pains to prevent such hurt to me & my tennants, as I most undoubtedly should to prevent damage to your Lop, or any one that belongs to you. I have no news, supported by such authority as is fit to convince you, whose faith is on one side stronger, & on another weaker, than mine: else I should give you them. But I hear enough to satisfy me, that our unhappy contentions will soon be at ane end. God grant they may end with as little harm to our poor Country as possible. I need not repeat what I have so often assured, that I am to your Lop & your family a reall well wisher, &c.

Note. The Caftle of Culloden, being very ftrong, & having feveral pieces of cannon on its rampart, was not to be taken by a coup-de-main.

My Lord,

No. CCLXXX.

The Lord President to Lord Lovat.

Culloden, O& 19th 1745.

YOUR Lop's letter of the 17th, which I received this morning, gave a smarter concern than any thing I have met with of a great while. What portends no less than ruin to your Lop & to your family, for which I have been so zealously interested during the best part of my life, & at the same time threatens imminent destruction to that young Man in whose favours I am strongly prepossessed, cannot fail to affect me with very sensible uneasiness; & all the consolation I have is, in the good opinion I have of the young Gentleman, and hopes thence arising, that, however violent the present sally of his youthful inclinations may be, he will consider the unavoidable effects of his rashness to your Lop, & to his family, befor it is too late. I write, your Lop perceives, not as a Man in any Character or Employment; but as a hearty well-wisher to your family, so far as my allegiance will permit: & in that light give me leave to say, that I cannot permitt myself to believe, that if the consequences were duely represented to the Master, he would persist in a resolution so dangerous & so big with mischief. His birth, his fortune, his hopes (except those that may of late have been put into his head), he owes to your Lop, & must with half ane eye see that, however innocent your Lop's inclinations may be, as Men are now made, his act will be imputed to you; & the consequences of that imputation, or even the suspition of it, at this time of day, & in the present situation of your Lop's health, I confess I, who, in respect of him, am but a stranger, cannot think of without great uneasiness; & when I reflect on what I feel within myself, I cannot but hope that my young friend, who I'me shure has parts, & I perswade myself has naturall affection, will, upon serious reconsideration, drop this dangerous enterprise, if the case is but fairly stated to him. I therefor wish, & earnestly entreat your Lop, without loss of time, may have these things stated to him as they are: your Lop will judge of the fittest person to do it by; for my part, I know of none so proper as Tho' of Gortuleg, whose understanding is equall, in my oppinion, to his fidelity to your Lop; & that is a bold word. I shall be impatient till I hear of the success from your Lop. I am sory the idle attempt upon my house has given your Lop so much pain. By a letter which I wrote your Lop last night befor I received yours, you will see my sense of it. The people loiter'd at Essich for some hours to taste my Mutton in day-light, & by these means were all known; but let them do no more harm, & I freely forgive them; only I wish they

* This Letter does not appear in the Collection.

would

would send back the poor Gardener & Weaver their things. And if they do not send the Tennant back his Cattle, I must pay for them. The poor fellow that was wounded in the foot show'd so much resolution, that, without asking him any questions, I caused dress his wounds, & sent him to the place he chose to be at, with a protection for himself & his Landlord. There is advice that the 2d transport of British Troops from Flanders are arrived at Newcastle; so that a vast number of forces will immediately be pour'd into Scotland; the consequence whereof, to many ane unthinking Man, I very much dread. I am, my Lord, more than perhaps you think, your well wisher,

& most humble Serv', &c.

My Lord,

No. CCLXXXI.

Lord Cromertie to the Lord President.

