers were on their 
 
 ' Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 606 : Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. II p. 619. 
 The person who " pistoll'd " Loudoun was a Lieut. Col. Irvine. 
 ' Nicoll, Diary, p. 140.
 
 70 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 way to Argyllshire the Marquess changed his mind, and 
 got an order for their recall, but that this vacillation of 
 his exasperated the military authorities, who ignored the 
 order and took possession of " his owne best house of 
 Inneraray. " He also adds that the soldiers stabled their 
 horses in the church and school there, and that well on 
 into the next year they were still in occupation of the 
 quarters they had seized upon. ^ So far as Lord Lome 
 was concerned his power to do anything further in arms 
 at this time for the Royal cause was at an end, and he 
 was in such a miserable plight that we are told of his 
 having, early in December of this year, sought shelter in 
 some small island along with four or five of his men. ^ 
 
 Immediately after this Lord Lome desired a meeting 
 with his father to arrange terms with regard to his sur- 
 rendering to the English Government. "* The meeting, 
 which must have been a painful one for them both, took 
 place evidently at Inveraray, and at it the principal 
 gentlemen of the clan Campbell who had adhered to the 
 Marquess were present. Lord Lome heard the state- 
 ment of the terms which they thought it reasonable he 
 should consent to accept, but he declined to make any 
 final agreement, until he had first communicated with his 
 Commander-in-Chief, Middleton. It is a tragic circum- 
 stance in the case that the letter in which the Marquess 
 informed Monck of this interview was one of the six 
 which the latter afterwards treacherously supplied to 
 secure a death sentence being passed upon him. * 
 
 Lord Lome in the midst of his disappointment at the 
 failure of the rebellion in which he had taken part 
 probably found some satisfaction in learning that his 
 conduct had met with the approval of his Sovereign. 
 " I am very glade, " said Charles in a letter to him, " to 
 hear from Middleton what affectione and zeall you show 
 
 ' Letters, vol. Ill, p. 288. 
 
 ^ Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 609. 
 
 » Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. Ill, p. 28. 
 
 * The Great Marquess, p. 385.
 
 BAPTISMAL CEREMONY 71 
 
 to my service, how constantly you adhere to him in all 
 his distresses, and what good service you have performed 
 upon the rebells. I assure you you shall finde me very 
 just and kinde to you in rewarding what you have done 
 and suffered for me ; and I hope you will have more 
 credit and power with those of your kindred and depend- 
 ants, upon your familie to engage them with you for 
 me then [than] anybody else can have to seduce them 
 against me ; ^ and I shall look upon all those who shall 
 refuse to follow you as unworthy of any protectione 
 hearafter from me, — which you will lett them know." * 
 
 Where Lady Lome had been during the greater part 
 of the past eighteen months of civil warfare, we do not 
 know. She was in Edinburgh on Tuesday, June 27th, 
 1654, for we hear of the baptism on that date of her 
 daughter, Margaret, a child who died soon afterwards. 
 This daughter was probably born in Edinburgh shortly 
 before that date, and as the notice of the baptism occurs 
 in the Canongate Register, we may conclude that the 
 scene of both events was the historical mansion of Moray 
 House, which belonged to Lady Lome's father. The 
 time when the baptism occurred was after Monck's arrival 
 in Scotland and a few weeks before the decisive en- 
 gagement at Loch Garry which virtually crushed the 
 insurrectionary movement. Lord Lome's active partici- 
 pation in the military operations of the time sufficiently 
 explains his absence from the peaceful ceremony. We 
 are told that " in the absence of the parent, his cousin, 
 the Earl of Lothian was presenter of the child. " The 
 minister who officiated was the Mr. George Leslie by 
 whom the parents had been married four years before in 
 the Royal Chapel at Holyrood House. ^ 
 
 In the beginning of 1655 we find Lady Lome residing 
 at Inveraray. Probably she had come thither to join her 
 
 1 The covert reference here to the Marquess of Argyll is worth noticing. 
 » Hist. MSS. Com. Rept.Vl,p. bis. The letter is dated "Collen" [Cologne], 
 Dec. 30th, 1654. 
 * Register of Baptism, Canongate, June, 1654.
 
 72 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 husband on his virtually consenting to make terms with 
 the English authorities, and on his entering into 
 conference with his father and friends. At this time her 
 mother-in-law and the other members of her husband's 
 family were residing in Carrick Castle. Lady Lome's 
 sympathies were naturally with the party of which her 
 husband was a prominent member, and it is evident from 
 the fact that the principal Royalists of Argyllshire were, 
 soon after her arrival thither, in communication with her, 
 that she was inclined to assist actively in their schemes. 
 The attention of the authorities was soon directed to 
 this state of matters and she was ordered to leave 
 Argyllshire without delay. These orders were communi- 
 cated to her by a Captain Francis Nichol in a letter from 
 Kilmartin, dated Wednesday, January i8th, 1655. The 
 writer announces that, in consequence of the conduct 
 referred to. Her Ladyship's presence in that district was 
 very much to the prejudice of the Commonwealth and 
 peace of the country, and that she and her family must 
 at once depart from the county of Argyll. He intimated 
 further that if this order were disobeyed Her Ladyship 
 by her " obstenance " would draw confusion upon herself 
 and family, and that in case of refusal little " civillyty " 
 would be found at his hands. ^ From all accounts that 
 quality was one in which Captain Nichol was constitution- 
 ally deficient. ^ In view of the fact that Lord Lome 
 would otherwise have been seriously compromised we can 
 safely conclude, in default of positive evidence, that the 
 orders so brusquely given were obeyed without undue 
 delay. 
 
 General Middleton fully approved of Lord Lome's 
 proposal to make terms with the English Government — 
 a procedure which he himself had been constrained to 
 adopt. In a letter from Dunvegan, dated Saturday, 
 Mar. 31st, 1655, the Royalist Commander urges him to 
 " loose no tyme in taking such course... for the good of 
 
 ' Hist. MSS. Com. Report VI, p. 622. 
 
 '■' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. 243 n.
 
 LORNE AND MIDDLETON 73 
 
 his persone, familie and estate. " In this letter he speaks 
 in the highest terms of his correspondent's conduct 
 during the campaign. He says that Lord Lome had 
 " enlyvened the war " of which he had been one of the 
 chief and first movers, and that what he called his 
 " deportments " in relation to the enemy had been 
 " beyond all parallell. " ^ In a second letter written after 
 he had left Scotland, and dated Paris, Tuesday, Apr. 1 7th, 
 he again praises Lome's services during the war, and 
 says that, next to the ruin of the enterprise in which 
 they had both been engaged, he regrets having left 
 Scotland without waiting upon him. Had they met they 
 would, he says, have been able to arrange a method of 
 correspondence with each other, and he would have 
 made Lome fully acquainted with all that was in his 
 mind. " I should, " he remarks, " have been plain in 
 evriething, and indeed have made your Lordship my 
 confessor. " ^ The strikingly confidential tone of the 
 letter is convincing proof that Middleton placed implicit 
 reliance upon his correspondent's honour and integrity, 
 and that he did not believe the stories which had been 
 circulated to his discredit. Indeed so far as the libellous 
 reports referred to were concerned Lome was not the 
 only victim. They were current with regard to all the 
 leaders of the late rebellion except Glencairn and Glen- 
 garry, ^ and certainly emanated, if not from either of 
 them, at any rate from some of the more unscrupulous 
 members of the faction supporting them. 
 
 The articles of agreement between Monck and Lord 
 Lome were concluded on May 17th, 1655, and were 
 finally ratified by the Protector and Council on the 9th 
 of August following. By this treaty Lord Lome pledged 
 himself to live peaceably under the Protector and Com- 
 monwealth, and provide " good Lowland security to the 
 amount of ;/^5,ooo Sterling as a guarantee of good 
 
 1 Case of the Earl o/Argylc (1683), p. 61 : Hist. MSS. Com. Report VI, p. 622. 
 
 '■' Ibid, p. 622. 
 
 ^ Firth, Scotland and the Commonwealth, p. 209.
 
 74 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 behaviour. " In return for this he was to remain un- 
 molested in the possession of all property and rights 
 belonging to him, and was declared exempt from punish- 
 ment on account of any acts of ordinary warfare committed 
 by him during the late campaign. ^ 
 
 1 Cal. S.P. Dom., 1655, p. 270 : Hist. MSS. Com. Report VI, p. 696 : 
 Adventures in Legend, p. 247 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 153.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Lord Lome suspected of intriguing against the Government — Imprisoned 
 in Edinburgh Castle — Meets with a serious accident — Liberated on 
 parole — The Restoration — Trial and Execution of the Marquess of 
 Argyll — Ecclesiastical parties in Scotland. 
 
 Though the movements of Royalists in Scotland were 
 jealously watched, and occasionally arrests were made of 
 members of that party whose conduct excited suspicion, 
 the peace was unbroken during what remained of the 
 period of the rule of the Commonwealth. Armed bands 
 had crossed and recrossed the land as confusedly as sparks 
 traverse the ashes of burning paper, but beyond the 
 increased impoverishment and misery of large tracts of 
 the country no result remained of these two years of 
 guerilla warfare. Glencairn and Middleton and other 
 Royalist commanders had hoped to repeat the brilliant 
 achievements of Montrose which ten years before had 
 shattered the forces of the Covenant, but their efforts had 
 been utterly futile. The only military genius for which 
 this rebellion had provided an opportunity of displaying 
 itself had been that of Monck. Of him for many a day 
 a record remained written in characters that were only 
 too legible in the destruction and desolation which marked 
 the line of his progress through the Highlands. ^ 
 
 It is to be feared that cordial relations between the 
 Marquess of Argyll and his son were not immediately 
 
 ' Firth, Scotland and the Protectorate, p. XX.
 
 76 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 restored upon the latter's submission to the Government 
 of the Commonwealth after the abortive attempt to over- 
 throw it. They were inclined no doubt to blame each 
 other for the disasters which had fallen upon their country 
 and for the impoverishment of their own house in conse- 
 quence of the heavy burden of debt laid upon it. ^ A 
 kinsman of theirs who visited Rosneath at this time was 
 distressed by what he saw of the implacabihty of the 
 father and the " insubmissiveness " of the son, ^ but 
 much had happened to try both their tempers, neither of 
 which at the best was faultless. During the rest of the 
 period of the Commonwealth the Marquess was a good 
 deal in London, where he was engaged in effecting a 
 settlement of certain financial claims of his upon the 
 Government, ^ and in transacting business entrusted to 
 him by parties in Scotland. ^ Lord Lome remained in 
 Scotland, but he was from the time of his surrender 
 subjected to very close and jealous surveillance on the 
 part of the Government, as it was confidently believed by 
 the authorities in England that he and the Earl of 
 Glencairn were the most dangerous of their opponents in 
 Scotland, and that any further Royalist intrigues in that 
 country would most certainly have either the one or the 
 other as the prime mover in them. ^ It is rather curious 
 to find that about this time Lord Lome was approached 
 by his former enemy, Glencairn, with a view to a recon- 
 ciliation. The latter wrote in a somewhat servile tone, in 
 a letter to which we have already alluded, regretting that 
 it had been his misfortune to be misrepresented to Lord 
 Lome as a person unworthy of his favourable opinion, 
 and he referred to the respect shown for him by many in 
 Edinburgh as a testimonial to his good character. His 
 object apparently was to induce his correspondent to 
 enter into some new scheme in the interests of Charles II, 
 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 294 : Thuiioe, State-Papers, vol. IV, p. 401. 
 
 * Brodie, Diary, pp. 147, 150 : Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 288. 
 ' The Great Marquess, p. 296. 
 
 * Life of Robert Blair, p. 329. 
 
 * Thurioe, State-Papers, vol. IV, p. 49 : vol. V, p. 18.
 
 ESPIONAGE 77 
 
 as he says that he is anxious for " a perfect unity among 
 all good and honest-hearted Scotsmen ". ^ 
 
 A month after the ratification of the treaty with Lord 
 Lome, Lord Broghill, the President of the Scotch 
 Council, wrote to Thurloe to inform him that a new 
 rebellion was being hatched in Scotland. He declared 
 that Lord Lome was more than suspected of having an 
 agent with the King and that Glencairn had been " trin- 
 keting " [plotting] with parties both in Scotland and in 
 England. " These facts or supposed facts had been 
 discovered by means of spies, or " intelligencers " as they 
 were then called. In this particular case the man who 
 was Glencairn's agent with the King earned a second 
 salary by conveying intelligence to General Monck. It 
 may of course at times be necessary for a Government to 
 employ such wretches and to countermine the mines by 
 which their enemies are seeking to blow them into the 
 air, but no great reliance can be placed upon men living 
 lives of double-dyed falsehood. For in order that they 
 may have something to report to their employers it is 
 their interest to promote plots — to entrap the unwary 
 into seditious acts and then to sell them to the Govern- 
 ment. Such was the condition of matters during the 
 rule of Cromwell. He placed great trust in the method 
 of governing by espionage, and the result of matters was 
 that under him, to use the words of a contemporary, 
 " there was such a devilish practice of trepanning grown 
 in fashion that it was not safe to speak to any man 
 in those treacherous days. " ^ This is an aspect of 
 Cromwell's administration of affairs which by no means 
 redounds to his credit. 
 
 The information which Broghill received in this way 
 was such as to keep him in a constant ferment of anxiety : 
 now it was that Lord Lome had " declared for Charles 
 
 1 Hist. MSS. Com. Report, VI, p. 620. 
 ^ Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. IV, p. 49. 
 
 ^ Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, (Bohn), pp. 326, 374 : Welwood, Memoirs, 
 p. 96 : Carte, Life of Ormond, vol. II, p. 223.
 
 78 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Stewart, " that he was in arms and had surprised the 
 castle and garrison of Mull, and now that he had had a 
 meeting of all his friends, " who were not few ", or had 
 done some other action which either was calculated to 
 excite suspicion or could be construed into a breach of the 
 articles of capitulation which he had accepted. ^ But the 
 reports turned out to be either false or exaggerated, and 
 Broghill though convinced as he said that Lome was 
 " playing the roge " was unable to prove it. A certain 
 Captain Maitland, who was the latter's agent with Charles 
 II, turned traitor to him and accepted the pay of the 
 President of the Scotch Council and undertook to supply 
 him with information. The spy provided what seemed to 
 be clear proof that Lord Lome was once more dabbling 
 in sedition and went into Argyllshire to get the document 
 which would place his guilt beyond all doubt — a despatch 
 from him to the King which he promised to lay before 
 Lord Broghill. But the treacherous scheme failed, for 
 Captain Maitland died so suddenly after reaching Argyll- 
 shire as to suggest that he had probably met with what 
 might be called either " foul play " or " condign punish- 
 ment. " On further enquiry, however, it seemed certain 
 that the death had taken place in the ordinary course of 
 nature and not by violence. The spy had been so 
 cautious in his procedure as to arouse no suspicion in the 
 minds of those whom he had injured so grievously, and 
 he had been so little under observation that shortly 
 before his death he had written and despatched a final 
 report to Lord Broghill. The latter was not ashamed to 
 write : " We must cast about to repair this loss, for I 
 am of opinion if ever C. S. [Charles Stewart] makes any 
 stur heere, Lome will occasion it. " " 
 
 From two quarters in the month of August, 1656, the 
 English authorities received warning with regard to the 
 risk which they ran in allowing Lord Lome to remain at 
 large. Sir William Lockhart, the English ambassador in 
 
 1 Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. IV, fassim. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. V, p. 18 : dated Edinburgh, May 13th, 1656.
 
 LORNE IMPRISONED 79 
 
 France, wrote to say that he was informed that the 
 nobility and gentry of Scotland would readily take up 
 arms again if a suitable leader were found for them. 
 " Ther were only two persons named, " he said, " if 
 they be innocent I pray God this may do them no 
 wrong. The one is Lord Fairfax, the other my Lord 
 Lome, son to the Marquis of Argyle. " ^ A second 
 warning came from Lord Broghill, who, on the information 
 of " a knowing, honest minister ", one of his " intelli- 
 gencers ", wrote to say that Lord Lome was " reddy to 
 embrace any stirs and foment them. " ^ 
 
 The upshot of these persistent reports was that early 
 in 1657 the Protector's Government ordered an oath to 
 be administered to all those Royalists in Scotland who 
 had been in rebellion but had capitulated, by which they 
 renounced the Stewarts and declared their allegiance to 
 the existing order of things. ^ This high-handed proce- 
 dure was probably intended to furnish a pretext for 
 apprehending the leading Royalists in Scotland. Among 
 others Lord Lome refused to take the oath and was 
 promptly imprisoned in Edinburgh Castle. Soon after 
 he was lodged there Monck had the mortification of 
 having to report to Cromwell that two important political 
 prisoners had escaped from the Castle, and he suggested 
 that a number of the more distinguished prisoners now 
 there — among whom he named Lord Lome — should be 
 sent to some safer place. ^ Lord Broghill also strongly 
 pressed the Government to send the latter and Glencairn, 
 whom he described as the only two Royalists likely to 
 head a rising in Scotland into England, to some place 
 where they would not only be more securely lodged but 
 have less opportunity of communicating with their poli- 
 tical associates and friends. ^ But no step of the kind 
 
 ' Thurloe, State-Papers, vol. V, p. 319. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. V, p. 323. 
 
 * Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 430 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 191. The date of the 
 proclamation was Wed., Jan. 28th, 1657. 
 
 * Acts of Pari. o/Scot.,vo\. VI,part 2, p. 906: ThuT\oe,State-Papcrs,\ol. VI, p. 81. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. VI, p. 436.
 
 8o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 was taken, and for nearly two years and a half Lord 
 Lome remained a prisoner in the fortress from which he 
 was many years later to effect a romantic escape, and 
 from which not long after that event he was to be led 
 down to execution. 
 
 The story is told that on his being first brought into 
 the Castle as a prisoner he made trial of his fortune by 
 the Sortes Biblicae. Three times over his Bible opened at 
 the 14th Chapter of Job, which begins : " Man that is 
 born of a woman is of few days and full of trouble. " 
 The incident remained in his memory and long afterwards 
 in his dying speech he quoted the passage and exclaimed : 
 " If ever this text has been verified in any it has been 
 fulfilled in me ". ^ A serious accident which occurred to 
 him a year later may well have seemed to him an illustra- 
 tion of the ominous response to his attempt at divination. 
 The diarist Lamont relates it as follows: "Mar. 1658 
 Lord Lome being playing at the bullets in the castell 
 of Edb. (the English at that tyme haveing a garison 
 ther), the Louetennant of the castell being ane English- 
 man and on the Lord Lome's syde, throwing the bullett, 
 it lighted on a stone, and with such force started backe 
 upon the Lord Lome's head, that he fell downe, and lay 
 dead [unconscious] for the space of some houres ; after 
 that he recovered and his head was trepanned once or 
 twyse ". ^ For some days after the accident his life was 
 despaired of, and the surgical operation which led to his 
 cure was accounted one of the most remarkable of the 
 time. It was observed, however, that he was never quite 
 the same after the accident as he had been before it. 
 A faint trace of instability in manner was apparently one 
 of the results which it left behind. ^ Another was the 
 need which he felt of sleeping an hour or more during 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 194 : The Western Martyrology, p. 172. 
 Our readers will remember Charles I's and Lord Falkland's trying the 
 Sortcs Virgilianae (Welvvood, Memoirs, p. 90). 
 
 ^ Diary, p. 204, See also Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 367 : Burnet, History of 
 My Own Times, vol. I, p. 182. 
 
 ^ Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 195.
 
 LIBERATED ON PAROLE 8i 
 
 the day and which even the agitation connected with his 
 execution did not dispel on that fatal day when it 
 occurred. ^ 
 
 One alleviation of his troubles he had in the presence 
 of his dearly loved wife who shared his captivity with 
 him. About four months after the very serious accident 
 to her husband which we have just described she gave 
 birth to a son, Archibald, afterwards ist Duke of Argyll. ^ 
 For this scion of the House of Campbell, though inferior 
 in character and achievements to his father and grand- 
 father, high honours were in store. He was afterwards 
 one of the three commissioners from the Convention 
 who offered the crown of Scotland to William and Mary, 
 and he administered the oath of office to the joint- 
 sovereigns ; while from him sprang the famous warrior, 
 orator, and courtier, the 2nd Duke of Argyll, who took 
 such a prominent part in establishing and maintaining the 
 rule in England of the House of Hanover. ^ 
 
 No other details are preserved of events in the life 
 of Lord Lome during the long dreary term of his im- 
 prisonment. In the July of 1 659 he received liberty from 
 Monck for twelve months in order to attend to his 
 private affairs. Four of his friends bound themselves in 
 a sum of ;^ 1 0,000 Sterling as security for him that he 
 would during this time do nothing against the Parliament 
 or Commonwealth. His place of residence was to be 
 the Bog of Gight, now known as Gordon Castle, in 
 Banffshire, the seat of his cousin, the Marquess of 
 Huntly whose property was to a large extent in the 
 hands of the Marquess of Argyll. Probably Lord Lome 
 was entrusted by his father with the management of some 
 
 * Argyll Papers, p. I2. 
 
 * He was baptized on Sunday, July 25th, 1658 {Canongate Register). 
 
 ^ It is the 2nd Duke to whom Pope's well-known couplet refers (Epilogtie 
 to the Satires), and who figures in Scott's Heart of Midlothian. When this 
 scion of the House of Campbell was challenged by his aunt, the Countess of 
 Moray, daughter of the 9th Earl of Argyll, with the part he had taken in 
 1715 against the Stewarts, he replied : " That family. Madam, owes me and 
 my family two heads, whereof your father's was one; and it becomes you ill 
 to propose this question, " (Wodrow, Analecta, vol. H, p. 307).
 
 82 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 of the affairs of this estate and had some portion of the 
 income of it assigned to him for a Hving. The condit- 
 ions under which he received his freedom were very 
 rigidly fixed. He bound himself not to go more than 
 twenty-five miles from the Bog of Gight without a pass 
 from Monck's own hand fixing the time of his return, 
 and he undertook to give himself up again as a prisoner 
 at the end of the twelve months. But before the time 
 prescribed had expired political events had taken a new 
 turn and the Royalists were in the ascendant with Monck 
 himself as their patron and leader. ^ 
 
 The great Protector had died in 1658, on Friday, 
 September 3rd, the anniversary of his famous victories of 
 Dunbar and Worcester. His son, Richard, after a half- 
 hearted and ineffectual attempt to continue the Protect- 
 orate, resigned his office, and the English army re-installed 
 in power the old Republican remnant of the Long 
 Parliament, irreverently called " The Rump ", which 
 Cromwell had expelled six years before. The anarchy 
 which arose from the quarrels between the military and 
 the civil authorities, the general unrest in the country, 
 and the growing desire for some settled form of govern- 
 ment gave Monck an opportunity for decisive action. 
 He used it with surpassing dexterity. With a force of 
 seven thousand men he crossed the Tweed at Coldstream 
 on Monday, Dec. 9th, 1659, and marched to London as 
 a champion of the civil power against the tyranny of the 
 English army. Everywhere he met with expressions of 
 the public desire for the calling of a " free Parliament. 
 As soon as he had firmly secured himself in London he 
 proceeded to carry out this measure. Supported by his 
 soldiers, who obeyed him implicitly, and by the general 
 approval of the community he demanded that the Parlia- 
 ment should restore the members excluded in 1648, and 
 
 ' Hint. MSS. Com. Report, VI, p. C32. The bond was dated at Dalkeith and 
 Burntisland, Jime 20th, and 23rd, 1659, and was to take effect from July 21st of 
 the same year. The cautioners are William, Earl of Lothian, James, Lord 
 Rollo, James Hackett of Pitfarren, and Major-Gen. James Holbourne.
 
 LETTER TO LAUDERDALE 83 
 
 should dissolve itself and give place to a new House of 
 Commons that had been freely elected. These demands 
 were complied with, and on April 26th, 1660, Parliament 
 met, consisting of a strongly Royalist and Presbyterian 
 House of Commons, and of a House of Lords composed 
 of those of its former members who had sat until the 
 trial of Charles L The ancient constitution of government 
 by King, Lords, and Commons was restored, and 
 Charles II was welcomed rapturously to the throne from 
 which he had for so many years been rigorously excluded. ^ 
 At what date Lord Lome was formally set at liberty 
 is uncertain. A letter of his of Friday, Mar. 9th, 1660, 
 addressed to the Earl of Lauderdale, who was an uncle of 
 Lady Lome, * is still in existence and was evidently 
 written from his place of residence in the north. The 
 Earl of Lauderdale and several other distinguished 
 Royalists who had been taken prisoners after the Battle 
 of Worcester about eight years and a half before, and 
 had been confined in various fortresses, had recently 
 (March 3rd,) been liberated from Windsor Castle. ^ The 
 letter of Lord Lome to which we have referred was 
 written to Lauderdale to congratulate him upon receiving 
 his liberty. The writer speaks of his being in a place 
 whence he had despatched letters to his own wife and to 
 Lauderdale which had gone astray, and he fears that his 
 present communication may not reach his correspondent. 
 He says that only uncertain reports of occurrences in 
 London and even in Edinburgh have reached him, and 
 he asks for " advice and direction " in his present cir- 
 cumstances. He reminds Lauderdale that he (Lome) 
 has " good eyes ", in case evidently it might be necessary 
 or desirable to send a reply in some disguised form, and 
 
 1 Skinner, Life of Monk, p. i8o : Guizot, Life of Monk, p. 6i : Nicoll, Diary, 
 p. 281 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 6. 
 
 * The Earl of Lauderdale's first wife was Lady Ann Home, whose sister. 
 Lady Margaret, became Countess of Moray. The eldest daughter of the 
 latter was wife of Lord Lome. 
 
 ^ Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 197 : M. de Bordeaux to Cardinal Mazarin, 
 Mar. 4th, 1660 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 173 : Lamont, 
 Diary, p, 152 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 8.
 
 84 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 he gives the name and address of a faithful person — a 
 " Johne Michell, stabler in the Cowgate of Edinburgh " 
 — who would take charge of letters for him. One sentence 
 in the letter has a pathetic interest attaching to it, as indi- 
 cating a belief in Lauderdale as a man of integrity and of 
 devout disposition which his earlier career had aroused in 
 the minds of many but which the character of his later 
 life was to shatter so utterly. ^ " I looke upon it [i. e. 
 your liberty], " he says, " as a token of good to this 
 nation, hoping that as your Lordship hath been a re- 
 markable sufferer, so the Lord will make you a noble 
 instrument in our Just settlement. " ^ 
 
 That the bond under which Lord Lome had obtained 
 a measure of freedom was virtually if not formally can- 
 celled by the events connected with the Restoration is 
 evident from the fact that he was in the full enjoyment 
 of liberty when he wrote a second letter to Lauderdale 
 from Leith on May 24th, the day before Charles II 
 landed at Dover. This letter reflects some of the joy 
 which filled the hearts of multitudes who had long 
 earnestly desired the restoration of the Monarchy and of 
 the House of Stewart. " I am now resolved, " he says, 
 " allmost with all Scotland to seeke the satisfaction to 
 kisse his M''^ hand. No man in this country [is] so 
 old or sikly or sullen or poore or peevish but is making 
 readie ". ^ He little suspected that the pleasure which 
 he felt at the triumph of the cause for which he had 
 done and suffered so much would soon be quenched, and 
 that the death of his father was one of the measures 
 determined upon by the cruel and perfidious Sovereign 
 whose hand he was so eager to kiss. * 
 
 Lord Lome went up to London and was received by 
 Charles II with a considerable show of kindness. *" The 
 Marquess of Argyll who had retired into the Highlands 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 174. 
 
 2 Lauderdale Papers, British Museum, Add MS. 23,113, f. 86. 
 
 ^ Ibid, Add MS. 23,113, f. Ill : Kirkton, History, p. 66 : NicoU, Diary, p. 295. 
 
 * Wodrow, Analecta, vol. I, p. 68. 
 
 * Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 181.
 
 ROYAL TREACHERY 85 
 
 was uncertain about presenting himself also at Court, 
 and asked the advice of various friends in Scotland upon 
 the matter. Several strongly urged him to remain in 
 Scotland and warned him of the danger of putting 
 himself in the power of the King. ^ He, however, wrote 
 to his son, asking him to apply to Charles to grant him 
 leave to come and wait upon him. " The King, " says 
 Burnet, " gave an answer that seemed to encourage it, 
 but did not bind him to anything. I have forgot the 
 words : there was an equivocating in them that did not 
 become a prince : but his son told me he wrote them 
 very particularly to his father, without any advice of his 
 own. " ' The upshot of matters was that on his coming 
 up the Marquess was arrested in the outer chamber at 
 Whitehall and hurried to the Tower on a charge of 
 treason.^ The detestable treachery, in which Lord Lome 
 was unconsciously involved as a decoy to secure the 
 entrapment of his own father, was a crime which would 
 have left an ineffaceable stain upon the character of 
 Charles II had there been any background of virtue to 
 act as a foil to it. 
 
 In our life of the Marquess of Argyll we have already 
 told in detail the story of his trial and execution, * and 
 therefore need make but slight reference to the matter 
 here. Suffice it to say, therefore, that after he had been 
 imprisoned for five months in the Tower he was sent 
 down to Edinburgh to be tried. An elaborate list of 
 charges was drawn up against him, which were for the 
 most part based upon the various actions of the party to 
 which he belonged in the course of their rebellion against 
 Charles I — their assisting his enemies and resisting those 
 who had acted under his authority. To these were added 
 accusations of acts of cruelty perpetrated, or alleged to 
 have been perpetrated by officers of his, acting presumably 
 
 ' The Great Marquess, p. 302 : Wodrow, Analcda, vol. II, p. 340. 
 ^ History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 106 : Baillie, Letters, vol III, p. 447 : 
 Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 184. 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 303. 
 * Ibid, p. 308.
 
 86 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 under his orders during the Civil War, and charges of 
 various acts of co-operation with the Government of the 
 Protector. Over and above all these it was suggested 
 that he had planned with Cromwell, on the latter's visit to 
 Edinburgh in 1648, the death of Charles I. The list 
 though formidable enough at first sight was considerably- 
 reduced by an appeal to the Acts of Oblivion of 1641 
 and 1 65 1, which had been approved by Charles I and 
 Charles II, and under which a large percentage of the 
 charges came. During the trial, which, as Burnet says, 
 was the most " solemn " which had ever occurred in 
 Scotland, ^ Lord Lome was in London where he exerted 
 himself to the utmost on his father's behalf. One result 
 of his exertions was that the King wrote to the Earl of 
 Middleton, his commissioner in Scotland, to instruct the 
 Lord Advocate to drop all charges covered by the above- 
 mentioned Acts, and ordered him when the trial was 
 finished to send up the whole case for his consideration 
 before sentence was passed. Middleton, however, 
 strenuously resisted this last command on the ground 
 that it would show a distrust of " a loyal and affectionate 
 parliament " by which they would be much discouraged, 
 and accordingly Charles recalled it. 
 
 The Royal Commissioner with open and shameless 
 animus against the accused endeavoured to fasten upon 
 him the charge of being an accessory before the fact in 
 the crime of regicide. His object, it was generally 
 believed, was from a self-interested motive to secure the 
 utter overthrow of the accused and the forfeiture of his 
 estates, " as no one would be likely to champion the cause 
 of the son of one who had been found guilty of such a 
 crime. No evidence, however, could be adduced to 
 support the charge, and even that servile Parliament by 
 a vote decided the matter in the prisoner's favour. ^ 
 The only question that then virtually remained was 
 
 • History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 123. 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 87. 
 
 ■'' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 124.
 
 MONCK'S PERFIDY 87 
 
 as to whether his compliance with the usurper's 
 Government amounted to treason or not. His second 
 son, Lord Neil Campbell, went up to see his brother in 
 London and spoke somewhat too freely of the satisfactory 
 answers which his father had given to the various charges 
 brought against him. ^ The enemies of the Marquess 
 were stirred up to fresh endeavours by this and by other 
 reports as to how matters were going in Scotland, and 
 Monck basely furnished some documents which proved 
 that the Marquess's compliance with the Protector's 
 Government though at first compulsory had afterwards 
 been voluntary and active. Various persons have tried 
 to palliate if not to excuse Monck's action, but in our 
 opinion without much success. ^ The documents in 
 question were letters written in confidence and were in 
 Monck's private possession, and were produced by him 
 to secure a death-sentence which otherwise could not have 
 been obtained. It may, of course, be useful to a Govern- 
 ment to get the services of a man who turns " King's 
 evidence ", but the probability is that all those whose 
 opinion is worth having look upon him with loathing and 
 contempt. ^ Those who can regard his public services as 
 condoning the odium attaching to them should go a step 
 further and give some of their esteem to the public 
 executioner, who probably in most such cases would be 
 found to be more deserving of it. 
 
 The Marquess of Argyll was beheaded on Monday, 
 May 27th, 1 66 1. * His property was confiscated and 
 his honours forfeited ; but the expectations of the greedy 
 courtiers who had expected to batten on his estates ^ were 
 disappointed, for some two years later these were restored 
 
 ' Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 465. 
 
 * Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 12511 (edition of 1823): Biog. 
 Brit., vol. Ill, p. 190 : Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 151. 
 ^ The reader may remember the couplet from Pulci : — 
 " II tradimento a molti place assai, 
 Ma il traditore a gnun non plaque mai. " 
 ■* The Great Marquess, p. 330. 
 
 '" Wodrow, Analecta, vol. II, p. 52: Burnet, History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 106.
 
 88 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 with the Earldom to his son, Lord Lome. Before, 
 however, we come to refer to the circumstances in which 
 this act of justice was performed and the conditions which 
 were attached to it, we wish to speak at some Httle length 
 of the great ecclesiastical change in Scotland from Presby- 
 terianism to Episcopacy which took place soon after the 
 Restoration. It would be impossible to understand either 
 the condition of matters in the country during the troubled 
 years of the reign of Charles II, or the part which Lord 
 Lome played in them unless we form a clear idea of the 
 significance of this ecclesiastical revolution. 
 
 The disastrous effect of combining religion and politics 
 was surely never more clearly displayed than in Scotland 
 during the generation which witnessed the drawing up 
 of the National Covenant (1637) and the Solemn League 
 and Covenant (1643). The nation had been almost 
 unanimous in the protest against the tyranny of Charles I 
 and of Laud, so that one of the evils of the combination 
 to which we have referred — that of treating political dissent 
 as religious apostacy — did not at first appear : though 
 even then there was a minority which was inclined to 
 ignore or resist the Covenant, and for suppressing which 
 it was necessary to use some measure of violence. But 
 the evils of the course on which matters had entered came 
 very clearly to light seven years afterwards, when, with 
 no grievances of which to complain, the authorities in 
 Scotland entered into a religious Covenant with the 
 insurgent Parliamentary party in England. If religion 
 was more prominent than politics in the earlier of these 
 Covenants, matters were certainly reversed in the case of 
 the later of them. As might have been expected, a number 
 who had acquiesced in the policy of the Church in con- 
 nexion with the one and had even been eager in suppor- 
 ting it would have nothing to do with the other. As 
 time went on this divergence in political opinion and 
 feeling became more and more intense and it reacted 
 unfavourably upon the Church itself which it split from 
 end to end into two bitterly hostile factions.
 
 THE CHURCH'S DUTY 89 
 
 The question is sometimes asked by those who resent 
 blame being cast upon the course followed by the Church 
 in connexion with the Covenant, what body was there in 
 the country which could have offered organized resistance 
 to the highhanded policy of Charles I and of Laud if the 
 Church had abstained from action ? But this is a question 
 which the historian does not feel himself called upon to 
 answer. There is surely no ground for believing that 
 the people of Scotland were too poor-spirited to maintain 
 or defend their liberties even if the Church had kept out 
 of the struggle. The true principle with regard to the 
 matter it seems to us is this : that while the members 
 and officials of the Church in their capacity as subjects 
 should form judgements in political affairs that shall be 
 in accordance with the principles of religion and should use 
 all lawful means for carrying these judgements into 
 effect, the Church, as a Church, should have no con- 
 nexion with any political party and should have no 
 recourse to those " carnal weapons " which the very 
 authority on which her existence depends has explicitly 
 forbidden her to use. 
 
 The idea that at the Restoration the Government of 
 Charles II wantonly attacked a Church that otherwise 
 would have remained at peace and in the enjoyment of 
 hardly won liberties is not in accordance with facts. 
 The Church, as we have said, was divided into two 
 warring factions — that of the Remonstrants or Protesters 
 and that of the Resolutioners. The former were the 
 extreme Covenant party and had as their symbol the 
 Remonstrance of the Western army after the Battle of 
 Dunbar in which they refused to fight any longer in the 
 cause of Charles II. ^ The Resolutioners were the more 
 moderate party which accepted him as a Covenanted 
 King, and they derived their name from their support of 
 certain resolutions passed in the Parliament and General 
 
 ' Carlyle, Cromwell, vol. Ill p. 77 : The Great Marquess, p. 256. The name 
 Protesters was derived from a protest handed in at a meeting of the General 
 Assembly at Dundee in July, 1651 (Life of Robert Blair, p. 277).
 
 90 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Assembly for the admission of Royalists to office under 
 certain conditions. ^ The Protesters, who numbered 
 perhaps about a third of the Presbyterian clergy, claimed, 
 probably not without reason, to be more religious than 
 their opponents. ^ They were very eager to purge the 
 Church of all those whose opinions they regarded as 
 unsatisfactory and to fill up vacant charges with those 
 who uttered their shibboleths. In their opposition to 
 the King they naturally drew somewhat closely into sym- 
 pathy with the party of Cromwell, though, with the fatal 
 skill in splitting hairs which has afflicted so many of their 
 nation, they were able to differentiate their political prin- 
 ciples from what they called " English errors. " ^ The 
 Resolutioners on the other hand adhered steadily to the 
 cause of Charles II, and came under the disfavour of the 
 Government of the Commonwealth for their sympathy 
 with the insurrection under Glencairn and Middleton 
 which had been so troublesome to the English authorities. 
 The General Assembly, in which they would have had a 
 majority was dispersed by English soldiers in 1654 before 
 any business was transacted, and no subsequent meeting 
 of that body was allowed to be held. During the rest of 
 the period of the Commonwealth though the Protesters 
 had considerable liberty in the matter of meeting together 
 and of managing their own affairs, the Resolutioners were 
 kept under very rigid control. ^ The leaders of the latter 
 party accordingly appointed an agent to represent them 
 in London. His business was to act as an intermediary 
 with the English Government, to resist unreasonable 
 proposals and schemes of the Protesters, and in general 
 to watch over the Church's interests of which the Resolu- 
 tioners might from their numbers fairly claim to be the 
 guardians. This agent was a James Sharp, minister of 
 Crail, who was afterwards to attain to an unenviable 
 
 ' Life of Robert Blair, p. 271. 
 
 ■'* Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 16. 
 
 ^ Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, pp. 244-6 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 3620. 
 
 * Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 244.
 
 COVENANT OBLIGATIONS 91 
 
 notoriety as an Archbishop. ^ His shrewdness and ability 
 extorted the admiration of Cromwell, who said of him : 
 " That gentleman after the Scotch way ought to be called 
 Sharp of that ilk ", i.e., Sharp of Sharp. ^ It is interesting 
 to observe that the English Government during this period 
 strengthened their hold upon Scotland by playing off the 
 one of these factions against the other. Thus Cromwell 
 distinctly favoured the Protesters, while Monck, especially 
 during the later period of the Commonwealth, carefully 
 maintained friendly relations with the Resolutioners. ^ 
 
 The two parties were inclined to take the same view 
 of the situation when Charles II was restored, viz., that 
 the obligations incurred by him and by them and by their 
 brethren in England in the matter of the Solemn League 
 and Covenant were to be religiously observed. Thus at 
 a meeting of the Protesters at Edinburgh a petition was 
 drawn up to be sent to the King, " containing " we are 
 told, "a congratulation, [and] putting him in mind of 
 his oath of Covenant, and wishing that what was done 
 contrary thereunto in his chapel and family at London 
 might be redressed. " * Baillie may be accounted a 
 favourable specimen of the Resolutioner party, and his 
 feelings at this crisis may be taken as representing theirs. 
 " Are we to sitt dumb, " he exclaims, " and never open 
 our mouth, neither to King nor Parliament, nor our 
 brethren the ministers of England, to request them to 
 adhere to their Covenant and Petition against Books 
 [Liturgy] and Bishops. I was sore afflicted when it was 
 told me by my neighbour that Lauderdaill went to the 
 chapell to hear Bishops preach and say Amen to all the 
 service, as much as any about Court and defended his 
 practice by conscience. I hope this must be false. 
 
 ' Life of Robert Blair, pp. 328, 336. 
 
 ^ Trtie and Impartial Account, p. 34. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 15. 
 
 * Life of Robert Blair, p. 357 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 57: Kirkton, 
 History, p. 72 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 59. 
 
 '•> Letters, vol. Ill, p. 409. See also Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 58, from 
 which it appears that Lauderdale's guilt was aggravated by the loud voice 
 in which he repeated the responses.
 
 92 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Alas ! Lauderdale was in this reign to commit such 
 weighty crimes both in his public and private life that, 
 compared with them the sin of listening to Bishops 
 preaching and of saying " Amen " to their liturgical 
 prayers was but as the fine dust of the balance. 
 
 The Rev. Robert Blair of St. Andrew's was " reckoned 
 one of the wisest men in the nation " \ and, as belonging 
 neither to the party of the Protesters nor to that of the 
 Resolutioners, had tried to mediate between them with 
 the result that he had as he said been " cuffed upon both 
 haffets [cheeks] by them " ^ ; but even he shared the fears 
 that now agitated them both. " Matters in England, " 
 he says, " are thus all going wrong, — the sworn Covenant 
 forgotten by prince and people, the covenanted reforma- 
 tion defaced, national and personal perjury not regarded, 
 nor laid to heart as a horrible provocation, and land- 
 destroying abomination. " ^ To us who are divided by 
 centuries from these events and to whom the Covenants 
 are as much out of date as old almanacks the thought of 
 the guilt of perjury being incurred by their being repu- 
 diated may seem almost grotesque ; but there can be no 
 doubt that to multitudes in that age whose consciences 
 were operative it was a matter of very real anxiety. ■* 
 
 We should not form an adequate idea of the condition 
 of public feeling in Scotland if we were to overlook the 
 fact that it was affected by that in England, and that just 
 as in the latter country the Restoration was marked by 
 an outburst of long repressed feeling against the domina- 
 tion of Puritanism, so in the former country the younger 
 generation was inclined to chafe against the Covenants 
 which had originated in circumstances with which they 
 were unfamiliar and many of them were not averse 
 to a change in ecclesiastical matters. " The generality 
 of this new upstart generation, " said Robert Douglas, 
 
 ' Wodrovv, Analccta, vol. Ill, p. 92. 
 
 ^ Life, p. 343 : Brodie, Diary, p. 43 (Spalding Club). 
 
 ' Life of Robert Blair, p. 370. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 22 : Reliquice Baxteriance, I, sect. 99, lOo.
 
 A COMPLICATED SITUATION 
 
 93 
 
 one of the leading Resolutioners, " have no love to 
 presbyterial government ; but are wearied of that yoke, 
 feeding themselves with the fancy of episcopacy or mode- 
 rate episcopacy. " ^ In the north of the country the zeal 
 manifested in favour of the Covenant had been, even 
 when at its height, somewhat lukewarm. It was now so 
 far diminished that one may say that in the region beyond 
 the Tay no resistance or even remonstrance was likely to 
 be aroused by a return to Episcopacy. * In this highly 
 complicated condition of matters the Government of 
 Charles II had no easy task in coming to a decision as to 
 what should be done in the way of settling the eccle- 
 siastical affairs of the northern kingdom. 
 
 • Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 21 : a letter written to Sharp. 
 
 * Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 181.
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Sharp's Action in the re-introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland — Meeting 
 of Scotch Parliament — Rescissory Act — Deliberations concerning Church 
 government — Episcopacy decided upon — Bishops appointed. 
 
 In order that we may fully understand the effect 
 produced on the country by the overthrow of Presby- 
 terianism and the re-establishment of Episcopacy, it is 
 necessary to recapitulate the manner in which the change 
 was wrought and the parts played by some of the chief 
 agents in accomplishing it. Among these must be reckoned 
 the James Sharp to whom we have recently referred. In 
 dealing with him we are anxious to be scrupulously fair 
 and to place before our readers an exact narrative of his 
 procedure before expressing any opinion as to its character. 
 Much odium has attached to his name on the ground of 
 his supposed treachery to the cause of which he was 
 a prominent guardian. But the mere fact that he saw 
 fit to change sides in ecclesiastical politics is not necessarily 
 discreditable to him. In cases of this kind charges of 
 hypocrisy should not be lightly made : 
 
 " For neither man nor angel can discern 
 
 Hypocrisy, the only evil that walks 
 
 Invisible, except to God alone, 
 
 By His permissive will, through heaven and earth. " ' 
 
 Before and since his time men have with a good conscience 
 
 » Milton, P. L., Ill, 680.
 
 SHARP TRUSTED 95 
 
 seen fit to burn what they had adored and to adore what 
 they had burned. The question has, therefore, to be 
 decided as to whether he can be reckoned in this class. 
 This we can do without imputing motives to him, as, 
 fortunately for our purpose, if not altogether fortunately 
 for his own reputation, he has left abundant material for 
 settling the question. ^ 
 
 We have then to bear in mind the fact that Sharp was 
 sent up to London in a somewhat informal way to watch 
 over the interests of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, 
 and that he received his commission from a knot of the 
 more prominent members of that section of the Church 
 which, from its numbers and from its pursuing a national 
 rather than a sectarian line of policy, was well entitled to 
 speak in the name of the whole. We refer of course to 
 the Resolutioners. He was supported by money raised 
 not without difficulty by them, ^ and he enjoyed their 
 fullest confidence. Baillie says that he was " a very 
 worthie, pious, wise and diligent young man, " whom 
 " we trusted as our own souls. " ^ It has been said in 
 favour of Sharp that " so long as he was entrusted with 
 a commission for a specific purpose he discharged his task 
 with faithfulness and ability. " ^ This is perfectly true, 
 but at the same time we cannot fail to observe that all 
 through his correspondence with those whose agent he 
 was he gives them to understand that he is in fullest 
 sympathy with their opinions and aspirations. Thus on 
 Mar. 4th, 1660, he says of matters in England : " The 
 great fear is that the king will come in, and that with him, 
 moderate episcopacy at the least will take place here. 
 The good party are doing what they can to keep the 
 covenant interest on foot, but I fear there will be much 
 
 ' This is to be found in the documents incorporated in Wodrow's History, 
 and in The Lauderdale Papers, 3 vols (Camden Society, 1884-5). Estimates of 
 Sharp's character formed previous to the pubHcation of the latter are of Uttle 
 value. 
 
 * Life of Robert Blair, p. 344 : Wodrow, Analecta, vol. I, p. 14. 
 
 ' Letters, vol. Ill, pp. 352, 460. Sharp was born 1613 and was assassinated 
 in 1679. 
 
 * Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 192.
 
 96 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 ado to have it so. " ^ Later on in the same month he 
 remarks in a letter that he is very generally thought of 
 both in England and in Brussels, where Charles II then 
 was, as " a Scottish rigid Presbyterian", and with a touch 
 of sanctimoniousness he adds : " This nation [i. e., the 
 English] is not fitted to bear that yoke of Christ " ^ — a 
 phrase which we hope expressed his feelings at the time 
 and was not merely meant for consumption in Scotland. 
 The same benevolent hope may be cherished with regard 
 to passages like the following, which are strewn through 
 the correspondence with judicious and by no means lavish 
 hand : " Petitions come up from counties for episcopacy 
 and Liturgy. The Lord's anger is not turned away. 
 The generality of the people are doting after prelacy and 
 the Service book. " ^ 
 
 In the beginning of May, 1660, he went as an envoy 
 from Monck to Breda * to give Charles II an account of 
 the General's procedure and to suggest the line of policy 
 towards parties in England which the King should adopt. 
 Sharp took occasion to speak also as a representative of 
 the Church of Scotland. " I find the king very affec- 
 tionate to Scotland, " he says, " and resolved not to wrong 
 
 the settled government of our Church I was most 
 
 kindly entertained and the king hath a great affection for 
 our country and kirk. " ^ Later on when Charles had 
 returned to England Sharp formally presented to him an 
 address from those whose agent he was, containing assur- 
 ances of the loyalty of the King's Presbyterian subjects 
 in Scotland and of their trust that he would be con- 
 stant to the engagements into which he had entered 
 with them. He was also instructed to remind the King 
 that whatever it might be necessary to do in England 
 in the matter of reintroducing Episcopacy, there was 
 no call to interfere with the settled government of the 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 8. 
 ' Ibid, vol. I, p. 17. 
 ' Ibid, vol. I, p. 44. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 26n. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 29.
 
 LETTER FROM CHARLES II 97 
 
 Church of Scotland to which the nation was attached. ^ 
 Though no formal reply was given apparently to this 
 address there was no reason to believe that Charles disap- 
 proved of its contents. Sharp says that " a high loose 
 spirit " appeared in some of the nobles and others from 
 Scotland who were in London. " I hear, " he says, 
 " they talk of bringing in Episcopacy into Scotland ; 
 which, I trust they will never be able to effect. I am 
 much saddened and wearied out with what I hear and 
 see. " " The upshot of matters was that the Resolu- 
 tioners, while they saw with regret that the Presbyterian 
 cause in England was lost, believed that their interests in 
 Scotland were safe, and awaited, with perhaps occasional 
 twinges of anxiety, the ratification of the King's verbal 
 promises by the Parliament which was soon to meet and 
 by the General Assembly which they hoped would soon 
 be summoned. The Protesters, however, were not kept 
 in any suspense with regard to the treatment which they 
 were to expect. For little time was lost in apprehending 
 their leaders on charges of treason. ^ 
 
 In a letter which Sharp brought down to Scotland 
 addressed by the King to the Robert Douglas to whom 
 we have already referred and who was a minister in 
 Edinburgh, a message was sent to the Edinburgh Pres- 
 bytery to be communicated by them to the whole Church, 
 in which any hostile procedure against the existing order of 
 things seemed to be definitely abjured. In it Charles 
 expressed his satisfaction with the loyalty manifested by 
 the majority of the Presbyterian clergy in Scotland during 
 the years of trial through which they had passed ; and then 
 added the words — the insincerity of which was soon to be 
 placed beyond doubt, — "we resolve to protect and preserve 
 the government of the church of Scotland, as it is settled 
 by law, without violation. " Some directions are added 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, pp. 22, 31. 
 2 Ibid, vol. I, p. 39. 
 
 ^ Ibid, vol. I, p. 71 : Kirkton, History, p. 74 : Lamont, Diary, p. 158 : Baillie, 
 Letters, vol. Ill, p. 446.
 
 98 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 as to measures to be taken in dealing with ministers who 
 sowed seeds of disaffection, by which the Protesters are not 
 obscurely indicated, and the document concludes with 
 some very pious phrases regarding ' earnestness in prayer ' 
 and 'fresh and constant supplies of Divine grace', which 
 have a certain piquancy as having been probably composed 
 by Sharp, as having been uttered by Charles II and 
 written out by Lauderdale, who signs the letter as 
 Secretary for Scotland. ^ The letter was received by the 
 Presbytery with great joy and orders were at once given 
 for a silver casket in which to enshrine it. ^ The incident 
 reveals the Church in a humiliating position — apart 
 altogether from the fraud of which she was to discover 
 that she was the victim — and it suggests that the privilege 
 of having " Kings for nursing-fathers " ^, may be a very 
 expensive luxury. The hint as to dealing with the Pro- 
 testers was acted upon and a number of the more extreme 
 members of that party were deposed from the ministry. * 
 The union of Scotland with England which had been 
 forcibly effected by Cromwell, and which had resulted in 
 many material advantages so far as the northern kingdom 
 was concerned, was now dissolved, and until the meeting 
 of Parliament the management of affairs there was 
 entrusted to the Committee of Estates nominated by 
 Charles II and the Scotch Parliament of 1651. The 
 Earl of Glencairn was made Lord Chancellor, and the 
 Earl of Lauderdale Secretary of State, as already said, 
 while General Middleton, now raised to the peerage as 
 Earl of Middleton, was appointed to preside as Royal 
 Commissioner in the Parliament which was summoned to 
 meet on Wednesday, the 12th Deer., 1660. ''' No parlia- 
 ment having been held in Scotland for nearly ten years 
 past, the proceedings in connexion with the opening of 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 80 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 299. 
 
 * Kirkton, History, p. 76. 
 3 Isaiah, XLIX, v. 23. 
 
 * Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 174. 
 
 * Lamont, Diary, p. 157 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 325. The Parliament was after- 
 wards postponed till Jany. ist. 1661.
 
 MEETING OF PARLIAMENT 99 
 
 that now called were conducted with special magnificence. 
 A thousand horsemen met the Royal Commissioner at 
 Musselburgh to escort him to Edinburgh. Few of the 
 nobility were absent from the riding in state from Holy- 
 rood to the Parliament House on the opening day. ^ The 
 rich apparel, the gold and silver lace, silk, satin, and velvet 
 which adorned those who took part in the cavalcade 
 dazzled the eyes of spectators unfamiliar with such 
 gorgeous pageantry, and made them think they were 
 looking on a procession of princes rather than of subjects. ^ 
 The conduct, however, of many if not, indeed, of the great 
 majority of those now installed in power soon made it 
 evident even to the most charitable or credulous witnesses 
 of it that after all they were very ordinary mortals ; for 
 the idea that loyalty and debauchery were closely allied 
 duties, and that decency and rebellion were kindred vices 
 seemed to be a ruling principle with them. ^ The wide- 
 spread dissoluteness of manners which accompanied the 
 Restoration both in England and Scotland and was so 
 serious as to call for the publication of Royal edicts to 
 restrain it,"^ threatened to become a hindrance even to the 
 transaction of public business. Thus it is recorded of 
 Middleton that he " was sometimes so disordered [with 
 wine] that when he had appeared upon the throne in full 
 parliament, the president upon the whisper of the principal 
 members would be necessitate to adjourn ; " and the 
 assembly in which he represented the majesty of the 
 Crown was known as " the drinking parliament. " '' The 
 matter deserves attention not only as an illustration of 
 the condition of public morals at that time, but also as 
 casting some light upon the character and mood of those 
 
 ■ Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 462. 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 87 : Nicoll, Diary, p. 315. 
 
 ^ Kirkton, History, p. 114 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 114. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 81 : Nicoll, Diary, ■p. 291 : McCrie, Memoirs of 
 Veitch, etc., p. 80 n ; Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 152. 
 
 ^ Kirkton, History, p. 1 14. A similar state of what may be called 
 "unstable equilibrium " is described by Renan as a characteristic of society 
 in ancient Ephesus : " La vie publique degenerait en bacchanalc " (St. Paul, 
 P- 338-;
 
 loo A SCOTS EARL 
 
 who took it upon themselves to change the constitution 
 of the national Church, 
 
 The secret instructions given by Charles II to Middle- 
 ton with regard to the matters to be transacted in 
 Parliament indicate, naturally enough, a desire to revert 
 to the condition of things in Scotland before the Royal 
 prerogative had been diminished and reduced to the 
 shadow of a name by armed resistance. In forming a 
 judgement of their character, we have to remember that 
 from Charles's point of view Scotland had for nearly a 
 quarter of a century been seething with revolution, and 
 that his first task was to establish in it something like 
 constitutional government. Accordingly the Royal Com- 
 missioner was instructed to see that the proceedings of 
 the Parliament of 1643 which had met without the sanc- 
 tion of Charles I, and that of 1649 which, though nomi- 
 nally summoned by him, had been controlled by the 
 faction hostile to him, were declared null and void. 
 Some ground of reason might doubtless be shown to 
 exist for this requirement, though the proposed measure 
 was an extreme one. Charles, however, went on to say 
 that in Parliaments duly called and authorized by his 
 father, Acts had been passed which infringed on the royal 
 prerogative, such as that e.g., which took the appoint- 
 ment of Officers of State, Privy Councillors and Judges 
 out of the hands of the King, and placed it in those of 
 the Parliament, and that the Royal Commissioner was to 
 endeavour to get such Acts rescinded. ^ The monstrous 
 character of this recommendation scarcely needs to be 
 pointed out. It proposed to annul statutes and laws 
 which had been decided upon by Parliaments duly sum- 
 moned and which had been solemnly accepted and ratified 
 by Royal authority. To overthrow such Acts was to 
 destroy all security for law and order ; and to do this 
 under the guise of legislative enactment was surely a 
 refinement of absurdity. For what could be more 
 ridiculous than to introduce a law that would for ever 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 39.
 
 THE ACT RESCISSORY loi 
 
 deprive laws of the security which gives them vigour ? 
 The proposal excited strong opposition even in the 
 Parliament which in so many respects was after the 
 King's own heart, and in which, by the restoration 
 of the old method of conducting business through the 
 Lords of the Articles nominated by the Crown, the 
 Royal power was so predominant. ^ Endless controversy 
 seemed likely to arise out of discussions as to whether 
 this or that measure limited the Royal prerogative and 
 therefore called for rescission : and accordingly it was 
 proposed, at first apparently in jest, that the easier plan 
 would be to annul all the Parliaments that had been held 
 during the period from 1640 to 1648 inclusive, except in 
 so far as they had legislated in favour of private rights. ^ 
 As it was not possible for even the most servile courtier 
 to propose such a measure without the colour of a reason, 
 the excuse was alleged that Charles I had been coerced 
 by his rebellious subjects into making concessions which 
 infringed upon the Royal prerogative. The Act Rescis- 
 sory, as it was called, though strenuously opposed by some, 
 as we have said, was carried by a large majority and was 
 instantly confirmed by the Royal Commissioner ; ^ and 
 thus in a day all that had been gained by lavish expendi- 
 ture of blood and treasure was swept away, and Scotland 
 stood where she was when Charles I and Laud began to 
 menace her liberties, except that now she was too weak 
 and impoverished to offer effective resistance to the new 
 schemes which had been formed for her enslavement. 
 The anxious doubts concerning the peace and prosperity 
 of the Church which had begun to move in the hearts of 
 many were replaced by the certain conviction of ap- 
 proaching disaster, for with the Act Rescissory all the 
 legislative enactments by which her constitution was fixed 
 fell to the ground. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 53 : The Great Marquess, 
 p. 93 : Burnet, History of my Oicu. Times, vol. I, p. Ii8. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 117 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 76. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 119: Life of Robert Blair, 
 p. 381.
 
 I02 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 It is necessary for the completeness of our narrative to 
 relate the part which Sharp played in this new turn of 
 public affairs : but our reference to the matter will be very 
 brief. The quarter from which our information is derived 
 is a series of letters written by Sharp to a Rev. Patrick 
 Drummond, a Presbyterian minister in London, who was 
 in communication with Lauderdale. In these letters 
 which cover a period from Jany. I2th, 1661 to Apr. 15th 
 of the same year, Sharp appears in the character of a 
 zealous Presbyterian who dreads and resents any possible 
 change of the kind which many thought was at hand. 
 Soon after Middleton came to Scotland as Royal Commis- 
 sioner, he had summoned Sharp to act as his chaplain, but 
 the latter is careful to let his correspondent know that he 
 has no relish for his employment, and that he had not 
 gone near the Court until sent for. ^ During the month 
 of January of the period above referred to he declares 
 that he has no reason to believe that there is any " design 
 to alter our Church government — certainly he is not privy 
 to it — and he does not see how any such design could be 
 carried out. ^ He complains sadly of the suspicions which 
 are afloat concerning him and take such a definite shape as 
 to represent him as " an apostate covenanter ", and he sees 
 no other resource than " patience under the hand of God 
 who sees fit " to subject him to this trial. ^ Early in 
 February he says : " I now begin to foresee a tryall 
 coming upon this church, the Lord fitt us for it. " * 
 " Believe it, " he assures his correspondent, "our leading 
 honest men are fixed in their way, " ^ and again : " I tell 
 you my apprehension that endeavours will be usit to 
 bring innovations upon us, but I am confident they will 
 not take effect ; honest men are resolved to stick together, 
 and what can they [i. e. the enemy] then doe .'' " ^ In 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, pp. 61, 66. 
 - Ibid, p. 66. 
 3 Ibid, p. 67. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 72. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 74. 
 ^ Ibid^ p. 75.
 
 SHARP'S PROTESTATIONS 103 
 
 March he expresses his amazement at the proposal to 
 rescind Acts of Parhament against Episcopacy and for 
 Presbytery. " What matter of fear and greif, " he 
 exclaims, " this surprisal hath caused to ministers and 
 people you may judge ! " ^ " If the Lord interpose not 
 in a way we know not of, I see not how we can escape 
 trouble " ^ He informs Drummond that he is in con- 
 stant intercourse with Robert Douglas, whose zealous 
 championship of the cause now in danger was known to 
 all, and he refers to this fact of intimacy as a testimony 
 to his own sincerity. " Sure, " he says, " if he did 
 distrust me he would not use me as he does : there is 
 nothing of publick matters I can learne which I doe not 
 impart to him. " ^ In company with Douglas he has a 
 long interview with the Royal Commissioner in reference 
 to Church matters, and they entreat that the Presbyterian 
 form of ecclesiastical government may at least be kept 
 inviolate for two or three years as " a tryall and experi- 
 ment. " * Time after time he expresses a desire to abandon 
 political entanglements, and like the Psalmist he sighs for 
 some haven of rest for his weary soul, where he might 
 escape the noise of coming confusions which he would 
 rather hear of than witness. '" And finally on Mar. 21st. 
 
 he says : " I have not stept awry I declare to you I 
 
 have not acted directly or indirectly for a change amongst 
 us, nor have I touched upon Church government in 
 sermons or conferences at our court or elsewhere. " ^ 
 His meaning of course is that he has had no private 
 interviews with Middleton for the discussion of ecclesias- 
 tical affairs. He adds in his last letter to Drummond : 
 " My inocensy I hope will answeare for me in a time of 
 more composure then [than] this is. I doe appeal to the 
 continued tenor of my actions, which witness for me in 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 77. 
 » Ibid, p. 78. 
 2 Ibid, p. 85. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 85. 
 
 * Ibid, pp. 86, 87. 
 8 Ibid, pp. 87, 89.
 
 I04 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the judgement of all impartiall and unbyassed observers, 
 and 1 can with patience and hope committ myselfe, my 
 credit [and] conscience.... into the hands of my faithfull 
 Creator, who knowes my way and will bring my integrity 
 to light. " ' 
 
 These words were written on Apr. 1 5th, and three 
 weeks later Sharp was in London in confidential inter- 
 course with Clarendon, planning with him the restoration 
 of Episcopacy in Scotland and rejoicing in the more 
 favourable opinion which the Lord Chancellor was now 
 inclined to form of him. From Clarendon he learned 
 what the King's purpose was with regard to the Church 
 of Scotland, and he says in a letter to Middleton from 
 which these facts are drawn, " by what he did communicat 
 to me... I found that which your Grace was pleased often 
 to tell me was not without ground " ^. What can this 
 mean but that he had had many conversations with 
 Middleton in Scotland about Church matters and the 
 proposed restoration of Episcopacy ? We may leave it 
 to those who still think that Sharp's character for honesty 
 or integrity or anything else that is creditable is capable 
 of rehabilitation to reconcile this last statement with what 
 he said on Mar. 21st., as to his never having touched on 
 Church government 'in conferences at court or elsewhere '. 
 In collaboration with Lauderdale he prepared a quibbling 
 proclamation, to which we shall refer later on, which the 
 King was to issue to prepare the way for the coming 
 change. With a disgusting servility which contrasts 
 strangely with his previous utterances, he says : " I should 
 think the time for our settling will be more seasonable 
 and proper after that your grace hath come hither [i. e. to 
 London] and so ordered the way of it, as that the per- 
 fecting of the work may be upon your hand from whom 
 it had its beginning and under whose countenance and 
 protection it must thrive and take rooting. Your Grace 
 knowes the work is of great consequence and will not 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 94. 
 » Ibui, vol. II, App. p. LXXIX.
 
 SHARP'S INTRIGUES 105 
 
 want its difficulties : which can only be overcome by your 
 prudence and resolution. " ^ 
 
 Burnet says that when Sharp went to Breda he took a 
 letter of introduction from the Earl of Glencairn to Hyde, 
 afterwards Earl of Clarendon, recommending him as the 
 only person capable of managing the design of setting up 
 Episcopacy in Scotland " ; and Robert Douglas was also 
 of opinion that Sharp's determination to take the course 
 which afterwards brought so much discredit upon him 
 was of that early date (May, 1660). ^ But in the absence 
 of proof positive we find it impossible to believe that 
 Sharp, whose cleverness is beyond all question, would 
 have committed himself to a scheme of this kind when 
 Presbyterianism was still so strong both in Scotland and 
 in England. The deliverance of England from the yoke 
 of the Covenant was a matter of more immediate import- 
 ance to Hyde and his associates than that of embroiling 
 Scotland in new discords. Nor can we believe that Sharp 
 would have continued openly to champion the cause of 
 the Church of Scotland as he did down to the time when 
 he brought Charles II's letter to Edinburgh, if he had 
 had a definite scheme of the kind attributed to him lying 
 in his mind. It was the utterly unexpected and startling 
 success of the proposal to rescind the Acts of Parliament 
 on which the establishment of Presbyterianism rested that 
 opened the way for the introduction of its rival. Charles II 
 and Hyde doubtless wished the extinction of the religious 
 system which they hated so bitterly, and, as we have seen, 
 Sharp says that Middleton often spoke to him about it, 
 but it was the Act Rescissory that transformed the object 
 of their pious wishes — if the phrase be permitted — into 
 a matter of practical politics. The contemporary histo- 
 rian to whom we have already referred is of the opinion 
 that Sharp, after seeing the success of Monck in protest- 
 ing against the King and in favour of a Commonwealth 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, App. p. LXXIX. 
 ^ History of My On'ii Times, vol. I, p. 92. 
 ^ Wodrovv, History, vol. I, p. 28.
 
 io6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 down to the very moment of restoring Charles, ^ resolved 
 upon an imitation of it on an humbler scale in dealing 
 with the Church of Scotland. But as this is a matter of 
 conjecture our readers may, if they choose, believe that 
 the similarity of their methods was a mere coincidence. 
 More interest attaches to his narrative of what Sharp 
 alleged in defence of his procedure immediately after he 
 became an Archbishop. " He said to some, " says 
 Burnet, " from whom I had it that when he saw that the 
 King was resolved on the change, and that some hot men 
 were like to be advanced whose violence would ruin the 
 country, he had submitted to that post on design to 
 moderate matters, and to cover some good men from a 
 storm that might otherwise break upon them. So deeply 
 did he still dissemble ; for now he talked of nothing so 
 much as of love and moderation. " ^ Sharp may have 
 had some of the love for good men which he professed 
 to have, and which the historian so roundly refuses to 
 believe in ; but we can say without fear of contradiction 
 that if he had it, the history of his administration in 
 Scotland shows that he " dissembled " it very successfully. 
 Some have thought that simultaneously with his advent 
 to power there was " a loosing of Satan ", like that in 
 apocalyptic vision, to work his wicked will in the land. 
 But if it were so perhaps this also was a mere coincidence. 
 We shall often have occasion to revert to him, but happily 
 we shall not need to devote so much attention to him as 
 we have done in the last few pages. Our readers, we 
 think, will now have a clear idea of some of the leading 
 characteristics of the man whose tyrannous rule and tragic 
 death form such a striking chapter in the history of his 
 native country. 
 
 All things having been thrown into confusion by the 
 Act Rescissory, a proclamation composed by Sharp ^ was 
 issued in which the King declared his resolution to 
 
 ' Whitelocke, Memorials, p. 684 : Welvvood, Memoirs, pp. 122, 366. 
 
 - History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 133 : Wodrow, Analecta, vol. I, p. 90. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, App. p. LXXIX.
 
 SYNODS FORCIBLY DISSOLVED 107 
 
 preserve the true Protestant religion, and after taking 
 due advice to settle the government of the Church in 
 such a manner as might be " most agreeable to the word 
 of Godj most suitable to monarchical government, and 
 most complying with the public peace and quiet of the 
 kingdom ". ^ In the meantime the administration of 
 affairs by Sessions, Presbyteries and Synods was autho- 
 rized. None of the officials of the Church, except Sharp, 
 were consulted with regard to the changes thus indicated 
 as at hand, and there seemed every probability that the 
 arbitrary procedure of 1637 by which the Church's 
 organization and mode of worship were altered and 
 settled by a mere royal warrant was likely to be 
 repeated. ^ 
 
 Yet though the government of the Church by Sessions, 
 Presbyteries, and Synods was in the meantime authorized, 
 steps were promptly taken to hinder the Church's 
 attempting to ward off coming evils. At various Synods 
 held during April and May strong expressions of loyalty 
 to the existing order of things and protests against 
 innovations were uttered. In several instances proceed- 
 ings were interfered with, and the Synods forcibly 
 dissolved by persons sent by the Royal Commissioner 
 to watch over matters. In the case of the Synod of 
 Dumfries it is specially recorded that the Earl of 
 Quecnsberry and the Earl of Hartfield, who perpetrated 
 this outrage at it, were both " miserably drunk " when 
 they came in to discharge their invidious task. ^ The 
 Westminster Divines had maintained the right of the 
 civil magistrate to be present at Synods and " to provide 
 that whatever was transacted at them should be according 
 to the mind of God." * They had prescribed that if the 
 civil magistrate were a heathen. Synods might be held 
 independently of him, '' but they had not legislated for 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 151. 
 
 ' Baillie, Letters, vol. Ill, p. 459. 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 123 : Kirkton, History, p. n8. 
 
 * Confession of Faith, chap. XXIII. 
 
 ^ Ibid, chap. XXXI.
 
 io8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the case in which he was nominally Christian and was 
 present in a state of intoxication and hostility. The 
 Synod of Aberdeen was the only one which welcomed 
 the prospect of the re-establishment of Episcopacy, and 
 even it alluded to the matter in covert and ambiguous 
 terms. Twenty-four years before they had been con- 
 cussed into accepting the Covenant and Presbyterianism. 
 They now lamented the weakness which had been their 
 misfortune, if not indeed their fault ; and with that 
 fervid penitence which often accompanies acknowledge- 
 ment of the sins of others they deplored the rebeUion 
 against the royal authority in the days of Charles 1, 
 which had had such far reaching results. ^ 
 
 The matter of settling the government of the Church 
 had been formally entrusted to the King by the decision 
 of Parliament, and it was carefully considered by him and 
 by his leading councillors in Scotch affairs. The statutes 
 which established Presbyterianism in Scotland had been 
 blotted out, and that form of Church-government now 
 only existed there as a temporary arrangement, but it was 
 by no means a matter of course that it should be abolished. 
 The Cavalier party in England with which Middleton and 
 Glencairn were in full sympathy was eager for the policy 
 of abolition, but Charles himself, though behind none of 
 them in his hatred of Presbyterianism, was inclined to 
 doubt the wisdom of the proposal. On every account it 
 was a matter of great moment to him that Scotland should 
 be well-affected to his government. ^ It cannot be doubted 
 that he was anxious to increase greatly the power of the 
 Crown, and the experience of his father had shown what 
 serious obstacles in the way of such a scheme a disaffected 
 party in Scotland might raise. He openly declared that 
 he well remembered the great aversion of many in Scotland 
 to the rule of cleric over cleric involved in Episcopal 
 Government. ^ He was strongly supported by the Earl 
 
 1 Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. i8i. 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 107. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 131.
 
 ANXIOUS DELIBERATIONS 109 
 
 of Lauderdale and the Earl of Crawford, ^ who assured 
 him that the national dislike to that form of ecclesiastical 
 rule was strong, and that the opposition to it would be 
 both fierce and obstinate. They recommended that either 
 a General Assembly in Scotland should be summoned to 
 consider the matter or that the ablest Divines on both 
 sides should be consulted regarding it. ^ Some very plain 
 statements were made by the Duke of Hamilton which 
 must have grated harshly upon the ears of Charles. He 
 reminded the King that the Acts of Assembly, which had 
 fixed the present constitution of the Church in Scotland 
 and had been approved by Royal Commissioners, were 
 yet unrepealed, ^ and he roundly declared that the Act 
 Rescissory would not have been passed so smoothly as it 
 had been but for the letter from His Majesty to the 
 Ministers of Edinburgh promising to continue and protect 
 Presbytery. * On the other hand Middleton and Sharp 
 asserted that no serious opposition to the change was 
 likely to be encountered. The Protesters as being insig- 
 nificant in numbers and in danger of suppression on 
 account of their disloyalty might be ignored, while the 
 Resolutioners with but few exceptions would, they said, 
 acquiesce in the change. The King was told that public 
 feeling in Scotland had altered very much during the ten 
 years which had elapsed since he was there, and that the 
 Presbyterian party had been discredited in the estimation 
 of the people at large by their high-handed procedure 
 when in power. The Duke of Ormond urged the con- 
 sideration that it would be difficult to maintain Episco- 
 pacy in Ireland if Presbyterianism were continued in 
 Scotland, as the northern counties of Ireland, in conse- 
 quence of the strong Scotch element in the population 
 
 * John Lindsay, Earl of Crawford, was created in 1633 Earl of Lindsay 
 and Lord Parbroath, and called himself Earl of Crawford-Lindsay. He was 
 Treasurer in 1644, was deprived of his olfice in 1649 ; imprisoned in England 
 from 1651 to 1660 : restored to the Treasurership in i66i, but retired in 1663; 
 died in 1678 in his 8ist year. He was a cousin of the Earl of Balcarres. 
 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 54. 
 
 ^ These Acts were rescinded by Parliament on Sept. 5th, 1662. (Ibid, p. 63) 
 
 * Ibid, p. 55.
 
 no A SCOTS EARL 
 
 there, were very much affected by what took place in 
 Scotland. All were agreed that if the change were to be 
 made it should be made at once, while the loyal feelings 
 with which the Restoration had been welcomed were still 
 warm and before an Act of Indemnity had been passed 
 in Scotland. This last mentioned circumstance was 
 quite worth taking into account, for legislating is rendered 
 a distinctly easier task when the bow-string is round the 
 necks of political opponents. These various arguments 
 weighed with Charles and he gave way, though " with a 
 visible reluctancy ", to the change of Church-government 
 in Scotland of which a majority of his councillors 
 approved. ^ 
 
 Yet though Charles was indifferent to the claims of a 
 jus divinum for Episcopacy, and would have preferred to 
 let Presbyterianism remain as the form of church-govern- 
 ment in Scotland we must not imagine that any external 
 pressure was needed to urge him to exercise arbitrary 
 rule in that country. The supremacy of the Crown in 
 matters ecclesiastical as well as civil was a principle which 
 he was determined to enforce in any case. It would be 
 quite a mistake to suppose that Episcopacy and Presby- 
 terianism then stood for tyranny and liberty respectively. 
 There was nothing in the nature of Episcopacy to make 
 it more oppressive than Presbyterianism. Indeed it is 
 easy to imagine a more searching and unrelenting rule 
 being exercised by the latter than by the former. But 
 at this juncture in the history of Scotland it happened, 
 one might say almost accidentally, that Episcopacy was 
 the instrument lying ready to the hand of the civil power 
 for carrying out that desire to control the Church which 
 has so often led to religious persecution. ^ As we shall 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 131 : Wodrovv, History, vol. I, 
 p. 224 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 398 : Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs oj 
 Scotland, p. 52 : Kirkton, History, pp. 128, 131. 
 
 ^ " La seule chose a laquelle I'empire romain ait declare la guerre en fait 
 
 de religion, c'est la theocratie II n'admettait aucune association dans I'Etat 
 
 en dehors de I'Etat. Ce dernier point est essentiel : il est a vrai dire, la racine 
 de toutes les persecutions " (Renan, Les Apotres, p. 351-)
 
 EPISCOPACY RE-ESTABLISHED iii 
 
 afterwards see, when the Bishops attempted to claim 
 some independent authority they were instantly and 
 rudely checked by the power which had established them 
 and which alone maintained them in their place. "For" 
 as Sir George Mackenzie says, " the Government did 
 sustain Episcopacy as a part of the State, but never as a 
 hierarchy wholly independent from it." ^ 
 
 The new order of things was ushered in by a royal 
 proclamation made with great pomp at the Market Cross 
 of Edinburgh, on Sept. 6th, i66i.^ In this it was 
 declared that the King having promised to maintain the 
 Church of Scotland settled by law, and the Parliament 
 having rescinded all Acts passed since the late troubles 
 began, the system he was now bound to maintain was 
 that government by Bishops, which had been abolished 
 twenty-three years before. Apart from the fact that this 
 step was in flagrant violation both of earlier oaths and of 
 recent promises to protect the Presbyterian establishment, 
 the cynical shamelessness of the terms in which the 
 change was announced was nothing less than revolting. 
 Even the zealous Episcopalian historian. Dr. Grub, is at 
 one with us in this opinion. "The manner", he says, 
 " in which the re-establishment of Episcopal government 
 was announced admits of no defence. To justify the 
 changes by an express reference to the letter of August, 
 1660, and to pretend that the repeal of the various 
 statutes in favour of Presbyterianism, which was effected 
 by the influence of the Crown, made Episcopacy the 
 form of Church Government settled by law, which he 
 was now bound in terms of that letter to maintain, was 
 a fraud and delusion. This proceeding shook all 
 confidence in the King's sincerity, and excited a 
 strong dislike to the Episcopal polity, at the very time 
 when it was most important to conciliate the national 
 feeling in its favour ". ^ That Charles II yielded to the 
 
 ' Quoted in Innes Studies in Scottish History, p. 90. 
 
 * NicoW, Diary, p. 340; Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 57. 
 
 ^ Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 185.
 
 112 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 opinion of others in entering on this line of policy we 
 have already seen ; but nothing should have moved him 
 to present himself to his subjects in the character of 
 a perjurer and a cheat. The political party which were 
 now dominant in England were " high-fliers " in the 
 matter of Episcopacy, and ascribed the King's will- 
 ingness to leave Presbyterianism undisturbed to religious 
 indifference. ^ To their religious zeal was added the 
 political consideration that by means of the Bishops in 
 Parliament the Crown would recover the complete control 
 over the transaction of affairs there which had been 
 wrested from it twenty years before. " Bishops, too, 
 were generally credited with holding the doctrine of the 
 Divine Right of Kings, and with commending to subjects 
 the duty of passive obedience in all circumstances. ^ 
 These were ideas which the Cavalier statesmen of the 
 Restoration deemed it desirable to implant in Scotland, 
 though the political climate there was somewhat unprom- 
 ising for their growth in anything like luxuriance. Not 
 many years were to pass before even in the region where 
 these ideas were indigenous, Bishops would welcome an 
 armed invader of the territory of the Lord's Anointed, 
 but by that time the reductio ad absurdum of their principles 
 and of the House of Stewart was quite complete. * 
 
 No time was lost in choosing persons for the Episcopal 
 Office. Thomas Sydserf who had been Bishop of Gal- 
 loway was still alive and was the only survivor of the 
 Bishops who had been deposed in 1638. He was judged 
 unfit in qualifications for the responsible post of Primate, 
 and obtained some compensation for any disappointment 
 he may have felt in connection with the matter by 
 receiving the wealthy Bishopric of Orkney. '^ Sharp 
 himself was appointed Archbishop of St. Andrews, 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 131 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, 
 p. 224. 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 93. 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 131. 
 
 * Henson, English Religion in the lyth Century, p. 149. 
 
 * Life of Robert Blair, p. 398 ; Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 132.
 
 SHARP'S SCRUPLES 113 
 
 Primate and Metropolitan of all Scotland, Andrew Fair- 
 foul, formerly Parish Minister of Duns, received the Arch- 
 bishopric of Glasgow, while James Hamilton and Robert 
 Leighton, ministers at Cambusnethan and Newbattle 
 respectively, were chosen for the dioceses of Galloway and 
 Dunblane. It was decided that these four should be 
 ordained as bishops in London, and should on their return 
 to Scotland fill up the other ten vacancies which existed. ^ 
 A difficulty, however, arose with regard to the status 
 of two of those who were now to be raised to the 
 episcopate. Fairfoul and Hamilton had been ordained 
 by Bishops under the old Episcopal Government in 
 Scotland, but Sharp and Leighton had only received 
 Presbyterian ordination, which the English prelates 
 refused to recognise. A similar difficulty had arisen in 
 1 6 10 on the establishment of Episcopacy in Scotland, 
 but it had then been decided to accept Presbyterian 
 ordination as valid on the ground that to reject it would 
 be to unchurch the Protestant communities on the 
 continent. But the good sense and kindly feeling of 
 those pre-Laudian days had now disappeared, and Sharp 
 found that he could only become Archbishop by con- 
 fession that his Presbyterian ordination had been an 
 imposture. Leighton was on principle indifferent to 
 ceremonies, and would willingly have been ordained or 
 re-ordained a score of times, if he had entered as many 
 churches successively which refused to recognise the 
 validity of each other's orders ; but Sharp hesitated for a 
 time before consenting to accept office on these terms. 
 He finally decided to submit to re-ordination, and on 
 intimating this fact to Sheldon, Bishop of London, was 
 told with a bitter sneer that it was a Scotch custom to 
 " scruple at everything and to swallow anything. " ^ 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 238. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 239 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 140 : Kirkton, 
 History, p. 137 : Wodrow, Analecta, vol. I, p. 89 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 399. 
 See also Henson, Eiii^lish Relti^ion in the ijth Century, pp. 25, 28. Sheldon 
 had evidently forgotten the apostolical injunction to " speak the truth in love " 
 {Eph. IV-15.) 
 
 H
 
 114 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 The ordination of the four prelates took place with 
 considerable pomp at Westminster Abbey, Sunday, Dec. 
 15th, 1 66 1, and after some delay the new Bishops went 
 down into Scotland and ordained those appointed by the 
 Crown to the vacant sees. It is worthy of remark that 
 they did not re-ordain any of these who had been in the 
 condition of Sharp and Leighton as above described, and 
 thus, according to the strict rule, which the latter had 
 accepted, the orders of several of the new Bishops were 
 invalid, and the nation was called upon to render 
 obedience to some who had no claim to it. Sharp 
 himself took possession of his see of St. Andrews in the 
 April of 1662, and on Sunday, the 20th of that month 
 he preached his first sermon in his diocese from the 
 words : " For I determined not to know anything among 
 you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified" (i Cor. ii.-v. 2)^ 
 It has been suggested that the text chosen indicates that 
 the Archbishop was not altogether devoid of a sense of 
 humour. 
 
 ' Life of Robert Blair, p. 405.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Intrigues to ruin Lord Lome — He is supported by Lauderdale — He is accused 
 of " Leasing-making " and condemned to death— He is again imprisoned 
 in Edinburgh Castle — Severity towards Presbyterian recusants — The 
 Billetting Act — Downfall of Middleton — Lord Lome released and the 
 Earldom restored to him — The search for the Spanish treasure. 
 
 We have described the breach of faith on the part of 
 the King and the reactionary policy in Scotland with as 
 great brevity as the importance of the matters concerned 
 admits of, and we now return to the events in the life of 
 Lord Lome, which form the special subject of this work. 
 No apology, however, need be made by us for thus appa- 
 rently digressing from the matter in hand, since apart 
 from the fact that this is a history of his times as well as 
 a narrative of his life, it is impossible to understand the 
 part he played in Scotland in the reign of Charles II, 
 unless we have a clear idea of the causes of the turmoil 
 and misery which oppressed that country for more than 
 a quarter of a century after the Restoration. 
 
 The sentence of death passed upon the Marquess of 
 Argyll on the charge of treason carried with it forfeiture 
 of honours and estates. The King, however, was inclined 
 to restore the Earldom of Argyll and the ancestral property 
 to Lord Lome, though strong pressure was brought to 
 bear upon him to secure the ruin of the House of 
 Campbell. Attempts were made to persuade him that 
 the zeal of Lord Lome in his behalf had been a device 
 arranged between him and his father to protect the family,
 
 ii6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 whichever side in politics came to be uppermost. ^ The 
 steadfast zeal with which Lord Lome had wrought and 
 suffered in the royal cause for the past twelve years was 
 surely a sufficient answer to this accusation. Yet but 
 little reliance could be placed upon the fickle gratitude of 
 Charles as a protection against danger ; it was, to use 
 Rabshakeh's words, "but a bruised reed on which if a man 
 lean it will go into his hand and pierce it, " " The pre- 
 carious nature of the position in which Lord Lome was 
 placed is indicated in a letter of the time from his aunts, the 
 Ladies Victoria and Isabella Campbell, to Elizabeth, Queen 
 of Bohemia, asking her to use her influence with her 
 nephew, Charles II, on his behalf. These ladies, who were 
 half-sisters of the Marquess of Argyll, were Roman Catho- 
 lics in religion and were nuns in a convent in Brussels. ' 
 They wrote in terms of anxious supplication to the Queen 
 of Bohemia, asserting that Lord Lome was exposed to the 
 machinations of powerful enemies and imploring her to 
 take his part. Her successful interposition, they said, 
 " would change their tears for their brother's misfortune 
 into gratitude for Her Majesty's kindness and their sighs 
 into continual prayers for the prosperity of the royal 
 House. " * The influence of the widowed Queen, whose 
 own misfortunes and sorrows had excited for her the 
 sympathy of the whole Protestant world, might, if she 
 chose to exert it, have had some weight with Charles II ; 
 but probably Lord Lome found in the friendship of 
 Lauderdale a more efficient help at the present crisis of 
 his affairs. The latter, though not yet possessed of the 
 astonishing influence over the King which he afterwards 
 exercised, had already begun to acquire it. Lord Lome 
 was a connexion of his by marriage, Lady Lome being a 
 niece of the Countess of Lauderdale ; while Middleton, 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 130 : Foxcroft, Supplement to 
 Burnet, p. 5. 
 
 2 2 Kin^s, XVIII, V. 21. 
 
 ^ They were the issue by a second marriage of the 7th Earl of Argyll. 
 See various notices of them in The Great Marquess, p. 342. 
 
 * Brit. Mus. Acid. MSS., 24024, f. 42.
 
 LAUDERDALE AT COURT 117 
 
 the most dangerous enemy of the House of Campbell, 
 was on other grounds Lauderdale's own " dearest foe ". 
 On both the grounds therefore of kinship and of 
 political sympathy, Lauderdale was likely to use his 
 influence on Lome's behalf, while his position as a 
 Secretary of State and a prominent councillor in Scotch 
 affairs gave him opportunities of helping his friend. His 
 own situation was by no means without its dangers, as 
 his prestige had suffered somewhat in the recent contest 
 with regard to Scotch ecclesiastical affairs in which he 
 had been worsted, but it was still strong ; while his 
 support of his kinsman was part of the warfare against a 
 rival faction in which defeat meant for him political 
 extinction, if not, indeed, death upon the scaffold \ 
 Notwithstanding his eminent business capacity and the 
 personal influence over the King which he was able to 
 exercise, his position at Court was precarious. He 
 strengthened it by means which would have horrified 
 those who in his early days had credited him with 
 saintliness ; for he pandered to the vicious pleasures in 
 which his royal master indulged and he formed a firm 
 alliance with the Countess of Castlemaine whose power 
 over Charles was so tyrannous and lasting ^. We are 
 told on good authority that friendship is impossible 
 among the wicked, ^ so it is certain that the alliance in 
 question was a purely mercenary contract. As the royal 
 mistress was ravenously greedy, one is not surprised to 
 find that before Lauderdale had been long associated 
 with her he was in straits for ready money "*. From 
 some quarter he must have obtained a fresh supply, for 
 the Countess was unfailing in her support of him against 
 all his enemies. The singularity of his appearance and 
 
 > There was a risk of his being indicted for high treason for his share in 
 the surrender of Charles I to the EngHsh : see Carte, Life ofOrmoiid, p. 272: 
 Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, pp. ii4n, 125; Lingard, History, vol. IX, p. 99: 
 Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 131. 
 
 ■■* Kirkton, History, p. 158 : Burnet, History of My Oiun Times, vol. I, p. 129 : 
 Wodrovv, History vol. I, p. 347. 
 
 ^ Cicero, De Amicitia, chap. 22. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, pp. 107, 121.
 
 ii8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 manners is vividly described by Burnet who knew him 
 intimately. " He made a very ill appearance, " says the 
 historian, " he was very big : his hair red, hanging oddly 
 about him : his tongue was too big for his mouth, which 
 made him bedew all that he talked to : and his whole 
 manner was rough and boisterous, and very unfit for a 
 court " \ 
 
 In the meantime there was some danger of the Argyll 
 estates being so diminished in value as to leave almost 
 nothing for the maintenance of the Earldom if it were 
 given back. The Huntly family pressed for the restor- 
 ation of property on which the Marquess of Argyll had 
 had claims as a creditor, and which had passed into his 
 hands ; while the Marquess of Montrose demanded back 
 an estate which had' been given to Argyll as some 
 compensation for the frightful losses inflicted on him by 
 the royalist general. Numerous other creditors clamoured 
 for payment of debts out of estates which, though 
 extensive, would not have been sufficient to meet all the 
 claims made upon them. Curiously enough, Lome was 
 supported by Middleton in resisting the indiscriminate 
 partition and distribution of his ancestral property, for 
 the latter hoped in the end to obtain the main part of it 
 for himself. ^ 
 
 The dangers which threatened Lord Lome were 
 considerable, but by an act of indiscretion he intensified 
 them greatly, and fell completely into the power of his 
 enemies. A great obstacle in the way of his restoration 
 to the Earldom and estates of Argyll lay in the animosity 
 towards him of Clarendon who was Middleton's patron. 
 One of the friends of the English Chancellor, a Lord 
 Berkshire ^ undertook to pacify him on receiving the 
 promise of ;^iooo Sterling. Lord Lome wrote from 
 
 ' History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. loi. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 130 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 273 : Foxcroft, Stippletnent to 
 Burnet, p. 6. 
 
 ^ This was Thomas Howard of Charlton, Wiltshire, second son of Thomas, 
 1st. Earl of Suffolk. He was created in 1622 Baron Howard of Charlton and 
 Viscount Andover, and in 1626 Earl of Berkshire.
 
 A CHARGE OF « LEASING-MAKING " 119 
 
 London to his brother-in-law, Lord Duffus, ^ now in 
 Scotland, and gave him an account of this intrigue. He 
 said that since he had made sure of the great man upon 
 whom Middleton depended, he hoped that no real 
 danger hung over him ; and in reference to the conduct 
 of some of his enemies in the Scotch Parliament he used 
 the words, " and then the King will see their tricks. " ^ 
 The letter was intercepted at the post-office and carried 
 to Middleton who at once laid it before Parliament. It 
 was agreed that these words contained a gross reflection 
 upon Parliament and that by them Lord Lome had 
 exposed himself to the capital charge of "Leasing-making", 
 or of sowing dissension between the King and his sub- 
 jects. ^ Nothing could well be more monstrous than to 
 found a criminal charge of such a serious character upon 
 expressions of irritation found in a private letter which 
 had been obtained by an act of treachery. The Parlia- 
 ment, however, formally requested the King to give 
 orders for Lome to be apprehended and sent down to 
 Scotland for trial, and they commissioned Lord Tarbet, 
 one of Middleton's faction who was then in London, to 
 act as their agent in this affair. The communication 
 reached Tarbet on the Sunday morning, and a meeting of 
 the Council was called by the King on the same day to 
 consider the matter. Charles, we are told, gave it as 
 his opinion that the letter Lord Lome had written was 
 very indiscreet but that there was nothing criminal in 
 it. * Tarbet pressed for his immediate apprehension, 
 but Lauderdale urged that a promise to appear before 
 Parliament and stand his trial should be accepted as 
 sufficient. The latter's purpose was that it might be 
 
 ' Alexander Sutherland, ist. Lord Duffus, was the son of William Suther- 
 land of Duffus. He was the brother-in-law of Lord Lome, as the latter 
 married Mary Stewart, the eldest daughter of the Earl of Moray, while Lord 
 Duffus married as his third wife the next sister, Margaret. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 70 : Kirkton, History, 
 
 p. 143- 
 
 ' Brodie, Diary, p. 262. 
 
 * Burnet, History of My Oxvn Times, vol. I, p. 148 : Acts of Pari, of Scot., 
 vol. VII, p. 380.
 
 I20 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 inferred that the King and Council did not take the 
 matter very seriously, and also that the accused might 
 avoid the disadvantage of appearing as a prisoner at 
 the bar of Parliament. As it was urged that the 
 crime was that of treason and could not be treated 
 so lightly as he proposed, Lauderdale offered himself 
 as cautioner for his kinsman, life for life. Some ob- 
 jection was made to the acceptance of this arrangement, 
 but the Lord Chancellor supported it in order to involve 
 Lauderdale in the odium connected with the charge of 
 insulting the Scotch Parliament, and to engage Lauder- 
 dale's enemies against Lord Lome whom he hated 
 passionately. At the close of the meeting of Council, 
 Lauderdale, Tarbet and Newburgh, the last-named being 
 another of Middleton's party, were ordered to intimate 
 the decision to the accused, and to request him to give 
 up the name of the person who had undertaken for a 
 bribe to secure the Chancellor's favour. The interview 
 took place at Lauderdale's lodgings. Lord Lome at once 
 agreed to go down to Scotland to be tried, but he 
 requested to be allowed to reveal the name asked for to the 
 King alone. To his astonishment he learned that this 
 could not be granted him. " This being refused by 
 Lauderdale," says our informant, " who told him that he 
 was not to see the King's face, this answer did extremely 
 confound him ; and both of them being struck by it into 
 a thoughtfulness that drew tears from them, Tarbet was 
 thereby moved to condescend [consent] that Lome should 
 write to his Majesty ; and the letter having expressed the 
 name of that undertaker [i. e. Lord Berkshire] was 
 shown to Chancellor Hyde, whose favour was ever after 
 lost by the undertaker. " ^ 
 
 The King could scarcely, indeed, have acted otherwise 
 than he did ; for it would have been almost impossible to 
 admit the accused to an interview without infringing the 
 rights and privileges of the Parliament by which he was 
 to be tried. In a communication sent by him to the 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 72.
 
 CONDEMNED TO DEATH 121 
 
 authorities in Edinburgh he was careful to state the 
 course he had followed when solicited to allow Lord 
 Lome to see him. ^ At the same time Charles sent definite 
 instructions to Middleton that no sentence that might be 
 passed was to be executed without the matter being again 
 referred to him. On Thursday, July 17th, the accused 
 reached Edinburgh and appeared at the bar of the 
 Parliament, and was at once committed, for the second 
 time in his life, to custody in Edinburgh Castle.^ There 
 can be no doubt that he stood in great peril. The crime 
 with which he was charged was one for which in his own 
 memory the death-sentence had been executed, ^ though 
 the public mind had then been somewhat shocked by the 
 occurrence. "^ He did not deny the facts on which the 
 charge was based, and all that he could do was to plead 
 extenuating circumstances. He made no defence, " says 
 Burnet, " but in a long speech he set out the great 
 provocation he had been under, the many libels that had 
 been printed against him ; [that] some of these had been 
 put in the king's own hands, to represent him as unworthy 
 of his grace and favour ; so, that after all that hard 
 usage, it was no wonder, if he had writ with some sharp- 
 ness : but he protested he meant no harm to any person ; 
 his design being only to preserve and save himself from 
 the malice and lies of others and not to make lies of any. 
 In conclusion he submitted himself to the justice of the 
 parliament, and cast himself on the king's mercy. " '' He 
 was formally condemned to death and the date and place 
 of execution were left to the decision of the Royal Com- 
 missioner. And so, on Tuesday, Aug. 26th, 1662, he 
 knelt down at the bar of the Parliament, as his father had 
 done fifteen months before, and heard the same sentence 
 of beheading pronounced upon himself. ^ 
 
 > Acts of Pari, of Scot, vol. VII, p. 387. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. VII, p. 385 : Brodie, Diary, 267. 
 ^ The Great Marquess, p. 128. 
 
 * Baillie, Letters, vol. I, p. 381. 
 
 * History of My Own Tunes, vol. I, p. 149. 
 
 8 Lamont,L>mry, p. 186: Nicoll, Diary, p. 377 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 297.
 
 122 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 The sentence shocked public opinion both in Scotland 
 and England very considerably, and probably the Lord 
 Chancellor Clarendon expressed the feelings of many 
 when on hearing of it he blessed God " that he lived not 
 in a country where there were such laws." ^ It is remark- 
 able that Lord Lome was doomed twenty years later to 
 be the victim of an equally monstrous perversion of justice 
 in the guise of a judicial sentence. The fact that the 
 King had ordered that the sentence was not to be executed 
 without further instructions from him was taken by some 
 as reducing the proceedings to a farce, and accordingly as 
 diminishing to a certain extent the disgrace connected 
 with them. ^ But the mere fact that the execution of the 
 sentence depended upon the will of another did not lessen 
 in any degree the baseness of those who had passed it. 
 So venomous was the mood of the faction which had now 
 the control of affairs in Scotland that they passed an Act 
 making it a criminal offence to petition the King in 
 favour of restoring the children of those who had been 
 attainted by Parliament. ^ This was evidently aimed at 
 Lauderdale and contemplated not only Lord Lome's 
 political and social extinction but that of his family. As 
 Middleton had no authority for this Act, his procedure 
 in the matter was one of those incidents which discredited 
 his administration and led to his downfall. Another 
 attempt by him to place his rival, Lauderdale, at a disad- 
 vantage was equally unsuccessful. As an almost necessary 
 consequence of the overthrow of Presbyterianism in 
 Scotland, an Act was passed ordering all persons in public 
 trust to repudiate the National and the Solemn League 
 and Covenant as unlawful and seditious obligations. 
 Middleton hoped that this Act would compel Lauderdale 
 to resign his Secretaryship, but the latter cheerfully 
 declared that he would sign a cartload of such oaths and 
 indeed turn Turk rather than lose his office. * 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 133. 
 
 - Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 149. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 82. 
 
 "• Ibid, p. 84 : Quarterly Review, 1884, p. 417.
 
 TYRANNOUS PROCEDURE 123 
 
 The confusion of ecclesiastical matters in Scotland 
 was greatly increased by the blundering of Sharp and by 
 the reckless tyranny of the Parliament under Middleton's 
 fatal influence. In the reign of James VI when Episcopacy 
 was last introduced into the country, the continuity of 
 Church life was not broken by the change. Presbyteries 
 met in their usual way, and when bishops came and sat 
 down in them, though their presence and the power they 
 claimed were regarded by many as acts of usurpation, 
 the authority of these courts remained undiminished. 
 Sharp, however, secured the publication of a decree 
 forbidding Presbyteries to meet until the bishops had 
 settled upon a method of proceeding in them. The 
 result of putting an end to the older institution and 
 of introducing another of a totally different cast was 
 to emphasize the fact that an ecclesiastical revolution 
 had taken place, and to impress upon all who consented 
 to it that they had changed their principles and swal- 
 lowed any scruples they might have had.^ Had Pres- 
 byteries been allowed to remain and had bishops taken 
 their places in them, opposition would in course of 
 time have passed away, as the older men died out and 
 others brought up under the new system filled up the 
 vacancies. 
 
 The legislative Act which abolished Patronage in 1649 
 having been itself removed from the Statute-book by the 
 Act Rescissory, the legal status of those ministers who 
 had received benefices since that date was seriously 
 affected. It would only have been just to pass a special 
 Act confirming these men in the possession of their 
 benefices which they had obtained in accordance with 
 the law as it existed at the time that they received them. 
 The Parliament, however, decided that they should be 
 deprived of them within three months from the date of 
 the Act, unless they obtained presentation from patrons 
 and applied for collation to the bishops of the dioceses in 
 
 1 Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 141 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, 
 pp. 235, 248 : Brodie, Diary, p. 236.
 
 124 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 which they were. ^ This may be described as the fatal 
 step which led to all the disorder and misery and horror 
 which mark the history of Scotland in this reign. By 
 what may be fairly described as a shameless act of 
 despotism, the Government by blotting out the legislation 
 of twenty years had obtained a legal advantage over its 
 opponents. It then proceeded to press this advantage 
 with the utmost severity against those who were indis- 
 posed to acquiesce in the injustice of which they were 
 the victims. With the cynical incredulity — amounting 
 almost to judicial blindness — which has more than once 
 characterized those who have dealt oppressively with the 
 Presbyterian Church, the authorities were convinced that 
 none or few of the ministers would lose their stipends 
 for Nonconformity. " What will these mad fellows 
 do ? " exclaimed Middleton with oaths and curses when 
 he discovered his mistake. ' 
 
 When the day fixed by the Act, Sept. 20th, 1662, 
 came, it was found that few had applied for collation, 
 and at the advice of Fairfoul, the Archbishop of Glasgow, 
 the executive government proceeded to enforce the law. 
 By an Act of the Privy Council at Glasgow on Oct. ist, 
 those ministers who had not obeyed the orders given 
 were forbidden to officiate in their churches and were 
 commanded to remove themselves and their families out 
 of the bounds of their Presbyteries before the close of 
 the month. This led to the instant resignation of at 
 least two hundred ministers, principally of the party of 
 the Protesters and resident in the southern and western 
 counties of Scotland. Even Sir George Mackenzie who 
 afterwards won so unfavourable a reputation as Lord 
 Advocate declares that this measure was blamed by all 
 wise and good men. ^ It deprived extensive tracts of 
 the country of religious ordinances, and created a discon- 
 
 ' Acts of Parliament of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 390. 
 
 ^ Wodrovv, History, vol. I, p. 284 : Kirkton, History, p. 149. In the circle of 
 the Royal Commissioner at Holyrood the calculation within a few hours of 
 the Disruption (1843) was that between twenty and thirty might secede. 
 
 ^ Memoirs of the Ajfairs of Scotland, p. 78.
 
 EJECTION OF CLERGY 125 
 
 tent which despair of redress rendered extremely bitter 
 and dangerous. It is only fair to Sharp to say that he 
 disapproved of this peremptory measure and said that 
 the folly of the Archbishop of Glasgow had well-nigh 
 ruined them/ He would have preferred a gradual 
 supersession of the disaffected clergy, Middleton, how- 
 ever, had but little respect for the opinions of the Bishops 
 whom he looked upon as his creatures, and he only acted 
 on Fairfoul's advice because it harmonized with his own 
 overbearing temper. The date by which all who refused 
 to submit to the orders of the Government were to resign 
 their benefices was again postponed, and was fixed for 
 March ist, 1663, but this was done rather to give time 
 for filling up vacancies than as a measure of relief to 
 those upon whom the ordinance in question pressed 
 heavily. " No fewer than about three hundred and fifty 
 of the clergy were ultimately ejected from their livings — 
 the number already mentioned as affected by the Act of 
 the Privy Council having been augmented by that of 
 those who were deposed for refusing to attend the new 
 diocesan courts, or for other acts of contumacious resist- 
 ance to the new regime.^ As it is sure that men who are 
 willing to suffer hardship in what they regard as a holy 
 cause have in their characters a strain of devotion and 
 heroism, we can safely conclude that the great majority 
 of those who now left the Established Church must have 
 deserved the affectionate respect of their congregations. 
 Consequently it is not surprising that multitudes pre- 
 ferred their ministrations to those of the men whom the 
 Bishops installed as their successors, and that in private 
 houses and in the open air those conventicles and field- 
 meetings began to be held which the Government soon 
 attempted to suppress with a strong hand. As the 
 vacancies were numerous and the supply of candidates 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 154: VVodrow, History, vol.1, 
 p. 283. 
 2 Ibid, p. 286. 
 * See Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 20911.
 
 126 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 somewhat meagre, it is quite possible that in some 
 instances men received livings who were but poorly 
 qualified for discharging the duties belonging to them ; 
 and it may well have been the case that the new-comers 
 were as a rule inferior in moral and spiritual character to 
 those whose places they occupied. But there is no reason 
 to conclude that as a class they were both ignorant and 
 immoral. They were certainly unfortunate in entering 
 upon their office with the knowledge that a large section 
 of their congregations was hostile to them, and in having 
 to look for support to a Government that was as con- 
 temptuous of religious principle as it was ruthless in 
 demanding outward conformity with the standard which 
 it had set up. 
 
 In the opinion of that dispassionate historian, Hallam, 
 no country in modern times was ever afflicted with a 
 worse Government than that of Scotland during the 
 reign of Charles II. ^ The realm lay at the mercy of 
 officials who were insolent and rapacious enough to be 
 qualified to act as Turkish Pashas, and the sovereign 
 in whose name they exercised authority was not only far 
 away but contemptuously indifferent to the cruelty and 
 injustice of their proceedings. After the sacrifices which 
 Scotland had made since 1648 for the Royalist cause, it 
 might fairly have been thought that if an Act of Indemnity 
 were necessary some formal and comprehensive measure 
 of the kind would at once be decided upon, since even in 
 England, the main seat of rebellion and of republican 
 sentiment, an Act of Indemnity had been passed from 
 the benefit of which only the regicides were excluded. 
 On the contrary in Scotland the matter dragged on for 
 several years, for it was not until 1665 ^ that the Act was 
 finally passed, and under it between seven and eight 
 hundred persons were subjected to heavy fines and to 
 
 ^ " No part, I believe, of modern history, for so long a period, can be com- 
 pared for the wickedness of government to the Scots Administration of this 
 reign " : Constitutional History of England^ vol. Ill, p. 435. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 211.
 
 ATTEMPT AT OSTRACISM 127 
 
 other punishments not extending to life. ^ A convenient 
 opportunity for extortion was thus given to Middleton 
 and his party, and they did not fail to take advantage of 
 it. The only just arrangement in the case of such fines 
 would have been to make them debts recoverable by the 
 State in the ordinary way, with no more severe penalties 
 than those at the time attaching to omission or neglect to 
 meet such obligations. The special infamy of this Act 
 was that if the fine were not paid the indemnity was 
 withdrawn, and the person concerned was exposed to all 
 the penalties of treason. ^ This method of governing 
 a country is certainly more in accordance with those 
 alleged to be employed in the less reputable Moham- 
 medan States than with civilized and Christian usage. 
 The King by Lauderdale's advice extended the time for 
 the payment of fines — a measure of partial relief to the 
 sufferers — but Middleton suppressed the royal orders 
 and exacted the money. ^ 
 
 It is satisfactory to know that this villain fell into a pit 
 of his own construction. His position was insecure 
 while Lauderdale was Secretary of State and near the 
 royal ear ; and accordingly he planned to supplement the 
 fining of certain offenders by a measure incapacitating 
 others from serving the Crown in any places of trust. 
 If there were persons whose past history showed that they 
 were unfit to be so employed, there would have been no 
 injustice done if they had been openly named and visited 
 with this punishment. But Middleton's scheme was 
 tyrannical and audacious to the last degree. It provided 
 for the exclusion of twelve persons to be nominated by 
 ballot in Parliament — a measure like that of Ostracism in 
 Ancient Athens. By this scheme the Parliament sought 
 to exercise an autocratic power which even infringed on 
 the royal prerogative, and to drive men from public life 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 270 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, 
 p. 149. 
 
 * J. H. Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 157. 
 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 82.
 
 128 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 without giving them an opportunity of defending them- 
 selves. Those who are curious in such matters may read 
 the history of the Billeting Act, as it was called, in the 
 original sources, where it is recorded with even painful 
 minuteness. ^ The substance of the intrigue may be 
 stated very briefly. Middleton persuaded the King that 
 the Parliament wished the measure and he assured the 
 Parliament that the King had set his heart on it. The 
 list of the victims, among whom Lauderdale was the most 
 prominent, was selected with a great show of secrecy, and 
 the document containing it was sealed up and despatched 
 with solemn state to Charles IL So wily were the con- 
 spirators that they had agents posted on the road to 
 London at various places so far south as Durham to 
 intercept messengers from Edinburgh whom their oppo- 
 nents might send to the capital. Lord Lome, however, 
 though imprisoned in the Castle, succeeded in informing 
 Lauderdale of his danger. He sent a messenger on 
 horseback who avoided the main road until he had got 
 into Yorkshire, and arrived in London before the 
 messengers from the Parliament. ^ Charles received the 
 sealed packet from the Royal Commissioner and flung it 
 aside unopened, and after a formal enquiry into the matter 
 had been instituted and the whole disgraceful proceedings 
 had been brought to light, Middleton was superseded as 
 Royal Commissioner. ^ Public feeling in England among 
 the Royalist party was strongly in favour of him and 
 hostile to his opponent. His frank and open manners 
 and his reputation for straightforwardness made him 
 popular ; while his services as the leader of the Cavalier 
 party in Scotland since the death of Montrose and his 
 recent achievements in overthrowing the Covenant and in 
 re-establishing Episcopacy, were regarded as condoning 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 85 : Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. I, passim : See also Quarterly Review, 1884, p. 417 : Carte, Life ofOrmond, 
 vol. II, p. 271 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 450 : Foxcroft, Coutiiitiation of 
 Burnet, p. 22. 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 151. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 202.
 
 SHARP AND LAUDERDALE 129 
 
 errors of judgement into which he might have fallen 
 within the past few months. Lauderdale on the other 
 hand had the reputation of artfulness and cunning and was 
 widely hated at Court. He was credited with being a 
 Presbyterian in principles and with acting almost avowedly 
 as the representative of that party. ^ 
 
 It was not to be expected that the Scotch Bishops 
 could remain unimpassioned spectators of the conflict 
 between the Royal Commissioner and the Secretary for 
 Scotland. Their gratitude towards Middleton, whose 
 creatures in a sense they were, may have been somewhat 
 insubstantial, but their dread of Lauderdale was real. 
 So great was their agitation as they saw in the political 
 sky the mounting scale of their champion that they 
 resolved to intervene. After some persuasion Sharp, 
 who had already written to the King on the matter, 
 undertook to enter the arena against Lauderdale, and to 
 settle the struggle by assuring the King that the standing 
 or falling of Middleton meant the standing or falling of 
 the Church — a statement more flattering to the Royal 
 Commissioner than to the Church. Before he could 
 arrive in London, Lauderdale received full information of 
 the intrigue, no doubt from Lord Lome as on the 
 former occasion. When Sharp came to London and saw 
 that Charles was alienated from Middleton he resolved 
 at once, as our informant tells us, " to make great 
 submissions to the Lord Lauderdale. " The rest of the 
 story as told by Burnet is certainly unedifying but is not 
 lacking in humour of a grim order. " When Lauder- 
 dale, " he says, " reproached him for his engagements 
 with the Earl of Middleton, Sharp denied all ; and said 
 he had never gone farther than what was decent, consid- 
 ering his post. He also denied he had writ to the 
 king in his favour. But the king had given the original 
 letter to the Lord Lauderdale, who upon that showed it 
 to Sharp ; with which he was so struck that he fell 
 a-crying in a most abject manner. He begged pardon 
 
 1 Carte, Life of Ormond, vol. II, p. 272.
 
 I30 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 for it and said what could a company of poor men 
 refuse to the earl of Middleton, who had done so much 
 for them, and had them so entirely in his power. The 
 lord Lauderdale upon this comforted him, and said, 
 he would forgive them all that was past, and would serve 
 them and the church at another rate than Lord 
 Middleton was capable of doing. So Sharp became 
 wholly his."^ The Archbishop of St. Andrews congratu- 
 lated himself upon his happy escape from a dangerous 
 position ; while Lauderdale after giving the Bishops a 
 right had no desire to weaken his position by allowing 
 them to believe that he had any lasting hostility towards 
 them. As a matter of fact he became more compliant 
 towards them than he might have been if he had been 
 always an Episcopalian, in order to avoid the suspicion of 
 favouring the Presbyterians, and he only opposed the 
 bishops when after a time they dared to set up some 
 claim to spiritual independence. 
 
 The later career of the man whom the Scotch Bishops 
 regarded as so essential to the prosperity of their Church 
 is attended with a tragic interest of its own. A few 
 months after he was superseded as Royal Commissioner 
 he resigned the military posts which he held in Scotland, ^ 
 and retired to the house of an old friend and companion 
 in arms near Guildford in Surrey. ^ He made his peace 
 with Lauderdale some four years later, * and afterwards 
 was appointed Governor of Tangier, where he died in 
 1673 in consequence of injuries received by falling down 
 the stairs of his residence in a drunken fit. ^ 
 
 The triumph of Lauderdale over his rival was both 
 
 ' History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 201. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 202 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 191. 
 
 ^ This friend was named Dalmahoy and had formerly been Gentleman of 
 the Horse to the Duke of Hamilton who was killed at the Battle of Worcester. 
 This man had married the Duke's widow, and with her come into the posses- 
 sion of a handsome house and estate in Surrey (Burnet, History of My Own 
 Times, vol. I, p. 203n.) 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. H, p. 44: Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of 
 Scotland, p. 49. 
 
 * Kirklon, History, p. 159 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 492.
 
 Archii!ai.i), 9 1 h Earl of Arcyll.
 
 RELEASE OF LORD LORNE 131 
 
 sudden and complete. No doubt if he had chosen to 
 accept the office he might have been appointed Royal 
 Commissioner as Middleton's successor, but he owed so 
 much of his power to his personal influence over Charles II 
 and his alliance with Lady Castlemaine that he did not care 
 to be absent for long from the Court. ^ The new Royal 
 Commissioner was an adherent of his, the Earl of 
 Rothes, whose father had been a turbulent leader of the 
 Covenanting party in the early days of the contest with 
 Charles I. He was a man whose native brutality of 
 temper education had done nothing to soften, for he was 
 deplorably illiterate, but his insinuating address and his 
 cunning procured for him a considerable measure of 
 success in the political life of his time.^ The first act of 
 his administration was his signing a warrant to release 
 Lord Lome from Edinburgh Castle (Mon., June 15th, 
 1663.)^ The latter shortly after regaining liberty went 
 up to London and was restored by Charles to the Earl- 
 dom of Argyll, the Marquessate granted to his father 
 being forfeited, and to a considerable portion of his 
 ancestral estates.* The rest of the property was set aside 
 to be sold for the benefit of his and of his father's credit- 
 ors. It was, however, inadequate for the purpose, and 
 this, as Burnet says, " occasioned a great outcry that long 
 continued to pursue him.'"" A special provision was 
 made for the two surviving sisters of the Earl, Lady 
 Newbattle and the Countess of Caithness, by their being 
 ranked as creditors on the estates whose claims had 
 precedence of all others. The burden of debt upon the 
 Argyll property, as we have explained elsewhere, was 
 largely, if indeed not altogether, the result of obligations 
 
 ' Pepys' Diary, 2nd. Mar, 1663-4. 
 
 ^ Mackay, Life of Viscount Stair, p. 75. 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 117 : Nicoll, Diary, 
 p. 394: Life of Robert Blair, p. 422 : Wodrovv, History, vol. I, p. 380. 
 
 ^ Douglas, Peerage. The patent was dated Oct. l6th, 1663. See also Law, 
 Memorials, p. 12 : Kirkton, History, p. 143. 
 
 ■'' History of My Own Times, vol. I. p. 205: Life of Robert Blair, p. 469. 
 That Argyll was not a good manager of his pecuniary affairs was the 
 opinion of at least one of his friends : see Brodie, Diary, p. 369.
 
 132 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 incurred in the public service. Thus we find the Mar- 
 quess pursued in 1655 for the payment of the cost of 
 some provisions furnished to the Scotch army ten years 
 before/ Charles II himself under his own hand and 
 seal acknowledged a debt to him of ;^70,ooo Sterling, and 
 promised to repay it on the honour of a King — a promise 
 which was never fulfilled. These facts should be taken 
 into account in connexion with the complaints made by 
 some at the time that the creditors were unfairly treated 
 in the arrangements made when the Earldom was restored. 
 So far as the arrangements for payment of creditors were 
 concerned the Earl of Argyll was not responsible, for 
 Commissioners were appointed by Charles II to settle 
 the Argyll estates and they carefully considered the 
 various claims brought before them and decided upon the 
 way in which they were to be liquidated. " 
 
 For some time after he recovered his ancestral title and 
 estates the Earl of Argyll was fully occupied in settling 
 his private affairs, and in checking the disorders which 
 had sprung up during the past three years in the extensive 
 territories under his jurisdiction. Negotiations and 
 arrangements with those who had claims upon his pro- 
 perty, endeavours to control the disaffected and lawless 
 sections of society within his borders, and to promote 
 the interests of his vassals and tenants left him but little 
 time for taking part in public affairs. ^ About this time 
 the Earl began to devote some attention to a romantic 
 scheme for acquiring wealth which has dazzled the imagin- 
 ation of various members of his house, but which has 
 not, as yet, yielded any golden results. This was an 
 endeavour to secure the treasure believed to lie hid 
 somewhere in the wreck of one of the ships of the ill-fated 
 Spanish Armada "dispersed by the mercie of God" in 
 1588. The vessel in question, named the Florencia, a 
 
 ' The Great Marquess, p. 296. 
 
 * Brit. Mus. Add. MSS. 35, 125: fo. 126: Foxcroft, Supplement to Burnet, 
 p. 83. 
 
 2 Letters of the Earl of Arg}'l! (Baiinatyne Club), pp. 3-8: Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. I, p. 201.
 
 THE FLORENCIA 133 
 
 galleon of over nine hundred tons, with a complement of 
 over four hundred and eighty-six men, and carrying 
 fifty-six guns, had a remarkable history. She was built 
 and equipped by the Grand Duke of Tuscany and was 
 sent by him fully manned with sailors and soldiers, as a 
 contribution to the fleet, with which Phihp II hoped to 
 humble the pride of the heretical islanders who had once 
 been under his sceptre. On board this vessel were a 
 number of bronze cannon, cast at Fontainebleau by 
 Benvenuto Cellini for Francis I, which that Monarch 
 had taken with him when he invaded Italy and had lost 
 at the battle of Pavia. The Florenda survived the run- 
 ning fight in the English Channel during the closing days 
 of July, and she kept up with the main body of the 
 Armada on its flight northwards to regain home by a 
 circuit round the Orkneys. She was one of those upon 
 which the great storm fell with appalling fury and drove 
 upon hostile shores. She found herself ofi^ the coast of 
 Mull and either by accident or design was burned when 
 near the shore. So close in was she that in an explosion 
 caused by the fire two men were thrown uninjured upon 
 the beach. Their ultimate fate is unknown. The shat- 
 tered hull then settled down in the Bay of Tobermory 
 in water only eight fathoms deep at low tide. As the 
 place where it sank was a clean hard channel with a light 
 covering of sand and was free from strong currents, it 
 seemed not unreasonable to suppose that all that was con- 
 tained in the vessel when it foundered still remained 
 within the wreck as it lay in the land-locked nook. 
 Popular imagination credited her with having some 
 " thirty millions of money " on board — ;/^24,ooo,ooo Ster- 
 ling if the reckoning were in Spanish pistoles, and 
 ;^2, 500,000 Sterling if it were in pounds Scots. ^ 
 
 On Feb 5th, 1641, Charles I authorised the Duke of 
 Lennox and Richmond, the Great Admiral of Scotland, 
 
 > For the above and follovvinj:; particulars we are indebted to documents 
 kindly lent to us by His Grace the Duke of Argyll, and to the little volume, 
 Armada Caimon, by Lord Archibald Campbell.
 
 134 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 to bestow upon the Marquess of Argyll, near whose 
 bounds the vessel had been cast away, a grant of all 
 valuables he might recover from the wreck, upon payment 
 of one per cent, of the proceeds after expenses had been 
 deducted. Though the Marquess was occupied by many 
 important affairs of state in the course of his busy life, he 
 found time to attempt to dredge up the treasure by 
 means of " doukers and other expert men ", but he recov- 
 ered nothing beyond a few cannon. In the March of 
 1665 the Earl of Argyll leased the wreck for three years 
 to a James Mauld, of Melgund, who had learned in 
 Sweden the art of working below water by means of a 
 diving-bell. ^ The bargain was that the Earl should 
 receive a fifth of the proceeds. But before the expiration 
 of the lease Mauld evidently found some more lucrative 
 engagement, for he abandoned the undertaking after 
 bringing ashore some more cannon. For a time after 
 this the Earl tried to carry on the work himself, but 
 without much success. Ten years later he fell into the 
 hands of a German, Hans Albricht van Treileben, who 
 made many promises, but after a time decamped, "taking", 
 as we are told, " no gold with him and leaving some 
 debt behind him. " The only thing he seems to have 
 brought to the surface was a rusty anchor. ^ The Duke 
 of York in 1677 claimed the wreck as Great Admiral of 
 Scotland on the ground that the original grant to the 
 Marquess of Argyll had been nullified by the Act Rescis- 
 sory, and that in any case in the matter of wreckage the 
 Admiral had only power to grant what might be recovered 
 within his lifetime. The case was tried in the House of 
 Lords and was decided in favour of the Earl of Argyll. 
 The grounds on which this decision rested were that the 
 King in virtue of the right of admiralty possessed by him 
 had ratified the original grant and had formally by a new 
 gift bestowed the vessel and its contents upon the Earl. 
 It was also declared that it would be both unjust and a 
 
 ' See also Add. MSS. 23, 122 : fo. 76, Brit. Mus. 
 » Hts. MSS. Com. Report, VI, pp. 625, 627.
 
 AN UNDISCOVERED SECRET 135 
 
 serious obstacle in the way of business enterprise if one 
 who had spent much time and money in a lawful under- 
 taking were to lose the benefits for which he had laboured 
 and if these were to be handed over to one who had spent 
 no pains upon the matter. ^ The Duke of York acquiesced 
 in the decision and wrote a courteous letter to the Earl 
 with regard to it, in which he said that there was no 
 reason why their each insisting upon what they believed 
 were their legal rights should lessen their mutual esteem 
 and kindly feeling. ^ From time to time the search for 
 the Spanish treasure has been carried on, but to this day 
 the precise spot where it lies remains a secret as deep as 
 that of the hiding-place of the fatal Nibelungen hoard 
 which Hagen flung into the Rhine. 
 
 ' Morison, Decisions, vol. XIX, p. 16792 : Fountainhall, Historical Notices, 
 vol. I, p. 109. 
 
 * Hist. MSS. Com. Report, VI, p. 616.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " The Bishops' Drag-net " — Misgovernment of Scotland — Risk of Insur- 
 rection — Emeutem Galloway — Insurgents March to Edinburgh — Defeated 
 at Rullion Green — Argyll's energetic support of the Government — 
 Humiliation of Sharp — Glimpses into Argyll's family-life— Death of 
 the Countess of Argyll. 
 
 In accordance with the harsh and tyrannical legislation 
 on which the Parliament had entered an Act had been 
 passed in the Session of 1663, by which all persons who 
 habitually and wilfully absented themselves from attend- 
 ance at the churches of their own parishes were liable to 
 heavy fine. This measure was popularly known as " the 
 Bishops' drag-net ". ^ The title was perhaps suggested 
 by one of the parables in St. Matthew's Gospel, but 
 nothing more foreign to the spirit of Christianity could 
 well be conceived. That nothing might be wanting to 
 complete the infamy of the measure ministers were 
 required to act as informers, and soldiers were empowered 
 to exact the fines. The whole history of the remainder 
 of the reign of Charles II in Scotland may be summarily 
 described as a series of futile and blood-stained efforts to 
 enforce this monstrous Act. What wonder was it that 
 the religious instincts of the people who had been so 
 disgracefully deceived by the Government of the Restor- 
 ation revolted both from the Prelates and from those 
 who conformed to the new order of things, and that 
 
 ' Acts of Pari, of Scot., vol. VII, pp. 455, 456 : Wodrow, History, vol. I, 
 pp. 344, 350 : Hume Brown, History of Scotland, vol. II, p. 390.
 
 A SEARCHING TYRANNY 137 
 
 multitudes of devout, intelligent men and women decided 
 to cast in their lot with those who seemed " the people 
 of God ", even although their politics were frantically 
 impracticable and the tone of their religious life tended 
 to become somewhat narrow and rancorous under the 
 brutalizing influence of persecution ? For we must not 
 forget that persecution has an evil effect not only upon 
 those who exercise it but also upon those who suffer 
 from it. From the latter it may indeed weed out 
 hypocritical pretenders but it inclines the rest to exag- 
 gerate unimportant characteristics into essential principles, 
 and to cherish a bitter resentment against their oppress- 
 ors, which must lower the tone of the religious 
 life even though it may not extinguish spirituality of 
 character. ^ 
 
 No one who has not looked into the matter can form 
 any idea of the crushing and irritating tyranny to which 
 the people of Scotland were exposed from the very 
 beginning of the period when Prelacy was again established. 
 The Privy Council virtually usurped the authority 
 of Parliament and superseded the law-courts of the realm. 
 It imposed ensnaring tests and exacted severe and illegal 
 penalties. Suspects were treated as convicted male- 
 factors, and many ministers of religion were, without 
 the semblance of a trial, forbidden to exercise their 
 sacred functions and imprisoned or banished. In some 
 instances they were compelled to promise to go into 
 exile and not return to their native land on pain of 
 death. ^ Soldiers, as we have said, were employed to 
 exact fines from those who did not attend Divine service 
 in their own parish churches ; and, though at first but 
 limited powers were entrusted to them, they soon began 
 to act as if in an enemy's territory and perpetrated deeds 
 of cruelty and barbarity, without being called to account 
 
 ' The coarseness of tone which too often defaces the pages of historians 
 like Kirkton and Walker illustrates the statements above made. It has not 
 been sufficiently reprobated by those who have written in sympathy with the 
 Covenanting cause. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. I, p. 303.
 
 138 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 by those who had let them loose upon the country. ^ 
 Nor were the miseries attendant upon religious per- 
 secution the only evils which afflicted Scotland at this 
 time, though they have generally been the most promin- 
 ent in the histories which have been written of the 
 period. The annual grant to the Crown from Scotland 
 of ;^40,ooo Sterling, which had been enthusiastically 
 voted by the " Drinking Parliament," was a very heavy 
 tax upon its resources," and this burden was distinctly 
 increased by the embezzlement of public money of which 
 some of the highest officials were guilty. The legislation 
 which excluded Scotch cattle and corn from the English 
 markets inflicted a heavy blow upon the trade of the 
 country ; but a still more ruinous effect was caused by 
 the long war with Holland which began in 1664, and 
 which closed the ports to which for centuries Scotland 
 had sent the bulk of her produce. The widespread 
 distress produced by this condition of matters is inde- 
 scribable, and very soon after the outbreak of the war 
 with Holland the risk of a rebellion in Scotland became 
 imminent. Had a body of Dutch troops been landed it is 
 quite certain that the Western shires would have risen at 
 once. So exasperated were the minds of a large section 
 of the population, the Royal Commissioner tells us, that 
 they would have joined with Turks against the English 
 Government ; and if ten thousand stand of arms had been 
 landed very few days would have passed before they 
 were in the hands of as many " pretty men." ^ And, as 
 though all these sources of disquietude and confusion 
 were insufficient, there were many of the impoverished 
 nobles and gentry who were anxious to " fish in troubled 
 waters." They eagerly desired a rebellion in the country 
 in order that they might receive military employment in 
 the way of suppressing it, and batten on the forfeitures 
 which would follow.* 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. I, pp. 346, 375. 
 
 '■' Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, pp. 211, 225. 
 
 •'' Ibid, vol. I, p. 265. 
 
 * Ibid, vol I, p. 257n.
 
 AN ABORTIVE PLOT 139 
 
 The state of matters was regarded by the authorities 
 as very grave, and no time was lost in taking precautions 
 which would either prevent an insurrection or render it 
 abortive. It was resolved to put the country in a posture 
 of defence and to disarm all suspected persons, especially 
 in districts where the population was known to be most 
 hostile to the ecclesiastical policy of the Government. ^ 
 A number of the principal gentlemen also of the Western 
 shires who were devoted to Presbytery, and of others, 
 who for various reasons were dissatisfied with the present 
 administration, were arrested and detained in prison as a 
 precautionary measure.^ Three of these, a Major-General 
 Robert Montgomery, a Colonel Robert Halket, and 
 a William Ralston were apprehended and imprisoned by 
 the Earl of Argyll. But Lieutenant-Colonel Wallace 
 who had been a brother-officer of his in 1650 when he 
 was Lord Lome and in command of the infantry regiment 
 of Life Guards, and who was now an ardent Covenanter, 
 managed to escape his vigilance. ^ Had Argyll succeeded 
 in taking him prisoner it is very probable that the Pent- 
 land Rising would not have occurred, for as we shall see 
 it was that officer who welded a disorderly mob of mal- 
 contents into a military engine that shook the Govern- 
 ment of Scotland. Secret overtures were made to the 
 States General of Holland, now at war with Great Britain, 
 by some of the more desperate of those in Scotland who 
 described themselves as "friends of religion," and as 
 persons who were " anxious to vindicate from restraint 
 and oppression the Reformed Worship of God." * They 
 announced their intention of attempting without delay 
 to seize the fortresses of Edinburgh, Stirling and Dum- 
 barton and asked for aid in this enterprise. The plot, 
 however, failed, and as the Dutch authorities had made 
 the seizure of one at least of these strongholds a condition 
 
 ' Life of Robert Blair, p. 477. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. I, p. 425 : McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 385. 
 ^ Letters from the Earl of Arf>yll, p. 28. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 387.
 
 I40 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 of sending assistance, nothing more came of the scheme of 
 help from abroad. Not only were these daring conspirat- 
 ors intimidated by the prompt measures of the executive 
 government, but their hand was forced by an emeute in 
 Kirkcudbrightshire. 
 
 In the village of Dairy, in Galloway, on Nov. 13th., 
 1666, three or four soldiers had apprehended a man 
 who had incurred fines for non-attendance at the parish- 
 church and were -threatening him with torture by fire to 
 extort money from him. He was rescued from their 
 hands by a neighbouring proprietor, MacLellan of 
 Barscobe, and some associates of his who were themselves 
 suspects and fugitives, and had accidentally come into 
 Dairy on that morning. The news of this occurrence led 
 to a surprisal on the same day of the small garrison of 
 soldiers a few miles off at Balmaclellan, and also to a 
 resolution to seize the principal military officer of the 
 district, Sir James Turner, who was stationed at Dum- 
 fries. ^ Most of his men were scattered over the coun- 
 tryside, and before he could summon them or obtain other 
 reinforcements from a distance, he found himself a 
 prisoner in the hands of the insurgents, now some 
 hundred and fifty in number. Turner had been oppres- 
 sive and cruel in his procedure. When the Privy 
 Council afterwards enquired into it they convicted him 
 of having practised sixteen different illegal methods of 
 extorting money. ^ No doubt when he was now appre- 
 hended he expected to be put to death. He ran 
 considerable risk of this fate from the vengeance of 
 irritated and fanatical opponents, and probably he owed 
 his life to the fact that not only had quarter been 
 promised him on his arrest but that many of those 
 
 ' Crichton, Lr/t; of Blackadcr, p. 136: Kirkton, History, p. 229 : Life of 
 Robert Blair, p. 500. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 102 : Naplttali, p. 212. An attempt has been 
 made by A. Lang to whitewash Turner. See article in Blackwood's Magazine 
 July, 1903 : " A Christian under the Covenant. " Burnet says : " Sir James 
 Turner was naturally fierce, but was mad when he was drunk and that was 
 very often", {History, vol. I, p. 211).
 
 A SERIOUS INSURRECTION 141 
 
 concerned in the emeute had not yet fully decided 
 upon open rebellion against the constituted authorities. 
 They declared themselves for King and Covenant and 
 drank Charles II's health at the town-cross of Dum- 
 fries, and asserted that their only purpose in taking up 
 arms was to insist upon redress of their ecclesiastical 
 grievances. ■^ 
 
 Immediately after the capture of Turner the insurgents 
 proceeded across the country in a leisurely but tumultous 
 manner, carrying him as a prisoner with them, and by 
 the time they reached Ayr their numbers had increased 
 to over seven hundred. ' In the meantime tidings of 
 the rising had been conveyed to Edinburgh and the 
 authorities there had ordered General Dalziel to advance 
 upon Glasgow and to deal with the rebels wherever he 
 might find them to have drawn to a head. Almost a 
 week elapsed before Dalziel was able to carry out his 
 instructions and to set out from Glasgow in pursuit of 
 the insurgents.^ The latter had received a very important 
 accession in the person of the Colonel James Wallace 
 already mentioned as a colleague of Lord Lome in 1650. 
 This brave and able officer had seen a good deal of 
 service in the Civil War, and by his skilful handling of 
 the irrep-ular forces over which he now became commander 
 he kept the royal troops at bay for a few days and made 
 a gallant show in the engagement which crushed the 
 insurrection. There is reason to believe that he had 
 during this year been deeply involved in the negotiations 
 with the Dutch Government already described, and that 
 he felt constrained, both by conviction and by the 
 conditions on which foreign aid was promised, to support 
 the rising in Galloway. A better leader the insurgents 
 could not have found, for he was not only an experienced 
 soldier but also a fanatical supporter of the Covenanting 
 cause. His appearance in the rebel camp boded little 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. i8 : Law, Memorials, p. i6. 
 
 - Turner, Memoirs, p. 158. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 19.
 
 142 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 good to Turner, for he would willingly have treated him 
 as Samuel treated Agag. ^ 
 
 As there was no further hope of reinforcements from 
 the south and south-west the Whigs resolved to march 
 eastward with the view of gaining recruits in Clydesdale 
 and of advancing upon the capital where they were 
 convinced they had many friends. On the 23rd of Nov., 
 they were at Cumnock, while Dalziel was at Kilmarnock 
 only some fifteen miles away. Neither party was inclined 
 to hazard an engagement. Wallace felt the serious lack 
 of proper equipments to enable his irregulars to confront 
 the King's troops, while Dalziel knew that if he expe- 
 rienced a check the insurrection would at once assume 
 alarming proportions. Both armies accordingly proceeded 
 eastwards towards Lanark — the Royal forces advancing 
 in a direct line through Strathaven, while the insurgents 
 took a circuitous route through Cumnock, Muirkirk, 
 Douglas and Lesmahago. Every day of this brief 
 campaign of little more than a fortnight the weather 
 was broken and the journey had to be made in high 
 wind and grievous rain — a circumstance which bore very 
 heavily upon the ill-equipped and ill-fed insurgents. 
 Some of them proposed to abandon the enterprise but 
 the conviction which most of them held firmly that the 
 movement was Divinely inspired and would ultimately, 
 therefore, be successful, kept them together. At Lanark 
 they renewed the Covenant with a zeal which the fact 
 that Dalziel with his forces was only two miles away 
 naturally intensified. The whole strength of Wallace's 
 army was then about eleven hundred horse and foot. ^ 
 
 The long, wearisome march in foul weather reduced 
 the unfortunate Covenanting army almost to despair, and 
 by the time they got near Edinburgh they looked, we are 
 told, " rather like dying men than soldiers going to 
 
 '• Kirkton, History, p. 234 : McCrie, Memoirs of Vcitch, etc., p. 403 : Life of 
 Robert Blair, p. 506. Turner escaped when the defeat at Rullion Green scat- 
 tered those who guarded him. 
 
 * Turner, Memoirs, p. 170.
 
 SHARP AND THE INSURGENTS 143 
 
 conquer ". No one who had a spark of compassion in 
 his heart would have failed, one would think, to pity 
 " so many faint, weary, half-drowned, half-starved 
 creatures betwixt their enemies behind and enemies 
 before ". ^ The course taken by them from Lanark was 
 direct northwards to Bathgate and thence in a semicircular 
 sweep to Colinton, three miles from Edinburgh. Their 
 opponents followed them closely by a similar line of 
 route, ready to intercept and strike when a favourable 
 opportunity offered. The insurgents lost many by 
 desertion and received but few recruits, so that it seemed 
 to many of them hopeless to continue the struggle. 
 They made overtures to the Privy Council through 
 General Dalziel in which they asked to be allowed to 
 petition for redress of the "intolerable insolencies of the 
 prelates and their insupportable oppressions." ^ It is 
 doubtful whether they received a reply to their request, 
 but in a letter from Sharp to Dalziel the statement is 
 made that all that they could expect was that on laying 
 down their arms they might be allowed to petition for 
 mercy. In the absence of Rothes, the Royal Commis- 
 sioner, the Archbishop as President of the Privy Council 
 was the most prominent official in the country and took 
 the lead in dealing with this matter. The concluding 
 words of his letter must have been written by him in 
 some other capacity than that of a minister of Christ. 
 " We are glad ", he said, " to hear your excellency hath 
 now engaged the rebels, we hope in a short time to have 
 an account of them which shall be welcome news to your 
 humble servant. " ^ He had not long to wait. The 
 eight or nine hundred miserable insurgents now resolved 
 to cross the east end of the Pentlands and to get down 
 into Teviotdale, in the hope probably of dispersing, or at 
 any rate of getting back into the midst of a friendly 
 population. * But before they could accomplish this 
 
 * Kirkton, History, p. 240. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, p. 4I4, 
 ' Wodrovv, History vol. II, p. 30. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 250: Kirkton, History, p. 242.
 
 144 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Dalziel marched across from Currie and intercepted 
 them at Rullion Green, His forces amounted to about 
 two thousand infantry and six hundred cavalry, outnum- 
 bering those of Wallace by at least three to one. ^ The 
 insurgent commander skilfully arranged and employed 
 his wearied, ill-armed, but desperate soldiers, and for a 
 time victory seemed to tremble in the balance. In a 
 report of the battle sent to the Government we are told : 
 " the army say they never saw men fight more gallantly 
 than the rebels, nor endure more ; the general was forced 
 to use stratagem to defeat them." " It is pathetic to read 
 that the Covenanters, just before the engagement began, 
 sang the 74th Psalm, that cry of mingled boldness and 
 humility, faith and anguish, in which the Church on the 
 brink of despair cries to God, who seems to stand with 
 face averted and arm inactive. 
 
 " O God, why hast thou cast us off ? 
 
 Is it for ever more ? 
 Against thy pasture-sheep why doth 
 
 Thine ang;er smoke so sore ? 
 
 Thy hand, even Thy right hand of might, 
 Why dost Thou thus draw hack ? 
 
 O from Thy bosom pluck it out. 
 For our deliverance' sake. " ^ 
 
 The battle began in the afternoon of the brief winter 
 day (Nov. 28th) and before the darkness closed in the 
 ill-advised, hap-hazard enterprise had been quenched in 
 blood. Fifty of the insurgents lay dead upon the field and 
 eighty were prisoners, while of the Royal army only five 
 or six were slain. * It is a remarkable fact that public 
 feeling in the East of Scotland differed very considerably 
 from that in the West and South. Thus the country 
 
 ' McCric, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 417 : Law, Memorials, p. 16. 
 
 ^ Cal S. P. Doin. 1666-7. p. 301. A minute account of the engagement is 
 given in Terry's Pciitlaud Risiiis^ and Rullion Green (1905). See also article 
 by Miss M. Sidgwick in Scottish Hist. Review, for July 1906. 
 
 ^ Ker, Tfie Psalms in History and Biography, p. 102. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 429.
 
 THE REBELLION CRUSHED 145 
 
 people showed themselves almost as merciless to the 
 fugitives from Rullion Green as were Dalziel's dragoons 
 and spoke of them as if they had been not only rebels 
 but foreigners. Wallace in his narrative of the rising in 
 which he played so prominent a part says of the dead on 
 the battle-field that they were stripped of their clothes 
 " by the soldiers and barbarians of Lothian as if the 
 victory had been gotten over Turks. " One is glad to 
 know, however, that some were courageous enough to 
 show sympathy with the defeated cause and that devout 
 women came out from Edinburgh with winding-sheets 
 and buried the dead. ^ It deserves also to be mentioned 
 that Wishart, Bishop of Edinburgh, who had once been 
 himself a prisoner in that city, had some compassion upon 
 those now in like case and sent provisions daily from his 
 table to them " — an act of kindness which should never 
 be forgotten. It is striking that the Psalm which the 
 Covenanters sang is one which does not finish but breaks 
 off abruptly and is, as it were * taken up into the swelling 
 din of a prolonged battle. ' And so the very utterance 
 which seems so despairing suggests that the end is not 
 yet, and that as the campaign is still on foot a check must 
 not be counted as defeat. 
 
 During the insurrection Sharp was in an agony of 
 terror. He wrote to London entreating that troops 
 from the north of England might be despatched into 
 Scotland as, he said, rebels were on every hand and 
 he did not know what the King's forces were doing. 
 He also proposed that the Privy Council should take 
 refuge in Edinburgh Castle. ^ This panic-stricken fear, 
 which was not confined to him, though he felt it most 
 intensely, explains the ferocity with which those who 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs ofVcitch, etc., p. 428 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 35 : 
 Thomson, Martyr Graves of Scotland, p. 25 : Kirkton, History, p. 246. It is 
 deplorable that some of the dead were exhumed lor the sake of robbing 
 them of their shrouds. The terms of devout resii^nation in which the defeat 
 is described in NapJitali, p. 217, are very touching. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 236. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 260: Burnet History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 234.
 
 146 A SCOTS EARL i mojca: 
 
 were concerned in the rising were punished. The law 
 was strained to allow a number of those who had 
 surrendered to quarter to be hung, torture was applied to 
 discover whether the rising were premeditated or not, 
 and Dalziel was sent into the country where it began, in 
 order that he might terrorize the population by methods 
 similar to those which Louis XIV afterwards used for 
 the extirpation of Protestantism in France. ^ Nor was 
 the fear which animated Sharp and his confederates 
 altogether without foundation. Many who had no 
 sympathy with the Westland whigs in matters of religion 
 resented the great political power which lay in the hands 
 of the Bishops, while others were repelled by the oppress- 
 iveness of their rule. Indeed a popular movement 
 directed against them might easily have succeeded. 
 Indeed had the insurgents gone to work in a systematic 
 way or chosen a more opportune time for rising they 
 might have swept their opponents before them. Both 
 Rothes and Dalziel who were well qualified to form a 
 judgement upon the matter in question, were of this 
 opinion. Thus the Royal Commissioner with a coarse- 
 ness which his extraordinary spelling seems to intensify 
 in writing to Lauderdale speaks of " thes damd ffulls 
 who hes antisipat ther taym of raysing " ; while his 
 military colleague also declares that the rebellion would 
 have been much more terrible if it had not been 
 premature. The latter says that none ever sought after 
 martyrdom with more eagerness than these " rogues " 
 to carry their plot or die, and that many of the women 
 upbraided their husbands and sons for surviving the 
 battle. - 
 
 An indication of Sharp's state of mind at this crisis is 
 given in his relations with the Earl of Argyll. The 
 latter had raised fifteen hundred men and wrote to the 
 Privy Council saying that he was ready to march as soon 
 as he received orders from them. No order was sent to 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, pp. 38, 62. 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 266.
 
 SHARP AND ARGYLL 147 
 
 him, as Sharp was convinced that if he came upon the 
 scene either he or his men would join the rebels. -^ The 
 grounds on which the Archbishop's opinion rested are 
 not apparent. For although Argyll as an adherent of 
 Lauderdale cannot be credited with having any zeal for 
 Episcopacy which the latter's rival, Middleton, had had 
 so large a share in establishing in Scotland, it is quite 
 erroneous to speak of him as having been at any time in 
 his career a champion of the Covenant. His connexion 
 with the Covenant, indeed, was but slight, and recently 
 he had acquiesced without a murmur in the repudiation 
 of it which the Government had ordered as a condition 
 of public employment. He distinctly objected to being 
 classed as a Presbyterian in contradistinction to those 
 who were supporters of the existing ecclesiastical system. 
 To his surprise Sharp on an occasion a few months later 
 than this thanked him for " carrying himself to Bishops 
 like a gentleman, though he was a presbyterian ". His 
 reply was to the effect that he had been for a while 
 brought up under the Presbyterian system, but that his 
 opinions had been modified by his experience of life in 
 other countries where Church Government was not 
 regarded as a matter of so much importance as many in 
 Scotland thought it to be. " It is of course possible that 
 if Argyll's influence had been thrown into the scale the 
 negotiations with the insurgents might have taken a 
 different turn, and by permission being given them to 
 petition the King for redress of their grievances bloodshed 
 might have been avoided. 
 
 That no reasonable ground for Sharp's fear or suspicion 
 seems to have existed is evident from the energy with 
 which Argyll threw himself into the task of hindering 
 the rebellion from spreading into his own territories. 
 Thus in a letter to Lauderdale written (Dec. 3rd, 1666), 
 from his yacht at Tarbert in Kintyre he says that though 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 247 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 234. 
 
 - Letters of the Earl of Argyll, p. 6 .
 
 148 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 he had not had the honour of enduring blows for His 
 Majesty's service he had been almost killed with toil and 
 bad weather. He reports that he had summoned a levy 
 of the most capable and the best armed men of the shire 
 to assemble at Tarbert, in view of the fact that Kintyre 
 was a district in which active sympathy with the rebellion 
 was to be feared on account of the strong Lowland and 
 Covenanting element in the population there ; but he 
 found that although many doubtless wished the insur- 
 rection success none could be proved to be accessory to 
 it. While the rebellion was still on foot he kept all 
 suspected persons under strict surveillance and garrisoned 
 both Sadell and Skipness in order to keep a firm hold of 
 the country ; but the danger soon passed away, and he 
 was able to dismiss his forces. He comments upon the 
 fact that while he and other Sheriiffs of counties had been 
 ordered by the Privy Council to aid in putting down the 
 rebellion some hand had intercepted the summons to 
 him.^ 
 
 He was eager to render the service of capturing Lieu.- 
 Colonel Wallace whose ability and force of character 
 rendered him a formidable enemy of the Government, 
 but his efforts were in vain. Immediately after the 
 defeat of Rullion Green the rebel commander made his 
 escape into the west country and thence into Ireland. 
 He had a son, William, who was a tenant of Argyll's in 
 Kintyre. This young man had been away from home 
 during the rebellion, but he was able to account for all 
 his movements and to clear himself from the charge of 
 having taken part in it. Argyll suggested his being 
 apprehended but the Royal Commissioner sent him word 
 to appear in Edinburgh, and clear himself of suspicion. 
 When he reached Glasgow on his way to the capital he 
 was told that, however innocent he might be of the 
 charge of treason, it was likely that he would be tortured 
 by the boot in order that some information might be 
 extracted from him, and accordingly, though he had 
 
 ^ Letters of the Earl of Argyll, p. 39.
 
 WALLACE ESCAPES 149 
 
 abundant proof of an alibi^ he absconded. He made his 
 way back to Kintyre where he stayed but for a night in 
 hiding and thence passed over into Ireland. Argyll was 
 deeply mortified at this turn of events, and concocted a 
 plan for capturing both the father and the son who were 
 now no doubt together. A messenger was despatched 
 into Kintyre to suggest to the younger Wallace's wife 
 that her husband's peace with the Government was 
 likely to be made. As it was probable that she would 
 send word of this to him it was proposed that her mes- 
 senger's steps should be dogged, and in this way the 
 haunt of the fugitives discovered. The services of 
 Irish Justices of the Peace could easily be secured by a 
 letter from the Royal Commissioner and the delinquents 
 handed over to the authorities in Scotland. The scheme 
 however, proved abortive. Lieu.-Colonel Wallace 
 escaped to the Continent, and resided for the most part 
 in Holland, in spite of repeated demands from the 
 English Government for his expulsion from Dutch terri- 
 tory. He was an elder in the Scotch Church at Rotter- 
 dam for several years before his death in 1678. The 
 proceedings against his son seem to have been carried no 
 further after the alarm caused by the Pentland Rising 
 had died down.^ 
 
 At the time immediately before the Pentland Rising 
 Sharp's power in Scotland was at its height. An informal 
 but effective alliance had existed between the two 
 Archbishops on the one hand and the Royal Commissioner 
 together with various members of the impoverished aristo- 
 cracy on the other, in which the bigotry of the prelates was 
 seconded by the greed of nobles who hoped to get a 
 share of the fines and forfeitures imposed upon the 
 recusants. " Lauderdale disapproved of this oppressive 
 policy but for a time he was kept in check by the fact of 
 the support which was afforded the Archbishops by the 
 
 ' Letters of the Earl of Argyll, pp. 41, 47, 77 : McCrie, Memoirs ofVcitcli, 
 etc., p. 376: Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 261. 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. XII.
 
 ISO A SCOTS EARL 
 
 English Cavalier party. In the meantime the more 
 moderate politicians in Scotland, among whom were the 
 Earls of Argyll, Tweeddale and Kincardine, who were 
 regarded as Lauderdale's chief supporters, were nick- 
 named by Sharp as " Presbyterians ", and considered by 
 him as friends and favourers of the enemies of the Church, 
 because they looked coldly upon the violent measures 
 which were adopted towards the disaffected section of the 
 population. ^ But a twofold humiliation fell upon the 
 dominant faction : the insurrection in Scotland discred- 
 ited their government of the country, while the disgrace 
 and fall of Clarendon weakened their position at Court. 
 It was in vain that Sharp and his associates maintained 
 that the insurrection had been a deliberately planned 
 outbreak for which they could not be held as responsible. 
 They failed to secure evidence in proof of their aver- 
 ment, and they were left under the odium of having 
 quenched in blood an insurrection which had been due 
 solely to the misery caused by their own cruel and 
 arbitrary proceedings. ^ 
 
 The person upon whom the principal share of the 
 obloquy fell was Archbishop Sharp. As one of Lauder- 
 dale's confidential correspondents remarks of him at this 
 time " the general animosity against him was incredibly 
 great, " ^ and when to this was added the unpopularity of 
 the cause he represented and the unsleeping jealousy of 
 rival politicians, we can easily believe that he could render 
 no service to the Crown which might make it worth 
 while to support him against his opponents. The result 
 of matters was that he was removed from his place in the 
 Court of Exchequer and was subjected to various other 
 affronts from those in power, which he received with an 
 abjectness as great as his former insolence had been.'* 
 
 ' Letters of the Earl of Arilyll, pp. 62, 68 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 82 : 
 Burnet, History oj My Own Times, vol. I, p. 239. 
 
 2 Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 53 : Letters of the Earl of Argyll, p. 60. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. I, p. 253. 
 
 ■* Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 239 : Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. I, p. 269 ; Life of Robert Blair, p. 507.
 
 .0. T3 SHARP LICKS THE DUST 151 
 
 For a time he was by royal command compelled to remain 
 within his diocese, while Burnet, the Archbishop of 
 Glasgow, whose day of humiliation was yet to come 
 looked after the interests of the Church party. ^ But 
 after a time Sharp who was useful as a tool for the 
 management of the other prelates ^ was restored to 
 some measure of his former power. After having been 
 " strangely cast down, yea, lower than the dust, " he 
 experienced what he himself described as " a resurrection 
 from the dead " by receiving two or three lines of approval 
 from the King, which the latter had been recommended 
 to write because of the revivifying power they would 
 probably exert. ^ When Captain Gulliver, forty-one years 
 later, visited Luggnagg, he sent word to the King desiring 
 that His Majesty would please to appoint a day and hour, 
 when it would be his gracious pleasure that the traveller 
 might have the honour to lick the dust before his 
 footstool. ' Those who are interested in seeing the 
 ceremony in question effectively observed are referred to 
 the letter in which Sharp performs it both for the King 
 and for Lauderdale himself. ^ 
 
 When the latter's hands were free to deal with matters 
 in Scotland, he made short work of the alliance between 
 Sharp and the impecunious nobles which had led Scotland 
 to the verge of rebellion, and which had been a menace 
 to his authority. Rothes was forced to resign his posts 
 as Treasurer and Royal Commissioner, and to accept the 
 office of Lord Chancellor which had been vacant since the 
 death of Glencairn (May, 1664). ^ He was too powerful 
 and stood too high in the King's favour to be treated as 
 Middleton had been, but it was thought that in the 
 position of Lord Chancellor he would do less harm than 
 in those which he had formerly held. The Treasury was 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 240. 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, Vol. II, p. 71. 
 » Ibid, vol. II, pp. 84, 90, 93, XIV. 
 
 * Travels, II, chap. IX. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 93. 
 « Ibid, vol. II, p. 16.
 
 152 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 placed ill commission and the office of Royal Commissioner 
 left vacant for the present. The army, with the exception 
 of the King's Life Guards and two or three foot companies, 
 was disbanded, while an Act of Indemnity of a fairly 
 reasonable character, all things being considered, was 
 passed. Those who had been excepted by proclamation 
 were outside the benefit of this Act, and they were for 
 the most part persons of property, but the past offences 
 of the rank and file of the insurgents were condoned on 
 their finding security of good behaviour or on their enter- 
 ing into a bond to keep the peace. In every case an 
 unconditional promise never again to take up arms against 
 the King was exacted, but less than this could scarcely 
 have been expected. ^ The upshot of matters was that 
 for a short time at any rate something like quiet and 
 orderly government was restored to Scotland, though the 
 country was in extreme poverty. Even Sharp found that 
 the new order of things in public life was not without its 
 compensations. He confided to Burnet, the historian, 
 that it was a great happiness to have to deal with sober 
 and serious men, " for Lord Rothes and his crew, " he 
 said, " were perpetually drunk. " ^ One is inclined to 
 wonder for how much lonP:er time the alliance between 
 the Bishops and this troop of bacchanals would have 
 lasted if Lauderdale had not dissolved it. 
 
 In the various letters still extant both in print and in 
 manuscript which Argyll wrote about this time ^ we get 
 glimpses into his life, which seem to show that he now, 
 probably for the first time since he had had to do with 
 public affairs, enjoyed a measure of peace and quietness. 
 The period, however, was but short and was broken by 
 the shock of bereavement. We read of him at this time 
 as interesting himself in beautifying the grounds about 
 the castle at Inveraray, enclosing gardens, planting trees 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 244 : Wodrovv, History, vol. II, p. 89. 
 * History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 243. 
 
 ' See Letters from the Earl of Argyll and the collection of his letters in the 
 British Museum.
 
 PLANTATIONS AT INVERARAY 153 
 
 and laying out walks. He took great pains to secure 
 the best possible seeds and saplings, and in carrying out 
 his schemes he had the advice and assistance of John 
 Evelyn, who was one of the greatest experts of his 
 generation In the matter of horticulture and forestry. 
 In addition to fruit-trees the Earl planted large numbers 
 of laburnums, planes, firs, oaks, and elms. The last 
 named of these was an especial favourite with him and 
 he was delighted to find that it took very kindly to the 
 soil and climate of Inveraray. The general design which 
 he had in his mind was to have none but fruit-bearing 
 trees within walls, except where hedges might be required, 
 and to plant ornamental trees outside the enclosed 
 gardens so luxuriantly that the house would have the 
 appearance of rising out of the midst of a wood. ^ Our 
 readers will remember that the house in which the Earl 
 lived was pulled down about the middle of the i8th 
 Century, when the present castle was erected upon a site 
 within a few yards of that of the ancient building. 
 
 Among the matters engaging his attention at this time 
 was the preparation of salt herrings and the distillation 
 of aqua vit<£^ specimens of both of which we frequently 
 hear of as having been sent to his friend the Earl of 
 Lauderdale and to the King, by whom they were highly 
 valued. On one occasion Argyll sent honey from his 
 own bee-hives along with the spirits in order that 
 Lauderdale might enjoy the compound now known as 
 " Athol Brose. " He received advice from various 
 quarters as to the best way of supplying the London 
 market with these articles, but apparently the difficulty of 
 transport rendered it Impossible for any undertaking of 
 the kind on a large scale to be carried through. ' 
 
 In a series of letters to Lauderdale, which belong to 
 this period, there are many indications that a happy home 
 life at Inveraray compensated to some extent for those 
 anxieties and troubles of which Argyll had had so large 
 
 1 Letters of the Earl of Argy^ll, p. 80. 
 
 * Ibid, passim : Hist. MSS. Com. VI, p. 622.
 
 154 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 an experience. He frequently mentions his children and 
 occasionally, after the manner of fond parents, records 
 their witty utterances. One of his sons whose sayings 
 are oftenest quoted is John, who was called after the 
 Earl of Lauderdale. In a childish letter to the veteran 
 statesman the boy tells of the " brewing of aquavitie " 
 and of the fattening of cows and swine in preparation for 
 his god-father's coming, and he closes by saying " dear 
 swit lord [god-] father remember my new yir's gift ". ^ 
 An amusing story, told in another letter of the two little 
 girls who were afterwards the Countess of Lauderdale and 
 the Marchioness of Lothian, gives us information of the 
 impression produced upon the inhabitants of the Argyll 
 nursery by the royal clemency to their father. " The 
 children, " says Argyll to Lauderdale, " are taught 
 morning and evening to say the Lord's prayer and pray 
 God to bless their relations by name, of whom you are 
 oftest first with them. Nanie one day mist the king : 
 ' endeed ', says ' Jeanie, ' it is not your commone to 
 forgete the king ; if it had not beene for him, you and I 
 had been hussies' ". ^ 
 
 ^ Letters of the Earl of Argyll, p. 36. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 35. The children of the 9th Earl of Argyll and of Lady Mary 
 Stewart were as follows : — 
 
 1. Margaret, b. 1654 (baptized June 27th), d. in infancy. 
 
 2. Mary, b. 1657 (baptized July 17th), d. in infancy. 
 
 3. Archibald, b. 1658 (baptized July 25th), d. 1703 : ist. Duke of Argyll, m. 
 
 Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Lionel Tollemache, step-daughter of ist. Duke 
 of Lauderdale. 
 
 4. Anne, b. 1659 (?) m. (i) I^ichard, 4th Earl of Lauderdale, July ist. 1678, (2) 
 
 Charles, 7lh Earl of Moray, d. Dec. 25th, 1734. 
 
 5. John of Mamore, father of John, 4th Duke of Argyll. 
 
 6. Jean, b. 1661, m. William, 2nd Marquess of Lothian. 
 
 7. Colin, d. in infancy. 
 
 8. Charles, m. 1678 (?) Sophia, 2nd daughter of Alexander Lindsay, ist Earl 
 
 of Balcarres, and step-daughter of the 9th Earl of Argyll : M. P. for 
 Campbeltown from its erection as a royal burgh down to the Union. 
 
 9. James, of Burnbank and Boquhan : the " Hon. Col. James Campbell" of 
 
 whom much is told in the Argyll Papers : M. P. for Renfrew 1699-1702 
 
 and for the Ayr Burghs 1708-1710 : m. Margaret, 3rd daughter of David 
 
 Leslie, ist. Lord Newark, d. 1713. 
 ID. Isabella, mentioned in a letter as dying to Lauderdale, March 1669 [Brit. 
 
 Mm. Add. MSS. 23,131 : fo. 118). 
 II, 12. Twin-daughters, b. June 1667 : d. soon afterwards (Letters of the Earl 
 
 of Argyll, p. 81.
 
 DEATH OF THE COUNTESS 155 
 
 In the summer of 1667 the family of the Earl had 
 been increased by the birth of twin girls. In a letter of 
 June loth he tells his correspondent of this event, and 
 he remarks half-seriously that, unless peace were to come 
 and the very heavy war-tax or cess taken away, there 
 would be little chance of their having " tochers " 
 [dowries]. The difficulty in question, however, did not 
 arise, for the poor little things died when but a few 
 weeks old. ^ 
 
 In the following year the Earl became a widower. In 
 a letter to Lauderdale he tells the circumstances of his 
 wife's death with a fulness of detail which indicates the 
 intimacy of the friendship which had existed between 
 them — an intimacy which was soon to pass away. The 
 Countess died in child-birth and it added to the grief 
 of her husband that he was absent from home at the 
 time. On May 27th he had gone to Dunoon to make 
 some arrans^ements about the militia and had intended to 
 return home the following day. It so happened that he 
 might have returned home on the same day as that on 
 which he had set out, but he waited for a letter which 
 did not reach him until late in the afternoon, and so he 
 crossed over to Rosneath where his mother resided and 
 spent the night there. On his journey back the next 
 day he met three messengers from Inveraray at different 
 places on the road. The first informed him that his 
 wife's pains had come upon her at two o'clock that 
 morning ; the second gave later news of an ominous 
 character ; while the third who met him three miles 
 from home told him that she was dead. A doctor and a 
 surgeon. Dr. Cunningham and Mr. Borthwick, had 
 already been summoned from Edinburgh, but all was 
 over before they arrived. The body was enclosed in a 
 lead coffin and sent to lie in the choir of the church of 
 Dunoon, and a few days later it was interred in the 
 family burial-place at Kilmun. The earl remarks upon 
 the general grief manifested throughout the countryside 
 
 * Letters of the Earl of Arg^'ll, p. 8i.
 
 156 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 at his wife's death. " Wher ever, " he says, " my mis- 
 fortoune was heard, the people rune and lay all night in 
 the feilds to meete the buriall. Never any deed heere 
 was more regrated. I had prepared to carry the body 
 on horses but the gentlemen of the country would not 
 suffer [it]. They did it on ther shoulders and went the 
 18 miles without rub or accident in 8 or ten houres 
 time." The terms in which the bereaved husband tells 
 of his loss are very vivid and pathetic. " I need not 
 tell you, " he says to his correspondent, " what ane excel- 
 lent persone shee was, nor what a comforter to me in all 
 my troubles, a suporter of my spirite, a discreete adviser, 
 a pleasant yokfellow of my sufferings, without repining 
 or grudging, and never troublesome, and in all changes 
 of fortune of ane equall spirite and wise, and a serious, 
 diligent, constant seeker of God, and whatever she was 
 she hath of late enproven [improved] exceedingly in 
 every bodys opinion as well as mine. " From one 
 specimen of her affectionate counsel, which was perhaps 
 more valued in the retrospect than it had been at the 
 time, we may conclude that in the piety of the deceased 
 Countess there was a tinge of that anxious. Puritanical 
 asceticism, which is so closely akin to that which in other 
 religious communities has peopled monasteries and 
 convents. " Her advice to me, " says her husband, 
 " was to be more diligent in private dutyes and to spend 
 lesse time on the bussiness as well as the vanities of the 
 world." Such had been her words to him only a few 
 days before her death, and in the solemn hour when the 
 shadow of loss was deepest and the claims of eternity 
 seemed to be set in the balance over against the employ- 
 ments of time he confessed his conviction not only that 
 the counsel was of the best but also that he stood in deep 
 need of it. With a simplicity of heart, which reminds 
 us of that of his father in seeking on one occasion to 
 touch the conscience of Charles 11,^ he commended to 
 
 1 The Great Marquess, p. 262.
 
 WARNING TO LAUDERDALE 157 
 
 Lauderdale the warning against absorption in the world's 
 business and pleasures. " Your Lordship's temptations 
 of this kinde, " he said, "are farre greater then [than] 
 mine : I pray God you may never have the cause to 
 repent which I have"^ 
 
 1 Brit. Mus. Add. MSS., 23129 : f. 138.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Attempt to assassinate Sharp — ist. Act of Indulgence— Protest against it by 
 Episcopalians — Meeting of Scotch Parliament — Lauderdale Royal Com- 
 missioner — His strangely mixed character — Supremacy of the King in 
 ecclesiastical affairs asserted — Proposal for union with England — 
 Argyll's second marriage — Lauderdale's displeasure at it. 
 
 Though no change was made in the legislative enact- 
 ments which oppressed the Presbyterian party in Scotland, 
 the executive Government was for a time less rigorous 
 in applying them than it had been. The widespread 
 complaints against the illegal and cruel proceedings of 
 Sir James Turner and of Sir William Ballantyne, another 
 military agent of an even more repulsive type than Turner, 
 were duly enquired into, with the result that Turner 
 was dismissed from the King's service and Ballantyne 
 banished from the country. ^ In some districts the 
 curates who had no longer military protection abandoned 
 their livings, and a large number of the " outed 
 ministers " resumed their sacred functions and conducted 
 religious services in private houses and barns. In con- 
 sequence of this the need for conventicles in the open air 
 became less and they were more seldom held. ^ Some 
 prosecutions of those whom the law forbade to preach or 
 to dispense the sacraments occurred, but they were not 
 numerous and the punishments were hghter than they 
 
 1 Wodrovv, History, vol. II, p. 104 : Kirkton, History, p. 270: Lauderdale 
 Papers, vol. II, p. 116. 
 
 ^ Ibid, pp. 103, 116 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 109.
 
 159 
 
 had been in such cases. Both in England and Scotland 
 it seemed likely that a measure of comprehension, or at 
 any rate of toleration, would be arranged to put an end 
 to some of the evils by which Nonconformists had been 
 distressed. ^ 
 
 So far as Scotland was concerned the matter received a 
 serious check by the attempt of a half-crazy fanatic, 
 named James Mitchell, to murder Archbishop Sharp. 
 This fellow had been concerned in the Pentland Rising 
 and had been named in proclamations as one of those 
 specially guilty of treasonable conduct. On Saturday, 
 July iith, 1668, he walked up to the coach of the 
 Archbishop and fired a pistol in at the door. Sharp was 
 uninjured, but Honeymam, Bishop of Orkney, who was 
 just entering the vehicle was wounded in the wrist. 
 Though it was broad daylight and on the High Street no 
 one attempted to seize the assassin. The cry was raised 
 that a man had been killed, but someone replied that it 
 was only a Bishop, and nothing further was done at the 
 moment. A bystander tried to stop Mitchell as he 
 dived into one of the closes that lead down from the 
 High Street, but he fell back on seeing a pistol in his 
 hand. The would-be assassin hastened home and after 
 making some slight change in his dress came out again 
 and mingled with the city crowd without being identified.^ 
 Great efforts were made to discover the author of this 
 daring crime, but all were in vain, and it was not until 
 ten years later that Sharp accidentally caught sight of 
 him and recognized him as the man who had attempted 
 his life. The whole story is tragical in a high degree. 
 The dread of being murdered hung over the Archbishop 
 night and day and hardened a temper that was naturally 
 by no means mild ; and, as we shall hereafter see, the 
 callous unjustice with which Mitchell was treated when 
 
 1 Kirkton, History, p. 268 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 273 : 
 Reliquiae Baxterianae, part II, p. 22 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 523. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 115 : Kirkton, History, p. 277 : Burnet, 
 History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 277 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 109.
 
 i6o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 his guilt came to light greatly embittered public feeling, 
 and was one of the grounds on which those who murdered 
 Sharps attempted to vindicate their action. Perhaps 
 hostile critics of the Archbishop's career have not made 
 sufficient allowance for the mental and moral deterioration 
 which may so easily result from living for years under 
 the fear of being murdured. Yet surely we may 
 commiserate the lot of one who had this heavy load 
 added to the weight of obloquy which his public actions 
 had drawn down upon him. 
 
 On June yth, 1669, a letter was written by Charles II 
 which the Earl of Tweeddale brought down to Scotland, 
 offering a certain measure of indulgence to those Pres- 
 byterian ministers who had been driven out of their 
 charges seven years before. It provided that all of them 
 who had lived in a peaceful and orderly manner might 
 be restored by patrons to their churches, if vacant, or 
 might be presented to other vacant charges, and on accep- 
 ting collation from bishops be counted as possessing the 
 same status as those who had conformed to Episcopacy 
 on its introduction in 1661. Even those who refused 
 to accept collation were to be allowed to officiate within 
 the bounds of parishes to which they might be appointed, 
 and to occupy the manse and glebe and receive a certain 
 yearly allowance. So comprehensive was the indulgence 
 that it provided also for those whose past could not be 
 called peaceable and orderly ; for on giving assurance to 
 live so for the future they were to be allowed the same 
 yearly sum. Certain rules of no unreasonable character 
 were laid down for the acceptance of those who were thus 
 indulged. ^ This measure was undoubtedly an attempt 
 to redress the evils produced by the harsh and unjust 
 Act of Council which had been carried by Middleton in 
 1662, and it would have been well for the peace of the 
 country and for the interests of religion if it had been 
 fully accepted by those aggrieved. As it was over forty 
 
 1 Wodrovv, History, vol. II, p. 130 : Kirkton, History, p. 288.
 
 1ST ACT OF INDULGENCE i6i 
 
 ministers, among whom was the Robert Douglas already 
 mentioned as a prominent Resolutioner at the time of the 
 Restoration, came in and got the benefit of the Indulgence. 
 Six of these were settled in churches in Argyllshire of 
 which the Earl was the patron. ^ It seems, however, 
 doubtful whether the arrangements for yearly allowances 
 to those not accepting collation were attended to, or were 
 indeed practicable. 
 
 The motives of the Government in brinmno: in this 
 Act of Indulgence were no doubt of a mixed character. 
 If we credit those who were in power with a desire to 
 remedy injustice, we are probably doing them no wrong 
 in believing that they also anticipated dividing the ranks 
 of their opponents and being better able to deal with 
 conventicles. Provision having been made or offered in 
 the case of every " outed " minister who was willing to 
 live peaceably in time to come, none could have any 
 excuse for officiating without authority or for holding 
 separatist meetings. Those who were not inclined to 
 live peaceably were of course not entitled to any consider- 
 ation. Had all those now living who had been injuriously 
 affected by the Act of 1662 accepted the royal offer, it would, 
 as we have said, have been much better for the country 
 at large and for the spiritual interests of the people. But 
 unfortunately there were many irreconcilables. ^ The 
 cruelty and folly of the Act complained of, and the ill- 
 treatment and brutality with which for years attempts 
 had been made to enforce it, had embittered public feeling 
 to a very high degree, and matters were not allayed by 
 what seems to us so surprising a reversal of public policy. 
 Those who refused the Indulgence were deeply exas- 
 perated with those who accepted it and nicknamed them 
 "the King's" or "the Council's Curates" as distin- 
 guished from "the Bishops' Curates," i. e. the Episcopalian 
 ministers who were located in charges from which Presby- 
 terians had been ejected. As was inevitable, we suppose, 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. II. p. 192 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 526. 
 » Ibid, p. 524. 
 
 K
 
 i62 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 in the circumstances, it took a little time for the congre- 
 gations to which persons who accepted the Indulgence 
 ministered, to acquire interest in the doctrinal and practical 
 parts of religious teaching, which now took the place of 
 " preaching to the times, " or criticizing the actions of 
 the Government — a kind of homiletical exercise with 
 which they had been very familiar for the past seven or 
 eight years at least. ^ 
 
 But a strong opposition to the arrangements prescribed 
 in the royal letter suddenly arose in an unexpected 
 quarter. The letter in question set aside the laws under 
 which the Church had been established, and it diminished 
 and to a large extent ignored the authority of the Bishops 
 and made the whole ecclesiastical system dependent upon 
 the Crown. This was pure Erastianism — that system so 
 dear to the legal mind with its serious limitations and to 
 the politician of the smug and insolent type, but so 
 hateful to all those who have any perception of the true 
 nature of the Church. Some of the Presbyterian divines 
 in accepting the Indulgence endeavoured to preserve their 
 principles by describing it as merely giving liberty to 
 exercise a ministry received from Christ, for the discharge 
 of which they were responsible to Him, but there can be 
 no doubt that while this procedure may have eased their 
 consciences, it did not change an ugly fact. ^ The remon- 
 strances of extreme Presbyterians against the compromise 
 of principle involved in accepting the Indulgence found 
 a very distinct echo in the Synod of Glasgow, where 
 Archbishop Burnet and his colleagues formally drew up 
 a protest against the Indulgence and against the Episcopal 
 authority being set at nought by it and by the Privy 
 Council in carrying out its provisions. ^ The grounds 
 upon which the Remonstrance^ as it was called, was based, 
 were certainly definite enough, as ministers were reinstated 
 in their charges who were under ecclesiastical censure, 
 
 ' Burnet, History oj My Own Times, vol. I, p. 282. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 193. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. II, p. 131.
 
 THE ARCHBISHOP DEPOSED 163 
 
 without being formally freed from disability by the con- 
 stituted authorities. 
 
 The indignation produced by the action of the Arch- 
 bishop of Glasgow was profound. The Privy Council 
 declared that the subject matter of the document in 
 question was of " dangerous nature and consequence ", 
 and that the form of it was most illegal and unwarrant- 
 able ; while Charles II averred that it was as seditious as 
 anything that had been published by the Western Whigs, 
 and he gave orders that the author of it should be 
 suspended from his Parliamentary duties and prosecuted 
 according to law. ^ The upshot of matters was that 
 Burnet was informed by Lauderdale, who came down to 
 Scotland as Royal Commissioner to preside in Parliament, 
 that it was the King's wish that he should give up the 
 Archbishopric. He received the intimation of the royal 
 pleasure on his knees and immediately resigned his post. ^ 
 For four years " he lived in the shade " — to use a phrase 
 employed concerning him by his namesake, the historian, 
 — and then was restored to the Archbishopric, " a sadder 
 and a wiser man. " In the meantime the office was held 
 in commendam by Robert Leighton, Bishop of Dunblane. ^ 
 
 At the close of the year 1669 the Scotch Parliament 
 assembled and Lauderdale presided, as we have said, as 
 Royal Commissioner. He was met at Berwick by a 
 large company of the nobility, and it was noticed that 
 the Earl of Argyll was most prominent among them in 
 welcoming him, and was regarded by many as a prime 
 favourite with him. ^ It is probable, however, that as 
 for several reasons Argyll was in danger of losing ground 
 in the favour of that influential personage, he thought it 
 necessary to take more than usual trouble in paying him 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, pp. 283, 286 : Law, Memorialls, 
 p. 20. 
 
 2 Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 175 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 529. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 144. Holding a benefice in coinmendam 
 meant holding it till a proper pastor was provided for it. It was provisionally 
 commended to the care of a clerk. 
 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 141.
 
 164 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the honours customarily rendered to the representative 
 of the Sovereign. Some faint indication of a change in 
 the friendly relations in which they had stood to each 
 other was contained, we think, in the letter from which 
 we have already quoted, in which Argyll warns his 
 correspondent against undue absorption in the world's 
 business and pleasures. Information which we have 
 from other quarters makes it certain that under this last 
 phrase lies an allusion to grave moral offences of which 
 Lauderdale was reputed to be guilty. For this statesman 
 had grievously fallen from the promise of his early days, 
 and, as we have seen, was not ashamed to strengthen his 
 position at Court by an alliance with Lady Castlemaine, 
 and by being a boon companion of Charles II in his 
 degraded pleasures. That there is a certain dualism in 
 human nature — a will which delights in the law of God 
 and carnal impulses which hinder the performance of 
 that which is good — is a phenomenon which has attracted 
 the attention of moralists, both Christian and pagan, ^ 
 and in our own time it has been strikingly described 
 in a parable which will, we think, be forever famous. 
 Scarcely any other life of a public man known to us 
 illustrates more perfectly the state of matters described 
 in Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde 
 than does that of the Earl of Lauderdale. It is not 
 simply that " the good Maitland ", " the youth of noble 
 carriage ", as Baillie describes him, ^ the commissioner to 
 the Westminster Assembly, the pride and hope of the 
 saintly party, was transformed into the coarsest and most 
 repulsive figure in Charles II's court, " swollen with 
 
 ' The classical passage in Christian literature is of course Rom. VII ; to 
 which we find a very striking parallel in Epictetus, II, chap. 26. Plato 
 compares the soul to a chariot drawn by two horses, one of which takes an 
 upward direction and the other a downward (Pluvdnis, 246A-257A). Plautus 
 says : Scicbam ut esse nie deccret, faccre non qiiidam miser (Trin, III, 2, 31). 
 Ovid describes the same divergence and struggle in the words, Aliudqtce 
 cupido, mens aliud snadet : video meliora proboque, deteriora seqtior (Met. VII, 
 19) : and Seneca in like manner makes one of his characters say, Vos festor 
 omnes coelites, hoc quod volo, me nolle (Hippol. 604.) 
 
 ^ Letters, vol. II, p. 106.
 
 Jiii: ]3jkk of Lal'di.kdai.e.
 
 LAUDERDALE AND BAXTER 165 
 
 gluttony and brutalized with vice ", but that to the end 
 of his life he was a student of theological literature, and 
 had an unbounded admiration for the writings and 
 character of the saintly Richard Baxter — an admiration 
 which to his credit was undiminished by the solemn and 
 affecting letter of rebuke which that divine wrote on 
 one occasion to him. ^ 
 
 On Lauderdale's present journey into Scotland he 
 offered Baxter any post in that country which he would 
 care to accept — the incumbency of a parish, the principal- 
 ship of a college, or a bishopric. This last named office 
 was no doubt spoken of in view of the anticipated 
 vacancy in Glasgow by the removal of Burnet, which 
 would likely necessitate some re-arrangement of the 
 Scotch bishoprics. Lauderdale's plan was most probably 
 to persuade Leighton to accept the archbishopric of 
 Glasgow and to settle Baxter in Dunblane. Baxter 
 declined the offer on the ground of ill-health, of literary 
 undertakings which demanded a large part of his time 
 and attention, and of the vast trouble involved in 
 removing his household to so great a distance. That he 
 would have found reason to dissent from much in 
 Lauderdale's policy in Scotland is indubitable, for in the 
 very passage in which he gives us the above particulars 
 he speaks with disapproval of the Act passed against 
 conventicles ; but it is probable that the ecclesiastical 
 history of Scotland might have been perceptibly modified 
 had that eminently reasonable as well as devout man 
 accepted the Royal Commissioner's proposal and made 
 due use of the influence with him which he undoubtedly 
 possessed. ^ 
 
 For some little time past Lauderdale had come under 
 the influence of the woman whom he afterwards married 
 as his second wife. This was Elizabeth Moray, widow 
 of Sir Lionel Tollemache, who called herself Countess of 
 Dysart. Her father, William Moray, had been page 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 235. 
 ^ Rcliqnia: Baxlcriance, part III, p. 75.
 
 i66 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 and whipping-boy to Charles I, and had received a 
 warrant of earldom from that monarch which from want 
 of passing the great seal in his lifetime had virtually 
 lapsed. Elizabeth, the elder of his two daughters, was a 
 woman of great beauty and ability, but she was ambitious, 
 prodigal, unscrupulous and of utterly disregardful both of 
 moral obligations and of conventional rules of propriety. 
 She had been an old acquaintance of Lauderdale's and 
 declared that when he was a prisoner after the Battle of 
 Worcester she had persuaded Cromwell, with whom she 
 was on terms of friendship, to spare his life. After the 
 Restoration she thought that he had not been sufficiently 
 grateful for the service rendered, and for some years they 
 were alienated from each other ; but on losing her hus- 
 band she was reconciled to Lauderdale and came to 
 exercise an irresistible influence over him. She was now 
 a somewhat elderly Circe, who had had a family of eleven 
 children. The Countess of Lauderdale, indignant at 
 this intimacy, left her husband and for the last three 
 years of her life resided in Paris, where she died in the 
 end of 1671.^ Six weeks after her death Lauderdale 
 married the Countess of Dysart.^ His submission to 
 her humours and caprices greatly diminished his reputa- 
 tion as a politician and a public man. She interfered in 
 matters of business, and by accepting bribes and selling 
 offices of all kinds which were in her husband's gift, 
 obtained means for satisfying her ravenous greed and 
 for meeting her profuse expenditure. One after another 
 of the friends and colleagues of Lauderdale came under 
 her displeasure, and consequently lost favour with him, 
 so that in no long time he was deprived of the co-opera- 
 tion of the more soberminded and trustworthy public 
 men in Scotland. Among these latter is to be reckoned 
 our Earl of Argyll, and our informant with regard to 
 this matter places his name at the head of the list of 
 those whose friendship Lauderdale was thus moved to 
 
 ' Brodie, Diary, p. 323, 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 217.
 