WHEN I saw, your Lop last at Culodden, we then concerted that I should look out for some Men, to have them in raddiness when there might be occasion for them. In consequence of which, I spoke to several of my friends to know w' I might expect from them; and to others at a Distance I wrote, & us'd such arguments as I thought might be most apt to exceet them to come into measures. I am sorry to hear that I am misrepresented; & that my endeavours, when I meant them for the best, are misconstrued by some; tho' I hope your Lop, who know my sentiments of these matters, will give no credite to any idle storys; on the contrary, I would expect you wou'd contradi&t them, & take my parte ag' any that, out of ill will, endeavour to assperce me. But I believe there is none at this time free of being, in some shape or other, misrepresented: I must take my share in a generall calamity. When I see y' Lop I will tell you a great deall more of this then I can trouble you with in a Letter. In the mean time I beg leave in this way to assure you, that I am,

Tarbat, 19th Oc

1745. Or?

My dear Lord,

Wh great truth, My Lord,

y' Lop's most obedient & most humble Servant, CROMERTIE.

No. CCLXXXII.

Lord Lovat to the Ld President.

[No date; but, certainly, of the 20th Oct 1745.]

I RECEIVED the honour of your letter Yesterday Morning by an Express from Baillie James; and, truly, the generous and moderate way that your Lop writes of that base, barbarous, inhuman, and distracted attempt and behaviour of the Stratherrick men at Culloden, rather augments my trouble of mind and vexation than diminishes it; for I could never imagine, that any man that had the honour to know your Lop, or to hear of you, should be so villainous and unnatural as to hurt your Lop, or the meanest person belonging to your Lop; since your goodness and liberality to mankind in distress is as well known as your Name and Employment; so that those that acted this villainous attempt and plunder has been Ruffians without the fear of God or Man, and they will have what they deserve some day or other.

If unhappy Foyers has been there, which I hardly can believe, he has been strangely imposed upon by the greedy subtile Rogues that were with him'; for he is naturally

turally a weak Man; but tho' he was never so weak, it is a surprizing thing that Foyers, whose Grandmother was a daughter to Culloden, and your Lordship's Grandaunt, should go and be witness to such a barbarity acted against your Lordship, and against your people; it is hardly credible. I can freely declare upon honour and conscience, that I never heard Foyers speak disrespectfully of your Lop, and this year or two I don't remember to hear him mention your name; so that I cannot well comprehend what madness possessed him if he was there. I sent your Lop's letter to Gortuleg, and desired he would communicate it to my Son, and that they would seriously reflect on the horrid barbarity of this action; and that they should order immediately to send back all the plunder that remained of what they took away. I ordered particularly Gortuleg to send back all your Lop's Sheep that could be had; that I would give double the value of them, rather than that, your Lop should want them. I am very much persuaded, that my Son and Gortuleg will use their outmost endeavours to see what they can find out of the plunder sent back; and if your Lop's Sheep cannot be had, I have about a hundred good fat wedders, and I shall divide them with your Lop with pleasure, and send you the half of them, if you will be so good as to accept of them; and, as they say in the Highlands, Good my Common; for I owe more obligations to your Lop and to your family, than all the Sheep, Oxen, Cows, & Horses, that ever I had, were worth. I did not know that there were Oxen stolen lately from your Lop from Bunchrew, till I got your Lordship's letter last night: that thieveish action has certainly been done by the Urquhart and Glenmorrison men, who stole your Lop's Oxen before, that were tracked by your own Servants, and by my Tenants, and got back. This Country is in a very bad situation, with bad neighbours both to the South, and North, and West; and in such troublesome times as we have, the Rogues thinks it is their Harvest to plunder, and steal, and give themselves loose Reins. This last fortnight my Cousin William Struie's Uncle, that is married to Kilbokie's Daughter, and who is a very honest man, and she a good Woman, had Twenty fine Cows stolen from him. The Country went upon the Tract, and went into Lochaber, to Brae Lochaber, & to Rennach, and came up with the Thieves in my Lord Braedalbine's Forest in Glenorchy; a much longer way from this than Edin' is. The Thieves, upon seeing the party that pursued them, abandoned the Cattle and ran off; and William brought home his Cattle, but had almost died, and all that was with him, of fatigue, cold, and hunger; but indeed it was the best followed Tract that ever I heard of in any Country. You see, my Lord, how loose the whole Country and Highlands is, when four villains durst come a hundred Miles and take up the best Cattle they could find in this Country; for they think there is no Law, and that makes them so insolent. I pity all honest men that are subject to the Insults of those villains.