 LAUDERDALE ROYAL COMMISSIONER 167 
 
 reject. ^ Yet even this folly did not shake his credit with 
 Charles II, for he was zealous beyond all others in his 
 desires and endeavours to promote his Sovereign's des- 
 potic schemes. Nowhere, indeed, could the King find a 
 man more after his own heart than one who could write 
 to him as Lauderdale did, " all your commands are to 
 me above all human laws."' 
 
 On Tuesday, Oct. 19th, 1669, the Scotch Parliament 
 was formally opened by the Earl of Lauderdale as Royal 
 Commissioner, and at the ceremony of riding in state, 
 usual on such occasions, Argyll carried the sceptre. ^ 
 Both the Presbyterian and the Episcopalian party had 
 looked forward with great eagerness to this Parliament, 
 the former with some hopes of the restoration of their 
 ecclesiastical polity, and the latter with some fears of the 
 abolition of theirs. ^ But Lauderdale's opening speech 
 made both of them realize that these hopes and fears 
 were equally vain. The Act of Indulgence marked the 
 limit of concession to the Presbyterians, and those who 
 trembled for the safety of prelatical institutions were 
 assured that, as long as Charles II wore the crown, they 
 were under his protection. In the Royal Commissioner's 
 speech some reference was made to the Divine right of 
 Episcopacy, but either the speaker's confidence in this 
 theory was weak, or his perception of what it implied was 
 imperfect, for he proceeded to dwell upon the advantages 
 of that system of Church government as being more con- 
 sistent with Monarchy than its rival was. In leaving the 
 theological for the political region Lauderdale felt doubtless 
 as one who passes from a quaking morass to the solid rock.^ 
 
 On the following Sunday, however, Sharp preached a 
 remarkable sermon before the Royal Commissioner and 
 the members of Parliament. In it he summoned up 
 enough spirit to defend the rights of the Church and 
 
 ' Burnet, History ofMyOivii Times, vol, I, p. 244 : Kirkton, History, p. 315 n. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 141. 
 
 ^ Lamont, Diary, p. 267. 
 
 * Law, Memorialls, p. 20 
 
 '•' Lamont, Diary, p. 267 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 136.
 
 i68 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 virtually to condemn the recent interference of the State 
 in setting aside ecclesiastical censures, and thus he sup- 
 ported his colleague, Archbishop Burnet, who was now 
 suspended for resisting the procedure in question. He 
 openly declared that in ecclesiastical affairs there were 
 three pretenders to supremacy, the Pope, the King and 
 the General Assembly of the Presbyterians, all of whose 
 claims he disallowed. ' The Royal supremacy being thus 
 openly challenged, Lauderdale carried through Parliament 
 a statute declaring it to be a right of the Crown to settle 
 all things relating to the government of the Church, 
 and prescribing that everything concerning ecclesiastical 
 meetings, matters and persons, was to be ordered according 
 to directions which the King might send to the Privy 
 Council and which should have the force of laws. ^ Some 
 of those who were hostile to Episcopacy or who resented 
 the political power exercised by Bishops, approved of the 
 measure as humbling their pretensions, and others were 
 induced to support it, as a final settlement of difficulties 
 regarding the relations of Church and State which had for 
 a long time past troubled the governing powers. ^ None 
 of the Bishops who were present in Parliament ventured 
 to oppose it, and even Sharp after his magniloquent 
 protest voted for it. The Act in question made the 
 government, ritual, and doctrine of the Church dependent 
 on the mere will of the Sovereign — a highly embarrassing 
 principle if he should happen to be a Roman Catholic — 
 and imposed a yoke of bondage in many respects as 
 offensive as that which had been thrown off at the Reform- 
 ation. Timid and subservient prelates might acquiesce 
 in the measure, bitter though it was to them, but the 
 Presbyterian party regarded it as blasphemous, in as 
 much as it infringed upon the prerogatives of Him who 
 is the only Head of the Church. * 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, pp. 159, 160 : Life of 
 Robert Blair, p. 527. 
 
 ^ Acts, of Pari, of Scot., vol. VII, p. 554, App., p. 108. 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 284. 
 * Life of Robert Blair, p. 529.
 
 UNION OF PARLIAMENTS 169 
 
 One of the schemes which Charles II was desirous 
 should be considered by this Parliament was the project 
 of the union of the Parliaments of Scotland and England. 
 His purpose evidently was to swamp the opposition in 
 the English houses of Parliament by introducing members 
 of a strongly Royalist type such as might be expected 
 from a country in which his power was absolute. The 
 matter figured prominently in the Royal Commissioner's 
 opening speech and was afterwards discussed ; but, though 
 commissioners were nominated to consider the terms of 
 union, the scheme fell into abeyance. ^ Thirty-seven 
 years afterwards it was revived and carried into effect by 
 Whig statesmen as a powerful means for securing the 
 liberties of both countries. There is every reason to 
 believe that Lauderdale himself was secretly opposed to 
 the scheme, as it would have deprived him of the power 
 which he wielded as Royal Commissioner. He cunningly 
 concealed his distaste for the proposal, but he described 
 in strong terms the unwillingness generally felt in 
 Scotland against making any advances in the matter 
 before knowing how the English Parliament regarded it, 
 and what conditions they were likely to prescribe. In 
 one of his letters he speaks of the Earl of Argyll and 
 other Lords of the Articles as deprecating any undue 
 pressure being put upon the Scotch Parliament, as they 
 were certain that this would ruin the whole scheme. ^' 
 
 The fact that a plan of which the King himself seems 
 to have been the most zealous promoter was impracticable 
 in the then condition of public affairs both in Scotland 
 and England, and was one to which he himself had an 
 aversion, seems to have made Lauderdale more energetic 
 in carrying through both the Act of Supremacy and a 
 Militia Act. By the former, as he wrote triumphantly 
 to Charles, the King was invested with sovereign author- 
 ity in the Church and enjoyed larger powers than those 
 possessed by him in England ; and by the latter he was 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 304 : Mackay, Life of 1st Viscount Slair, p. 89. 
 2 Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 156.
 
 lyo A SCOTS EARL 
 
 provided with an army of twenty thousand men, " who 
 would march when and where he might be pleased to 
 command. " ^ These words menaced the opposition in 
 England like those of Strafford in an earlier day when he 
 spoke of an army in Ireland which might be used to 
 crush rebellion elsewhere, and they brought Lauderdale 
 afterwards into great danger. The King gave the letter 
 to Sir Robert Moray, Lauderdale's friend, and after his 
 death it fell into the hands of the Duke of Hamilton, a 
 political opponent, who wished to found an impeachment 
 upon it, and nothing but the resolute support given by 
 Charles and the Duke of York to the statesman whose 
 service to them had been so thorough and unscrupulous 
 saved him from ruin. ^ 
 
 One of the Acts in the first session of this Parliament 
 concerned Argyll very closely : it was that in which the 
 reversal of his father's forfeiture was formally ratified. 
 It did not pass without opposition both on the part of 
 those supporting the interests of creditors on the property 
 restored to the Earl, and of those who were his personal 
 enemies and political rivals. But all opposition was 
 overborne by Lauderdale. As our informant says : 
 " The Commissioner did so violently own him in it, that 
 no man durst speak without an interruption from the 
 throne. " ^ In a high-handed manner Lauderdale decided 
 that the ratification was not to be voted upon, as it was a 
 matter that concerned none but the Sovereign. The 
 principle was one which would not bear examination, for 
 in a deliberative assembly it ought surely to be always in 
 the power of a member to offer opposition and to demand 
 a vote. In this case Lauderdale's violence and the high 
 favour in which he was known to stand with the King 
 silenced opposition. He was pledged in honour, after 
 having obtained from the King the reversal of the for- 
 feiture, to carry the ratification of it through Parliament, 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 164. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 164 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 286. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs oj Scotland, p. 177.
 
 ARGYLL AND TWEEDDALE 171 
 
 and on the morning of the day (Dec. 23rd) on which the 
 Act was brought in he swore that he would do so in the 
 teeth of all opponents. Some asserted that he added 
 that it was the last thing he would do for Argyll and 
 thus confirmed the report which had leaked out that some 
 interruption of their friendship had taken place. ^ 
 
 Various causes contributed to the diminution of the 
 goodwill which Lauderdale had hitherto exhibited towards 
 Argyll. One of these we have already referred to as 
 arising from the malign influence upon the former which 
 was exercised by the Countess of Dysart. Others were 
 the intrigues of a political colleague, and the disfavour 
 with which the proposal of a marriage between Argyll 
 and the Countess of Balcarres was regarded by Lauder- 
 dale. Political alliances are apt " to ebb and flow with 
 the moon, " and that which for a time existed between 
 Lauderdale, Argyll and Tweeddale was no exception to 
 the rule. The last named of the trio had needed 
 extraneous aid in overcoming the distrust created by 
 some of the incidents of his public Hfe, which threatened 
 to hinder his advancement in the service of the State. 
 He had received this aid from Argyll who employed on 
 his behalf the influence which he possessed with Lauder- 
 dale. When he was able to stand alone and use his 
 independent judgement, he concluded that the Secretary 
 of State for Scotland wasted too much of the precious 
 advantages which the favour of the King put within his 
 reach by supporting Argyll against so much opposition, 
 and began to consider the latter as a rival to be crushed. 
 The House of Campbell had enjoyed almost royal power 
 in the Western Highlands, and had sufl'ered grievous 
 overthrow in the forfeiture which followed on the 
 condemnation of the Marquess. The Earl was naturally 
 desirous that as much as possible of the pristine glory of 
 his family should be restored, and sought to have the 
 office of Justice-General of all the Isles bestowed upon 
 him. This would virtually have made him ruler of that 
 
 1 Mackenzie, Memoirs of Hie Affairs of Scotland, p. 179.
 
 172 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 part of Scotland, and conferred on him power to adjudicate 
 upon all offences except that of treason. Tweeddale 
 secured opposition being offered to this scheme in the 
 Court of Exchequer by the Lord Advocate, who sent up 
 to the Sovereign reasons weighty enough to prevent its 
 being sanctioned. Argyll's temper, which was at no time 
 too placid, was greatly irritated by this action on the 
 part of one from whom he thought he deserved far 
 kinder treatment, and we are told " he burst out into 
 passionate railings against Tweeddale, which being carried 
 to the other did so feed their mutual aversion that it 
 appeared thereafter openly in all encounters ". ^ The 
 hostility between them was zealously fomented by 
 interested parties and found various opportunities of 
 expressing itself. One of them arose out of the proposed 
 marriage, already referred to, between Argyll and the 
 Countess of Balcarres. As the parties specially concerned 
 in this marriage were sufficiently mature in age to be 
 able to know their own minds and manage their own 
 affairs, the Earl being now over forty and the Countess 
 perhaps some eight years older, the interference of an 
 outsider seems somewhat uncalled for. Both Tweeddale 
 and Lauderdale were related to the young Earl of 
 Balcarres, who was now about sixteen years of age, and 
 much interested in his welfare. We presume, therefore, 
 that they thought that his interests would probably be 
 unfavourably affected by this proposed marriage, as he 
 would be deprived while still a mere boy of his mother's 
 oversight of his affairs, which had been managed by her 
 successfully since her husband's death. ^ At any rate 
 Lauderdale was induced to try to hinder the marriage on 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. i8o. 
 
 - Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 82. This pleasantly written 
 little biography appeared in 1868. The frontispiece professes to be a portrait 
 of the Countess of Balcarres. It is that of a lady in Elizabethan dress and is 
 the likeness usually given as that of the first wife of the 7th Earl of Argyll. 
 How the likeness of our 9th Earl's grandmother came to be presented as that 
 of his second wife we cannot tell. The portrait in question had been 
 engraved before and published with the inscription — " Anne, Countess of 
 Argyle from a picture in the Collection of Lady Mary Coke. "
 
 ARGYLL'S SECOND MARRIAGE 173 
 
 this ground by requesting Argyll to proceed no further 
 in the matter. The Earl was too high-spirited to submit 
 to such dictation, especially in order to gratify his rival, 
 Tweeddale, and the marriage took place shortly after- 
 wards. The young Earl of Balcarres, whose love for his 
 mother never waned, does not seem to have suffered any 
 loss from being launched on the world at an early age, 
 and he lived to be a prominent supporter of the 
 Stewart cause in Scotland both at the Revolution and 
 in 1715. 
 
 On Friday, Jan. 28th, 1670, the Earl of Argyll 
 married as his second wife Anna Mackenzie, younger 
 daughter of the Earl of Seaforth, and widow of the ist 
 Earl of Balcarres. She was now, as already stated, about 
 forty-eight years of age and had been eleven years a 
 widow. The marriage took place at Balcarres in Fife, 
 and was performed " without proclamation " by Mr. 
 David Forret, minister of Kilconquhar, by special licence 
 from Archbishop Sharp. ^ Her first husband had been a 
 zealous covenanter and had fought for that cause at 
 Marston Moor, Alford and Kilsyth, but he had taken 
 part in the invasion of England under the Duke of 
 Hamilton which was defeated by Cromwell at Preston. 
 He was one of those, as we have told, who supported 
 Glencairn's rebellion in the Highlands after the Battle of 
 Worcester, and his wife, we are informed, " through 
 dearness of affection, marched with him, and lay out of 
 doors with him on the mountains."^ His health was 
 shattered by the hardships he then endured, and he died 
 of consumption in 1659.^ Immediately after the Restor- 
 ation his widow came to England, and formed an 
 intimate friendship with Richard Baxter, whose writings 
 had been strongly recommended to her husband by her 
 cousin, the Earl of Lauderdale. The character given of 
 her by that Divine is worth quoting. " Her great Wis- 
 
 ^ Lamont, Diary, p. 270. 
 
 * Reliquiae Baxterianac, vol. I, p. 121. 
 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 40.
 
 174 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 dom, " he says, " Modesty, Piety and Sincerity, made 
 
 her accounted the Saint at the Court She is of solid 
 
 understanding in Rehgion, for her sex," he adds with 
 painful conscientiousness ; " and of Prudence much more 
 than ordinary ; and a great Hater of Hypocrisie and 
 faithful to Christ in an unfaithful World ; and she is 
 somewhat over-much affectionate to her Friend ; which 
 hath cost her a great deal of Sorrow in the loss of her 
 Husband, and since of other special Friends."^ By her 
 first husband she had two sons, Charles and Colin, the 
 2nd and 3rd Earls of Balcarres, and three daughters 
 Anna, Sophia and Henrietta, Anna while still a girl, 
 between sixteen and seventeen years of age, occasioned 
 her mother much grief by becoming a Roman Catholic 
 and entering a nunnery. In the volume of Autobio- 
 graphy by Baxter, entitled Reliquia Baxterian^^ he gives 
 a most interesting account of his fruitless endeavours to 
 reason her out of what he regarded as her delusion, and 
 in a copy of the work which is still extant there is a 
 touching note written by the aged Countess long after 
 her daughter's death which shows that her sorrow was 
 never fully assuaged.^ Sophia and Henrietta were still 
 young at the time of their mother's second marriage. 
 Sophia lived to play the part of a heroine in saving her 
 step-father's life by aiding him to escape from prison 
 while under a sentence of death. She afterwards married 
 his son Charles.^ Henrietta married Sir Duncan Camp- 
 bell, a kinsman of the Earl's and his lieutenant-general. 
 In days of adversity she shewed a tenderness and courage 
 and faith which proved her worthy both of the family 
 from which she sprang and of that with which she was 
 allied. Among the Wodrow MSS. in the Advocates' 
 Library is a copy of a Diary of hers which the Covenant- 
 ing historian thought worth transcribing and preserving. 
 
 * Foxcroft, Supplement to Btirnet, p. 29 : Reliquice Baxteriance, vol. I, 
 p. 121. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. II, p. 221 : Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 139: 
 Dr. John Brown, Horcv Subsccivcv, Sec. Ser., p. 49. 
 
 ^ Probably in 1678, see Douglas Peerage, "Argyll".
 
 AN APPEAL TO LAUDERDALE 175 
 
 The voluminous document is to a large extent a record 
 of her spiritual experiences, but it also contains referen- 
 ces to incidents in the lives of various members of her 
 family. Though it is devoid of hterary merit it has 
 value as giving us a glimpse into the religious opinions 
 and feelings of those in the circle within which she 
 moved, and as casting light upon the condition of eccle- 
 siastical matters in her time. From it we find, as one 
 might have expected, that religious fervour was conspic- 
 uously present in the ministrations of those who suffered 
 for adherence to their principles. The clergy whose 
 position was supported by armed force are described by 
 her as " formal, lifeless preachers ", and one feels that in 
 the circumstances matters could scarcely have been 
 otherwise. The fact that among those whom the State 
 proscribed spiritual religion took refuge, and that to 
 many of them it imparted its choicest gifts and graces 
 has to be taken into account by the historian who has to 
 deal with that strange and distracted time. 
 
 A few months after her marriage, the Countess of 
 Argyll wrote a touching letter to Lauderdale protesting 
 that she had done nothing to deserve his displeasure, and 
 entreating him to resume his former kindly feelings 
 towards her and her husband, and to befriend her son. 
 The reference in it to the Earl of Argyll is interesting as 
 giving us a glimpse into his family life and a testimony 
 to that integrity of character which raises him so high 
 above the politicians of his time. It is as follows: "Some 
 says your Grace is also displeased with my Lord, — who, 
 I can say deserves [it] not from you. It's hard, for 
 [i.e. because of] his affection to so near a relation of your 
 own, ^ it should be so, he being ignorant of it. I shall 
 beg of your Grace whatever you are pleased to allow me, 
 that you be to my Lord friendly. You have experience 
 of his love, and [may] believe you are not capable almost 
 to do that he will take ill from the Earl of Lauderdale. 
 If you do not so, your Grace will but please your enemies 
 
 ' The Countess of Argyll was a cousin of Lauderdale's.
 
 176 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 and displease those wishes you [i.e. who wish you] as 
 well as any upon earth does. My Lord is so faithful 
 and excellent a person that I think all should covet his 
 love and friendship. I am sure I could justify this by 
 the testimony of his greatest enemies, would they be so 
 good to themselves as to speak truth ; but the sincerity 
 of his love and respect, will, I know, hardly allow him to 
 say to your Grace that which may be looked upon as a 
 compliment. It's most certain that person lives not that 
 honours, loves, and will be more concerned for you, and 
 industrious to serve you. ^ " Lauderdale seems to have 
 taken no notice of this letter and there are no traces of 
 any further correspondence between him and the Count- 
 ess. The latter had arranged in the first instance that 
 her daughters were to reside with their brother, the Earl 
 of Balcarres, but the more natural arrangement of their 
 being with her was afterwards adopted. The former 
 plan was no doubt suggested in view of his marrying and 
 having a household of his own, but was set aside in 
 consequence of the death of his young wife within twelve 
 months of her marriage. ^ 
 
 1 Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie^ p. 98. 
 
 2 Ibid, pp. 84, 87.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 ' clanking Act " against conventicles — Leighton's endeavours after a 
 compromise — Widespread misery and dissatisfaction in Scotland — 
 Another session of Parliament — 2nd Act of Indulgence — Strong political 
 opposition to Lauderdale — Increase of Conventicles in Scotland — Peti- 
 tion of women to the Privy Council — Members of Argyll's family 
 sympathize with recusants — Conflict between the Government and the 
 Advocates — Proposals for a National Synod. 
 
 In addition to the measures already mentioned Lau- 
 derdale carried through Parliament what he called " a 
 clanking act " against conventicles, ^ which certainly 
 exceeded in severity everything in the way of restriction 
 that had as yet emanated from the Government. By it 
 no persons except the Established Clergy and the indulged 
 ministers were allowed to preach, expound the Scriptures, 
 or pray at any meeting, unless in their own houses or 
 families, under penalty of imprisonment, which was to 
 last until those breaking the law bound themselves not 
 to repeat the offence and provided substantial security for 
 good behaviour ; while on their hearers were to be 
 imposed very heavy fines in proportion to their rank and 
 means. Penalties for holding field-conventicles were to 
 be still more drastic, and the same were to be inflicted 
 also in cases where a meeting in a house overflowed into 
 the street. The person calling such a meeting and the 
 minister officiating at it incurred the punishment of death 
 and confiscation of goods. Large rewards were offered 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 200.
 
 lyS A SCOTS EARL 
 
 to those who informed against them and apprehended 
 them, and such persons were freed from blame if in so 
 doing slaughter were to be committed. The hearers at 
 such field-conventicles were to be fined double the sum 
 imposed on those who frequented prohibited meetings 
 held within the four walls of a room. This Act was to 
 be in force for three years and might, if it were thought 
 necessary, be renewed at the end of that time. ^ 
 
 The passing of such a Draconian measure at this 
 particular time has puzzled many and has been spoken 
 of as an inexplicable resort to severity on the part of 
 Lauderdale, the general spirit of whose policy had hitherto 
 been comparatively mild. ^ In order to understand it we 
 have to bear in mind that the Government lost prestige 
 wherever those who had refused to accept the Act of 
 Indulgence still officiated, and that though " the liberty 
 of preaching and hearing the evangel " ^ might have been 
 an inalienable right recognised by Acts of Parliament, the 
 restrictive measures passed since 1661 made it in certain 
 circumstances closely akin to rebellion. It only needed 
 that persons coming to such a meeting should carry arms 
 to defend themselves or their minister from molestation, 
 in order to turn a purely religious service into a gathering 
 which even the acutest casuist could scarcely distinguish 
 from a camp of insurgents. Such an armed conventicle 
 had recently been held in Fife and had been attended by 
 large numbers. * That such an example was highly 
 infectious need hardly be stated, and the mere occurrence 
 of this gathering is enough to explain the drastic terms 
 of the Act in question. It was intended to be not only 
 a powerful persuasive to those who were wavering in 
 their opinion as to accepting the Indulgence or not, but 
 also a support to the Government by arming it with 
 extensive powers for dealing with any serious emergency 
 
 1 Wodrow, History, vol. II, pp. 171-175 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 536. 
 ^ Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 243. 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 169. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 292 : Mackenzie, Memoirs of 
 the Affairs of Scotland, p. 188 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 535.
 
 ACT AGAINST CONVENTICLES 179 
 
 that might possibly arise. If we regarded the Indulgence 
 as an expression of good-will the " Clanking Act " might 
 be inexplicable. But Lauderdale was simply dealing in 
 what he regarded as an appropriate way with two different 
 sections of his opponents : to the reasonable he was show- 
 ing himself reasonable, ' to the froward he was showing 
 himself unsavoury '. As a mere matter of fact this Act 
 was not immediately followed up by numerous prosecu- 
 tions under its provisions. ^ That it was intended at its 
 origin to be merely a temporary Act which would lapse of 
 itself in course of time is evident from its being limited 
 to three years, unless circumstances should demand its 
 renewal at the end of that period. It would not, indeed, 
 be correct to call it a mere threat. For there was a 
 determination on the part of the authorities to enforce it, 
 if necessary, and it was at a later time renewed and 
 enforced with ruthless severity. Yet we can understand 
 the statement concerning it made by the Earl of Tweed- 
 dale, a politician of moderate and reasonable temper, that 
 there was no intention of putting it in operation, ^ for 
 it was quite evidently an Emergency Act rather than an 
 ordinary statute added to the general body of the laws of 
 the country. The very harshness of its terms secured 
 that it would not be lightly employed. We are told that 
 Charles II considered it to be extravagantly severe, 
 especially in that part which inflicted the penalty of death 
 on preachers at field conventicles. He said, Burnet tells 
 us, that bloody laws did no good, and that he never 
 would have passed this if he had known it beforehand. ^ 
 Bishop Leighton was absent from Parliament when 
 this Act against conventicles was passed, and knew nothing 
 of it until too late. He told the Earl of Tweeddale 
 that it was so inhuman, not to say unchristian, that he 
 was ashamed to advise with persons who could frame and 
 pass such measures. He, indeed, had grave reasons for 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 182 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 212. 
 " Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 293. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 292.
 
 i8o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 objecting to it as it virtually nullified the scheme of 
 accommodation between Presbyterianism and Episcopacy 
 which he was very zealously engaged in promoting under 
 the sanction of the Government. His proposal was that 
 both parties should make concessions : that the Bishops 
 should be simply perpetual moderators of Presbyteries 
 and Synods and that all affairs should be managed in 
 these courts by a majority of votes. His scheme was 
 foredoomed to failure, as the advocates of Episcopacy 
 were opposed to it on the very reasonable ground that it 
 was inconsistent with their doctrine of church government, 
 and those of Presbytery repudiated it for kindred reasons, 
 since it merely disguised the Bishops' usurped and 
 autocratic power, and excluded the lay eldership from 
 their due share in the management of ecclesiastical 
 affairs. ^ The fact, too, that Leighton's scheme had not 
 the support of the Primate and of the other Bishops 
 made all conferences for the discussion of it a mere farce. 
 That he was an amiable, saintly man, and one who for 
 the sake of peace was willing to make extensive concessions 
 to his opponents, seems beyond all question. But when 
 we consider that he had received no commission from his 
 brethren to make such concessions and that he was merely 
 giving up claims upon which he himself set but slight 
 value, there seems to have been a certain measure of 
 fatuity in his proceedings. " This consideration should 
 in all fairness be kept in view in judging the conduct of 
 those Presbyterians with whom he entered into conference 
 and who have often been condemned for not leaping to 
 welcome his proposals. ^ In his closing interview he cast 
 upon them the whole responsibility of perpetuating 
 ecclesiastical divisions which he had sought to heal ; but 
 in view of the fact that he himself privately declared to 
 Lauderdale that the Act of Glasgow in 1662 had made 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 179. 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 213. 
 
 ^ burnet, History of My Oicii Times, vol I, p. 292 : Grub, Ecclesiastical 
 History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 241.
 
 SCOTCH GRIEVANCES i8i 
 
 * the wound of the schism in Scotland almost incurable ', 
 his action in so doing seems to us to savour of 
 impertinence. ^ 
 
 The evils that afflicted Scotland during Lauderdale's 
 administration and in consequence of it were neither few 
 nor slight, and they render the history of that period 
 singularly dreary and depressing. Early in 1672 the 
 English Government again declared war against Holland — 
 a war that lasted for two years — and the result was that 
 again the main outlet for Scotch produce was closed, with 
 ruinous effect upon the trade and revenues of the country, 
 while at the same time the cost of maintaining the 
 national defence was of course considerably increased. 
 So serious was the condition of matters that a request 
 from Charles II just before the war broke out that a 
 regiment of a thousand infantry should be levied in 
 Scotland and supported in that country as an additional 
 contribution to the army of defence, was considered by 
 the Commissioners of the Treasury as impracticable. 
 They pointed out that the last war with Holland had 
 led to a diminution of the revenue of Scotland to the 
 extent of a third, and that the same result might be 
 expected again. So scarce, indeed, was money in the 
 country that it was extremely difficult to collect the 
 ordinary taxes. ^ In addition to this, heavy duties on salt 
 and other important articles of consumption, together 
 with monopolies in them granted to various persons, 
 were a crushing and most vexatious evil and one which 
 called forth widespread protest. ^ The abuses in question 
 had arisen in the following way. After the Restoration 
 the English Parliament had imposed heavy duties on 
 Scotch commodities imported into England, and in 
 retaliation duties of a prohibitive kind had been imposed 
 upon English goods coming into Scotland. The sug- 
 gestion was thereupon made that Charles II should be 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 51. 
 ^ Ibid, vol. II, p. 223. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 244.
 
 i82 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 empowered to remedy this state of affairs as he judged 
 best. But in place of this being done a hasty and ill-con- 
 sidered Act had been passed in 1663, empowering the 
 King to impose such duties as he thought fit upon foreign 
 goods coming into Scotland. The result of matters was 
 that the trust lodged in the Crown was abused. Mono- 
 polies and "gifts " were granted by which certain favoured 
 individuals were enriched, while the general population 
 was oppressed and defrauded. ^ 
 
 The ecclesiastical confusion ever remained a source of 
 misery and smouldering disaffection : and though the 
 sanguinary Acts of repression were not at once and 
 continuously enforced, finings and imprisonings and all 
 kinds of interference with the rights and liberties of the 
 subject went incessantly on. Nor was the Episcopal 
 Church with the support of the Government at its back 
 in a position that any need have envied. Its constitution 
 was disorganised, its authority feeble, and its ritual 
 chaotic, while every attempt at independent action was 
 regarded with suspicion and resentment by the secular 
 power. In many parts of the land the ministers of that 
 Church were alien in sympathy to the population, and 
 acted as spies and informers upon their parishioners, and 
 co-operated with the soldiery that enforced the laws 
 demanding conformity to the religious system which the 
 State had treacherously imposed upon the nation. " Such 
 relations between ministers and people, it need scarcely 
 be said, were hostile to the cultivation of the spiritual 
 life. So much was this the case that the very fact of 
 persons being of a God-fearing conduct and character 
 exposed them to the suspicion of sympathy with those 
 who adhered to the proscribed form of religion. ^ As 
 
 1 Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, pp. 133,241, et seq.: Burnet, 
 
 History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 354. 
 
 ^ Those who think this statement too strong are referred to the atrocious 
 Siifigestions by the Scotch Bishops for the suppression of the conventicles in 
 the West, Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 95. See also Wodrow, History, 
 vol. Ill, p. 287. 
 
 ^ Kirkton, History, p. 355 : McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 62.
 
 SYMPATHY WITH RECUSANTS 183 
 
 we have already said, persecution, while weeding out 
 hypocrites from a religious community, has an unwhole- 
 some influence on those who remain steadfast to their 
 principles, and inclines to make them narrow and rancorous 
 in opinion and spirit. Yet there can be no doubt that 
 those against whom the Conventicle Acts and kindred 
 measures were directed, were widely respected even by 
 many of those who did not adhere to them. This 
 strengthened their cause materially and weakened the 
 hands of the executive Government. 
 
 Another consideration has to be kept in view if we 
 would understand the history of that time. Owing to 
 the peculiar constitution of the Scotch Parliament legis- 
 lation was almost entirely in the hands of the sovereign 
 or of his representative, and the opposition, should there 
 be such, could scarcely do more than give a voice to the 
 public desires or discontent. Yet for eight years, from 
 Dec. 2nd, 1673 ^ to July 28th, 1681, no Parliament 
 met, and even this poor and imperfect means of resis- 
 tance to despotism was thus removed. The result was 
 that the opposition which the extreme section of the 
 Presbyterian party offered to the Government on religious 
 grounds was regarded with a measure of sympathy by 
 many others who were deprived of constitutional and 
 regular means of checking the evils which they deplored. ^ 
 The religious fervour, which characterised those who 
 thus from the force of circumstances rather than by their 
 own deliberate choice became guardians of national rights 
 and liberties, was of itself of immense value. It inspired 
 patience as well as hope, and it controlled to a large extent 
 those lawless and immoral elements of society which arc 
 eager to support the cause of revolution. The religious 
 side of the Covenanting cause is repellent to many of a 
 certain school in our own time, but there can be no doubt 
 that it was in consequence of it that the overthrow of 
 
 • This Parliament met in 1674 but only to be adjourned, and it was dis- 
 solved on May 19th of that year. 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 83.
 
 i84 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Episcopacy and of the House of Stewart In Scotland was 
 effected with so little bloodshed. 
 
 In the June of 1672 Lauderdale, who was now a Duke 
 and a Knight of the Garter, came down to hold a session 
 of Parliament. He was accompanied by his new Duchess, 
 who gave some offence by the almost royal state with 
 which she and a train of some thirty or forty other ladies 
 presented themselves at the opening of Parliament to 
 hear the Commissioner's speech. The main substance of 
 this was a statement of the reasons which had moved the 
 English Government to go to war with Holland, among 
 which was the shelter given in that country to rebels 
 from Scotland and England. The Parliament approved 
 of the declaration of war and made the usual tender of 
 their lives and fortunes in support of it. ^ Among the 
 other private instructions given by Charles II to his 
 Commissioner was a recommendation to consult with the 
 authorities in Scotland as to what further steps might be 
 taken in order to settle ecclesiastical difficulties in the 
 country. The result of this was that, after taking the 
 advice of members of the Privy Council, Lauderdale 
 promulgated a second measure of Indulgence. Its more 
 correct designation would be a measure of Confinement, 
 for it simply ordered some eighty or ninety of the * outed ' 
 ministers to remove to certain parishes, within the bounds 
 of which alone they were to have liberty to exercise their 
 sacred functions. In some cases they were appointed as 
 colleagues to Incumbents already in charge, while in other 
 cases two or three of them were associated together. The 
 stipend was divided among them, and their parishioners 
 were at liberty to supplement it if they chose to do so. 
 The reasons alleged for this measure were the disorder 
 which had lately been caused by conventicles, and the 
 desire on the part of the Government ' to remedy so 
 great an evil in the gentlest manner which could be thought 
 on. ' ^ The measure, however, neither met with general 
 
 ' Law, Mcmorialls, p. 48 : Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 219. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 203 : Kirkton, History, p. 326.
 
 2ND ACT OF INDULGENCE 185 
 
 acceptance on the part of those principally concerned, nor 
 was fully carried out by the Government/ and beyond 
 dividing the ranks of those for whom it had been pre- 
 pared, it did little to settle or even to alter the difficulties 
 of the situation. The virtual admission on the part of 
 the Government by proposing such a measure that a 
 great act of injustice had been perpetrated was incon- 
 gruous with the highhanded and peremptory method 
 suggested for dealing with the grievances which were 
 now in most cases of some eleven years' standing. Had 
 the Indulgence merely allowed the "outed" ministers to 
 return to their office it would have been scarcely possible 
 to object to it ; but as a matter of fact it was a bargain 
 by which on returning they admitted the rule of the 
 King as head of the Church and accepted, though in a 
 modified form, the rule of Bishops. So unsatisfactory was 
 the condition of matters that Robert Douglas, one of the 
 ablest and most statesmanlike ecclesiastics of his time 
 who had accepted the first Indulgence, was desirous to 
 head a movement of those who had done the same, if 
 they would give up their incumbencies and join those 
 who refused to accept the present measure. " On the 
 other hand Lauderdale was instructed to declare that 
 none of those who declined this offer would ever have 
 anything of the kind again presented to them,"* and the 
 sanguinary Acts of 1670 against Conventicles were 
 renewed. * 
 
 To the various causes of public discontent in Scotland 
 which we have already mentioned have to be added the 
 insolence of Lauderdale himself and the shameless greed 
 of his wife and friends, for whose benefit every public 
 office that became vacant was set up for sale. ^ All 
 this made his task of governing the country one of 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 51. 
 
 ■■* Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 206 : Kirkton, History, p. 331 : Law, Mcnio- 
 rialls, p. 51. 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 235. 
 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 220. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own times, vol. I, p. 355.
 
 i86 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 considerable difficulty. At the close of 1673, when he 
 came down to Edinburgh and opened Parliament, he 
 was confronted for the first time with an organised and 
 resolute opposition on the part of a considerable section of 
 the nobility, headed by the Duke of Hamilton. They 
 demanded redress of certain national grievances and even 
 constitutional changes that would take the control of 
 legislation out of the hands of the King and place it in 
 those of Parliament itself. This was, indeed, an unex- 
 pected and alarming state of affairs. " I met with such 
 a spirit ", says Lauderdale, " as I thought never to have 
 seen heir ". ^ " He was, " says Burnet, " struck as one 
 dead ", for he had raised his credit at court by professing 
 to hold Scotland in the hollow of his hand, and if this 
 proved to be an empty boast he was almost bound to 
 sink. ^ He was firmly convinced that the opposition from 
 this quarter was to a large extent due to the intrigues of 
 Shaftesbury and there is every reason to believe that his 
 suspicions were well founded. The latter had now been 
 dismissed from the Chancellorship (Nov. 9th) and was in 
 open antagonism to the Government and was regarded 
 by the public as the chief protector of Protestantism and 
 of the liberties of England. Charles II openly asserted 
 that Shaftesbury was encouraging the opposition in the 
 Scotch ParHament in order to embarrass the Government.^ 
 Lauderdale was in too precarious a position to attempt 
 to suppress the disaffection which confronted him by 
 mere brow-beating. He had been attacked in the House 
 of Commons as an evil councillor of the King and but 
 for the prorogation of Parliament further steps against 
 him would have been taken. ■* It would, therefore, be 
 unwise for him to increase unnecessarily the unpopularity 
 which his management of public affairs had already 
 excited against him in Scotland. Never since 1637, 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 241 : Kirkton, History, p. 341 : Law, 
 Memorialls, p. 54. 
 
 '■' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 363. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 18. 
 
 ' Christie, Life of Shaftesbury, vol. II, p. 155 n.
 
 LAUDERDALE AND "THE FACTION" 187 
 
 when the troubles broke out which led to the downfall 
 of Charles I's rule in that country, had such ominous 
 murmurs of insubordination been heard in political circles. 
 Indeed, but for the present Sovereign's prudence the 
 historian might have had to record a much closer parallel 
 between the events of 1637 and those of 1673 : for 
 Lauderdale was prepared to introduce another liturgy 
 into Scotland and only abstained from doing so on 
 receiving a peremptory command from the King to drop 
 the scheme. ^ 
 
 Lauderdale was fully equal to the emergency which 
 met him on this occasion. He promptly redressed the 
 grievances connected with monopolies on salt and other 
 articles, ^ but he steadfastly opposed the demand to 
 modify the system which placed the power of legislating 
 in the hands of the Lords of the Articles who were 
 virtually chosen by the King. ^ The removal of the most 
 clamant grievances perceptibly relieved the danger of the 
 situation ; while in refusing to throw the constitution 
 into the melting-pot in a time of public unrest Lauder- 
 dale had the support of several Scotch politicians of 
 reputation — among whom was our Earl of Argyll. 
 Indeed throughout this juncture of affairs the latter gave 
 him a steady support. ^ The victory which " The 
 Faction," as Lauderdale called them, prided themselves 
 upon having won encouraged them to persist in their 
 attack upon the Royal Commissioner. They spoke of 
 preventing similar abuses in time to come, of judges 
 being nominated by Parliament instead of by the King, 
 and of some liberty being granted to those who had 
 religious grievances. '' But the strenuous and unwavering 
 support which Charles gave to Lauderdale, defeated these 
 projects. The latter left no stone unturned to maintain 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 228 : Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 236. 
 ^ Ibid, vol. Ill, p. 4 : Law, Memorialls, p. 46. 
 ' Ibid, vol. II, p. 246. 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 342 : Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, 
 p. 258 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 228. 
 
 ^ Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 260.
 
 i88 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 his position. The Earl of Kincardine, the last of the 
 Scotch politicians of reputable character to co-operate 
 with Lauderdale, was sent to mount guard at Whitehall 
 while he himself was absent in Scotland. Kincardine 
 zealously canvassed the principal politicians of the Court 
 Party and secured their influence in favour of his colleague 
 whom the faction of Shaftesbury were assailing. ^ 
 
 Hamilton and Tweeddale and others of the opposition 
 in Scotland, on the adjournment of Parliament, went up 
 to Court to use their influence against Lauderdale, but 
 they met with very poor success. Charles accused them 
 of undermining his authority, and assured them that he 
 would not suffer his servant to be torn from him. 
 Indeed he said that he was bound in honour to protect 
 one who had served him faithfully, and that he could never 
 again expect loyal service from any one, if there was a 
 risk of being given up into the hands of those who hated 
 them, simply because they had adhered to his interests.^ 
 Greatly to the mortification of the King, these malcontents 
 from Scotland were in daily communication with Shaftes- 
 bury, Buckingham and others of their party in London, 
 and the result of their deliberations was that the House 
 of Commons resumed their attack upon Lauderdale, 
 and presented a request to the King asking him to 
 remove him. from his presence forever. The grounds 
 upon which they preferred this were that as head of the 
 administration in Scotland he had raised an army for 
 the purpose of employing it to establish arbitrary power 
 in England, and that at a meeting of the Privy Council in 
 England he had declared that royal edicts were equal 
 with the laws, and ought to be observed in the first 
 place. ^ Charles replied that he would take the matter 
 into consideration. That his zealous servant, however, 
 was in no risk of dismissal and disgrace, was evident from 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. lo : Kirkton, History, p. 342 : Law, 
 Memorialls, p. 57. 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 264. 
 ^ Commons' Journal, Jan. 13th, 1674.
 
 SCOTCH PARLIAMENT DISSOLVED 189 
 
 a letter which the King wrote next day with his own 
 hand. In it he said : " I could not lett this expresse go 
 to you without a line under my owne hand to assure you 
 of the continuance of my kindness to you which nothing 
 shall alter." ^ It was beyond the power of the King to 
 order the Scotch malcontents to return home ; but the 
 expectation that Parliament was likely to sit at the time 
 to which it had been adjourned, induced them to do so. 
 Their hope was that they would be able to secure a 
 petition being carried asking the King to remove Lauder- 
 dale as one under whom the nation would never be at 
 peace. The hope proved delusive. A thousand horse- 
 men went out to welcome Hamilton and his associates 
 on their return journey, and a great crowd accompanied 
 them to the Parliament House on the day appointed, 
 only to hear Lauderdale adjou'-n Parliament again 
 by the King's command before an item of business could 
 be transacted. ^ In order to put an end to intrigues 
 against himself by reducing his opponents to despair, 
 Lauderdale induced the King to dissolve this Parliament 
 and, as we have already said, no other was convoked 
 until July 28th, 1681. In the meantime the Secretary 
 for Scotland governed by what he called " the good old 
 form of government by His Majesty's Privy Council ". ^ 
 In this wanton and high-handed suspension of Parliament- 
 ary Government for so many years we may see a proof 
 that very grave reason for discontent existed in the 
 country, and that, in addition to the covert opposition of 
 the extreme Presbyterian party, there was a strong force 
 of public feeling hostile on other grounds to the despotic 
 rule which weighed like an incubus upon the nation. 
 At the same time Lauderdale sought to secure some 
 measure of popularity by procuring a proclamation to be 
 issued, called an Act of Grace, in which the King 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 22 : Law, Mcmorialls, p. 58. 
 
 * Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 264 : Law, Mciiiarialls, 
 p. 64. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, quoted in Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 465.
 
 I90 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 remitted all fines and penalties imposed for attendence at 
 Conventicles before that date (Mar. 4th, 1674), and 
 wiped out various arrears of public debts, the exaction of 
 which had been one of the grievances complained of. ^ 
 At the same time the announcement was made that in 
 future the laws would be strictly enforced. 
 
 Ever since the publication of the second Indulgence 
 conventicles had increased both in numbers and in 
 frequency ; for that measure, unsatisfactory as it was to 
 many to whom it was offered, gave encouragement to the 
 Nonconforming party by virtually admitting the reality 
 of their grievances. As the attention of the authorities 
 had been distracted from the task of prosecution on 
 account of the war with Holland and the political disputes 
 at home between Hamilton and Lauderdale, the laws 
 against these gatherings had not been rigorously enforced. 
 Indeed it is said that these statesmen were by no means 
 ill-pleased to hear of the increase of conventicles, as each 
 hoped that the other would be blamed for the spread of 
 disorder in the country. But after the publication of the 
 Act of Grace, which remitted punishments incurred by 
 this form of lawlessness, the holding of such meetings 
 became far more widespread. The Act in question was 
 regarded as encouragement for the future rather than 
 forgiveness of the past. With the exception of the 
 country north of the Tay, which had never been very 
 zealous in the cause of Presbyterianism, and of the 
 districts in which those ministers were settled who had 
 accepted the Indulgence, in many places throughout 
 Scotland — in fields and on moors and on the mountain- 
 side — multitudes gathered every Sunday for the next five 
 years to take part in the proscribed worship. Indeed at 
 times they took possession of churches, especially in 
 cases where these were vacant in consequence of congre- 
 gations deserting services conducted by the established 
 clergy. On one occasion they were bold enough to 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the affairs of Scotland, p. 266 : Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. Ill, p. 38 : Kirkton, History, p. 342 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 266.
 
 WOMEN'S PETITION 191 
 
 occupy a church in Edinburgh itself, that of St. Magdalen 
 in the Cowgate — the church to which the body of the 
 Marquess of Argyll was carried after his execution. The 
 condition of matters at this time and during the imme- 
 diately succeeding period is vividly described by the 
 historian Kirkton. " Then ", he says, " the discourse up 
 and down Scotland was the quality and successe of the 
 last Sabbath's conventicle, who the preachers were, what 
 the number of the people was, what the affections of the 
 people were, what doctrine the minister preached, what 
 change was among the people, how sometimes the soldiers 
 assaulted them and sometimes killed some of them ; 
 sometimes the soldiers were beaten and some of them 
 killed. " ' 
 
 A striking incident which occurred early in June, 
 1674, illustrates the state of public feeling in Scotland at 
 that time. As it would have been dangerous for men 
 openly to protest against the action of Government, a 
 large number of the women of Edinburgh met to present 
 a petition to the Privy Council, asking that " a gospell 
 ministry might be provided for the starving congregations 
 of Scotland. " ^ Fifteen women, most of them ministers' 
 widows, attended by a great crowd that filled the 
 Parliament Close, presented copies of the petition to the 
 principal members of the Privy Council as they arrived 
 at their place of meeting. When the Lord Chancellor 
 Rothes alighted from his coach with Sharp, the Primate, 
 Mrs. Livingston, widow of the minister of Ancrum who 
 had been one of the commissioners to Charles II in 1650, 
 gave him the document. He received it courteously and 
 listened to what she had to say, as she walked beside 
 him holding his sleeve until he reached the door of the 
 Council Chamber. Sharp kept close to the Chancellor, 
 somewhat to the latter's amusement, as though to claim 
 
 1 History, p. 343. 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 344 : Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 273 : 
 Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 268 : Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, p. 11 1 : 
 Law, Memorialls, p. 67 : Life of Robert Blair, p. 538.
 
 192 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 protection against bodily violence, but none was offered 
 to him. He was received with reproaches and addressed 
 as " Judas " and " traitor ", and one of the petitioners 
 was bold enough to lay her hand upon his neck and tell 
 him that that " must pay for it ere all was done ". Sir 
 James Dalrymple, though one of the Privy Council from 
 whom some sympathy with the petitioners might have 
 been expected, flung his copy of the petition on the 
 ground. The mere fact that he was known to be ready 
 to promote measures of accommodation with the Presby- 
 terian party would of course make him specially eager to 
 dissociate himself from tumultuous proceedings like 
 these. Argyll's action on this occasion is not recorded, 
 but it may be taken for granted that he disapproved of 
 the mode of presenting the petition. The Privy Council 
 on assembling pronounced the document a seditious libel, 
 and sent for the Provost and guard to dismiss the crowd. 
 The incident closed with the infliction of short terms of 
 imprisonment upon two or three of the ringleaders. ^ 
 
 The fact that the sympathies of members of the Earl's 
 own household were with the Covenanting party was 
 notorious, and on one occasion about this time he was in 
 some danger of being compromised by it. His step- 
 daughter, Lady Sophia Lindsay, to whose courage and 
 cleverness he was afterwards so much indebted for 
 his escape from Edinburgh Castle, was a friend of 
 Mr. Blackader, the well-known preacher, and from time 
 to time she attended conventicles at which he officiated. ^ 
 A son of Mr. Blackader's was an apprentice in a shop in 
 Stirling, and in the November of 1 674 he was apprehended 
 and imprisoned along with others on the charge of refusing 
 to take the prescribed oath, and of attending conventicles. 
 The procedure, so far as he was concerned, was utterly 
 illegal, and was due to the violence and ignorance of the 
 Provost of Stirling. " While I was in prison, " he says, 
 " the Earl of Argyll's two daughters-in-law. Lady Sophia 
 
 ' Kirkton, History, p. 346 : Wodrovv, History, vol. II, p. 269. 
 ^ Crichton, Memoirs of Rev. J. Blackader, p. 177.
 
 APPEALS TO PARLIAMENT 193 
 
 and Lady Henrietta, and Lady Jean his own daughter, 
 did me the honour, and came to see me ; where, I 
 remember. Lady Sophia stood up upon a bench, and 
 arraigned before her the Provost of Stirhng ; then 
 sentenced and condemned him to be hanged for keeping 
 me in prison ; which highly enraged the poor fool 
 provost, though it was but an harmless frolick. It 
 seems he complained to the [Privy] Council of it, for 
 which the good Earl was like to be brought to much 
 trouble about it. " ^ As, however, the Privy Council on 
 receiving a petition drawn up by Dr. Blackader, the 
 prisoner's brother, condemned the action of the authorities 
 in Stirling as illegal and ordered the accused to be set at 
 liberty, the matter blew over. The scene suggested by 
 the apprentice's narrative is a pretty one. The liveliness 
 and high spirits of these young creatures as they 
 criticize the actions of " the powers that be " are like a 
 gleam of sunshine in that dark and stormy age. 
 
 In two unexpected quarters a feeble trace of that 
 sturdy independence, which had been a marked feature 
 of the Scotch character and which neither severity nor 
 Indulgences could suppress in the Church, made its 
 appearance. A dispute arose between some of the 
 advocates and the Lords of Session as to the right of 
 appeal to Parliament. Such appeals under the name of 
 " protests for remead of law " had been occasionally 
 known in instances where some modification of the 
 statute-law was in the opinions of judges called for ; but 
 the present proposal was to make all final interlocutors 
 subject to revision by Parliament.^ This was no doubt 
 objectionable on several grounds. Thus, for instance, it 
 would give an equal value to the vote of an ignorant 
 member of Parliament and to that of a trained legal 
 expert, in judging a case which perhaps might need all 
 the latter's skill for deciding it correctly, and also as the 
 power of the nobility was predominant in Parliament 
 
 ' Crichton, Memoirs of Rev. J. Blackader, p. 330. 
 ^ Mackay, Life of jst. Viscount Stair, p. 120. 
 
 M
 
 194 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 such a proposal would give them an undue influence in 
 private cases. ^ But the main ground of objection to it 
 on the part of Charles II and of Lauderdale undoubtedly 
 was that if Parliament were made a Court of Judicature, 
 it would need to meet frequently and regularly. ' In 
 the present temper of the people of Scotland the meeting 
 of Parliament was by no means desired either by the 
 King or by his Secretary of State for that country. The 
 consideration that by this method the royal policy might 
 be thwarted influenced many who supported the right 
 of appeal, and had their claim been granted, a fatal blow 
 would have been inflicted upon the despotic government 
 of Scotland at this time from which so many evils sprang. 
 The matter was settled by a letter from the King con- 
 demning such appeals, and debarring the advocates in a 
 particular case from the exercise of their profession in 
 time to come, if they persisted in the appeal which they 
 had made. Sir George Lockhart and Sir John Cun- 
 ninghame, the persons concerned, refused to disown 
 their appeal, and were accordingly debarred from employ- 
 ment. About fifty of their fellow-advocates espoused 
 their cause, and withdrawing from Parliament House 
 took up their residence in Haddington and Linlithgow. 
 The Privy Council forbade them to return within 
 twelve miles of the capital. The stuff of which martyrs 
 are made was, however, not found in these lawyers, for 
 in a year's time they were restored to their former 
 status and privileges on their petitioning for re-admission 
 to them and on their disclaiming the right of appeal. ^ 
 
 The other quarter in which misgovernment produced 
 complaint and threatened to produce insubordination 
 was the Established Church. Here many of the clergy 
 and some even of the Bishops began to murmur that 
 their Church was without a constitution and that Sharp 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 268. 
 * Burnet, History of My Oivn Times, vol. I, p. 370. 
 
 ' Mackenzie, Memoirs of the Affairs of Scotland, p. 309 : Life of Robert Blair, 
 P- 540.
 
 NATIONAL SYNOD PROPOSED 195 
 
 acted as a pope, and they were desirous that a National 
 Synod should be called to plan reforms and to remedy 
 grievances. ^ Whether the proposal would have been as 
 successful as its promoters believed may be doubted, but 
 there was nothing unreasonable or illegal in it. Unfor- 
 tunately for the scheme, however, it was strongly 
 supported by the Duke of Hamilton and the faction 
 opposed to Lauderdale and converted into a means of 
 attacking the Government. Petitions which in some 
 instances at any rate had been instigated by Hamilton and 
 his associates came up to the Privy Council from various 
 local Synods, drawing attention to the present disorders 
 in the country and the dangers to which the Church 
 was exposed, demanding both redress and protection, and 
 declaring that the most suitable remedy was the calling 
 of a National Synod. The Privy Council was taken by 
 surprise as the opponents of the Government presented 
 themselves in full force to support the petitions. The 
 Lord Chancellor and others pointed out that the remedy 
 for disorders was the enforcement of the existing laws, 
 and that a request to the Sovereign to adopt some 
 new measure of dealing with them would be an open 
 confession of impotence on the part of those who were 
 responsible for the government of the country. ^ They 
 at last succeeded in quashing the proposal to send up 
 to the King a full statement of the disturbed condition 
 of the country and of this scheme for allaying the public 
 discontent. Sharp wrote in great alarm to Sheldon, the 
 Archbishop of Canterbury, requesting his aid at this 
 juncture in opposing the suggestion of calling a National 
 Synod, and pointing out that a successful rebellion 
 against constituted authority in Scotland might, as in 
 former days, materially assist a like movement in England.^ 
 Lauderdale was fully aware that the movement, though 
 ostensibly an ecclesiastical one, was promoted by his 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 300. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 52. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 301.
 
 196 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 political opponents, and he was in no dubiety as to the 
 way in which to deal with it. Dissenters would not, he 
 said, obey the decisions of an Episcopal synod, and the 
 orthodox clergy did not need such an institution, as 
 they were or ought to be satisfied with the government 
 established by law. The General Assembly at Glasgow 
 in 1638 was a memorable warning against gatherings of 
 that kind. " I wish, " he wrote to Archbishop Leighton, 
 " some may not be intending the same Play over again, 
 but a burn'd child dreads the fire, and upon all those 
 considerations I dare not, I cannot, concurre in the 
 Desires of a Synod at this time, from which I may fear 
 evil, and expect no maner of good ". ^ He followed up 
 the refusal by ordering the translation of the Bishop of 
 Dunblane who had persisted in the agitation for a 
 National Synod to the vacant see of Argyll and the Isles, 
 and by removing from Edinburgh and Leith four 
 ministers who had been prominent in the matter. After 
 a time on their expressing due regret for their action, all 
 five were restored to their former places. ^ 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 53. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 316: Law, Memorialls, p. 84: Lauderdale 
 Papers, vol. Ill, pp. 63, 75.
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Argyll's difficulties with the McLeans of Mull — Failure of attack on Lauderdale 
 — " Letters of Intercommuning" — Sir George Mackenzie becomes Lord 
 Advocate — Sir James Dalrymple and Argyll, spokesmen of the Pres- 
 byterian party — Increased activity of extreme party — Imposition of a 
 Bond on landowners — The " Highland Host " brought into the West of 
 Scotland. 
 
 About this time the Earl of Argyll found it necessary 
 in order to secure his legal rights to take up arms against 
 one of his Highland neighbours. The incident is inte- 
 resting as it reveals the fact that at that period the 
 authority of courts of law and of royal warrants was but 
 little recognized in some districts at any rate of that part 
 of Scotland. The Laird of Maclean, whose headquarters 
 were in the island of Mull, had been in debt to the 
 Marquess of Argyll, and the Earl, his son, had sought to 
 recover the money from him. The case came before the 
 Court of Session and decree was obtained ordering payment 
 to be made and lands to be sold, if necessary, to defray the 
 debt. The Laird died, and his brother became guardian of 
 the property in his capacity of Tutor to the new proprietor 
 who was a minor. This man made abundant promises either 
 of assigning portions of the estate to pay the annual interest 
 on the debt or of selling property to clear off the princi- 
 pal, but nothing was done in the way of carrying out 
 these proposals. At last in 1674 the Earl, having the 
 law upon his side and his claims being fully admitted by 
 his debtor, determined to take forcible possession of the
 
 198 . A SCOTS EARL 
 
 island of Mull. He accordingly raised an army of two 
 thousand men among his own friends, vassals, and tenants 
 and proceeded to exact his rights by open warfare. The 
 Macleans to the number of some seven or eight hundred 
 prepared to offer resistance but were soon reduced to 
 submission. The Earl's forces entered the island at 
 three several places, and his brother. Lord Neil Camp- 
 bell, who commanded one of the detachments lighted 
 upon the cattle of the islanders which had been collected 
 together in what had been thought a place of security. 
 The seizure of these put an end to resistance. Duart 
 Castle was surrendered to the Earl and a garrison of his 
 men was placed in it. The inhabitants of Mull promised 
 faithfully to meet their obligations and render due sub- 
 mission to their superior, and thereupon he left the island. 
 Next year, however, they refused to implement their 
 promises, and extensive preparations were made on both 
 sides for attack and defence. Argyll was unable to raise 
 so large an army as in the preceding year, but he got the 
 aid of a hundred regular troops and of a hundred militia 
 and succeeded in bringing up his forces to the number 
 of fifteen hundred men. The Macleans got aid from 
 Glengarry and other enemies of the Campbells, and 
 outnumbered their opponents by at least three hundred 
 men. The Earl gave the chief command to his brother, 
 Lord Neil, and late in September of 1675 the latter set out 
 on the expedition. He was, however, less successful than 
 on the former occasion. A terrific storm arose which 
 shattered the vessels in which his men were to have been 
 transported into Mull, and though no lives were lost 
 operations were suspended for a time. So violent was the 
 storm and so opportunely did it occur for the interruption 
 of the invasion that it was widely believed that it had been 
 raised by a witch in Mull who had promised Maclean that 
 while she lived Argyll should not enter the island. The 
 regular troops effected a landing and occupied Duart Castle, 
 and their commander. Captain Crichton, sent word to 
 Argyll of the numbers prepared to resist his attack. As
 
 ARGYLL AND MACLEAN 199 
 
 the latter's forces were too few for the enterprise, he sent 
 word that part of them should be stationed to defend the 
 coast of Lome from attack and that the rest should be 
 dismissed for the present, and he decided to apply to the 
 Government for aid in the matter. He accordingly pro- 
 ceeded to Edinburgh and brought the affair before the Privy 
 Council, but he met with no support in that quarter. He 
 thereupon went up to London in order to obtain through 
 the help of Lauderdale the aid he needed for suppressing 
 his opponents and getting his rights. Glengarry and 
 other friends of Maclean also proceeded to London to 
 lay before the King their view of matters. After some 
 months' delay the dispute was referred to three members 
 of the Scotch Privy Council for judgement, and in June 
 of 1676 the matter came up for consideration. The 
 Earl charged Maclean with a debt of five hundred thou- 
 sand marks [over ;^2 7,000 Sterling] and complained 
 bitterly of the armed opposition which had been made to 
 the execution of the decrees of the Court of Session. ^ 
 The Privy Councillors endeavoured unsuccessfully to 
 induce the parties to come to some agreement, and 
 another year passed before a decision was given in Argyll's 
 favour. Ultimately he was obliged again to have recourse 
 to military force and received authority to seize the island 
 of Mull with the aid of three companies of regular troops.^ 
 On November ist, 1679, ^^e King in a letter to the Privy 
 Council of Scotland declared himself satisfied with the 
 prudence and moderation shewn by Argyll in his dealings 
 with the Macleans, and the care he had taken to keep within 
 the bounds of his commission. ^ The settlement he now 
 effected was final and the island virtually passed into his 
 possession. * No one seems to have regarded it as 
 extraordinary that legal decisions should have been so 
 lightly regarded in Mull and the neighbourhood, that the 
 
 1 Law, Mcmorialls, p. 80 : see also Brit. Mas. Add. Mss. 23,127, fo. 77 : Life 
 0/ Robert Blair, p. 563 : Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. I, p. 108. 
 
 * Ibid, vol. I, p. 204. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 144. 
 
 * Law, Mcmorialls, p. 144.
 
 200 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 only way a successful litigant could secure his rights was 
 by engaging in civil war, that outside parties should join 
 in the fray either from the love of fighting or because of 
 dislike to one of the combatants, and that the whole 
 storm should settle down without apparently even the 
 suggestion from any quarter that those who had been 
 guilty of treason in resisting the authority of the sovereign 
 should be brought to book. Most grotesque of all is the 
 attempt of members of the Privy Council to bring parties 
 to an agreement when one of them was merely insisting 
 upon rights which law-courts had assigned him, and the 
 other had been guilty of contumacious resistance to 
 judicial authority carried as far as bloodshed. The whole 
 incident reminds one of the condition of matters in 
 Ireland as reported by some of her light-hearted and 
 irresponsible novelists and ballad-writers. ^ 
 
 During the course of the year 1675 a second attempt 
 was made by the House of Commons to remove Lauder- 
 dale from office and an address similar to that of the 
 previous year was presented to the King. On the 
 former occasion Charles had promised to take the matter 
 into consideration, but had done nothing beyond assuring 
 Lauderdale of his unalterable favour. He was now, 
 however, compelled to vindicate his own action in 
 retaining the services of the minister thus so seriously 
 assailed. With some ingenuity he succeeded in parrying 
 accusations brought against Lauderdale. He declared 
 that an Act of Grace published since the words had been 
 spoken of which the Commons complained — ' that royal 
 edicts were equal to laws ' — had condoned them, if indeed 
 it were true that these were the words used ; and also 
 that the army Lauderdale was accused of levying for the 
 accomplishment of sinister designs had been decided 
 upon in the Parliament of 1663 in which he was not 
 Royal Commissioner. " The attack was renewed three 
 
 ' Perhaps some of our readers may remember Lever's ballad, Larry 
 McHale. This person's name and procedure bear some resemblance to 
 those of MacLean. 
 
 ^ Lingard, History, vol. IX, p. 131.
 
 LETTERS OF INTERCOMMUNING 201 
 
 years later but by arduous manipulation the address 
 asking- for his dismissal was defeated in the House of 
 Commons by a single vote. 
 
 The victory of Lauderdale over his opponents enabled 
 him to deal with increased severity with those who 
 frequented field-conventicles or in other ways resisted 
 the Government. So many and so severe had been the 
 measures framed for suppressing religious non-conform- 
 ity in Scotland that some may wonder that it was 
 possible to invent a new method of harassing the recus- 
 ants. Yet this was effected (Mar. ist, 1676) by means 
 of what were called " Letters of Intercommuning " ^ 
 The writ which bore this mysterious name prohibited 
 all intercourse with persons who had broken the laws 
 against conventicles, and involved those who showed any 
 act of kindness to offenders in the guilt attaching to their 
 offence. Thus to harbour a fugitive, to give him food 
 or drink or in any way to minister to his necessity was 
 made a crime equal to that of the culprit assisted ; and 
 the guilt was not lessened if the case were that of a wife 
 harbouring and helping a husband, or a child a father. 
 It may seem to some an aggravation of the infamy of 
 this measure to learn that for the Privy Council to issue 
 it was to usurp the powers proper to the Legislature. ^ 
 A more serious charge against " Letters of Intercom- 
 muning " is that they trampled upon all humane instincts 
 and upon Christian precepts of mercy to those in 
 distress. The hearts of those who may have hoped for 
 a reversal of the oppressive policy of the Government 
 must have sunk within them when they read the proclam- 
 ation containing this cruel enactment, and observed the 
 provisions in it for compelling magistrates to put it into 
 effect and for stimulating informers by giving them large 
 bounties to secure convictions under it. The appoint- 
 ment of a new legal adviser to the Government might 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 137. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 318. 
 
 2 J. H. Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 187.
 
 202 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 arouse in some minds a faint hope of a change for the 
 better. How fallacious that was, if it existed, is revealed 
 by the mention of his name. 
 
 Sir George Mackenzie, the founder of the Advocates' 
 Library, was appointed Lord Advocate in 1677 and from 
 that time until the Revolution, with the exception of a 
 year in the reign of James II, he held the post in question. 
 His conduct while in office was such as to secure for 
 himself an unenviable reputation and a sobriquet — "The 
 Bloody Mackenzie" — which he will never lose. He was 
 largely responsible for the repressive legislation of his 
 years of office, both as the draughtsman who prepared 
 the laws and as the public prosecutor or informer who 
 secured the conviction of offenders against them. ^ His 
 unremitting zeal, inspired largely by political and religious 
 prejudices, led him not only to browbeat juries who 
 hesitated to bring in verdicts of " guilty ", but even to 
 wrest the law in some instances in order to effect his 
 object. ^ He afterwards urged in defence of his conduct 
 that the sufferings of the Presbyterians and the number 
 of those of them who had been pursued to a violent death 
 had been exaggerated. This was probably true, but as 
 one of his critics remarks, " the guilt of innocent blood 
 is not to be measured by its quantity " ^ He also pre- 
 sented the miserable plea that he had been a mere servant 
 of the King and Privy Council and had executed their 
 orders. To this it is enough to reply that he was a 
 voluntary agent, and that the office he held was a lucrative 
 one. His name and Claverhouse's are associated together 
 as those of cruel persecutors : but while zealous attempts 
 have been made to represent the ruthless soldier as a hero, 
 no one as yet, so far as we know, has sought to do the 
 same office for the unscrupulous lawyer. Most readers 
 of Guy Mannering^ we imagine, have sympathized with 
 
 • Innes, Studies in Scollish History, pp. 96, 98. To the article on 
 Mackenzie in this volume we are deeply indebted. 
 
 ' Our reference is specially to the trial of Mitchell for the attempt to 
 assassinate Archbishop Sharp and to the trial of the Earl of Argyll. 
 
 * Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, p. 128.
 
 SIR GEORGE MACKENZIE 203 
 
 Colonel Mannering in preferring Dirk Hatteraick to 
 Gilbert Glossin, while detesting them both. A similar 
 feeling, we fancy, is to be found in the public mind in its 
 estimates of Claverhouse and Mackenzie. And yet so far 
 as the latter is concerned, the tragic element in the case 
 is that but for his conduct in serving a cruel and tyran- 
 nical Government in its work of oppression his name 
 might have come down as that of a public benefactor, 
 not only for the services which he rendered to the world 
 of letters but also for the reforms he introduced to 
 mitigate the severity of procedure in criminal trials. 
 
 He was by no means the sort of man whom one would 
 have expected to take up the role of a persecutor. His 
 interest in poetry, his graceful literary style, the vein 
 of sentiment in his nature, and his latitudinarian opinions 
 in matters of religion,^ all seem out of harmony with such 
 a career. His cardinal error seems to have been in his 
 tenet that personal belief might be suppressed or dissem- 
 bled at the bidding of authority, and though he stipulated 
 that this was applicable only in the case of articles not 
 absolutely necessary for salvation, the principle he laid 
 down opened up the way for his becoming a persecutor. 
 For while it contemptuously allowed any conscientious 
 convictions to be held in secret, provided that there was 
 outward conformity of worship, it implied that there might 
 be conflict between the requirements of the State and the 
 conscientious convictions of the individual, and that the 
 force upon which the State depends for the maintenance of 
 its authority might be used against those who were obeying 
 the dictates of conscience. In other words, his principle 
 implied that guidance by conscience was a matter to be 
 attended to by the individual soul, but that the State 
 was at liberty to compel outward conformity to certain 
 things, not because they were true, but because they had 
 been commanded, and thus use ecclesiastical laws as an 
 engine of despotism. " He was no bigot," says Dr. A. 
 
 ^ Erskine, Journal, p. 24.
 
 204 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Taylor Innes in an able and brilliant study of Macken- 
 zie's career ; " Better for him almost if he had been. 
 He would at least have escaped the bitter contempt of 
 his own generation for one who made the laws of his 
 country his creed, and the infinite hatred which still 
 pursues the unhappy ghost that sought to force a creed- 
 less creed on others." ^ In our own day one can scarcely 
 refer to the subject of religious persecution in the 17th 
 century without being told by some glib and superficial 
 critic that both parties were engaged in it. The assumption 
 is that both were equally guilty — an assumption which 
 renders the fact inexplicable that the struggle resulted in 
 religious liberty being secured for us. It is in our 
 opinion a gross error to condemn those who resisted the 
 policy of the Stewarts and yet were against what they 
 called " the toleration of sects ", as being equally at fault 
 with their opponents. Their theories may have been 
 equally intolerant, but their practice was different. For 
 while outward conformity would have satisfied the one, 
 the other was zealous for truth, and was therefore 
 instinctively less thorough-going in the exercise of force 
 which can secure nothing more than outward conformity. 
 The matter has been put with great force by the author 
 whom we have last quoted. " The advantage of the 
 popular [Puritan] party ", he says, " seems to me to have 
 been that they and their leaders never, at the worst, 
 admitted any idea of tampering with the sacredness of 
 truth without and of individual conviction within ; that 
 even when they pressed hardest, in their dogmatic way, 
 on the individual, they never suggested his coming over 
 to them except by some process of reasoned conviction 
 and of private judgment ; and that when they themselves 
 were pressed to conform, sometimes even by enlightened 
 latitudinarians like Sir George Mackenzie, with argu- 
 ments of torture and death, the flame of loyalty to 
 conscience burned under the pressure only the higher 
 
 > Innes, Studies in Scottish History, p. 107.
 
 Sir Jamks Dalrvmple, ist Viscount Stair.
 
 SIR JAMES DALRYMPLE 205 
 
 and the hotter. And so, with all their shortcomings in 
 theory, they saved the future ". ^ 
 
 For the various repressive measures adopted by the 
 Privy Council for dealing with religious nonconformity 
 the Earl of Argyll must bear his own share of whatever 
 blame may be regarded as attaching to them. But as a 
 mere matter of fact he had had nothing to do with the 
 initial act of injustice which, as Leighton himself admitted, 
 made the subsequent disorders almost incurable ; ^ and 
 all through the reign of Charles II he was regarded as 
 favouring moderate counsels and as being one of those 
 who were willing to give a patient and sympathetic 
 hearing to any reasonable statement of grievances. As 
 early as 1674, Argyll and Sir James Dalrymple, afterwards 
 ist Viscount Stair, had been spoken of as being those in 
 the Privy Council on whom the Presbyterians depended 
 most. ^ Dalrymple is one of the most interesting per- 
 sonages of the time in which he lived. His great ability, 
 his subtlety of intellect, his ambition and his piety, all 
 combine to form a character which has been very variously 
 estimated ; while his inclination to take a middle course 
 in an age when party feeling ran high secured for him 
 the enmity of both sides ; for, after having shared in the 
 arbitrary government exercised by the Privy Council, he 
 discovered limits beyond which he could not go, and was 
 dismissed from the office he held of President of the 
 Court of Session and forced to take refuge in Holland. 
 The extraordinary and mysterious incidents in his family 
 life together with his own complex personality, attracted 
 Sir Walter Scott and suggested to him the story which 
 he has told in The Bride of Lammermoor — a novel in which 
 the reader is in danger of being led by his admiration 
 of the author's splendid genius to share his political 
 
 ^ Innes, Studies in Scottish History, p. in. 
 
 ^ " That which hath made the wound of our schism almost incurable was 
 the unhappy Act of Glasgow turning out so many ministers at once : " 
 Letter to Lauderdale : Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 51. The reference is 
 of course to what had occurred in the Middleton administration in 1662. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 369.
 
 2o6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 prejudices which find characteristic expression in it. 
 Lauderdale, who had no responsibility whatever for 
 the original act of cruelty and injustice which had driven 
 so many of the Presbyterian clergy from their livings, 
 was still willing to come to terms of accommodation with 
 those who had not accepted the two Acts of Indulgence 
 already passed. Both in order to get rid of some of the 
 unpopularity which attached to him, and in order to 
 make his task of governing the country a little easier, he 
 was inclined to this course. By means of Argyll, 
 Dalrymple and others of similar political opinions, he put 
 himself in communication with some of the disaffected 
 party. ^ But the scheme proved abortive. In order 
 that there might be confidence in any Act of Indulgence 
 it had to be ratified by Parliament, for unless this were 
 done, it might be revoked the next day, and Lauderdale 
 dared not summon a Parliament. Those whom he 
 consulted and employed as his intermediaries in the 
 matter undertook to raise £1^,000 Sterling for his 
 service, and to secure persons being elected for Parliament 
 who would support his policy, ^ but the experiment was 
 too dangerous for him to try. The one obvious course 
 was to grant liberty of assembling and of worship, such 
 as was now enjoyed by Nonconformists in other parts of 
 the three kingdoms. But this would have meant the 
 total abolition of the oppressive and sanguinary legisla- 
 tion on which the Government had relied since the 
 establishment of Episcopacy. Indeed it might have 
 involved some rough measures of justice being under- 
 taken by the populace, in replacing the " outed " clergy 
 in their livings, and in " rabbling out " those who had 
 been thrust upon the country by a fraudulent manoeuvre 
 and maintained in office by violence. One is justified 
 in forming this conjecture by the fact that this rude 
 redressment of ecclesiastical evils ultimately took place, 
 when the hand that had replanted and supported Epis- 
 
 '■ Fountainhall, Observations, vol. I, p. 117 : Oct. 3rd, 1677. 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. I, p. 177.
 
 DISTURBED STATE OF SCOTLAND 207 
 
 copacy in Scotland had lost its strength. ^ Much hap- 
 pened in the interval to exasperate public feeling and 
 to explain the sudden and furious rising against the 
 Episcopal clergy in many parts of the country immediately 
 upon the Revolution ; but even in 1677 there were 
 indications of popular indignation which may well have 
 convinced the Privy Council that any relaxation of the 
 policy of repression would lead to a general debacle. 
 Thus we find Charles II saying in a proclamation of this 
 date : " Our royal government hath been of late much 
 affronted and the peace of this our ancient kingdom 
 much disquieted, by irregular flocking to field-conven- 
 ticles, nurseries of rebellion, by withdrawing from public 
 ordinances, invading the persons and pulpits of the 
 orthodox clergy, building of meeting-houses, the killing, 
 wounding, and invading of some that were commanded 
 in our name to repress the said insolences, " etc. ^ Even 
 although the statement of matters here given is probably 
 exaggerated, yet there is no doubt that the country was 
 so far disturbed that the Government might well fear 
 that any concessions of the kind above indicated might 
 lead to a demand for the abolition of Episcopacy, and 
 for the redressment of wrongs inflicted on so many of 
 the Presbyterian clergy — wrongs which were explicitly 
 acknowledged by the Government in the Acts of Indulg- 
 ence which they had promulgated. 
 
 Meantime Lauderdale's only alternative was to resort 
 to more violent measures of repression. What he 
 ardently desired was some indication on the part of the 
 disaffected of an inclination to rebel, which would justify 
 his employment of soldiery in crushing them. Yet this 
 was not forthcoming in any definite way, for, though 
 many who attended conventicles bore arms, the knowledge 
 of what penalties open resistance involved and of what 
 widespread measures of repression it would introduce, 
 
 ' Already in 1677 incidents of this kind are reported (Lauderdale Papers, 
 vol. Ill, p. 88). 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 379.
 
 2o8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 made men chary of drawing the sword. Some five years 
 before this time when there had been great activity on 
 the part of the authorities against conventicles, Burnet 
 had remonstrated with Lauderdale about the matter. 
 " When," he tells us, " I was once saying to him, [there 
 being war with Holland], was that a time to drive them 
 into rebellion ? Yes, said he, would to God they would 
 rebel, that so he might bring over an army of Irish 
 papists to cut all their throats." ^ For about a month at 
 that time he had raved in this manner with such violence 
 that some surgical treatment for himself seemed desirable: 
 but suddenly he regained calmness, probably at some 
 hint from the King that his truculence was ill-timed. 
 
 Among the various means of suppressing disorder that 
 which commended itself most to Charles II and to some 
 of his advisers was to require the proprietors of land in 
 the disaffected districts to keep their tenants under control 
 — to hinder, if possible, their disobeying the law, and to 
 secure their punishment in case of disobedience. He 
 declared that nowhere in the world were tenants so 
 completely dependent upon their landlords, and that the 
 latter could easily put down conventicles by delivering 
 those who frequented them into the hands of justice or 
 turning them off their land. ^ The monstrous character 
 of this method of dealing scarcely needs to be pointed 
 out. It gave the task of executive government into the 
 hands of private individuals, and opened up the way for 
 the perpetration of all kinds of oppression under the guise 
 of securing obedience to the law. It sought to turn the 
 nobility and gentry of the country, whatever might be 
 their private opinions as to the matters in dispute, into 
 the drudges of the Privy Council, to do their dirty work, 
 to become spies and informers upon their own tenants, 
 and to work the ruin of those who sought liberty of 
 worship or who were inclined to resent injustice and 
 tyranny. In districts where the population was numerous 
 
 1 History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 341. 
 - Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. loi.
 
 DIFFICULTIES OF THE SITUATION 209 
 
 and resolute in opposition to the Government the task of 
 coercion, which the constituted authority with all its 
 resources had failed to accomplish, was certainly beyond 
 the ability of the landed proprietors, even if they had 
 been willing to undertake it. But they were not willing. 
 "Some", it has been said," with loud remonstrances against 
 the legality and justice of such a bond — some, with silent 
 and passive but effective resistance — a few only with even 
 a nominal compliance — but all with one heart and mind, 
 either refused to take, or avoided to act upon this infamous 
 engagement. " ' 
 
 The policy of Lauderdale, if he had been left to himself, 
 would have been to promulgate a third measure of 
 Indulgence by which to divide the opponents of the 
 Government, and then, we presume, to strain every nerve 
 and use every means at his command to crush the few 
 remaining recusants. But the very mention of another 
 Indulgence threw the Bishops into a panic. ^ They used 
 all their influence at Court against Lauderdale, he being 
 now in Scotland as High Commissioner, they exaggerated 
 the numbers of conventicles and of those attending them, 
 and they dwelt upon the danger arising from the fact that 
 so many of the disaffected came to such meetings armed. 
 In short, they did everything in their power to inflame the 
 anger of the King against those who refused to accept 
 Episcopacy. The greater openness and boldness with 
 which the proscribed worship was carried on, and some 
 isolated cases of violence on the part of the harassed 
 population, ^ either terrified the Bishops into believing 
 that an insurrection was at hand, or were made by them a 
 pretext for urging the Government to employ troops on 
 a large scale for purposes of repression. The upshot of 
 matters was that Lauderdale gave way to the pressure 
 upon him, * and authorized the detestable measure of 
 
 * Argyll, Scotland As It Was and Is, p. 225. 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol II, p. 371. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 88. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 372. 
 
 N
 
 2IO A SCOTS EARL 
 
 bringing down a large body of Highland troops to live at 
 free quarters in the Western Lowlands where conventicles 
 were numerous and well attended. 
 
 It is doubtful to whom the infamy belongs of pro- 
 posing this plan. It received however, enthusiastic 
 support from the Bishops. The suggestions which they 
 gave for the direction of the troops to be sent into the 
 West may be read in the Lauderdale Papers^ ^ and we are 
 sure that no severer condemnation of their rule or fuller 
 justification of resistance to it, could be found than in 
 their vile scheme. They advise that a committee of 
 Privy Council whom they name should accompany the 
 troops and be empowered " to fine, confine, imprison 
 and banish " as they find cause. We are glad to say 
 that they do not propose that the Earl of Argyll should 
 be one of this committee. They recommend a seizure 
 of all arms and of all horses suitable for cavalry in the 
 western shires, compensation being of course given for 
 the latter ; and advise that " innocent and orderly people" 
 should be encouraged by seeing troops quartered upon 
 the guilty. They urge the destruction of meeting- 
 houses lately erected for Presbyterian worship and the 
 punishment of those who built them, the exaction of 
 fines which would be " smartlie felt by the transgressors," 
 and the infliction of " some notable corporall punishment" 
 on persons who had no money wherewith to pay fines. 
 They are specially eager for the apprehension of certain 
 prominent " outed " ministers whom they name, and in 
 order to secure it, propose that remission of fines and 
 exemption from " quarterlngs " [of soldiers] should 
 recompense those who should treacherously seize them 
 and deliver them up. They recommend that fines 
 should be applied to the purpose of rewarding those 
 who had been zealous in ruining their Presbyterian 
 neighbours, and that strong garrisons of soldiers should 
 be permanently settled in half a dozen places in the West 
 
 * Vol. Ill, p. 95. The document is in the handwriting of Paterson, Bishop 
 of Galloway.
 
 THE BOND 211 
 
 country which they specify. The reconciliation of 
 advice like this with the counsels addressed by St. Paul 
 to Timothy and Titus would be an interesting, though 
 probably somewhat difficult, academical exercise. The 
 document reminds us of Swift's assertion that the 
 English Government of his day were always most careful 
 to appoint men of learning and piety to the charge of 
 Irish dioceses, but that on crossing Hounslow Heath 
 these persons were murdered by highwaymen who there- 
 after disguised themselves as their victims and proceeded 
 to their dioceses without being detected. From the 
 document above referred to one would almost think that 
 some of Dalziel's troopers were masquerading in Epis- 
 copal garb. 
 
 The plan of flooding the Western Lowlands with troops 
 was one which commended itself to the ruHng authorities. 
 Charles II and the Duke of York, who were maintaining 
 a strenuous conflict with the English Whigs, were glad 
 to have an excuse for keeping an army on foot which 
 might aid their designs against liberty. ^ The needy and 
 unscrupulous nobles who supported Lauderdale eagerly 
 anticipated dividing among themselves the forfeited 
 estates of rebels ; ^ while the Bishops hoped to crush 
 opponents whom they had long despaired of converting. 
 The mode of operations was to require all landed proprie- 
 tors in the western counties to enter into a bond for them- 
 selves, their wives, children, servants, tenants, and all 
 that lived on their estates, that they would not attend 
 conventicles, harbour " vagrant preachers " or forfeited 
 persons, and that they would do their utmost to apprehend 
 those of this class and deliver them up to the authorities. 
 If these obligations were declined by the majority of 
 those concerned, the next step was to declare the country 
 in a state of rebellion and to proceed to hostilities to 
 reduce it to order. The bond lay under many objections 
 
 ' Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 194. 
 
 * Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 418 : Wodrow, History, 
 vol. II, p. 378.
 
 212 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 both legal and moral, but apart from these it was imposs- 
 ible to carry it out in a district where public opinion 
 was strongly hostile to it. By making persons responsible 
 for the action of others who might not even be members 
 of their households, it made it easy for a servant or 
 tenant to ruin his master or landlord. ^ 
 
 Several meetings of the nobles and gentry of the West 
 of Scotland were held in which the bond which the 
 Government sought to impose was rejected, even by 
 those who had no other desire than to save their estates 
 from confiscation, and from one of these meetings held 
 at Ayr the plain declaration was sent up to the Privy 
 Council that a better means of settling the peace of the 
 country would be to grant a third Indulgence. ^ Lauder- 
 dale, however, would certainly have been at once discarded 
 by Charles if he had accepted this suggestion though it 
 was in accordance with his own predilections, and therefore 
 it fell to the ground. At the end of 1677 letters were 
 written to the Marquess of AthoU and the Earls of Moray, 
 Perth, and Airly, and other Highland nobles, asking them 
 to assemble what forces they could raise, and to be ready 
 to join the regular troops and militia, in order to march 
 into the western counties to disarm the inhabitants and 
 to compel them to take the bond. ^ The pretext was 
 that " the phanaticks " in the West were likely to rise in 
 arms. " How soone, " wrote Lauderdale to Danby, 
 " they may take armes no man can tell ; for, as I have 
 often said, they are perfitely fifth monarchye men, and no 
 judgment can be made upon the grounde of reason what 
 they may attempt ; and therefor all preparations possible 
 are to be made in case they rise, for this game is not to be 
 played by halfes, we must take this opportunity to crush 
 them, so as they may not trouble us any more in hast. " * 
 Preparations were made at his request for transporting, 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 39311 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 418. 
 ^ Kirkton, History, p. 377 : Law, Memorialls, p. 136. 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 383. 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 89.
 
 THE HIGHLAND HOST 213 
 
 in case of need, troops under Lord Granard from the 
 North of Ireland and for bringing militia foot-soldiers 
 and some troops of the guards across the border out of 
 Northumberland. 
 
 On January 24th, 1678, the Highland Host assembled 
 at Stirling and were about six thousand in number. 
 Wodrow says that they were " the very scum of that 
 uncivilized country " commanded by Earls and chieftains 
 as Colonels and Captains. ^ As one and all were attracted 
 by the hope of plunder it is probable that the historian's 
 epithet is an exact description of most of the officers and 
 men. There is no reason to believe that Argyll was 
 omitted from the list of those who were invited to assist 
 the Government in this matter. He certainly, however, 
 took no part in the proceedings, and contributed no forces 
 to the army now on foot. His abstention brought him 
 under a certain measure of suspicion with the Government, 
 as indicating some sympathy with the disaffected class, but 
 for the present no open indication of displeasure with 
 him was given. His difficulties with the Macleans of 
 Mull, to which we have already referred, still engaged 
 his attention, but do not account for the fact that he took 
 no part in the invasion of the western counties ; for 
 Burnet distinctly informs us that his withholding his 
 aid was a deliberate indication of his disapproval of 
 Lauderdale's policy, ^ 
 
 The riotous insolence of the Highland troops, so much 
 dreaded by those against whom they might be sent, began 
 at StirHng, the place of rendezvous ; for more than once 
 they set parts of the town on fire. After a brief delay 
 there they proceeded to Glasgow, where they were joined 
 by about a thousand foot of regular troops, two thousand 
 two hundred militia from Angus and Perthshire, together 
 with a hundred and sixty horse-guards and five other 
 troops of cavalry. These along with the usual following 
 of stragglers and hangers-on brought up the number of the 
 
 1 History, vol. II, p. 388. 
 
 ' History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 419.
 
 214 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 invaders to about ten thousand men. They brought with 
 them four field-pieces, a great store of ammunition and all 
 the apparatus needed for attacking fortified places. With 
 these elaborate preparations for a campaign they marched 
 into a country which was in profiaund peace. No enemy 
 appeared to confront them. They were accompanied, 
 as the Bishops had suggested, by a committee of the 
 Privy Council who instructed them what to do. From 
 the time that they left Stirling they conducted themselves 
 as if they were in an enemy's country, living at free 
 quarters, robbing right and left, and indulging in all 
 kinds of outrage, short of murder. The counties of 
 Lanark, Renfrew and Ayr were the scene of their 
 operations. Fife, in which there were many sturdy 
 Covenanters and haunters of conventicles, would have 
 been included in the list but for the action of the 
 principal land-owners in accepting the bond. Under the 
 orders of the Privy Council the Highland troops disarmed 
 the population, seized all horses of any value, and 
 endeavoured to compel all classes to take the bond. In 
 this last item of their programme they were singularly 
 unsuccessful ; for a steady resistance was offered by the 
 leading gentry and others. Even in cases where the 
 bond was taken, parties fared almost as badly as if they 
 had rejected it ; for the greedy marauders were not 
 inclined to be balked of their prey. ^ The rage of 
 Lauderdale, when he heard that the attempt to compel 
 acceptance of the bond had been largely in vain, was 
 indescribable. At a meeting of the Privy Council, he 
 conducted himself like a madman, baring his arms above 
 the elbows and swearing by the ineffable name of God 
 that he would force the recusants to give way. ^ 
 
 Those who have desired to minimize the horrors of 
 this campaign have been careful to mention that no 
 deaths were inflicted by the troops. ^ But the statement 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, pp. 382, 410 : Kirkton, History, p. 389. 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 418. 
 
 ^ Grub, Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 253 : Kirkton, History,
 
 CONDUCT OF THE SOLDIERS 215 
 
 is misleading. Deaths are recorded as having occurred 
 from terror caused by their menaces and by ill-treatment. ^ 
 People were wounded and mutilated without the least 
 shadow of provocation, plundered of their property, and 
 subjected to all manner of insolent affronts. The 
 soldiers robbed travellers on the highroads, pillaged 
 houses of everything valuable in them, tortured men to 
 make them reveal where they had hid their money and 
 goods, slaughtered cattle in mere wantonness, and 
 extorted money by threatening to set the houses of 
 their victims on fire. ^ The damage they did in the 
 three districts of Ayr known as Kyle, Cunningham and 
 Carrick, was assessed at ;^ 137,000 Sterling^ — an enor- 
 mous sum in those days, and this was only of course 
 part of their work of depredation. One is amazed at 
 the fact that the population of the western counties did 
 not rise as their oppressors were desirous for them to do. 
 Their patience under such ill-treatment was wonderful. 
 The knot of ruffians who drew lots among themselves 
 for estates that would likely be confiscated for rebellion 
 were doomed to disappointment. " Great joy, " says 
 Burnet, " appeared in their looks upon a false alarm that 
 was brought them of an insurrection ; and they were as 
 much dejected when they knew it was false ". * Some 
 few of the commanders of the Highland Host were 
 ashamed of the conduct of their soldiers and endeavoured 
 to improve matters, but they were out-voted by their 
 colleagues, and, indeed, they could not secure obedience 
 from their men. '^ After four or five weeks the great 
 bulk of the Highland troops were withdrawn. They 
 returned home through Stirling laden with plunder, as 
 though they were coming from the sack of captured 
 
 p. 39in. Grub is not ashamed to say that the Covenanters " were more 
 frightened than seriously ill-treated. " 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, pp. 429, 431. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 422. 
 
 ^ Argyll, Scotland As It Was and Is, p. 226. 
 
 * History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 418. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 423.
 
 2i6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 cities. Some of the common soldiers carried their booty 
 in the form of household utensils and articles of 
 clothing : those of higher rank brought back large 
 quantities of money in bags as their share of the spoil. ^ 
 Five hundred Highlanders remained on until the end of 
 April and then were dismissed. ^ 
 
 1 Wodrow, History vol. II, p. 413 : Kirkton, History, p. 391 : Law, Memo- 
 rialls, p. 137. 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 112 : Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 412.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 " Bonds of law-borrows " — Appeal from Scotch nation to Charles II — 
 Meeting of Convention of Estates — Lauderdale supported by the King — 
 The Popish Plot — Recrudescence of rebellion in Scotland — Assassination 
 of Sharp — Claverhouse employed against insurgents — Demonstration 
 at Rutherglen — Battle of Drumclog — Argyll summoned to support the 
 Government — Monmouth sent down into Scotland — Battle of Bothwell 
 Bridge. 
 
 Another of the means by which the authorities in 
 Scotland endeavoured at this time to compel obedience 
 to the law was by imposition of " bonds of law- 
 borrows ", an old legal process similar to the English 
 provision for binding a person over to keep the peace. 
 According to it the complainer had to swear that he 
 dreaded bodily harm and molestation, and required 
 protection against the person complained of. The 
 employment of this process in the present instance 
 was both ludicrous and oppressive. By it the King was 
 made to declare that he was in dread of his subjects and 
 to appeal to his own Privy Council for protection against 
 them. It also implied that attending a religious service 
 prohibited by the law was a breach of the peace, and, as 
 in the case of the bond already mentioned, so in this, a 
 man was made responsible for the actions of members of 
 his family and for those of servants employed by him. ^ 
 Such an enactment, we need scarcely remind our readers, 
 violated one of the main principles of all laws. Divine 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 400.
 
 2i8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 and human. Many other absurdities were connected 
 with the measure, and so great was the outcry against it 
 that it was soon dropped. The only conceivable reason 
 for its having been introduced was that it was very simple 
 in its operation, and that it was therefore expected that it 
 would be more effective than other legal processes of a 
 more elaborate character. Sir George Mackenzie, who 
 has the discredit of introducing it, attempts a defence of 
 it in his Vindication of the Government of Charles 11. ' No 
 one need be surprised at his failing to see the grotesque 
 character of this perversion of legal methods, for a sense 
 of humour is always denied to the pettifogger. 
 
 It was not to be expected that proceedings like these 
 could pass unchallenged by those who still had a spark of 
 patriotism or a sense of shame within their souls. A 
 strongly worded protest against them was sent up to the 
 King by the Earl of Cassilis, and, immediately afterwards, 
 the Duke of Hamilton with about ten or twelve of the 
 nobility and some fifty " gentlemen of quality " rode up 
 to London to lay before the King their complaints against 
 Lauderdale. Charles had already formed his own opinion 
 regarding the matter, and it was favourable to all that 
 Lauderdale and the Privy Council had ordered to be 
 done. He declared that " as he was a Christian he did 
 not see what else could be done, to prevent open 
 rebellion "^ — a form of adjuration which some may think 
 avoided any risk of forswearing. " For ", as Touchstone 
 says, " if you swear by that that is not, you are not 
 forsworn. " The Scotch Privy Council had forbidden 
 this deputation to leave Scotland, but in vain ; for those 
 concerned regarded access to the Sovereign as an inalien- 
 able right, and considered that the proclamation which 
 forbade it was a serious addition to their grievances. 
 Charles would willingly have compelled the deputation to 
 return to Scotland without hearing their complaints, but 
 he was unable either to silence or to dismiss them. The 
 
 ' Works, vol. I, p. l6l. 
 
 - Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. lOO.
 
 CHARLES AND LAUDERDALE 219 
 
 only result of the deputation was that the Opposition 
 in the House of Commons was stirred up to a second 
 great attack upon Lauderdale for " giving pernicious 
 counsels to the King, dishonourable and destructive to 
 the nation. " ^ This attack was defeated by a single 
 vote. Charles showed his contempt for the proceedings 
 by writing to his faithful servant in affectionate terms. 
 " I am extreamly well satisfied," he said, " with what you 
 
 have done and the manner of it I am so sensible 
 
 of the services you have done me there [in Scotland] 
 that you neede not in the least feare your enemies shall 
 have more creditt with me to your prejudice then [than] 
 they have hitherto had, but that you shall always finde 
 me your true friende ". " With the alertness of a skilled 
 politician Lauderdale took advantage of the absence from 
 Scotland of so many of his rivals and enemies to hold a 
 Convention of Estates, which he succeeded in packing 
 with his own supporters. This servile body voted an 
 assessment for three years to enable the King to maintain 
 a larger military force in Scotland, and wrote a letter to 
 him not only justifying but highly commending the 
 government of Lauderdale. ^ 
 
 A year later the charges against Lauderdale were form- 
 ally debated upon in the King's presence — his bringing 
 in the Highland Host, their living at free quarters, the 
 bond for making land-owners and masters responsible for 
 their tenants and servants, and other of his more than 
 questionable proceedings. The King declared himself in 
 favour of his minister, and wrote to the Privy Council, to 
 the Lords of Session, and to the Lords of Justiciary, to 
 express his satisfaction in all points with the administration 
 of Scotch affairs. * In private conversation he admitted 
 that there had been ground for many of the complaints, 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 134. 
 
 - Ibid, p. 159. 
 
 ^ Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, p. 138 : Burnet, History of My Own- 
 Times, vol. I, p. 421 : Law, Mcviorialls, p. 138. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 168 : Somers, Tracts, vol. VII, p. 200: Law, 
 Memorialls, p. 163.
 
 220 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 but the zeal with which Lauderdale had exalted the royal 
 prerogative covered all faults. " They have objected, " 
 he said, " many damned things that he has done against 
 them, but there was nothing objected that was against my 
 service. " ^ The remark was na'lf, but it expressed a true 
 principle ; for when the interests of Kings are separated 
 from those of their subjects they can only be supported by 
 proceedings of the kind so forcibly described by Charles. 
 William of Orange was lacking in many of the brilhant 
 qualities which Charles II possessed, but the noble words 
 which he uttered on accepting the Crown of Scotland 
 form a very welcome contrast to those which we have 
 just quoted. " We shall never, " he said, " believe that 
 the true interests of the people and the Crown can be 
 opposite, and shall always count that our greatest prerog- 
 ative to enact such laws as may promote truth, peace 
 and wealth in our kingdoms. " ^ 
 
 As we have already mentioned, the Earl of Argyll was 
 closely connected with Lauderdale by private friendship 
 and mutual obligations, and also by family ties. These 
 last had been considerably strengthened during the year 
 1678 by a double marriage between the families. Lauder- 
 dale's step-daughter, Elizabeth Tollemache, married the 
 Earl's eldest son. Lord Lome, on Mar. X2th. of this year, 
 and in the following July, the Earl's daughter, Lady 
 Anne Campbell, married Lauderdale's nephew, who 
 afterwards succeeded to his earldom. ^ The fact of this 
 intimate relationship between the two families explains 
 why Argyll abstained from taking any part in the proceed- 
 ings against Lauderdale. There can be no doubt, 
 however, that his views with regard to the main grievances 
 complained of were largely in accordance with those of 
 the Opposition. This was certainly the reason why Argyll 
 held none of those great offices of state to which by his 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 470. 
 
 * Quoted in Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, p. 186. 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 348 : Letters from the Earl of Argyll, p. 35 : 
 Brodie, Diary, pp. 393, 398. The last named author notes that the old Marchion- 
 ess of Argyll died the day after the marriage of her grandson, Lord Lome.
 
 ARGYLL'S ATTITUDE 221 
 
 rank and consequence he was naturally entitled. There 
 was no disguise with regard to his political opinions and 
 attitude. For years past, as we have pointed out, he was 
 one of the few members of the Privy Council who were 
 willing to give a fair and sympathetic hearing to any 
 reasonable statement of grievances ; while his recent 
 abstention from supplying troops to assist in overawing 
 the Western counties had been understood as indicating 
 his disapproval of that measure. It cannot, therefore, be 
 said that at this crisis of his nation's history he was 
 unfaithful to the cause of liberty, though his personal 
 relations with the representative of Charles II in Scotland 
 precluded his taking a prominent part in resisting him. 
 In the Convention of Estates he had found it his duty to 
 support Lauderdale against the opposition of the Duke 
 of Hamilton, but, as this was on a technical question with 
 regard to methods of transacting business, no infringement 
 of popular rights and liberties was involved in it. ^ 
 The time was rapidly approaching when Argyll would be 
 openly assailed as the champion of Protestantism and of 
 constitutional government, and when that time came he 
 was not found wanting. 
 
 Yet though Lauderdale had triumphed over opponents 
 both in the House of Commons and in Scotland, power 
 soon began to slip from his hands. His mental faculties 
 and especially his memory began to be shaken by 
 advance of age, and bodily ailments enfeebled him ; " so 
 that though the King strove to hearten him by thanks 
 for his past services and assurances of his unalterable 
 favour, the fact that his " worldly task " was almost done 
 could not be concealed from either of them. Yet even 
 if Lauderdale had been in the full possession of his 
 powers he might well have despaired of weathering the 
 new storm which suddenly sprang up from an unexpected 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 157. 
 
 ' Camden Miscellany, vol. XI, contains several references by Burnet to this 
 fact. See pp. 14, 15, 17 & 19. In the last of these he says : '' The Duke of 
 Lauderdale continues ill, some think it a flying gout, others a Dropsy, he Hies 
 out often into such indecent fits of rage that some think his head is affected. "
 
 222 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 quarter. For in the autumn of 1678 the revelations of 
 Titus Oates with regard to the Popish Plot caused a 
 panic in England which resulted in sweeping political 
 changes, and gave the ascendancy to the party which for 
 years had been demanding the dismissal of Lauderdale. 
 Monstrous as were many of the assertions of Oates and 
 his fellow-informers, the fact was undeniable that Charles II 
 had actually plotted with Louis XIV for the ruin of 
 English freedom and of English religion. The Duke 
 of York was forced to retire to the Continent, Danby 
 was committed to the Tower, the Cavalier Parliament 
 which had continued since 1661 was dissolved, and 
 power passed for a time into the hands of Shaftesbury 
 and of the Whig party. These changes weakened 
 Lauderdale's position very considerably, ^ though he still 
 retained office in consequence of the royal favour for 
 him, and also of the fact that the attention of the English 
 Whigs was fully occupied by an attempt to exclude the 
 Duke of York from the Throne. 
 
 The overturn in England revived the fainting spirits 
 of Lauderdale's political opponents in Scotland whom he 
 had hitherto been able to baffle and defeat ; and it also 
 encouraged those who were addicted to field-conventicles 
 to active resistance of the Government which was now, 
 in their opinion, unlikely to get much aid from England 
 in maintaining a repressive policy. " Shaftesbury had 
 already had some correspondence with the discontented 
 party in Scotland, and he had used his influence in favour 
 of Lauderdale's rivals and enemies there ; and though 
 there is no evidence of any direct communication between 
 him and those now likely to take up arms in that 
 country, his open language in Parliament was calculated 
 to encourage them. In a strong and rousing speech in 
 the House of Lords on March 25th he had discoursed 
 on the dangers which threatened Protestantism, and on 
 the misgovernment of Scotland. Popery, he declared, 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 27. 
 
 * Burnet, History 0/ My Own Times, vol. I, p. 470.
 
 OUTBREAK IN SCOTLAND 223 
 
 was intended to precede slavery in England, and slavery 
 had been the forerunner of Popery in Scotland. The 
 next post carried north to Edinburgh forty written 
 copies of this speech, and there can be no doubt that 
 these helped to pave the way for the approaching insur- 
 rection. ^ 
 
 The first serious outbreak was at Lesmahagow in 
 Clydesdale, on Sunday, March 30th, 1679. On this 
 day the commander of the troops stationed at Lanark 
 heard that a conventicle was to be held at the place 
 mentioned. He despatched a party of twenty dragoons 
 under a Lieutenant Dalziel to disperse the meeting. 
 On their proceeding to the place they found themselves 
 confronted by about three hundred foot and some sixty 
 horse, all fairly well armed and prepared for conflict. 
 A sharp encounter took place in which the Lieutenant 
 was mortally wounded and taken prisoner along with 
 seven of his dragoons. When the conventicle was 
 over the prisoners were dismissed, though their arms 
 and horses were retained. The incident revealed the 
 change of mood of some, at any rate, of the Nonconformist 
 party in Scotland, and boded ill for the peace of the 
 realm. ^ 
 
 A month later the fury which misgovernment and 
 oppression had produced in the minds of many found 
 dreadful expression in the assassination of Archbishop 
 Sharp. The Primate had recently excited widespread 
 indignation and disgust on account of the treatment meted 
 out to the James Mitchell who had attempted his assassi- 
 nation ten years before. This man had been executed 
 for the crime in the beginning of 1678, although the only 
 evidence against him was his own admission of guilt made 
 on receiving an assurance from the Privy Council that 
 his life would be spared. The odium which this justly 
 excited rested principally upon Sharp who is said to have 
 
 ' Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 50: Norht, Exainev, p. 86: Christie, Li/i; 
 of Shaftesbury, vol. II, p. 321. 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 162.
 
 224 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 been strenuously opposed to a reprieve. ^ The story of 
 the Archbishop's death is well known. A band of fanatics, 
 who were assembled in arms to waylay a miscreant who 
 had been guilty of great cruelty in suppressing conven- 
 ticles, were informed that the coach, in which Sharp 
 and his daughter were returning from Edinburgh to 
 St. Andrews, was near at hand. They at once resolved 
 to cut him off as one who had betrayed the Church, and 
 dipped his hands in the blood of saints. They overtook 
 his carriage at Magus Muir a couple of miles from 
 St. Andrews, dragged him out of it and, in spite of his 
 own and his daughter's entreaties, slew him with their 
 swords. Nothing relieves the horror of the deed. Had 
 the unfortunate Archbishop manifested any dignity or 
 serenity in the presence of death we might have thought 
 of him as a martyr. But one is humiliated to read of his 
 agony and shrieks, and of his promising money and even 
 offering to resign the episcopal office if only his assailants 
 would permit him to live. " So vile was the deed that 
 one has scarcely patience to reflect that it sprang from a 
 fanaticism which Sharp himself had done much to create 
 and intensify. And so one of the most notable historical 
 personages of that time was thrust off the stage on which 
 he had played so ambiguous a part. We leave to one of 
 his own Church the task of saying what can be said in 
 favour of his private character, and of expressing the 
 blame which attaches to his public actions. " He was, " 
 says Dr. Grub, "temperate and upright in private life, 
 liberal in his charities and exemplary in the performance 
 of his ordinary duties. He made no attempt to concihate 
 the enemies of the hierarchy by kindness or moderation ; 
 and, while he refused to join with some of his brethren 
 in the promotion of the reforms which the Church 
 stood so much in need of, he, almost alone of their 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 416 : Fountainhall, Historical 
 Notices, vol. I, p. 182. 
 
 - Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 44 : Law, Mcmorialls, p. 147 : Burnet, 
 History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 471 : Foxcroft, Supplement to Burnet, 
 p. 103 : Kirkton, History, p. 417.
 
 John Graham op" Claverhousk.
 
 CLAVERHOUSE 225 
 
 number, took a prominent part in the enactment and 
 execution of those cruel laws, by which an arbitrary 
 government attempted to suppress all resistance to estab- 
 lished authority ". ^ 
 
 At this time a new figure becomes prominent in 
 public life in Scotland and recalls in many respects the 
 meteoric splendour of the career of Montrose which 
 will never, we suppose, lose its power to fascinate 
 certain types of mind. John Graham of Claverhouse, 
 like the Marquess, was distinguished by a handsome 
 presence and a graceful manner, while as soldiers both 
 were remarkable for the rapidity and decisiveness with 
 which they executed their military plans. Both fought 
 to support the House of Stewart and both were cut off 
 in the flower of their age ; and over both their reputa- 
 tions battles have been fought and probably will long 
 continue to be fought by partizans of the causes for and 
 against which they strove. Yet striking as are the 
 resemblances between Montrose and Claverhouse, the 
 differences between them are considerable. Montrose 
 was a man of ideas who fought for what seemed to him 
 the cause of liberty and order, first against Charles I and 
 afterwards for him ; while Claverhouse's political princi- 
 ples are summed up in his own declaration : " In any 
 service I have been in, I never enquired further in the 
 laws than the orders of my superior officers. " ^ This 
 plain and candid avowal delivers us from the need of 
 devoting much space to an estimation of the character 
 and proceedings of the speaker. If military operations 
 are to be successful there must be this spirit of subordi- 
 nation to superiors, so that no special heroism is implied 
 in a man's thus recognizing the fact that it is his duty to 
 be a tool in another's hand. That Claverhouse did his 
 bloody work well and with a zest we are quite willing to 
 believe, and we also admit that the terror he inspired 
 prevented to a considerable extent the flames of rebellion 
 
 ' Ecclesiastical History of Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 258. 
 * The Despot's Champion, p. 16.
 
 226 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 from spreading over the country. So far as the military 
 executions he ordered and carried out are concerned, they 
 are not numerous. They were, we suppose, covered by his 
 commissions as a military officer and as Sheriff-depute, and 
 probably were considered by him as merciful in the sense 
 of hindering the need for a greater sacrifice of human 
 life. But we consider that there were deeds perpetrated by 
 him which amply prove that beneath that polished exterior 
 lay a brutal nature and a hard heart. What but these 
 can explain such dreadful actions as blindfolding men, and 
 ordering soldiers to shoot over their heads or to fire blank 
 charges, and then, when their nerves were shattered and 
 they were almost in death-agony, to attempt to extort 
 confessions from them ? Or his using similar means to 
 compel children to give information about their parents 
 who might be under suspicion .'' ^ Actions like these 
 and many other deeds of cruelty have stained his name, 
 and as long as this record against him remains unshaken, 
 all attempts to glorify him will seem to every healthy 
 mind an insolent outrage upon public feeling. 
 
 Claverhouse was now about thirty-three years of age. 
 He had served for some time in the French army and 
 had then entered the service of William of Orange, and 
 taken part in the furious battle of Senef at which the 
 latter was worsted by the Great Conde. When peace 
 was in prospect he returned to his native land. In 1678 
 he was appointed commander of a newly levied troop of 
 horse which, together with a troop of dragoons which 
 had served under Dalziel, was the first nucleus of the 
 regiment afterwards known as the Scots Greys. ^ Soon 
 after receiving this command he was busily engaged in 
 Dumfriesshire and Annandale in endeavouring to suppress 
 conventicles. A few weeks after the assassination of 
 Sharp he proceeded to Glasgow in order to take his part 
 in overawing the Western Whigs who were likely to 
 break out into open rebellion. He had not long to wait 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 256 : The Despot's Champion, pp. 173, 194. 
 ' Ibid, p. 24.
 
 BATTLE OF DRUMCLOG 227 
 
 for this occurrence. May 29th had been imposed on 
 Scotland as a day of thanksgiving in memory of Charles II's 
 restoration. On this day a band of about eighty armed 
 men, headed by a minister, Mr. Thomas Douglas, and a 
 Robert Hamilton, rode into Rutherglen, two miles from 
 Glasgow and extinguished the bonfires which had been 
 lit as a mark of public joy. They then proceeded to 
 burn copies of the Acts of Parliament to which they 
 objected, from the Act Rescissory downward, as a protest 
 against the policy of the Government for the past eighteen 
 years — a protest that would have been made in Glasgow 
 but for the presence there of military forces. ^ 
 
 Two days later Claverhouse sallied out to arrest persons 
 who had been concerned in this bold deed of defiance, 
 and he found himself early on the Sunday morning follow- 
 ing (June 1st) at Strathaven, sixteen miles from Glasgow, 
 in charge of a number of prisoners. He was on his way 
 to the latter city and thought he might make " a little 
 tour " to see if he could light upon a conventicle : " which 
 we did, " he remarks, " litle to our advantedge. " Near 
 the farm of Drumclog he came in sight of the enemy 
 occupying ground amply defended by marshes. The 
 conventicle consisted altogether of men — the women and 
 children having been sent away — and there was every 
 sign that they were prepared for conflict. Claverhouse 
 reckoned them as consisting of four battalions of foot 
 armed with fusils and pitch forks, and three squadrons of 
 horse. How many these amounted to is uncertain. * 
 He himself seems to have been accompanied by about 
 one hundred and fifty horse. Some of the estimates of 
 numbers on the other side certainly include persons who 
 were non-combatants, but the probability is that the 
 eflFective military force opposed to that of Claverhouse 
 was not less than fifty horse and two hundred foot. Both 
 of those who had headed the demonstration at Rutherglen 
 on the previous week were at this conventicle, and along 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 67 : Law, Mcmoiicills, p. 149. 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 164.
 
 228 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 with them were four of the assassins of Archbishop 
 Sharp. Mr. Douglas had begun Divine service, but the 
 tidings that Claverhouse was advancing upon them and 
 had prisoners with him interrupted worship. The Cove- 
 nanters' forces were hastily marshalled and directed by 
 Robert Hamilton and a William Cleland. The latter 
 was a brave and accomplished youth who afterwards rose 
 to fame at the time of the Revolution in consequence of 
 the brilliant victory in which he fell at Dunkeld. Claver- 
 house seems to have sent forward a flag of truce with an 
 offer of pardon if the enemy would lay down their arms 
 and give up their ringleaders. The story goes that they 
 replied that they would lay down their arms to treat, pro- 
 vided that he and his men would do the same. ^ This 
 being out of the question, a battle was inevitable. Both 
 parties threw out skirmishers, and on those of the Cove- 
 nanters being driven back, a battalion of their foot was 
 sent to support them. These were in their turn attacked 
 and forced back by sixty of Claverhouse's dragoons. 
 Upon this the whole Covenanting forces, horse and foot, 
 advanced against the enemy, making their way across the 
 marshy ground. As they descended to the encounter 
 they sang the 76th Psalm — "that noble outburst of 
 triumph which celebrated the overthrow of Sennacherib 
 and his host : — 
 
 " There arrows of the bow He brake. 
 
 The shield, the sword, the war. 
 More glorious Thou than hills of prey. 
 
 More excellent art far. 
 
 Those that were stout of heart were spoiled, 
 
 They slept their sleep outright ; 
 And none of those their hands did find, 
 
 That were the men of might. " "^ 
 
 ' Terry, John Graham of Claverhouse, p. 5411. 
 
 - Ker, The Psalms in History and Biography, p. 104. The tune to which 
 the psahn was sung was the plaintive Martyrs.
 
 CLAVERHOUSE DEFEATED 229 
 
 The largest body of the Covenanting foot bore down 
 upon the troop commanded by Claverhouse himself. 
 When they were within ten paces of them the royal 
 troops fired and several of their opponents fell, but they 
 themselves suffered more severely from the enemies' 
 marksmen, who brought down two of their officers. At 
 the same time Claverhouse's horse was horribly wounded 
 in the belly by a thrust of a pitch-fork. The imminent 
 danger in which their commander was placed created a 
 panic among the soldiers. They were so discouraged, we 
 are told, that they " sustined not the shok, but fell into 
 disorder. " ^ In an instant the enemies' horse charged 
 them, and pursued them so hotly that they got no time to 
 rally. Claverhouse lost about forty men, but succeeded 
 in saving the colours. As he rode away, Mr. King, one 
 of the prisoners who had been rescued, called to him to 
 stay for the afternoon preaching — a piece of grim humour 
 which a modern reader will probably enjoy more than he 
 did. ^ His brave horse was able to carry him a mile off 
 the field and he then met his groom with some led horses 
 and mounted one of them. The loss on the side of the 
 Covenanters was but slight. As Claverhouse and his 
 men passed through Strathaven an attempt was made to 
 cut off their retreat, but they succeeded in foiling it after 
 a fierce skirmish. " What these rogues will doe next I 
 know not, " he wrote that evening from Glasgow to the 
 Commander-in-Chief, the Earl of Linlithgow, " but the 
 country was floking to them from all hands. This may be 
 counted the beginning of the rebellion in my opinion. 
 Some of Claverhouse's admirers have spoken highly of 
 his military ability. His knowledge of the art of war 
 may have been awful in its profundity, but he certainly 
 displayed very little of it during this reign. He was of 
 course an exceedingly useful servant of the Government 
 but it was in the way of capturing preachers, terrifying 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 165 : Memoirs of Captain Creiclitoii, 
 p. 126. 
 * The Despot's Champion, p. 47.
 
 230 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 women and hunting down fugitives. ^ We are informed 
 by Claverhouse's latest biographer that in spite of his 
 being a persecutor, he had " the instincts and training of 
 a gentleman. " ^ If this be true, much of the work in 
 which he was engaged must have been very distasteful to 
 him. Perhaps he found some compensation for his 
 discomfort in the gift of that estate in Wigtonshire, which, 
 the same authority tells us, was " of not inconsiderable 
 value, " and which had been forfeited by one of the class 
 whom he had been engaged in harrying. ^ 
 
 Many of our readers will probably have derived all 
 they know of the Battle of Drumclog from Scott's Old 
 Mortality. We should like to point out that the narrative 
 of it there, though brilliant in the extreme, contains one 
 instance of deliberate falsification of history. Claver- 
 house, as we have said, sent an officer with a flag to 
 demand a parley before the fight began ; but there is no 
 evidence that the envoy was, as stated in the novel, 
 treacherously shot while thus engaged. To attribute as 
 Scott does to Balfour of Burley, a historical personage, 
 such an atrocious crime without any foundation in fact is 
 utterly shameful. Romancers have of course to be 
 allowed certain freedom when they weave together fact 
 and imagination in historical novels, but they are still 
 subject to the code which forbids bearing false witness 
 against one's neighbour. For our own part we frankly 
 confess a strong distaste for this particular novel, though 
 it is one of the most vivid and wonderful of the series in 
 which it appears, not only because of the kind of fault 
 to which we have just alluded, but also because of the 
 use made in it of Holy Writ. To search the Scrip- 
 tures to find passages to be put into the mouths of Cov- 
 enanters and to be used by them in a grotesque manner 
 is closely akin to profanity, and at times the results of 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 6i et passim : Terry, John Graham of 
 Claverliouse, pp. 43, 51, 84, et passim. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 20 in. 
 * Ibid, p. 96 : The Despot's Champion, p. 102.
 
 THE REBELLION SPREADS 231 
 
 the misdirected labour form rather painful reading. ^ 
 Had the insurgents been acting according to any 
 concerted plan, they would have followed up their victory 
 by marching upon Glasgow at once, and the probability 
 is that they would have been able with the aid of those 
 who would have joined them on the road, to force the 
 royal troops to retire from the city. Instead of doing 
 this they returned to Drumclog after pursuing their 
 enemies for a few miles ; and when next day they 
 proceeded to Glasgow, they found the streets barricaded 
 and lined with musketeers and dragoons. After being 
 repulsed with pretty heavy loss, they fell back upon 
 Hamilton. As, however, they were joined by consider- 
 able numbers of recruits, the military authorities were 
 afraid of a second assault on the city, and accordingly, on 
 the instructions of the Earl of Linlithgow, the troops in 
 Glasgow proceeded to Falkirk to join those which had 
 been sent westward from Edinburgh. The Commander- 
 in-Chief was desirous to return to Glasgow with the 
 united forces, some eighteen hundred foot and horse, 
 before the rebels could enter it ; but, as he was informed 
 by scouts that the latter had taken possession of the city 
 and were at least seven thousand in number, he judged it 
 more prudent to proceed to Stirling, where he hoped to be 
 reinforced by troops from the North. ^ 
 
 In the meantime the Privy Council called out the 
 militia in the east and south of Scotland and appointed 
 the places of rendezvous to be Stirling and the Links of 
 Leith respectively. In addition to this the Earl of 
 Argyll and the Earl of Caithness were called upon to 
 assist in suppressing the rebellion, so that virtually from 
 all parts of Scotland aid was summoned against the 
 rebels. The Earl of Argyll was at this time employed 
 in dealing with disorder in the Highlands. Before he 
 
 ' An illustration of this is to be found in the use of the very solemn words 
 of S. Matt. X, 33, in the conversation between Mause Headrigg and her son 
 (chap. VIII). 
 
 * Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 169 : Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 83.
 
 232 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 had fully succeeded in the task we have already described 
 of maintaining his rights in the island of Mull, a fresh 
 commission was given him. In consequence of the 
 Popish Plot it had been decided to disarm all Papists, and 
 instructions had been sent by the Privy Council to 
 Macdonalds and MacLeans who were suspected of Popery 
 to give up their arms and to report themselves in Edin- 
 burgh. It is needless to say that these instructions were 
 disobeyed. Accordingly on April I2th the Earl of 
 Argyll was commissioned to disarm and reduce these 
 recusants and any others who might be under like 
 suspicion.^ As this undertaking was of a very arduous 
 nature, we are not surprised to find the Earl writing six 
 weeks later, asking for the aid of some of the regular 
 forces to enable him to carry it out. The Privy Council 
 replied by declaring that in the meantime, owing to the 
 disorder which had broken out in the Lowlands, they 
 could not spare soldiers for the purpose ; but they 
 instructed the Sheriffs of Dumbarton and Bute to assist 
 him, and on hearing that several persons in Inverness- 
 shire had joined the rebels, they issued a proclamation 
 against them. As a more definite means of supporting 
 him in his enterprise they sent him "twelve hundred- 
 weight of powder and ball proportionable," and ordered 
 the Earl of Caithness and the Sheriffs of Inverness to 
 join him in "repressing those rebel papists," and to take 
 with them forty days' provisions. ^ 
 
 But immediately after these instructions had been issued 
 the battle at Drumclog took place, and the western 
 Lowlands were in a flame, and, as we have said both 
 Argyll and Caithness were recalled to assist in dealing 
 with the more serious rebellion. The letter to Argyll 
 was of a specially peremptory character. He was ordered 
 to disentangle himself as soon as possible from his present 
 engagements, and to repair to the camp of the Earl of 
 Linlithgow, the Commander-in-Chief, with all the forces 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers^ vol. Ill, p. 39. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 61,
 
 ARGYLL SUSPECTED 233 
 
 he could raise. " We doubt not, " said Argyll's " affec- 
 tionate friends ", as the Council subscribed themselves, 
 " of your lordship's readiness, upon all occasions to give 
 commendable proofs of your loyalty and duty to his 
 sacred majesty, and you cannot give a more signal testi- 
 mony thereof, and of your zeal for the peace and happiness 
 of this kingdom, than by a seasonable assistance against 
 these rebels, and so we cannot but expect a cheerful and 
 ready compliance from your lordship with so just and 
 necessary a desire. " ^ 
 
 It is quite possible, as has been suggested, that this 
 letter betrays some suspicion as to Argyll's intentions at 
 this time. ^ For though the insurgents belonged princi- 
 pally to the extreme Presbyterian party who had refused 
 to accept the Acts of Indulgence and were virtually 
 outlaws, yet they had the sympathy of many of the more 
 moderate party who had come to terms with the Govern- 
 ment and who had for years looked to Argyll as their 
 friend and advocate in the Privy Council. The Earl's 
 abstention in the previous year from having anything to 
 do with the quartering of Highland troops in the western 
 counties might easily be interpreted as prompted by 
 sympathy with the disaffection, which had now culminated 
 in rebellion. Confirmation of the above suggestion seems 
 to be given by the fact that a number of the Privy 
 Council were in favour of cancelling the commission 
 lately given to Argyll to secure the Highlands. A 
 petition was received from the Macdonalds and Mac- 
 Leans who were now in arms, asking to be allowed to 
 assist in " avenging the king of his enemies ", and 
 requesting that Argyll might in the meantime be com- 
 manded to desist from attacking them. A number of 
 the Privy Council were in favour of granting the petition, 
 and of employing against the western insurgents those 
 whom they had branded a few weeks before as " rebel 
 Papists ", and whose continuance in arms was open 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 84. 
 » D. N. B., vol. VIII, p. 334.
 
 234 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 treason ; but the violation of law which would have been 
 involved in so doing was too serious to be incurred. ^ 
 The mere fact, however, that so much favour was shown 
 by members of the Privy Council to those who were 
 Argyll's bitterest enemies and with whom he was now in 
 open conflict, implied that he himself was in a very dang- 
 erous position, and would be openly assailed on the 
 first convenient opportunity. In the meantime the 
 rebellion in the west country was suppressed before 
 Argyll could take any steps in carrying out the instruct- 
 ions of the Privy Council. 
 
 Though Shaftesbury's faction cannot be proved to have 
 directly prompted the present outbreak in Scotland, their 
 position was strengthened by it. Shaftesbury was now 
 President of the Council which Sir WiUiam Temple 
 had devised as a moderating party between the King's 
 ministers and the Parliament, and without whose consent 
 Charles had promised to do nothing. The latter at once 
 realized the serious condition of matters in Scotland but 
 his hands were tied. The English Whigs were not 
 willing to allow the Scotch Covenanters to be suppressed 
 by English troops, in view of the fact that the contest in 
 Scotland was very similar to that which they themselves 
 were waging in England, and that now, as in the reign of 
 Charles I, rebellion in the northern part of the island 
 might aid the cause of freedom in the southern. Shaftes- 
 bury would willingly have solved the present difficulty 
 by displacing Lauderdale, and by giving the control of 
 matters in Scotland into the hands of some of that 
 statesman's rivals conjointly with the Duke of Monmouth. 
 Others favoured a similar scheme with the omission of 
 Monmouth who was at this time a tool of Shaftesbury. 
 Charles II and his Privy Council in Edinburgh simply 
 wished sufficient troops to be sent north to stamp out the 
 rebellion and to maintain the status quo. ^ Shaftesbury 
 raised the question whether the treaties between Scotland 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 88. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 88 : Trevelyan, England under the Stuarts, p. 407.
 
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 MONMOUTH SENT TO SCOTLAND 235 
 
 and England would not be infringed by sending an 
 English army into Scotland, while the City of London in 
 which his influence was very strong, directly petitioned 
 the King against any such expedition. It had been 
 designed that Lord Grey should command the cavalry 
 which might be sent, but he declined to serve, and several 
 other Whig nobles imitated his example. ^ Ultimately 
 matters were compromised by Monmouth's being appoint- 
 ed to the command of a large body of English troops, and 
 receiving instructions to treat the insurgents with as 
 much leniency as was practicable in the circumstances. 
 In a very short time three regiments of foot, three of 
 horse, eight hundred dragoons and three troops of grena- 
 diers, together with cannon andiammunition sufficient, were 
 on their way to the scene of insurrection. Monmouth, 
 who was Commander-in-Chief of the forces in England, 
 was entrusted with a like office in Scotland. As the 
 Scotch Privy Council had no great love for the policy 
 of leniency they did what they could to mend matters by 
 securing the appointment of Dalziel as his Lieutenant- 
 general, though, as matters turned out, his commission 
 was not handed to him until after the Battle of Bothwell 
 Bridge, in which he took no part. ^ 
 
 In the meantime the Covenanting army near Hamilton 
 was but very poorly prepared to resist the royal troops. 
 Abundance of men flocked to it but there were neither 
 arms, ammunition, nor provisions for them, nor were 
 there officers to drill and command them. Few of the 
 recruits had ever been in a camp before, or had any idea 
 of submitting to discipline or of obeying orders. Some 
 who joined one day left the next at their own caprice, or 
 because they disapproved of the opinions of their leaders. 
 But not only were " the oppressed Protestants now in 
 arms " destitute of adequate military equipment, they 
 were also unprovided with an intelligible cause for which 
 
 ' Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 51. 
 
 - Terrv, JoliJi Graham of CUwerhoiise, p. 7911 : Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, 
 p. 87.
 
 236 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 to fight ; for the moment they attempted to draw up a 
 Declaration of grounds and motives of their proceedings 
 incurable divisions sprang up among them. The stalwart 
 champions of Presbyterianism, who had protested at 
 Rutherglen and scattered Claverhouse's dragoons at 
 Drumclog, had nothing in common with those who had 
 accepted Acts of Indulgence. Indeed the Indulged were 
 almost as much under the ban as were the " curates ", 
 and the Robert Hamilton who had been so prominent in 
 the beginning of the insurrection spoke of his willingness 
 to turn his sword against them both. ^ A powerful 
 statement of the grievances of the nation was drawn up 
 by some of the moderate party, and in it we find an 
 anticipation of the reasons which justified the Revolution 
 of 1688, but it was rejected by the Council of War, no 
 doubt because it made no mention of the Covenants. ^ 
 For the extreme section of the insurgents still clung to 
 these documents which at the Restoration had been 
 pronounced by some to be then antiquated, and which 
 were now nearly twenty years more out of date. The 
 debates and discussions between the two factions lasted 
 down to the very moment of battle, and utterly incapaci- 
 tated them for offering any effective resistance to the 
 royal army. 
 
 The Duke of Monmouth left London on June 15th 
 and arrived in Edinburgh on the i8th, where he was at 
 once admitted as a member of the Privy Council. Three 
 days later he was within easy reach of the enemy who 
 numbered about six thousand men. The forces at his 
 command were about ten thousand. The Earl of Linlith- 
 gow was in charge of the infantry and Claverhouse was 
 one of the cavalry officers. The insurgents lay at 
 Hamilton, the foot soldiers occupying the town, and the 
 horse the " new park " adjoining it, and they were 
 nominally under the command of the Robert Hamilton 
 already referred to. A petition was drawn up asking the 
 
 ' Terry, John Graham of Claverhouse, p. 104. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 96.
 
 BATTLE OF BOTH WELL BRIDGE 237 
 
 Duke to hear a statement of the grievances which had 
 led so many to take up arms and of the requests which 
 they wished to offer. In an interview with him a deput- 
 ation of the rebels demanded the free exercise of religion, 
 liberty to attend religious services conducted by their 
 own Presbyterian ministers, the calling of a General 
 Assembly and a free Parliament to settle matters in 
 Church and State, and indemnity for all those now in 
 arms. The Duke heard them patiently and pledged him- 
 self upon his honour to use his influence with the King 
 to obtain their desires which, he said, he considered 
 reasonable and just ; but he declared that he would do 
 nothing whatever unless they immediately laid down their 
 arms. He gave them half an hour in which to consult 
 with their friends and reply to him, and in the meantime 
 he ordered his army to advance towards the bridge across 
 the Clyde at Bothwell which was held by the insurgents. ^ 
 Had an indemnity been promised, it is probable that the 
 gracious reception given to the petition would have 
 averted a battle ; but those present in the rebel army who 
 had taken part in the assassination of Sharp, and those 
 who had been compromised by what had happened during 
 the past three weeks, had incurred the penalties due to 
 murder and treason. For them to lay down their arms 
 was to exchange the possibility of death upon the battle- 
 field for the certainty of death upon the gallows. 
 
 The narrow bridge across the Clyde was gallantly held 
 against the royal troops for nearly three hours by two or 
 three hundred of the insurgents. The latter, however, 
 ran short of ammunition and on applying for an additional 
 supply to their General, Hamilton, they were ordered 
 to leave the bridge and fall back upon the main body of 
 the army. On their doing so the whole of the royal 
 troops crossed the bridge and formed up in regular order 
 without molestation. The frantic folly of ordering the 
 defenders of the bridge to abandon it instead of strongly 
 supporting them soon became evident. The cannon 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. io6.
 
 238 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 were turned upon the rebel horse and threw them into 
 confusion, upon which they fled from the field, leaving 
 the foot at the mercy of the enemy who instantly charged 
 them with great fury. About four hundred of them 
 were killed and twelve hundred taken prisoners, while 
 the loss on the other side was very trifling. ^ One of 
 those present at the battle remarked that Hamilton left it 
 doubtful whether he had acted " most like a traitor, a 
 coward or a fool " ^ ; but as he was one of the first to 
 gallop off the field the suitability of the second of these 
 epithets, at any rate, as a designation for him can scarcely 
 be denied. 
 
 Monmouth put a stop as soon as he could to the 
 slaughter his men were making, and saved the prisoners 
 whom some proposed to kill upon the spot. He was 
 afterwards told by Charles II that he should not have 
 troubled himself with prisoners, but replied that he 
 was not a butcher to kill men in cold blood. ^ An Act 
 of Indemnity was subsequently published, but it was 
 clogged with so many conditions * that it was of but 
 little use, and left the hapless peasantry of the western 
 counties a prey to the tyrannical authorities and their 
 vindictive soldiery. The horrible treatment meted out 
 to the prisoners and the death of two hundred of them 
 on the coast of Orkney on their way out to the planta- 
 tions are well known facts of history. ^ There are 
 perhaps some who can withhold compassion on reading 
 or hearing of these things by reminding themselves that 
 the sufferers were rebels and not martyrs. All we can 
 say about persons of such well regulated feelings is that 
 we do not think them capable of much reverence or 
 commiseration even for martyrs, especially as it is certain 
 that in almost every case it can be shown that the 
 
 1 McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, ttc. p. 480: Lauderdale Papers, vol. III., 
 p. 171 : Law, Meniorialls, p. 151. 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 107. 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 473. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 118 : Law, Memorialls, p. 151. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 124 : Biog. Pres. vol. I, p. 46 (1827).
 
 REBELS MAY BE MARTYRS 239 
 
 persons to whom the Church gives that honourable title 
 were technically rebels, as disobeying the commands of 
 some form of civil government. One would like to 
 know what they themselves would have done in the 
 days before the Caesars had entered Christianity on the 
 list of licensed religions, if they had been requested by a 
 heathen magistrate to burn incense to a false god. If 
 they announce that they would have refused to do so, 
 they commit themselves to the position that rebellion 
 may be justifiable ; if they admit that they would have 
 obeyed the request, we need not concern ourselves any 
 further with their opinions.
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 The 3rd Act of Indulgence — Duke of York sent to Scotland — He declines 
 to take the Oath of Allegiance — He courts popularity in Scotland — 
 The Sanquhar Declaration — Execution of Cargill — Lauderdale resigns 
 office— Duke of York visits Argyll at Stirling — Meeting of Scotch 
 Parliament — Arg^'U's position threatened — The Test Act — Argyll and 
 Dalrymple dismissed from the Court of Session — Argyll takes the Oath 
 with an explanation — Imprisoned — Accused of Treason. 
 
 Largely through the influence of Monmouth and of 
 the faction to which he belonged, something was done 
 towards remedying ecclesiastical grievances in Scotland 
 by wresting from the Government of Charles II a third 
 measure of Indulgence. This appeared within a week of 
 the Battle of Bothwell-Bridge (June 29th, 1679). The 
 proclamation, in which it was embodied, laid great stress 
 upon the need of the utmost severity in suppressing 
 field-conventicles, and menaced all ministers who officiated 
 at such with death and their hearers with fines and 
 imprisonment, and it ordered the strictest search to be 
 made for the assassins of Sharp and for those who had 
 given them any aid in escaping from justice. But it 
 proceeded to grant liberty under certain conditions for 
 the holding of conventicles in houses. These gatherings 
 were to be permitted in any part of Scotland south of the 
 Tay " excepting the town of Edinburgh and two miles 
 round about the same, with the lordships of Musselburgh 
 and Dalkeith, the cities of St. Andrews and Glasgow and 
 Stirling, and a mile about each of them. " The reason
 
 THIRD INDULGENCE 241 
 
 for these exceptions was given in terms of exasperation : 
 " being fully resolved not to suffer the seat of our 
 government, nor our universities to be pestered with any 
 irregularities whatsoever. " We presume that the district 
 north of the Tay is excepted on the ground of permission 
 not being requested by any in that quarter. A certain 
 portion of the fines already incurred for attendance at 
 such meetings in houses was remitted. None of those 
 who had taken part in this rebellion were to be allowed 
 the benefit of this Indulgence, nor any who should from 
 this time forward be admitted to the sacred office by 
 " unconform ministers, " and due surety for the peaceable 
 behaviour of those accepting these terms was required. ^ 
 The Privy Council in Edinburgh were inclined to mur- 
 mur at such a proclamation as an encouragement to 
 rebellion, and they did what they could in administering 
 its provisions to render it ineffectual. So that beyond 
 the mere show of clemency, the measure in question 
 ultimately proved of but little use. " 
 
 Had this measure been honestly meant for the remedy 
 of grievances it might have been a blessing to the country; 
 but as it had been virtually wrung from reluctant hands 
 when Shaftesbury and Monmouth were in the ascendant, 
 so it lost its force when their influence declined. After 
 his victory in Scotland Monmouth was at the head of the 
 armies of both Kingdoms, and was popular in both, while 
 his rival, the Duke of York, whose exclusion from the 
 throne was demanded by so many, was an exile in 
 Brussels. At this juncture Charles fell seriously ill and 
 his death was hourly expected. The risk of civil war 
 was brought home to every man in the country. " The 
 Tories were scattered, without a leader, and without a 
 cause ; the Whigs were armed, led, united ; the great 
 majority of Englishmen sat still in dull terror of what 
 the next hour would bring." ^ The King recovered and 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 149. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 152 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 474. 
 
 ' Trevelyan, England under the Stuarts, p. 407.
 
 242 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the immediate danger passed but vigorous measures were 
 taken to prevent its recurrence. James had returned to 
 England in disguise with his brother's consent. Mon- 
 mouth was deprived of his commands and ordered to 
 retire to Holland, while Shaftesbury was dismissed from 
 the Council. In order to present some show of impar- 
 tiality in dealing with the rivals, the Duke of York was 
 also required to leave England, but his exile was merely 
 nominal, for he was despatched to Scotland, very much 
 as a deputy of Lauderdale, who on account of age and 
 physical infirmity, could not be expected to retain power 
 for long. Monmouth's fate as a claimant to the Crown 
 was now virtually settled ; for, unpopular as James was, 
 the mass of the nation were indisposed to see him wrong- 
 ed and to allow the son of Lucy Walters to reign in his 
 stead, when the choice between them was thus presented 
 in a way which seemed likely to demand an immediate 
 answer. 
 
 In the November of 1679 the Duke of York came 
 down to Scotland, and at once assumed that attitude of 
 superiority to statute-law which was such a marked 
 characteristic of his career. By an Act of Parliament 
 passed in this very reign it had been decreed that no one 
 should be permitted to act as a Privy Councillor without 
 taking the Oath of Allegiance, which contained a declara- 
 tion against Popery. James announced that he did not 
 regard himself as bound by this Act, and that he intended 
 to take his seat in the Privy Council. Upon this five of 
 that body including Argyll and Sir George Mackenzie, 
 the Lord Advocate, took the strong course of addressing 
 Lauderdale on the subject. They pointed out that this 
 Act was a solemn contract for the security of the kingdom, 
 that by it the Sovereign bound himself only to employ 
 those in whom his subjects had confidence, and that in 
 their opinion no letter of dispensation could be granted 
 by him in the case of this statute any more than in the 
 case of others. With extraordinary plainness of language 
 they drew attention to the damaging effect upon the
 
 JAMES AND LAUDERDALE 243 
 
 Duke's prospects which the violation of law proposed by 
 him might have. If he had not kept the laws before 
 succeeding to the throne, how could he be the guardian 
 of them afterwards ? " It shall be considered, " they 
 said, " whether the passing by the Act may not breed 
 jealousies and fears in his Majestie's subjects to the 
 prejudice of his Royall Highness, who would never think 
 themselfs secure by any Limitation to be put upon the 
 successor whilst they saw that none could bind the 
 subject."^ This remonstrance was sent to Lauderdale to 
 be laid before Charles II in order to safeguard the Privy 
 Council if the matter should ever be challenged in time 
 to come. 
 
 Both the Sovereign and his Secretary of State were 
 fully convinced that the remonstrance was well founded, 
 and that James could not escape the obligation imposed 
 by the Act of Parliament except by breaking through it. 
 Lauderdale wrote : " The Oath is certainly much lesse 
 than the Oath of Allegiance here [in England], which I 
 think your Highness took in the House of Peers and 
 therefor I hope you will not scruple it ; but if you shall 
 not think fit to take it, I dare not presume to advise 
 your sitting in Councell, which would give too great 
 advantage to your Enemies. " - But James was quite 
 firm in his refusal. Whatever oath had been taken by 
 him as a peer, he had taken none on becoming a Privy 
 Councillor in England, though such was imposed upon 
 others, and he would take none in Scotland. One is 
 amazed to find that in spite of such a formal protest, 
 drawn up by the Lord Advocate and approved of both 
 by the Secretary of State and by the Sovereign, he got 
 his own way. After stating his own case he sent a draft 
 of a letter of the kind he wished the King to sign, 
 authorizing him to break the law, and he requested 
 Lauderdale to despatch, it or one " as effectual " as it, to 
 him with all speed. The Duke found his brother and 
 
 ' Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 179. 
 » Ibid, p. 183.
 
 244 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the Secretary of State as compliant as he wished, and 
 shortly afterwards he acknowledged the receipt of the 
 desired letter with great complacency : " I received, " he 
 says to Lauderdale, " yours of the 30 [Dec] : and by it 
 found the dificultys [which] had been raised here by 
 some were ordred to my satisfaction and this afternone I 
 took my place in Councell ". ^ Yet for the present he 
 avoided all unnecessary exasperation of public opinion, 
 and his manners were regarded as suave and gracious by 
 those who had been so long trodden upon by Lauderdale 
 and had been put to silence by his passionate invectives 
 and truculent blasphemy. "" The object of James at this 
 time was to dissipate, if possible, the unfavourable im- 
 pressions of his character and policy cherished by so 
 many, and to secure his succession to the Crown of 
 Scotland. Hence he affected moderation and impartiality, 
 and took an interest in matters of trade and in 
 schemes for promoting the material prosperity of the 
 nation. That we are not unjust in ascribing this mode 
 of procedure to deliberate policy is sufficiently proved by 
 his own statements. Thus in a letter written at this 
 time to a confidential friend he says : " I live here as 
 cautiously as I can, and am very careful to give offence 
 to none, and to have no partiality and preach to them 
 laying aside all private animosities, and serving the King 
 his own way. " '' 
 
 He was accompanied by his bright and amiable wife, 
 Mary of Modena, and by his daughter, the Princess 
 Anne. The easy and affable manners of the princesses, 
 together with his endeavours to make himself popular 
 among all classes of society enlivened the capital, which 
 for nearly half a century had been a stranger to the 
 brilliance and charm associated with the presence of 
 royalty, at any rate in times of peace. The Duke played 
 
 1 Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 186. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 510 : Camden Miscellany, 
 vol. XI, p. 77. 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 51 in.
 
 JAMES'S POPULARITY 245 
 
 at tennis and took part in the national game of golf on 
 the Links at Leith with some of the nobility and gentry, 
 as his father had done forty years before. It is interesting 
 to notice in passing that, among the novelties which the 
 royal ladies are recorded as having brought with them, 
 tea is specially mentioned. The only thing which marred 
 the harmony of the visit was the ceremony of burning 
 the Pope in effigy on Christmas Day. This was carried 
 through by the University students, in spite of the 
 attempts of the magistrates to prevent it. ^ After a stay 
 of little more than three months the Duke of York left 
 Scotland, and retired again to Brussels. In an address 
 from the Privy Council to Charles II the visit of his 
 brother to Edinburgh is spoken of in very glowing 
 terms. " This too short time, " they said, " has been 
 the most peaceable and seren part of our life, and the 
 happiest dayes wee ever saw, except your Majestie's 
 miraculous restitution. " The enthusiastic Privy Coun- 
 cillors vow to maintain Charles and his lawful successors 
 in that right which they "derive only from God Almighty."^ 
 Little value need, we suppose, be attached to a document 
 of such a highly conventional type. Otherwise we should 
 have been surprised to find Argyll's name among the 
 signatures at the close of it. All that in his case is 
 implied in his adherence to it is that he was prepared to 
 support the interest of James and the existing order of 
 things. 
 
 It would be a mistake to imagine from the mention of 
 Acts of Indemnity and Indulgence that the condition 
 of matters in Scotland was now peaceful, and that the 
 guilt of rebellion had been graciously condoned by the 
 Government. These Acts were, as we have said, clogged 
 with conditions which enabled the authorities to evade 
 them, and to deprive those whom they might have bene- 
 
 ' Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, p. 141 : Burton, History 0/ Scotland, 
 vol. VII, p. 239 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 18 : Brodie, Diary, 
 
 P-449- 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. Ill, p. 193.
 
 246 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 fited of all advantage from them. All persons who had 
 been involved in the Bothwell Bridge insurrection and had 
 property were heavily fined, and new tests were applied 
 to bring those suspected of disaffection within the meshes 
 of the law. Such persons were asked, for example, to 
 declare their opinions concerning the recent rising and 
 concerning the death of Archbishop Sharp, as to whether 
 the one were rebellion and the other a murder. A reply 
 in the negative or a refusal to reply was used as evidence 
 to convict them of treason. The merciless soldiers, who 
 took upon themselves to interpret as well as to execute 
 the laws, made use of any suspicious circumstances in the 
 lives of their victims during the past twenty years as a 
 pretext for oppression and pillage. ^ 
 
 The authorities were now largely successful in the 
 task, which had occupied them so long, of suppressing 
 field-conventicles. The last to hold these gatherings 
 were Richard Cameron and Donald Cargill and their 
 followers, who carried their opposition to the Government 
 to the length of open defiance and rebellion. In a 
 Declaration published at Sanquhar (June 22nd, 1680), 
 Cameron and his followers disowned Charles II as having 
 any right to the throne, because of his " perjury and 
 breach of Covenant both to God and His Kirk, " declared 
 war with him as a tyrant and usurper, and protested 
 against the Duke of York's succeeding to the Crown on 
 the ground of his being "a professed Papist." A month 
 later Cameron was killed in a skirmish at Airds Moss 
 in Ayrshire. " His associate, Cargill, in September of the 
 same year, at a meeting in Torwood, in Stirlingshire, 
 pronounced a sentence of excommunication upon the 
 King, the Duke of York, the Dukes of Monmouth, 
 Lauderdale and Rothes, General Dalziel and the Lord 
 Advocate Mackenzie. ^ This action, taken by him on 
 his own responsibility and without consultation with any, 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 224. 
 
 - Ibid, pp. 212, 220 : Law, Memorialh, p. 155. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 161, Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 225.
 
 DEATH OF CARGILL 247 
 
 certainly savours of arrogance and fanaticism and is quite 
 indefensible, though, in the condemnation of the tyranny 
 of the House of Stewart and in the repudiation of him 
 who was afterwards James II, it simply anticipated what 
 was done by both England and Scotland at the Revolution. 
 Cargill managed to elude capture until the following July 
 when he was taken and executed. ^ Open treason such 
 as both he and Cameron were guilty of could not, of 
 course, be tolerated by any Government. Those who 
 engaged in it staked their lives in the quarrel and made 
 no complaint, and had no ground for complaint, when 
 required to pay the forfeit. None the less, it is always a 
 disquieting circumstance when a prisoner is beyond doubt 
 morally and spiritually of a higher character than his 
 judges. It seems to suggest that there must be some 
 circumstances which mitigate his guilt, and which tend 
 to nullify their apparent superiority to him. So was it 
 with Cargill. The piety, serenity and gentleness which 
 had adorned his life, in spite of his doctrinal narrowness 
 and of the error to which fanaticism had urged him, were 
 conspicuous in his last hours. The Earl of Argyll ever 
 afterwards regretted the share he had had in his trial and 
 condemnation, and it was no doubt one of the things in 
 his mind when, in the statement published by him on 
 landing at Campbeltown in 1685, he upbraided himself 
 for his compliance with oppressive acts of the late 
 Government. Certainly the fact of such compliance, 
 whether defensible or not, bore very heavily against him 
 when he called on followers of Cameron and Cargill to 
 aid him in his attempt to overturn the throne of James II. ^ 
 In October of 1680 Lauderdale resigned the office of 
 Secretary of State for Scotland which he had held for so 
 many years in spite of opposition from various quarters, 
 and was succeeded by the Earl of Moray.^ The principle 
 which had guided him throughout his tenure of office is 
 
 ' Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 283 : Law, Mcniorialls, p. 198. 
 ' A Cloud of Witnesses, p. 3. (1871) : Biog. Pres., vol. I, p. 76. 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 240.
 
 248 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 revealed in a sentence of one of his letters to the King 
 already quoted, " All your commands are to me above 
 all human laws, " ^ and the persistence with which he 
 adhered to this principle retained for him the support of 
 Charles against all opponents. By the Acts of Indulgence 
 which he had passed, together with the free use of milit- 
 ary force to terrorize the country and to break down 
 open opposition to the Government, he had succeeded to 
 a large extent in isolating the extreme section of the 
 Presbyterian party and in depriving them of the power 
 of effective resistance. The country, therefore, when he 
 resigned his office was fairly peaceful, or, we should 
 rather say, was quiescent because of exhaustion after long 
 years of struggle. His political opponents had been 
 discredited and humiliated when the grievances, which 
 had led them to impeach him, had been discussed in the 
 royal presence, and the decision had been given in his 
 favour. Those who had been dissatisfied with the 
 management of public affairs had been marked men, and 
 many of them had been ruined by the arts of spies and 
 informers, or by the open violence of soldiers who had 
 been quartered upon them or who had been sent to harry 
 them. Others were in prison or exile. Now that those 
 who might have organized and led a party to maintain 
 the cause of freedom were out of the way, it was felt by 
 the King and by the Duke of York that Parliament 
 might be allowed to meet again after eight years of 
 suspension. At the close of the year 1680 James 
 accompanied by his wife, Mary of Modena, went down 
 to Scotland, and in the following July he presided as 
 Royal Commissioner at the meeting of Parliament. ^ 
 
 The one man in the country of whom he stood in some 
 measure of suspicion and fear was the Earl of Argyll. 
 
 ^ Lauderdale Papers, vol. II, p. 141. 
 
 * Mackay, Li/i; of ist Viscount Stair, p. 142. Shortly after James arrived 
 in Edinburgh he visited the Castle. By the advice of " an English canoneer " 
 the large gun called " Mons Meg " was used to fire uii feu de joie, and was 
 burst in so doing. The Englishman was regarded by many as having 
 wished to destroy a gun which was larger than any in his own country 
 (Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 5.)
 
 JAMES AND ARGYLL 249 
 
 His ability and commanding position, his sympathy with 
 the moderate Presbyterian party and strong attachment 
 to the cause of Protestantism, marked him out as a leader. 
 " The Duke of York, " says Burnet, " seeing how great 
 a man the Earl of Argyll was in Scotland concluded it 
 was necessary for him either to gain or to ruin him. " ^ 
 In February 1681 the Duke paid a visit to the Earl at 
 his house in Stirling. The royal guest was entertained 
 with great kindness, and even with magnificence, in the 
 residence now known as " Argyll's Lodgings " and used 
 as a military hospital. A striking conversation between 
 James and Argyll is worth relating in the original words 
 in which it is recorded. " The Duke " we are told, 
 " was pleased to thank the Earl for his civility and 
 kindness, and to ask the Earl wherein he was able to 
 show the sense he had of the favour he had done him. 
 The Earl humbly thanked His Highness for his goodness 
 and said his favour was more than a recompense. The 
 Duke said : ' My Lord, if you will do one thing you 
 may be the greatest man in Scotland. ' The Earl begged 
 to know what that was. The Duke said it was a thing in 
 doing which he would singularly oblige him. The Earl 
 again humbly desired to know what that was. The Duke 
 replied that all he desired of him was that he would 
 exchange the worst of religions for the best. " " We are 
 told that the Earl gave him a very cutting answer, and 
 that henceforth the Duke's coldness of manner towards 
 him marked the depth of the resentment, which the rejec- 
 tion of his proposal had occasioned. It is not, perhaps, 
 worth while to enquire minutely as to what the Duke of 
 York meant by " the worst of religions, " so as to ascer- 
 tain which of the two forms of Protestantism in Scotland, 
 the Episcopal or the Presbyterian, had the honour of 
 being visited with his contempt. The Earl and his family 
 seem to have attended the services of "indulged ministers " 
 both in Argyllshire and elsewhere. As these in most 
 
 ^ History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 512. 
 ^ Argyll Papers, p. 17.
 
 250 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 instances sat light to Episcopal authority it is quite possible 
 that James implied that he was virtually a Presbyterian 
 though outwardly conforming to the State Church. It 
 was singularly characteristic of him to ask Argyll to make 
 this great change from Protestantism to Roman Cathol- 
 icism as a personal favour to himself. Had he had any 
 measure of tact, not to speak of generous sympathy, he 
 would never have made so crass and absurd an appeal. 
 It was strange that a man who would afterwards forfeit 
 three kingdoms for the sake of religion should not have 
 been able to credit others with a conscientious attachment 
 to another form of Christianity than his own. 
 
 The Scotch Parliament met at Edinburgh on July 
 28th, 168 1, and the ceremony of "riding" from Holy- 
 rood House to the place of meeting was observed with 
 great parade and splendour. Argyll was prominent in 
 the procession, as he carried the royal crown up that 
 street along which four years later, after his unsuccessful 
 rebellion, he was led ignominiously by the hangman. The 
 two main designs in view in connexion with this meeting 
 of Parliament were to sanction and continue the repressive 
 policy in Scotland, and to secure the succession of the 
 Duke of York to the throne. The first Act passed in it 
 ratified all former laws which had been drawn up for the 
 security of the Protestant religion. A natural corollary 
 to this was a ratification of the Acts passed against 
 Popery, but this was omitted by the Committee of the 
 Articles out of consideration for the Duke's feehngs. 
 The Earl of Argyll, however, proposed that a clause to 
 this effect should be added to the Act and by so doing 
 openly entered the arena against the Royal Commissioner. 
 He was supported by the famous advocate Sir George 
 Lockhart and by Sir James Dalrymple, President of 
 the Court of Session, and, though the Lord Advocate 
 and some of the Bishops affirmed that that addition was 
 unnecessary, it was made without a vote being taken. ^ 
 
 • Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 291 : Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, 
 p. 143 : Acts of Pari, of Scot., vol. VIII, pp. 243, 244 : Law, Memorialls, p. 202.
 
 ARGYLL IN DANGER 251 
 
 Very speedily the Earl himself was directly threatened 
 by two measures being brought before the Lords of the 
 Articles affecting his property and position. The Duke 
 gave him private warning to take care of himself, for the 
 Earl of Errol and others were about to make a claim 
 upon the Argyll estates on account of debts in which they 
 had been cautioners for his father, the Marquess, and he 
 said that as they were zealous in His Majesty's service, 
 their interests must be attended to. The Earl replied 
 with spirit that he hoped that he would not be found 
 inferior to Errol or to anyone else in zeal for the King's 
 service, and that the claims in question were baseless. 
 The matter was brought up, and on investigation Argyll 
 was found to be in the right. He had received only a 
 portion of his father's property, and among the debts to 
 be paid by him, which had all been expressly mentioned, 
 this had not appeared. The Marquess of Huntly had 
 owed his brother-in-law, the Marquess of Argyll, ;^3 5,000 
 Sterling, and his son had got out of Argyll's forfeited 
 estate property yielding ;^4Coo Sterling a year without 
 any burden of debt. So that as the present Marquess of 
 Huntly had got the only property on which the alleged 
 debts, if valid, could rest, application should have been 
 made to him for payment. The demand in question, 
 which seems to have been purely vexatious, was thereupon 
 dropped. The other indication of hostility to Argyll 
 was a statement by the Lord Advocate, Mackenzie, that 
 he had received instructions to deprive the Earl of his 
 hereditary offices of Sheriff and of Justice-General of 
 Argyllshire, the Isles and other places. As, however, 
 these offices were of centuries' standing, and had been 
 expressly confirmed by Parliament in 1633 when the 8th 
 Earl resigned the hereditary office of Justiciary of Scot- 
 land, and had been renewed to the present Earl in 1672, 
 this attempt to deprive him of his rights collapsed. 
 Upon this it was alleged by some that the estate of the 
 Marquess of Argyll had upon his forfeiture been annexed 
 to the Crown, and that therefore the grant even of a
 
 252 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 portion of it to his son was invalid. But on examination 
 of the Act of forfeiture it was found to be expressly 
 stipulated that the estates in question were to be left 
 absolutely at His Majesty's disposal. The Earl remarked 
 with bitter scorn that annexing the property to the Crown 
 was the last thing those who had been active against his 
 father would have desired, as the secret of their activity 
 had been the expectation of dividing the spoil among 
 themselves. The party hostile to the Earl was strong 
 enough to carry a proposal in the Committee of the 
 Articles that a committee should be appointed with 
 Parliamentary powers to meet in the intervals of Parlia- 
 ment and to decide all controversies regarding any of the 
 Earl's rights. As these rights had been conferred by 
 royal charters and warrants this infamous proposal threat- 
 ened to infringe upon the royal prerogative as well as 
 to supersede the ordinary judicial tribunals. When it 
 was brought forward in Parliament it was promptly 
 suppressed. The Royal Commissioner expressed his 
 regret at having supported it, and excused himself on the 
 ground of want of experience in public affairs. The 
 whole proceedings were of an ominous character and 
 displayed a strong desire on the part of Argyll's enemies 
 to ruin him even before his action with regard to the 
 Test Oath gave them an opportunity of passing a death 
 sentence upon him. ^ 
 
 After an Act had been passed asserting the right of 
 succession to the Crown of Scotland and affirming that 
 no difference of religion and that no law made by 
 Parliament could deprive the nearest and lawful heir of 
 his right, a measure was passed " for securing the peace 
 of the country " by increased severity in dealing with 
 field-conventicles and with persons obnoxious to the 
 authorities. " Thereafter the notorious Test Act was 
 introduced. This last measure was intended to exclude 
 
 1 Case of the Earl of Argylc, p. 4 : Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. I, 
 p. 312 : Law, Memorialls, p. 207. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 293.
 
 THE TEST ACT 253 
 
 those from all civil and ecclesiastical offices who would 
 not be subservient to the royal will. It was very hastily 
 prepared and was probably the most complex and self- 
 contradictory oath which was ever drawn up and pre- 
 sented for subscription. Nor is this surprising when we 
 consider that it was hurried through the Committee of 
 the Articles and through Parliament on the same day, 
 and that it was an amalgam of two totally distinct and 
 inconsistent designs. The court party were anxious to 
 exclude from office all who would not swear never to 
 attempt to alter matters in Church or State or to resist 
 the royal will, while their opponents felt that, after 
 consenting to the succession of a Roman Catholic heir, 
 additional security should be given for the maintenance 
 of the Protestant religion and that the latter should be 
 defined. ^ Sir James Dalrymple proposed and succeeded 
 in carrying a resolution that Protestantism should be 
 defined as " the religion contained in the Confession of 
 Faith recorded in the first Parliament of James VI, 
 which is founded on and agreeable to the written word 
 of God. " ' His object in so doing was either to lead to 
 the Act imposing a test being dropped or to render it 
 harmless ; but the Duke of York was so eager to have a 
 test that he allowed this addition to be made to the oath. 
 But the condemnation of Popery contained in that 
 Confession of Faith mortified him intensely, and his 
 anger against Dalrymple was very hot. So hastily was 
 the business done, and so often had the draught of the 
 oath in the clerk's hands been changed and interlined, 
 that few were quite sure what it contained, and the 
 result was that an oath was drawn up which no honest 
 Presbyterian, Episcopalian or Roman Catholic could 
 subscribe. Argyll and Stair and others refused to vote 
 in the matter. ^ 
 
 According to the statute now passed and known as the 
 
 ^ Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 515. 
 * Case of the Earl ofArgyle, p. 2. 
 ' Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 299.
 
 254 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Test Act all persons holding any civil or ecclesiastical 
 office were ordained to swear : " that they sincerely pro- 
 fessed the true Protestant religion, contained in the 
 Confession of Faith, ratified by the first Parliament of 
 King James VI ; and that they would adhere thereto, 
 educate their children therein, and never consent to any 
 alteration in the same. They were also to affirm and swear 
 that the King's Majesty was the only supreme governor 
 of the realm, over all persons and in all cases, eccles- 
 iastical and civil ; that it was unlawful for subjects, on 
 any pretence whatever, to enter into covenants or leagues 
 or to assemble in council or convention to treat of any 
 matter affecting the Church and State, without his per- 
 mission ; that it was unlawful to take up arms against 
 him ; that there lay no obligation upon them from the 
 National Covenant, or Solemn League and Covenant, or 
 in any other way, to endeavour any change in the govern- 
 ment of Church and State, as then established by law ; 
 and that they would never decline His Majesty's power 
 and jurisdiction. " ^ As the Confession of Faith referred 
 to in the oath was one of those theological documents 
 whose fate it is to be oftener quoted than read, very 
 few in the Parliament were acquainted with the terms in 
 which it was expressed. Even the Bishops seem to have 
 been ignorant of what it was which they were assisting 
 to impose upon the nation. Their dismay when they 
 discovered it was proportionally great. The document 
 in question contained elaborate and minute statements of 
 doctrine. These were not always consistent with each 
 other or with the general consensus in such matters of 
 the Reformed Churches ; and the persons who took the 
 oath pledged themselves never to attempt to frame 
 another and better expression of their creed. Much in 
 it was contradictory of the passive obedience prescribed in 
 the second part of the oath; for the Confession of 1567 
 spoke of ' repression of tyranny ' as a sacred duty and 
 
 > Wodrovv, History, vol III, p. 296 : Grub, Ecclesiastical History of 
 Scotland, vol. Ill, p. 264 : Law, Memorialls, p. 203.
 
 ARGYLL'S PROCEDURE 255 
 
 ordered rulers ' not to pass over the bounds of their 
 office. ' ^ The language, too, in which it affirmed that 
 Jesus Christ was the only Head and Lawgiver of His 
 Church, and that it was blasphemous for any man to 
 intrude into that office, was quite irreconcilable with the 
 assertion in the oath of the King's supremacy in the 
 Church. Those who thought that Episcopacy was of 
 Divine appointment were confronted by the fact that the 
 oath claimed for the King absolute power over the Church, 
 and did not bind him to maintain that particular form of 
 ecclesiastical government. The inconsistencies involved 
 in the oath have been clearly stated by Sir John Dalrymple. 
 " It inferred, " he says, " an obligation upon those who 
 took it, to conform to any religion the King pleased, and 
 yet to adhere to the Presbyterian religion ; to oppose 
 prelacy and yet to maintain the present constitution of 
 the church, which was prelacy ; and to renounce and yet 
 affirm the doctrine of non-resistance. " " 
 
 The Earl of Argyll took a prominent part in the debate 
 upon this measure. He laid down the highly reasonable 
 principle that " as few oaths should be required, as could 
 be, and these as short and clear as possible. " For twenty 
 years past the purpose which the Test Act sought to gain 
 had been effected by the ordinary oath of Allegiance. 
 All that he thought was necessary was to add a few words 
 to the latter which might hinder Papists from swallowing 
 it, as in some instances they had done. But the great 
 contribution which he made to the debate, and that, which 
 so far as he was concerned, " fired the kiln " — to use the 
 Bishop of Edinburgh's words about it at the time, ^ — was 
 on the question as to whether members of the Royal 
 House might hold office without taking the oath. It was 
 proposed that the King's brothers and sons might be so 
 excepted. But not even in that servile assembly could 
 
 * Art, XIV. The document is reprinted in The Case of the Earl of Argyle, 
 p. 16. 
 
 * Memoirs, vol. I, p. 66. 
 
 ' The Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 7.
 
 256 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 such a proposal pass unchallenged. Lord Belhaven boldly 
 declared that to grant this would be to deprive the measure 
 of its value, as " the chief use of the test was to bind a 
 popish successor. " For these bold words he was instantly 
 sent prisoner to the Castle by the Parliament and 
 threatened by the Lord Advocate with impeachment. ^ 
 But neither this commitment nor these threats intimidated 
 Argyll. With equal firmness, though in more moderate 
 language, he opposed the exception of these members of 
 the royal house from obligation to take the oath. He 
 said that it was a matter of happiness ' that King and 
 people were of one religion and that they were so by 
 law ; that he hoped the Parliament would do nothing to 
 loose what was fast, nor open a gap for the Royal Family, 
 to differ in religion ; that their example was of great 
 consequence, that one of them was as a thousand, and 
 would draw the more followers ; if once it appeared to the 
 people, that it was honourable and a privilege to be of 
 another religion. ' If any exception were to be allowed 
 he said that he thought it should only be in the case of 
 the Duke of York. The latter at once repudiated the 
 suggestion, and, as there was at that time no other person 
 specially afFected by the proposed exemption, the matter 
 was allowed to drop. " Argyll, however, boldly declared 
 his conviction that this part of the Act would do more 
 harm than could be made good by the earlier part and by 
 many other Acts of Parliament. In spite of his arguments 
 the measure was carried through, and orders were given 
 that all who held any office in Church or State must take 
 the oath before the ist of January, 1682, heavy penalties 
 being threatened in the case of any engaging in the 
 employments of their office without taking it. ^ 
 
 Immediately on the adjournment of Parliament, the 
 schemes hostile to the Earl were revived in a new form. 
 It was proposed to apply to the King for the appointment 
 
 ' Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 66. 
 - The Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 3. 
 ^ Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 296.
 
 ARGYLL AT BAY 257 
 
 of a Commission to review his rights, deprive him of his 
 heritable offices, and impose upon his property the 
 debts which had been alleged against it. Argyll at once 
 had an interview with the Royal Commissioner and 
 protested against such high-handed procedure. The 
 Duke explained that a mere Commission of enquiry could 
 do no harm. The Earl replied that such a Commission 
 would be appointed for a special purpose, and that those 
 employed in it would almost certainly include some of 
 his enemies, and he demanded the protection of the 
 ordinary Courts of Judicature to which he was quite 
 willing that claims against him should be submitted. He 
 said that the heritable offices referred to had been granted 
 to his ancestors because of their fidelity to the Crown, 
 and that so far from their having been a source of profit, 
 they had imposed obligations in the way of maintaining 
 the public peace and of repressing theft and robbery. 
 He declared that he was willing to submit the matter to 
 the King, and if, after he had been heard in defence of 
 his rights, His Majesty were to request the surrender 
 of these offices, he would be willing to make it. " His 
 rights (as he had said in Parliament) were unquestionable 
 and oftentimes confirmed ; yet he was willing to surrender 
 them all on his knee to His Majestic, but was not willing 
 to have them torn from him with ane affront by any 
 other. " The Duke of York merely replied that the 
 Earl would have an opportunity of objecting to individual 
 Commissioners, should such be nominated, and that in 
 the meantime nothing would be done until, according to 
 his own suggestion, he had produced the royal warrants 
 and charters on which his rights were based. The Earl 
 then proceeded to Argyllshire to get these documents. 
 After leaving Edinburgh he wrote to the Earl of Moray, 
 Secretary of State, asking liberty to wait upon His 
 Majesty. This was at first granted, but shortly after- 
 wards, in consequence no doubt of some report concerning 
 him from the Duke of York, it was withdrawn, ^and he 
 was informed that the King refused to see him unless he
 
 258 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 took the Test. He found, however, that he had given 
 serious offence by making the appHcation through the 
 Secretary of State instead of the Royal Commissioner, and 
 that it was doubtful whether he would be admitted to an 
 interview even if he took the Test. ^ 
 
 When in Glasgow on his way back to Edinburgh from 
 the West, the Earl heard that he had been dismissed 
 from the Court of Session, of which he had been an 
 Extraordinary Lord since 1674.^ A new commission 
 for the Lords of Session had been issued and both the 
 President, Sir James Dalrymple and he had been omitted 
 from it. ^ As he was under the impression that he had 
 two full months in which to decide what course to adopt 
 with regard to the Test, he was inclined to take no 
 immediate action, but he found that he was not to be left 
 at peace. A special meeting of the Privy Council was 
 called, and he received information that he was to be 
 summoned to it in order to take the oath. He at once 
 waited on the Duke of York and had an interview with 
 him at Holyrood after supper in his bed-chamber. The 
 Earl said that he had returned according to his promise, 
 and had brought with him the writs and charters which 
 confirmed his rights, and he enquired if it were the case 
 that in the meantime he had been dismissed from the 
 Court of Session. The Duke replied that this was so, 
 and on being asked what was likely to happen next, he 
 said he did not know. The insult was one which the 
 Earl's proud spirit would not allow him to accept 
 without protest. He remarked that he had never sought 
 either that or any other office from the Crown, and that 
 the post in question was quite at His Majesty's disposal 
 and might soon be filled by a better man than himself. 
 " But ", he went on to say, " if it be to express a frown, 
 it is the first I have had from His Majesty these thirty 
 
 1 Case of the Earl of Argyll, p. 6. 
 
 * For saine information regarding this office see The Great Marquess, p. 27. 
 ^ Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 50 : Ibid, Historical Notices, vol. I. 
 P- 333 : Case of the Earl of A r gyle, p. 6 : Brodie, Diary, p. 463.
 
 ARGYLL'S REMONSTRANCES 259 
 
 years. I know I have enemies, but they shall never 
 make me alter my dutie and resolution to serve His 
 Majesty. I have served His Majesty in armes, and in 
 his judicatures, when I knew I had enemies on my right 
 and on my left, and I will doe so still. But if any have 
 power to render His Majesty or Your Highness jealous 
 of me, it will make my service the more useless to both 
 and the less comfortable to myselfe. " The Duke's 
 only reply was that he knew no more about the matter 
 than what he had said. As the hour was late the Earl 
 said that he would wait upon His Highness at some 
 other time in connexion with the documents which he 
 had brought to Edinburgh to confirm his rights. He 
 asked, however, to be informed if it were true that he 
 was to receive a summons to attend a meeting of the 
 Council next day to take the Oath. The Duke repHed 
 that this was the case, and utterly refused to allow him 
 the benefit of the time specified in the Act. The only 
 concession made to him was that he might wait until 
 Thursday, November 3rd, the day on which the next 
 ordinary meeting of the Council would be held. The 
 Earl remarked that he had the less reason to be fond of 
 the Test since he found that some who refused it were 
 still in favour, while others who had taken it had been 
 turned out of office. ^ At this the Duke only laughed. 
 He lost his temper, however, a moment afterwards when 
 the Earl enquired why he was so eager in pressing the 
 Test, which contained some things which he could not 
 like over much. To this he angrily replied : " Most 
 true : that Test was brought into the Parliament without 
 the Confession of Faith. But the late President caused 
 the Confession to be put in, which makes it such as no 
 honest man can take. " Argyll remarked coldly that 
 that being the case there was the more reason for his 
 acting advisedly in the matter. ^ 
 
 1 Many of the Episcopal clergy objected to the Test. The Clerk-Register 
 who had taken the Test had been dismissed from the Court of Session along 
 with Argyll and Dalrymple. 
 
 ^ Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 6.
 
 26o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 The Earl had spoken of persons who had as yet refused 
 the Oath and still were in favour, and the reference was 
 to the Episcopal clergy among whom the new statute 
 had excited great alarm. They were committed by it 
 to the acceptance of an elaborate Confession of Faith 
 which had been drawn up more than a century before in 
 Presbyterian times, while in addition they were asked to 
 accept statements which apparently denied that the 
 Church had any intrinsic spiritual power, and which 
 seemed to make Episcopal government a matter depend- 
 ent upon the royal will. The Bishop of Edinburgh who 
 had already taken the Test published explanations of it to 
 reassure his brethren, while the Bishop and Synod of 
 Aberdeen, the Bishop of Dunkeld and the Clergy of 
 Perth also drew up statements of the sense in which they 
 had taken it, and endeavoured to safeguard themselves 
 on several other points. ^ From other quarters also came 
 expressions of widespread dissatisfaction with the Test on 
 the part of persons whose loyalty to the Government 
 was above all dispute. So keen, indeed, was the feeling 
 aroused in connexion with this matter that ultimately 
 about eighty of the clergy resigned their livings rather 
 than take the Oath. ' 
 
 The Earl having been led to understand that a brief 
 explanation would be allowed on his part when he took 
 the Oath prepared something of this kind and took it 
 with him in writing to the Council meeting ; but he 
 resolved not to make use of it unless he was informed 
 that the Duke would approve of his action. The Bishop of 
 Edinburgh, who had already warned Argyll " to have a 
 care of a noble family, " had spoken to His Highness and 
 told him what the Earl proposed to do. As Argyll 
 crossed the ante-room to enter the Council Chamber he 
 received word from the Bishop that his explanation would 
 be very kindly accepted. " ^ On receiving this intimation 
 
 1 Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 26. 
 
 - Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 519. 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 7.
 
 ARGYLL TAKES THE OATH 261 
 
 he entered the Council Chamber, and before kneeling down 
 to take the Oath made the following statement: " I have 
 considered the Test, and I am very desirous to give 
 obedience as far as I can. I'm confident the Parliament 
 never intended to impose contradictory Oaths. Therefore 
 I think no man can explain it but for himself. Accord- 
 ingly, I take it, as far as it is consistent with itself and 
 the Protestant religion. And I do declare that I mean 
 not to bind up myself in my station, and in a lawful way 
 to wish and endeavour any alteration I think to the 
 advantage of Church or State, not repugnant to the 
 Protestant Religion and my Loyalty. And this I under- 
 stand as a part of my Oath. " ^ " Whereupon, " we are 
 told, " the Oath was administered and the Earl took it ; 
 and His Highness with a well-satisfied Countenance, and 
 the honour of a smile, commanded him to take his place; 
 And while he sat by His Highness (which was his honour 
 to do that day) His Highness spoke several times private- 
 ly to him and always very pleasantly. " ^ 
 
 The Earl was fully convinced that the Duke was at 
 this time perfectly satisfied with what he had done, 
 though some of his enemies in the Council were irritated 
 and mortified at the result of matters. He was careful 
 not to publish the explanation that he had made before 
 taking the oath, and indeed refused to give a copy of it 
 to a friend who asked him for it. But as it was short 
 and easily remembered it was soon current throughout 
 the city. Probably it leaked out through one of the 
 clerks of the Privy Council. The next day Argyll 
 waited on the Duke, and to his surprise was received 
 with disfavour. He began a private conversation with 
 His Highness, but the latter interrupted him and told 
 him that he was not pleased with the explanation of the 
 previous day. The Earl replied that it had not been 
 given until the Bishop of Edinburgh had informed him 
 on the part of His Highness that it would be accepted. 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Arg}>le, p. 50. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 314 : Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 8.
 
 262 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 As he was about to say more in vindication of himself 
 the Duke interrupted him, saying : " Well, it is past 
 with you, but it shall pass so with no other ", ' — words 
 which surely might be taken to indicate that so far as 
 Argyll was concerned the matter was at an end. 
 
 According to a senseless piece of pedantry Argyll was 
 required to take the Oath again as a Commissioner of 
 the Treasury, his former acceptance of it having been in 
 his capacity of Privy Councillor. On this second occasion 
 there is no doubt that there was a preconcerted plot to 
 assail him. At a full meeting of the Council at which 
 the Duke presided the Oath was tendered to him and he 
 took it, merely adding the words, " As before. " Upon 
 this the Earl of Roxburgh, who had never been known 
 to speak in the Council before, rose up and clamorously 
 asked what had been said. The Duke thereupon turned 
 round and repeated the words. Roxburgh then demanded 
 that Argyll should substitute for them the explanation of 
 the day before. At first he declined to do so, but on 
 receiving a peremptory order from the Duke to repeat 
 his explanation, on the ground that some had not heard 
 him distinctly on the previous day, he took out of his 
 pocket a written copy of the words and read it. Upon 
 this he was removed from the room until the Council 
 had considered the matter. On being called in he was 
 ordered to sign the paper which he had read and which 
 now was in the hands of the Council. To this he 
 replied that if, as on the previous day, they had been 
 pleased with the explanation he would have had no 
 objection to do so ; but as they were displeased with it 
 he would not sign it. His meaning of course was that 
 he would not supply them with evidence which might 
 possibly be used against him. On being again removed 
 and called in he was told that he had not given the 
 satisfaction required by the Act of Parliament and could 
 not sit in the Council, and the hint was dropped that his 
 action had entailed results which would be serious for 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 8.
 
 ARGYLL IMPRISONED 263 
 
 him. To this he replied that the Act in question was 
 merely meant to exclude those who refused the Test 
 from offices of trust. He was, therefore, in no danger 
 of suffering more than such exclusion. He added : " I 
 have served His Majesty faithfully within doors and I 
 am resolved to doe so without doors. " With that he 
 bowed and retired. ^ 
 
 The next day he waited upon the Duke and protested 
 against the way in which he had been treated, and asked 
 what harm was in the words he had used. To this the 
 Duke replied that the explanation had been unnecessary, 
 as the scruples that prompted it had been quite ground- 
 less, for the Oath did not " bind up " those who took it 
 in the way spoken of. In the close of the conversation 
 his malice and resentment could not be concealed. " The 
 Earl and others, " he said, " had designed to bring 
 trouble upon an handfull of poor Catholicks, that would 
 live peaceably however they were used, but it should 
 light upon others. " On parting he told the Earl that 
 he was not to leave town till he saw him again, and 
 received his promise to obey the injunction. Greatly to the 
 Earl's mortification the clerk of the Council came to him 
 on the same evening, it being Saturday, with an intimation 
 from the Council to the effect that he must not leave 
 town before their meeting on the following Tuesday. 
 On the Monday morning he waited on the Duke again, 
 and asked what the message from the Council meant. 
 The Duke said that he knew nothing of it, but that the 
 Council when they met would explain matters. On 
 Tuesday, November 8th, 168 i, their meeting took place 
 and an order was sent to Argyll by one of the clerks to 
 surrender himself to the Deputy-Governor of Edinburgh 
 Castle by twelve o'clock of the following morning, and 
 at the same time a warrant was sent to the latter 
 ordering him to retain the Earl as a prisoner. ^ The 
 words " in sure firmance, " i. e. in strict confinement, 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Ars^ylc, p. lo : Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 317. 
 ^ Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. I, p. 336 : Brodie, Diary, p. 464.
 
 264 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 usual in documents of this kind, were struck out. The 
 Lord Advocate, Mackenzie, was instructed to prosecute 
 him for treason or other crimes involved in the written 
 explanation concerning the Test which he had handed 
 to the Council. The Earl obeyed the order with due 
 submission, and departed alone in a hackney coach to 
 give himself up. Some of his relations and " persons of 
 quality " wished to accompany him, but he declined to 
 allow them. " Had he been pursued, " he said, " at the 
 instance of any other, he would accept of their civility, 
 but seeing he was pursued at the instance of His 
 Majestie's Advocate he would go in the most humble 
 way that he could think on, and have nobody concerned 
 but himself. " ^ 
 
 The same day on which Argyll was ordered to give 
 himself up as a prisoner, the Council wrote to the King 
 concerning the matter. They said that they had been 
 unanimously of the opinion that the paper given in by 
 the Earl " had in it gross and scandalous Reflections 
 upon that excellent Act of Parliament, making it to 
 contain things contradictory and inconsistent, and thereby 
 depraving your Majestie's Laws, misrepresenting your 
 Parliament, and teaching your Subjects to evacuate and 
 disappoint all Laws and Securities that can be enacted for 
 the preservation of the Government. " " They also 
 reported what they had done in the matter. The King 
 replied expressing full approval of all their proceedings, 
 and authorizing them to do everything necessary in 
 carrying out the prosecution ; but he ordered that, at the 
 conclusion of the process and before sentence had been 
 pronounced, notice should be sent him of the verdict 
 arrived at in order that he might signify to them his 
 further pleasure in the matter. ^ 
 
 A few days after the Earl had entered the Castle he 
 wrote to the Duke of York saying that he had obeyed 
 
 • Case of the Earl oj Argyle, p. 11. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 51. 
 ' Ibid, p. 52.
 
 ACCUSED OF TREASON 265 
 
 his orders and those of the Council in giving himself into 
 custody, but that he had hitherto abstained from writing, 
 in order that he might not be thought too impatient under 
 the punishment inflicted upon him — the effects of a high 
 displeasure which he hoped he in no wise deserved. He 
 said that he was resolved to continue in all duty and 
 obedience to His Majesty and to His Royal Highness, 
 and to come short of no profession of loyalty to them 
 which he had ever made, and he begged to know what 
 satisfaction was expected from him and how he might 
 regain the favour which he had apparently forfeited. 
 The only reply was an interim summons charging him 
 with " leasing-making and depraving of laws. " After 
 an answer to the Council's letter had been received from 
 the King, a second summons, adding to these crimes 
 those of treason and perjury, was delivered to him with 
 the sound of a trumpet. ^ At the same time it was given 
 out to the public and intimated to the Earl that no more 
 was intended than to humble him and to deprive him of 
 the heritable offices held by him. Of course if he were 
 found guilty of the offences with which he was charged, 
 the penalty would be death and the forfeiture of honours 
 and possessions. On some one's remarking to the Duke 
 of York that it was hard measure to threaten a man's 
 life and fortune by such a process on the grounds on 
 which this had been instituted, he exclaimed : " Life 
 and fortune ? God forbid, " " Yet as a matter of fact 
 the full sentence of death and forfeiture was not only 
 pronounced upon him, but was that under which he 
 suffered. 
 
 According to the law of the time advocates who 
 undertook the defence of prisoners charged with treason 
 and kindred crimes could only do so at their own risk. 
 They were themselves liable to prosecution, if in their 
 zeal on behalf of their clients they uttered language 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argylc, p. ii : Fountainhall Historical Notices, vol. I, 
 
 P- 339- 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 12.
 
 266 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 which the Government might resent. The result was 
 that it was sometimes difficult to get advocates to defend 
 such cases. In order that prisoners might not be 
 deprived of help in what might be a time of deadly peril 
 they had the right of petitioning the Privy Council to 
 appoint an advocate, and a person thus " allowed and 
 warranted " was protected in the discharge of his duty. 
 The Earl wished Sir George Lockhart, probably the 
 most distinguished lawyer who had up to this time 
 appeared at the Scotch bar, and who was his ordinary 
 agent in Court, to undertake his defence. ^ Lockhart 
 was willing enough to do so but knew that his taking up 
 this case might ruin his professional prospects. The 
 Duke of York had said of him : " If he pleads for 
 Argyll he shall never plead for my brother or me. " 
 Accordingly he formally refused, and the Earl addressed 
 a petition to the Privy Council requesting them to order 
 Lockhart to take up his case and to grant him the 
 protection usual on such occasions. The Privy Council, 
 however, declined to do more than to give a general 
 permission to advocates to appear for him. A second 
 petition of the same nature was equally fruitless. There- 
 upon the Earl by formal instrument required Lockhart 
 to take up his case and thus secured for his advocate 
 some measure of justification in the matter. 
 
 Sir John Dalrymple, Lauder, and other prominent 
 counsel were also retained for the defence. A document 
 which they signed exposed them afterwards to the anger 
 of the Privy Council — a fact which proves that the risk 
 involved in assisting a prisoner accused of treason was 
 by no means imaginary. In this document they declared 
 their opinion that the Earl's explanation could not bear 
 the construction put upon it by the Lord Advocate, and 
 that in view of the fact that it had been accepted by the 
 Privy Council, and that many other persons had been 
 
 '■ Sir George Lockhart was afterwards appointed President of the Court of 
 Session. In 1689 he was assassinated in the High Street of Edinburgh by 
 John Chiesley of Dairy, a disappointed Htigant.
 
 THE AUTHORITIES IRRITATED 267 
 
 permitted to aver objections to the oath, the proceedings 
 taken against him were " altogether strained and unwar- 
 rantable ". ^ The document in question was simply an 
 expression of " the opinion of Counsel ", which is often 
 sought in civil cases, though perhaps but seldom in 
 criminal, and was probably meant to mark out the line of 
 defence in the case. Whether accidentally or maliciously 
 divulged it seems to have irritated the authorities ; but, 
 though proceedings were threatened against the signa- 
 tories, no action was taken. There can be no doubt that 
 the procedure of the Privy Council indicated something 
 like petty spite and an inclination to intimidate the 
 Counsel whom the accused might employ. One of 
 those who signed the above document was James Stewart, 
 son of Sir James Stewart, Provost of Edinburgh. He 
 was an advocate who had already fallen under the 
 displeasure of the Government for the part he had taken 
 in drawing up a statement of the grievances of Scotland 
 under Lauderdale's administration. His conduct had 
 recently been condoned, but as he had not taken the 
 Oath he was unable to plead in court. He secretly 
 drew up a statement of the Earl's case and sent it up to 
 London for the consideration of the Government. His 
 apprehension was thereupon ordered, but he succeeded in 
 escaping into Holland, where he afterwards drew up the 
 Declaration which Argyll and his associates issued on their 
 invasion of Scotland. After the Revolution he was 
 appointed Lord Advocate. ^ 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argylc, pp. 57, 60: Law, Memorialls, p. 209: Foun- 
 Lainhall, Historical Notices, vol. I, p. 342 : Wodrovv, History, vol. Ill, p. 321. 
 ^ Wodrovv, History, vol. IV, p. 23211.
 
 CHAPTER XIV, 
 
 Trial of the Earl of Argyll — His condemnation — Escape from Edinburgh 
 Castle — Popular indignation at the Trial and Sentence— Argyll's journey 
 south by Torwoodlee and Newcastle. 
 
 On Monday, December i2th, 1681, the Earl appeared 
 before the Court of Justiciary. He came down in a coach 
 accompanied by the Governor of the Castle, ^ and for the 
 second time in his hfe was tried on a capital charge. His 
 present judges were the Justice-General, the Earl of 
 Queensberry, and Lords Nairn, CoUington, Forret, 
 Newton and Kirkhouse. Considering the importance of 
 the case the proceedings were not lengthy. They began 
 at 10 o'clock in the morning and continued till 9 o'clock 
 at night, and were concluded by a short sederunt on the 
 afternoon of the following day. Immediately after the 
 indictment had been read the Earl made a powerful and 
 affecting speech in defence of himself. ^ In it he referred 
 to his life-long loyalty to the King, and to the services he 
 had rendered to him since he had entered public life as a 
 Colonel in his footguards. " I have, " he said, " from 
 my youth made it my business to serve His Majesty 
 faithfully and have constantly to [the best of] my power, 
 appeared in his service, especially in all times of difficulty, 
 and have never joined nor complied with any interest or 
 party contrary to His Majesty's authority, and have all 
 
 ^ Law, Mcmorialls, p. 109. 
 
 * Case of the Earl ofArgyle, p. 60.
 
 ARGYLL DEFENDS HIMSELF 269 
 
 along served him in his own way, without a frown from 
 His Majesty these thirty years. " He dwelt at some 
 length upon the steadfastness with which he had suppor- 
 ted the royal cause in the time of the Commonwealth, 
 and the aid which he had given to the Earls of Glencairn 
 and Middleton in the Highland rising after the Battle of 
 Worcester. He spoke with gratitude of His Majesty's 
 goodness to him in 1662 as a mark of confidence which 
 had been amply justified by the subsequent tenor of his 
 life. " His Majesty, " he said, "was not only pleased to 
 pardon my life, and to restore me to a title and fortune 
 but to put me in trust in his service in the most eminent 
 judicatories in this kingdom, and to heap favours upon 
 me far beyond whatever I did or can deserve, though I 
 hope His Majesty hath always found me faithful and 
 thankful, and ready to bestow all 1 have, or can have, for 
 his service; and I hope never hath had or shall have ground 
 to repent any favour he hath done me. And if I were 
 now really guilty of the crimes libelled, I should think 
 myself a great villain." After recounting the various acts 
 in his public life which illustrated his zeal for His Majesty's 
 service, from the suppression of the Pentland rising down 
 to his recent support of " the lineal legal succession of 
 the crown ", he dealt with the matter on which his accu- 
 sation was based. The words at which offence had been 
 taken had been spoken, he said, in absolute innocence 
 and without the least design, except for clearing his 
 own conscience, and were not " capable of the ill sense 
 wrested from them by the libel. " He also pointed out 
 that scruples had been started, as all knew, by Bishops 
 and Synods, and that a treatise had been read over in the 
 Council by a Bishop, which contained all the expressions 
 on which he had been charged, and many others which 
 might be still more easily made to yield an evil sense. 
 In conclusion he said : " I leave my defences to these 
 gentlemen that plead for me, they know my innocence, 
 and how groundless that libel is. I shall only say, as my 
 life hath most of it been spent in serving and suffering
 
 270 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 for His Majesty, so, whatever be the event of this process, 
 I resolve, while I breathe to be loyal and faithful to His 
 Majesty. And whether I live publicly or in obscurity, 
 my head, my heart, nor my hand shall never be wanting 
 where I can be useful to His Majesty's service, and while 
 1 live, and when 1 die, I shall pray, that God Almighty 
 would bless His Majesty with a long, happy and prosper- 
 ous reign ; and that the lineal legal successors of the 
 crown may continue monarchs of all His Majesty's 
 dominions, and be defenders of the true primitive, 
 Christian, apostolic, catholic, protestant religion, while 
 sun and moon endure. God save the King. " ^ He then 
 gave into the Court four letters to testify to his unstained 
 loyalty. The first of these was a letter wholly written 
 in Charles II's own hand and signed by him. This was 
 dated from Cologne, December 30th, 1654, and acknow- 
 ledged the " affection and zeal " shown to his service. " 
 Two letters were from Middleton, written a few months 
 later in which the then Commander-in-Chief of the royal 
 forces in Scotland declared most effusively his high 
 appreciation of Argyll's conduct all through the struggle 
 with the forces of the Commonwealth. To these was 
 added a similar document written by Glencairn in quite 
 as cordial terms to testify to his " eminence and worth ". ^ 
 Thereafter speeches for the defence and for the prosecu- 
 tion were made by the advocates engaged in the case. 
 
 In order to understand the course of the trial we need 
 to keep in mind that the process consisted of two distinct 
 parts. The first was a discussion before the judges above 
 named with regard to what is called in Scots law " the 
 relevancy of the libel, " i. e. on the point of law whether 
 actions of the kind alleged against the prisoner involved 
 the guilt of " leasing-making ". The decision on this 
 matter given by the judges was called their "interlocutor," 
 and virtually decided the case. The second and more 
 
 * Case of the Earl of Argylc, p. 60 : Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 321, 
 ' For a fuller report of this letter see pp. 6i, 76. 
 ^ Case of the Earl of Argyle, p. 65.
 
 LOCKHART'S SPEECH 271 
 
 formal part of the process was a trial by jury to deal with 
 the mere matter of fact as to whether the prisoner had 
 committed the actions alleged. Sir George Lockhart. in 
 an able and lucid speech which lasted for three hours 
 denied that a man's clearing his own conscience had any 
 connexion with those words and actions " tending to 
 beget discord between the King and his subjects and to 
 the reproach and dislike of his government, " which the 
 law condemned with such severity. Argyll's conduct he 
 declared had been the exact opposite of these " subdolous, 
 pernicious and fraudulent proceedings. " " When he 
 was called, " he said, " and required by the Lords of His 
 Majesty's Privy Council to take the Oath he used no 
 reproachful speeches of the said Act of Parliament or of 
 His Majesty's Government, but did humbly with all 
 submission, declare what he apprehended to be the sense 
 of the Act of Parliament enjoining the Test, and in what 
 sense he had freedom to take the same. " The expression 
 of such conscientious scruples was, he reminded the 
 Court, not merely permissible but a duty, as all Divines 
 and casuists, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, testified. 
 He also pointed out, as Argyll had already done, that 
 many others had accused the Act of contradictions and 
 inconsistencies and that it had not been suggested that 
 they had been guilty of criminal conduct and should be 
 prosecuted for it \ 
 
 The Lord Advocate, on the part of the prosecution, 
 declared in his " argument and plea " that this " excellent 
 Test" had been drawn up to secure the Protestant 
 religion and the crown, and that in it "in order that the 
 old juggling principles of the Covenant might not be 
 renewed, wherein they still swore to serve the King in 
 their own way, the Parliament did positively ordain that 
 this Oath should be taken in the plain genuine meaning 
 of the words, without any evasion whatsoever. " Argyll, 
 he said, had simply invented a way of evading it, and the 
 reproach this cast upon the law, he held, made such action 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 323 : The Case of the Earl 0/ Argylc, p. 66.
 
 272 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 of the kind specified in the indictment. If this were 
 indeed so, the fact that many others had been guilty of 
 the like conduct was no excuse for him. The charge of 
 perjury, he explained, was based upon the fact that that 
 crime was committed not merely by breaking an oath but 
 by swearing it with such evasions as made it ineffectual. 
 Sir John Dalrymple then spoke in defence of the Earl's 
 innocence and discussed with great pains the nature and 
 obligations of oaths. The replies, duplies and triplies of 
 the advocates for and against Argyll are still extant but 
 cannot be said to be very interesting reading. They 
 suggest ceaseless motion without progress like that of 
 persons on a treadmill. ^ 
 
 The public hearing of the case concluded, as we have 
 said, at nine o'clock in the evening, and then the court 
 was adjourned to the afternoon of the next day, but the 
 judges remained to prepare their interlocutor — a task 
 which occupied them until two o'clock of the following 
 morning. Only four of the Lords had been present with 
 the Justice-General all through the proceedings. The 
 fifth. Lord Nairn, " an old, infirm gentleman, " who for a 
 considerable time past had been unable to take his share of 
 judicial work, had gone home soon after the debate had 
 begun. Of the four judges the Lords Collington and 
 Kirkhouse were against the relevancy of the libel, while 
 the other two, the Lords Newton and Forret were in 
 favour of it. The Justice-General might have given his 
 casting-vote but he was in the awkward position of having 
 himself made an explanation on taking the Test. On 
 that occasion he had declared that he did not think 
 himself pledged by the oath against alterations in the 
 government of Church or State, if it should please His 
 Majesty to make them. ^ The explanation seems both 
 slight and fatuous, but the fact of having made an expla- 
 nation was sufficient to embarrass a judge who was 
 expected and who perhaps desired to pass a death-sentence 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 76. 
 ' Ibid, p. 38.
 
 LORD NAIRN'S VOTE 273 
 
 in the present case. The Justice- General, therefore, 
 decided to send for Lord Nairn. The " old, infirm 
 gentleman " was roused from sleep in the middle of the 
 night, taken up and dressed and brought into court, in 
 order that, as Wodrow says, " numbers might supply the 
 want of law and reason. " As he had not been present 
 at much of the debate, the clerk was ordered to read over 
 the reasonings to him. He fell asleep " among their 
 hands " while this was being done. However, as he 
 knew how to vote he was wakened again to perform this 
 action, and thus Argyll's condemnation was secured. ^ 
 The scene suggests the trial of Faithful in Vanity Fair 
 when Mr. Blindman was the foreman of the jury and 
 said of the prisoner : " 1 see clearly that this man is an 
 heretick. " It is rather worse, indeed, for the foreman 
 in question had, we may presume, heard what had been 
 said for and against the prisoner. So ludicrous were the 
 circumstances of the trial that we think it would be absurd 
 to occupy time with any discussion of the merits of the case. 
 The mere fact that Argyll's enemies secured a death- 
 sentence by such an abominable travesty of justice reduces 
 their proceedings to the level of those of a set of brigands 
 who might insult their victim by a mock trial before 
 stripping him of his property. 
 
 On the following afternoon the interlocutor was read 
 in court and the Lord Advocate proceeded to the proof. 
 A jury of fifteen was selected out of a list of forty-five, 
 and was presided over by the Marquess of Montrose. 
 Among them it is interesting to notice, was Claverhouse. ^ 
 
 1 Rose, Observations on Mr. Fox's Historical Work, p. l88n : Wodrow, 
 History, vol. Ill, p. 336. 
 
 ^ The authoress of The Despot's Champion speaks of the presence of Claver- 
 house and the Marquess of Montrose on the jury that convicted Argyll as 
 being "simply iniquitous" (p. 101). The proceedings, however, were so 
 purely formal that it was a matter of very little consequence whether the 
 members of the jury were friendly or hostile to the Earl. Had the jury 
 consisted of his friends and clansmen, they could have found no other verdict 
 than that actually given, viz : that it was the case that the Earl had committed 
 the action alleged against him and now decided by the judges to be treason- 
 able. The silly fancy as to a traditional enmity between the House of 
 Campbell and that of Graham has already been exploded by us in connexion 
 with the incident at Moray House.
 
 274 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Three witnesses testified that the Earl had given an 
 explanation at the time of taking the Oath, and this 
 concluded the proceedings. There was no dispute as to 
 the matter of fact. Neither Argyll nor his counsel had 
 any desire to make any further defence or to protract 
 proceedings, as after the interlocutor which had been 
 given all further pains would be in vain. The jury after 
 a short time brought in their verdict. They unanimously 
 found Argyll guilty of treason and leasing-making, but 
 by a majority acquitted him of the charge of perjury. 
 The Privy Council thereupon wrote to the King acquaint- 
 ing him with what had been done, and asking him to give 
 orders for the sentence of death and forfeiture to be 
 pronounced. They also gave it as their opinion that 
 His Majesty after sentence should " sist " [i. e. delay] 
 procedure during his pleasure. ^ 
 
 The trial was followed with the keenest interest by 
 the Duke of York. On the day when the verdict was 
 brought in he wrote to Lord Dartmouth : " Lord Argyle's 
 trial began yesterday and their forms in the justice court 
 are so tedious that they could not make an end of it then, 
 but will as I believe this evening ; and I have reason to 
 believe the jury will find the bill and not ignoramus ' ; and 
 that that little Lord will be once again at His Majesty's 
 mercy. " At a later hour he adds : " Since I wrote this, 
 1 have had an account, that the jury, of which the Marquis 
 of Montrose was Chancellor, as they call them here, have 
 found Lord Argyle guilty of treason and other crimes, so 
 that he is absolutely in His Majesty's hands. " ^ His 
 exultation would have been lowered if he had realized 
 that the infamous trial to which the Earl was subjected 
 was one of the things which contributed most to the 
 overthrow of the Stewart dynasty in Scotland. " No 
 
 • Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 337: Case of the Earl of Arg}>le, p. 85 : 
 Fountainhall Historical Notices, vol. I, p. 341. 
 
 ' This is an allusion to the verdict on Shaftesbury when tried for High 
 Treason on Nov. 24th, 1681. The foreman of the jury wrote Ignoramus on 
 the back of the bill of indictment. 
 
 ^ Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. II, p. 67.
 
 PUBLIC FEELING OUTRAGED 275 
 
 sentence in our age, " says Burnet, "was more universally 
 cried out on than this. All people spoke of it, and of the 
 
 duke who drove it on, with horror Lord Argile's 
 
 business made him be looked on as one that would prove 
 a terrible master when all should come into his hands. " ^ 
 So widespread and strong was the blame which the pubhc 
 attached to the Duke of York in connexion with this 
 matter that it made an impression even upon his apathetic 
 nature. Shortly after writing the letter above quoted 
 he wrote again to the same correspondent but in chastened 
 and apologetic terms. " I find, " he says, " by yours of 
 the 27th of last month, that people take all the pains they 
 can to tax me with severity in this affair of Lord Argile's: 
 it is not the first wrong of that kind which has been done 
 me, as those who are acquainted with the laws of this 
 country know very well : he has but to thank himself for 
 what has happened to him ; and to show you what wrong 
 is done me, if I had not hindered his being fallen on in 
 Parliament, they had brought him there, in as ill condi- 
 tion as to fortune, as he is now. " " Our readers have 
 been informed in the foregoing pages as to the matters 
 to which the Duke alludes in these last sentences. The 
 meanness and craven hypocrisy which mark his words 
 seem to us very detestable. They can, however, only 
 surprise those who are unfamiliar with his career. 
 
 Even if Argyll were in no immediate danger of exe- 
 cution his position was extremely precarious, as, indeed, 
 must be that of anyone who is under sentence of death 
 and knows that the question whether that sentence shall 
 or shall not be carried out depends upon the will of an 
 ungrateful and treacherous prince. The scandal, indeed, 
 occasioned by the trial rendered the Government suffi- 
 ciently odious without their outraging public opinion by 
 shedding his blood. " I know nothing of the Scotch 
 law," said Halifax to Charles II with a sneer, "but this 
 I know that we should not hang a dog here on the 
 
 ' History of My Owu Times, vol. I, pp. 521, 523. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 52211.
 
 276 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 grounds on which my Lord Argyle has been sentenced." ^ 
 The Duke of York, who was undoubtedly responsible 
 for pushing on the trial, declared that it was not intended 
 to execute a death-sentence but to use it as a means of 
 coercing the Earl into the surrender of the extensive 
 jurisdictions and rights to which Lauderdale had restored 
 him and by which he became really master of the High- 
 lands. This purpose James is said to have avowed to 
 the King, " and he and his apologists afterwards asserted 
 that nothing more than this was contemplated. ^ The 
 question so far as the Duke of York is concerned has 
 been stated by Macaulay in incisive terms. " Whether 
 James designed " he says, " as his enemies suspected, 
 to commit murder, or only, as his friends affirmed, 
 to commit extortion by threatening to commit murder, 
 cannot now be known. " * The shamelessness with 
 which James speaks of Argyll's case as a device for 
 stripping him of his power and privileges renders it 
 difficult to believe that he had any honour or conscience 
 left, and deprives his statement that the prisoner's life 
 was not aimed at, of all credit. Certainly Argyll himself 
 was fully convinced that his death was resolved upon, and 
 his opinion was shared by many others. " A person of 
 quality, " whom he does not name declared to him on his 
 honour that he had heard one who was in great favour 
 with the Duke say to him that the thing must be done, and 
 that it would be easier to satisfy the King about it after it 
 was done, than to obtain his leave for doing it. ^ The Mar- 
 quess of Argyll had been executed before a death-warrant 
 had been received from London, ^ and the Duke as Royal 
 Commissioner might be inclined to follow that precedent. 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. §5. 
 
 '■' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 521. 
 
 ^ Macpherson, State Papers, vol. I, p. 123 : Clarke, Life of James II, vol. I 
 p. 709. 
 
 * History of England, vol. I, chap. 5. The felicity of the above statement 
 inclines one to employ the malediction of Donatus : " Pereant illi qui ante 
 nos nostra dixcrunt. " 
 
 '" Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 522. 
 
 '' The Great Marquess, p. 322.
 
 OMINOUS INDICATIONS 277 
 
 Many suspicious circumstances combined to confirm 
 Argyll in the surmise he entertained that there was evil 
 determined against him. He heard on Monday, Dec. 
 I9th5 that the messenger sent by the Privy Council to 
 the King was expected to return on the Thursday of 
 that week, and that the Justiciary Court, which in 
 ordinary circumstances would have been adjourned on 
 account of Christmas to the first week of January, was to 
 meet the day after the retur)i of the messenger, in order 
 to pass sentence immediately on receiving the royal 
 letter. The fact was communicated to the prisoner that 
 the Duke had said that if the messenger did not arrive 
 in time, he would take upon himself to pronounce 
 sentence. ^ An ominous indication of what that sentence 
 was likely to be was implied in the Duke's refusal to 
 grant Argyll an interview in spite of his repeated 
 entreaties — it being an unwritten rule that the Sovereign 
 or his representative should not admit one to an inter- 
 view whose life was to be forfeited. " 
 
 Late on Monday evening the Earl began to consider 
 whether it would not be advisable to attempt to escape 
 from the Castle, but he could come to no definite 
 decision upon the matter. At noon on Tuesday, 
 however, he heard that a considerable body of troops, 
 both horse and foot, had been brought into the city, and 
 that rooms were being prepared for him in the common 
 jail, whither he was to be taken the next day — an 
 arrangement usually made in case of an execution. ^ 
 His friends decided to urge upon him the necessity of 
 immediately attempting to escape from the Castle, and 
 they planned means by which he might make his way to 
 London, if he thought fit to go thither. One of them, 
 a Mr. Scott, minister of Hawick, was sent up to the 
 Castle to inform him that horses would be in waiting 
 
 1 Case of the Earl of Ar^'Ie, p. 122. 
 
 ^ James II afterwards violated this rule by admitting Momnouth to an 
 interview after the Battle of Sedgemoor. 
 ^ Case of the Earl of Arg}>le, p. 122.
 
 278 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 for him outside of Bristo Port, one of the city-gates on 
 the south side, from dusk until ten o'clock, the hour 
 when the Castle closed. The plan was that he should 
 ride on to Lauder and there get fresh horses on to 
 Torwoodlee, the place of residence of one of his friends 
 named Pringle, who would furnish him with horses and 
 a guide across the border into Northumberland. The 
 Earl at first demurred to this proposal, perhaps being 
 uncertain as to whether London would be the best 
 place of refuge, but on second thoughts he resolved to 
 adhere to it. About five o'clock in the evening he sent 
 word by a trusty servant to his step-daughter, Lady 
 Sophia Lindsay, as to the final arrangements for smugg- 
 ling him out of the Castle. She was instructed to come 
 up at once to see him and to bring a page in livery to 
 carry her train, and another servant with a lantern to 
 light her on her way to the Castle and back home. ^ 
 
 Some letters which he received from London about 
 six o'clock confirmed him in his resolution. He had 
 despatched a messenger to Court, with instructions to 
 ride northward with all speed as soon as the King's mind 
 with regard to the Council's letter could be known. 
 This man made the journey with great expedition and 
 got into Edinburgh twenty-four hours before the arrival 
 of the royal messenger. From the information which he 
 brought, the Earl learned that the death-sentence was to 
 be passed upon him, and that the execution of it was to be 
 delayed during the King's pleasure. ^ No one knew 
 better than Argyll how uncertain his tenure of life now 
 was, and how easily the King would condone any excess 
 of zeal on the part of his brother, if the latter should 
 give orders for the immediate execution of the sentence. 
 Word was brought him by a friend that instructions had 
 been given for watching him more strictly, that the 
 
 ^ Veitch MS. in possession of His Grace the Duke of Argyll. This MS. is 
 dated July, 1718, and was written or dictated by Veitch himself who died in 
 May, 1722. It contains a fuller and better text than that of the MS. used by 
 Dr. McCrie in his edition of Veitch's Memoirs. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 337.
 
 ESCAPE 279 
 
 Castle guards were doubled, that no persons were 
 permitted to go out of the Castle without showing their 
 faces, and that even some ladies had been thus closely 
 scrutinized, and he was advised to abandon the idea of 
 escape as impracticable. He replied that he would 
 certaialy make the attempt and that without delay. ^ 
 Lady Sophia, his step-daughter and daughter-in-law, who 
 had obtained permission to pay him a visit of half an 
 hour's duration arrived in the prison about seven o'clock 
 in the evening. A servant carrying a large lantern 
 attended her and a page bore her train. The latter was 
 " a tall, awkward country-lad, with a fair wig and his 
 head tied up as if he had been engaged in a fray ". ^ 
 Immediately on entering the cell he and Argyll exchanged 
 clothes, and the garments which fitted the page were 
 found to suit the Earl, who was a short man. 
 
 When the allotted time for the visit was over Lady 
 Sophia with many tears bade farewell to her supposed 
 step-father and with dignified, slow pace made her way 
 out of the Castle, her page holding up her train, and the 
 servant with the lantern following immediately behind. 
 The darkness of the winter night was in favour of the 
 conspirators. The first sentry they met questioned them 
 " pretty warmly " but finally let them pass. They were 
 allowed to proceed unchallenged by the mainguard, but 
 then, we are told, " after the great gate was opened and 
 the lower guard drawn out double to make a lane for 
 them, one of the guard who opened the gate took Argyll 
 by the arm and viewed him. " Upon this the servant 
 following with the lantern exclaimed, " What the devil 
 ails the fellow at the page ? " and the inquisitive soldier 
 let him go. ^ Tradition says that Lady Sophia aided in 
 distracting the soldier's attention by twitching her train 
 out of her page's hand and then scolding him for letting 
 it fall in the mud. When they were safely out of the 
 
 ' Case of the Earl of Argylc^ p. 122. 
 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. n6. 
 
 3 Vcitch MSS.
 
 28o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Castle, Argyll parted company with his daughter at the 
 Weigh House, at the foot of the Castle Hill, and 
 leaning on his servant's arm went down the West Bow, 
 through the Grassmarket and Candlemaker Row and out 
 at Bristo Port. Here he found the horses and the 
 servant who was to accompany him on his journey. 
 His feet were wet with walking in thin shoes through 
 the mud and slushy snow, but he did not stop to put on 
 dry stockings and riding-boots, which the servant had 
 brought for him, until they had gone a little distance on 
 their way. When they were opposite to Craigmillar 
 Castle he alighted and put them on, leaving the others 
 under a bush, and then he and his servant rode with 
 all speed on their journey southwards. ^ It was a dark 
 night, as the moon was in her third quarter and did not 
 rise till about eleven o'clock. ^ So the fugitives had the 
 advantage of a good start in circumstances which rendered 
 pursuit of them a matter of difficulty. 
 
 Lady Sophia was punished for her share in the exploit 
 by a term of imprisonment. So great was the anger of 
 the Privy Council at Argyll's escape that it was actually 
 proposed by some of its members that she should be 
 scourged through the streets of Edinburgh. This 
 infamous proposal suggests either that the " Scottish 
 Cavaliers " had for the moment forgotten their gentle- 
 manly instincts, or that the idea of their being superior 
 in these matters to Covenanting neighbours is the figment 
 of some modern romancers and ballad-mongers. The 
 proposal in question was negatived by the Duke of York, 
 who remarked " that they were not used to deal so cruelly 
 with ladies in his country. " ^ One would have thought 
 more highly of this chivalrous utterance if he had not 
 
 ' Vcitch MS: Law, Mcmorialls, p. 210 : Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna 
 Mackenzie^ p. 116. We are convinced that the particulars given in the 
 Vcitch MS. were communicated to the author by the Earl himself, and conse- 
 quently are superior in authority to the narratives of later writers. 
 
 ^ For this item of information we are indebted to F. W. Dyson, Esq., of 
 the Royal Observatory, Edinburgh. 
 
 ' Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. Il8 • Macpherson, State Papers, 
 vol. I, p. 13.
 
 ILLEGAL PROCEEDINGS 281 
 
 three years after signed the death-warrant of Mrs. Gaunt 
 who was burned to death at Tyburn for a deed similar to 
 that of Lady Sophia's. 
 
 The letter from the King arrived on the day following 
 Argyll's escape (Deer. 21st), and it was in accordance with 
 the expressed desire of the Privy Council that a sentence 
 of death and of the forfeiture of titles and property should 
 be pronounced, and that the execution of it should be 
 deferred until further instructions. The same day a 
 warrant was issued for the apprehension of the culprit. 
 In this document it was asserted that he had added " the 
 breach of prison to his other crimes, without waiting 
 for that clemency which he might have relied more 
 upon, if he had not been conscious to himself of guiltiness 
 that required such an escape. " ^ Strictly speaking it was 
 ultra vires for the Court of Justiciary to do more than to 
 declare Argyll a fugitive and outlaw. The sentence of 
 forfeiture of life and goods in the case of treason could 
 only, in the absence of the party, be legally pronounced by 
 Parliament. This consideration was urged by a section 
 of the Council who were inclined to a moderate course, and 
 they further pointed out that it was a maxim in law " that 
 in criminal actions there neither is nor can be any other 
 conclusion of the cause than the party's presence and 
 silence. " ^ The majority of the Council, however, 
 ignored these considerations, and their decision was 
 presented to the Court of Justiciary which at once pro- 
 nounced sentence in the case. The Countess of Argyll 
 gave in a petition humbly craving that this be not done 
 in her husband's absence, but no notice whatever was 
 taken of it. So illegal were the proceedings that the 
 Parliament after the Revolution not only repealed the 
 Earl's attainder, but allowed his son to bring an action 
 for damages against those judges, or their heirs, who had 
 condemned his father. On Thursday, Deer. 23rd, 1681, 
 the sentence was proclaimed at the Market Cross of 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 339. 
 2 Ibid, p. 340.
 
 282 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Edinburgh, with the formalities of the blowing of trum- 
 pets and the defacing of the offender's coat-of-arms. As 
 this last procedure was part of the execution of the 
 sentence, which had been expressly suspended in the 
 instructions sent from the King, it was distinctly illegal. ^ 
 Yet one need not be surprised at its being ordered by the 
 authorities, for legal pedants in all ages are accustomed, 
 when it suits their purposes, to make short work of legal 
 pedantry. 
 
 The Government had succeeded in ruining Argyll and 
 in driving him out of the country, but their own credit 
 had been profoundly shaken by their proceedings, and 
 the public scorn was not long in expressing itself. In the 
 Christmas festivities of this year the figure of the Pope 
 which was burned at the Market Cross — the place of 
 execution — had a copy of the Test Oath in one of its 
 hands. A more elaborate affront was perpetrated by the 
 children at one of the Edinburgh schools, as Sir John 
 Lauder tells us. " The children of Heriot's Hospitall, " 
 he says, " finding that the dog which keiped the yairds of 
 that Hospitall had a public charge and office, they ordained 
 him to take the Test and offered him the paper ; but he, 
 loving a bone rather than it, absolutely refused it. Then 
 they rubbed it over with butter (which they called ana 
 Explication of the Test in imitation of Argyle), and he 
 licked of the butter but did spite out the paper, for which 
 they held a jurie on him, and in derision of the sentence 
 against Argyle, they found the dog guilty of treason and 
 actually hanged him. " Sir John is wrong in the last 
 mentioned detail, for the broadside which tells the story 
 says that the parallel with Argyll ran still further and that 
 the dog escaped. The allusions in the burlesque narrative 
 to the Earl's adventure are amusing. " Matters being 
 thus praecipitat, " says the broadside, " and all hopes or 
 reprieve uncertain, a wylie loun advised him to lay by 
 the sheep's (which had done him so little good) and put 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. III. p. 341.
 
 JOURNEY TO LONDON 283 
 
 on the foxe's skin ; and so covertly, through fear, hiding 
 his own tail between his legs, and griping another's train, 
 he passed through all the gates undiscovered and so is 
 a-missing. " Some uncomplimentary allusions to Argyll's 
 fair hair and low stature are contained in the hue-and-cry 
 said to have been issued after the missing dog ; for the 
 document runs, " Whereas, ane cutt lugged, brounish 
 coloured Mastiff Tyke, called Watch, short leged, and of 
 low stature, " etc. It concludes with an offer of ;^500 
 Sterling for his apprehension — the same sum as had been 
 offered in the case of the Earl. ^ 
 
 Meantime the latter succeeded in reaching a place of 
 security. The safest place of refuge would have been 
 in the Highlands among some of his loyal clansmen ; but 
 the attempt, which was certain to be made to apprehend 
 him, would in that case have undoubtedly occasioned 
 disorder and bloodshed. To avoid such a contingency 
 he determined, in accordance with the advice of his 
 friends, to make his way to London. There the extraord- 
 inary influence and audacity of Shaftesbury would 
 procure protection for such a prominent supporter of the 
 Protestant interest. He would have liked to travel with 
 such expedition as to arrive before the news of his escape 
 had reached London, but he found this to be impract- 
 icable. Everywhere the news preceded him that he had 
 broken out of the Castle and that a large reward had been 
 offered by the Government for his apprehension. ^ The 
 Earl was now in the class of" inter-communed " persons, 
 and the terms of the proclamation issued concerning him 
 give us an idea of the stringent treatment which was 
 meted out to them. " We prohibit, " said the document 
 in question, " all our subjects of this our kingdom to 
 reset, supply, or intercommune with the said earl or his 
 accomplices, or to furnish him meat, drink, house, 
 harboury or any other thing necessary or comfortable to 
 him, or to transport him to or from ferries, under the 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 55, 303. 
 2 Case of the Earl of Ar gyle, p. 122.
 
 284 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 pain of treason. " ^ Fortunately for him, however, there 
 were many " who were not afraid of the King's command- 
 ment. 
 
 On leaving Craigmillar, Argyll and his servant rode on 
 their way through the winter night. They passed through 
 Dalkeith, near which, at Newbattle Abbey, the Earl had 
 first opened his eyes upon a world which he had found to 
 be the scene of so many sorrows and labours. Thence 
 they pressed on in a south-easterly direction to Lauder, 
 the half-way house to the Border, and some twenty-four 
 miles in a direct line from the capital. Here was the 
 famous stronghold, guarding the King's Way to Edin- 
 burgh, once called Lauder Fort, but in recent times known 
 as Thirlestane Castle. This was the seat of the Maitlands 
 of Lauderdale, one of the most famous of whom had been 
 so closely associated with Argyll during a large part of 
 the reign of Charles II. Here they got fresh horses and 
 a guide who was to conduct them to a change-house 
 between Torwoodlee and Galashiels. ^ On leaving Lauder 
 they turned almost due west, and on reaching Stow 
 followed the road southward which winds along the bank 
 of the Gala Water. 
 
 On his way to Torwoodlee, Argyll was careful to follow 
 instructions, which had been given him by Mr. Scott, to 
 ask his guide the name of every principal house which he 
 passed. The object of this was to hinder his missing 
 Torwoodlee and yet to avoid arousing the suspicions of 
 his guide. The latter did not know that it was Argyll 
 whom he was conducting but he might have guessed it, 
 if he had asked for the residence of one so disaffected to 
 the Government as Pringle was known to be. Torwoodlee 
 lies at the junction of the Gala Water with the Tweed, 
 and in due time it was pointed out to the Earl. On arriv- 
 ing at the change-house near it to which they had been 
 directed, Argyll dismissed the guide, and sent his servant 
 to Pringle's house, with instructions to give him the 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 339. 
 » VeitchMS.
 
 A REMARKABLE DREAM 285 
 
 pass-word received from Mr. Scott. An hour before 
 Argyll's servant arrived, Pringle, who was in bed, had 
 told his wife of a dream he had just had, that the Earl 
 had escaped from the Castle and that his servant had come 
 to Torwoodlee with the news.^ His wife reminded him 
 of the danger of apprehension which hung over himself, 
 for Pringle had the reputation with the Government of 
 being " a great fanatic and of anti-monarchical, republican 
 principles, from his infancy," ^ and expressed her alarm on 
 his behalf. A little while afterwards, when the knock 
 came to the gate, Pringle rose and dressed himself and 
 prepared to take refuge in a hiding-place, in case his wife's 
 fears should turn out to be well founded. After a cautious 
 parley Argyll's servant was admitted into the house and 
 gave Pringle the password. " At which, " we are told, 
 " the Laird clapt his hands with joy and said * O Stranger! 
 good news ! for none knows that token but other two 
 and I — Argyle, Mr. John Scott and myself.' " ^ He 
 at once ordered his servant, James Scott, to make ready 
 three horses, two for the strangers and one for himself 
 and to act as their guide to the house of a Mr. Veitch in 
 Northumberland, who would conduct the Earl to London. 
 He then went to the change-house, where he found 
 Argyll. After embracing him and giving him directions 
 as to his journey, he bestowed upon him all the gold in 
 his possession and despatched him on his way. ^ 
 
 The Mr. Veitch to whom the Earl was sent was an 
 able Presbyterian minister, who had for years past been 
 one of the most zealous of the nonconforming clergy, 
 and had officiated at innumerable conventicles and pro- 
 scribed meetings, both in Scotland and in the north of 
 England. He was a man of some means, and was now 
 living at Stanton Hall, in the parish of Long Horsley, 
 three miles or so from Morpeth. We do not know 
 
 1 Veitch MS. 
 
 ^ S. P. Dom., Charles II, Jan. 20th, 1683. 
 
 3 Veitch MS. 
 
 * Ibid.
 
 286 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 exactly the route followed by the travellers, but most 
 probably it was by Melrose and Kelso, and thence through 
 Yetholm across the border to Wooler in Northumberland. 
 On reaching this point they would strike the direct road 
 that would lead them southwards to the place where 
 Mr. Veitch's residence was. 
 
 The Earl, who had adopted the alias of Mr. Hope, 
 arrived in safety at Stanton Hall, but found that 
 Mr. Veitch was not at home. He had gone to Berwick 
 to conduct some religious services, and while there the 
 news came to the town by an express that the Earl of 
 Argyll had escaped from Edinburgh Castle, and was 
 probably on his way to London. Mr. Veitch, who was 
 well known in Berwick, was at once suspected of being 
 concerned in the matter, and it was only with consider- 
 able difficulty that he succeeded in making his escape 
 from the town. The same night he was greatly alarmed 
 by dreaming twice over that his house, more than thirty 
 miles off, was on fire, and he resolved to make the best 
 of his way thither. On arriving (Sat. Deer. 24th,) he 
 was met by Pringle's servant with the news that Argyll 
 had come thither and was anxious to see him, and that 
 messengers had been despatched by Mrs. Veitch and by 
 the Earl all over the country to seek for him. On 
 meeting Veitch, Argyll, as the former tells us, addressed 
 him " in a neat complimentary speech, " ^ and requested 
 his aid in the circumstances in which he was placed. 
 This Veitch willingly agreed to give. He first of all got 
 ordinary clothes for the Earl, as he was still wearing a 
 page's livery, and then he sent away the two servants 
 into Newcastle to remain there until further orders. No 
 better guide for the journey could have been found than 
 Mr. Veitch, as he was well practised in all the precautions 
 and devices needed for eluding the dangers they were 
 likely to encounter, and was acquainted with persons in 
 the districts through which they would have to pass, on 
 whom reliance might be placed in case of need. 
 1 Veitch MS.
 
 DIVINE HELP 287 
 
 The first Sunday after his escape the Earl spent at 
 Millburn Grange near Newcastle. Here his friend, 
 Mr. Veitch, officiated at a conventicle in the house of a 
 Mr. George Horsley, " a gentleman of family and 
 fortune, who spared neither his pains, nor purse, nor 
 person to serve the interests of religion among the 
 despised Nonconformists. " ^ One wonders what 
 thoughts were in the Earl's mind as he sat among the 
 worshippers in this proscribed meeting. If the excite- 
 ment connected with his recent escape and the memory 
 of his present danger did not fill his thoughts, some 
 measure of thankfulness must have welled up within his 
 devout soul to Him who had raised up so many faithful 
 friends for him and brought him safely through so many 
 strange vicissitudes. In a rhyming epistle which he 
 afterwards sent to his stepdaughter Lady Sophia Lindsay, 
 he says : 
 
 " You came ane angel in the case to me. 
 
 Expressly sent to guide and set me free. 
 
 The great gate open'd of its own accord, 
 
 That word came in my mind, I praise the Lord. " 
 
 And he goes on to say : 
 
 " When I was out I knew not where I went, 
 
 I cryed to God, and He new angels sent. 
 
 If ye desire what passed since to me, 
 
 Read through the book of psalms and think on me. " ' 
 
 1 Palmer, Noucon. Mem., vol. II, p. 257. 
 ^ Law, Meinorialls, p. 2iin.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Adventures of Argyll on his journey from Newcastle to London — The Smith 
 family of Battersea — Major Holmes— Death of Lauderdale — the main 
 incidents of his career — The position of politics in England — Shaftesbury 
 — Viscount Granard — Argyll takes refuge in Holland. 
 
 The next day Mr. Veitch took his companion to the 
 house of a friend, a Mr. Bittlestone who lived between 
 Newburn and Newcastle. ^ This person was a tanner in 
 the latter town and belonged to a family which had been 
 for a long time identified with the Puritan Party in 
 religion and in politics. He was a man of consequence 
 and wealth, and his house, a little way out of town, as a 
 place of retirement and privacy, was often a shelter to 
 Nonconformist fugitives. " Soon after Mr. Veitch and 
 his friend arrived the conversation turned on the Earl's 
 escape from Edinburgh Castle. Mr. Bittlestone never 
 for a moment suspected that the stranger in coarse dress 
 was the fugitive in whose movements he and so many 
 others were interested. On Mr. Veitch's saying that he 
 was sure the news was true his host expressed great 
 satisfaction. His wife, however, could not share it and 
 from her lips Argyll heard an estimate of his public life 
 which would have commended itself to many in Scotland, 
 and which explains to a large extent the failure of his 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 133. 
 
 ^ Welford, History of Newcastle, vol. Ill, pp. 368, 370 : Records of Hostmen 
 of Newcastle, Surtees So., vol. CV, p. 271 : Life of Ambrose Barnes, SurteesSo., 
 vol. L, pp. 196, 198.
 
 A CANDID FRIEND 289 
 
 enterprise in 1685. " I cannot " she said, " be so much 
 taken up with these news as you are. I know that the 
 House of Argylle was a good house for our Reformation, 
 and his father suffered for it ; but for himself, he hath 
 been a member of that wicked, bloody Council these 
 eighteen years, where many a wicked thing hath been 
 acted and done. But above all, it was his wicked Vote 
 that took away the Life of our worthy dear Friend, 
 singular Mr. Cargill : and I am sure his blood may be 
 heavy on him now, and make him have a melancholy 
 Flight and Hiding. " The Earl made no reply. Shortly 
 after, she judged from his linen ^ and from a splendid 
 watch he had left on his bedroom table, that her guest 
 was a man of higher rank than his outer dress would 
 seem to indicate. The thought flashed upon her that 
 this must be Argyll himself, and she hastened to her 
 husband to tell him her conjecture. He agreed that it 
 was probably well founded, and regretted that she had 
 spoken so plainly about the Earl's political shortcomings. 
 The lady, however, was not to be silenced. She felt 
 strongly on the matters in question and was determined 
 to have her say out now that the offender had been deliv- 
 ered into her hands. At dinner the escape was again 
 spoken of and the hostess, we are informed, " took the 
 occasion to tell all the ill things she had heard about the 
 Earl. " Her guest merely remarked : " Argyll will not 
 free himself of many of these things, but he is not so 
 guilty of them all as the world reports him to be ". 
 Soon after, the disguise was dropped and plans were 
 discussed for helping the Earl on his way to London. 
 Mr. Bittlestone provided him with better clothes and 
 gave him his gelding to ride upon. Next day he sped 
 the parting guests on their way, his son John accom- 
 panying them for a stage of their journey. The youth 
 showed him on his return a purse containing thirty 
 guineas which the Earl had given him. His father was 
 
 1 She noticed that his linen was " scented. " We presume it had lain in 
 lavender.
 
 290 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 mortified at the gift, not only because it seemed to be 
 payment for hospitality received, but because it seriously 
 diminished the Earl's small stock of ready money. ^ 
 
 While Argyll was at Mr. Bittlestone's, his companion 
 went into Newcastle and bought three fresh horses for 
 the journey. In his narrative of the incident Mr. Veitch 
 notes that these animals cost l^i"^ Sterling, and that he 
 paid for them out of his own pocket, " finding Mr. Hope 
 scarce for money. " ^ They then proceeded on their 
 journey. In order to avoid attracting attention they 
 occasionally sent the servants by one road while they 
 themselves took another, and met them again at places 
 previously fixed upon. On Thursday night (Dec. 29th) 
 they arrived at Leeds, where Mr. Veitch had many 
 acquaintances. On the following day they went towards 
 Rotherham, hoping to lodge some few miles on the other 
 side of it that night. The weather, however, which had 
 been frosty became wet, and the rain fell freely. As the 
 Earl complained of being drenched to the skin, it became 
 necessary to stay at Rotherham all night. They found 
 their way to a post-house, which they thought would be 
 safer than an inn. Here they had an adventure which 
 Mr. Veitch relates in the following terms : 
 
 " We were not well in our Chamber, and had got 
 some faggots to dry us, when a Liveryman, well 
 mounted, came to the gate, and calling for the Hostler, 
 asked briskly, ' Came there not here some gentlemen 
 shortly } ' Which put us all in a fear. But after 
 enquiry we found that it was some Gentleman's servant, 
 who having seen us before him on the road, and thinking 
 we might call at the Post House and take up the best 
 rooms, had sent this fellow to see ; which when they 
 found it so, they by a good providence came not to our 
 lodging. In the meantime Mr. Veitch, calling for a 
 flagon of ale, and a bottle of wine and some bread, called 
 for the Landlord and Landlady to drink with them, 
 
 ' The above particulars are drawn from Walker's Biog. Prcs., vol. II, p. 51, 
 '■^ McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 134.
 
 ADVENTURE AT ROTHERHAM 291 
 
 with whom he had a mind to talk, asking for several 
 gentry in the country, about how far they lived from 
 this place, telling them they were relations to some of 
 his neighbour gentry in Northumberland. This he did 
 that they might know we were Englishmen, which 
 happened well ; for while we were at supper the Post 
 boy coming from Doncaster gave his master a letter 
 from that Post master ; which after he had read, he at 
 length reached it up to the table-head to Mr, Veitch, 
 who was sitting there as the chief gentleman of the 
 company, having Argyll's page, now in disguise, standing 
 at his back. After Mr. Veitch had read it at great 
 leisure, he was almost non-plussed what to think or 
 say : of the narrative of the letter was to tell the 
 Landlord that Argyll was escaped out of the castle, 
 and that there was £s^^ Sterling bid for him to 
 whosoever could apprehend him. * Dear Billy ', [the 
 letter ran] * if you find him and apprehend him in your 
 Road, let me go snips with you, and if I find him you 
 shall go snips with me ! ' Mr. Veitch broke out by way 
 of laughter, and said : * Mr. Hope, here are admirable 
 good news for you and me. The Earl of Argyll is 
 escaped, by these news in my hand ; we that are travelling 
 southward may come to hit upon him ; for if he come to 
 England, he will readily take by-ways, and if we hit 
 upon him ;^500 reward will do us good service and bear 
 our charges to London and back again : only I fear he 
 rides much in the moonlight mornings. 1 could find it 
 in my heart to give my Landlord a bottle of Sack to let 
 his Hostler direct us early in the way to Clown, ^ or at 
 least to the great Inn within five miles, and I promise 
 him if we find the prize and get him legally apprehended 
 he shall share of the reward '. To which the landlord 
 answered : ' My hostler is at your honour's service '. 
 Upon which Mr. Veitch called for a bottle of Sack to 
 drink to their good success. They went early off in the 
 morning and searched the next great inn, rapping rudely 
 
 ' Clown is a small village in Derbyshire on the border of Notts.
 
 292 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 at the door till the Landlord in his night-gown came to 
 the window and said : * Masters, what do you want ? ' 
 Mr. Veitch replied : * We want to know if you have 
 any strangers lodged at your House this night ; for we 
 are informed that Argyll, a Scots nobleman, is escaped 
 out of prison, and there's a great sum laid upon his 
 head who ever apprehends him, therefore we must make 
 bold to search this Inn'. Which he was willing we 
 should do, and caused open the gates and we sent in the 
 Hostler that came with us and one of our servants to 
 search the Rooms, and found none. In the meantime 
 we called for a flagon of Ale and a pint of Brandy and 
 drank With the Landlord, and begg'd his excuse for the 
 trouble we had given him : and after we had done 
 Mr. Veitch gave the Hostler two shillings, and ordered 
 him to tell his master what we had done and gave our 
 service to him. And so we went forward to Clown, and 
 lighted and took our breakfast in that place ". ^ 
 
 The risk they had run rendered the travellers more 
 cautious in their proceedings. They judged it unsafe to 
 attract attention by travelling together as a party, and 
 accordingly they sent the servants to stay at an inn in 
 Nottingham, The Plume of Feathers^ until they received 
 further word, while the Earl and Mr. Veitch went on in 
 the assumed characters of servant and master respectively. 
 On Saturday (Jan. ist, 1682) they arrived at Glapwell, 
 near Bolsover, in Derbyshire, and they stayed here until 
 the following Tuesday. This was an old haunt of 
 Mr. Veitch's, and, as on former occasions, he officiated at 
 a conventicle held in Glapwell Hall, the residence of a 
 William Woolhouse. ' 
 
 Mr. Veitch now grew very much alarmed at the 
 
 1 Veitch MS. In this section of the MS. the text is much fuller than that of 
 the Memoirs edited by Dr. McCrie. 
 
 ^ McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc. p. 136. The next year (F'eb. 7th, 1683,) 
 Mr. Woolhouse's daughter, Elizabeth, married Mr. Samuel Hallowes. By 
 this marriage the estate came into the hands of the present family. The 
 present proprietor, R. Hallowes, Esq., informs us that the above mentioned 
 Mr. Woolhouse was a Presbyterian, and that there was at that time a chapel 
 in the grounds of Glapwell Hall, which was afterwards pulled down.
 
 FATAL FRIENDS 293 
 
 danger of identification which the Earl ran by being 
 associated with himself, and accordingly he took into his 
 counsels a Captain Lockyer, who had been one of 
 Cromwell's officers, and was known to him as a man of 
 resource and fidelity. He is spoken of as having been 
 an associate of Colonel Blood's — a fact which no doubt 
 implied the possession of desperate valour but not 
 necessarily high moral or spiritual character. " This 
 man ", Veitch says, " generously offered to conduct my 
 Lord Argyll safely to London, which he did." ^ Unfor- 
 tunately the old Cromwellian did not write memoirs, so 
 that we have no information with regard to the journey 
 from the time that he appears upon the scene, beyond 
 the fact that the hazardous undertaking was successfully 
 accomplished. 
 
 Captain Lockyer brought the Earl to the house of a 
 Mr. Smith, a sugar baker, at Battersea, which is spoken 
 of as " four miles above London, " This was the 
 beginning of a friendship which, whatever pleasure it 
 may have yielded in its course, ultimately proved the 
 ruin of the Earl. For had it not been for the wealth 
 placed at his disposal by these friends, he would not have 
 been able to undertake his fatal expedition three years 
 later. Mr. Smith was a wealthy man, who had no 
 children, and who seems to have been almost a cipher in 
 the household of which he was nominally the head. As, 
 however, he died before 1685 it is possible that ill 
 health may be the explanation of the insignificant figure 
 he cuts in the story. His wife, " Madam Smith ", as 
 Veitch calls her, is described as " very pious, wise and 
 generous " ; and to her the secret was confided as to who 
 Mr. Hope was — a secret which she kept both from her 
 husband and from all others. When it afterwards 
 became necessary for Argyll to find an asylum in 
 Holland, Mrs. Smith persuaded her husband also to 
 remove thither for other reasons than the political 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 137.
 
 294 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 intrigues in which she was so deeply interested. ^ These 
 latter, indeed, seem to have been matters to which he 
 was wholly oblivious or concerning which he had never 
 been informed. 
 
 The servants were summoned from Nottingham to 
 London and instructed where to stay until further orders, 
 while rooms at a good distance from each other were 
 engaged for Mr. Veitch under the name of Captain 
 Forbes and for Argyll as " an ordinary Scots gentleman " 
 named Mr. Hope. These matters were arranged by 
 Mrs. Smith through a Major Holmes, who already had 
 had some connexion with Argyll, and was destined to be 
 yet more intimately associated with him. Mrs. Smith 
 had told the Major that her two friends desired to be 
 " quiet and retired for a while ", and on receiving word 
 that the rooms were ready, sent her guests by night, 
 under the guidance of a servant carrying a lantern, to 
 Holmes's lodgings. Neither of them knew the Major, 
 and so they were greatly amazed when on coming into 
 the room he took the Earl in his arms and said : " My 
 dear Lord Argyll, you are most welcome to me. 
 Argyll was put out at being recognised and said. 
 " Pray, sir, where did you know me } " On which the 
 Major replied : " My Lord, I knew you since that day 
 I took you prisoner in the Highlands when you were 
 Lord Lome and brought you to the Castle of Edinburgh. 
 But now we are on one side, and I will venture all that 
 is dear to me to save you. " Thereafter he sent each of 
 them to their separate lodgings where they remained in 
 great seclusion until the storm had blown over a little. 
 Care was taken to secure that Argyll's place of residence 
 should remain a secret known to none but his friend 
 Veitch and to Major Holmes. ^ 
 
 The Earl acted with great caution and discretion at 
 this period in his career and delayed opening any direct 
 correspondence with the political faction in London 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., pp. 139, 145. 
 ' Ibid, p. 139.
 
 ARGYLL AND SHAFTESBURY 295 
 
 which was in opposition to the Government and professed 
 to safeguard the Protestant interest. Shaftesbury ex- 
 pressed interest in his movements and made overtures 
 to him through Mr. Veitch. The incident is worth 
 relating and we give it in the latter's own words. 
 " After some days ", he tells us, " Mr. Veitch being 
 well acquainted with the Earle of Shaftesbury went to 
 pay him a visite. When he saw him he presently took 
 him into his bed-chamber, leaving his company and 
 sitting down together, he asked him what was become of 
 my Lord Argyll. Mr. Veitch replyed : ' How should I 
 know anything of that, my Lord } ' Says he : * I no 
 sooner saw your face but I was persuaded you had 
 brought him to town. For when I heard of his escape 
 and considered with myself that he could not be so safe 
 anywhere as in London, it was cast in my mind that 
 you was the person that could safeliest conduct him 
 hither. ' Upon which Mr. Veitch told him that he was 
 in Town but his Lordship behoved to keep it secret, 
 which he promised to do and said he would serve him to 
 [the best] of his power. " ^ 
 
 We have already quoted from a rhyming epistle 
 written by the Earl to Lady Sophia Lindsay — an epistle 
 which is without much literary merit but which has 
 value on other grounds. It is dated April i8th, 1682, 
 and it is evidently the first written communication which 
 he had ever ventured to send her. As in those days very 
 few letters passed between London and Edinburgh and 
 there was always a risk of their being opened and examined 
 by the authorities, it is not likely that Argyll's epistle went 
 by post. It was evidently written after the fear of arrest 
 had abated, and at a time when the Earl was enjoying a 
 measure of peace and comfort. Veitch tells us that about 
 this time Mrs. Smith brought Argyll and him out to 
 Brentford, seven miles from the City, " to stay at their new 
 house. " ^ This explains the allusions in the above letter. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 140 : Veitch MS. 
 » Ibid.
 
 296 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 " The noble friends I found here, greet you well, 
 How much they honour you it's hard to tell ; 
 Or how weel I am used, to say it all. 
 Might make you think that I were in Whitehall."^ 
 
 It was now when fewer precautions were necessary for 
 his concealment that the secret of the place of his 
 residence in London leaked out. Some one who thought 
 to curry favour with Charles II put a note into his hand 
 telling him that if he wished, Argyll might be easily 
 found. We are told that the King tore it up with 
 indignation, saying " Pooh ! Pooh ! hunt a hunted part- 
 ridge ! for shame ! " ^ We do not wish to deprive Charles 
 of the credit of an act of generosity ; but there can be no 
 doubt that at that time when political feeling ran very 
 high, an attempt to apprehend a Protestant champion like 
 Argyll would have been resisted by force, and that the 
 King knew this. When the power of the Protestant faction 
 was weakened, the Earl lost no time in escaping to Holland. 
 
 About this time Argyll heard of the death of 
 Lauderdale ^, which took place at Tunbridge Wells on 
 Aug. 20th, 1682. The last years of " that noble and 
 extraordinary person ", the most learned and powerful 
 minister of state of his age, had been unhappy. Apart 
 from the burden of bulk and disease which oppressed 
 him, and the insatiable greed of his wife which greatly 
 impoverished his estate *, he had many political mortifi- 
 cations to embitter him. He saw with sorrow and anger 
 that his influence with the King diminished every day, and 
 that the power of the Duke of York was in the ascendant. 
 Some weeks before he died he was heard to use Cardinal 
 Wolsey's words of lamentation at being shaken off in his 
 old age by an ungrateful master. Yet after all, there 
 was but little ground for the complaint, for it had been 
 the favour of the King which had protected him from 
 
 * Law, Manor ialh, p. 21411. 
 
 * B;orf. Brit, vol. Ill, p. 198. 
 
 ' Law, Mcmorlalls, p. 234 : Camden Miscellany, vol. XI, p. 77. 
 
 * Kirkton, History, p. 3i5n.
 
 LAUDERDALE'S CAREER 297 
 
 disgrace and probably from death upon the scaffold. A 
 few years before, when the Duke of Hamilton and 
 Monmouth, who was then all powerful with Charles, had 
 combined against him, he had strengthened his position by 
 advising the recall of the Duke of York from Flanders ; 
 and when again it became necessary for the latter to leave 
 England, Lauderdale had suggested his being sent down 
 to Scotland and had promised him the support of his 
 party there. Both of these measures had tended greatly 
 to the advantage of the Duke of York, and Lauderdale 
 no doubt expected some return in the way of gratitude. 
 Certainly he received none. Apart from the fact that in 
 the Stewart nature that emotion was neither spontaneous 
 nor active, the Duke of York in the present instance 
 could scarcely fail to ascribe all that Lauderdale had done 
 on his behalf to prudential motives with a view to self- 
 preservation. The vote which he had given in the 
 December of 1680 against Lord Stafford as guilty of a 
 share in the Popish Plot aroused against him James's 
 hatred which, however skilfully veiled, was implacable. 
 From the time that the Duke of York came to Scotland 
 Lauderdale was virtually superseded, and his faction 
 there was broken up. Some of them combined with 
 York's friends to form what a contemporary annalist calls 
 " a mongrel party " devoted to his interests, and others 
 were driven from public life. ^ 
 
 Lauderdale's political career was very remarkable and 
 a few words in the way of emphasizing the salient 
 points in it may here be permitted us. Our readers will 
 remember that he was not originally in favour of the 
 re-introduction of Episcopacy into Scotland after the 
 Restoration, and that this measure was largely due to 
 the pressure put upon Charles by Middleton and Sharp 
 and by the English statesmen then in office. For a time 
 Lauderdale had need of all his political ability and cunning 
 to retain his position as Secretary of State for Scotland. 
 The overthrow of Middleton removed a great obstacle 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 75.
 
 298 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 from his path, but he was not firmly seated in power until 
 after the suppression of the Pentland Hills insurrection. 
 He then broke up the combination of the military party 
 with the Bishops, which had provoked that outbreak, and 
 from that time forward to the day when his failing powers 
 necessitated his giving way to a successor in the Duke of 
 York, he kept a firm grip of the reins of government. 
 His policy in civil affairs was very simple : he aimed at 
 making the King absolute in Scotland, and at providing 
 him with an army there that might, if occasion arose, be 
 used by him in suppressing rebellion In England. A 
 vizier with aims like these was sure of steady employment 
 under a king like Charles. His first task after dissolving 
 the Holy Alliance above referred to was to restore some 
 semblance of law and order in the country. He then 
 entered upon a policy of conciliation in dealing with the 
 more rigid Presbyterians, the outcome of which was the 
 first Act of Indulgence. The comparative failure of this 
 attempt led to a return to harsh measures of repression. 
 The fierceness with which Lauderdale trampled out all 
 attempts on the part of the Episcopal clergy to manifest 
 a spirit of independence, and his bringing in measure 
 after measure of Indulgence to the " outed ministers, 
 induced many even of the ardent Presbyterian party to 
 regard him to the end as one who was not altogether 
 unfavourable to them. 
 
 It is difficult in forming an estimate even of his 
 political career to keep out of view his brutal, overbearing 
 manners and the vices with which his life was stained ; 
 but we think that his ecclesiastical policy was not alto- 
 gether an unreasonable one. The clean sweep of the 
 Revolution Settlement was impossible for him to effect 
 in the circumstances in which he was placed. He would 
 willingly have brought about a compromise between the 
 two parties ; and when this was found to be impracticable, 
 he curbed the arrogance of the Episcopal clergy and 
 ameliorated to some extent the lot of those who had been 
 so unjustly driven out of the Church. For those who
 
 1ST Earl of Shaftesbury.
 
 CLOSING MISFORTUNES 299 
 
 refused to accept the Acts of Indulgence and for political 
 rivals who sought to wrest the power out of his hands he 
 had no mercy, and at times he desired nothing more 
 eagerly than that they would openly rebel and give him 
 the opportunity of quelling them by the sword. When 
 the Duke of York began to assail Argyll and Dalrymple, 
 Lauderdale eagerly took their side and endeavoured, but 
 without avail, to persuade Charles that they were persons 
 well disposed to serve him and that they deserved 
 support and not suppression. On the sentence of death 
 and forfeiture being passed upon Argyll both the Duke 
 and Duchess of Lauderdale interceded vehemently in 
 favour of Lord Lome, who was the latter's son-in-law 
 and endeavoured to secure for him as much as could be 
 saved of the forfeited estate \ The misfortunes of Argyll 
 were among the troubles which overclouded Lauderdale's 
 last days, indicating as they did a deliberate purpose to 
 reverse to a considerable extent his policy in Scotland. 
 If he had had the gift of second-sight, and if the vanities of 
 this world still seemed to him to have value as he stood 
 upon the threshold of another, we could well believe that 
 he would have been additionally tortured by the know- 
 ledge that his mortal enemy, the Duke of Hamilton, 
 would succeed him as a Knight of the Garter.^ 
 
 Shaftesbury had offered to serve Argyll to the best of 
 his power but that power was now considerably enfeebled. 
 For that energetic and versatile genius who had acted as 
 an instrument of despotism before he became a champion 
 of freedom — 
 
 " This day a Strafford and the next a Pym ", ^ — had by 
 this time nearly run his course. He had fought for the 
 noblest of causes but he had used vile weapons, and the 
 result was that for a time he alienated a large section of 
 English society from the Whig party. The exploitation 
 of the Popish Plot, the agitation for the Exclusion Bill, 
 
 > Macpherson, State Papers, vol. I, pp. 124, 131. 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 76. 
 * Lytton, Poems, " St. Stephen's".
 
 300 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the proposal to divorce the childless Queen, and the 
 approval given to the scheme of substituting Monmouth 
 for the Duke of York as heir-presumptive to the 
 throne, are all alike discreditable to him and to the party 
 which he led ; and when these plans were backed by 
 menaces which brought the country to the verge of civil 
 war, we cannot be surprised that Charles regained a 
 considerable measure of popularity, and that he recovered 
 power which enabled him easily to defeat the last desper- 
 ate schemes of his principal antagonist. 
 
 By his unexpected dissolution of the Oxford Parlia- 
 ment (March 28th, 168 i), Charles had put an end to the 
 Exclusion Bill, which had been passed three several times 
 by the House of Commons. As he summoned no other 
 Parliament for the rest of his reign, the Whigs were 
 deprived of constitutional means of resisting misgovern- 
 ment and of counteracting designs that might be formed 
 against the rights and liberties of the nation. He pursued 
 his advantage mercilessly and the Whig leaders found 
 that their lives and property were now assailed. Shortly 
 before Argyll arrived in London, Shaftesbury had been 
 arrested and tried on a trumped up charge of treason, and 
 had owed his escape to the fact that no regularly consti- 
 tuted jury in the city of London, where his influence was 
 strong, would convict him. By a mixture of fraud and 
 force the King secured the election of two Tory sheriffs, 
 and as they had the choice of juries it was morally certain 
 that Shaftesbury would not escape if tried on a similar 
 charge a second time, and that, indeed, any man obnox- 
 ious to the Court could easily be struck down. The 
 Whig leaders, instead of waiting to be butchered, began 
 to consult seriously as to the advisability of arranging 
 for a general rising against the King. Shaftesbury and 
 a council of six, Monmouth, Essex, Russell, Sidney, 
 H-ampden, and Howard, planned an insurrection in 
 different parts of the country ; while their subordinates 
 with the aid of two old Cromwellians, Rumbold and 
 Rumsey, added to the scheme the proposal of an attack
 
 RYE-HOUSE PLOT 301 
 
 upon the persons of Charles II and of the Duke of 
 York.^ It is quite possible that some of the conspirators, 
 such as Monmouth, Russell, and Essex, may have been 
 ignorant of the Assassination Plot ; but, though none of 
 the official leaders were actively engaged in it, some of 
 them were almost certainly accessory to it. Grounds 
 might easily be found, therefore, for refusing to regard 
 the plots as separate, and for convicting every one who 
 was connected with either of them of a capital offence. 
 Some may have disguised to themselves the scheme of 
 insurrection as the demand of armed petitioners that the 
 King should summon a Parliament, but they found that 
 their mere association with others who had a distinctly 
 criminal purpose in view, involved them in the same 
 
 Argyll did not actively co-operate in this movement 
 though he was made acquainted with some, at any rate, of 
 the measures proposed, and gave the conspirators the 
 benefit of his advice. The latter certainly counted upon 
 his raising a rebellion in Scotland as part of their plan. 
 The matter was definitely broached at an interview in 
 London between Argyll and Shaftesbury some time in 
 the summer of 1682, and the sum of ;^30,ooo Sterling 
 was named by Argyll as likely to be needed for carrying 
 on a campaign against the Government in that country. 
 He lowered his demands in the course of discussion, and 
 spoke of ^T 1 5,000 Sterling or even of ;^ 10,000 as 
 possibly sufficient for the purpose of setting Scotland in 
 a blaze. But all these proposals came to nothing. The 
 information we have upon this matter is derived from 
 Lord Grey who took part in the Monmouth rebellion, 
 and who, while a prisoner in the Tower, made a servile 
 confession of all that he knew regarding the plans and 
 intrigues of the defeated rebels. His dastardly character 
 prejudices one against his history of the events in which 
 he had taken a prominent part, but there is no reason to 
 doubt his veracity in what he has to say of Argyll's 
 
 1 Trevelyan, England under the Shiarts, p. 420.
 
 302 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 connexion with them. With regard to this interview 
 between Shaftesbury and him, he tells us that he derived 
 his information from the former and from Monmouth, 
 and that the reasons why the proposals came to nothing 
 was that Shaftesbury was all through suspicious of Argyll.^ 
 Many among the arch-conspirator's associates were deeply 
 tinged with republicanism, and for long there had been 
 a dead set made by all of them against Lauderdale : so 
 that Argyll's royalist politics and his intimate connexion 
 with the Secretary of State for Scotland would naturally 
 account for the uncertainty concerning him which Shaftes- 
 bury is alleged to have felt. We have also to bear in 
 mind the fact that the possibility of Argyll's making 
 terms with the Government was not inconceivable. Had 
 he chosen to resign the hereditary jurisdictions of which 
 they were anxious to strip him, a compromise might 
 have been effected by which he would have been restored 
 to his title and property. The contingency may have 
 been very remote, but it was worth being taken into 
 account : and the conspirators were not to be blamed 
 if at first they were chary of admitting to full confidence 
 one who might come to terms with the Government 
 which they were seeking to overthrow.^ 
 
 The only other prominent person concerned in the 
 matter, with whom Argyll met while in London, was 
 Viscount Granard, whom he had known as Sir Arthur 
 Forbes in the rising in the Highlands under Glencairn 
 and Middleton, and with whom he had been on terms 
 of special intimacy and friendship. Forbes had at that 
 time been taken prisoner and confined in Edinburgh 
 Castle, and he owed his liberation to the exertions on 
 his behalf made by Argyll, then Lord Lome, at the 
 time of the latter's capitulation.^ After the Restoration 
 he was employed and advanced and was now a peer and 
 
 ^ Grey, Secret History of the Rye-House Plot, p. 15 : Account of the Discoveries 
 made in Scotla)id, (1685), p. II. 
 
 * Foxcroft, Supplement to Burnet, p. 156. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 144, n.
 
 ARGYLL AND GRANARD 303 
 
 one of the two Lords Justices of Ireland. His share 
 in the plot was to head a rising in that country in the 
 Protestant interest. This nobleman, on coming to 
 London and hearing that Argyll was in concealment 
 there, was very anxious to see him, and applied to his 
 son, Lord Lome, to arrange for an interview between 
 them. The latter informed Granard that he was utterly 
 ignorant of the place where his father was lodging, but 
 that he would speak about the matter to the person 
 through whom he himself had occasional interviews with 
 his father. This was of course, Mr. Veitch, who, on 
 finding that Argyll was equally desirous for the interview, 
 made arrangements for it. " Upon which " he tells us, 
 " My Lord Lome and Mr. Veitch under the name of 
 Captain Forbes, resolved they [all] should meet and dine 
 together at the Dolphin in Lombard Street, being the 
 ordinary place where Argyll and his son used to meet. 
 There they spent several hours together discoursing upon 
 the times and what they thought proper for them to do 
 to prevent the evils that threatened both Church and 
 State ".^ The same authority tells us the following parti- 
 culars with regard to what was decided upon by them at 
 the second and final meeting held at the same place. 
 " After long reasoning," he says, " upon the public affairs 
 as they stood (which had a dismal prospect) they con- 
 cluded to join with the Duke of Monmouth and the 
 honest nobility, gentry and commons in the three king- 
 doms that should appear for the Protestant interest ; 
 viz., Argyll heading the same in Scotland, Monmouth in 
 England and Granard in Ireland and that wherever Argyll 
 appeared in the West of Scotland he [Granard] should 
 send out of Ireland five thousand trained soldiers to 
 assist Argyll. Upon which Mr. Forbes did see the two 
 Earls pass their parole and change their walking-canes 
 upon that head. But ", he adds, " when the time came 
 nothing of this was performed and what was the obstruct- 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 143.
 
 304 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 ion Mr Forbes knows not. " ^ One of the questions 
 put to Argyll after his capture in 1685 was as to "why 
 those in Ireland rose not ? " ' We do not know what 
 his reply was, but there is no doubt that the real explana- 
 tion was that Granard had either changed his political 
 opinions or judged it to be unsafe to support Argyll. 
 On June 5th, 1685, we find the Privy Council informing 
 the Marquess of Atholl that the Earl of Granard, as he 
 had then become, had a thousand men in Ireland ready 
 to be sent over into Scotland, if required, to suppress 
 rebellion. ^ As a matter of fact Granard at the Revolu- 
 tion adhered to James II and sat in his Privy Council 
 and Parliament in 1689, "but becoming satisfied," we are 
 told, " of the duplicity of that monarch and his intentions 
 to establish Popery, he left him and went over to William 
 in 1690. " * 
 
 Some hint of the plot and of Argyll's share in it 
 must have become known, for in September of 1682 the 
 authorities were upon his track. He escaped capture 
 and took refuge in Holland, whither a few weeks later 
 he was followed by Shaftesbury. The plans of the 
 conspirators were almost as numerous and as diverse in 
 character as the conspirators themselves. Monmouth 
 dreamed of receiving a royal crown ; Russell wished to 
 safeguard the interest of William of Orange ; Sidney and 
 Essex aimed at establishing a Republic of the antique 
 Roman type, in which aristocratic houses like their own, 
 played a prominent part ; Rumbold and other old Crom- 
 wellians hoped to see again a democratic Commonwealth 
 like that which the last English revolution had ushered 
 in ; while all of them were suspicious of Shaftesbury 
 whose real plans and purposes none of them knew. ^ The 
 latter disappeared immediately before the new Lord 
 Mayor and Sheriffs entered on office, and after conceal- 
 
 1 Vciich MS. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. IV, p. 299. 
 
 ^ Vindication of the Marquess of A thole (1690), p. 5. 
 
 * McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch etc., p. 145, n. 
 
 * Trevelyan, England wider the Stuarts, p. 421.
 
 DEATH OF SHAFTESBURY 305 
 
 ment for some weeks in obscure houses in the City and 
 in Wapping, fled to Holland, on finding that his associates 
 had agreed to postpone the insurrection (Nov. 28th). 
 Two months later (Jan. 21st, 1683), his fiery soul was 
 quenched in death. His body was brought from Amster- 
 dam, where he died, to England and buried at Wimborne 
 St. Giles in Dorsetshire. ^ 
 
 • Christie, Life of Shaftesbury^ vol. II, p. 461.
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Sir James Dalrymple retires to Holland — Argyll's petition to Charles II — 
 The Carolina Project — Conspiracy against the English Government — 
 Rye-House Plot — Major Holmes apprehended — William Spence and 
 the letters in cipher — Impoverishment of the Earl and Countess of 
 Argyll — The condition of matters in Scotland — Claverhouse's activity. 
 
 Sir James Dalrymple, as we have seen, was dismissed 
 from his office of President of the Court of Session. He 
 went up to London to seek an audience with Charles II, 
 but a messenger from the Duke of York had preceded 
 him and he was not admitted to an interview with the 
 King. He thereupon retired to Cars-Creoch, his country- 
 seat in Galloway, and employed his leisure in preparing 
 his Institutions of the Law of Scotland for publication. This 
 monumental work, the fruit of forty years' experience 
 of the Court of Session, twenty as an advocate, ten as a 
 judge and ten as its President, is one of the greatest 
 treatises on jurisprudence which has ever appeared. The 
 fact that the author of it was ultimately driven out of the 
 country is of itself a striking condemnation of the 
 Government of the time. He and his son came into 
 collision with Claverhouse in their endeavours to 
 maintain their own rights, and to mitigate the severity 
 of the penal laws, and he was informed by Sir George 
 Mackenzie, the Lord Advocate, that he would be prose- 
 cuted if he remained in Scotland. Accordingly, about the 
 time that Argyll made his escape from London, Dalrymple 
 also retired to Holland and took up his residence in
 
 APPEAL TO CHARLES II 307 
 
 Leyden, where he applied himself to the publication of 
 another important legal work, the first volume of his 
 Decisions of the Court of Session. During his exile he seems 
 to have had no intercourse with Argyll, though no doubt 
 he wished well to the enterprise on which the latter so 
 rashly embarked. He himself returned to Britain in 
 company with the Prince of Orange in 1688. ^ His long 
 association with Argyll before they were both driven 
 from Scotland, and their combined efforts to modify the 
 evils which they could not avert, led to their being 
 regarded with animosity by Charles II. He said on one 
 occasion that there was never a rebellion in Scotland 
 without a Campbell or a Dalrymple at the bottom of it. ^ 
 A stronger testimony in favour of patriotic zeal could 
 scarcely be given than blame from such a tainted quarter. 
 Not long after the death of Shaftesbury, Argyll sent a 
 petition to Charles II asking for a complete reversal of 
 the sentence of forfeiture which had been pronounced 
 against him. In it he stated that more than a year had 
 elapsed since the sentence in question had been passed 
 upon him, and that this was his first direct address to the 
 King. His enemies, he said, had been encouraged by 
 his " quiet submission " to greater activity against himself 
 and his family; but, as he had heard that His Majesty 
 had more than once spoken of him in kindly terms, he 
 wished a personal interview with him. He affirmed that 
 he had committed no offence against the King, the law, 
 or the Church, but that he had withheld some grounds for 
 defence of himself which were more suitable to be 
 imparted to the royal ear than to be made generally 
 known. He, therefore, asked that time and place for an 
 interview might be fixed by the King and a safe-conduct 
 sent to him to enable him to come to London. ^ There 
 is no evidence that the appeal met with any reply. The 
 document seems to belong to some time not long before 
 
 ' Mackay, Life of ist. Viscount Stair, pp. 150, 213, 
 
 ^ Kirkton, History, p. 328, n. 
 
 3 Hist. MSS. Com. Report VI, p. 633.
 
 3o8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the month of June of 1683, when the Rye-House Plot 
 was disclosed to the Government. Certainly after the 
 latter event it would have been impossible for Argyll to 
 write to the King in any such terms. The appeal does 
 not seem to us to be ingenuous. It seems rather to be 
 an attempt to divert attention from the actions in which 
 he was engaged, or to delay some procedure against 
 himself or his family, which his enemies were pressing on. 
 We are at no pains to defend him, if it be the case that in 
 this appeal to Charles II he was disingenuous. The fact 
 that he had to some extent taken up the role of a conspir- 
 ator implied a resort on his part, at any rate occasionally, 
 to methods of concealment and deception. In any case 
 the present work is rather a history of him and of his 
 times than an apology for him. 
 
 A number of prominent men in Scotland of the Pres- 
 byterian party, despairing of the condition of matters in 
 their native country, thought of emigrating to America, 
 and planned the purchase of land in which to settle in the 
 province of Carolina. Those who were willing to expatr- 
 iate themselves were naturally among the most zealous 
 opponents of the present Government, and accordingly 
 the English conspirators under the pretence of the 
 American scheme put themselves into communication 
 with the projectors with a view to engaging them in their 
 desperate undertaking. This incident has led to some 
 doubt being expressed as to whether the American 
 proposal were ever anything else than a mere blind for 
 plotting, but there is ample reason to believe that it was 
 a bond fide design. ^ The intermediary between these 
 Scotch gentlemen and the conspirators in London was 
 Mr. Carstares, the well known ecclesiastic and politician, 
 who after the Revolution was appointed Principal of 
 Edinburgh University. On his arrival in London, 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 14611 : Memoirs of Mrs. Vcifch, p. 8 : 
 Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 100 : Wodrow, History, vol. Ill, p. 368 : 
 Erskine, Jonnuil, p. 62 : Ferguson, Ferguson the Plotter, p. 68: Fountainhall, 
 Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 587.
 
 PROGRESS OF THE CONSPIRACY 309 
 
 shortly after Argyll had fled to the Continent, he received 
 a letter written with the approval of the refugees in 
 Holland, informing him that if he could persuade the 
 English conspirators to provide a certain sum of money 
 for the purchase of arms and ammunition, the exiles on 
 the Continent would undertake to cooperate with them 
 by arranging for an invasion of Scotland from the west 
 coast. Carstares told Russell and Sidney of the definite 
 form which the scheme had now taken, and urged accept- 
 ance of it, on the ground that Argyll's extensive juris- 
 dictions in the West of Scotland and his position as the 
 head of a great clan, made him the most suitable person 
 for conducting such an enterprise; while his recent suffer- 
 ings at the hands of the Government were bound to 
 secure support for him among those who resented 
 tyranny. Carstares found, however, that Sidney was 
 opposed to having anything to do with Argyll, for the 
 reason that, though his present situation might induce 
 him to cooperate with them, he was certain to dissent 
 from the more drastic policy which commended itself to 
 some of them. This was perfectly true. Argyll had all 
 his life been a royalist in politics, while the leaven of 
 republicanism was, as we have said, strong in other 
 members of the band of conspirators. Sidney was, indeed, 
 but one of the conspirators, yet his influence was 
 sufficiently powerful to render the solicitations of Carstares 
 fruitless for a time. ^ 
 
 The flight of Shaftesbury to Holland disconcerted the 
 schemes of the plotters and altered the whole position of 
 affairs. Shaftesbury's extraordinary influence in London, 
 which had secured strong support for them there, was 
 now lacking to them and they judged it advisable to 
 enter into a close league with Argyll and with the 
 refugees in Holland. Sidney no longer urged any 
 objection against the Earl. Carstares was invited over 
 to London and some of his friends were brought down 
 from Scotland in order to arrange all the details in 
 
 ' Carstares, State Papers, p. 9 : Story, William Carstares, p. 369.
 
 3IO A SCOTS EARL 
 
 connexion with the proposed rebellion and invasion. 
 The refugees in Holland consulted together as to what 
 they should demand in the way of support, both in 
 money and in men before beginning an invasion. 
 Argyll insisted that the sum of ;^30,ooo Sterling should 
 at once be advanced to him, and that a body of a 
 thousand horse should be raised in the North of England 
 to cross the border and join him the moment he set 
 foot in Scotland. This was agreed to, though some 
 were rather dubious as to the likelihood of so large a 
 sum of money being forthcoming. The fact that Lord 
 Grey, one of the conspirators had extensive estates 
 in Northumberland explains the part of the scheme 
 which concerned the raising of cavalry to support Argyll. 
 A plan of correspondence by means of an ingenious 
 cipher was arranged, and Carstares came to London with a 
 statement of the conditions laid down by the Scotch 
 exiles. He was assured by Lord Russell that it was 
 impossible to raise such a sum of money as that 
 mentioned, and he was asked to persuade Argyll to 
 accept ^ 10,000 Sterling, at any rate as a beginning. 
 The very dubious argument was urged that those who 
 contributed the sum would in all likelihood be willing to 
 increase their gifts after the enterprise had been set on 
 foot, from fear of losing what they had advanced. It 
 was more probable that they would decline to throw 
 good money after bad. As a matter of fact the money 
 specified was never contributed, and no steps were taken 
 to raise the body of horse which both parties agreed to 
 be necessary for the success of the scheme. ^ 
 
 Carstares was so mortified and dispirited by this state 
 of matters that he urged upon the Scotch conspirators 
 who were in London the necessity for suspending all 
 preparations for an insurrection in Scotland, while there 
 seemed no likelihood of receiving resolute support from 
 their English associates. He declared that there was no 
 cohesion among the various elements of the party with 
 
 ' Carstares, State papers, p. 13.
 
 RYE-HOUSE PLOT 311 
 
 which they had expected to cooperate, that their plans 
 were crude and undigested, and that in their chimerical 
 projects and idle debates they lost sight of the only 
 practicable course, viz., to resort at once to arms and to 
 demand a free Parliament. He was strongly supported 
 by Baillie of Jerviswood, one of the noblest figures in 
 the history of that time. The latter exclaimed " that 
 they had been too long the dupes of a set of men who 
 could do nothing but talk : that this, however, was no 
 reason why the Scots should desist : that, although there 
 was but a small spark of the spirit of liberty remaining 
 in their country, it was possible still to blow it into a 
 flame. If it was more difficult, it was likewise more 
 honourable, to act independently of the English ; and, if 
 they were successful, it would not be the first time that 
 England owed its liberty to the interposition of the 
 Scots. " ^ They unanimously resolved to intimate to the 
 English conspirators their intention to withdraw from 
 cooperation with them, unless the latter undertook to act 
 more vigorously ; and they sent word to their friends in 
 Scotland that the insurrection proposed was put off for 
 the present. No reply was received to their communica- 
 tion, for the bubble of conspiracy suddenly collapsed. 
 The course which events took is well known. The plot 
 for a general insurrection languished, but that for the 
 assassination of Charles II and his brother took definite 
 shape, and time and place were fixed for the attack upon 
 them. The conspirators planned to waylay the royal 
 party at the Rye-House, belonging to Rumbold, in 
 April as the King returned from the races at Newmarket. 
 By an accident the date of his journey was changed and 
 the attempt was foiled. In June both the plots were 
 disclosed to the Government and some of those who had 
 been half-hearted conspirators proved very zealous 
 informers upon their associates. Russell and Sidney 
 were convicted on Howard's evidence, and suffered 
 death ; Essex committed suicide ; Monmouth and 
 
 * Carstares, State Papers, p. 14.
 
 312 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Hampden were spared ; while Rumbold made his escape 
 and afterwards assisted Argyll in his enterprise in 
 Scotland. 
 
 At a very early stage in the investigations the 
 Government got wind of the connexion of Argyll with 
 the plot. On Tuesday, June 26th, Major Holmes was 
 apprehended and was examined before the King and 
 Privy Council. A great many letters in cipher along 
 with keys for interpreting such were found in his 
 possession, and naturally increased the suspicion of his 
 having been engaged in treasonable practices. In the 
 course of his examination he confessed to having had 
 correspondence with Argyll, and mentioned the name of 
 an accomplice who had only arrived from the Continent 
 the day before, a Mr. Butler, lodging at the Pewter 
 Pot^ in Leadenhall Street. Early next morning the 
 place was searched and the person in question was seized 
 in his bed. He gave his name as William Spence and 
 professed to be a student of divinity who had no 
 connection with political plots, but had come to London 
 on private affairs of his own. On the Thursday and 
 Friday after he was taken he was cross-examined by the 
 King and members of the Privy Council. He asserted 
 that he was a native of Sandreford in Fife, and for some 
 months past had been a student at the University of 
 Utrecht, and that he had come to London to buy some 
 books both for his own use and to sell at a profit in 
 order to make a living. He admitted having seen some 
 of the Scotch exiles in Holland — among others James 
 Stewart, and Dalrymple. He was asked if he knew 
 the Earl of Argyll and he replied that he would know 
 him if he saw him. The question was then put to him 
 as to whether he had seen the Earl in Holland ; but he 
 refused to answer. " I know not " he said, " what 
 answering to such questions concerning any in the Earl's 
 
 ' This was an obscure inn that stood on the southern side of Leadenhall 
 Street and was entered by a small alley way, about halfway between Lime 
 Street and Billiter Lane (Stow, Survey of London, 1720 edition).
 
 Archimald, 91 h Earl of Argyll.
 
 EXAMINATION OF SPENCE 313 
 
 circumstances may infer, and being no lawyer I hope his 
 Majesty will pardon I cannot now answer them, having 
 the advantage of no counsel." Charles was much 
 irritated by his obstinacy and threatened to send him 
 down to Scotland to be examined by torture, but he 
 elicited nothing more than protestations of innocence of 
 treasonable or any other offences. Next day he admitted 
 that he had been a servant to the Earl of Argyll, but 
 declared that all the time he had been connected with 
 him he had never seen anything in his conduct but what 
 was honourable, loyal and virtuous. He denied, how- 
 ever, that he had been sent over on special business to 
 Major Holmes. He was shown a letter and asked if it 
 were in the Earl's handwriting. He admitted that It 
 seemed to be so, though he could not be certain about it. 
 He declared that he knew nothing of the matters treated 
 of in the letter. In spite of repeated cross-examination by 
 the King, the Duke of York, Halifax and others, nothing 
 more could be drawn from him, and orders were given 
 that he should be imprisoned and heavily ironed and 
 hindered from communication with any friends, or with 
 other prisoners. ^ 
 
 In the end of 1683 the letters in cipher were sent 
 down to the Scotch Privy Council with instructions to 
 seek to elicit information from the Countess of Argyll with 
 regard to the key or keys to them. She and her step- 
 son. Lord Lome, were accordingly summoned before 
 the Council and questioned concerning this matter. 
 They both admitted that the letters were in the Earl's 
 handwriting. ^ The Countess stated that since her hus- 
 band's difficulties with the McLeans with regard to the 
 island of Mull, when his letters had been intercepted by 
 his enemies, he had adopted the use 6f cipher in writing 
 to her and to friends even concerning his private affairs. 
 
 ' Hist. Mss. Com. Report, VI. p. 633 : S. P. Dam., Charles II, vol. 433 : Sprat, 
 A True Account of the Horrid Conspiracy, p. 71 : Account of the Discoveries 
 made in Scotland, f. 13 (1685). 
 
 - Hist. MSS. Com. Report, VII. 377 b.
 
 314 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 " But, " she added, " upon the breaking out of the 
 English plot, she, judging such a way of corresponding 
 dangerous and liable to suspicion burnt [the key] four 
 months ago ; and she cannot read nor expound them ; 
 but that all the letters she got contained nothing of the 
 plot, but anent his own private affairs and his friends, 
 and it were a cruel law if a wife were obliged to detect 
 and reveal these. " ^ The Privy Council were dissatisfied 
 with her replies, as they considered they were disingenuous, 
 but they did nothing further at the time. The Earl 
 made use of more ciphers than one, and that used in the 
 letter which the Government was most desirous to have 
 deciphered was of special and remarkable difficulty. In 
 one of the letters, which some experts partially succeeded 
 in deciphering, a particular hieroglyph was supposed by 
 them to indicate the Earl of Balcarres. The Countess 
 was again summoned and, on finding her son thus 
 endangered, revealed the fact that the symbol in question 
 stood for a relative pronoun referring to the person 
 named immediately before it. This happened to be 
 Lord Maitland, Argyll's son-in-law, against whom action 
 was instantly taken to discover if he had been holding 
 any communication with the outlawed Earl. His papers 
 were seized and examined but nothing incriminating him 
 was found in them and proceedings in the matter were 
 abandoned. ^ It was ultimately discovered that the cipher 
 in which Argyll and his wife had corresponded was quite 
 different from that in which the important letter referring 
 to the Plot was written, and that the key to the latter 
 was known only to three persons of whom she was not 
 one, and she was not further troubled in connection with 
 the matter. ^ 
 
 The intimation to Spence that he might be sent down 
 to Scotland to be tried was by no means an empty 
 
 ' Fountai nhall, ///s^or/ca/ Notices,vo]. II, pp. 471, 477: Lindsay, Life of 
 Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 124. 
 
 " Erskine Journal, p. 32 : Anderson, Ladies of the Covenant, p. 489. 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 125.
 
 SPENCE TORTURED 315 
 
 threat. He was forwarded to Edinburgh and subjected 
 to examination by torture to compel him to supply 
 various items of information, which the authorities were 
 anxious to obtain, and to reveal the cipher in which the 
 Earl's letter was written. He was, indeed, able to do 
 the latter, but it is almost certain that he was unacquainted 
 with the particulars referred to in the document, and 
 that he knew nothing of the plot beyond some general 
 facts which were now pubhc property. It is specially 
 recorded as an element in the ingenuity of the cipher 
 that the person who had the key of it could not cast light 
 upon the subject matter contained in it. ^ When, there- 
 fore, the authorities put their list of questions with 
 regard to details of the plot in the forefront of Spence's 
 examination they were demanding from him information 
 which he was incapable of giving. 
 
 The treatment of Spence is one of the most disgraceful 
 incidents in the history of the infamous administration of 
 Charles II. The general principle with regard to torture 
 was that it was the last resort in extraordinary cases, and 
 that a person from whom it could not extort incriminating 
 matter was to be regarded as thereby purged from 
 suspicion of crime. Spence was tortured by " the boots " 
 but answered none of the questions proposed to him. 
 Here the matter should have ended. But the authorities 
 with diabolical cruelty condemned him to be tortured by 
 a new method. General Dalziel, who is surely the most 
 cold-blooded and revolting personage of that evil time, 
 was instructed to take charge of this business and to 
 employ the services of some of his men. The plan they 
 were to adopt was to allow the accused no sleep night or 
 day until he gave the information desired. ^ Spence 
 however, " with a courage ", as one of his admirers says, 
 " worthy of the Ancient Romans ", ^ bore this test 
 successfully for five days and nights and wearied out his 
 
 ' Carstares, State Papers, p. 105. 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 95. 
 
 ' Welwood, Memoirs, p. 174 : Erskine, Journal, p. 78.
 
 3i6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 tormentors without saying a word of which they could 
 make use. A third order was issued by the Council for 
 him to be tortured, but this seems to have been a 
 pedantic method of giving him an opportunity to petition 
 for his discharge on making some statements regarding 
 what he knew of the plot. His friends assured him that 
 he could reveal nothing that the Government did not 
 already know from other sources, and that his deciphering 
 the letter would not prejudice the Earl of Argyll or any 
 of his friends. He accordingly made a declaration on 
 oath which might have been made by almost any one in 
 the three kingdoms. It was to the effect that an 
 insurrection had been planned within the past two years, 
 that the intention of it was to hinder the Duke of York 
 from succeeding to the Crown on the ground of danger 
 to the Protestant religion and to the liberties of the 
 Kingdom, and that on the King's death troubles would 
 likely arise. ^ The letter which he deciphered had been 
 written from Holland on the day before the Plot had 
 been disclosed to the King (June 12th, 1683), and 
 contained information as to the way in which the 
 Insurrection was to be effected in both Kingdoms. In it 
 Argyll expostulated against the smallness of the sum 
 which his associates In England proposed to send him 
 for preparing for a rising in Scotland. He said he did 
 not know the grounds on which so little had been 
 offered, and that until these had been made clear to him 
 he would take no action In the matter. He considered 
 that his calculations, both with regard to the money and 
 to the military assistance needed, had been made on the 
 most moderate scale, and that It was quite within the 
 power of his correspondents to carry out his requests. 
 Even if they thought that less money and fewer horse- 
 soldiers would do, it would be absurd to run the risk of 
 failure In order to save the difference. They had to 
 remember that it would be too late to try to provide 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 96 : Account of the Discoveries made in 
 Scotland, p. 33.
 
 THE DECIPHERED LETTER 317 
 
 arms and munitions of war when the rebeUion had 
 actually begun. He reckoned the regular army in 
 Scotland as being about 2,000 foot and 1200 horse, 
 " all well appointed and tolerably well commanded ". 
 In addition to these were the mihtia of twenty 
 thousand foot and two thousand horse, and the 
 heritors or landholders who could be called upon to take 
 up arms for the defence of the country and would 
 bring the number up to some fifty thousand men. ^ 
 But of these two latter sections of the forces he reckoned 
 that one half would be in sympathy with the insurrection. 
 Even if the insurgents did not carry all before them at 
 once, the Earl considered that there would be a compact 
 body of them who would be able to maintain their 
 ground, and to whom the disaffected in the three King- 
 doms might rally. " Then, " he said, " it will not be 
 time to call for more Arms, far less for more Mony to 
 buy them ; and they should then prove like the Foolish 
 Virgins ". He pointed out that the money and men 
 whom he demanded would almost certainly keep in 
 check the whole power of Scotland, and that this would 
 be such a gain for the Protestant cause and for the 
 interest of their party, that it would be difficult to see 
 what better investment could be made of the proportion 
 of their funds for which he asked. He had reckoned 
 the money as low as if he had had to pay it out of his 
 own purse, and he would claim no exclusive management 
 of it. He was quite willing to submit his calculations to 
 expert advisers and to abide by their decision. He 
 concluded by saying that he was very anxious to have a 
 conference with his associates in England and was willing 
 either to come over in disguise to London, or to meet 
 with any delegate whom they might send to Holland. 
 He also said that there were many things he could 
 suggest as necessary to be done, but which he dared 
 not write down for fear of their coming to the know- 
 
 ' As will afterwards be seen Argyll underestimated the forces in Scotland 
 at the disposal of the Government by ten thousand men.
 
 3i8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 ledge of the enemy and putting them upon their guard. ^ 
 Those who are curious in such matters may find a 
 full description of the cipher used by the Earl on this 
 occasion in Carstares' State Papers , ^ but the following 
 account of it may suffice an ordinary reader. The whole 
 letter was evidently written by him in ordinary characters 
 in horizontal lines, each word in a space by itself as in a 
 modern telegraph-form, so that when it was completed 
 there happened to be one hundred and twenty eight 
 horizontal lines and eight columns of words. Then each 
 column was copied out in vertical order so that the 
 second word in the original sentence with which the 
 letter began was in the one hundredth and twenty-ninth 
 place from that which had proceded it. The result of 
 this displacement was an amazing and apparently hopeless 
 state of chaos. In addition to this, certain important 
 words and phrases were still further concealed by being 
 written in a numerical cipher in which letters of the 
 alphabet were represented by numbers like i)?)^ 69, etc., 
 and proper names such as England and Scotland were 
 represented by such unmeaning words as Birch and 
 Brand respectively. The preface to the document was 
 in ordinary English and professed to be the introduction 
 to a mercantile letter. It said that Mr. B. would explain 
 matters ; and it concluded by saying that Mr. B. would 
 pay the total sum of one hundred and twenty eight 
 guilders and eight stivers. This was a hidden reference 
 to the number of lines and columns above mentioned. 
 The hint was slight enough but yet it gave a certain 
 clue to the method of concealment which had been 
 adopted. The Government employed experts in cipher 
 to deal with the letter and the result of their labours was 
 confirmed and supplemented by the account which Spence 
 gave of its contents. ^ On receiving his declarations the 
 
 ' Sprat, A True Account, etc., p. 85 : Carstares, State Papers, p. 119. 
 
 * P. 107. 
 
 * Law, Mcmorialls, p. 251 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 188 : Sprat, 
 A True Account, etc., p. 84. Another and simpler cipher used by Argyll in a 
 letter to his wife is given in Carstares' State Papers, p. 107. In this the
 
 FATE OF MAJOR HOLMES 319 
 
 Privy Council under the royal seal assured him that 
 neither his testimony nor the matter he had deciphered 
 would be used against him or any other person. This 
 promise was disgracefully violated immediately upon its 
 being made, as the deciphered letter was used to procure 
 the condemnation of Carstares. The latter was referred 
 to in it under the pseudonym of Mr. Red, a fact of which 
 Spence was perfectly ignorant, but which other inform- 
 ation in the hands of the authorities placed beyond 
 doubt. ^ For a short time Spence suffered imprisonment 
 of no very rigorous kind in Dumbarton Castle. It is 
 more probable that he was set at liberty than that he 
 made his escape from that fortress, as further detention 
 of him could scarcely be sanctioned by colour of law. ^ 
 He rejoined Argyll in Holland and we shall hear of his 
 later adventures in the unfortunate invasion of Scotland 
 in the following year. 
 
 The fate of Major Holmes, who was for a time so 
 closely associated with Argyll, was a very extraordinary 
 one. He had, as we have seen, been connected with the 
 Rye-House Plot and he afterwards took some part in 
 Monmouth's rising. On being made prisoner he was 
 brought before James II, who was, we are told, " struck 
 with his age, his manly look, and more manly manner, 
 and told him he might make himself easy as no harm 
 should befall him. " For a little time after this he was 
 often seen in the antechamber at Court. Suddenly 
 however, he disappeared and enquiries were made about 
 him. It was then discovered that Judge Jeffries had 
 caused him to be seized secretly in London and conveyed 
 to the place in the West where he was on circuit. Here 
 he was condemned to death and executed and his body 
 
 letters of the alphabet are indicated by 40 for a, 41, for b, and so on, conse- 
 cutively up to 64 for ampersand. In order to complicate matters many mute 
 ciphers are interspersed among the others, as e. g. 34, 67, 28, 69, etc. These 
 have no meaning and are only added to perplex those who have not the key. 
 The person who has the key recognises them as mutes by their being either 
 below 40 or above 64. 
 
 1 Wodrow, History, vol. IV, pp. 96, 98. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 553.
 
 320 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 was hung in chains. ^ No remark seems to have been 
 made regarding this murderous activity of the Chief 
 Justice beyond that of the writer who relates the incident. 
 His comment upon it is that " Jeffries often followed his 
 own opinion alone in matters within his department. " " 
 James II apparently found no fault with the ardent zeal 
 of his servant. Indeed it would have been difficult to 
 offend him by procedure prompted by that motive, 
 however wicked and shameful might be the conduct to 
 which it led. 
 
 The Countess of Argyll resided for the most part in 
 Stirling during her husband's exile. His forfeiture had 
 cut off the means of subsistence for herself and her family 
 and for a time they were in great distress. One of the 
 daughters, Jean, was provided for by her marriage with 
 her cousin. Lord Lothian, who by coming forward at this 
 juncture to ally himself with the House of Campbell not 
 only manifested generosity of character but also expressed 
 sympathy with those who were being treated with flagrant 
 injustice. ^ The Countess had a small income of four 
 thousand merks a year [;^222-4-5 Sterling] from the 
 estate of Wester Pitcorthie near Balcarres, which had 
 been settled upon her by her first husband. A short 
 time after Argyll's escape from the Castle of Edinburgh, 
 the sum of seven thousand merks a year [;^3 8 8-17-9 
 Sterling] was assigned to her out of his forfeited property 
 (Mar. 4th., 1682). He was now regarded as dead in law 
 and this sum was the jointure which had previously been 
 agreed upon as provision for her in case of his actual 
 death. His estates were administered by commissioners 
 who were ordered to give her precedence over all other 
 creditors. The reason why this special favour was shown 
 to her was the King's recollection of the faithful services 
 to his cause rendered in the time of Cromwell by the 
 
 ' One of the pack of cards published to satirize Monmouth's rebellion 
 represents " Major Holmes and 2 other Rebells, hanged in chains. " 
 * Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 142. 
 ' Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 122.
 
 FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS 321 
 
 Earl of Balcarres, her first husband, and of the many- 
 hardships which she herself then underwent. Yet the 
 estates on which this annual payment was imposed were 
 so seriously impoverished that she received but a part of 
 her due income, and she was forced within a year after 
 her husband's forfeiture to sell part of her household 
 furniture and personal property to supply her wants. ^ 
 Argyll's children were provided for out of his forfeited 
 property. The matter was considered by the King and 
 Privy Council, and it was decided that Lord Lome 
 should not have possession of Inveraray but that ;^I250 
 Sterling a year free of all encumbrance should be settled 
 upon him. John received ;^2oo Sterling a year, his 
 brothers ^150 Sterling and his sisters ;/^ioo Sterling 
 each. Lord Lome himself appeared before the Council 
 and pled his own cause and that of the other members of 
 the family. He pressed hard to have the Superiorities 
 possessed by his ancestors granted to him, but it was 
 pointed out that these involved the right of military 
 service from vassals, and the request was firmly refused. 
 All that the King would consent to was the removal 
 from the family of the taint in blood which the sentence 
 of forfeiture for treason brought with it. ^ 
 
 The Earl himself was in an even worse plight than 
 his wife in the matter of poverty. The instant and 
 complete failure of income consequent upon his forfeiture 
 involved very serious hardships for him. Some of his 
 friends, as we have seen, came to his rescue and provided 
 means for his journey to London, conspicuous among 
 them being Mr. Veitch who took such a prominent part 
 in that episode. Argyll promised to repay the kindness 
 of this latter benefactor by the gift of an estate in 
 Kintyre, when he was restored to his rights and able to 
 effect the arrangement. But this time, unhappily for 
 Veitch, never came. ^ In the end of 1682, £^0 Sterling 
 
 ' Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 123. 
 
 ' Letters to the Earl of Aberdeen (Spalding Club), p. 6 : Life of James II, 
 vol. I, p. 712 : Fountainhall Historical Notices, vol I, p. 350. 
 ^ McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 192.
 
 322 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 was collected among the Earl's tenants in Kintyre and 
 Islay, and sent to him ; but no regular income was 
 provided for him in this way. ^ It is reasonable to 
 suppose that the wealthy friends, with whom he found 
 an asylum in London and who contributed a large part 
 of the war-expenses in 1684-5, came to his relief. But 
 from another quarter still he received maintenance while 
 in exile. As he was the leader of a party and was 
 expected to take active measures for redressing the evils 
 under which the country groaned, it was thought right 
 that funds should be raised in Scotland and forwarded to 
 him for his support. Sir John Cochran, who afterwards 
 aided him in his expedition, and Alexander Gordon of 
 Earlston, seem to have had charge of this matter. ^ 
 Thus we find it recorded of Sir John Shaw of Greenock, 
 of whose activity on the side of the Government we 
 shall afterwards hear, that he obtained a royal pardon for 
 having at an earlier period trafficked with the disaffected 
 party, and especially for having concealed the fact that 
 Cochran had demanded ^50 Sterling from him as a 
 contribution to be sent to the Earl of Argyll. ^ 
 
 For more than two years and a half the Earl lived in 
 Holland. His principal place of residence was on a 
 small property which he and his father had acquired in 
 Friesland. The story ran that one of their household or 
 tenants had many years before prophesied that a day 
 would come when they would be driven from Inveraray, 
 and that this had suggested their providing a place of 
 refuge. * Local tradition, speaking, however, in very 
 uncertain tones, fixes the exact locality as the village of 
 Oudwoude near Leeuwarden. But the Earl paid frequent 
 visits to Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and for some time 
 lived with his friends, the Smiths, in Utrecht, whither 
 they had removed from London. He occupied himself, 
 
 1 AthoU Chronicles^ vol. I, p. 192. (Privately printed) : Brodie, Diary, p. 490. 
 " Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, pp. 574, 577 : Ibid, Historical 
 Observes, p. 142 : Sprat, A True Account, p. 74. 
 
 * Laing Charters, Edinburgh University Library, 2855. 
 
 * Sprat, A True Account, p. 123.
 
 CONDITION OF THINGS IN SCOTLAND 323 
 
 as he afterwards tells us, with devotional exercises and 
 meditations to a greater extent than had been usual with 
 him in previous years ; but unfortunately he resumed 
 the political and seditious intrigues which had for a time 
 been interrupted by the failure of the Rye-House Plot. 
 Leeuwarden was the place of residence of a knot of 
 Presbyterian exiles of the most rigid type, who kept up 
 a correspondence with the irreconcilables in Scotland. ^ 
 We may be perfectly certain that they held no intercourse 
 with the Earl of Argyll and his associates, for they 
 regarded them with a hostility but little inferior to that 
 which they cherished for the House of Stewart. 
 
 With the engagement at Airds Moss the last flame of 
 open rebellion in Scotland flickered out. Some districts 
 of the country were in a state of sullen disaffection, and 
 a few isolated bands of desperate insurgents still evaded 
 all attempts to capture them, but the risk of a general 
 rising was over. The Bothwell Bridge rebellion had 
 shown that the mass of the population held aloof from 
 such undertakings, and that the ranks of the enemies of 
 the Government were torn by dissensions which weakened 
 their power of attack. This being the case, one might 
 have expected some relaxation of the rigour with which 
 the country had been governed. But two circumstances 
 hindered any such change of policy. An abandonment 
 of the policy of repression would have been a palliation 
 of the guilt of past rebellion and an encouragement to 
 new efforts at resistance, while at the same time it would 
 have closed a source of revenue which had rewarded, even 
 if it had not inspired, the zeal of servants of the Govern- 
 ment. " Forfeitures and fines, " says J. H. Burton, 
 " became so lucrative to those who laid hands on them, 
 that the discovery of recusants was more desirable than 
 the obtaining of Conformists. The bonding and testing 
 system hounded out upon their neighbours an army of 
 rapacious informers and lawyers. The man who was 
 worth harassing had set down at his door some keen and 
 
 ^ See letters at the end of Shield's Faithful Contcndings.
 
 324 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 greedy man of office or of law, whose interest it was to 
 keep him and his affairs in continual remembrance until 
 the exaction of the last available coin. " ^ In theory no 
 doubt the forfeited property belonged to the Crown, but 
 gifts of it were often made and in other instances a con- 
 siderable percentage of the revenue from this source went 
 to those who collected it. Both fear and greed were 
 therefore enlisted in support of the harsh rule which had 
 prevailed in Scotland for so many years past. 
 
 The Cameronians had already openly spoken of them- 
 selves as engaged in war with the Government, but a fresh 
 Declaration of the fact in October, 1684, together with 
 the murder of two of the life-guards, led to fresh sever- 
 ities being instituted against the disaffected and those 
 who sympathized with them. The Privy Council applied 
 to the Lords of Session for a judgment upon the matter, 
 and they decided that those were guilty of treason who 
 refused to answer on oath whether they owned this 
 Declaration or not, so far as it declared war against the 
 King and asserted the lawfulness of killing those employed 
 by him. Thereupon the Privy Council passed an Act to 
 the effect that all who refused to abjure the Declaration 
 should be put to death, whether in arms or not, on being 
 summoned to do so in the presence of two witnesses by 
 a person commissioned by the Council. ^ This was 
 simply military execution without trial, and but little 
 care was taken to prevent the exercise of the extensive 
 powers granted under this Act from falling into unworthy 
 hands, for subordinate officers of the army and even 
 common soldiers received commissions to administer the 
 Oath of Abjuration. ^ Some may think that any who 
 refused to disown so disloyal a Declaration deserved their 
 fate. Many, however, who had taken no part in rebel- 
 lious proceedings, hesitated to condemn them, especially 
 in view of the fact that their action would be interpreted 
 
 • History of Scotland, vol.Vll, p. 192. 
 ' ^^'odrow, History, vol. IV, p. 155. 
 ' Ibid, p. 155. .
 
 CLAVERHOUSE'S METHODS 325 
 
 as disowning the persecuted and as approving of the 
 cruelty which had driven them to resistance. ^ It was 
 under this Act that some of the most notorious executions 
 in this reign took place — such as that of John Brown of 
 Priesthill and those of the women drowned at Wigton — 
 executions against the legality of which we have not a 
 word to say. They were " iniquitously legal". 
 
 A scene in Nithsdale and Annandale after the accession 
 of James II and at a time when Argyll's invasion was 
 anticipated will give our readers a vivid idea of the 
 manner in which the Abjuration Oath was exacted by the 
 military authorities. The officer in charge of the pro- 
 ceedings happens to have been Claverhouse. " Wherever 
 Claver house came, " says Wodrow, " he resolved upon 
 narrow and universal work. He used to set his horse 
 upon the hills and eminences, and that in different parties, 
 that none might escape ; and there his foot went through 
 the lower, marshy, and mossy places, where the horse 
 could not do so well. The shire he parcelled out in so 
 many divisions, and six or eight miles square would be 
 taken in at once. In every division the whole inhabit- 
 ants, men and women, young and old, without distinct- 
 ion, were all driven into one convenient place. When 
 thus got together, he called out as many of them as he 
 saw proper, at once, till he got through them, and 
 interrogate[d] them severally, if they owned the Duke of 
 York, as he was formerly called, to be king. When they 
 had done so, he took an oath of all the men that [they] 
 should stand by him, and still own him as king, and 
 never do anything against him. Not satisfied with this, 
 he interrogate [d] them next, if they had taken the 
 abjuration ; and some whom he suspected, he posed upon 
 their oath, whether they had ever repented their taking 
 the oath now imposed. If they answered they did not, 
 then he made them promise, upon their renouncing their 
 part in heaven, they should never rue their so doing ; and 
 when they had complied with all his impositions, he would 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 162.
 
 326 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 let them go, saying, * Argyle shall have a perjured dog of 
 you. ' All this was done to great numbers of poor 
 country people, surrounded all the while with the sol- 
 diers, with their guns charged, and under bloody 
 threatenings, they should presently die if they complied 
 not in every point ". ^ We have already quoted the 
 statement of Claverhouse's latest biographer that " he 
 had the instincts and training of a gentleman. " Whether 
 this certificate of character is consistent with the actions 
 here recorded we leave our readers to judge. That his 
 brutality was a matter of deliberate policy with him is 
 evident from his own words. At a time when he had 
 been inactive for a little he wrote to the Earl of Menteith 
 who had been busy in the work of repression : "You have 
 now [so] taken my trade off my hand, that you are 
 become the terror of the godly. I begin to think it 
 time for me to set to work again, for I am emulous of 
 your reputation ". ^ He has gained the reputation he 
 desired and it will cost his admirers hard rubbing to get 
 off the label — " the bloody Claverhouse " — which briefly 
 sums up public opinion regarding the character of his 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 255. 
 
 - The Despot's Champion, p. 94. This extract from Claverhouse's letter is 
 not to be found in Mr. Terry's Claverhouse. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 222 : Burton, History of Scotland, vol. VII, p. 249.
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Argyll prepares for invading Scotland — Inveraray occupied by his enemies — 
 Death of Charles II — Monmouth urged to co-operate with Argyll — 
 Negotiations with Scotch and English exiles — Omens and portents — 
 Council of War formed to support and control Argyll — ^Mr. Veitch sent 
 to the north of England — Prominent members of the invading forces. 
 
 Early in the year 1684 Argyll thought it practicable 
 to make a descent on Scotland, if the money needful for 
 meeting the expenses of the expedition could be raised. 
 Though he and his associates in Holland thought that 
 ;/^ 1 5000 Sterling would serve the purpose, it was found 
 to be difficult to provide this comparatively moderate 
 sum. Some of the English exiles promised ^^5000 
 Sterling on condition that the balance was subscribed in 
 England, and an emissary named Eleves was sent across 
 to endeavour to secure this being done. As neither his 
 manners nor his morals were such as to inspire confidence, 
 it is not surprising to hear that he returned a few months 
 afterwards to report that no money was to be expected 
 from England. In spite of this discouragement Argyll 
 persisted in his preparations, and determined to make 
 the experiment in the following spring, even if it should 
 be on a lesser scale than that originally planned. He 
 ordered from a magazine in Amsterdam four hundred 
 stand of defensive armour, " backs, breasts, and head- 
 pieces, " and various other equipments for horse and foot 
 soldiers. ^ In order to conceal his action he made these 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 179.
 
 328 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 purchases in the name of one who was agent for the 
 Venetian Republic, and who was supposed to be acting 
 in this matter on its behalf. ^ 
 
 While the Earl thus proceeded to make such definite 
 preparations for an invasion, the Government judged it 
 prudent to take precautions against it by appointing the 
 Marquess of Atholl Lord-Lieutenant and Sheriff of 
 Argyllshire, and by giving him orders to march at once 
 thither with a strong force. His expenses were provided 
 for by his receiving " the gift and tack of the houses, 
 parks, and mill of Inveraray " — part of the Earl's for- 
 feited property which had been reserved to the Crown 
 and was now given for this special purpose. Without 
 delay the Marquess proceeded to Argyllshire with a force 
 of about a thousand Highlanders. He apprehended 
 several who were suspected of treasonable correspondence 
 with Argyll, and seized the latter's charter-chest and 
 papers, which he forwarded to the Privy council in Edin- 
 burgh. The papers were voluminous and were stored in 
 barrels which some of the Earl's friends had in vain 
 attempted to conceal. ' Six of the indulged ministers 
 who had been settled through the Earl's influence in 
 Argyllshire came under suspicion and were inhibited 
 from the exercise of their sacred functions. They 
 acknowledged having violated some of the conditions 
 under which the Indulgence had been granted them, and 
 they were committed to prison until sufficient security 
 for good behaviour had been provided by them. ^ Lord 
 Neil Campbell, the Earl's brother, was required, as a 
 condition of his being allowed to remain at liberty, to 
 pledge himself to remain faithful to the Government and 
 to induce others in Argyllshire to do the same. * This 
 prompt action on the part of the authorities ultimately 
 ruined the plans of the conspirators ; for the presence of 
 
 ' Biog. Brit. vol. Ill, p. 198 : Foxcroft, Supplement to Biinict, p. 156. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 559: Atholl Chronicles, vol. I, 
 p. 194. 
 
 ^ Ihnt, p. 192. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 196.
 
 A JOINT EXPEDITION NECESSARY 329 
 
 a hostile garrison in the very heart of Argyllshire deprived 
 the Earl, as we shall see, of the services of many of his 
 vassals and tenants, whose property and families would 
 be at the mercy of the enemy, if they dared to obey the 
 summons of their chief. 
 
 The death of Charles lion Friday, Feb. 6th, 1685, 
 raised the somewhat flagging zeal of the English and 
 Scotch exiles in Holland to fever-pitch. The hour had 
 come, in the belief of all, for striking a blow for Protest- 
 antism and liberty now so seriously menaced by the 
 accession of James II. ^ Different as were the characters 
 of Argyll and Monmouth the similar circumstances in 
 which they were placed drew them into alliance with each 
 other, and the only hope of success in their several schemes 
 lay in simultaneous action and in zealous co-operation 
 with each other. The support which the one might 
 reasonably count upon receiving in Scotland and the 
 other in England, though considerable, was not sufficiently 
 great to promise success ; but their joint action in the two 
 countries seemed likely to be irresistible. The attempts 
 at resistance to misgovernment and oppression which had 
 been made at the risings of the Pentland Hills and of 
 Bothwell Bridge had proved abortive, largely through 
 the lack of co-operation on the part of friends of the 
 common cause in the three Kingdoms. This defect those 
 who were now determined to renew the struggle were 
 anxious to avoid. 
 
 The two expeditions being each essential to the other's 
 success there seems to be no reason to doubt the 
 statement that Argyll, whose determination to invade 
 Scotland was firmly fixed, did his utmost to convince 
 Monmouth of the feasibility of the joint plan and to 
 urge him to execute his part of it. With regard to 
 himself, he is said to have declared, that as he was the 
 head of a numerous Highland clan and as his father had 
 been the leader of the Covenanting party, he was sure 
 that great numbers of his fellow-countrymen would join 
 
 ' MS. Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell.
 
 330 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 him. The fact that the Duke of Monmouth was assoc- 
 iated with him would be an additional source of strength 
 to him, for the former's clemency to the Covenanters 
 after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge had made his name 
 as dear in Scotland as that of the persecuting Duke of 
 York was odious. The prospects in England he regarded 
 as highly satisfactory. For the great body of Exclus- 
 ionists who had joined to prevent James from mounting 
 the throne would again join to pull him down, and 
 though from the intermission of parliamentary govern- 
 ment during the last years of Charles ll's reign their 
 voice had not been heard for some time, it would now 
 break forth all the more violently because of the inter- 
 ruption. He said that he was firmly convinced " that a 
 Prince, scarce seated on his throne whose subjects were 
 divided and whose forces must be separated to oppose 
 different insurrections could not withstand a double 
 attack from England and Scotland at one time ". He 
 held up before Monmouth the examples of ancient 
 heroes and the honour of being known to posterity as 
 the deliverer of his country, and he reminded him of the 
 fact that something was due to those who had suffered 
 for his sake. Nor did he omit the argument from self- 
 interest. James had already driven him from one asylum 
 after another and would never be at rest until he had 
 stripped him of fortune, of rank, and perhaps of life. 
 Delay but strengthened the power of the enemy and 
 rendered the task of overthrowing him the more difficult.^ 
 These arguments were evidently impressed upon Mon- 
 mouth by correspondence through Spence, Argyll's 
 secretary. For a letter is extant in which the Duke 
 writes to the latter in undecided terms, combating some 
 of the reasons which had been used to impel him to 
 light the torch of rebellion, but agreeing to a meeting at 
 which matters might be still further discussed. A pathetic 
 note is discernible in the close of the letter where he 
 says : " To tell you my thoughts without disguise, I am 
 
 ' D' Avaux, quoted in Dalrymple, Memoirs, vol. I, p. 1 14.
 
 ARGYLL'S PLANS 331 
 
 now so much in love with a Retired Life, that I am 
 never like to be fond of making a Bustle in the World 
 again ". ^ Well, indeed, would it have been for him if he 
 had had the firmness to refuse to be drawn from his 
 seclusion. Macaulay lays on Ferguson " the Plotter " 
 the responsibility of urging Monmouth to take the path 
 which in such a short time led him to the scaffold. ^ 
 What we have just written reveals Argyll as at any rate 
 sharing it. Indeed as the latter had inducements to 
 offer in the way of raising and arming soldiers to carry 
 out a joint project, we may reasonably suppose that his 
 words would have more weight than those of a mere 
 professional conspirator like Ferguson. Monmouth 
 himself gave Argyll the principal blame when, after 
 his capture, he deplored his having been misled by evil 
 counsellors. ^ 
 
 The Duke of Monmouth on coming to Rotterdam 
 expressed himself in favour of immediate action before 
 the Duke of York, as he called the English Sovereign, 
 should have had time to strengthen his position. Argyll 
 had his preparations so far forward and was so determined 
 to make the attempt that he was inclined to force the 
 hand of his fellow-exiles and to treat with but scant 
 patience the cautious enquiries which they made into his 
 resources and plans. He informed them that, through 
 the liberality of private friends whom he had made after 
 his escape into England, he had been able to lay out 
 ;^io,ooo Sterling in the purchase of arms, ammunition, 
 provisions and a frigate, that many in Scotland had 
 promised to join him when he landed, that he anticipated 
 raising an army of five thousand men among his own 
 vassals and tenants, and that he had such intimate 
 acquaintance with the country that he knew where to 
 land, march and encamp to the best advantage. He also 
 said that as many of the details with regard to the 
 
 -' Welwood, Memoirs, App. XV. 
 * History, vol. I, chap. 5. 
 ' Reresby, Memoirs, p. 340.
 
 332 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 co-operation of persons in Scotland, and with regard to 
 his own plans could not be divulged without breach of 
 confidence and without hazard to the whole undertaking, 
 he had to request them to abstain from minute enquiries, 
 and if they thought good to serve under him as general 
 to rely upon his ability and integrity and fitness for the 
 office. He declared that he wished none to follow him 
 who had not full confidence in him, but that he would 
 very soon sail with those who would join him. ^ This 
 tone of speaking was not very satisfactory to some of his 
 hearers, and they told him that they would consider 
 matters before coming to a decision and would consult 
 with the Duke of Monmouth. The republican feeling 
 animating many of the exiles indisposed them to render 
 the kind of allegiance which the Earl was accustomed to 
 receive from his vassals. The same feeling rendered 
 some of them suspicious as to the private designs of 
 Monmouth upon the Crown and as to the possibility of 
 his utilizing their present undertaking as a stalking- 
 horse for aiming at it. Argyll had spoken of Monmouth 
 in terms which implied considerable jealousy and distrust 
 of him, and his fellow-exiles were anxious to come to a 
 perfectly clear understanding with regard to the matter 
 of co-operation between them. 
 
 At a meeting with Monmouth Sir Patrick Hume 
 asked him definitely if he believed himself the lawful 
 son of Charles II, and if he intended to lay claim to the 
 Crown. To the first question he replied in the affirma- 
 tive : and to the second he said that he had no intention 
 of urging his claim, unless he were advised to do so by 
 those who would join with him to deliver the nation. 
 He promised that in case of success he would resign the 
 title of King to the people or to their representatives, 
 and accept any place in the Commonwealth which might 
 be bestowed upon him, and feel completely rewarded by 
 having been " instrumental of so much good to his fellow- 
 countrymen ". Sir Patrick told him that they found 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative^ p. ii.
 
 ARGYLL AND MONMOUTH 333 
 
 many of their best friends in England "jealous of his 
 aspiring to the royal dignity, of which, by reason of the 
 great abuses of it, and the miserable consequences so 
 habitual as now [to] become its second nature, they 
 were extremely disgusted, and so somewhat averse to 
 meddling with him ". ^ On this he swore in the most 
 solemn manner that he would be faithful to his word, 
 and his declaration produced a favourable impression 
 upon all present. It was then decided that the enterprise 
 should not go on unless an attempt were made in England 
 at the same time with that in Scotland. 
 
 Sir Patrick Hume, in his Narrative of Occurrences in the 
 Expedition of the Earl of Argyle in i68s ", records the long 
 and tedious discussions which took place before the 
 enterprise was set on foot. As, however, he wrote after 
 the expedition had been defeated, we must not credit 
 him with having in the days of planning and preparing 
 the wisdom which he gained from sad experience. 
 According to his account Monmouth, on hearing of 
 Argyll's confidence as to results and of his eagerness to 
 begin operations, offered to accompany him, if the pros- 
 pects in England should not prove encouraging. ^ This 
 arrangement would have given satisfaction to some in 
 Scotland who would have preferred to serve under Mon- 
 mouth rather than under Argyll, * but it is not wonderful 
 that the Earl was considerably startled by the suggestion. 
 Monmouth who had been Commander-in-Chief of the 
 forces in England and in Scotland could scarcely go on 
 such an expedition as a subordinate commander, and 
 Argyll was naturally disinclined to take a second place in 
 an enterprise for which he had virtually provided all the 
 sinews of war. He said that if Monmouth had arms and 
 ammunition sufficient for the purpose he would be 
 willing to serve under him even as a private. But if he 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 12. 
 
 ^ Printed in Rose, Observations on tlie Historical Work of C. J. Fox (1809). 
 ^ Hume, Narrative, p. 15. 
 
 * Erskine, 'Journal, p. 128 : Foxcroft, Supplement to Burnet, p. 156.
 
 334 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 were unprovided with these, how, he asked, could 
 Monmouth undertake the business ? On this he was 
 told that the arms and ammunition of which he himself 
 had spoken at their previous meeting were considerable 
 in quantity and would serve the purpose. He replied 
 that those who had provided them and had a right to 
 say how they should be employed, would have nothing 
 to do with Monmouth. We can easily believe that the 
 Earl was, as Hume reports him to have been, " High, 
 peremptory, and passionate, " ^ at this meeting, and that 
 he broke off from it with mortified pride at the thought 
 of being deprived of the command in an expedition which 
 owed its initiation to him, and for the success of which 
 the exercise of his influence as the head of a powerful 
 clan in Scotland was absolutely essential. He at once 
 had an interview with Monmouth himself in which all 
 things were settled to his satisfaction. It was agreed 
 between them that nothing should be done unless opera- 
 tions were carried on in England as well as in Scotland, 
 that Monmouth and the English exiles should prepare 
 for the English part of the business, and Argyll and his 
 fellow-countrymen for the Scotch part, and that when 
 things were ready every endeavour should be made for 
 simultaneous action in both countries. In order to bind 
 the expeditions more closely together two prominent 
 Englishmen, Rumbold and Ayloff, were to accompany 
 Argyll, while one of the leading Scotch refugees, Fletcher 
 of Salton, was to accompany Monmouth. 
 
 As the exiles were rather too much under observation 
 at Rotterdam, the Earl and his associates removed to 
 Amsterdam in order to complete their arrangements. 
 Hume tells us that many of the English exiles were 
 greatly taken with Argyll and " esteemed him very 
 highly. " ^ His position as a Highland chieftain at whose 
 command thousands of armed men — vaguely estimated 
 at any number from fifteen thousand downward but not 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 17. 
 * Ibid, p. 18.
 
 MYSTICAL LORE 335 
 
 less than three thousand — would start, as it were, from 
 the soil, was no doubt to them very impressive. For, as 
 Macaulay says, no Englishman of like rank could count 
 on being followed even by his gamekeepers, if he were 
 to raise the standard of revolt. ^ Hume tells us that the 
 prophecy of an English astrologer, John Holwell, was 
 current at that time in Holland. In 1683 he had pub- 
 lished a book entitled Catastrophe Mtindi^ which contained 
 a hieroglyphical picture representing " a little Highland 
 man, as the habit shewed, brandishing his sword over a 
 field of dead bodies. " ^ As Argyll was not very tall and 
 was of that nationality and was on the point of making 
 war, one interpretation at any rate of the mystical picture 
 was easily possible. Nor was this the only supernatural 
 hint of coming events which is recorded as having been 
 given in those days. " In December, 1684 ", says Foun- 
 tainhall, " we [in Scotland] were troubled with the 
 rumours of visions and apparitions, viz., a shower of 
 blewbonnets [was] seen in the air at Glasgow, and evanished 
 when they came neir the ground. Item a shower of 
 blood at Moffet and a litle ghost and spectre appears at 
 Rosneth, one of my Lord Argile's houses, wher Athol has 
 got his locality, and placed a garrison of 50 men ; it 
 beats the sojors sometimes, and bids them make good 
 use of their tyme, for it shall not be long. " ^ 
 
 The risk of a breach between Argyll and Monmouth 
 having been obviated by a formal understanding between 
 them the situation was somewhat improved. But the 
 Earl's relations with those who were to accompany him 
 to Scotland were still of a stormy character. The latter 
 were of course anxious not to undertake the expedition 
 without a definite prospect of being strongly supported 
 both in the Highlands and Lowlands. On the other 
 hand the Earl was unable to give exact figures even in 
 the case of his own clansmen, and he was unwilling to 
 
 ' History of England, vol. I, chap. 5. 
 
 * Narrative, p. 18 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 104, 185. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 142.
 
 336 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 disclose confidential promises of aid received from persons 
 in the Lowlands. The date of his leaving Holland, he 
 declared, he would not announce until twenty-four hours 
 before it took place : and to no mortal man would he 
 tell the place of his landing in Scotland until, at any rate, 
 they were at sea. With regard to the last named point 
 all were of course convinced that he meant to land 
 somewhere in the Western Highlands, for he spoke of 
 being joined on arrival by three or five thousand of his 
 vassals. He anticipated giving " York's forces " twelve 
 months' hard work to make headway against him, ^ and 
 this pointed to a campaign in a remote, mountainous 
 territory, where circumstances would be favourable to 
 him and disadvantageous to the enemy. Hume and 
 others were on the alert to check attempts on his part 
 which they beheved he was perpetually making, to secure 
 unlimited power and command ; while he, of course, was 
 desirous to be entrusted with the authority without which 
 no military commander can hope for success. The 
 feelings of both parties ran so high that more than once 
 they almost decided to go no further with the enterprise, 
 but at last matters were definitely arranged. 
 
 A meeting was held at Amsterdam on Friday, 
 Apr. 17th, 1685, at which twelve persons, including the 
 Eari and his son Charles, were assembled. Sir John 
 Cochran presided, and after those present had formally 
 constituted themselves a Common Council, the following 
 matters were decided upon : To declare and undertake a 
 war against the Duke of York, for restoring and settling 
 the true religion and the rights and liberties of the three 
 kingdoms ; to add to the Council of management on 
 coming to Scotland such persons as might join them and 
 be judged suitable thus to be associated with them ; to 
 choose the Earl of Argyll to be their general, " with as 
 full power as was usually given to generals by the free 
 states in Europe, " and to appoint a person to draw up 
 the declaration of war, to be given in at their next 
 
 1 Hume, Narrative, p. 25.
 
 PREPARING FOR DEPARTURE 337 
 
 meeting. ^ These resolutions drawn up by such a tiny 
 assembly of men, possessed of such limited resources for 
 carrying out the undertaking in question, would seem 
 ludicrous, if one could forget the tragic consequences 
 which flowed from them — the disappointment of gallant 
 hopes and endeavours, the death of brave men, and all 
 the agony and despair involved in the defeat of a great 
 cause. Yet we have to remember that what this small 
 group of men decided upon as desirable was soon after- 
 wards carried out, though by other hands than theirs. 
 In three short years another expedition set out from 
 Holland, which accomplished once and for all the work 
 of deliverance which had been too great for these cour- 
 ageous pioneers. 
 
 The Earl cordially acquiesced in the decisions arrived 
 at by the Council, and preparations for departure were 
 hurried on. Three vessels were procured, and the arms 
 and ammunition which had been provided were stored 
 in them. Monmouth by this time had received encour- 
 aging messages from England and he urged his Scotch 
 associates to lose no time in setting out, promising to sail 
 for England six days after they left. His parting counsel 
 to Hume and to two of the other members of the 
 managing committee was that they should not be persuaded 
 by Argyll to remain in the Western Highlands, but 
 should push on quickly to the Lowlands. " For, " said 
 he, " if I did not know you are able to over-rule his 
 inclination in this, and to effectuate it, I should not stir a 
 foot. " ^ They on their part engaged to do their utmost 
 in this matter. As we shall afterwards see, this difference 
 of opinion between Argyll and his colleagues paralyzed 
 their action on coming to Scotland and ultimately proved 
 fatal to the expedition. 
 
 A fortnight before the Rye-House Plot was revealed 
 to the Government, Mr. Veitch had gone to the north of 
 England to see his family and friends, and so he escaped 
 
 ^ Hume, Narrative, p. 34. 
 " ibid, p. 37.
 
 338 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 arrest when his fellow-conspirators were taken. Efforts 
 were made to secure him and he was forced to seek refuge 
 in one hiding-place after another. At last he went across 
 to Holland, where so many of those were assembled who 
 were prepared to assail the House of Stewart by secret 
 plot or by open war. He joined his friend Argyll and 
 on the death of Charles II entered eagerly into the scheme 
 of an invasion of Scotland and England. As a prelimin- 
 ary step to this undertaking, the Earl despatched Pringle 
 of Torwoodlee into the district of Moray, and Veitch to 
 Northumberland and the English border, to prepare 
 friends of " the good cause " for the insurrection which 
 was in prospect. Lord Grey, who was Monmouth's 
 principal supporter, gave Veitch a commission to his 
 chief steward in Northumberland to provide money for 
 raising and equipping as many horse and foot soldiers as 
 possible. Argyll instructed him as to obtaining funds 
 from other quarters and expending them on " arms, 
 colours, drums, horses and the enlistment of recruits, 
 and he gave his emissary special instructions to put 
 himself into communication with "old Oliverian officers." 
 " Somewhat of all which he did, " Mr. Veitch says of 
 himself, " and through his too much travelling through 
 the country and the zeal of severals in many places to 
 rise, the matter was like to take wind, so that he was 
 forced to retire up to the mountains in the borders near 
 Reidsdale head, and hide himself from his very friends, 
 until the season of appearing came. " ^ The military 
 authorities on the English side of the Border were informed 
 of his proceedings and sent word to the Scotch Privy 
 Council, who at once despatched soldiers to discover and 
 apprehend him. He escaped capture by taking to the 
 hills and hiding for weeks together among the heather 
 and in solitary places. Here he was forced to remain 
 during the time of Argyll's invasion of Scotland, and 
 hither the tidings came of defeat which made him think 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 148.
 
 ARGYLL'S ASSOCIATES 339 
 
 the case now to be " hopeless and helpless. " ^ Pringle's 
 embassy to the region of Moray where Argyll had con- 
 nexions whose politics and sympathies were in harmony 
 with his own, was equally a failure. There was some 
 hazy project of landing part of the invading force in 
 Moray in order to distract the attention of the Govern- 
 ment, but nothing came of it. The friends of Argyll's 
 cause there were too weak and isolated to support it, by 
 open insurrection, and the invaders were too few in 
 number to render it advisable for them to land any of 
 their men in that part of Scotland. 
 
 Among those who accompanied Argyll in his expedi- 
 tion were his second and third sons, Charles and John, 
 the latter, however, merely as a companion to his father, 
 as he was unable to join in any military undertaking 
 from some weakness in his hands. William Spence, his 
 steward or secretary, who had suffered so much from 
 torture in Edinburgh, was sufficiently recovered from 
 the effects of it to be able to act as secretary to the 
 Council of War, which had the oversight and control of 
 the invasion of Scotland. Along with him we may name 
 one who was doomed to be his companion in misfortune, 
 William Blackader, the eldest son of the Rev. John 
 Blackader who had formerly been minister of Troqueer 
 in Dumfriesshire, and who had since his ejectment been 
 one of the most famous field-preachers in Scotland. 
 William Blackader had graduated in medicine in the 
 University of Leyden, but his interest in politics was 
 intensely strong and led him to risk his life in this 
 expedition. As a reward for his services he was appointed 
 Physician to William III after the Revolution. Among 
 Argyll's other principal supporters were Sir John Cochran, 
 the second son of the Earl of Dundonald, and Sir Patrick 
 Hume afterwards the Earl of Marchmont and Lord 
 Chancellor of Scotland. Of these two, Cochran was 
 much the more steadfast and thorough-going in the 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 150.
 
 340 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 obedience which he rendered to the Earl, as the com- 
 mander of the expedition. Indeed Hume by his jealousy 
 of Argyll's assuming a larger degree of authority than 
 the Council had assigned to him, by his carping criticisms 
 and refusals to submit to the Earl's decisions at important 
 junctures, was largely responsible for the failure of the 
 enterprise. Ayloff, who was a nephew by marriage of 
 the old Earl of Clarendon, James's father-in-law, had 
 been involved in the Whig Plot and was associated with 
 Argyll's undertaking as a partisan of Monmouth's. He 
 was an ardent politician but made no pretence to saint- 
 liness of character, and when defeated and taken prisoner 
 he attempted suicide. Allied with him was the ring- 
 leader in the plot to assassinate the King and the Duke 
 of York. This was the notorious Rumbold, one of 
 Cromwell's officers, who had been present at the execution 
 of Charles I and had afterwards fought at Dunbar and 
 Worcester. His nickname among his intimates was 
 " Hannibal ", from the fact that like the famous Cartha- 
 ginian general he had but one eye. ^ After leaving the 
 army he had married the widow of a maltster and he was 
 the proprietor of the Rye-House, which had been thought 
 a convenient place for attempting the assassination of 
 the royal brothers. His enthusiasm in the present 
 undertaking was unbounded. When the day of his 
 execution came he declared that such was his belief in 
 the righteousness of the cause and in his own innocence 
 in the matter, that if every hair on his head were a life 
 he would as willingly part with them, as he did with 
 that which was all he had to give. ^ " Poor Rumbold, " 
 said Argyll of him, " was a great support to me and a 
 brave man and died Christianly." ^ The scheme of 
 assassination in which he was the principal conspirator 
 may seem to us very inconsistent with the protestations 
 of integrity and of devotion to the cause of God, which 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Chronological Notes, p. 56 : Sprat, A True Account, etc., p. 23. 
 ■^ Wodrow, History, vol. IV. p. 315. 
 * Ibid, p. 299.
 
 SHARP'S ASSASSINS 341 
 
 poured from his lips upon the scaffold. It would, 
 however, be unfair to judge him by the moral standard 
 of our age, which differs so considerably from that of his. 
 The proposal to overpower the guards and attack the 
 royal carriage may have seemed to him more as a military 
 engagement, in which the assailants ran risk of life as 
 well as endangered the lives of others, and thus to be 
 different from the murder of helpless, unarmed men. 
 At any rate the proposed victims of his plot had no 
 hesitation in sanctioning such attempts when directed 
 against their enemies. Charles during the time of the 
 Commonwealth had approved of similar designs against 
 Cromwell, and at a later time James II in his exile was 
 accessory to schemes of the same kind directed against 
 his own son-in-law, William III. ^ 
 
 There were two other persons in Argyll's company for 
 whose conduct no palliation can be offered, John Balfour 
 of Kinloch and George Fleming, who had taken part in 
 the assassination of Archbishop Sharp at Magus Muir 
 six years before. ^ Were they visited at times, one 
 wonders, by remorse when they thought of the shrieks 
 and supplications of the terrified ecclesiastic, as he 
 grovelled before his murderers, and of the tears and 
 prayers of his daughter in whose presence they had 
 butchered him ? We may doubt it. So highly strung 
 by their fanaticism do the members of that dread confed- 
 eracy seem to have been, that most probably they thought 
 their action as justifiable as that of Elijah when he slew 
 the prophets of Baal, or that of Mattathias, the father of 
 Judas Maccabaeus, when he mingled the blood of the 
 recreant Jew with that of the idolatrous sacrifice he was 
 offering.^ We may regret, as some then did, that 
 Argyll allowed these men to accompany him ; but doubt- 
 less to the perverted minds of some of his associates, 
 their presence imparted a certain air of consecration to 
 
 ' Trevelyan, En^^land under the Stuarts, p. 420. 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 183. 
 ^ I Mace. II, V. 24.
 
 342 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the enterprise. ^ And certainly from the section of 
 society to which they belonged — the irreconcilable foes 
 of Prelacy— a considerable measure of support for the 
 present undertaking was confidently expected. 
 
 ' Memoirs ofCapt. Creighton, p. i2>
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Departure of the invading ships from Holland — William of Orange's assist- 
 ance in the project — Preparations for the defence of Scotland — The 
 disaster at Orkney — Landing in Islay — Arrest of Countess of Argyll and 
 other members of the family — Arrival of the Expedition at Campbeltown 
 — The Declaration published and also a personal statement by Argyll. 
 
 The three vessels which Argyll had bought for carrying 
 out his scheme of invading Scotland were the Jinna 
 carrying thirty guns, the David carrying twelve and the 
 Sophia carrying six. ^ Of these the Anna was the best 
 and was appointed as that to be commanded by the Earl 
 himself, as Admiral of the tiny fleet. On Tuesday, 
 April 28th, 1685, the last of the company that had 
 undertaken this desperate enterprise took boat at Amster- 
 dam and sailed north to embark for Scotland on board 
 their vessels which lay at the Vlie. This was a passage 
 from the Zuyder Zee into the North Sea, between Vlie- 
 land and Torschellung, now largely silted up by sand. 
 This passage was at that time greatly frequented, but was 
 afterwards superseded by the canal from Amsterdam to 
 Helder and at a later time by the North Sea Canal. 
 When they arrived there they found that the David was 
 fully loaded and was ready to sail. Her papers had been 
 duly examined and certified and she was lying outside 
 the Vlie, waiting for her consorts. The Anna and th^ 
 Sophia were surrounded with lighters filled with goods 
 yet to be put on board, and two days passed before this 
 
 ^ From an official document published in Edinburgh on June ist, 1685.
 
 344 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 work was completed. On the Thursday the exiles were 
 considerably disturbed by noticing that their vessels were 
 watched by the English Consul and others with telescopes 
 from a boat which rowed round them several times, and 
 that the persons in question, after sending some message 
 ashore, had apparently set off for Amsterdam. ^ These 
 movements suggested that measures were being taken to 
 hinder the sailing of the two remaining vessels, and to 
 obtain orders from the States General to seize them. 
 The next day the Anna and the Sophia were ready to sail 
 and were moved down to the passage leading into the 
 North Sea. They hoisted the flag which was the signal 
 for the officers to come on board to examine the ships' 
 papers, but for some reason or another there was delay 
 in their putting in an appearance. This fact, together 
 with the previous occurrences, threw Argyll into an 
 agony of nervous apprehension lest his sailing should 
 be hindered. He proposed to break all rules and to 
 sail at once before any attempt could be made to 
 detain the ships. His associates were less agitated than 
 he was, and they pointed out that, if they put to sea 
 without being officially cleared, the war-frigate that lay 
 there would undoubtedly fire upon them and probably 
 sink them, as they were but ill prepared for such an 
 attack. They also reminded him that there were persons 
 on board who had served them faithfully in bringing goods 
 and in loading the ships. These men were now a bout 
 to return ashore and would be seriously inconvenienced 
 and compromised by being involved in such an illegal 
 action as that proposed by him. They suggested that 
 the men should be sent ashore with a request that the 
 officers should at once come off, and that if the latter did 
 not appear by a certain hour the vessels might sail away 
 without being examined and run whatever risk might 
 be involved in such a course. The Earl's anxiety, 
 however, was great and he conjectured all kinds of evils 
 as likely to befall them. He had no doubt but that their 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 114 : Hume, Narrative, p. 38.
 
 ARGYLL'S NERVOUS FEARS 345 
 
 ships would be visited, and that by a company strong 
 enough to seize them by force, and he was convinced 
 that the Enghsh consul had already procured instructions 
 for this to be done. The others pointed out that there 
 had not been sufficient time to receive orders to this effect 
 from Amsterdam, and they undertook to prevent any 
 boats containing armed men from boarding their vessels. 
 But Argyll was not satisfied with their arguments, and he 
 removed at once to the David^ which lay outside the 
 passage and ran no risk of being interfered with. Soon 
 after he had left and while the men belonging to Holland 
 were being put ashore, the boat containing the official 
 visitors came off. All the anxiety that had been expe- 
 rienced turned out to have been gratuitous. Passports 
 and other papers were examined and declared to be in 
 order. The vessels were apparently ordinary traders 
 bound for Venice, ^ and care was taken by those in charge 
 of them to avoid disturbing this impression of matters. 
 Men engaged for military service in Scotland, whose 
 presence on board might have excited suspicion, were 
 concealed for the time below decks. The visitors were 
 either blind or they affected to be blind to the true state 
 of matters, and after civilities had passed on both sides 
 they wished the voyagers a successful journey and took 
 their leave. The vessels at once sailed through the 
 guarded passage and joined the David where she lay at 
 anchor outside waiting for them. ^ They were followed 
 by a yacht which the magistrates of Amsterdam had 
 perfunctorily dispatched with a message forbidding them 
 to sail. The captain, however, kept at some distance 
 from them and on being menaced by a shot fired from 
 one of the vessels fell back and returned to Amsterdam. ^ 
 The Earl of Argyll at once reappeared on board the 
 Anna, no doubt a little mortified at the incident which 
 had led to his departure from her. The resistance to 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 630. 
 
 ^ Hume, Narrative, p. 39. 
 
 * Lingard, History, vol. X, p. 7511.
 
 346 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 his proposals which he had recently experienced made it 
 rather awkward for him to resume his place there, and 
 accordingly he suggested that, as the presence of some 
 one of " note and discretion " on board the David was 
 desirable, it might be better for him to sail in that vessel. 
 His real motive probably was to get away from Sir Patrick 
 Hume, who had opposed the Earl's suggestions on the 
 previous day with some heat, and who is said to have 
 been such a " lover of set speeches " that he was hardly 
 able to give the most trifling advice without them. ^ Sir 
 John Cochran and his son insisted that Argyll should 
 remain in the Admiral's ship, and offered to remove to 
 the DavUy but as the Earl demurred at parting with 
 them, Hume volunteered to go. His offer was accepted 
 and he was allowed to take with him four or five of his 
 more intimate associates. More might have gone with 
 him but for the marked air of displeasure which the Earl 
 assumed at the bare mention of their doing so. Charac- 
 teristically enough, Hume on leaving stipulated that 
 meetings of the Council of War should be frequently 
 held in the course of the voyage, when the weather would 
 allow of them. ^ It was not until seven o'clock on 
 Saturday evening. May 2nd, that the three vessels, having 
 in all not more than three hundred men on board, got 
 under way and proceeded on their momentous voyage. 
 The wind had been contrary, but before they got clear of 
 the banks on that part of the coast of Holland it changed 
 in their favour as suddenly as if by enchantment. Indeed 
 it was afterwards said that the unusual rapidity of Argyll's 
 voyage to Orkney and the Western Isles " made some 
 think that witches had sold him a wind. " ^ All were in 
 good spirits now that the anxieties of the past few days 
 were over, and they doubtless believed, with the sanguine 
 temper of exiles returning home, that multitudes there 
 were anticipating their arrival with the same joy and hope 
 
 * Carstares, State Papers, p. loo. 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 40. 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 115 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 189.
 
 TIDINGS REACH LONDON 347 
 
 which filled their hearts. All disguise with regard to the 
 object of the expedition was now flung off. The Dutch 
 sailors were informed that the Mr. Carr who had been 
 most prominent in arranging matters was the Earl of 
 Argyll, that the cargo consisted of military stores, and 
 that they were bound for the west coast of Scotland and 
 not for Italy ; but they must have been more than usually 
 dense and unobservant if much of this was news to 
 them. ^ In the meantime full particulars of the numbers, 
 resources, and designs of the invaders had been forwarded 
 to the English Court by their agents in Holland ; and 
 the same wind that was so favourable to the expedition 
 brought speedy tidings to London that it had set out. ^ 
 Instructions were at once sent down into Scotland to 
 make due preparations to defeat it. James II declared to 
 Van Citters and Van Dykvelt, the Dutch ambassadors 
 extraordinary, that of all the exiles Argyll was the ablest 
 to make use of the means available for promoting and 
 carrying out the project of an invasion. ^ From time to 
 time he received notice of the preparations that were 
 being made for the enterprise, and he demanded through 
 the English ambassador, Skelton, that an embargo should 
 be put upon the ships which were being fitted out. The 
 result of this we have already seen. The authorities at 
 Amsterdam were dilatory in taking measures for the 
 purpose, and when in response to Skelton's complaints 
 they proceeded to action, Argyll was already at sea. ^ 
 
 Macaulay has been at some pains to attempt to prove 
 that both William of Orange and the States General of 
 Holland were at this time most anxious to prevent the 
 hospitality of their country being abused by warlike 
 preparations being made there against the Government 
 
 ^ Pountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 189. 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 284 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 631. 
 
 * They said that Argyll " was de bequaemste man, die daer leefde om in 
 een toestant als degene daer in hij was, te ondernemen ende voorttesetten 
 alles vvat tot bereijckinge van haer ooghmerck soude connen warden uijtge- 
 daght : " Register of the Proceedings of the States General, May 5th, 1685. 
 
 * Klopp, Der Fall des Hauses Stuart, vol. Ill, p. 59.
 
 348 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 of Great Britain, and that they were hindered from 
 carrying out their wishes by the fact that both municipal 
 and provincial authorities were to a large extent indepen- 
 dent of the federal Government and of the House of 
 Nassau. ^ We presume that James II was as fully 
 acquainted with the nature of the Batavian institutions 
 as the modern historian could be. Yet the fact remains 
 that he considered he had ample grounds for dissatisfac- 
 tion with the conduct both of his son-in-law and of the 
 States General, so far, at any rate, as concerns the expedi- 
 tion of Argyll. ^ The exculpation of William of Orange 
 is, however, rendered much more difficult by the fact, 
 apparently unknown to his defender, that he contributed 
 to the expenses of Argyll's expedition ; for in a list of 
 disbursements by his agent, Carstares, appears a sum of 
 money given to Wishart, the master of the vessel in 
 which the Earl sailed for Scotland. This money was 
 given by Carstares with William's knowledge and the 
 person receiving it was commended to him as one whose 
 honesty and willingness to serve him were beyond all 
 doubt.^ It is for casuists to reconcile this with his offer 
 to come over in person to deal with Monmouth's rebel- 
 lion with which Argyll's expedition had been so closely 
 connected. Our own explanation of matters is that he 
 was quite willing to promote two Protestant experiments 
 before making a third himself. 
 
 The preparations for the invasion of Scotland were on 
 such a small scale and the disaffected districts of the 
 country had been so thoroughly terrorized that the Privy 
 Council were not greatly agitated by the tidings that the 
 armament was on its way across the North Sea. Yet it 
 was thought advisable to summon all the heritors of 
 Scotland, i. e., all those who held landed property, to 
 defend the country. These together with the standing 
 
 ' History, vol. I, chap. 5. 
 
 * Barillon to Louis, Fox, James II. p. LXXXI. 
 
 ^ Carstares, State Papers, p. 35 n. Wishart was afterwards made 
 English admiral.
 
 ON THE SCOTCH COAST 349 
 
 forces and militia were expected to provide an army of 
 about sixty thousand men, and it was arranged that one 
 third of these should be stationed at Selkirk to guard 
 against an outbreak of rebellion on the English border, 
 that another third should be stationed at Stirling to 
 control the Highlands, and that the remainder should be 
 stationed at Glasgow to overawe the west country. At 
 the same time the Marquess of Atholl and the Duke of 
 Gordon were ordered to occupy Inveraray and to hinder, 
 as far as possible, aid from Argyllshire being given to the 
 insurgents. The extent of these preparations for defence 
 might indeed seem to imply that the Government was 
 seriously alarmed by the invasion ; but the truth was 
 that while they believed that Argyll could do but little, 
 they were very much afraid that he might obtain strong 
 support from the disaffected party in England under the 
 Duke of Monmouth. ^ 
 
 Early on the Tuesday morning (May 5th) the little 
 squadron caught sight of the Aberdeenshire coast at the 
 entrance to the Moray Firth. The vessels lay to and a 
 consultation was held on board the Anna as to the course 
 to be taken. As the favourable breeze had freshened 
 into a gale, some of the leaders of the expedition thought 
 that it would be advisable to put into the Moray Firth 
 for a little ; but this suggestion was set aside on the 
 ground that any delay of the kind might result in their 
 being windbound in those waters. Ultimately it was 
 decided to sail to the north of Orkney and thence to the 
 west coast of Scotland. It is probable that the course 
 through the Pentland Firth was avoided because of the 
 risk of their movements being observed and reported by 
 persons on the look-out on the one side or the other of 
 that narrow tract of sea. It was at this point of the 
 voyage that the first great disaster befell them. The 
 gale suddenly died away and a dense fog came on ; so 
 that they missed the passage between Orkney and 
 Shetland and found themselves on the Wednesday 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 165, 166.
 
 350 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 evening in Skapa Flow, on the south shore of the main- 
 land of Orkney. It was with difficulty that they could 
 make out the coast, and the fog was so thick that they 
 could scarcely see each other's lights ; but fortunately 
 they had kept together, and had escaped shipwreck among 
 the dangerous currents and islands and sunken rocks 
 into the midst of which they had been carried. The 
 three vessels anchored in Swanbister Bay and it was 
 thought advisable to send ashore for pilots to guide 
 them out when the fog lifted. 
 
 The procedure adopted in this emergency was unfor- 
 tunate to the last degree. Mr. Spence, the Earl's cham- 
 berlain and Secretary to the Council controlling the 
 expedition, seems to have had some connexion with 
 Orkney. He had, at any rate, an uncle living in Kirk- 
 wall, and no doubt it was this fact which led him to 
 volunteer to go ashore. The Earl gave him permission 
 to do so without consulting the Council of War. 
 Dr. Blackader accompanied him, and they landed at 
 Smoogrow. ^ They received instructions with regard to 
 obtaining pilots and enlisting recruits, and they undertook 
 to return the next day at noon. That very evening, 
 however, they were arrested in Kirkwall by order of the 
 Bishop and Magistrates as " servants to a rebel, " and 
 information of what had occurred was forwarded to the 
 Privy Council. ^ 
 
 The consternation caused by this news on board the 
 fleet was very great. The Council of War met on board 
 the Admiral's ship and a hot debate took place over the 
 matter. The Earl disowned reponsibility for the loss of 
 two such prominent members of their company, and said 
 that he had merely complied with their wish to go ashore. 
 
 1 Wodrovv, History, vol. IV. p. 285. 
 
 « Ibid, p. 285. 
 
 ^ Bi-own, Diary, p. 34. Thomas Brown was a writer in Kirkwall, whose 
 Diary (1675-1693) was published in 1898. From his narrative it seems that 
 Blackader and Spence were confined to their lodgings and the house guarded. 
 Spence, we may say, is an Orcadian name. The local tradition is that the 
 William Spence of our history was of an Orcadian family. We are indebted 
 for this latter fact to the Rev. J. B. Craven of Kirkwall.
 
 A SERIOUS DILEMMA 351 
 
 The great mistake, however, had been in granting per- 
 mission without consulting his colleagues. A number of 
 the Council, whose spokesman was Sir Patrick Hume, 
 advised that all the vessels should at the earliest possible 
 moment sail for Kirkwall, land half a dozen boats, full of 
 well-armed men, under shelter of their cannon and free 
 their companions from confinement. ^ This plan had 
 much to recommend it. The loss of prestige in submit- 
 ting to such an affront at the outset of their enterprise 
 would certainly be considerable ; while a very unfavour- 
 able impression was likely to be made upon the rest of 
 the company and upon those whom they were expecting 
 to join them, if they abandoned their associates to their 
 fate when an attempt to rescue them was quite feasible. 
 On the other hand the authorities in Kirkwall had 
 already been warned from Edinburgh to prepare for 
 invasion and had had time to put the town in some 
 measure of defence. This fact made the work of rescue 
 all the more difficult and uncertain. It would be mad- 
 ness to attempt anything like a siege, for every day's 
 delay aided the Government to complete the task of 
 putting the country in a state of defence. 
 
 The Earl suggested that vigorous reprisals should be 
 made. This course was strongly supported by Sir John 
 Cochran and was ultimately adopted by a majority of 
 votes. A long boat was sent ashore with fifty men, and 
 some gentlemen of the district were taken prisoners and 
 brought on board the ships. These were a James 
 Stewart, the laird of Graemesay, and his son, three 
 gentlemen of the name of Graham, a Mr. Mouat and a 
 Mr. Crofts. ^ The Earl thereupon wrote to the Bishop 
 demanding an exchange of prisoners and declaring that 
 if Spence and Blackader were not released by ten o'clock 
 on Saturday morning he would sail away and treat his 
 captives exactly as his men were treated in Kirkwall. 
 The Orcadian gentlemen also were induced to write 
 
 ^ Hume, Narrative, p. 41. 
 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 115 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 164.
 
 i,Si A SCOTS EARL 
 
 supporting his demand. But it was all in vain. The 
 Bishop sent no reply, though the fleet lingered on until 
 two o'clock on the afternoon of that day. With reluct- 
 ance the Earl then gave orders to proceed on their 
 journey, and the vessels with the wind still in their 
 favour made for the Lewis on their way down to 
 Argyllshire. ^ While in Swanbister Bay they had seized 
 a small vessel containing a supply of meal, and suitable 
 for landing men and ammunition from the larger ships. ^ 
 This they brought with them, but it was a very meagre 
 compensation for the loss and ignominy which had 
 attended their ill-fated visit to Orkney. The story is 
 told that before they left Amsterdam it had been pro- 
 phesied that James Stewart of the blood royal would be 
 taken captive by them, and that they thought that this 
 could be none other than the King whom they were 
 seeking to dethrone. They now learned that one of 
 their prisoners answered to the wizard's description, for 
 he not only bore the royal name but he had Stewart 
 blood in his veins, as he was a descendant of the Earl of 
 Orkney who was a natural son of James V. ^ 
 
 The little fleet on leaving Orkney proceeded westward 
 and then sailed down the Minch inside the Outer 
 Hebrides, with the purpose of landing upon Islay, where 
 it was hoped that a considerable number of efficient 
 recruits for military service might be obtained. But they 
 were hindered first of all by a calm and then by strong 
 and contrary winds. By tacking they entered the Sound 
 of Mull and they spent the night of Monday, May i ith, 
 in the bay of Tobermory. One of those on board men- 
 tions with interest that this was the place " where the 
 rich Spanish ship was sunk, for which my Lord Argyle 
 did cause dive, having got some cannon. " * The mere 
 fact that six days elapsed before they reached Islay is 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 42. 
 
 - Erskine, Journal, p. 115 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 164, 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 167. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 116.
 
 1^ 
 
 •ihrj A'f -Ht, • •'^'^;w<'"^'"
 
 TO^ILLUSr/^TE^MC^yLUS^ INVASION '^ /685 
 
 iroaress SyfOaC^r 
 
 C
 
 A DISAPPOINTING RECEPTION 353 
 
 enough to indicate the ruinous ill-fortune which dogged 
 the enterprise; for during every day and hour of inactivity 
 on their part the enemy were consolidating their forces 
 and strengthening their position. 
 
 On arriving at Mull the Earl sent his son Charles into 
 Lome with letters to the friends there whom he expected 
 to join him. He called upon them to raise all the men 
 they could and to support the cause of Protestantism and 
 liberty. The Earl's son took possession of the Castle of 
 Dunstaffnage ^ and sent the fiery cross into the surround- 
 ing district. The outcome of this attempt to secure 
 recruits was very disappointing to the invaders, and was 
 typical of the general reception which they met with in 
 the Highlands. Some promised faithfully to join the 
 Earl on a fixed day, and at the same time treacherously 
 forwarded his letters and all the information they could 
 glean about the expedition to the Privy Council in Edin- 
 burgh, and prepared to support Atholl's forces at Inver- 
 aray. ^ Some refused to believe that the Earl had come 
 to Scotland since he had not presented himself in Lome ; 
 while others were willing to stand or fall with him, if 
 they were to be led at once against the enemy in their 
 neighbourhood, but were not inclined to enlist in his 
 army and be drafted away to the Lowlands and leave 
 their property and families at the mercy of the foe. Two 
 hundred volunteers at most were all that could be raised 
 in the district. The Earl's son after putting a garrison 
 in the Castle of Carnassery, the residence of Sir Duncan 
 Campbell of Auchinbreck, and occupying the town of 
 Ederline, four miles away, which was on Sir Duncan's 
 property, brought word to his father of the condition in 
 which he found matters there. ^ 
 
 In the meantime the invading fleet came down the 
 Sound of Mull, and passed unchallenged within cannon- 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 629. 
 
 ' A specimen of a letter of this kind written from Campbeltown is given 
 in App. II. It was forwarded by the recipient to the Privy Council. 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 287. 
 
 W
 
 354 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 shot of Duart Castle, which was held by a hostile garrison, 
 and on Friday (May 15th) cast anchor in the sound 
 between Islay and Jura. Argyll confidently expected to 
 raise six hundred men for military service in Islay, but 
 before his arrival steps had been taken to hinder, as far 
 as possible, any insurrectionary movement. Some four 
 hundred and fifty Highlanders of the Marquis of Atholl's 
 forces had entered the island, imposed oaths of fidelity to 
 the Government and disarmed the population. After 
 consultation with his associates Argyll resolved to land 
 his men by night and surprise the enemy who were 
 collected at Killarrow, the chief town in the island, some 
 six miles away. Accordingly at one o'clock on the 
 Sunday morning most of the troops on board the fleet 
 landed in Islay. In three hours they arrived at their 
 destination, only to find that the Atholl men had made 
 their escape shortly before into Kintyre. ^ Islay belonged 
 to the Campbells of Cawdor, who in 161 2 succeeded 
 the Macdonalds, " Lords of the Isles, " as proprietors. 
 The present representative of the family was a Hugh 
 Campbell, who held the office of " Bailie " of Islay, or 
 chief magistrate of the district. As one of the clan of 
 which the Earl of Argyll was the chief, the Laird of 
 Cawdor owed him some measure of allegiance and 
 respect ; but the Earl was not his feudal superior as 
 Islay was held directly from the Crown. 
 
 The Bailie of Islay had just come through from 
 Edinburgh in order to use his influence to hinder the 
 invaders receiving any support in the island. He was 
 unable, however, to organize active resistance to them. 
 Argyll's troops were well equipped with weapons and 
 with helmets and body-armour, so that they presented a 
 somewhat imposing spectacle. Yet the number of recruits 
 that came forward was disappointingly small, for only 
 eighty men made their appearance and offered to support 
 the good cause. There was some faint consolation in 
 
 1 Barillon to Louis, June 7th, Hume, Narrative, p. XCV : Erskine Journal. 
 p. 117.
 
 ^ ' ini'tJi c Hundre d Men 
 
 Satire (in Moniiioutir^ cxjicdition.
 
 ISLAY INDIFFERENT 355 
 
 the fact that they were " lusty, tall and handsome men ", 
 and that they were probably devoted to the Protestant 
 interest, as most of them had shortly before taken to the 
 hills to evade the oaths of allegiance to the present 
 Government which the Atholl men had imposed upon 
 many of the islanders \ 
 
 None of the gentlemen of Islay concurred in the 
 rebellion, and though the people in general were friendly, 
 the actual support given to the invaders was, as we have 
 said, very slight. An attempt was made to compel the 
 Bailie to use his influence on their side but it failed. 
 When summoned to come to the General's headquarters 
 he refused on the ground of loyalty to the present 
 Government ; and though an order professing to be in 
 his name was issued, calling upon all men capable of 
 bearing arms to join the insurgents, it produced no efi^ect. 
 Even the announcement that he was to be hung, if three 
 hundred recruits were not at once forthcoming, was 
 received with indifference. Those who had already 
 enlisted were infected by the prevalent tone and only half 
 of them made their appearance on the next day. ^ The 
 shadow of disappointment must have fallen on the 
 spirits of many of those in the expedition, when their 
 attempt failed to secure aid from a population which 
 had been reported to them as likely to support them 
 enthusiastically. Hope, however, like an ignis fatuus 
 flickered still before them and lured them on to calamity 
 and death. 
 
 When the Privy Council heard on May 1 5th that 
 Argyll was off^ the coast they at once despatched officers 
 to Stirling to arrest his wife and his step-daughter. Lady 
 Sophia. These ladies were brought to Edinburgh and 
 imprisoned there, the Countess in the Castle, and her 
 daughter in the Tolbooth, or common jail. Special 
 hardship was inflicted upon the latter because of her 
 
 * Erskine Journal, p. Ii8 : Hume, Narrative, p. 43. 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 118.
 
 356 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 having assisted her step-father to escape in 1681. ^ At 
 the same time Lord Neil Campbell, the Earl's brother, 
 and James, the Earl's fourth son, were also apprehended 
 and imprisoned in Edinburgh, and the Privy Council 
 informed them and the other members of their family 
 that were in custody that they would be treated exactly 
 as the rebels treated the prisoners whom they took in 
 Orkney. As, however, the Orcadians were subjected to 
 no special ill-treatment, the Earl's wife and children 
 escaped further molestation. The apprehension of the 
 Countess and her daughter may have been a measure 
 reasonable enough in the circumstances, and their separate 
 confinement may have been quite justifiable. But for the 
 authorities to thrust Lady Sophia into a jail among 
 common felons, as they did, because of her heroism and 
 piety in aiding her stepfather's escape from the Castle, 
 was an act of barbarity. Those who ordered it may have 
 been " Cavaliers, " they can scarcely have been gentlemen. 
 Shortly afterwards Lord Lome put himself in the hands 
 of James II and not only repudiated his father's action 
 in invading Scotland but offered to serve against him, ^ 
 He was not called upon, however, to put his offer into 
 execution. No one can have regarded it as more than a 
 discreditable device to safeguard his own interests now 
 that those of so many members of his House were in 
 peril. 
 
 The occupation of Islay by the invaders had been 
 unpremeditated, and had been virtually a failure in the 
 way either of inflicting a loss upon the enemy, or in that 
 of obtaining additional support. The true scene of the 
 inauguration of the enterprise was Kintyre. Here it was 
 expected that numerous and enthusiastic recruits to the 
 cause represented by the invaders would be forthcoming, 
 not only because the country was directly under Argyll's 
 influence, but also because of the stalwart Lowland 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 167, 189 : MS. Diary of Lady 
 Henrietta Campbell : Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 127. 
 ^ Barillon to Louis, June 4th, 1685 (Fox, James II, p. XCIV).
 
 THE DECLARATION 357 
 
 element in the population already referred to, which 
 consisted largely of zealous Covenanters. On Wednes- 
 day (May 20th) the fleet crossed over to Kintyre and 
 landed at Campbeltown. The leaders went ashore and 
 the formal Declaration of the reasons for insurrection 
 and the objects aimed at by it was read at the Market 
 Cross. ^ 
 
 This document had been drawn up in Holland by 
 James Stewart, the advocate who had taken part in the 
 defence of Argyll four years before, and who had since 
 then been closely associated with him during his exile. 
 He would have accompanied the expedition if Argyll had 
 proposed to land in Galloway, but he declared that it 
 would be ruinous to make the Highlands the base of 
 operations, and that he would have nothing to do with 
 such a scheme. The appellation of " Jamie Wylie " was 
 often conferred upon him in common parlance, and the 
 tradition of the Scotch bar is that he merited it. Cer- 
 tainly his decision in the present instance is evidence of 
 his foresight and caution ". The Declaration which he 
 drew up for the exiles contains an elaborate statement of 
 the misgovernment and oppression of the past twenty-five 
 years, and it lays great stress upon the risk to Protestant- 
 ism involved in the accession to the throne of a Roman 
 Catholic prince so able and determined and ruthless as 
 the Duke of York had shown himself to be. The period 
 in question had afforded a luxuriant crop of national 
 grievances, and all these are detailed in the Declaration^ 
 especial notice being taken of the treachery and violence 
 with which ecclesiastical changes had been effected, and 
 the brutality with which the resistance provoked by the 
 Government had been repressed. Reference is made to 
 the wrongs which the leader of the present expedition 
 had suffered — " the most unjust execution " of his father, 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 119 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 286 : Hume, 
 Narrative, p. 43 : Barillon to Louis, June 7th (Ibid, p. XCVIII). 
 
 * Fountainhall, Clironolo^ical Notes, p. 5711 : Ibid, Historical Observes, 
 p. 190 : Erskine, Journal, p. 163.
 
 358 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 and the tyrannous procedure which had led to his own 
 exile from his native land. 
 
 Yet though the document is formidable as an indictment 
 of the rule of the House of Stewart since the Restoration, 
 and as containing statements of grievances which were 
 afterwards set forth in the Declaration of Rights as 
 making a revolution necessary, it is singularly weak for 
 the purpose for which it was drawn up. Adequate 
 reasons were not given in it for the rebellion on which 
 the invaders wished the nation to embark. The evils of 
 the previous reign were numerous and gross enough, 
 and might fairly when at their height have provoked 
 strenuous resistance on the part of the nation at large, 
 but since the long-suffering of the public had been suffi- 
 ciently great to endure the strain occasioned by the evils 
 recounted, there was no special reason why a general 
 rebellion should take place at the present juncture. The 
 danger to Protestantism, which the Declaration pointed 
 out as involved in the accession of a Roman Catholic 
 prince was an idea inspired rather by the conviction that 
 the religion he professed must make him a persecutor 
 than by overt acts of persecution of which he had been 
 guilty. The time was, indeed, near at hand when that 
 monarch would afford ample justification for the appre- 
 hensions now expressed, but at present the evils depicted 
 in the Declaration were remote and contingent and might 
 turn out to be quite chimerical. But the cardinal defect 
 of the proclamation was that it presented no definite 
 scheme for the future beyond the overthrow of the present 
 Government. What was to be done after James had 
 been dethroned was left untold. Some of those who 
 were prominent in the present enterprise were ardent 
 Republicans, and it was probably through their influence 
 that no mention was made of the choice of a successor to 
 the present Sovereign. None among them believed in 
 the validity of the claim of the Duke of Monmouth to 
 the Crown, and accordingly no reference was made to it 
 in the Declaration^ and yet all knew that it was sure to be
 
 THE COVENANTS IGNORED 359 
 
 brought forward and pressed, if an opportunity offered. 
 The mere uncertainty as to whether the then King was 
 to be displaced in favour of some other member of the 
 Royal house or of the son of Lucy Walters, or as to 
 whether a Republic was to be substituted for the 
 Monarchy, was of itself sufficient to paralyse any general 
 movement towards revolution in the country. The 
 Declaration was not even calculated to please the Western 
 Whigs, who were expected to be the most ardent sup- 
 porters of the present endeavour to redress the national 
 grievances, as it made no clear reference to the mainten- 
 ance of the Covenants. In vague terms it spoke of the 
 " breach of sworn treaties, covenants and coronation 
 oaths, " but no one who was the least skilled in reading 
 between the lines could fail to see that the revolutionaries 
 were determined not to reimpose the yokes of 1638 and 
 1643. ^^ '^ mere matter of fact, if they had announced 
 their intention to maintain the Covenants, they would 
 have lost the support of the faction in England which 
 Monmouth was about to call to arms and with which 
 they announced their intention to co-operate. All that 
 can be said in favour of the Declaration is, that it gives a 
 striking and pathetic picture of the miseries under which 
 Scotland had groaned for many years past, and that it is 
 less scurrilous than the kindred document published 
 shortly afterwards by Monmouth. Indeed the only 
 serious instance of the latter fault which it contains is the 
 insinuation that Charles II had met with foul play, and 
 that his brother was involved in the guilt of that crime. 
 As, however, a rumour to this effect was wide-spread and 
 had found credence in various quarters, no special infamy 
 necessarily attaches to those who mentioned it in this 
 formal document \ 
 
 The Declaration was printed at Campbeltown and issued 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 162 : Welwood, Memoirs, p. 148 : 
 Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 151 : Burnet, History of My Own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 610 : Erskine, Journal, p. 137 : Biog. Pres., vol I, p. 57, vol. II, p. 10 : 
 Fox, James II, p. 57 : Hume, Narrative, p. 5.
 
 360 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 as a small tract or pamphlet. As it was highly necessary 
 for the success of the expedition to be able to issue 
 proclamations and statements, and as the means of printing 
 such might be difficult or impossible to get in out of the 
 way parts of the country, the Earl had taken the precau- 
 tion of bringing a printing-press and a printer with him 
 from Holland. ^ The day after their arrival in Campbel- 
 town there was service in the Parish Church at which 
 Mr. Thomas Forrester officiated. ^ He had been minister 
 at Alva, but in 1 674 had been deposed for holding 
 conventicles, and after a period of residence in Holland 
 had returned to Scotland in the present expedition. ^ 
 His sermon on this occasion was from the text, 
 Exod. xxxiii — vv. 14, 15 : " And He said, ' My presence 
 shall go with thee and 1 will give thee rest. ' And he said 
 unto Him, ' If thy presence go not with me carry us not 
 up hence ' ". The sermon was of the kind known as 
 " preaching to the times, " and as the preacher was an 
 able and eloquent man his words were listened to with 
 deep interest. After the sermon the Declaration was 
 again read, and then a special statement of the Earl's to 
 his vassals and tenants was made. The reason why he 
 thought it necessary to make this statement was, because 
 it had been given out by his enemies that his motives in 
 joining in the expedition, and in taking such a prominent 
 part in it were of an interested character, and that he was 
 not only desirous to recover his own property, but also to 
 become possessed of that of some of his neighbours. * 
 His statement was as follows : — " I shall not mention 
 my case published and printed in Latin and Dutch, and 
 more largely in English, nor need I repeat the printed 
 Declaration^ emitted by several noblemen, gentlemen and 
 others of both nations now in arms ; but because the 
 suffisrings of me and my family are therein mentioned, I 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 178, 195. 
 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 119. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. II, p. 252. After the Revolution he was appointed 
 Principal of the New College, St. Andrews. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 291.
 
 A PERSONAL STATEMENT 361 
 
 have thought it fit for me to declare for myself, that as I 
 go to arms, with those who have appointed me to 
 conduct them, for no private or personal end, and only 
 for those contained in the said Declaration^ which 1 have 
 concerted with them, and approven of ; so I do claim no 
 interest, but what 1 had before the pretended forfeiture 
 of my family, and have sufficient right to ; and that I do 
 freely, and as a Christian, fully forgive all personal 
 injuries against my person or family, to all that shall not 
 oppose, but join and concur with us in our present 
 undertaking, for the ends mentioned in the said Declara- 
 tion ; and hereby I oblige me never to pursue them in 
 judgment or out of judgment. And I further declare, 
 that obtaining the quiet and peaceable possession of what 
 belonged to my father and myself, before the pretended 
 forfeiture, I shall satisfy all debts due by my father and 
 myself, as far as any heir or debitor can be obliged. 
 And as my faithfulness to his late majesty and his 
 government, has sufficiently appeared to all unbiassed 
 persons, void of malice, so I do with grief acknowledge 
 my former too much complying with, and conniving at 
 the methods [that] have been taken to bring us to the 
 said condition we are now in, though, God knows, never 
 concurring to the design. 1 have now with God's 
 strength suffisred patiently my unjust sentence and 
 banishment, three years and a half, and never offered to 
 make any uproar or defence by arms, to disturb the 
 peace upon my private concern ; but the king being now 
 dead, and the Duke of York having taken off his mask, 
 and having abandoned and invaded our religion and 
 liberties, resolving to enter into the government, and 
 exercise it contrary to law, I think it not only just, but 
 my duty to God and my country, to use my utmost 
 endeavours to oppose and repress his usurpation and 
 tyranny ; and therefore being assisted and furnished very 
 nobly by several good protestants, and invited, and 
 accompanied by severals of both nations, to lead them, I 
 resolve, as God shall enable me, to use their assistance of
 
 362 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 all kind, toward the ends expressed in the said Declaration. 
 I do hereby earnestly invite and obtest all honest protest- 
 ants, and particularly all my friends and blood relations, 
 to concur with us in the said undertaking. And as I 
 have written several letters, so having no other way 
 fully to intimate my mind to others, I do hereby require 
 all my vassals everywhere and all within my several 
 jurisdictions, with the fencible men, within their command, 
 to go to arms, and to join and concur with us, according 
 to the said Declaration^ as they will be answerable at their 
 highest perils, and to obey the particular orders they 
 shall receive from me from time to time ". ^ 
 
 After this special statement the Earl made a short 
 speech in vindication of his present procedure ; and as 
 his words were made additionally impressive by the 
 worth of his personal character, his historical name, his 
 relations to his hearers, and the solemn circumstances in 
 which he was now placed, we are not surprised to read 
 that many of those present were profoundly affected by 
 them. ^ As he maintained that the Duke of York had 
 forfeited his right to the throne by becoming a Roman 
 Catholic, and was not entitled to receive an oath of 
 allegiance, he no doubt felt free of the moral stain 
 involved in treason. ^ But of course he knew that the 
 enemy regarded these opinions as flimsy subterfuges, 
 and would certainly exact the death penalty if he fell 
 into their hands. 
 
 The Declaration failed utterly in making the desired 
 impression upon those to whom it appealed. * Many in 
 the country detested the illegal and oppressive actions 
 which it recounted, as much as did the authors of it, but 
 thought, that the overthrow of the laws and constitution 
 of the country by a miscellaneous group of revolutionaries, 
 would be a still greater evil than any of those from 
 
 ' Wodrovv, History, vol. IV, p. 29011. 
 ' KvskmQ, Journal, p. 119. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 192. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 287.
 
 ERRATIC RECRUITS 363 
 
 which they had as yet suffered ; while the extreme 
 section of the Presbyterian party regarded those who 
 now asked their support without accepting their shib- 
 boleths as but little better than their persecutors. ^ 
 Their anathemas were comprehensive and included not 
 only the bloodstained King, and the treacherous prelate, 
 but also the lukewarm Laodicean, and the careless 
 Gallio. Indeed the conflagration, slight as it was, would 
 soon have died out for want of fuel had not the 
 conditions of society in the Highlands promised to 
 supply it. The loyalty of clansmen to their chieftain, 
 the smouldering hatreds of rival tribes, and the restless- 
 ness of those who in that half-civilized region looked 
 upon war as a means of gaining a livelihood, all served 
 to assist in the promotion of an insurrection. It was the 
 authority of the Earl as a chieftain, and his intimate 
 knowledge of Highland society and its politics, that 
 gave him his commanding position in the present under- 
 taking. 
 
 The results of his first endeavours to gain recruits had 
 not been encouraging. Three companies are spoken of 
 as having followed him from Islay, " but the strength of 
 these cannot have been great, and as was often the case 
 with Highland irregulars, their attendance upon their 
 military duties was extremely erratic. Erskine, one of 
 Argyll's associates in this expedition, whose Journal or 
 diary is a valuable source of information concerning it, 
 tells us of there being only twelve of them to be seen at 
 one of the musters in Kintyre, The 22nd of May was 
 appointed as the day of rendezvous for the district and 
 the place of meeting was fixed to be " the park at the 
 townhead of Campbeltown ". A number of Lowlanders 
 resident in Kintyre came forward to enlist as soldiers, 
 and probably they were the best recruits the insurgents 
 ever received, as they were genuinely devoted to the 
 Protestant cause. They were formed into companies, 
 
 ^ Erskine, Journal, p. 137. Bio^. Pres., vol. I, p. 87; vol. II, p. 86. 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 290.
 
 364 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 officers were appointed over them, colours bearing the 
 mottoes " For the Protestant Religion, " and " Against 
 Popery, Prelacy, and Erastianism ", were handed to 
 their ensigns, and the arms brought over from Holland 
 were distributed among them. ^ The Earl proposed to 
 one of the west-country gentlemen who were with him 
 to cross over, with a detachment of their forces, to 
 Ayrshire and to occupy Ardmillan Castle, some three 
 miles south of Girvan, but he declined attempting the 
 task until some intelligence had been received of the 
 state of matters in that part of the country. When he 
 was afterwards eager to go, the Earl hindered him on the 
 ground that the district was strongly held by the royal 
 forces and that war-frigates were off the coast. " 
 
 In a speech at the opening of Parliament on May 22nd, 
 the King announced to the Lords and Commons that 
 rebellion was on foot in Scotland, and called for the 
 support of his loyal subjects. " I must acquaint you," 
 he said, " That, I have had News this Morning from 
 Scotland, that Argile is Landed in the West High-lands, 
 with the men he brought with him from Holland, and that 
 there are two Declarations Published, one in the name of 
 all those in Arms there, the other in his own ; it would 
 be too long for Me to Repeat the Substance of them, it 
 is sufficient to tell you 1 am Charged with Usurpation 
 and Tyranny : The shorter of them 1 have Directed to be 
 forthwith Communicated to you ; I will take the best 
 Care I can that this Declaration of their own Treason and 
 Rebellion may meet with the Reward it deserves, and I 
 will not doubt but that you all will be the more Zealous 
 to support the Government, and give Me My Revenue, 
 as I have desired it, without delay. " In answer to His 
 Majesty's speech the Lords, temporal and spiritual, 
 " humbly offered to assist him with their Lives and 
 Fortunes, against the said Rebels, and all other His 
 Enemies whatsoever ; " while the Commons resolved 
 
 ^ Erskine, Journal, p. 137. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 290.
 
 ENGLISH LOYALTY 365 
 
 unanimously to do the same and to settle the revenue 
 which had been assigned to his predecessor on him for 
 life. The following day both Houses waited upon the 
 King in the Banqueting-House at Whitehall to present to 
 him a declaration of their loyalty and to announce that 
 his wish with regard to the revenue would be carried out. 
 The words in which he responded to their addresses 
 sound strangely in view of his after relations to his 
 subjects. He said * that he could not expect less from 
 them, that he relied on the assurances they gave him, 
 which were the natural effects of their being monarchical, 
 and Church of England men, that he would stand by all 
 such, and so supported had no reason to fear any rebels 
 or traitors he had, or might have, ' ^ 
 
 ' His Majesties most Gracious Speech, etc., published by His Majesties 
 Command, 1685.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Relations between Argyll and his colleagues — Tidings from the Lowlands — 
 Journey to Tarbert — Great controversy as to where the seat of war 
 should be — The invaders take possession of Bute — A Reverse in Cowall 
 — An attempt on Greenock — Occupation of the Castle of Elian — 
 Gheirrig — Spence and Blackader brought to Edinburgh — Operations on 
 land in Glendaruel. 
 
 The relations in which the leaders of the expedition 
 stood to their general were such as to make the ruin of 
 their cause as certain as anything could be in a world in 
 which chance seems so often to prevail. They were 
 unwilling that he should take any steps, or decide upon 
 any plan without matters having been fully discussed by 
 the Council, and they jealously guarded against the 
 assumption on his part of anything that seemed like 
 autocratic power. They, indeed, seemed to be more 
 eager to make sure that commissions in the army should 
 run in the name of the Council and not in that of the 
 Earl, than to see numerous recruits offering themselves 
 for enrolment. ^ On the other hand the Earl, with all 
 his good and amiable qualities, was lacking in that 
 deferential manner of listening to the opinions of others, 
 which conciliates a man's associates in any undertaking 
 and secures their co-operation. ' His experience of his 
 colleagues, brief as it was, made him reluctant to hold 
 Council meetings as frequently as they desired them. 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 45. 
 
 ' Rose, Observations on Fox's History, p. 183.
 
 DIVIDED COUNSELS 367 
 
 Sir Patrick Hume was one of those most seriously 
 aggrieved by this state of matters, and in relating what 
 occurred immediately after landing in Kintyre, he tells 
 how the Earl evaded the consultations for which he had 
 no liking ; " As for a Counsell [he said] there was no 
 present need nor could he get time to attend it, for 
 modelling and arming such as came. His way here was 
 to stay ashoare all day, still busied about something, and 
 return at night to his ship : but obliged some of us alwise 
 to stay in the towne upon some plausible reason of 
 business to doe. " ^ 
 
 The great question which forced itself upon the atten- 
 tion of all, and which divided them into two parties was 
 as to the seat of war ; whether it should be in the 
 Highlands or in the Lowlands. The Earl's idea was 
 that a firm lodgment should be effected in the Highlands, 
 and a considerable army raised there before they proceeded 
 to the Lowlands, and no doubt he anticipated that in the 
 meantime Monmouth would land in England and by 
 vigorous military operations distract the attention of the 
 Government, and weaken its power of dealing with the 
 insurrection in Scotland. Consequently he displayed a 
 leisureHness in his methods that somewhat exasperated 
 those who wished to proceed to the Lowlands without 
 much loss of time. ^ As, however, a large part of the 
 success of the expedition had been anticipated from the 
 Earl's ability to raise an army in the Highlands some 
 little time had necessarily to be allowed him for the 
 purpose, and no immediate attempt on the Lowlands 
 could be made. As the Highland troops that might be 
 raised were to be placed, if possible, under officers who 
 belonged to their own clans and who had joined the 
 insurgents, many of those who had come from Holland, 
 and expected commissions in the army, had to wait until 
 there was an opportunity of raising regiments in the 
 Lowlands to which they might be appointed. Ayloff 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 44. 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 122.
 
 368 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 received the colonelcy of a foot regiment and Rumbold 
 one of the cavalry and at once got their companies out of 
 the recruits that enlisted at Campbeltown. ^ 
 
 Emissaries in the meantime were sent across into 
 Ayrshire and Galloway to prepare the West of Scotland 
 for joining in the insurrection and to gather information 
 with regard to the enemy's forces. From one of these, 
 a minister named George Barclay, the Earl received 
 word within three days that the country was eager for 
 their coming, and that in the district where his informant 
 was a thousand horse could be levied easily within a 
 very short time, that the enemy were panic-stricken, 
 that Monmouth had landed in England and that his 
 proclamation had already reached Ayr. ^ Great excite- 
 ment at once arose among the invaders on the receipt of 
 this news, and many were anxious to divide the troops 
 and to cross at once into the Lowlands with half of them. 
 Probably this would have been the best course which 
 could have been taken in the circumstances ; for, though 
 Barclay's report was erroneous so far as regards the 
 rumours which he transmitted, there was no reason to 
 doubt his veracity in matters of his own personal 
 knowledge. He afterwards declared that he found five 
 hundred men already on foot in Ayrshire, of whom all 
 but a hundred were armed, and that besides the cavalry 
 already mentioned two thousand infantry could have 
 been raised there within two days, if there had been 
 arms to give them. As it was, he said, hundreds offered 
 themselves and went away disappointed for want of 
 equipment and weapons. ^ Had prompt advantage been 
 taken of the condition of matters in that part of Scotland 
 and a body of troops landed there with a supply of 
 arms, the history of the invasion might have been very 
 different. The statement with regard to Monmouth's 
 having set up his standard in England was of course 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative^ p. 44: Wodrow, History^ vol. IV, p. 290. 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 120. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 163.
 
 HIGHLAND IRREGULARS 369 
 
 a baseless rumour, as nearly three weeks had to elapse 
 before his landing in Dorsetshire. 
 
 The prospects in the Lowlands being reported as so 
 favourable, the delay in Kintyre seemed to many of 
 those taking part in the expedition as ill-advised and 
 harmful. Apart from the Lowlanders in Campbeltown 
 and the neighbourhood, all the men who had been added 
 to their numbers had been virtually pressed into military 
 service, while few of the gentry of the district had 
 joined them. Some of the Highland volunteers were 
 even now beginning to drop away, according to the 
 heart-breaking custom of irregular troops of that nation- 
 ality. ^ Had any of them been followed up and punished 
 as deserters, probably all those who were left would 
 at once have returned home. Devotion to the cause for 
 which the sword had been drawn did not exist among 
 them. Some offered themselves as recruits out of loyalty 
 to their chief, others with a view of enriching themselves 
 by plunder, and others from a fraudulent desire to get 
 some of the new weapons he had brought over from 
 Holland. ^ As these facts were fully recognised by the 
 leaders of the expedition, we cannot wonder that a 
 number of them were impatient at the loss of time in 
 Kintyre, and anxious to get into a part of the country 
 where circumstances were more favourable to success. 
 The Earl proposed that the vessels should sail along the 
 coast to Tarbert, and that the troops already levied 
 should march northward through the peninsula of Kintyre 
 to the same place, and on their way summon the whole 
 population to arms. The fiery cross had been sent 
 though all Argyllshire and Tarbert fixed as the place of 
 rendezvous. There he expected that his son Charles 
 and other gentlemen would join them with at least 
 twelve hundred men. ^ They could then, if it were 
 
 * Erskine, journal, p. 120. 
 
 * Hume Narrative, p. 44. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 46. Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 291. Fountainhall, Historical 
 Observes, p. 167: Atholl Chronicles, vol. I, p. 199.
 
 370 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 desirable, divide their forces and operate against the 
 enemy both in the Highlands and Lowlands. Although 
 some would have preferred to divide at once, no serious 
 opposition was offered to the proposal which only 
 involved twenty-four hours' delay. 
 
 This arrangement was carried out, and on May 27th 
 the ships by sea and the troops by land reached Tarbert, 
 which is situated on the isthmus of the peninsula of 
 Kintyre and within easy distance of Bute and of the 
 Ayrshire coast. Here they were met by Sir Duncan 
 Campbell of Auchinbreck and by the Earl's son, Charles, 
 with about twelve hundred men, which brought up their 
 forces to about two thousand five hundred horse and 
 foot. ^ As three hundred men came from Holland it is 
 evident that all the recruits they had gained from the 
 time of their arrival in Scotland, down to their reaching 
 Tarbert, had only amounted to about a thousand. The 
 meagreness and inadequacy of these forces for the purpose 
 of overthrowing the Government of Scotland might, 
 one would think, have been apparent to all among the 
 invaders who were capable of forming a rational opinion, 
 and we can scarcely wonder at the helplessness and vacil- 
 lation which marked Argyll's procedure at this crisis. 
 There can be no doubt that he anxiously waited for 
 definite news of Monmouth's arrival in England, and that 
 he was desirous to postpone decisive action until that 
 event had occurred. On the other hand his colleagues 
 were set upon the plan of landing upon the Ayrshire 
 coast and of co-operating with their friends there, of 
 whose numbers and zeal they had had such encouraging 
 reports. In the meantime the Earl proposed that as the 
 Marquess of Atholl's forces were in Inveraray and were 
 terrorizing the district, it would be best to drive them 
 out before making any attempt upon the Lowlands. As 
 matters then were there would, he thought, be difficulty 
 in persuading the Highland officers and soldiers to 
 leave their country at the mercy of the enemy. The 
 
 • MS. Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell.
 
 ARGYLL'S DIFFICULTIES 371 
 
 undertaking seemed to Argyll one likely to be easily 
 accomplished. The troops holding Inveraray were only 
 some five hundred in number, and he suggested that the 
 ships might sail up Loch Fyne and attack the Castle, 
 while the army under his command marched thither by 
 land. No great military skill was needed to point out 
 the futility and danger of such a scheme. English war- 
 vessels were reported to be on the coast, and could easily 
 catch the vessels containing their arms and ammunition 
 in such a trap as a cul-de-sac like Loch Fyne would prove 
 itself to be. If the enemy chose to defend the Castle, 
 they could easily hold out until ample succour arrived ; 
 but it was more probable that they would avoid fighting 
 and retire to a distance, with the view of detaining their 
 opponents in that out of the way region, and of forcing 
 them to spend their strength in fruitless exertions. ^ 
 
 But matters were so confused and the counsels of the 
 leaders so diverse and conflicting that it seemed impos- 
 sible to agree upon a plan of procedure in which all could 
 co-operate. No sooner had a scheme been concerted 
 than the difficulties connected with it began to be realized 
 and it was superseded by another. The Highlanders 
 among them acknowledged that the main support of 
 the rebellion was to be expected in the Lowlands, and 
 hence they were willing to go thither, on receiving a 
 promise that in case of success they would be compensated 
 for losses inflicted upon the property which they had left 
 at the enemy's mercy. But on the day after this arrange- 
 ment had been made Argyll had a totally new scheme. 
 He proposed that the Highland troops, amounting to 
 some two-thirds of the whole army, should remain in 
 Argyllshire to drive out Atholl's men, or, at any rate to 
 keep them in check and to protect the country while the 
 others entered the Lowlands. The advantage of this 
 plan would be that a still larger number of recruits from 
 the Highlands might be obtained, and that the task of 
 
 ' Atholl Chronicles, vol. I, p. 201 : Hume, Narrative, p. 47.
 
 372 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 invading the Lowlands and levying troops there would 
 be facilitated, as the Government would be obliged to 
 divide their forces in order to deal with rebellion in two 
 widely separated districts. ^ He proposed to send the 
 section of his forces, which was to operate in the Lowlands, 
 in the Sophia with two thousand two hundred stand of 
 arms for infantry and cavalry and as much ammunition 
 as might be needed, and to arrange for the vessel to sail 
 on the following day. But no sooner had the scheme 
 been approved by all the Council than he departed from 
 it, and without alleging specific reasons gave his colleagues 
 to understand that it was impracticable, at any rate, for 
 the present. ^ As might have been expected, the disap- 
 pointment and irritation caused by this method of proced- 
 ure were intense. Sir John Cochran, though usually a 
 stalwart supporter of the Earl's plans, was almost beside 
 himself with rage, and he declared that he would land 
 upon the Ayrshire coast, even if he were alone and had 
 nothing but a hayfork in his hand ; ^ while the others 
 were almost resolved to take matters into their own 
 hands and to sail away and leave the Earl in Kintyre. 
 Ultimately the pressure of circumstances shaped their 
 plans. Provisions were no longer to be had in Tarbert 
 and its neighbourhood, and as retreat into the Highlands 
 was out of the question, it was decided to cross over into 
 the island of Bute and find sustenance there. * 
 
 Yet however exasperating the procedure of Argyll may 
 have been to his colleagues it was by no means unintelli- 
 gible. Two circumstances had induced him to enter on this 
 expedition, viz. his belief that he could raise an army in 
 the Highlands and his compact with Monmouth. The 
 presence of Atholl's forces at Inveraray crippled his 
 power to levy soldiers in Argyllshire, while Monmouth's 
 delay in invading England was equally embarrassing, 
 
 1 Hume Narrative, p. 48. 
 
 2 Erskine, Journal, p. I2i. 
 
 3 Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 291. 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 121.
 
 DISLOYAL ASSOCIATES 373 
 
 and so the only policy that commended itself to him was 
 to endeavour to clear Argyllshire of the enemy, and to 
 postpone entering on bolder measures until the promised 
 co-operation of the English exiles had begun. The fact 
 that after his capture he laid a large part of the blame of 
 failure on Monmouth's tardiness or bad faith, confirms 
 this view of matters. ^ Nor can we form a fair estimate 
 of his conduct unless we keep in mind the anomalous 
 and perplexing position in which he stood : for he had as 
 his colleagues in command those from whom he had 
 received his commission as General, and who were both 
 inclined to resent any manifestation of independence on 
 his part, and to scrutinize suspiciously the orders he 
 might give. The general character of the relations between 
 the unfortunate Commander-in-Chief and his officers was 
 vividly described by the former after the rebellion had 
 been suppressed, " Those who went with me ", he says, 
 " kept continual cabals, sent messengers, received intelli- 
 gence by themselves, acquainted me with but what they 
 pleased, and were trepanned by spies sent out by the 
 enemy ; and to the last hour never got one intelligence 
 of use, nor assured me of one man to join with me ; 
 and when they spake or sent to any, did it in their own 
 name. Once they persuaded me, like a fool, to give a 
 letter of trust to one they sent out, and, like the raven 
 he never returned. They designed sometimes to have 
 seized some of the ships, arms, and provision, and 
 effectually [actually .?] did break open, use, and 
 embezzle what they pleased, without me. Some of them 
 lived riotously, and spent the provisions as they pleased, 
 so that many arms were spoiled and many lost, and 
 provisions were spent sooner than was necessary ; and 
 except two hundred ducatoons I left, 1 spent all the silver 
 upon them, and they claimed all as their due. " ^ This 
 account of matters is more like the description of a 
 
 ' VVodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 290. Burnet, History of my own Times, 
 vol. I, p. 633. Fox, James II, p. XCVIII, Barillon to Louis, June 7th. 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 298.
 
 374 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 nightmare than of events in an actual campaign, and no 
 one who has read it can have any difficulty in under- 
 standing why Argyll's expedition failed. 
 
 The invaders crossed over from Tarbert to Bute, but 
 lost three days' time in doing so, because of an inadequate 
 supply of boats to act as transports for their men and 
 horses. In addition to procuring food there they hoped 
 to obtain at least two hundred more recruits, and no 
 more convenient place could have been found whence to 
 carry on operations either against the Highlands or the 
 Lowlands. The conduct, however, of the Highland 
 soldiery, was not such as to commend to the inhabitants 
 of that island the cause which they supported as one 
 antagonistic to oppression and robbery ; for they were 
 guilty of plundering houses, ^ extorting money, lifting 
 cows, and wantonly houghing cattle, sheep and lambs. 
 Many of the leading men in the rebel army were very 
 indignant at this procedure, and in one instance they 
 compelled their unruly followers to give back to the 
 owners a drove of two hundred cattle, which had been 
 collected in the island and driven into Rothesay. The 
 minister already referred to, Mr. Forrester, dealt with 
 the matter from the pulpit and " did severely reprove " 
 the offenders and warn them of their guilt. Among 
 those who came under his censure was the Earl's own 
 son, Charles, at whose command some of the outrages 
 had been perpetrated. ^ As a mark of indignation at the 
 burning of Carrick Castle, a residence of his on Loch 
 Goil, the Earl had the portion of the old Castle of 
 Rothesay which was still habitable burned down — an 
 action which recalled the similiar achievements for which 
 his father had been blamed many years before. This 
 incident, at which his colleagues were afterwards vexed as 
 savouring of private revenge, would probably have been 
 
 ' Among other of their outrages they broke open the poor's box in the 
 Parish church in Rothesay and carried off its contents. We are indebted for 
 this item of information to the Rev. J. K. Hewison, D.D., Rothesay. 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 122.
 
 GOVERNMENT WAR-VESSELS 375 
 
 hindered by them had they been on the spot at the 
 time. ^ It so happened that a number of them were 
 engaged on an expedition to the Greater Cumbrae when 
 it took place. About sixty men with Cochran and Hume 
 had crossed to this island, which lies between Bute 
 and the Ayrshire coast, with the purpose of gaining 
 intelligence and of securing boats for transport service. 
 As they were merely a reconnoitring party they did not 
 attempt to hold the island. No sooner, however, had 
 they left it than a detachment of the enemy crossed over 
 from Largs, and staved in the boats which they had 
 requisitioned and left to be made ready for their use. 
 The same messengers who carried tidings to Bute of this 
 disaster brought word that Largs was strongly held by a 
 regiment of foot and some troops of horse. ^ 
 
 The position of the rebels was now hazardous in 
 the extreme. They were within touch of the enemy 
 both on the right hand and on the left. Capt. 
 Hamilton in H.M.S. Kingfisher was lying in the Clyde 
 off Dumbarton, after the exploit of burning Carrick 
 Castle, and any hour three other war-vessels which had 
 sailed from Leith a fortnight before, might be expected 
 to arrive and cut off their retreat. The war-vessels had 
 been warned to be on their guard against fire-ships and 
 other " knacks " of Argyll for their destruction, ^ but as 
 matters turned out they ran no great risk from this 
 quarter. In the meantime the Government were able to 
 take measures in the part of Scotland where a large 
 section of the population was known to be in sympathy 
 with the invaders, which would effectually prevent their 
 drawing to a head. Sir Patrick Hume was accordingly 
 commissioned by some of his associates to impress upon 
 the Earl the desirability of making a decisive move, 
 which might relieve them from some, at any rate, of 
 their present dangers, but nothing came of the attempt 
 
 ^ Hume, Narrative, p. 50. 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 122. 
 ^ Atholl Chronicles, vol. I, p. 207.
 
 376 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 beyond a violent altercation between the two. ^ But the 
 pressure of circumstances shaped the military policy of 
 the expedition, and an occurrence, which seemed the 
 sheerest accident, led to a decision which speedily sealed 
 the fate of the enterprise. 
 
 Charles Campbell, the Earl's second son, had fallen 
 into disgrace on account of his conduct in Bute ; and had 
 been despatched over into Cowall, with about a hundred 
 men, to employ his energies in endeavouring to raise 
 some more recruits in that district. In this undertaking 
 he had but little success, and while he was at some 
 distance from the boat in which he and his party had 
 crossed from Bute to the mainland, a Captain Kenneth 
 Mackenzie, in command of a party of AthoU's men, 
 came suddenly upon him. A brisk encounter took 
 place and the insurgents ran short of ammunition. The 
 Earl's son hastened back to the boat to obtain a fresh 
 supply, but unfortunately his men interpreted his action 
 as a flight from danger, and imitated it without loss of 
 time. In the pursuit several were killed and several 
 taken prisoners. The others escaped into the Castle of 
 EUan-Gheirrig on an island in Loch Riddon, an offshoot 
 northward from the Kyles of Bute, halfway through that 
 narrow sound. ^ 
 
 This reverse, slight as it was, produced an evil 
 impression on the Earl's followers, which could only, he 
 thought, be removed by driving the enemy from the 
 district, and accordingly he transported his forces at once 
 from Rothesay to the opposite shore in Argyllshire, and 
 took up his position near Castle Toward. ^ This action 
 he felt himself at liberty to decide upon, as his principal 
 colleagues had, with his consent, undertaken to effect a 
 landing in Renfrewshire. They embarked with two 
 hundred men in the Sophia and in another vessel called 
 the FranciSy and as Largs was occupied by a military force 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 123. 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 50 : AthoU Chronicles, vol. I, p. 223. 
 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 124.
 
 LANDING AT GREENOCK 377 
 
 they sailed up the Clyde and anchored off Greenock. 
 Before they could get a boat ashore they perceived a 
 troop of horsemen near the water's edge. This turned 
 out to be a company of Renfrewshire gentlemen, under 
 the command of Lord Cochran. ^ The difficulty of 
 effecting a landing in presence of the enemy is very 
 considerable, and accordingly it is not surprising that 
 one of the officers of the rebel forces objected to the 
 attempt being made. This was Graeme Elphinston of 
 Lapness in Orkney. "' Macaulay speaks of his conduct 
 as being mutinous, ^ but we imagine that it was scarcely 
 possible to maintain discipline in a company of gentlemen- 
 adventurers. Whatever may be the moral character of 
 Elphinston's action, his objection to the procedure in 
 question suggests that he had a sounder judgement in 
 military matters than many of his colleagues, A boat 
 containing a dozen men under Major FuUarton put off to 
 effect a landing and was fired upon from the shore. Upon 
 this several cannon-shot were fired from the vessels, and the 
 defending party fell back and allowed the boat to land. 
 A parley took place between Major Fullarton and Lord 
 Cochran's lieutenant, John Houston, and a number of 
 others on both sides. Houston protested against the 
 invasion and Fullarton replied that " they were come 
 to their native country, for the preservation of the 
 Protestant religion, and liberties of their country, and it 
 was pity such brave gentlemen should appear against 
 them, in the service of a popish tyrant and usurper. " 
 Upon this Houston said that he was a liar and broke off 
 the parley by firing his pistols into the midst of his 
 opponents. * A brisk interchange of shot took place, 
 though without casualties, except to two of the horses, 
 and on the guns having been again fired from the ships, 
 and more men having been landed, the troop of horse 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 123. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 650. 
 
 ' History, vol. I, chap. V : see Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 292. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 293 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, 
 p. 168.
 
 378 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 retired some distance from the town. Indeed it 
 is said that some did not draw bridle until they had 
 reached Paisley. The principal officers, with Sir John 
 Cochran at their head, now came ashore, and, entering 
 Greenock, they endeavoured to persuade the people to 
 join with them " in defence of religion and liberty ". 
 Their efforts, however, met with but poor success. A 
 few volunteers presented themselves and a few men 
 expressed their willingness to join the insurgents, if they 
 were formally pressed, as a measure of precaution to 
 save their families from molestation after their departure, 
 but not more than thirty men altogether were added to 
 their number. ^ The Earl had instructed Cochran to 
 get at least two hundred bolls of meal at Greenock for 
 the use of the army, but he only got about forty. This, 
 together with a large bark and a few small boats and the 
 handful of the recruits already mentioned, was the 
 whole result of an attempt from which much had been 
 expected. The two vessels with their captures, on a 
 false alarm of danger, sailed back the same night, and on 
 hearing that the Earl was on the Argyllshire shore joined 
 him there. ^ 
 
 Argyll was now more strongly resolved than ever to 
 drive Atholl's men out of the district, and to delay 
 proceeding to the Lowlands until this had been done ; 
 but many of his followers were strongly opposed to this 
 plan, and commissioned Cochran and Hume to confer 
 with him upon the matter. " The Earl ", says Hume, 
 " would gladly have shifted [i. e. evaded the consul- 
 tation] but being pressed fell into a great passion. " ^ 
 Finally he asked for twenty four hours' delay and 
 promised at the end of that time to lay his plans fully 
 before them. On this being agreed to, he at once set 
 off in a boat to examine the castle of Ellan-Gheirrig. 
 When he returned he suggested that they should lodge all 
 
 ' Erskine, Journal, p. 134. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. IV, p. 293. 
 
 ^ Narrative, p. 50.
 
 ARGYLL'S SUGGESTION 379 
 
 their arms and ammunition and stores within this strong- 
 hold. He pointed out that they could not remain much 
 longer in their present condition. At any moment they 
 might be attacked by the English frigates, which could not 
 now be far off, and there was no likelihood that the 
 four or five-pounder guns which they had brought from 
 Holland would prevail against the enemy's twenty-eight 
 and thirty-pounders. The narrow rocky passages which 
 led to the castle in question could not, he thought, be 
 attempted by a man-of-war, and the position and sur- 
 roundings of the stronghold were such that cannon 
 could not be directed upon it by land. He requested 
 his colleagues to visit the place, and he said that if it 
 should be found unsuitable for the purpose, their 
 vessels might pass through the Kyles of Bute, and either 
 seek some other place in which to store their arms and 
 ammunition, or make for a port in the Lowlands. 
 Sir John Cochran after his experience at Greenock was 
 inclined to support the Earl's scheme. Indeed he now 
 roundly declared that it would be a folly to attempt the 
 Lowlands at present, as they were everywhere guarded by 
 soldiers and militia. ^ 
 
 This agreement of two out of three of the inner 
 council of the insurgents virtually settled matters in 
 Argyll's favour. Some of their associates were inclined 
 to seize one or two of the ships and attempt to carry 
 out their own plans, but Sir Patrick Hume dissuaded 
 them from doing so. He pointed out to them that 
 such conduct would be dishonourable, and that, if they 
 failed in carrying through any such separate enterprise, 
 they would be charged with the blame of wrecking the 
 whole scheme. Matters went so far as to allow discuss- 
 ion of the question as to whether the sailors would join 
 with the mutineers or not. It was thought that they 
 would, but as a set-off to this it was noticed that the 
 Earl had stationed a company of Highlanders on board 
 of every ship, so that it was absolutely certain that an 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, pp. 50, 51 .- Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 168.
 
 38o A SCOTS EARL 
 
 attempt to seize any of them would be resisted by force. 
 These considerations, together with the fact that as much 
 could be said in favour of the Earl's proposal as in that 
 of any rival suggestion, reduced the murmurers to a sullen 
 acquiescence in it. Some of the Lowlanders whose zeal 
 for the cause was strong may have been still sanguine or 
 credulous enough to believe in the ultimate success of 
 their enterprise ; but their Highland comrades were fast 
 becoming sceptical as to any such happy result, and at this 
 critical juncture a hundred of them made their escape and 
 got rid of their new guns by selling them for a shilling 
 apiece. ^ 
 
 The ships accordingly sailed up the Kyles of Bute in 
 order to examine the Castle of EUan-Gheirrig. This 
 was a small fortalice of which only a few stones of one 
 wall are now visible some three feet above ground. It 
 stood on a rocky islet, of about an acre in extent a short 
 way up Loch Riddon, and was the property of Sir Neil 
 Campbell, one of the numerous scions of the House of 
 which the Earl of Argyll was the head. ^ The latter 
 proposed, as we have said, to utilize this Castle for 
 keeping their stores and ammunition. 
 
 His full plan was to strengthen it by building an earthen 
 fort and arming it with the ships' guns, and to station 
 the ships themselves out of danger in the Loch north of 
 the island. He was quite sure that the frigates would 
 not be able to get up as far as the Castle, as the passages 
 were almost too narrow for their own smaller ships. He 
 had the fancy that the four and five-pounder guns from 
 the fort would be able to cut the shrouds and tackling of 
 the men-of-war, before they could get near enough the 
 fort to batter it with their heavier guns. His confidence 
 was not shared by all his associates, and, indeed, the 
 seamen declared that the frigates, if carefully piloted, 
 could make their way through the narrow sound — an 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 51 : Erskine, Journal, p. 125. 
 
 ' This island is now called Eilean Dearg and One Tree Island from an 
 ash-tree growing upon it.
 
 ROMANTIC INCIDENT 381 
 
 opinion which was afterwards found to be correct. But 
 very soon the choice between occupying the Castle or 
 sailing away to some Lowland port was forcibly decided ; 
 for the English frigates, the Kingfisher^ the Falcon, and 
 the Mermaid, along with a yacht, the Charlotte, entered 
 the Kyles of Bute and blocked up the exit from Ellan- 
 Gheirrig. ^ 
 
 In the meantime on June 6th, Dr. Blackader and 
 William Spence had been brought as prisoners from 
 Orkney to Edinburgh by sea. ^ On their landing at 
 Leith they were conducted by a detachment of soldiers 
 to be examined before the Privy Council. Blackader's 
 sister was among the crowd that followed the prisoners. 
 She was anxious to be of some service to her brother, but 
 was unable to get near enough to speak to him. When- 
 ever she attempted to do so the soldiers drove her back 
 with their muskets. At last he caught sight of her and 
 recognised her. She noticed that he looked at her very 
 fixedly, and then pointed several times to his hat in a 
 significant manner. With the quickness of a woman's 
 wit she perceived that her brother was giving her some 
 signal of warning. She at once hastened to Edinburgh 
 to the private lodgings whither his luggage had been 
 sent, and found amongst it a hat in the lining of which 
 there were papers. Had these been discovered they 
 would probably have sealed his fate and that of several 
 others. She at once destroyed them, and thus by her 
 cleverness and promptness averted the danger. A party 
 of soldiers almost immediately afterwards entered the 
 house to search for papers, but found nothing of a suspi- 
 cious character. Both Blackader and Spence were closely 
 imprisoned in separate cells and subjected to cross-examin- 
 ation, but revealed nothing of any consequence. ^ 
 Blackader managed to smuggle out a letter which was 
 
 ' Hume, Kanative, p. 52 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 293. 
 
 ^ P'ountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 167 : Diary of Thomas Brown p. 35. 
 The latter records that they were conveyed in a Skipper Bytter's ship. 
 
 ^ Crichton, Lije of Col. Blackader, p. 29 : Memoirs of Rev. T. Blackader, 
 P- 324-
 
 382 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 forwarded to Holland to his friend the Pensionary Fagel, 
 who interfered on his behalf as he was a naturalized 
 Dutch subject. The result was that he was saved from 
 torture, and, finally, after more than a year's imprisonment, 
 he was set at liberty. Spence was condemned to death 
 but was respited and seems to have remained in prison 
 until the Revolution. ^ 
 
 It is probable that, in the unfortunate state of his affairs, 
 the Earl of Argyll endeavoured to raise the hopes of his 
 associates by sanguine conjectures as to Monmouth's 
 success in invading England. In a quarter unfriendly 
 to him the statement is made that he went so far as to 
 announce to his followers that he had received a letter 
 from the Duke, in which he said that he was in arms in 
 England and had been victorious. ^ Sir Patrick Hume, 
 whose narrative of the expedition is very minute, 
 makes no mention of this having occurred. It is quite 
 possible that Argyll received a letter from some quarter 
 containing some such assertions concerning Monmouth, 
 and that he hastily credited them and communicated 
 them to his followers. Yet even if it were true that he 
 fabricated such tidings, the desperate circumstances in 
 which he was placed would, we suppose, be allowed by 
 even the sternest moralists to afford some palliation of 
 his guilt. 
 
 The insurgents, though now cut off from the sea, 
 could operate to the northwards on land. While the 
 ships were being unloaded and the fort completed, Argyll 
 divided his army and sent Colonel Rumbold with the 
 horse and a Major Henderson with three hundred foot 
 to hold Glendaruel, which runs down to Loch Riddon, 
 and by which Atholl's forces might have assailed him. 
 Rumbold pushed on vigorously and took possession of 
 the Castle of Ardkinglass on Loch Fyne opposite to 
 Inveraray. Upon this about 500 of Atholl's men came 
 round from Inveraray by the head of Loch Fyne and 
 
 > Wodrow, History, vol. IV, pp. 313, 320. 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 176.
 
 HOPELESS ENTANGLEMENT 383 
 
 hindered any further progress. Some desultory fighting 
 ensued in which the insurgents acquitted themselves well, 
 but could not force their opponents to come to close 
 quarters. The plan of the enemy was to avoid an engage- 
 ment and thus to gain time. Argyll would willingly 
 have flung his twelve hundred men upon the enemy's 
 forces, which were now reported to be five thousand, and 
 have endeavoured to drive them out of Inveraray, but 
 the volunteers from Holland were resolutely determined 
 not to stake the fate of their enterprise upon this attempt.^ 
 Had Atholl's men stood their ground and an actual 
 battle been begun they would not have refused to take 
 part in it, but since there was no prospect of this they 
 still preferred to make their way to the Lowlands in 
 accordance with their original plan. Argyll was therefore 
 helplessly entangled : a portion of his army had to be 
 left to hold the castle, another portion of it was averse to 
 carrying out his orders, and the enemy eluded him as he 
 advanced and hung upon him as he retired. Indeed it 
 seemed at one time likely that the insurgents might have 
 come to blows among themselves ; for Argyll, in view 
 of the possible secession during his absence of those who 
 objected to be led against Inveraray, gave orders to the 
 commander of the Castle that such persons were to be 
 disarmed before leaving. But, fortunately, the contin- 
 gency did not arise, and the fact that such an order had 
 been given did not transpire until all the forces had been 
 brought together again in the glen at the head of Loch 
 Riddon. Probably, the seriousness at the situation in 
 which they all were, hindered those who might feel 
 especially aggrieved by such an order from making 
 it the ground of an open quarrel. ^ 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative^ pp. 53, 54 : Wodrovv, History, vol, IV, p. 294 : Chroni- 
 cles of Alholl, vol. I, p. 251. 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 54.
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 Resolution to march to the Lowlands — Garrison left in the Castle — The 
 Castle abandoned — Divided counsels — Journey by the Gareloch and 
 Kilmaronock — Meeting with Royal forces — Rebels desert in large 
 numbers — Flight by night to Kilpatrick — Argyll arrested at Inchinnan — 
 Brought into Edinburgh — Fate of other insurgent leaders — Argyll 
 threatened with torture but not tortured. 
 
 And now for the third time in the history of this brief 
 campaign the failure of provisions compelled the insurg- 
 ents to form and execute some definite plan. Argyll, 
 whose office as general in command was almost a nullity, 
 was in despair. At one time he proposed that the 
 scheme of an invasion of the Lowlands by a section of 
 the army should be carried out, and that with the best 
 horses at their command and with a full supply of arms 
 and ammunition, those undertaking the expedition should 
 make their way round by the head of Loch Long ; but 
 in less than half an hour after this had been agreed to he 
 declared that the whole of the forces must keep together. 
 Then he suggested that he would take the ships and try 
 to force a passage out into the Kyles of Bute and so 
 away into the open sea, and he spoke of the mass of his 
 men stealing past in boats while the larger vessels were 
 in conflict with the enemy. But this scheme was 
 condemned by the seamen as the suggestion of mere 
 frenzy ; they had no guns, they said, which could injure 
 the enemy's ships, nor apparatus for boarding them, nor 
 men capable of such desperate fighting, while each boat
 
 ELLAN-GHEIRRIG ABANDONED 385 
 
 of theirs could easily be sunk by the enemy in the 
 narrow sound. As, however, they were obliged to leave 
 the place where they were, it was resolved that they 
 should march to the Lowlands. By this time the 
 Highland section of the army had been considerably 
 reduced by desertion. Argyll's mortification at this state 
 of matters was intense, and he was very eager to attempt 
 to raise a fresh body of men, though it was a serious 
 question, indeed, as to where food for those whom he 
 had was to be obtained. ^ 
 
 Before the army marched away a garrison was left in 
 the fort, under the command of the Graeme Elphinston 
 of whom we have already heard. ^ The seamen were 
 persuaded, though with difficulty, to remain by the ships, 
 and they were instructed to sink them and take refuge 
 in the Castle, if the frigates succeeded in getting up Loch 
 Riddon and seemed likely to be able to pass the Castle 
 and assail them. ^ The day on which Argyll departed 
 from Ellan-Gheirrig was the nth of June, and on that 
 very day Monmouth landed at Lyme in Dorsetshire to 
 begin his brief and disastrous campaign. His coming 
 was, however, too late to affect the course of events in 
 Scotland. For three days after leaving the Castle and 
 ships Argyll lingered in Glendaruel, contrary to the 
 advice of his colleagues, in the vain hope of raising more 
 men, while in spite of all precautions desertions proceeded 
 apace. As the army were in straits for food and could 
 only provide for themselves by plundering the surround- 
 ing country, they could not reasonably expect recruits to 
 join them. Only about five hundred Highlanders 
 remained in the army, instead of the three thousand on 
 whom Argyll had counted and of whom he had spoken 
 when in Amsterdam. The Lowlanders from Kintyre 
 and the volunteers from Holland made up some seven 
 hundred more, and virtually these last were all on whom 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 55. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 294. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 294 : Chronicles of Atholl, vol. I, p. 237 : Hume, Narrati^'e, p. 55.
 
 386 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 reliance could be placed. Argyll was, we are told, 
 " inexpressibly damped and discouraged ", but Hume 
 and Cochran did all in their power to hearten him by 
 speaking of the sterling qualities of many of their men, 
 and urged a rapid march to the Lowlands as a matter of 
 life or death. ^ 
 
 They proceeded to the head of Loch Striven in a day's 
 march and on the following day they came to Loch Long. 
 This arm of the sea they crossed with difficulty in boats 
 from Ardentinny, and they lay on the east side of the 
 loch all night. Next morning they were overtaken by all 
 the men whom they had left as a garrison in the fort and 
 Castle at Ellan-Gheirrig and in the ships. The report 
 brought by them was that the frigates had got close up 
 to the Castle, and as their guns could easily batter down 
 both it and the fort, resistance was out of the question. 
 Their flight had been hastened by a rumour that AthoU 
 was only three miles away with an army of three thou- 
 sand men. They had omitted to sink the ships, as 
 ordered, and an attempt they had made to blow up the 
 Castle by firing a train of gunpowder had failed. The 
 prisoners from Orkney, who had been left in the Castle 
 had communicated with the captains of the frigates by 
 means of a white flag, and the latter had sent some boats' 
 crews ashore, who discovered the train and foiled the 
 attempt. Without firing a shot the garrison had left the 
 hostages, five thousand stand of arms, three hundred 
 barrels of gunpowder and their principal standard in the 
 hands of the enemy. ^ The calamity overwhelmed the 
 insurgent forces with amazement and distress, and forbade 
 all hope of the present victory of their cause. No attempt 
 was made to hinder or delay pursuit by the enemy, 
 though the country through which the rebels had passed 
 was one affording abundant facilities for doing so at no 
 great risk on their part. It is, indeed, extraordinary, 
 
 • Hume, Narrative, p. 56. 
 
 * Wodrovv, History, vol. IV, p. 294 : London Gazette, no. 2044 : Chronicles of 
 Atholl, vol. I, p. 239.
 
 BETWEEN TWO FIRES 387 
 
 when one considers Argyll's military reputation, the 
 resolute character of many of his supporters, and the ease 
 with which many positions in the country through which 
 they had passed might have been defended against the 
 King's troops, that this invasion of Scotland was attended 
 with so little actual fighting. ^ It is only by courtesy 
 that the operations carried on could be designated a 
 campaign : and but little in the way of military glory 
 could have been connected with the ceremony of present- 
 ing to James II the rebel standard captured at Ellan- 
 Gheirrig. ^ 
 
 The point on the east side of Loch Long to which the 
 rebel army had crossed was near the place now known as 
 Coulport. Argyll and his Highland forces marched on 
 about two miles to the head of the Gareloch, with the 
 intention of proceeding along the northern shore of that 
 arm of the sea on their way to Glasgow. Many of the 
 others were inclined to sail down Loch Long into the 
 open sea and thence to some place in the Lowlands, but, 
 on receiving a summons from their General to confer 
 with him, they proceeded to his quarters. The position 
 of matters was that the insurgents were between two fires : 
 Atholl and Huntly were on their track, while the 1 arl of 
 Dumbarton, Commander-in-Chief of the royal forces in 
 Scotland, was waiting for them somewhere near Glasgow 
 with an army of regulars and of militia. Argyll, however, 
 had no intention of asking advice in the present crisis. 
 His fixed purpose was to proceed towards Glasgow, which 
 was at present guarded by a single regiment of militia, 
 and, if possible, to avoid an encounter with the enemy's 
 forces before arriving there. By so doing they would 
 obtain both provisions and a breathing-space, and prob- 
 ably some support from the section of the population 
 in the city and neighbourhood which was friendly to their 
 cause. ' Yet he was quite prepared to engage in a 
 
 1 Chronicles of Atholl, vol. I, p. 240. 
 
 * Founlainhall, Historical Observes, p. 177. 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 179.
 
 388 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 pitched battle wherever he found the enemy. Further 
 action could be determined upon afterwards in accordance 
 with circumstances. Sir Patrick Hume vehemently 
 protested against this scheme. He declared that after 
 the losses they had sustained, by which their men had 
 been utterly disheartened it would be madness to attack 
 regular forces. He suggested that they should divide 
 their army into three parts. The first of these including 
 Argyll and his Highlanders should, he thought, return 
 to Argyllshire by the pass of Glen Croe at the head of 
 Loch Long. Here his Highlanders would fight, if 
 anywhere, and indeed it would be possible for them to 
 elude their enemies and to raise a fresh army in their own 
 territories. Atholl had now moved out of Inveraray and 
 they might resume possession of it. In the meantime 
 the Lowlanders and those who had come from Holland 
 might be divided into two companies and proceed in boats 
 down Loch Long and down the Gareloch respectively, 
 and land in some parts of Scotland where at present there 
 were no forces and where they might obtain recruits. 
 In this way they would have three chances of success, 
 instead of risking everything upon one battle as Argyll 
 was prepared to do. ^ 
 
 Nothing that Hume could say had any effect. The 
 Earl remained firm and immovable in his resolution, and 
 said that any who did not wish to accompany him might 
 do as they pleased. No words could show more clearly 
 than these the absence of discipline in the army, if such 
 it may be called, which was now drifting along to its 
 final dispersion. For a little time the members of which 
 it was composed held together, no doubt for prudential 
 considerations ; for, as the country was now thoroughly 
 roused and their movements were being closely observed, 
 their breaking up into small parties would certainly have 
 brought down instant destruction upon them. On 
 Tuesday, June i6th, they marched along the shores of 
 the Gareloch and that same night crossed the river 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, pp. 56-58.
 
 CHANGE OF ROUTE 389 
 
 Leven three miles above Dumbarton and encamped on 
 its eastern bank. Early next morning they resumed 
 their march. About seven o'clock they noticed a large 
 party of horse on a hill-top near them. They themselves 
 were equally under observation, and a small detachment 
 of what were apparently the enemy's forces descended 
 and drew near to them. On some of the rebel horse 
 advancing towards them they fell back upon their main 
 body. As it was thought possible that these horsemen 
 were the foreguard of the whole army, the insurgents 
 drew up in line of battle and for a full hour stood to 
 their arms. ^ Their scouts, however, relieved their minds 
 by bringing them word that these were not the regular 
 troops, but a single company of gentry and militia. 
 They felt quite able to cope with militia, especially as 
 these were reported to them as being to a large extent 
 lukewarm in their loyalty to the Government. * Nor is 
 there any reason to believe that this report was al- 
 together unfounded. The militia, being a levy of the 
 inhabitants of the district capable of bearing arms, con- 
 tained many whose sympathies were to a great extent 
 with the insurgents rather than with those whose misrule 
 had provoked the rising. 
 
 The Earl evidently received some intelligence which 
 led him to abandon the direct road to Glasgow. Under 
 his orders the army marched northwards to Kilmaronock, 
 where they arrived weary and hungry about 10 a.m. 
 Here they had a good meal and rested for about four 
 hours. They then resumed their march on the highroad 
 that led from Dumbarton to Stirling. The purpose of 
 this movement was carefully concealed from Hume and 
 his company, who were under the impression that for 
 some reason or another a circuitous route to Glasgow 
 had been chosen. ^ After about an hour's march their 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 59. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 294 : Erskine, Journal, p. 124 : Fountain^ 
 hall, Historical Observes, p. 168. 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 59.
 
 390 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 vanguard descried a section of the enemy's army within 
 half a mile's distance, proceeding along the highroad 
 near Killearn. The Earl and Sir John Cochran were 
 convinced that they might deliver an attack very advan- 
 tageously to themselves. ^ At the present moment the 
 enemy were unprepared for an assault, as neither General, 
 nor ammunition had come up. It was evidently a report 
 as to the proximity of these forces and the feasibility of 
 attacking them that had led to the sudden change in the 
 line of march. The Earl was strongly supported in his 
 proposal by Cochran and AylofF, who thought it would 
 be inexcusable to let the present advantage slip, even 
 although the forces of the enemy were treble their own. 
 The defeat of the royal army would, they declared, lead 
 the whole country to rally round them. Hume pointed 
 out that their men now only numbered nine hundred, 
 and that of these not more than five hundred could be 
 counted upon for such a desperate encounter as that 
 proposed. They were weary, and disheartened, and 
 rapidly melting away by desertion, and utterly unfit to 
 attack regular troops. He also reminded his colleagues 
 that even if this section of the enemy's forces were 
 defeated, the rest of their army would soon bear down 
 upon them. He therefore recommended that they 
 should strengthen their rear-guard and pursue their way 
 to Glasgow, and that they should not fight unless they 
 were forced to do so. The attack Argyll proposed was a 
 forlorn hope, the advance upon Glasgow with a strong 
 army upon their rear was almost as dangerous a project ; 
 but the disputes of the leaders in presence of the enemy, 
 involved certain destruction. A sudden surprise of the 
 royal troops while they were in motion might have 
 repeated the astounding victory of Montrose at Kilsyth, 
 or of Cromwell at Dunbar ; but, in order that such a 
 manoeuvre might have a chance of success, it needed to 
 be instantaneously and boldly carried out. The long 
 and hot debate consumed the time in which it might 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 179 : Fox, James II, p. 19.
 
 ARGYLL IN DESPAIR 391 
 
 have been accomplished. When at length the insurgents 
 were drawn up in view of the enemy by whom apparently 
 their presence had been unobserved until now, and 
 perceived that regulars and militia were on the field in 
 large numbers the idea of attacking them passed away. 
 " Our men ", says Hume, " saw nothing but death : yet 
 truly the Lowlanders, except a few persons who slipt off 
 and escaped, and some of the Highlanders, shewed 
 abundance of resolution, " ^ Rumbold used his influence 
 to bring his brother-ofiicers to agreement and a night- 
 attack was spoken of ; but in the circumstances this most 
 difficult and hazardous operation was utterly out of the 
 question. 
 
 Argyll's nerves were now thoroughly shaken and he 
 seems to have been merely a helpless and stupified 
 spectator, when the ill-advised rebellion, in which he had 
 played so prominent a part, heavily vanished from the 
 stage with a " strange, hollow, and confused noise. " 
 It was pointed out to him that the ground on which his 
 men were stationed was ill-chosen and that a better 
 situation was near at hand ; but, beyond sanctioning the 
 change, he gave no words of command, and his men 
 straggled to their new position and took their places 
 huddled together in broken, disorderly lines. ^ Until 
 evening they stood to their arms, but the enemy made 
 no sign of attacking them ; and so both parties lit 
 camp-fires and made preparations for spending the night 
 where they were, not far from Duntreath Castle. ^ Some 
 of the insurgents thought from time to time that they 
 saw the enemy marching towards them in the darkness, 
 and filled the camp with false alarms, but these imaginary 
 evils were soon succeeded by real disasters. * 
 
 As soon as the watch-fires were lit word was passed 
 round that all the forces must march off quickly and 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative^ p. 62. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 63 : Foxcroft, Supplement to Bnruct, p. 158. 
 ' Shields, A Hind let Loose, p. 163. (ed. 1744). 
 
 * Hume, Narrative, p. 62 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 294.
 
 392 A SCOTS EAR!L 
 
 silently to Glasgow, a distance of some eleven or twelve 
 miles, and the men were told that guides would lead them 
 safely through a rough and marshy country, over which 
 it would be difficult for the enemy to pursue them. 
 Fuel was heaped upon the fires to keep them burning 
 through the night and thus to conceal as long as possible 
 the fact of retreat. The insurgent forces marched off as 
 silently as they could and in some show of order, but 
 after they had gone a mile or so in the darkness it was 
 discovered that the guides, either through error or 
 treachery were misleading them, and that they were on 
 the way to Kilpatrick, a village on the Clyde, ten miles 
 below Glasgow. A panic at once set in and Lowlanders 
 and Highlanders rushed forward indiscriminately, and 
 trod each other down in the confusion caused by their 
 excitement and fear, and by the rough and almost impass- 
 able country across which they were making their way. 
 Argyll endeavoured to call a halt from his position in 
 the rear and he sent off Rumbold to stop those who were 
 in the van. But it was all in vain. No one attended to 
 the orders which either of them gave. During that night- 
 march their numbers were reduced from nine hundred 
 to five hundred, and very speedily even these broken 
 relics of an army were scattered in all directions. Though 
 all were faint and hungry and weary, some felt it was 
 necessary to arrange what was next to be done, and as 
 their aim was to get down into Ayrshire and join those 
 who were friendly to their cause, they seized the boats 
 which they found at Kilpatrick and began at once to cross 
 to the opposite bank of the Clyde. About one hundred 
 and fifty men crossed the river and dispersed a troop of 
 militia horse which had been drawn up to oppose them, 
 but the rest of their comrades fled in various other 
 directions. ^ 
 
 At one of the houses, probably an inn, in Kilpatrick 
 
 ' McCrie, Memoirs of Veitch, etc., p. 322 : Erskine, Journal, p. 129 : 
 Hume gives the number as one hundred and thirty, but Brysson and the 
 authorities quoted by Wodrow give it as one hundred and fifty.
 
 SHELTER REFUSED 393 
 
 Argyll and Sir John Cochran had their last interview. 
 The Earl was deeply agitated and was scarcely able to 
 speak. At last after a pause he said : " Sir John, pray 
 advise me what I shall do. Shall I go over Clyde with 
 you, or shall I go to my own country ,'' " Cochran 
 replied : " My Lord, I have told you my opinion : you 
 have some Highlanders here, about you : it is best you 
 go to your own country with them, for it is to no pur- 
 pose for you to go over Clyde. My Lord, fare you 
 well. " ^ The Earl, accompanied by only four others, his 
 son, John, Sir Duncan Campbell, who was married to his 
 step-daughter Henrietta, Major Fullarton and a Captain 
 Duncanson, rode away from Kilpatrick in the direction of 
 Glasgow. After going for about a mile they thought it 
 wiser to separate. Sir Duncan Campbell and the Captain 
 undertook to attempt to get into Argyllshire and raise a 
 new levy of men, and the Earl, with his son and Major 
 Fullarton, proposed to take refuge in the house of one 
 who had been a servant of his for some years, who lived 
 at no great distance from where they were. But Argyll 
 was now too dangerous a guest, and, on presenting himself 
 at the dwelling where he had hoped to find shelter, he 
 was peremptorily refused admittance. ^ 
 
 With the intention apparently of going down into 
 Ayrshire or Galloway ^ to obtain concealment or protection 
 among some of the Western Whigs, he turned southwards 
 and crossed the Clyde. Before doing so, however, he 
 took the precaution of exchanging clothes with a peasant, 
 and of assuming the character of a country-man who was 
 acting as a guide to Major Fullarton. He laid aside his 
 sword as incongruous with the disguise which he had 
 assumed, but he retained in his pockets three loaded 
 pistols and a purse containing one hundred and thirty 
 guineas. We can the more easily realise to ourselves 
 the figure he cut in this rustic garb, if we keep in mind 
 
 ' Hume, Narrative, p. 64. 
 
 ' Wodrow, History vol. IV, p. 297. 
 
 ^ Fouiitainhall, Historical Observes, p. 180.
 
 394 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 that he was of diminutive stature, that he wore a blue 
 bonnet as part of a peasant's dress, and that since his 
 escape from Edinburgh Castle in 1681 he had allowed 
 his beard to grow. ^ At Inchinnan the fugitives attempted 
 to cross the ford but were stopped by a party of armed 
 men. Fullarton entered into conversation with them 
 while Argyll went further up the water side, and he 
 endeavoured at first with off-hand pleasantness of manner 
 and afterwards by assuming an air of authority to make 
 his way past them, or at any rate to occupy their 
 attention until the Earl had got safely off. In the 
 meantime Argyll was accosted by two militia men on 
 horseback, who called on him to give up his horse 
 — probably a Highland pony — to carry their luggage. 
 Argyll answered them civilly but he refused to do as 
 they desired, and accordingly a struggle took place 
 between them in which they attacked him, one on each 
 side. He grappled with them both and fell from his 
 horse dragging one of his antagonists to the ground. 
 On rising he took out his pistols, and the two men rode 
 off. Had he remounted his horse he might have crossed 
 the river without further molestation, but he very 
 imprudently decided to leave his horse and to cross the 
 river on foot. A country-man, who had observed what 
 had passed, ran to the commander of the party with 
 whom Fullarton was still parleying, and told him that 
 the supposed guide was certainly some man of conse- 
 quence in disguise, who was very anxious to effect his 
 escape, as he had let go his horse and was about to 
 cross the river on foot. Major Fullarton interposed and 
 protested against his guide being interfered with, and 
 generously offered to surrender himself as a prisoner on 
 condition that Argyll was allowed to cross the river 
 unmolested. The suspicions of the officer were at once 
 confirmed by this proposal. He pretended to acquiesce 
 in it, but when the Major was disarmed he ordered two 
 of his men to proceed up the river and arrest the 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. l8i.
 
 ARGYLL CAPTURED 395 
 
 supposed guide. Fullarton broke into a storm of angry 
 reproaches at this treachery and, seizing a sword from 
 one of the party, prepared to defend himself. He was, 
 however, soon overpowered and taken prisoner. The 
 two men, who had been dispatched to secure Argyll, came 
 to him while he was still in the water and fired upon 
 him, but without wounding him. The noise drew the 
 attention of those in a cottage hard by ; and three men, 
 one of them a weaver named John Riddell who lived 
 there, came out and joined the soldiers. On Argyll's 
 coming out of the water an altercation took place. The 
 weaver, who was drunk, and who had brought a broad- 
 sword out of the cottage with him, persisted in holding 
 Argyll as his prisoner. The Earl offered him money 
 which he refused, and then he drew his pistol and 
 endeavoured to fire it at his antagonist : but the water 
 had wet the powder and it would not ignite. On this 
 the weaver struck him a violent blow upon the head 
 with his broadsword and he fell into the water. As he 
 fell he uttered some out-cry which revealed to his captors 
 the fact that the unfortunate Argyll was in their hands. ^ 
 The exact place of the occurrence is about a mile from 
 Renfrew, at a ford across the united streams of the Black 
 and White Carts which fall into the Clyde. It is marked 
 by two ancient stones associated with the name of 
 St. Conval, who is supposed to have introduced 
 Christianity into this region at the beginning of the 9th 
 Century of our Era, and whose church afterwards stood 
 close by. One of these is an oblong block of sandstone, 
 three feet and a half high, which was once the base of a 
 Celtic Cross erected in honour of the saint and formerly 
 called " St. Conallie's Stone ". From the time of the 
 Earl's capture it has been known as " the Argyll Stone ". ^ 
 
 ' London Gazette, No. 2045, June, 22nd-25th., 1685 : VVodrow, History, 
 vol IV, p. 297 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 181 : Keresby, Memoirs, 
 P- 335- The weaver received _;^5o Sterlint^ as a reward (Excluqiicr Papers, 
 Register Ho., Edinburgii). It is said to this day the name Riddel! is abhorred 
 by the Clan Campbell (Frazer, Sutherland Book). 
 
 * McClelland, The Church and Parish of Iiichiiiiian, p. 42.
 
 396 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 " As soon as they knew who I was, " says the Earl, 
 " they seemed to be much troubled, but durst not let me 
 go. " ^ The awe and regret which fallen greatness excites 
 in any generous mind are sufficient to account for this 
 revulsion of feeling, and doubtless in the present case 
 there was added to them a certain measure of sympathy 
 with the cause which he represented. But the terror 
 inspired by the agents of the despotic Government, which 
 had afflicted Scotland for so many years past, was too 
 great to allow them to set their prisoner at liberty. The 
 matter, however, was soon taken out of their hands. A 
 party of militia commanded by Sir John Shaw, Laird of 
 Greenock, came up and bound him prisoner and took 
 him off to the Earl of Dumbarton, who was at Glasgow. 
 Shaw was one of the type of men described by Bunyan 
 under the name of Mr Facing-both-ways. For several 
 years he had been concerned in all the plotting of 
 Covenanters against the Government, and had, as one of 
 them says, " spoken afar off of his good wishes ", but he 
 had carefully avoided any actual co-operation with the 
 insurgents. ^ Such a man was likely, now that the insur- 
 rection had failed, to manifest his loyalty to the existing 
 order of things by his harshness to rebels who might fall 
 into his hands. The mere fact, that a person of this stamp 
 had judged it prudent to prepare for all emergencies by 
 keeping up for a time friendly relations with the disaf- 
 fected party, shows how strong they were in the country. 
 
 The Earl was taken, first of all, to Renfrew on his way 
 to Glasgow. He was very downcast on his apprehension, 
 but after a night's rest he recovered resolution and com- 
 posure of manner. The Earl of Dumbarton, Commander- 
 in-Chief of the Royal forces in Scotland, who was a 
 Roman Catholic, had an interview with him and a few 
 words of good-natured banter passed between them. ^ 
 Here while he was partaking of some food he was 
 
 ' Wodrow, History^ vol. IV, p. 297. 
 
 * Erskine, Journal, p. 124. 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 182.
 
 MADNESS OF THE WISE 397 
 
 allowed to exchange a few words with a friend, a Thomas 
 Crawford, of Crawfordsburn, to whom before parting he 
 gave his silver snufF-box as a token of affection. His 
 words reveal a strain of enthusiasm in his character, which 
 now imparted to him a serenity of spirit that raised him 
 above all fear of death. To his friend he said : " Thomas, 
 it hath pleased providence to frown on my attempt : but 
 remember, I tell you, ere long one shall take up this 
 quarrel whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, who will 
 not miscarry in His undertaking. " ^ 
 
 This identification of the cause of God with that of a 
 political party was regrettable. The error involved in it 
 was a cardinal defect of the whole Covenanting movement, 
 and the same error has unfortunately been repeated by 
 many who have written sympathetically of it. Yet surely 
 it is possible to form a more just view of matters than 
 that of those who canonize the Convenanters indiscrimi- 
 nately, and that of those who detest them and sneer at 
 them. The one class forget perhaps that every person 
 who rebels against a Government, however tyrannical, 
 stakes his life in the quarrel and has no adequate cause 
 of complaint if he fails in his attempt and is condemned 
 to die : while the other should remember that a Govern- 
 ment may become so corrupt and oppressive that a 
 generous heart will instinctively incline to sympathize 
 with those who seek to overthrow it. A tinge of fanati- 
 cism may seem to animate the utterance of Argyll which 
 we have quoted above, and his words of prophecy may 
 almost seem to betray a disordered mind. We can freely 
 admit this and yet deny that our respect for him and 
 for the cause he represented is diminished. " ' Oppres- 
 sion makes wise men mad ' : but the distemper, " says 
 Burke, " is still the madness of the wise, which is better 
 than the sobriety of fools. The cry is the voice of sacred 
 misery, exalted not into wild raving, but into the sancti- 
 fied phrenzy of prophecy and inspiration. " ^ During 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 299. 
 
 ^ Letters on a Regicide Peace, Works (Bohn), vol. V, p. 222.
 
 398 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 the nineteenth century great sympathy was expressed 
 throughout the civilized world with all who resisted 
 despotism, and the heroic struggles of Greeks, Poles, 
 Italians, Circassians, Hungarians, Servians, and Bul- 
 garians, all won admiration from those who valued 
 liberty. We fail to see why the labours and sufferings 
 of those in our own country who fought the same battle 
 in the seventeenth century should not win an equal 
 meed of praise. 
 
 James II had complained to the Dutch ambassador 
 that Argyll had been allowed to fit out his expedition by 
 the connivance of the authorities in Holland. On this 
 being communicated to the latter they expressed some 
 measure of regret, and proposed to publish an edict for- 
 bidding the export of arms for three months, in order to 
 prevent his obtaining any further assistance. But the 
 suppression of the revolt rendered this action unnecessary. 
 The Prince of Orange, on receiving a letter from his 
 father-in-law asking for the three Scotch regiments in the 
 Dutch service to be sent home to be employed in putting 
 down the rebellion, shipped them at once for Scotland. 
 But when Argyll was taken, the Privy Council despatched 
 a vessel to meet the transports and inform them that they 
 might return. This message reached them when they 
 were off St. Abb's Head. ^ 
 
 On the same day on which Argyll was made prisoner 
 (June 1 8th) Sir John Cochran and about seventy men, 
 who were all that were left together of the insurgent 
 forces, after passing the Clyde engaged in a fierce 
 skirmish with the enemy at Muirdyke. This was a 
 place to the east of Lochwinnoch in Renfrewshire and 
 about twelve miles from Kilpatrick as the crow flies. 
 The small handful of rebels succeeded in keeping their 
 opponents at bay until night fell and then they dispersed.^ 
 The majority of them were fortunate enough to find 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 176. 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 179 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 296: McCrie, Memoirs of 
 Veitch, etc., p. 325 : Hume, Narrative, p. 65.
 
 AYLOFF AND RUMBOLD 399 
 
 refuge among political sympathisers and friends. Sir 
 Patrick Hume effected his escape to Holland, ^ and 
 survived to become Earl of Marchmont and Lord 
 Chancellor of Scotland after the Revolution. Ten days 
 after the skirmish at Muirdyke Cochran was betrayed to 
 the authorities, ^ but his life, though doubly forfeited on 
 account of his share in the Rye-House Plot and in this 
 rebellion, was spared in consequence of a ransom of 
 ;^5,ooo Sterling being paid by his father. Lord Dundonald, 
 to some of the priests about the Court. In order to 
 afford a pretext for remitting the death penalty he was 
 taken to London, where he had an interview with 
 James II, in which it was alleged that he had revealed 
 secrets of importance. Ayloff and Rumbold were also 
 apprehended. The former stabbed himself in his prison 
 in Glasgow, but not fatally ; and he was also brought to 
 London to be interrogated concerning the rebellion in 
 which he had figured. The King in vain tried to elicit 
 information from him, and on reminding the prisoner 
 that it was in his power to pardon he received the sullen 
 reply : " It is in your power but not in your nature to 
 pardon ". ^ Curiously enough, as we have already said, 
 the rebel was a connexion of James's own, as his aunt 
 was the first wife of the old Earl of Clarendon, the 
 King's father-in-law ; but this fact did not save him 
 from the block. Rumbold who was apprehended at 
 Lesmahagow on his way towards England was brought 
 into Glasgow severely wounded. The Burgh Records 
 of that city tell us that he was lodged in the Tolbooth 
 there along with Argyll and other prisoners taken in 
 connexion with this rising, and that it was found 
 necessary to afford them medical aid. * Rumbold was 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 312. 
 
 * Fox, James II, p. CXIV, Barillon to Louis : Fountainhall, Historical 
 Observes, p. 197. 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 634. 
 
 * " Ordains the thesaurer to pay to John Hall elder the soum of fifty fyve 
 pounds two shilling Scotis for dressing the late Argyle, Rumbold, Mr. Thomas 
 Archer, Mr. Lockhart, and ane poor Dutchman the tyme they wer prisoncris
 
 400 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 afterwards taken into Edinburgh and met death there at 
 the hands of the executioner with great resolution. ^ 
 He should live in the Pantheon of History, to use 
 Danton's phrase, not only because of his deeds but also 
 because of the famous epigram in which shortly before 
 his death he summed up his Republican principles. 
 " He said ", Burnet tells us, " he did not beheve God 
 had made the greater part of mankind with saddles on 
 their backs and bridles in their mouths and some few 
 booted and spurred to ride the rest. " ^ 
 
 The Earl's son, John, managed to escape at the time 
 his father was arrested, but two or three weeks later he was 
 captured and was imprisoned at Stirling.^ His brother, 
 Charles, had been taken ill with fever during his cam- 
 paigning in Argyllshire, and had fallen into the hands of 
 AthoU's troops, some of whom wished to hang him in front 
 of his father's castle at Inveraray. * This atrocity, however, 
 was prevented by his being delivered over to the civil 
 authorities and brought to Edinburgh, The charge was 
 brought against the Marquess of Atholl of having shown 
 vindictiveness in this matter, but there seems clear proof 
 that he saved the Earl's son from summary execution, 
 and persuaded the Privy Council to mitigate their rage 
 against him. A letter written by Charles Campbell to 
 the Marquess, while still in risk of his life for his share 
 in the rebellion, acknowledges the latter's kindness and 
 generosity in the time of his extremity. ^ 
 
 Sir Duncan Campbell and his associate must have 
 speedily concluded that any attempt to raise fresh troops 
 
 in the tolbooth being all wounded and for furnishing drogs to them conform 
 to the compt therof : " Records of the Burgh of Glasgow, 1663-90, pp. 375-6. 
 We are indebted for this extract to Robert Renwick, Esq., Town Clerk 
 Depute, Glasgow. 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Notices, vol. II, p. 650 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, 
 
 P- 3^5- 
 
 ' History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 634. 
 ^ Erskine, Journal, p. 141. 
 
 * Depredations in Argyll, 1685-6, p. 118. 
 
 * Vindication of the Marquess of Atholl, p. 3 : Wodrow, History, vol. IV, 
 p. 230.
 
 ^i^ 
 
 li— igTgMl»t:tJsui< »i«|||iilri1lri
 
 A MOURNFUL SIGHT 401 
 
 was at present hopeless, if, indeed, they seriously enter- 
 tained the idea for a moment ; for they rode eastward to 
 Edinburgh with the view of escaping to the continent. 
 On the evening of the day when Argyll was brought 
 into the capital they were recognised as they alighted in the 
 Canongate, but they managed to elude arrest in spite of 
 a careful search for them which was at once instituted. ^ 
 Sir Duncan's wife. Lady Henrietta Campbell, who was 
 Argyll's step-daughter, had been left at Stirling by her 
 husband, when the rebellion had broken out and he had 
 gone into Argyllshire to support the head of his clan 
 with all the men he could raise. Her mother and sister 
 had, as we have told, been imprisoned shortly after the 
 invaders had reached the Western Islands, so that she 
 was left in a state of great perplexity and distress when 
 the insurrection came to its disastrous close. She left 
 her son, a child of some six years of age in the care of a 
 nurse and set out in deep disguise from Stirling to gain 
 some news of her husband and her step-father. She was 
 quite alone and alternately rode on horseback and walked 
 leading her horse. When some miles on her journey 
 she unexpectedly met the Earl of Argyll near Falkirk on 
 his way to Edinburgh as a prisoner. He was in the 
 coach of Lord Dundonald, the father of Sir John 
 Cochran.^ " This " she says " was a mournful sight to 
 one who bore him so great affection [as 1 did]."' He 
 did not recognise her, but she did not venture to address 
 him. She kept near the sad procession as long as she 
 could, but at length her horse failed and she was left far 
 behind. The next day on reaching Edinburgh she was 
 reheved from some of her anxiety by hearing that her 
 husband had not been captured. Some weeks later he 
 left the country and took refuge in Holland, whence he 
 returned with William of Orange, in the expedition 
 which successfully accomplished the task that had been 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 185. 
 
 ^ Ibid, p. 180. 
 
 ' Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 127.
 
 402 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 too great for the hands of Argyll and Monmouth. ^ 
 On Saturday, June 20th, exactly seven weeks after 
 the exiles had left the shores of Holland, their leader 
 was brought captive into Edinburgh. On hearing of his 
 arrest the Privy Council had consulted with regard to 
 the manner in which he should be conducted through 
 the city. Various proposals were made, but ultimately it 
 was decided that he should be conducted through the 
 streets bare-headed, with his hands tied behind his back, 
 that the hangman should walk before him, and that 
 mounted guards should precede and follow him. In 
 case of an attempt at rescue being made, the soldiers were 
 ordered to have their pieces loaded and their matches 
 lighted. ^ When Argyll reached the Water Gate, he was 
 received by Captain Graham who gave him the option of 
 walking or riding in a cart as Montrose had done. He 
 replied that he was not very strong for walking, but that 
 he would sooner walk than ride, as he had no liking for 
 that kind of coach or coachman — the latter being of 
 course the hangman. He was thought to show but little 
 concern at the ignominy with which he was treated, 
 though, when his hands were tied behind him and he 
 was fastened by a rope round his waist to his loathsome 
 attendant, he was seen to change colour. ^ In this 
 manner did the Earl enter the city and pass up the 
 Canongate to the Castle along that very street through 
 which he had walked four years before carrying the 
 royal crown at the opening of the Parliament. * As, 
 however, he did not arrive in Edinburgh until ten o'clock 
 at night the open shame to which he was put was less 
 widely witnessed than otherwise it might have been. * 
 He was imprisoned in the Castle and was heavily ironed, 
 to guard against danger of his escaping a second time 
 
 ' MS. Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell: Anderson, Ladies of the Covenant^ 
 p. 522. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 299. Flint-locks were not then in use. 
 ' Chronicles of Atholl, vol. I, p. 244. 
 
 * Fountainhail, Historical Observes, p. 187. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 185.
 
 A PECULIAR POSITION 403 
 
 from that fortress. Though the Countess of Argyll was 
 also imprisoned there she was not allowed to see her 
 husband until eight days had passed, and the time and 
 the manner of his death had been fixed. ^ His secretary, 
 Spence, was now brought before the Privy Council and 
 told that he might make open confession of all that he 
 knew concerning the rebellion, as Argyll had been taken. 
 He, however, refused to believe the tidings, and said with 
 a laugh if they had had the principal they would not have 
 needed to put questions to a subordinate. The same 
 incredulity existed in some circles in London even after 
 Argyfi had been executed. ^ 
 
 The Earl was now in a very peculiar position in con- 
 sequence of the sentence pronounced upon him in 168 i. 
 He had then been condemned to forfeit his life, and from 
 that moment in the eyes of the law he was regarded as 
 dead, and consequently incapable of committing fresh 
 offences. This, at least, is our inference from the fact 
 that it was proposed by some to revoke the death sentence 
 under which he lay, in order to put him on trial for his 
 recent treason in raising a rebellion. This course, which 
 might seem to some the simplest and most straightforward 
 which could be adopted, did not commend itself to the 
 Government. They could not quash the sentence except 
 on the ground of its having been unjust or excessive, 
 and this would have cast a serious slur upon the judges 
 who had condemned him and the Parliament which had 
 ratified their decision. Accordingly the authorities 
 simply referred the matter to the King, and requested 
 him in virtue of the sentence passed on Argyll which left 
 the date of execution to be fixed by him, to give them 
 further instructions. ^ As the sentence in question was 
 monstrously unjust his execution under it has been spoken 
 of as a "judicial murder. " * But the phrase is applicable 
 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 128. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 187. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 299 : Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 171. 
 
 * So Sir Walter Scott, quoted in Lindsay's Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, 
 p. 133 : see also Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 633.
 
 404 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 to his case only in a very limited and technical sense. 
 For had the sentence of 1681 been quashed, he would 
 undoubtedly have been condemned and executed for his 
 treasonable conduct in invading the country and in raising 
 an insurrection. As matters were there was a certain 
 advantage to him or, at any rate, to his family in his being 
 executed under the old sentence rather than under a new. 
 For had he suffered death for actually levying war against 
 the King, there would have been no reasonable ground 
 for reversing the forfeiture of title and property which 
 condemnation for treason involved. Whereas the inflict- 
 ion of such extreme punishment in a case of merely 
 constructive treason was so palpably unjust as to call for 
 reversal, when at the Revolution some attempt was made 
 to remedy the evils of the past. Whether this was 
 perceived at the time by his friends and counsel or not 
 is uncertain, but as a matter of fact the judicial proceedings 
 under which he suffered were reversed in 1689 and the 
 forfeiture recalled. 
 
 The authorities in J^dinburgh were very anxious to 
 force the Earl to make a full confession of all the details 
 in connexion with the rebellion, in order, if possible, to 
 bring home guilt to persons suspected of complicity 
 with it. Accordingly he was frequently visited in his 
 cell and interrogated as to the matter, and was brought 
 before committees of the Privy Council and before the 
 Council itself. The Duke of Queensberry, who had 
 presided in the Justiciary Court at Argyll's trial in 1681, 
 had a private interview with him in which he sought to 
 elicit information. Little is known of what passed except 
 that Argyll " denied that his design had been concerted 
 with any persons in Scotland ; that he gave no information 
 with respect to his associates in England ; and that he 
 boldly and frankly averred his hopes to have been 
 founded on the cruelty of the administration and such a 
 disposition in the people to revolt, as he conceived to be 
 the natural consequence of oppression. He owned at 
 the same time that he had trusted too much to this
 
 TORTURE SUGGESTED 405 
 
 principle. " ^ The apathy, indeed, of the public with 
 regard to his enterprise amazed him. " Alas ", he 
 exclaimed, in speaking of his attempt to deliver his 
 nation from tyranny, " who is there to be delivered ? 
 There are some hidden ones, but I see no great pafty in 
 this country, that desire to be relieved. " " 
 
 On June 22nd, the King wrote to the Privy Council 
 urging them to do all that was possible to extort 
 information from the prisoner. " Whereas ", he saysj 
 " the late Earl of Argyll is, by providence of God, fallen 
 into our power, it is our will and pleasure that you take 
 all ways to know from him those things which concern 
 our government most, as, his assisters with men, arms, 
 or money, his associates and correspondents, his designs, 
 etc. " He added that this enquiry must not be allowed 
 to postpone the date of his execution, which was 
 appointed to be within three days of the receipt of this 
 letter, and he requested that the particulars of his 
 execution and of any confession he might make, should 
 be forwarded to him without delay. ^ The phrase, " take 
 all ways to know from him, " implied the use of torture, 
 which was still in Scotch criminal procedure a means for 
 extorting evidence. Argyll was at once informed that 
 these orders had been given. " I am to be put to the 
 torture ", he said, " if I answer not all questions upon 
 oath ; yet I hope God shall support me. " * 
 
 The list of questions which were put to him is still 
 extant and it is very comprehensive. It begins with 
 enquiries as to who were accessory to his escape from 
 Edinburgh Castle four years before, and aided him to 
 make his way to London ; and it goes on to make 
 minute investigation into his relations with disaffected 
 persons in England, Scotland and Ireland, as well as 
 with exiles on the Continent, and into the arrangements 
 
 ' Fox, James II, p. 197. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 298. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 300. 
 
 * Ibid, p. 298.
 
 4o6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 he had made for co-operation with Monmouth. The 
 Earl wrote at the foot of this document : " This is the 
 very principal of the interrogatories given me, which 
 I answered but in part. ^ " But, unfortunately, we have 
 no information as to what his answers were. In writing 
 to Mrs. Smith in Amsterdam, who had aided him with 
 large sums of money, he says : " I die upon mine old 
 sentence, and nothing of what passed lately is to be in 
 public on either hand. Your name could not be con- 
 cealed, and I know not what any paper taken may say, ^ 
 otherwise I have named none to their disadvantage. " ^ 
 As the matter of receiving from this person pecuniary 
 aid in his design was notorious, and as she was out of 
 the power of the English Government, there was less 
 reason to attempt to conceal the share which she had had 
 in promoting the rebellion. It is satisfactory to know 
 that no information based on statements made by him 
 was used in any case of prosecution for treason, if, indeed, 
 he had made statements which could be used for such a 
 purpose. He tells us distinctly that his answers were 
 but in part, and this can only mean that in some instan- 
 ces he refused to reply or to give as full answers as were 
 desired. Here, then, was an opportunity for applying 
 the torture which James suggested in his letter to the 
 Privy Council. Yet it was not applied. The reason 
 seems to us to have been that, as Argyll was not under 
 trial for offences committed since receiving a death-sen- 
 tence in 1 68 1, it was impossible to put this method of 
 extorting evidence into operation in order to elicit inform- 
 ation as to his actions during that time, and that, 
 therefore, the threat to use it was a mere brutum fuhnen. 
 One of the clauses in the letter of James II has, we 
 think, an important bearing upon the question of the 
 application of torture to the Earl. He gives directions, 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 300. 
 
 ' The Earl means that from papers of his, which had been seized, informa- 
 tion concerning some of his associates might possibly have been procured. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 302.
 
 SAVED FROM TORTURE 407 
 
 as we have said, that in no case is the execution to be 
 delayed beyond three days after the receipt of the letter. 
 The process of extracting information by torture might 
 be very protracted. In the case of Spence fully a week 
 elapsed before any disclosures were forthcoming. And, 
 therefore, we think from the short and definite period of 
 delay referred to that the actual use of torture was not 
 contemplated, James II was no doubt a King who was 
 inclined to disregard the checks of the constitution and 
 to act despotically, but it was scarcely possible even for 
 him to secure the examination by torture of a man who 
 was not at the time under the accusation of any offence 
 whatever. This being the case, it was quite easy for the 
 authorities to find a way out of the difficulty caused by 
 uttering threats which they were unable to carry out. 
 They had simply to announce that his confession was 
 full enough to render further proceedings unnecessary. 
 This is the statement of matters that was actually given 
 out after his execution, for we find Barillon writing to 
 Louis : " The Earl of Argyll has left an ample confession 
 in writing in which he has disclosed the names of all 
 those who have aided him with money and co-operated 
 with him ; and this saved him from torture". ^ Against 
 this statement we have Argyll's own declaration that 
 there were questions, or parts of questions, which he 
 would not answer, and that he had named none to their 
 disadvantage. Had there not been the above mentioned 
 technical difficulty in the way of using compulsion, we 
 doubt not that he would not have been allowed to 
 conceal the smallest fragment of information, which the 
 cruel ingenuity of the tormentors could have wrung from 
 him. For himself, as Burnet tells us, "he justified all 
 that he had done : for he said that he was unjustly 
 attainted : that had dissolved his allegiance ; and so it 
 was justice to himself and his family to endeavour to 
 recover what was so wrongfully taken from him. He 
 
 ' Fox, James 11, Appendix, Barillon to Louis.
 
 4o8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 also thought that he owed no allegiance to the present 
 King as he had not taken the oath which the law pre- 
 scribed to be taken by our Kings at their accession to the 
 throne. " ^ 
 
 • History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 633.
 
 CHAPTER XXL 
 
 Manner of death deeided upon — The Earl's serenity ahd gentleness — His 
 last messages and greetings — The circumstances of his execution — His 
 speeches and death — His character — Punishment of the rebels — Later 
 history of the Countess and other members of the Earl's family — 
 Closing remarks. 
 
 On Saturday, June 28th, the letter from James II 
 arrived in Edinburgh and, in accordance with the instruc- 
 tions contained in it, the execution of the Earl was fixed 
 for the following Tuesday. ^ The manner of his death 
 was not specified, and the question was debated in the 
 Privy Council as to whether it should be by hanging or 
 beheading. His privilege as a peer should of itself have 
 saved him from the more ignominious punishment, but 
 some were of opinion that he had lost it by the sentence 
 of forfeiture and were careful to call him simply 
 Mr. Campbell. ^ He himself was perfectly indifferent as 
 to which form of death was chosen. ^ In the end it was 
 decided that he should be beheaded. He was accordingly 
 brought on Monday before the Lords of Justiciary to 
 receive his sentence. Before sentence was pronounced 
 Argyll made a short speech. He addressed the Lord 
 Advocate and said that that functionary deserved to be in 
 his place for subverting and wresting the laws of the land 
 in 168 1, when he declared that his, Argyll's, procedure 
 
 ' The death-warrant of the Earl is preserved in the museum of the Muni- 
 cipal Buildings in Edinburgh. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 192. 
 ^ VVodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 301.
 
 4IO A SCOTS EARL 
 
 amounted to treason. For himself, he said, he had but 
 little to say beyond the fact that he had made his escape 
 without violence or prison-breaking, and that there had 
 been grave irregularities in connexion with his condemn- 
 ation and forfeiture, but that he was in the hands of 
 God and of their Lordships and would give them no 
 further trouble. ^ The sentence was that on the next day 
 he was to be taken to the Market-Cross, and there between 
 two and five o'clock in the afternoon to be beheaded, and 
 his head to be affixed on the Tolbooth of Edinburgh on 
 "a high pin of iron. " ^ 
 
 From the very moment of his capture down to that of 
 his death the conduct of Argyll was marked by a serenity 
 and gentleness which astonished all beholders. In his 
 prosperity he had often manifested an impatience and 
 irritability under trifling provocation, which now complete- 
 ly vanished from his demeanour. For there are natures 
 in which the pressure of grave responsibility and imminent 
 danger produces an equanimity of which none, who knew 
 them in ordinary circumstances, would have believed them 
 to be capable. So was it with Argyll. The unfortunate 
 position in which he stood as the champion of liberty and 
 of Protestantism, the appalling death which confronted 
 him, and the bitterness of separation from those so dearly 
 loved, were all great calamities which steadied his character 
 and raised it far above fretfulness, perplexity, or fear. 
 As we have seen, he credited those who captured him with 
 feelings of regret and pity ; and he expressed his gratitude 
 for acts of kindness received since he had become a 
 prisoner. In writing to his friend in Amsterdam he says : 
 " I was hardly used at first by those in whose hands I am, 
 but God hath melted their hearts, and now I am very 
 civilly used. " He speaks also of the permission to send 
 this letter as a favour for which he was bound to be 
 thankful. ^ He believed that he had very grave causes 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 193. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 301. 
 ^ Ibid, p. 302.
 
 LAST PARTING 411 
 
 of complaint against some of his late associates on the 
 ground of their factiousness and even cowardice, and in a 
 statement he made concerning the causes of defeat he 
 seemed to reflect on two of them, probably Cochran and 
 Hume. But he hastened to add : " I am not pleased 
 with myself, I have [used] so hard epithets of some of my 
 
 countrymen, P^^J P^t it out of any account you give; 
 
 only I must acknowledge they were not governable. " ^ 
 
 His frame of mind at this time is beautifully described 
 by his step-daughter, Lady Henrietta, though she 
 naturally speaks of his enemies in very different terms 
 from those used by him. On the Saturday evening his 
 wife was allowed access to him. " And she, " says her 
 daughter, " though under deep distress, was encouraged 
 by seeing the bounty and graciousness of the Lord to 
 him, in enabling him, with great courage and patience, to 
 undergo what he was to meet with ; the Lord helping 
 him to much fervency in supplication and nearness in 
 pouring out his heart with enlargedness of affection, 
 contrition, and resignation ; which did strangely fortify 
 and embolden him to maintain his integrity before his 
 merciless enemies ; and by this he was helped at times to 
 great cheerfulness, and fortified under his trial and the 
 testimony he was to give of his zeal and fervour to that 
 righteous cause he was honoured to suffer for. " ^ 
 
 On the Sunday his sister Jane, wife of the Earl of 
 Lothian, came to take her leave of him. On seeing her 
 great grief on his account he said to her : " I am now 
 loosed from you, and all earthly satisfactions and long to 
 be with Christ, which is far better. It seemeth, the Lord 
 thought me not fit to be an instrument in His work, but 
 I die in the faith of it, that it will advance, and that the 
 Lord will appear. " He specially commended to her love 
 his daughter Jane, or as he called her " My Jeanie. " ^ 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 298. 
 
 " Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 128 ; MS. Diaiy of Lady 
 Henrietta Campbell. 
 
 ^ Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 301.
 
 412 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 This young lady stood to her in the double relation of 
 niece and of daughter-in-law and this fact explains how it 
 was that the Earl left her in charge of his sister rather 
 than of his wife. 
 
 The confidence of Argyll in the approaching deliverance 
 of the nation from the evils, which had moved him to 
 take up the sword, was repeatedly expressed by him, and it 
 appears in some spirited and touching lines which he 
 wrote as his own epitaph, on the night before his execution 
 — the last exercise of that facility in versification which 
 had often given pleasure to himself and his family. The 
 epitaph ran as follows : — 
 
 " Thou passenger, that shalt have so much time 
 
 To view my grave, and ask what was my crime : 
 
 No stain of error, no black vice's brand 
 
 Was that which chased me from my native land. 
 
 Love to my country, twice sentenced to die. 
 
 Constraint my hands forgotten arms to try. 
 
 More by friends' fraud my fall proceeded hath. 
 
 Than foes ; though now they thrice decreed my death. 
 
 On my attempt though Providence did frown. 
 
 His oppressed people God at length shall own. 
 
 Another hand by more successful speed. 
 
 Shall raise the remnant, bruise the serpent's head. 
 
 Though my head fall, that is no tragic story. 
 
 Since going hence I enter endless glory " ' 
 
 Early on the morning of the fatal day he was busily 
 employed in settling his affairs and in writing letters to 
 various persons with whom he had been associated. 
 From one of these letters we have already quoted — that 
 written to Mrs. Smith in Amsterdam, who had contri- 
 buted so generously to the expenses of his ill-fated enter- 
 
 ' Argyle Papers, p. 36. VV^alpole in his list of Noble Authors includes Argyll 
 in consequence of this epitaph, " which, " he says, " though not very poetic 
 has energy enough to make one conclude that it was not his first essay." 
 " The friends ' fraud " in v. 7 we interpret as referring not to any causes of 
 complaint against his colleagues, but to the action of those who encouraged 
 the invasion, but held aloof from it vi^hen it took place.
 
 DISPELLING OF CLOUDS 413 
 
 prise. The conclusion of it vividly depicts his serene 
 frame of mind and is as follows : " I thank God He hath 
 supported me wonderfully. I have fully resigned all to 
 His holy will : I leave this world willingly, not for fear 
 of trouble, but with hope of glory. This is all you can 
 expect from me from such a place. The Lord God be 
 with you, bless, comfort, and reward you, for all your 
 kindness to all saints, and to your faithful servant, Argyll."^ 
 Only once was his resolution in danger of being shaken, 
 and that was in his last parting from his wife. We learn 
 this from the narrative of his step-daughter, Lady 
 Henrietta. She says : " In that morning that his dear 
 life was to be surrendered to the God that gave it, he 
 uttered great evidences of joy that the Lord had blessed 
 him with the time he had in Holland, as the sweetest 
 time of his life, and the mercifulness of his escape to that 
 end ; but rejoiced more in that complete escape he was 
 to have that day from sin and sorrow, — yet in a little fell 
 into some damp, and in parting with my mother was 
 observed to have more concern than in any other circum- 
 stance formerly ; which to her was a bitter parting, to be 
 taken from him whom she loved so dearly ; but in a 
 little time after he recovered a little, and as the time of 
 his death drew near, which was some hours after, the 
 Lord was pleased wonderfully to shine on him to the 
 dispeUing of clouds and fears, and to the admitting him 
 to a more clear and evident persuasion of His blessed 
 favour, and the certainty of being so soon happy, — of 
 which he expressed his sense in his last letter to my dear 
 mother, which could not but sweeten her lot in her 
 greatest sorrow, and was ground of greatest thankfulness 
 that the Lord helped him to the last to carry [himself] 
 with such magnanimity, resolution, contentment of mind, 
 and true valour, under this dark-like providence, to 
 endless blessedness. " ^ 
 
 After taking leave of his wife he wrote short notes of 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 302. 
 
 ^ MS. Diary, of Lady Henrietta Campbell.
 
 414 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 farewell to his sons, John and James, in which, after 
 exhortations as to their duty to God, he desired them to 
 love and respect their step-mother and to be guided by 
 her counsel. ^ A longer letter he had already written to 
 his eldest son, Archibald, afterwards ist Duke of Argyll. 
 One third of this letter consisted of affectionate advice, 
 probably not unneeded, to read the word of God and 
 be guided by its precepts and to maintain habits of 
 devotion both in his family and in his own private life, 
 and the remainder of it contained a selection of passages 
 of Scripture which the Earl desired to impress upon his 
 son's mind. ^ 
 
 Before noon dinner was served to him and he partook 
 of it with cheerfulness and composure. As he was 
 finishing this, his last meal, Mr. Laurence Charteris, an 
 Episcopalian minister, who had resigned his charge 
 rather than take the Test Oath of 1681, and who at his 
 request had been allowed to visit him, came into the 
 room. With a smile the Earl said to him, " Sero 
 venientibus ossa^ " (i. e. late-comers get the bones). ^ As 
 the Earl had been accustomed to rest for a little after 
 dinner and thought that the want of this refreshment to-day 
 might discompose him for his public appearance, he 
 retired to an inner room and lying down for about a 
 quarter of an hour he " slept as sweetly and pleasantly as 
 ever he had done. " * This incident suggested the well- 
 known picture. The Last Sleep of Argyll, by E. M. Ward, 
 which adorns one of the panels in the corridor of the 
 House of Commons. The full story which is there 
 depicted is that while the Earl was sleeping a prominent 
 official, whose name is not given, came by orders of the 
 Privy Council to speak to the prisoner about some 
 matter before he was led out to execution. He came at 
 an hour when he thought that the Earl would have 
 
 ^ Argyle Papers, p. 35- 
 
 * Hist. MSS. Com. Report VI, p. 634. 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 633 : see also Scott, Quentin 
 Durward, chap. XIX. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 302.
 
 U^c^^^ 
 
 riM^ 
 
 
 A^/- 
 
 /I ^ 
 
 ^^^^--^t^^-^ 
 
 *v 
 
 Fac-simile (it u letter wfittcii by the I'.arl of Ar^yl 
 on tlic (lav of liis execution.
 
 LAST SLEEP OF ARGYLL 415 
 
 finished dinner and asked to see him. He was requested 
 to wait for a few minutes as the Earl was asleep, and had 
 left orders that he was not to be disturbed. The official 
 thought that this was a mere subterfuge and insisted 
 on seeing the prisoner. " He was, " says Wodrow, 
 " assured of the truth of the thing, and, for his satis- 
 faction the closet door was softly opened, and he saw the 
 earl sleeping as calmly as ever in his life. " ^ We are 
 told that the person in question left the Castle at once 
 and entering the house of a friend near at hand burst 
 into a passion of grief, as he compared the serenity of 
 Argyll at such a time with the remorseful feelings which 
 filled his own breast. As Argyll had been guilty of 
 treason, some incredulity has been expressed as to whether 
 such an official would be likely to be thus affected by 
 the sight of his equanimity in the presence of death. ^ 
 In coming to a decision on this point, we have to bear in 
 mind that in the case of a harsh and corrupt Government 
 impressive examples of nobility of character are often to 
 be found among those who resist it, and who are 
 technically guilty of treason, and also that those who 
 are so base as to act as agents of such a Government are 
 not always able to suppress the reproaches of their own 
 consciences. In such a state of matters we can quite 
 imagine something like compunction occasionally visiting 
 even the official mind, and refusing to allow it to find an 
 anodyne in the thought of the sanctity of the cause of 
 law and order. 
 
 At twelve o'clock noon the Earl was handed over by 
 the Castle authorities to the custody of the magistrates of 
 Edinburgh, who were to attend to the carrying out of the 
 sentence, and he was then taken down in a coach under a 
 strong guard to the Council-House. Here he was kept 
 until the hour appointed for his execution. According 
 to the decision of the Privy Council, eight of his friends 
 and relatives were allowed to assemble here and accom- 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 302. 
 
 * Rose, Observations on Fox's History, p. 116.
 
 4i6 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 pany him to the scaffold. These were Lord Maitland, 
 his son-in-law, nephew of the late Duke of Lauderdale, 
 his cousin, Montgomery of Skelmorlie, and various 
 prominent members of the House of Campbell. ^ Here 
 his step-daughter, Lady Henrietta Campbell, to whom he 
 had already written a farewell letter, ' was allowed to see 
 him. He said to her with endearing words, " We must 
 not part like those not to meet again ", ^ When she 
 left him he wrote two short letters, one to his step- 
 daughter, Lady Sophia, to whom he was very deeply 
 attached and who aided him to escape in 1681, and the 
 other to his wife. To the former he wrote ; " My dear 
 Lady Sophia, what shall I say in this great day of the 
 Lord, wherein, in the midst of a cloud, I find a fair 
 sunshine. I can wish no more for you, but that the 
 Lord may comfort you, and shine upon you as he doth 
 upon me, and give you that same sense of His love in 
 staying in the world, as I have in going out of it. 
 Adieu. Argyll. P.S. My blessing to dear Earl of 
 Balcarres [her brother], the Lord touch his heart and 
 incline him to His fear. " While to his wife, he wrote : 
 " Dear Heart, as God is of Himself unchangeable, so 
 He hath been always good and gracious to me, and no 
 place alters it ; only I acknowledge, I am sometimes less 
 capable of a due sense of it : but now above all my 
 life, I thank God, I am sensible of His presence with 
 me, with great assurance of His favour, through Jesus 
 Christ, and I doubt not it will continue till I be in 
 glory. Forgive me all my faults, and now comfort 
 thyself in Him, in whom only true comfort is to be 
 found. The Lord be with thee, bless thee, and comfort 
 thee, my dearest. Adieu. My dear, thy faithful and 
 loving husband, Argyll, " * 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 193. Richard, Lord Maitland, was 
 eldest son of Charles, 3rd Earl of Lauderdale, brother of the famous Duke of 
 Lauderdale and was husband of Anne, the elder of Argyll's two surviving 
 daughters. 
 
 * Given in Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 304. 
 
 * Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 129. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 303.
 
 PROCEEDS TO EXECUTION 417 
 
 While in the Council-House he spoke freely of the 
 dangers of Popery, of the reverse in his own fortunes, 
 and of the injustice of the sentence of death passed upon 
 him four years before, under which he was now to suffer. 
 So far as the accusation then preferred against him was 
 concerned he said that his conscience gave him no trouble. 
 He made but little reference to his invasion of the country, 
 but he entreated the representatives of authority who 
 were then present to endeavour to secure favourable 
 terms for his children. He made special supplication on 
 behalf of his son, John, who, he said, had attended him 
 in the insurrection merely as an unarmed companion, 
 some weakness in his hands making him incapable of 
 using a weapon. He also spoke of the Highlanders 
 who had been with him as deserving mercy, since so many 
 of them had been forced into military service. ^ In a 
 pause in the conversation he turned to the Dean of 
 Edinburgh, Mr. Annand, who, together with the 
 Mr, Charteris, already mentioned, had been appointed by 
 the Privy Council to wait upon him, and asked him if he 
 thought that the Pope was that Antichrist spoken of in 
 Scripture. He replied that was the belief of the Protestant 
 Churches. " But, " said the Earl, " what think you ? " 
 " I think so, too, my Lord, " replied Mr. Annand. 
 " Then, " said the Earl, " be sure you instruct the people 
 so. 
 
 Shortly after two o'clock in the afternoon word came 
 that all the preparations for the execution had been made. 
 Argyll proceeded to the place of death upon foot, with 
 the Dean upon his right hand and Mr. Charteris upon 
 his left, and accompanied by his eight friends dressed in 
 deep mourning. In consequence of his privilege as a 
 peer he was unbound and he wore his hat. ^ A great 
 crowd witnessed his arrival and the subsequent proceed- 
 ings. On ascending the scaffold he was addressed by 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 195. 
 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 304. 
 
 ' Fountainhall, Historical Observes, pp. 192, 193.
 
 4i8 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Mr. Annand, and exhorted to pray for a safe passage 
 through the last dark valley that lay between him and 
 everlasting bliss. Thereupon Mr. Charteris spoke in 
 appropriate terms of his using this brief moment to 
 confess to God any sin hitherto unrepented of, and assured 
 him of the Divine compassion to the penitent transgressor. 
 The Earl who had listened reverently to their exhortations 
 then addressed Mr. Charteris : " It is true, Sir, I think 
 it a duty incumbent upon me to make an acknowledg- 
 ment of my sins ; and in order to that, I think this 
 deserves the first place above the rest, that I did not set 
 time enough apart to wrestle with God in private in behalf 
 of His work and interest, and my own poor soul ; and, 
 likewise, that I did not worship God in my family so 
 much as I should have done, partly because it was too 
 much the custom of this nation to neglect so heavenly an 
 exercise, and partly because I never looked on myself as 
 a person very fit for such an employment : and likewise 
 [I think it my duty to acknowledge] my public failings, 
 which are well known, and for which I have reason to be 
 ashamed this day. " Upon this the Dean broke in and 
 said that no special enumeration of sins and shortcomings 
 was expected from him. The Earl took no notice of the 
 interruption and went on to say : " Likewise, I have 
 reason to bemoan this as a great fault, that I did not 
 improve the time of my banishment, and these three 
 years' respite the Lord was pleased to give me, so much 
 for His glory, and the advancement of His work and 
 interest as I might have done in my station ; and I 
 earnestly beg that one and all of you who see me die 
 this day, may beware of those and the like sins, as you 
 would not desire the like or worse punishments to be 
 inflicted upon you ; for 1 do really look on my death as 
 a just punishment inflicted on me by God for my sins, 
 though undeserved at the hands of men ; and I would 
 have thought as little to have appeared in this place some 
 time of day after this manner, as many of you who are 
 now satiating your eyes in beholding me : but the Lord,
 
 DYING SPEECH 419 
 
 in His Divine wisdom hath ordered it otherwise ; and I 
 am so far from repining and carping at His dispensations 
 towards me, that I bless His name, and desire heartily to 
 give Him endless praise and thanks for the same. 
 
 He then asked Mr. Charteris to pray, but the latter 
 gave place to his colleague who regarded this office as 
 belonging to him. Though Mr. Annand was a Dean in 
 an Episcopal Church he made no use of a liturgy. His 
 prayer concluded with an expression of regret "that such 
 a pillar of the Church was falling this day, " — for which 
 he is said to have been afterwards reprimanded by his 
 superiors. Argyll had heard with some impatience, we 
 may believe, this public commendation of himself, and 
 he turned to Mr. Charteris and said, " Sir, why don't you 
 pray ? " Whereupon the latter did so in fervent and 
 impressive language. Then the Earl himself knelt 
 down upon a cushion to pray. Some one of the friends 
 who accompanied him, perhaps thinking with a touch 
 of Highland pride that enough in the way of humble 
 confession of unworthiness had been uttered in the 
 hearing of men, whispered to him to pray silently. This 
 he did, we are told, for a considerable time, having his 
 face covered and his hands clasped together. 
 
 He then arose and read a brief speech to the vast 
 multitude, who had assembled to see him die. In it he 
 made but slight allusion to his past history, and to the 
 events which had brought him to the scaffold. The main 
 part of his speech consisted of expressions of devout 
 resignation to God's will and of the beneficial effects of 
 sufferings meekly borne. He concluded by saying : 
 " I do hereby forgive all that directly or indirectly have 
 been the cause of my being brought to this place, first or 
 last, and pray God may forgive them. I pray God send 
 peace and truth to these three kingdoms, and continue 
 and increase the glorious light of the Gospel, and restrain 
 a spirit of profaneness, atheism, oppression. Popery, and 
 persecution ; and restore all that have backslidden from 
 the purity of their life and principles, and bless His whole
 
 420 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 people with all blessings, spiritual and temporal, and put 
 an end to their present trials. I entreat all present to 
 forgive me wherein I have offended, and to concur with 
 me, that the great, good, and merciful God would sanctify 
 my present lot, and for Jesus Christ His sake pardon all 
 my sins, and receive me to His everlasting glory. It is 
 suggested to me, that I have said nothing of the royal 
 family, and this remembers me, that before the justices at 
 my trial, about the Test, I said, that at my death I would 
 pray, that there might never want one of the royal family 
 to be a defender of the true, ancient, apostolic. Catholic, 
 and Protestant faith, which I now do ; and that God 
 would enlighten and forgive all of them, that are either 
 hid in error, or have shrunk from the profession of the 
 truth ; and in all events, I pray God may provide for the 
 security of his Church, and that Antichrist, nor the gates 
 of hell may never prevail against it. 
 
 When he had finished, he folded the paper and gave it 
 to Mr. Annand, and then he turned to the south side of 
 the scaffold and said " Gentlemen, 1 pray you do not 
 misconstruct my behaviour this day ; I freely forgive all 
 men their wrongs and injuries done against me, as I 
 desire to be forgiven of God. " The Dean repeated his 
 words in a louder tone to the people. Argyll then went 
 to the opposite side of the scaffold and made a similar 
 statement. The Dean again repeated his words and 
 added to them, " This nobleman dies a Protestant " The 
 Earl was roused by this announcement to make a more 
 vigorous declaration of the fact, and accordingly he again 
 stepped forward and said : " I die not only a Protestant, 
 but with a heart-hatred of Popery, prelacy and all 
 superstition whatever. "^ 
 
 The instrument of death by which he was to suffer 
 was the rude guillotine called " The Maiden ". As he 
 turned towards the block on which he was to lay his 
 head it seemed to him to lie uneven. With extraordinary 
 
 ' Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 306.
 
 DEATH 421 
 
 calmness he took a little rule from his pocket and 
 measured it. On finding that the defect existed, he 
 pointed it out, and it was rectified by a carpenter — 
 probably one of those who had erected the scaffold. ^ 
 The Earl then took leave of his friends, embracing some 
 and taking others by the hand. To his wife and children 
 he sent some little tokens of remembrance by his son-in- 
 law, Lord Maitland, and then he took off his outer 
 clothes and gave them to his friends. The cap he wore 
 was drawn down to cover his eyes, and he was led to the 
 place where the executioner stood ready. ^ As he knelt 
 upon the stool which stood before " The Maiden ", he 
 took hold of the engine of death, and in a composed 
 voice and with a gleam of humour that remind us of the 
 mood of Sir Thomas More at the like moment, he 
 ejaculated that " it was the sweetest maiden ever he 
 kissed, it being a mean to finish his sin and misery, and 
 his inlet to glory, for which he longed. " He had asked 
 the executioner to stay his hand until he gave a sign, and 
 in that posture he prayed for a little to himself, and then 
 he uttered thrice aloud the words, " Lord Jesus, receive 
 me into Thy glory. " As he gave the sign by lifting up 
 his hand the axe fell, and the life which had been so full 
 of change and trouble was now at an end. ' Some spoke 
 of him as having been " the ludibrium [plaything] and 
 tennis-ball of fortune ", ^ but such was not his own view 
 of matters. By his experience of life his character had 
 been strengthened, deepened, and refined ; and in his 
 last moments we see rather the steadfastness inspired by 
 faith than the nerve and resoluteness of the gallant 
 cavalier. The greatness of soul which in his case as in 
 
 1 Biog. Brit., vol. Ill, p. 200. 
 
 * The cap worn by the Earl of Argyll at his execution is now in the posses- 
 sion of the Earl of Home. The latter has obligingly furnished us with the 
 following description of it. " The cap," he says, " probably originally white 
 and now a fawn shade, is made of satin in six portions and is lined with 
 linen. A piece of hand made lace surrounds the edge. The cap is much 
 bespattered with blood stains. " 
 
 * Wodrow, Hi story, vol. IV, p. 306. 
 
 * Fountainhall, Historical Observes, p. 194.
 
 422 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 that of his father had robbed death of its terrors can never 
 fail to extort our admiration. 
 
 " Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail 
 Or knock the breast ; no weakness, no contempt, 
 Dispraise or blame ; nothing but well and fair, 
 And what may quiet us in a death so noble, " ' 
 
 Little is gained in estimating his career by pointing out 
 that he deserved death for raising an insurrection. 
 Those, who are inclined to dismiss the subject with a 
 statement of this kind, might find profitable employment 
 in calculating how intolerable that tyranny must have 
 been, which drove a man of his devout character and 
 strongly Royalist proclivities into the position of a rebel. 
 Had he but had patience, and remained for a few years 
 longer in exile, none can doubt that at the Revolution he 
 would have been recalled with honour, and would have 
 taken the highest place in the kingdom at the right hand 
 of the Throne. 
 
 Some estimate of the character and career of one whom 
 Macaulay has described as " one of the bravest and most 
 true-hearted of Scottish patriots",^ will naturally be 
 expected by our readers, but nothing at great length is 
 necessary after the detailed story we have written of his 
 chequered life. He had not the intellectual power of 
 his father, nor did he play so commanding a part in the 
 national history as his father had done ; for while the 
 Marquess was a statesman with enlightened views and 
 with ability to mould the national policy, his son belonged 
 to the order of politicians, who, so far from controlling 
 are oftentimes the victims of the forces at work in the 
 society about them. But though he did not dominate 
 the public life of Scotland, as the Marquess had done in 
 the reign of Charles I, and as Lauderdale did in that of 
 Charles II, he had strength of character which kept him 
 
 ^ Milton, Samson Af^otiistcs. 
 » History, chap. XVIII.
 
 A TRUE-HEARTED PATRIOT 423 
 
 from being the mere humble adherent of any prevalent 
 party in the State. As we have seen, he entered public 
 life immediately on the death of Charles I, and his first 
 act was to offer his sword for the support of the royalist 
 cause then so grievously disabled, and his loyalty to the 
 throne and the House of Stewart endured until the time 
 came when a choice had to be made between it and 
 loyalty to the cause of liberty and of religion. In an 
 instant the choice was made, and as he had risked his 
 life in the one cause so he laid it down for the other. 
 It is true that after he had made the change he regretted 
 some of his former acts of compliance with the Govern- 
 ment of Charles II, but his doing so does not necessarily 
 convict him of inconsistency of conduct ; for such revul- 
 sion of opinion and of feeling must always be experienced 
 by those who conscientiously resist the forces of revo- 
 lution, and then discover that the revolutionaries are in 
 the right and cast in their lot with them. For several 
 years after the Restoration the enemies of his House 
 were in the ascendant, and it was not until their power 
 was weakened that he regained the position in public life 
 that was his birthright ; so that he was in no way respons- 
 ible for the initial blunders and crimes which were the 
 seed of such a bloody harvest in Scotland. He zealously 
 supported Lauderdale's policy of remedying ecclesiastical 
 grievances by Acts of Indulgence — a policy, as it seems to 
 us, reasonable enough in the circumstances — while the 
 fact that, beyond being a member of the Privy Council, 
 he held no high office in the State, implies that he had 
 but a limited share of responsibility for the evils which 
 marked the administration of that statesman, especially 
 in his later years. As we have seen, the Earl of Argyll 
 and Sir James Dalrymple were for years the persons in 
 the Privy Council who might be expected to support 
 reasonable demands for the redress of evils. His refusal 
 to take an oath which would hinder attempts to introduce 
 beneficial changes in Church and State was an illus- 
 tration of the spirit of his public life. The fact that his
 
 424 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 refusal brought upon him a sentence of forfeiture and 
 death shook the throne of the Stewarts to its very 
 foundations. 
 
 The great mistake of his life was his invasion of 
 Scotland in 1685. His failure on that occasion was 
 based upon a two-fold error — a miscalculation of the 
 condition of public feeling in Scotland, and his making 
 common cause with persons who called him their 
 General but disobeyed his orders. His conduct from 
 the moment when he was bound a prisoner down to that 
 of his death was singularly beautiful. His kindly 
 references to his captors, and to his gaolers, and to his 
 disorderly associates who had squandered his military 
 stores and mocked at his authority, his affectionate 
 solicitude for his clan and for his family whom his 
 ill-advised action had so seriously endangered, and his 
 simple faith and self-possession and unquenchable spirit 
 in the presence of death, are beyond all praise. It 
 was indeed calamitous that men like him and like his 
 father, should have perished at the hands of the execu- 
 tioner. But yet their deaths were not in vain. They 
 were like soldiers who were cut off before they could 
 see the triumph of their cause, but whose labours and 
 sufferings, and death had done much to secure that 
 triumph. 
 
 The suppression of the rebellion which Argyll had 
 raised was attended with comparatively little bloodshed, 
 so far as the regular administration of justice was con- 
 cerned. The Highlanders who had taken part in it 
 were regarded as having been in a measure obliged by 
 their tenures to obey the orders of their chief. ^ As the 
 country had not responded to the summons to rise, the 
 Government were not agitated by that fear which often 
 explains bloody measures of retribution in such cases. 
 Yet many perished from starvation and disease in the 
 loathsome prisons into which they were crowded, and 
 
 ' Burnet, History of My Own Times, vol. I, p. 632 : Foxcroft, Supplement to 
 Biinict, p. 159.
 
 ATROCITIES IN ARGYLLSHIRE 425 
 
 numbers were sent over sea as slaves to the plantations, ^ 
 The Earl's sons, John and Charles, who had shared in 
 the rebellion, were sentenced to death, but this penalty 
 was commuted for banishment with forfeiture of all 
 rights and property. Lord Neil Campbell, the Earl's 
 brother, who had been apprehended soon after the 
 rebellion had begun, and imprisoned as a precautionary 
 measure, on obtaining his liberty took refuge for a time 
 in New England. " 
 
 But although the Government should be credited with 
 comparative lenity in dealing with the rebels, many atro- 
 cities were perpetrated in Argyllshire upon members of 
 the Clan Campbell who had aided their chief in his fruit- 
 less attempt. The persons responsible for this were the 
 Duke of Gordon, the Marquess of Atholl and the Earl 
 of Breadalbane. Thus we read of twenty-two or twenty- 
 three persons, some of whom had surrendered under 
 promise of quarter and protection, being put to death, 
 and of an express being sent from the Privy Council 
 forbidding further bloodshed, which is said to have been 
 very unwillingly obeyed. Carnassery Castle, the residence 
 of Sir Duncan Campbell, was defended by his friends and 
 tenants for some time but was surrendered on honourable 
 conditions. These, however, were violated, and the 
 house was pillaged and burned. For thirty miles round 
 Inveraray the country was laid waste, and in order to ruin 
 it effectually, parties were sent to pull down houses, to 
 break millstones, to destroy fruit-trees and valuable 
 timber, to stave in boats and to burn fishing-nets. So 
 shameful were their actions that the Government marked 
 its displeasure at them by depriving Atholl of the Lord- 
 Lieutenancy of the county. ^ 
 
 In accordance with the sentence pronounced on the 
 Earl, his head was affixed on a spike on the west end of 
 the Tolbooth — the place where that of his father and 
 
 1 Depredations in Argylc, 1685-86. 
 * Wodrow, History, vol. IV, p. 311. 
 
 ' Ibid, p. 310 : MS. Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell : Lindsay, Life oj 
 Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 137.
 
 426 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 that of Montrose had once stood. ^ His body was 
 buried at Newbattle Abbey, the seat of the Earl of 
 Lothian, where fifty-six years before he had first seen the 
 light. After the Revolution the head was taken down 
 and buried there also. On the death of his son, Archi- 
 bald, loth Earl and ist Duke of Argyll, both bodies 
 were taken down to Kilmun, the burying-place of the 
 family (June 27th, 1704).^ His widow survived until 
 about the close of 1706, when she died at the age of 
 eighty-five years. As she had lived in the reigns of all 
 the Stewart Sovereigns who sat upon the English throne, 
 and had taken a prominent part in the public events of 
 her time, her life abounds in incidents of great interest. 
 After the Revolution she settled at Balcarres, where she 
 managed the property of her son, Colin, who was in 
 exile. At her death she seems to have been buried there 
 beside her first husband, the ist Earl of Balcarres. Her 
 daughter, Sophia, who married Charles Campbell, died 
 without children. Her daughter, Henrietta, the wife of Sir 
 Duncan Campbell, had one son, Sir James Campbell, of 
 Auchinbreck. ^ 
 
 The Earl's eldest son, Archibald, Lord Lome, had, as 
 
 • By order of James II a medal was struck to commemorate the defeat and 
 execution of Argyll and Monmouth. It was executed by Robert Arondeaux 
 who did a good deal of work of the same kind both for William III and for 
 Louis XIV. On the one side is a bust of James II covered with laurel, placed 
 upon a large basis or altar, on the front of which are the arms of England 
 with the Garter and over it the Crown. Upon the Altar lie four sceptres 
 bearing on their tops the rose, lily, thistle and harp. Upon each side is 
 represented the sea, with Neptune holding the trident, drawn in a chariot by 
 Marine horses and with two vessels under sail. The motto is : Aras et 
 sceptra tucnnir : and the inscription is the King's name and titles with the 
 date 1685. On the reverse Justice is standing with a sword in one hand and 
 balances in the other. The sun is darting his beams upon her head while 
 lightning issues out of a dark cloud. Three mural crowns in one scale 
 outweigh a scimitar, a " Protestant Hail ", and a serpent. Another serpent 
 lies under the feet of Justice, while beside her are two headless bodies, those 
 of Monmouth and Argyll. The heads of the latter are lying on two square 
 blocks, one on either side of the central figure, with their respective names 
 inscribed upon them. Upon one side of the carcasses are represented soldiers 
 routed and in Hight, and on the other a castle, with two heads fixed on spikes 
 over the gate-ways. Beneath the figure of Justice is the motto : Ambitio 
 malcsnnada ruit. 
 
 ' Hist. MS. Com. Report I, p. Ii6b : Depredations o/Ar,iiylc, p. 124. 
 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, pp. 141-143.
 
 A GOOD OMEN 427 
 
 we have seen, abstained from supporting his father's 
 enterprise in 1685, and had even ojffered his services in 
 aid of the royal cause. But neither this, nor other 
 attempts made by him to avert the anger of the King or 
 to conciHate his favour, were of much avail. ^ James 
 decHned to reverse the attainder of title or property, for 
 the securing of which he had judged it worth while to 
 stain his honour in the shameful proceedings of 168 1. 
 It is not, we hope, below the dignity of history to record 
 an incident, which, in an age when strange occurrences 
 and coincidences were taken notice of as of good or evil 
 omen, was thought to be prophetic of good for the 
 House of Argyll. On the very day and at about the 
 hour of the Earl's execution, Lord Lome's son, John, 
 afterwards 2nd Duke of Argyll, fell out of " a three 
 pair of stairs' window, " without receiving any hurt. 
 The child was about six or seven years of age and was 
 staying at the time with his aunt, the Countess of Moray, 
 at Donibristle in Fife. Many interpreted this as a 
 happy omen of the rising again of the family then so 
 much at the mercy of its enemies. ^ 
 
 At the intercession of the Earl of Balcarres, whom 
 Argyll had mentioned in his last letter to Lady Sophia, 
 James settled a pension of ;{^8oo Sterling a year upon Lord 
 Lome. ^ The latter shortly afterwards went over to the 
 Hague and accompanied the Prince of Orange in his 
 expedition to England. He sat as a member of the 
 Scotch Estates in 1689, and was one of the three commis- 
 sioners deputed to offer the Scotch Crown to William 
 and Mary, and he it was who administered to them the 
 Coronation Oath (May nth. 1689). A few weeks 
 later an Act was passed in the Scotch Parliament rescind- 
 ing his father's forfeiture and restoring him to his 
 ancestral estates. * He was desirous that the Marquessate, 
 
 ^ Lockhart Papers, vol. I, p. 63 : Fountainhall, Chrotiological Notes, p. 127. 
 - Cainphell, Life of John, Duke of Ari^ylc, p. 31 (1745). 
 ^ Lindsay, Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie, p. 133. 
 * D. N. B., vol. VIII, p. 339.
 
 428 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 bestowed upon his grandfather and forfeited at the 
 latter's execution in 1661, should be restored to him, but 
 the higher title of Duke was bestowed upon him in 1701. 
 He was succeeded by his two sons, John and Archibald, 
 as 2nd and 3rd Dukes of Argyll. On the death of the 
 last named holder of the title in 1761 his cousin, John, a 
 son of the John mentioned in these pages as having 
 accompanied his father, the 9th Earl, in the invasion of 
 Scotland, succeeded to the Dukedom. From him the 
 present family are descended. Of those representatives of 
 this historic House whom our own generation has seen 
 this is not the place in which to speak, beyond saying 
 that, in addition to the splendid capacity for service of 
 the State which they have possessed in common with so 
 many of their ancestors, they have been distinguished in 
 the fields of philosophy and literature and have done 
 more than maintain the dignity transmitted to them. 
 
 We have now, in the two volumes which tell the 
 history of the life and times of the 8th and 9th Earls of 
 Argyll, given both particulars of their careers and a 
 narrative of public events in Scotland from the accession 
 of Charles I to the Revolution of 1688. This most 
 stirring and heroic period of Scotch history will never 
 lose its interest. Though centuries have passed since 
 then, the ashes of the volcanic outburst which it witnessed 
 have not yet grown cold, and almost at any pomt the 
 careless foot or the wilful purpose may uncover still 
 glowing embers. The great source of strife, in dealing 
 with the period in question, is the attitude taken up by 
 the historian or critic to the Covenants and their 
 adherents. For our own part we have indulged in no 
 indiscriminate eulogy of either. The National Covenant 
 of 1637 is, we think, an expression of patriotism and 
 religion demanding admiration from every generous 
 heart. The Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, 
 which superseded the former, appears to us in quite a 
 different light. The alloy of worldly policy and of 
 spiritual pride seems to us to vitiate it to some extent
 
 AN INVIDIOUS FUNCTION 429 
 
 and to be the source of some of the misery which 
 afterwards afflicted the national Hfe. But even with 
 regard to it, we consider that the historian who approaches 
 it sympathetically is likely to form the most trustworthy 
 judgement ; for we are convinced that political or 
 ecclesiastical rancour blinds the eyes as well as hardens 
 the heart. The influence upon the national life and 
 character of the great movements which found expression 
 in these documents is undeniable ; and we believe that it 
 will be an evil day for the patriotism and for the spiritual 
 life of the country, when Scotland forgets ' the rock 
 whence it was hewn and the hole of the pit whence it 
 was digged. ' Of course, we remember that there has 
 always been in Scotland a minority, which has furnished 
 sharp-tongued critics of the causes dear to the majority. 
 Yet their position is not without dangers of its own. 
 The ablest commentator on the book of Job points out 
 that the mordant critic who in the opening chapters 
 assails the character of that patriarch, is not represented 
 as a fallen or evil spirit, though it seems as if that 
 would be the end of matters. He is rather one " whose 
 part it is to oppose men in their pretensions to a right 
 standing before God. " The dangerous element in his 
 case is that " he shews an assiduity slightly too keen 
 in the exercise of his somewhat invidious function. " ^ 
 The injudicious friends of the Covenanters may perhaps 
 have claimed too much for them in the matter of their 
 " right standing before God, " and the criticism to which 
 we have referred may possibly serve a good end, and 
 promote the cause of truth, which is broader than the 
 foundation of any one party, political or ecclesiastical. 
 But the function is, as has been said, a somewhat 
 invidious one, and is rather to be dreaded for its effect 
 upon those who exercise' it than upon those against 
 whom it is directed. The true danger does not arise 
 from that quarter. Its source is in moral and religious 
 indifference, which leads a man to take no side in the 
 
 1 Davidson, Job, (1884), p. 7.
 
 430 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 conflict between good and evil, or which hides from him 
 the fact that there is a good cause, and that not to fight 
 eagerly for it is to be hostile to it. To those who look 
 with lack-lustre eyes upon the struggles of the past, and 
 say that there was no occasion for them, and that the one 
 faction was as good or as bad as the other, we would 
 commend the warning words of Brinhild, " the fairest of 
 earth and the wisest of the wise " : 
 
 " When thou hearest the fool rejoicing, and he saith, 
 
 ' It is over and past, 
 And the wrong was better than right, and hate turns 
 
 into love at the last, 
 And we strove for nothing at all, and the Gods are 
 
 fallen asleep ; 
 For so good is the world a growing that the evil 
 
 good shall reap : ' 
 Then loosen thy sword in the scabbard and settle 
 
 the helm on thine head, 
 For men betrayed are mighty, and great are the 
 
 wrongfully dead. " ' 
 
 ' Morris, The Story of Sigurd the Volsung, (1877), p. 163. 
 
 THE END.
 
 APPENpIX I. 
 
 AN ACCOUNT-BOOK OF ARCHIBALD, 9th EARL OF ARGYLL. 
 
 This document consists of thirty pages of foolscap 
 paper, unbound, and contains entries of household 
 expenditure at Inveraray from January 4th, 1680, to 
 December 30th of the same year. It is the property of 
 Alex. O. Curie, Esq., and an account of it was given by 
 him in a paper read at the meeting of the Society of 
 Antiquaries of Scotland, Jany. 14th, 1907. The account- 
 book is interesting for the glimpses it affords of the 
 economy of a great Highland household. It is noticeable 
 that while there is not a single entry in the accounts 
 for meat, which with the ordinary produce of the 
 country would be supplied from the payment of rents 
 in kind, flour and biscuit come from the baker (baxter) 
 in Glasgow. Herrings are laid in, in June, at seven 
 shillings ^ per hundred, and a quarter-hundred of hard 
 fish costs £,(). No other fish are mentioned, but of shell- 
 fish there are occasional entries of oysters. Brandy is 
 mentioned but there is no allusion to whisky, unless the 
 entry of six shillings for a worm supplied to Mr. James 
 indicates the operation of a small still. A hogshead of 
 sack cost £162, and there are frequent entries of a light 
 sour wine called vinegar. Drinking-glasses were just 
 then coming into fashion and vinegar-glasses from 
 Glasgow cost six shillings apiece, and a dozen and half of 
 ordinary glasses four shillings each. There is little men- 
 tion of other table or household utensils. The tinkler is 
 
 ' The sums mentioned are in Scots currency. To obtain the SterHng value 
 it IS necessary to divide by twelve.
 
 432 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 entrusted with the mending of the silver laver, and old 
 English and Scotch pewter flagons and other vessels are 
 exchanged for new ones. Peats, which were used when 
 coals ran out, cost 2/6 to 3/- per load, and the coal bill, 
 from April to October, amounted to ^{^365 at ten shillings 
 a barrel. Soap comes from Holland, and ordinary candles 
 cost ^ijiSj- per stone, while those with cotton wicks cost 
 £>3l^h P^*" stone. There is a garden in which the gardener 
 plants in the spring 700 bowkail and later gooseberry and 
 currant sets, the account for the the latter amounting to 
 ;^2i. For the children's education £^0 is paid to 
 Mr. John Campbell, doctor of the Grammar School, 
 Glasgow. A fencing-master receives £11 J, fishing lines 
 are brought to them from Greenock, golf-balls from 
 Edinburgh, powder and lead for shooting, and arrows for 
 archery are also supplied ; and their clothing and boots 
 and shoes come from Edinburgh. The total of the year's 
 expenditure amounts to ;/^ 18,4 17, but includes several 
 considerable sums paid to the Earl himself for objects not 
 disclosed, and sums expended by the Countess for charit- 
 able purposes. It is interesting to note that while there 
 is only one mention of a piper there are several entries 
 for doles given to harpers and violers.
 
 APPENDIX II. 
 
 A LETTER WRITTEN BY ARGYLL ASKING SUPPORT IN HIS 
 
 REBELLION. 
 
 This document was printed in a broadside by the 
 authorities in Edinburgh, June ist, 1907, with a brief 
 narrative of the insurrection up to the date specified. 
 Evidently the letter was forwarded to the Privy Council 
 by the recipient. 
 
 Campletown [sic) 
 May 22 1685 
 
 Loving Friend, 
 
 It hath pleased God to bring me safe to this place, 
 where several of both Nations doth appear with me for 
 defence of the Protestant Religion, our Lives and 
 Liberties, against Popery and Arbitrary Government, 
 whereof the Particulars are in two Declarations emitted 
 by those noble-men. Gentle-men and others and by me 
 for my self. Your Father and I lived in great friend- 
 ship, and I am glad to serve you his son in the Protestant 
 Religion, and 1 will be ready to do it in your particular 
 when there is occasion. I beseech you let not any out of 
 fear or other bad principles perswade you to neglect your 
 Duty to God and your Countrey at this time, or believe 
 that D. York is not a Papist, or that being one, he can 
 be a righteous King. Then know that all England is in 
 Arms in three several places and the Duke of Monmouth 
 appears at the same time upon the same grounds we do, 
 and few places in Scotland but soon will joyn, and the
 
 434 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 South and West wants [? waits] but till they hear I am 
 landed, for so we resolved before I left Holland. Now I 
 beseech you make no delay to separate from those [who] 
 abuse you, and are carrying on a Popish design, and 
 come with all the men of your command to assist the 
 Cause of Religion, where you shall be most welcome to 
 
 Tour Loving Friend to serve you. 
 Argyll. 
 
 P. S. Let this serve Toung Loigie^ Skipnage and Charles 
 Mc Echan. 
 
 Those who publish the letter say it was directed to 
 " the Laird of Lupe. " We may say that this interesting 
 historical document is in the possession of J. A. Fairley 
 Esq, Edinburgh.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen, Synod of, io8, 260. 
 
 Abjuration, Oath of, 324, 325. 
 
 Act of Classes, 30. 
 
 Act of Grace, 189. 
 
 Act Rescissory, loi, 109, 123, 227. 
 
 Act of Supremacy, 168. 
 
 Acts of Indemnity, no, 126, 152. 
 
 Acts of 1662, 123, 124, 160, 180, 
 
 205n. 
 Advocates, secession of, 194. 
 Airds Moss, skirmish at, 246, 323. 
 Airlie, Earl of, 212. 
 Alford, Battle of, 173. 
 Alva, 560. 
 Alyth, 31. 
 Amsterdam, 305, 322, 327, 334, 
 
 336, 343. 344. 352, 385. 410. 412. 
 
 Andover, Viscount. See Berkshire, 
 Earl of. 
 
 Anna, The, 343, 344, 349. 
 
 Annand, Wm., Dean of Edinburgh, 
 417-420. 
 
 Annandale, 325. 
 
 Anne, Princess, 244. 
 
 Anne of Austria, 21. 
 
 Archer, Thomas, 40on. 
 
 Ardentinny, 386. 
 
 Ardkinglass, Castle of, 382. 
 
 Ardmillan Castle, 364. 
 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 7th 
 Earl of, 5, 8, ii6n, i72n. 
 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 8th 
 Earl and i st Marquess of , opposes 
 Charles I, 12 ; joins with Hamil- 
 ton, 13; raises a regiment for 
 the French service, 15; defeated 
 by Montrose, 18 ; his son 
 
 defends his loyalty, 22 ; loss of 
 power after Dunbar, 30; breaks 
 with Charles II, 31 ; makes 
 terms with the English Govern- 
 ment, 32, 33 ; secures safety of 
 English prisoners, 36 ; hostile to 
 Royalist rising,38; sends inform- 
 ation to Lilburne, 40 ; remon- 
 strates with Lord Lome, 44 ; 
 appeals to his clan for support, 
 46 ; aid to Colonel Cobbett, 51 ; 
 suggests an English garrison 
 for Inveraray, 53; referred to by 
 Captain Hill, 57 ; claims on 
 Badenoch lands, 58 ; writes to 
 Monck, 68 ; conflict with his 
 son, 69 ; meets with his son, 70 ; 
 strained relations with the lat- 
 ter, 76 ; treachery of Charles II 
 towards him, 85; his arrest, trial 
 and execution, 85-87 ; letter to 
 Earl of Morton, 3 ; letter to Sir 
 Colin Campbell, 8 ; letter to 
 Lord Lome, 45 ; other notices 
 of him, 132, 134, 171, 191, 197, 
 251, 276, 357, 361,374, 422, 428. 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 9th 
 Earl of, birth, 2 ; poor health 
 in infancy, 5 ; " fostered " at 
 Glenurquhay, ibid ; returns to 
 Inveraray,! I ; proposed marriage, 
 14 ; honorary commander in 
 Scots Guard, 15 : enters Glas- 
 gow University, ibid ; tricks of 
 manner and characteristics, 16; 
 continental travels, 19 ; strong 
 Royalist proclivities, 23, 423 ;
 
 436 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 marriage, 25 ; appointed Co- 
 lonel of foot-guards, 26 ; Claren- 
 don's slander of liim, 28 ; at 
 Battle of Dunbar, 29 ; at Inve- 
 raray, 32 ; acquiesces in terms 
 imposed b)-EnglishGovernment, 
 33 ; organizes attack on English 
 garrisons, 35 ; joins Royalist 
 conspiracy, 38 ; openly rebels, 
 45 ; appeals to his clan for 
 support, 46 ; distrusted by 
 Glencairn, at enmity with Glen- 
 garry, 49 ; joins with Lord 
 Kenmore in guerilla exploits, 
 50; expedition into Kintyre, 52; 
 returns to Glenurquhay, 54 ; 
 attempts to levy men in Bade- 
 noch, 56 ; quarrels with Glen- 
 cairn, 57; makes his escape, 59; 
 falsely accused, 60 ; praised by 
 Monro, 64 ; proclaimed a rebel 
 by Monck, 65; exploits in Argyll- 
 shire, 68 ; interview with his 
 father, 70 ; comes to terms with 
 the English Government, 73 ; 
 kept under strict surveillance, 
 76 ; spy employed against him, 
 78 ; imprisoned in Edinburgh 
 Castle, 79 ; meets with a ser- 
 ious accident, 80 ; Hberated 
 on parole and resides at Bog 
 of Gight, 81; goes up to London, 
 84; appUes to Charles II on 
 be half of his father, 85 ; tries 
 to save his father, 86 ; intrigues 
 against Lome, 115 ; his aunts 
 intercede for him, 116 ; accused 
 of " leasing-making " and con- 
 demned to death, 118, 121 ; 
 warns Lauderdale of danger, 
 128, 129; released from prison, 
 131 ; Earldom restored to 
 him, ibid ; seeks for Spanish 
 treasure, 134; apprehends sus- 
 pects, 139 ; conduct during 
 Pentland Hill rising, 146-149 ; 
 glimpses into his family life, 
 152-154; death of the Countess 
 of Argyll, 155 ; settles indulged 
 ministers in Argyllshire, 161 ; 
 welcomes Lauderdale to Scot- 
 
 land, 163 ; loses favour with 
 Lauderdale, 166 ; at opening of 
 Parliament, 167; on question of 
 Union with England, 169 ; 
 ratification of the reversal of 
 forfeiture, 170; quarrel with 
 Tweeddale, 171 ; second mar- 
 riage, 172 ; referred to in letter 
 of his wife to Lauderdale, 175 ; 
 supports Lauderdale, 187 ; com- 
 promised by members of his 
 family, 192 ; difficulties with the 
 Macleans, 197-200 ; spokesman 
 of the moderate party, 205 ; 
 abstains from assisting the 
 Government, 213 ; marriages 
 between families of Argyll and 
 Lauderdale, 220; summoned to 
 assist the Government against 
 rebels, 231 ; ordered to disarm 
 Papists in the Highlands, 232 ; 
 Privy Council dubious regarding 
 him, 233 ; joins in protest 
 against the Duke of York's 
 illegal action, 242; signs address 
 to Charles II, 245 ; concerned 
 in condemnation of Cargill, 247; 
 entertains Duke of York at 
 Stirling, 249 ; refuses to abjure 
 Protestantism, ibid ; carries 
 crown at the opening of Par- 
 liament, 250 ; gives offence to 
 the Duke of York, ibid ; attacks 
 upon him in Parliament, 251, 
 252 ; abstains from voting in 
 the Test Act, 253 ; hostile rela- 
 tions with the Duke of York, 255, 
 258 ; dismissed from Court of 
 Session, 258 ; takes the Test 
 Oath with an explanation, 260, 
 261 ; committed to prison, 263 ; 
 difficulty in getting advocates 
 to plead for him, 266 ; trial, 
 268-277 > escape from prison, 
 277 ; adventures on his journey 
 to London, 280 ; lies hid in 
 London, 294 ; joins in Rye- 
 House conspiracy, 301, 312 ; 
 relations with Lord Granard, 
 303 ; escapes to Holland, 304 ; 
 petitions Charles II, 307 ; his
 
 INDEX 
 
 437 
 
 letter in cipher, 316 ; financial 
 difficulties, 321; life in Holland, 
 322 ; prepares to invade Scot- 
 land, 327 ; his papers at home 
 seized, 328 ; makes overtures to 
 Monmouth, 329-331 ; plans for 
 his expedition, 331, 332 ; jeal- 
 ousy of Monmouth, 333, 334 ; 
 removes to Amsterdam, 334 ; 
 appointed General of the rebel 
 forces, 336 ; sends Pringle and 
 Veitch to Scotland, 338 ; some 
 of his principal associates, 339- 
 342 ; sets sail from Holland, 
 343-345 ; disaster in Orkney, 
 350-352 ; lands in Islay, 354, 
 355 ; lands at Campbeltown 
 and pubhshes Declaration and 
 personal statement, 357-363 ; 
 jealousy of his colleagues, 366 ; 
 proceeds to Tarbert, 370; his 
 vacillation, 370-374 ; crosses to 
 Bute, 374, and thence to Castle 
 Toward, 376 ; decides to occupy 
 Ellan-Gheirrig, 378-381 ; opera- 
 tions on mainland, 382-392 : 
 disguises himself, 393 ; taken 
 prisoner, 394-396 ; taken to 
 Renfrew, thence to Glasgow, 
 396, 399 ; taken to Edinburgh, 
 401-403 ; peculiarity of his 
 legal standing, 403, 404 ; torture 
 threatened but not applied, 404- 
 408 ; sentenced to death, 409, 
 410 ; serenity of his mood, 
 parting with friends, last hours, 
 410-417 ; scene on the scaffold 
 and death, 417-422 ; estimate 
 of his character and career, 422- 
 424 ; letter to Sir Colin Camp- 
 bell, 7 ; to Henrietta Maria, 22 ; 
 to Lord Wilmot and Charles II, 
 44, 307 ; to Lauderdale, 83, 84, 
 1 55 ; to his sons, 41 3 , 41 4 ; to Lady 
 Sophia Lindsay and his wife, 
 416 ; to the Laird of Lupe, 433. 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, loth 
 Earl and ist Duke of. See Lome, 
 Lord. 
 Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd 
 Duke of, 428. 
 
 Argyll, (i) Countess of , 14, 25, 71, 
 
 72, 81, 83n, 119, 154, 155. 
 Argyll, (2) Countess of, 14, 171- 
 
 176, 281, 313, 314, 320, 355, 
 
 356, 403. 411. 413. 416, 426. 
 Argyll, John Campbell, 2nd Duke 
 
 of, 81, 427, 428. 
 Argyll, John Campbell, 4th Duke 
 
 of, i54n. 
 Argyll, Marchioness of, 3, 11, 31, 
 
 22on. 
 Argyll Estates, 131, 132, 170, 251, 
 
 257, 281, 321, 328. 
 Arg}^llshire, 46, 68, 328. 
 " Argyll's Lodgings ", 249. 
 " Argyll's Stone ", 395. 
 Arondeaux, Robt., 426n. 
 Articles of Agreement, Lord Lome 
 
 and Major Gen. Deane, 33. 
 Atholl, Marquess of, 212, 304, 328, 
 
 349. 353-355, 370- 372, 376, 382, 
 
 383, 386, 387, 400, 425. 
 Ayloff, Colonel, 334, 340, 367, 390, 
 
 399- 
 Ayr, 141, 212, 368. 
 Badenoch, 54, 56, 58, 59. 
 Bailie of Islay. See Campbell, Hugh. 
 BaiUie, Robt., 36n, 59, 91, 95, 164. 
 Baillie, Robt., of Jerviswood, 311. 
 Balcarres, Countess of .SctfArgyll, (2) 
 
 Countess of. 
 Balcarres, ist Earl of, 43, 59, i54n, 
 
 172, 173, 321, 426. 
 Balcarres, 2nd Earl of, 174. 
 Balcarres, 3rd Earl of, 172-174, 
 
 176, 314, 416, 426, 427. 
 Balfour, Geo., of Kinloch, or 
 
 Burley, 230, 341. 
 Ballantyne, Sir Wm., 158. 
 Balloch, Castle of, 6. 
 Balmaclellan, 140. 
 Barclay, Geo., 368. 
 Barillon, 407. 
 Bathgate, 143. 
 Battersea, 293. 
 
 Baxter, Richard, 165, 173, 174. 
 Belhaven, Lord, 256. 
 Berkshire, Earl of, 118. 
 Berwick, 286. 
 " Billetting Act ", 127. 
 " Birch", 318.
 
 438 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Bishops, appointment of in 1661, 
 1 1 1- 1 14 ; creatures of the Go- 
 vernment, III, 125 ; their dread 
 of Lauderdale, 129, 130 ; their 
 power diminished, 149-152, 168 ; 
 suggestion of accommodation 
 with Presbyterians, 180 ; their 
 approval of coercion, i82n, 210, 
 211, 298. 
 
 " Bishops' Curates", 161. 
 
 Bittlestone, Mr, 288, 289. 
 
 Bittlestone, Mrs, 288, 289. 
 
 Bittlestone, Mr John, 289. 
 
 Blackader, John, 192, 339. 
 
 Blackader,\A^m., Dr., 193, 339, 350, 
 351, 381, 382. 
 
 Black Cart, 395. 
 
 Blair, Robt, 91. 
 
 Blood, Colonel, 293. 
 
 Bog of Gight, 81. 
 
 Bolsover, 292. 
 
 Bond, The, 211. 
 
 Borthwick, Mr, surgeon, 155. 
 
 Bothwell Bridge, insurrection of, 
 229-239, 246, 323, 329, 330. 
 
 Bothwell Bridge, Battle of, 236- 
 238. 
 
 " Brand", 318. 
 
 Breadalbane, Countess of. See 
 Campbell, Lady Mary, Countess 
 of Caithness. 
 
 Breadalbane, Earl of, 5, 425. 
 
 Brentford, 295. 
 
 Bride of Lammermoor, reference 
 to, 205. 
 
 Bristo Port, 278, 280. 
 
 Broghill, Lord, 77-79. 
 
 Bruce, Andrew, Bishop, 260. 
 
 Buckingham, Duke of, 118. 
 
 Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, refe- 
 rences to, 273, 396. 
 
 Burke quoted, 397. 
 
 Burnet, Alexander, Archbishop, 
 151, 162, 163, 165, 168. 
 
 Burnet, Gilbert, Bishop, quoted, 
 13, 27, 86, 105, 106, 118, 121, 
 129, i4on, 152, 163, 186, 208, 
 215, 22in, 249, 275, 400, 407. 
 
 Burton, J.H., quoted, 323. 
 
 Bute, 372, 374-376. 
 
 Bute, sheriff of, 232. 
 
 "Butler, Mr ".See Spence,William. 
 
 Bytter, Skipper, 38 in, 
 
 Caithness, Countess of. See Camp- 
 bell, Lady Mary. 
 
 Caithness, Earl of, 231, 232. 
 
 Cameron, Richard, 246, 247. 
 
 Cameronians, Declaration by, 324. 
 
 Campbell, Lady Annabella, Count- 
 ess of Lothian, 3. 
 
 Campbell, Lady Anne, Countess 
 of Lauderdale and Countess of 
 Moray, 8 in, 154, 220, 427. 
 
 Campbell, Lady Anne, d. of 
 Marquess of Argyll, 4, 30. 
 
 Campbell, Archibald, 15. 
 
 Campbell, Archibald, Earl of 
 Argyll. Sec Argyll. 
 
 Campbell, Charles, i54n, 174, 336, 
 
 353. 369, 370. 374- 376, 400. 
 
 425, 426. 
 Campbell, Colin, i54n. 
 Campbell, Sir Colin, 8th Laird of 
 
 Glenurquhay, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11. 
 Campbell, Duncan, 7. 
 Campbell, Sir Duncan, 45, 174, 
 
 353. 370> 393. 400. 425. 426. 
 Campbell, Hugh, Bailie of Islay, 
 
 354- 
 Campbell, Lady Henrietta, See 
 
 Lindsay, Lady Henrietta. 
 Campbell, Lady Isabella, 116. 
 Campbell, Lady Isabella, 5. 
 Campbell, Lady Isabella, I54n. 
 Campbell, James, i54n, 356, 414, 
 
 431- 
 Campbell, Sir James, 401, 426. 
 Campbell, Lady Jane, Countess 
 
 and Marchioness of Lothian, 4, 
 
 131. 411- 
 Campbell, Lady Jean, Marchioness 
 
 of Lothian, 154, 193, 320, 411. 
 Campbell, John, 432. 
 Campbell, John, of Mamore, 154, 
 
 321, 336, 393. 400, 414, 417, 
 
 425- 
 Campbell, John, Duke of Argyll. 
 
 Sec Argyll. 
 Campbell, Lady Juliana, 5. 
 Campbell, Lady Margaret, 71, 
 
 I54n. 
 Campbell, Lady Mary, i54n.
 
 INDEX 
 
 439 
 
 Campbell, Lady Mary, Countess 
 of Caithness, and of Breadalbane 
 
 5. 131- 
 Campbell, Lord Neil, 4, 16, 19, 87, 
 
 198, 328, 356. 
 Campbell, Sir Neil, 380. 
 Campbell, Lady Victoria, 116. 
 Campbeltown, 357, 359, 360, 363, 
 
 369- 
 
 Candlemaker Row, Edinburgh, 
 280. 
 
 Cancngate, Edinburgh, 26, 250, 
 402. 
 
 Cargill, Donald, 246, 247, 289. 
 
 Carnassery, Castle, 353, 425. 
 
 "Carolina Project", The, 308. 
 
 "Carr, Mr," See, Argyll, 9th Earl of. 
 
 Carrick Castle, 33, 72, 374, 375. 
 
 Cars Creoch, 306. 
 
 Carstares, Wm., 308-310, 318,319, 
 348. 
 
 CassiHs, Earl of, 218. 
 
 Case of the Earl of A rgile, 560. 
 
 Castle Campbell, 41. 
 
 Castle Toward, 376. 
 
 Castlemaine, Countess of, 117, 
 131, 164. 
 
 Catastrophe Mundi, 334. 
 
 Cawdor, Campbells of, 354. 
 
 Cellini, Benvenuto, 133. 
 
 Charenton, 21. 
 
 Charles I, political troubles during 
 his reign, 9, 12, 13, 15, 187, 225, 
 234 ; signs safe-conduct, 21 ; 
 tries Series Virgilianae, Son; 
 oppressive policy in Scotland, 
 89, 10 1 ; Lauderdale's responsi- 
 bility for surrendering him to 
 the English, ii7n ; grant of 
 Spanish wreck, 133 ; his whip- 
 ping-boy, 166. 
 
 Charles II, proclaimed in Edin- 
 burgh, 24 ; comes to Scotland, 
 26 ; relations with Lord Lome, 
 27 ; crowned at Scone, 29 ; 
 defeated at Worcester, ibid ; 
 Restoration of, 84 ; treachery 
 towards Marquess of Argyll, 
 85 ; relations to Church of 
 Scotland, 96, 97, 100, 105- 112 ; 
 Lord Lome's affair, 119-121; 
 
 the Billetting Act, 128 ; debt to 
 the Marquess of Argyll, 132 ; 
 opinion of Conventicle Act, 179; 
 hinders introduction of a liturgy, 
 187 ; takes Lauderdale's part, 
 188, 189; approves of Argyll's 
 conduct, 199 ; again defends 
 Lauderdale, 200 ; proclamation 
 regarding condition of Scotland, 
 207 ; approves of Lauderdale's 
 administration, 218, 220; Both- 
 well Bridge rebellion, 234, 238; 
 illness of, 241 ; question of oath 
 of allegiance, 243 ; relations 
 with Argyll, 268-270, 275, 296, 
 299 ; plot against, 300-305 ; 
 refuses Dalrymple an audience, 
 306 ; petition from Argyll, 307 ; 
 Rye House Plot, 311, 312; 
 examination of Spence, 312, 
 313; death of, 329, 359; letter 
 to Douglas, 97 ; letters to Lau- 
 derdale, 189, 219; letter to 
 Scotch Privy Council, 199; letter 
 to Argyll, 70, 270. 
 
 Charlotte, The, 381. 
 
 Charteris, Lawrence, 414, 417-419. 
 
 Chiesley, John, 266n. 
 
 Ciphers used by Argyll, 312, 318. 
 
 Clarendon, Earl of, 28, 37, 104, 
 105, 118, 120, 122, 150,340,399. 
 
 Claverhouse. See Graham, John. 
 
 Cleland, Wm., 228. 
 
 Clown, 292. 
 
 Cobbett, Colonel, 42, 51. 
 
 Cochran, Sir John, 322, 336, 339, 
 
 346, 351. 372, 375. 378, 379. 
 
 386,390,393,398,399,401, 411. 
 Cochran, Lord, 377. 
 Coke, Lady Mary, I72n. 
 Colinton, 143. 
 Collington, Lord, 268, 272. 
 Commissioner, Royal, Middleton, 
 
 86, 98, 130; Rothes, 131, 151 ; 
 
 Lauderdale, 163, 167, 184, 187, 
 
 200, 209 ; Duke of York, 248. 
 " Commissioners of Perthshire ", 
 
 etc., 10. 
 " Conallie's Stone, St. ", 395. 
 " Conde, The Great", Louis II, 
 
 Prince of Conde, 20, 226.
 
 440 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Confession of Faith (1567), 253. 
 
 Conti, Prince of, 21. 
 
 Conval, St., 395. 
 
 Conventicle Acts, 165, 177, 178, 
 185. 
 
 Convention of Estates, 219. 
 
 Coulport, 387. 
 
 " Council's Curates ", 161. 
 
 Covenant, National, 9, 88, 254,428. 
 
 Covenant, Solemn League and, 
 18, 29, 88, 91, 254, 271, 428. 
 
 Cowall, 376. 
 
 Craigmillar Castle, 280, 284. 
 
 Crawford, — , 41. 
 
 Crawford, Earl of, 109. 
 
 Crawford, Thomas, 397. 
 
 Crawfordsburn, 397. 
 
 Creede, Major, 50. 
 
 Crichton, Captain, 198. 
 
 Crofts, Mr, 351. 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, invades Scot- 
 land, Battle of Dunbar, 28, 390 ; 
 Battle of Worcester, 29 ; rising 
 in Highlands in 1653, 42 ; dis- 
 solution of Long Parliament, 
 55n ; proclaimed Protector in 
 Edinburgh, 65 ; ratifies Agree- 
 ment with Lord Lome, 73 ; 
 government by espionage, 77 ; 
 death, 82 ; visit to Edinburgh 
 in 1648, 86 ; his opinion of 
 Sharp, 91 ; friendship with 
 Countess of Dysart, 166 ; Battle 
 of Preston, 173. 
 
 Cromwell, Richard, 82. 
 
 " Crows' Feet ", 66. 
 
 Cumbrae, The Greater, 375. 
 
 Cumnock, 142. 
 
 Cunningham, Dr, 155. 
 
 Cunninghame, Sir John, 194. 
 
 Dalkeith, 2, 240. 
 
 Dalmahoy, — , i3on. 
 
 Dalnaspidal, 67. 
 
 Dairy, outbreak at, 140. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir James, afterwards 
 ist Viscount Stair, sympathy 
 with Presbyterian party, 192, 
 206, 423 ; repudiates Women's 
 petition, 192 ; his interesting 
 personahty, 205 ; supports Ar- 
 gyll, 250 ; secures definition of 
 
 Protestantism in the Test Act, 
 253 ; dismissed from Court of 
 Session, 258 ; defended by Lau- 
 derdale, 299 ; retires to Holland, 
 306, 312. 
 
 Dalrymple, Sir John, 255, 266, 272, 
 306. 
 
 Dalziel, General, 141-146,226,235, 
 
 246, 315- 
 Dalziel, Lieutenant, 223. 
 Danby, Earl of, 212, 222. 
 Danton, quoted, 400. 
 Dartmouth, Lord, 274. 
 David, The, 343, 345, 346. 
 Deane, Major-General Richard, 33, 
 
 35- 
 
 " Declaration of Rights ", 358. 
 
 " Declaration, The ", at Campbel- 
 town, 267, 357-362, 364. 
 
 Diary of Lady Henrietta Campbell, 
 174. 
 
 Dickson, David, i5n. 
 
 Dingwall, 66. 
 
 Diodati, John, 19. 
 
 Dolphin, The, London Inn, 303. 
 
 Doncaster, 291. 
 
 Donibrislle, 427. 
 
 Dornoch, 63. 
 
 Douglas, 142. 
 
 Douglas, Robt., 91, 97, 103, 105, 
 161, 185. 
 
 Douglas, Thomas, 227, 228. 
 
 Douglas, Wm., 4. 
 
 Douglas, Lord Wm., 14. 
 
 Douglas, W^m., ist Marquess of, 
 i4n. 
 
 " Drag-net, The Bishops' ", 136. 
 
 " Drinking Parliament, The, " 99, 
 
 138. 
 
 Drumclog, Battle of, 227-229, 236. 
 
 Drummond, Patrick, 102, 103. 
 
 Duart Castle, 198, 354. 
 
 Duff us, 1st Lord, Alexander Suth- 
 erland, 119. 
 
 Dumbarton, 375, 389. 
 
 Dumbarton, Sheriff of, 232. 
 
 Dumbarton, Earl of, 387, 396. 
 
 Dumfries, Synod of, 107. 
 
 Dunbar, Battle of, 28, 340, 390. 
 
 Duncanson, Captain, 393. 
 
 Dundee, 62.
 
 INDEX 
 
 441 
 
 Dundee, Viscount. See Graham, 
 
 John. 
 Dundonald, Earl of, 339, 399,401. 
 Dunkeld, 228. 
 DunolW Castle, 35. 
 Dunoon, 155. 
 Duns Law, 12. 
 
 Dunstaffnage Castle, 35, 51, 353. 
 Duntreath Castle, 390. 
 Dunvegan, 72. 
 Dysart, Countess of. See Moray, 
 
 Elizabeth. 
 Ederline, 353. 
 Edinburgh Castle, 79, 80, 121, 128, 
 
 131, 263, 268, 277-280, 355, 394, 
 
 402, 405. 
 Edinburgh, Presbytery of, 97, 109. 
 Edinburgh Tolbooth, 277, 355, 410, 
 
 425- 
 Edwards, Captain, 41. 
 Eleves, Mr, 327. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, 116. 
 Ellan-Gheirrig, 376, 378-386. 
 Elphinston, Graeme, 377, 385. 
 Epictetus, quoted, i64n. 
 Episcopacy, 9, 19, 88, 93, 96, 104, 
 
 108, no, 113, 123, 167, 180, 182, 
 
 194-196, 206, 249. 
 Errol, Earl of, 251. 
 Erskine, Hon. John, 363. 
 Essex, Earl of, 30 ,301, 304,311. 
 Estates, Committee of, 98. 
 Exclusion Bill, 299, 300. 
 Exposition of the Catholic Epistles, 
 
 D. Dickson, i6n. 
 Fagel, Pensionary, 382. 
 Fairfax, Lord, 79. 
 Fairfoul, Andrew, Archbishop, 113, 
 
 124, 125. 
 Falcon, The, 381. 
 Falkirk, 231, 401. 
 Falkland, Lord, 8on. 
 Ferguson, Robt., 331. 
 Fleming, George, 341. 
 Fletcher, John, of Salton. 
 Fletcher, Sir John, Lord Advocate, 
 
 86. 
 Florencia, Tlie, 132-135. 
 Forbes, Sir Arthur, Viscount Gran- 
 
 ard, 43, 45, 63, 213, 302-304. 
 " Forbes, Captain" SVeVeitch.Wm. 
 
 Forrester, Thomas, 360, 374. 
 
 Forret, David, 173. 
 
 Forret, Lord, 268, 272. 
 
 Fortune, The, 41. 
 
 " Fostering ", 5. 
 
 Fountainhall. See Lauder, Sir John. 
 
 Francis I, 133. 
 
 Francis, The, 376. 
 
 Fronde, War of the, 20. 
 
 Fullarton, Major, 377, 393-395. 
 
 Galashiels, 284. 
 
 Gala Water, 284. 
 
 Galloway, 140, 368, 393. 
 
 Gareloch, 387, 388. 
 
 Gaunt, Mrs, 281. 
 
 General Assembly dispersed, 90. 
 
 " German Painter ", 6. 
 
 Girvan, 364. 
 
 Glapwell Hall, 292. 
 
 Glasgow, occupied by Dalziel, 141; 
 attacked by rebels, 231 ; ex- 
 empted from 3rd act of indul- 
 gence, 240 ; a military centre 
 in 1685, 349; rebels aim at 
 seizing, 387-390, 392, 393 ; 
 rebels brought into, 399. 
 
 Glasgow University, 15, 16. 
 
 Glencairn, Earl of, interim Com- 
 mander of Royalist forces in 
 1653, 37, 269; Highlanders 
 jealous of him, 49 ; relations 
 with Lord Lome, 57-61, 67, 73 ; 
 superseded by Middleton, duel 
 with Monro, 64 ; capitulates to 
 Monck, 65 ; secret intrigues, 75- 
 77, 79 ; made Lord Chancellor, 
 98, 108; death, 151 ; letter to 
 Captain Hill, 55 ; letter to Lord 
 Lornc, 61, 76, 269, 270 ; alleged 
 letter to Hyde, 105. 
 
 Glen Croe, 388. 
 
 Glendaruel, 382, 385. 
 
 Glengarry, Macdonald of. SeeMsiC- 
 donald. 
 
 Glenurquhay, 5-7, 45. 
 
 Glenurquhay, Laird of. See Camp- 
 bell, Sir Colin. 
 
 Gordon, Alexander, 322. 
 
 Gordon Castle. Sec Bog of Gight. 
 
 Gordon, Duke of, 349, 425. 
 
 Graemesay, 351.
 
 442 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Graham, Captain, 402. 
 
 Graham, John, Claverhouse, Vis- 
 count Dundee, 202, 225-230, 
 273. 306, 325, 326. 
 
 Granard, Viscount. See Forbes, 
 Sir Arthur. 
 
 Grassmarket, Edinburgh, 280. 
 
 Greenock, 377, 379. 
 
 Grey, Lord, 235, 301, 310, 338. 
 
 Gulliver's Travels, quoted, 151. 
 
 Hackett, James, of Pitfarren, 82n. 
 
 Halifax, Earl of, 275, 313. 
 
 Halket, Col. Robt, 139. 
 
 Hall, John, 399n. 
 
 Hallam, H., quoted, 126. 
 
 Hallowes, Samuel, 292n. 
 
 Hamilton, 231, 235. 
 
 Hamilton; Lady Anne, 14. 
 
 Hamilton, Captain, 375. 
 
 Hamilton, ist Duke of, 13, 14, 
 
 173- 
 Hamilton, 2nd Duke of, i3on. 
 Hamilton, 3rd Duke of, 109, 170, 
 
 186, 188-190, 195, 218, 297, 299. 
 Hamilton, James, 113. 
 Hamilton, Robert, 227, 228, 236- 
 
 238. 
 Hampden, Richard, 300, 312. 
 " Hannibal. "Se<; Rumbold, Richard. 
 Hartiield, Earl of, 107. 
 Helder, 343. 
 Henderson, Major, 382. 
 Henrietta Maria, Queen, 22. 
 Heriot's Hospital, 282. 
 " Highland Host, The," 210-216, 
 
 219. 
 Hill, Captain, 54, 56, 60. 
 Holbourne, Major-General James, 
 
 82n. 
 Holland, war with, 36, 47, 62, 65, 
 
 138, 181, 190. 
 Holmes, Major, 294, 312, 313, 319. 
 Holwell, John, 334. 
 Holyrood House, 258. 
 Home, Lady Anne, 83n. 
 Home, Lady Margaret, 83n. 
 Honeyman, Andrew, Bishop, 159. 
 " Hope, Mr. " See Argyll, 9th 
 
 Earl of. 
 Horsley, George, 287. 
 Houston, John, 377. 
 
 Howard, Lord, 300, 311. 
 Howard, Thomas. See Berkshire, 
 
 Earl of. 
 Hume, Sir Patrick, Earl of March- 
 
 mont, 332-337. 339. 346. 351, 
 
 367- 375, 378, 379. 382, 386, 
 
 388-391, 392n, 399, 411. 
 Huntly, 2nd Marquess of, 18, 57, 
 
 58,81,251. 
 Huntly, 3rd Marquess of, 251, 387. 
 Hyde, Edward. See Clarendon, 
 
 Earl of. 
 Inchinnan, 394. 
 " Incident, The, " 13. 
 Indulgence, Acts of, 160, 167, 184, 
 
 240, 241. 
 " Intercommuning, Letters of ", 
 
 201, 283. 
 Inveraray, 7, 11, 32, 33, 46, 53, 
 
 i55» 328, 353, 370-372, 382, 383, 
 
 400. 
 Inverlochy, Battle of, 26. 
 Inverlochy, Castle of, 66. 
 Inverness, 62. 
 Inverness, Sheriff of, 232. 
 Irvine, Earl of, 15. 
 Irvine, Lieutenant-Colonel, 69n. 
 Islay, 352, 354, 355. 
 James II. See York, Duke of. 
 James V, 352. 
 Jamesone, George, 6. 
 ' ' Jamie Wylie ' ' . See Stewart, James. 
 Jeffries, Judge, 319, 320. 
 'journal, Hon. John Erskine's, 363. 
 Kelso, 286. 
 
 Kenmore, Lord, 49-51, 54, 57, 
 " Kenmore's Drum, " 50. 
 Kilconquhar, 173. 
 Killarrow, 354. 
 Killearn, 390. 
 KiUin, 44. 
 Kilmaronock, 389. 
 Kilmartin, 72. 
 Kilmun, 155, 426. 
 Kilpatrick, 392, 393, 398. 
 Kilsvth, Battle of, 173, 390. 
 Kincaid, Dr, 8. 
 Kincairn, 35. 
 
 Kincardine, Earl of, 150, 188. 
 King, Mr, 229. 
 " King's Curates ", 161.
 
 INDEX 
 
 443 
 
 Kingfisher, The, 375, 381. 
 Kintyre, 51, 57, 148, 354, 356-370, 
 
 372. 
 
 Kirkhouse, Lord, 268, 272. 
 
 Kirkwall, 350-352. 
 
 Kyles of Bute, 376, 379-381, 384. 
 
 Lanark, 142. 
 
 Lapness, 377. 
 
 Largs, 375, 376. 
 
 Laud, Archbishop, 89, loi. 
 
 Lauder, 278, 284. 
 
 Lauder Fort, 284. 
 
 Lauder, Sir John, of Fountainhall, 
 266, 282, 335. 
 
 Lauderdale, (i) Countess of, 116, 
 166. 
 
 Lauderdale,(2) Countessand Duch- 
 ess of. See Moray, Elizabeth. 
 
 Lauderdale, Countess oi.See Camp- 
 bell, Lady Anne. 
 
 Lauderdale, Earl and Duke of ,gcne- 
 ral character of, 2 ; on Argyll's 
 tricks of manner, 16 ; liberated 
 in 1660,83 ; accepts Episcopacy, 
 91 ; becomes Secretary of State, 
 98, 102, 104, 109 ; forms alliance 
 with Lady Castlemaine, 117 ; 
 befriends Lord Lome, 119, 120; 
 hostility between him and 
 Middleton, 122, 127-131, 151 ; 
 friendship with Argyll, 153-155; 
 becomes Royal Commissioner 
 and presides in Parliament, 163- 
 172 ; severity against Conven- 
 ticles, 178, 179 ; holds another 
 session of Parliament and is 
 confronted by a strong opposi- 
 tion, 184-187, 190, 194-196 ; 
 attempt to impeach him, 200, 
 201 ; desirous of bringing in 
 a 3rd Indulgence, but unable, 
 206-209 ; sends Highland Host 
 into the West, 211-214; charges 
 brought against him, 218-222, 
 234 ; question as to Duke of 
 York and the oath of allegiance, 
 242-244 ; excommunicated by 
 Cargill, 246 ; resigns his office 
 of Secretary, 247, 248 ; seat 
 at Lauder, 284 ; death, 296 ; 
 troubles of his last days, estimate 
 
 of his career, 296-299 ; other 
 
 notices of, 302, 416, 422, 423. 
 Lauderdale, Duchess ol.See Moray, 
 
 Ehzabeth. 
 Lauderdale, Richard, 4th Earl of, 
 
 i54n, 220. 
 " Leasing-making", 119. 
 Leeds, 290. 
 Leighton, Robert, 113, 163, 165, 
 
 179-181, 196, 205. 
 Leith, 375, 381. 
 Leith, Links of, 231, 245. 
 Lennox and Richmond, Duke of, 
 
 133- 
 Leeuwarden, 322, 323. 
 Leslie, Alexandsr, ist Earl of 
 
 Leven, 12, 18, 31. 
 Lcshe, David. See Newark, ist 
 
 Lord. 
 Leslie, George, 71. 
 Leslie, Margaret, 1540. 
 Lesmahagow, 142, 223, 399. 
 Leven, river, 389. 
 Lewis, The, 41, 42n, 352. 
 Life-Guards, 26, 139, 268. 
 Lilburne, Col. Robt, 40, 43, 47-49, 
 
 51, 52, 60, 62. 
 Lindsay, Lady Anna, 174. 
 Lindsay, Lady Henrietta, 174, 
 
 193- 393> 401. 4ii> 413. 416, 
 
 426. 
 Lindsay, Lady Sophia, I54n, 174, 
 
 192, 278-281, 287, 295, 355, 
 
 356, 416, 426, 427. 
 Linlithgow, Earl of, 229, 231,232, 
 
 238. 
 Livingstone, Mrs., 191. 
 Loch. See Lochheid. 
 Lochaber, 43, 57. 
 Loch Fyne, 382. 
 Loch Garry, 67. 
 Loch Goil, 374. 
 Lochheid, 35. 
 Loch Long, 384, 386-388. 
 Loch Riddon, 376, 380, 382, 383, 
 
 385. 
 Loch Striven, 386. 
 Lochwinnoch, 398. 
 Lockhart, Mr., 40on. 
 Lockhart, Sir George, 194, 250, 
 
 266, 271. 
 
 \
 
 444 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Lockhart, Sir Wm., 78. 
 
 Lockyer, Captain, 293. 
 
 Loigie, the Younger, 434. 
 
 Long Horsley, 285. 
 
 Long Parliament, dissolved, 55n, 
 
 62. 
 Lome, 353. 
 Lome, Lord, afterwards loth Earl 
 
 and ist Duke of Argyll, 81, 
 
 i54n, 220, 281, 299, 303, 313, 
 
 321, 356, 414, 426, 427. 
 Lothian, 2nd Earl of, 3. 
 Lothian, 3rd Earl of, 4, 71, 82n. 
 Lothian, 2nd Marquess of, i54n, 
 
 320. 
 Loudoun, I St. Earl of, 20, 21, 44, 
 
 68. 
 Loudoun, Lord, 6. 
 Louis XIII, 15. 
 Louis XIV, 222, 4260. 
 Lowland planters in Kintyre, 52, 
 
 148, 356. 
 Lupe, Laird of, 434. 
 Lyme, 385. 
 Macaulay, Lord, quoted, 276, 331, 
 
 347. 348, 377> 422. 
 
 Macdonald, of Glengarry, 4.0, 49, 
 59, 63, 64, 73, 198, 233. 
 
 Mackenzie, Sir George, on Scotch 
 Episcopacy, in; on Glasgow 
 Act 124; appointed Lord Ad- 
 vocate, 202 ; estimate of his 
 career, 202-204, 218; protests 
 against illegal action of Duke of 
 York, 242, 243 ; excommunicat- 
 ed by Cargili, 246 ; procedure in 
 Parliament of 1681, 250, 251, 
 256; prosecutes Argyll, 264,266, 
 271-273; threatens to prosecute 
 Dalrymple, 306 ; upbraided by 
 Argyll, 409. 
 
 Macdonalds, " Lords of the Isles", 
 
 354- 
 
 McEachan, Charles, 434. 
 
 Mackenzie, Capt. Kenneth, 376. 
 
 Mackenzie, Murdoch, Bishop, 350. 
 
 Maclean, of Mull, 197, 233. 
 
 Maclean, John, 7, 8. 
 
 Maclellan, John, of Barscobe, 140. 
 
 Magdalen's, St., Church, Edin- 
 burgh, 191. 
 
 Magus Muir, 224, 341. 
 
 " Maiden The," 420. 
 
 Maitland, Captain, 78. 
 
 Maitland, Lord, 220, 314, 416, 421. 
 
 Marchmont, Earl of. See Hume, 
 Sir Patrick. 
 
 Marston Moor, Battle of, 18, 173. 
 
 Mary of Modena, Queen, 244, 248 , 
 
 Massacre of Glencoe, 5, 54. 
 
 Mauchline, Lord, 20. 
 
 Mauld, James, of Melgund, 134. 
 
 Mazarin, Cardinal, 20. 
 
 Melrose, 286. 
 
 Menteith, Earl of, 326. 
 
 Mermaid, The, 381. 
 
 Meynes, Colonel, 59. 
 
 Michell, John, 84. 
 
 Middleton, John, ist Earl of, early 
 career of, 37 ; procedure during 
 Highland Rising in 1653, 63-67, 
 75 ; satisfaction with Lord 
 Lome's conduct, 70, 72 ; Royal 
 Commissioner in Scotland, 86, 
 98-101 ; relations with Sharp, 
 102-105, 108, 109; Lauderdale's 
 hostility towards him, 117 ; 
 covets Argyll's property, 118; 
 prosecution of Argyll for " leas- 
 ing-making", 118-122 ; Glasgow 
 Act, 123, 126 ; misgovernment 
 of Scotland, 126, 127; Billetting 
 Act, 127; superseded as Royal 
 Commissioner, 128 ; downfall 
 and death, 129, 130; other no- 
 tices of, 160, 269, 270, 297 ; 
 letters to Lome, 72, 73. 
 
 Militia Act, 169. 
 
 Millburn Grange, 287. 
 
 Mitchell, James, 159, 202n, 223. 
 
 Monck, George, ist Duke of Albe- 
 marle, 47, 63, 65, 66, 68, 75, 77, 
 81, 82, 87, 96, 105. 
 
 Monmouth, Duke of, relation to 
 Sliaftesbury, 234 ; campaign in 
 Scotland, 236, 238 ; promotes 
 3rd Act of Indulgence, 240, 241; 
 dismissal of, 242 ; excommuni- 
 cated by Cargili, 246 ; Rye- 
 House Plot, 300, 301, 303, 304, 
 311; conspiracy against James 
 11, 329, 337, 349; relations with
 
 INDEX 
 
 445 
 
 Argyll, 333-335. 337. 358, 359, 
 367, 368, 370, 372, 382, 385, 406, 
 42611, 433 ; letter to Spence 330. 
 
 Monro, Sir George, 63, 64. 
 
 Mons Meg, 24811. 
 
 Montrose, ist Marquess of, 18, 24, 
 37, 65n, 225, 390, 402, 426. 
 
 Montrose, 2nd Marquess of, 26, 
 59. 118. 
 
 Montrose, 3rd Marquess of, 26, 
 
 273- 
 Montgomery, Major-Gener. Robt., 
 
 139- 
 Montgomery, of Skelmorlie, 416. 
 Moray, Countess of. See Home, 
 
 Lady Margaret. 
 Moray, Countess of. See Campbell, 
 
 Lady Anne. 
 Moray, 4th Earl of, 25. 
 Moray, 5tli Earl of, 212, 247, 257. 
 Moray, 7th Earl of, i54n. 
 Moray, Elizabeth, Countess of 
 
 Dysart, Duchess of Lauderdale, 
 
 165, 166, 171, 184, 299. 
 Moray, Sir Robt., 38, 170. 
 Moray, Wm., 165. 
 Moray House, Edinburgh, 25, 71. 
 More, Sir Thomas, reference to, 
 
 421. 
 Morgan, Colonel Thomas, 66, 67. 
 Morpeth, 285. 
 
 Morris, William, quoted, 403. 
 Morton, 9th Earl of, 3, 8. 
 Mouat, Mr, 351. 
 Muird3'ke, 398. 
 Muirkirk, 142. 
 Mull, 197-199, 313. 
 Musselburgh, 240, 353. 
 Nairn, Lord, 268, 272, 273. 
 Naphthali, i45n. 
 
 Narrative of Occurrences in the Ex- 
 pedition of the Earl of Argyll in 
 
 168 s, 333- 
 National Synod, proposed, 195. 
 Neill, Margaret, 7. 
 Newark, ist Lord, David Leslie, 
 
 i54n. 
 Newbattle Abbey, 2, 284, 426. 
 Newbattle, Lad}'. See Campbell, 
 
 Lady Jean, Marchioness of 
 
 Lothian. 
 
 Newburgh, Lord, 120. 
 
 Newburn, 288. 
 
 Newcastle, 287. 
 
 Newton, Lord, 268, 272. 
 
 Nichol, Capt. F., 72. 
 
 Nithsdale, 325. 
 
 North Sea Canal, 343. 
 
 Nottingham, 292. 
 
 Oates, Titus, 222. 
 
 Oath, imposed on Scotch Royalists, 
 
 79- 
 Old Mortality, reference to, 230. 
 Orkney, 238, 349-352. 
 Orkney, Bishop of. See Mackenzie, 
 
 Murdoch. 
 Orkney, Earl of, 352. 
 Orniond, Duke of, 109. 
 Otho, saying of, 36n. 
 Oudwoude, 322. 
 Ovid, quoted, i64n. 
 Paisley, 378. 
 Parbroath, Lord. See Crawford, 
 
 Earl of. 
 Parliament of Paris, 20. 
 Parliament, Scotch, 99, 167, 184, 
 
 189, 250. 
 Parliament, ist of James VI, 253. 
 Paterson, John, Bishop, 210, 255, 
 
 260. 
 Pentland Hill, rising of, 140-145, 
 
 269, 298, 329. 
 Perth, 66. 
 Perth, Earl of, 212. 
 Perthshire, 10. 
 
 Pewter-Pot, The, London Inn, 312. 
 Philip II, 133. 
 Plato, quoted, i64n. 
 Plautus, quoted, i64n. 
 Popish Plot, The, 222, 232, 297, 
 
 299. 
 Plume of Feathers, The, Inn at Not- 
 tingham, 292. 
 Preston, Battle of, 14, 32, 173. 
 Pringle, George, of Torwoodlee, 
 
 278, 284, 285, 338, 339. 
 Pringle, Mrs, 285. 
 Protesters, 36, 89, 91, 109. 
 Provost of Stirling, 192, 193. 
 Pyni, Jolm, 299. 
 Queensberry, Earl of, 107, 268, 
 
 272, 404.
 
 446 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Ralston, Wm., 139. 
 
 Reade, Colonel, 50. 
 
 " Red, Mr.". See Carstares, Wm. 
 
 Reformed Churches on the Con- 
 tinent, 19, 2on. 
 
 Reidsdale Head, 338. 
 
 Remonstrance of the Western 
 Army, 89. 
 
 Remonstrance of Archbishop 
 Burnet, 162. 
 
 Renan, Ernest, quoted, gQn, iion. 
 
 Renfrew, 395, 396. 
 
 Rescissory, The Act. See Act Res- 
 cissory. 
 
 Resolutioners, 35, 89, 109. 
 
 Richelieu, Cardinal, 15. 
 
 Riddel], John, 395. 
 
 Rising in Highlands, 1653, 43-73, 
 90, 173, 269, 302. 
 
 RoUo, James, Lord, 82n. 
 
 Rosneath, 76, 155. 
 
 Rotherham, 290. 
 
 Rothes, Earl and Duke of, 5 in, 
 131, 146, 151, 152, 191, 246. 
 
 Rothesay, 374, 376. 
 
 Rothesay Castle, 374. 
 
 Rotterdam, 149, 322, 331, 334. 
 
 Roxburgh, Earl of, 262. 
 
 Rullion Green, Battle of, 144. 
 
 Rumbold, Richard, 300, 304, 311, 
 312, 334, 340, 368, 382, 391, 
 
 392, 399- 
 Rumsey, Colonel John, 300. 
 Russell, Lord, 300, 301, 304,309- 
 
 311- 
 Rutherglen, 227. 
 Ruthven, Castle of, 54, 60, 66. 
 Rye- House Plot, The, 300, 308- 
 
 311, 323, 337. 340- 399- 
 Sadell, 148. 
 Sandreford, 312. 
 
 "Sanquhar Declaration, The," 246. 
 Scone, 29. 
 Scotland, as it was and is, reference 
 
 to, 5 in. 
 Scougal, P., Bishop, 260. 
 Scots Grays, 226. 
 Scots Guard, The, 15. 
 Scott, Mr, 277, 284, 285. 
 Scott, James, 285. 
 Seaforth, Earl of, 41, 173. 
 
 Selkirk, 349. 
 
 Selkirk, Earl of. See Douglas, ist 
 Marquess of. 
 
 Seneca, quoted, i64n. 
 
 Senef, Battle of, 226. 
 
 Shaftesbury, ist Earl of, encou- 
 rages Opposition in Scotland, 
 186, 188 ; gains ascendancy in 
 England, 222 ; indisposed to 
 coerce Scotch Whigs, 234 ; his 
 influence declines, 241, 242 ; 
 verdict at his trial, 274n, 300 ; 
 still powerful in London, 283 ; 
 interested in Argyll's move- 
 ments, 295 ; interview with 
 Argyll, 301, 302 ; flight to Hol- 
 land and death there, 304, 305, 
 
 309- 
 
 Sharp, James, Archbishop, agent 
 of the Resolutioners, 90 ; pro- 
 cedure in Ecclesiastical changes 
 of 1660-1661, 94-98, 102-106, 
 109 ; appointed Archbishop of 
 St Andrews, 112-114; his mis- 
 taken policy, 123; objects to 
 the Glasgow Act, 125 ; comes 
 into conflict with Lauderdale, 
 129; attitude towards the rebels 
 143 ; relations with Argyll, 146, 
 147 ; falls into disfavour, 149- 
 152 ; attempt to assassinate him, 
 159 ; attitude towards the Act of 
 Supremacy, 167, 168, 173, 180 ; 
 petition of women, 191 ; pro- 
 posed National Synod, 194, 195, 
 assassinated, 223 ; notices of 
 his assassins, 228, 237, 341 ; 
 letters to leading Resolutioners, 
 95-97 ; letters to Patrick Drum- 
 mond, 102, 103 ; letter to 
 Middleton, 104 ; letter to 
 Charles H, 129 ; letter to Gene- 
 ral Dalziel, 143 ; letter from 
 Charles H to him, 151. 
 
 Shaw, Sir John, of Greenock, 322, 
 
 396. 
 Sheldon, Archbishop, 113, 195. 
 Shetland Isles, 42n, 349. 
 Sidney, Algernon, 300, 304, 309, 
 
 311- 
 Skelton, Colonel Bevil, 347,
 
 INDEX 
 
 447 
 
 Skapa Flow, 350. 
 
 Skipness, 148 ; Laird of, 434. 
 
 Skye, 4211. 
 
 Smith, Mr, 293-296. 
 
 Smith, Mrs, 293-296, 412. 
 
 Smoogrow, 350. 
 
 Sophia, The, 343, 344, 372, 376. 
 
 Sortcs Biblicce, 80. 
 
 Sortes Virgiliance, Son. 
 
 Spanish Treasure, 132-135, 352. 
 
 Spence, Wm., 312-316, 318, 319, 
 
 330. 339- 35o> 351. 381, 382, 
 
 403, 407. 
 St Abb's Head, 398. 
 St Andrews, 240. 
 Stafford, Lord, 297. 
 Stair, I st Viscount. See Dah-ymple, 
 
 Sir James. 
 Stanton Hall, 285, 286. 
 Stevenson, R.L., reference to, 164. 
 Stewart, James, 267, 312, 357. 
 Stewart, James, 351, 352. 
 Stewart. Sir James, 267. 
 Stewart, Lady Margaret, 119. 
 Stewart, Lady Mary, See Argyll, (i) 
 
 Countess of. 
 Stirling, 231, 240, 349, 389, 400. 
 Stirling, Provost of, 192, 193. 
 Stornoway, 42. 
 Stow, 284. 
 
 Strafford, Earl of, 170, 299. 
 Strathaven, 227. 
 Sutherland, Alexander. See Duffus, 
 
 ist Lord. 
 Sutherland, Willam, 119. 
 Swanbister Bay, 350, 352. 
 Sydserf, Thomas, Bishop, 112. 
 " Tables, The ", 10. 
 Tarbert, 35, 147, 369, 370, 372, 374. 
 Tarbert, Lord, 119, 120. 
 Taymouth Castle. See Balloch 
 
 Castle. 
 Temple, Sir Wm., 234. 
 Test Act, The, 252-256, 282, 
 Teviotdale, 143. 
 Texel, The, Battle of, 47. 
 The Last Sleep of Argyll, 414. 
 Thirlestane Castle. See Lauder Fort. 
 Thurloe, J., 77. 
 Tobermory, 133, 352. 
 Tollemache, Elizabeth, i54n, 220. 
 
 Tollemache, Sir Lionel, i54n, 165. 
 
 Torschellung, 343. 
 
 Torwood, 246. 
 
 Torwoodlee, 274, 284. 
 
 Treileben, Hans Albricht van, 134. 
 
 Tromp, Admiral, 47. 
 
 Troqueer, 339. 
 
 Tunbridge Wells, 296. 
 
 Turner, Sir James, 140, 141, 158. 
 
 Tuscany, Grand Duke of, 133. 
 
 Tweeddale, Earl of, 150, 160, 171- 
 
 173, 179, 188. 
 Union of Scotch and English 
 
 Parliaments, 169. 
 Utrecht, 312, 322. 
 Van Citters, 347. 
 Van Dyckvelt, 347. 
 Veitch, Mrs, 286. 
 Veitch, Wm, 278n, 285-292, 294, 
 
 295. 303. 321, 337- 338. 
 Venetian Republic, 328. 
 Venice, 345. 
 Vindication of the Government of 
 
 Charles II, 218. 
 VHe, The, 343. 
 Vlieland, 343. 
 Wallace, James, Lieutenant Col., 
 
 26, 139, 141-145, 148-150. 
 Wallace, William, 149. 
 Walpole, Horace, quoted, 41 2n. 
 Walters, Lucy, 242, 359. 
 Water Gate, Edinburgh, 402. 
 Weigh House, Edinburgh, 280. 
 Westminster Assembly, 18, 107, 
 
 164. 
 West Bow, Edinburgh, 280. 
 Wester Pitcorthie, 320. 
 White Cart, 395. 
 William HI, 220, 226, 304, 307, 
 
 339. 347. 348, 398, 401. 426n, 
 
 427. 
 Wilmot, Lord, 44. 
 Wimborne, St Giles, 305. 
 Wishart, Captain, 348. 
 Wishart, George, Bishop, 145. 
 Wodrow, quoted, 415. 
 Wogan, Colonel, 56n. 
 Wooler, 286. 
 
 Woolhouse, Elizabeth, 29211. 
 Woolhouse, Wm, 292. 
 Worcester, Battle of, 340.
 
 448 
 
 A SCOTS EARL 
 
 Yetholm, 286. 
 
 York, Duke of, afterwards James II, 
 claims right in the Spanish 
 " treasure-ship ", 134, 135 ; 
 supports Lauderdale, 170, 211 ; 
 retires to Continent, 222, 241 ; 
 returns home, 242 ; visit to 
 Scotland, 242-247 ; becomes 
 Royal Commissioner and opens 
 Scotch Parliament, 248 ; enter- 
 tained by Argyll at Stirling, 249; 
 hostile relations with Argyll, 
 251, 252, 255-266 ; zeal for the 
 Test Act, 252, 253 ; motive in 
 prosecuting Argyll, 274-277 ; 
 regarding punishment of Lady 
 Sophia Lindsay, 280 ; increasing 
 influence with Charles II, 296, 
 297, 299, 300, 306 ; Rye House 
 
 conspiracy, 301, 313, 316,319, 
 320 ; becomes king, 329 ; con- 
 spiracy of exiles against him, 
 336, 340 ; receives news of 
 Argyll's expedition, 347 ; refer- 
 red to in Campbeltown Decla- 
 ration, 357-359, 361, 362; speech 
 to Parliament regarding rebel- 
 lion, 364, 365 ; receives captured 
 standard, 387 ; complains of 
 conduct of Dutch Government, 
 398 ; pardons Cochran, 399 ; 
 suggests torturing Argyll, 405- 
 407 ; orders Argyll's execution, 
 409 ; medal on suppression of 
 rebellion, 426n ; refuses to 
 reverse Argyll's attainder, 427. 
 Zuyder Zee, 343.
 
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