I beg your Lop's pardon for this digression; and I now beg leave to answer, the best way I can, the most kind and obliging letter that your Lop did me the honour to write me Yesterday; for which I give your Lordship a million of thanks. It is impossible for me to express the grateful sense I have of the vast concern that your Lop has and always had for my family. I pray God reward you for it, since I cannot. Your Lordship must own, that my present troublesome situation is to be regretted; for you cannot but remember, that I was all the Summer fully determined to go abroad for four or five Years, to recover my health & the use of my Limbs, and to pay all my debts, that I might leave the best Estate in this Shire free from all incumbrances to my Son. And this Prince's Landing in the West Highlands was as great a surprize to me as it was to any Man in Scotland: but who can prevent accidents, or the designs of Providence? It is certain, that what he has done since he landed seems rather to be a Miracle than the effects of Men's heads or hands; and how far that favourable Providence may follow

H H

follow him or conduct him God alone knows; for he seems at present in a fair and probable way of succeeding. For those of his party have quite different accounts from those that your Lop has, and their faith directly opposite to yours; and I can assure your Lop without any party View or Influence, that those that are resolved to stand by him are much more numerous than your Lop imagines; and they flatter themselves that he will have succours from France and Spain, of Men, Money, & Arms. So, as I told your Lordship before, he must be a very real prophet that can tell what side will gain or lose; and that makes every person go to the side that they love most. It is certain, that almost all the Highlanders in Scotland love the Pretender, and his Interest, more than they do the Interest of the present Government; and if he be assisted by the English friends of the Pretender, & by a Foreign Force, he believes he will succeed in his Enterprize. But I do solemnly declare to your Lop, that nothing ever vex'd my soul so much as my Son's resolution to go and join the Prince, and venture his person with him; and this mad resolution struck him in the head as soon as he heard of the Prince's Landing; and after what M'Leod said to him, and what Gortuleg said to him, and what myself said to him, I know by his answers to M'Leod, Gortuleg, and me, that all the creation will not keep him from going to live & die with that Prince. I refer it to your Lop, who has a true sense of the danger of my Family by his going out, what a load and weight of grief must be upon my Soul, to see my Son, my self, & my family, in such danger & jeopardy. But I cannot help it. I must submit to the Will of God, & there I must leave it. I sent your Lordship's last letter with a clever Man to travel all night, that he might deliver it to Gortuleg as soon as possible; to whom I wrote the strongest exhortations, to entreat of him to use all his credit & good sense with my Son to dissuade him from his very rash & inconsiderate resolutions; and, for my part, as my Son only smiles and laughs at me when I make strong remonstrances to him against his resolutions, I am resolved never to write nor open my Mouth to him upon that subject. And, as God Almighty has at many times wonderfully delivered me out of many dangers and difficulties by Land & Sea, I throw myself on his Divine Providence, and trust myself entirely to it; for if God, in his Providence, save my Estate, I do not give three halfpence for my Life; for it is but wearisome to me & full

of troubles.

I beg, my Lord, that you may not be in the least apprehensive that any of those Rogues, or any in my Country, go & disturb your Tenants; for I solemnly swear to Gortuleg, that if any Villain or Rascal of my Country durst presume to hurt or disturb any of your Lop's Tenants, I would go personally, tho' carried in a Litter, and see them seized & hanged. So, my dear Lord, I beg you may have no apprehension that any of your Tenants will meet with disturbance as long as I live in this Country; and I hope that any Son that represents me will follow my Example; so let Monarchys, Governments, and Commonwealths, take up fits of Revolutions & Wars, for God sake, my dear Lord, let us live in good friendship and peace together. This is my sincere wish & desire; since it is impossible for me to forget the obligations I owe your Lop & your Family; for which reason you shall always find me your most affectionate Cousin, & faithful Slave,

LOVAT.

P. S. I give my kind humble service to my Cousin Duncan of Achnagairn. My Cousin Baillie James, in his letter last night, tells me, that he is sorry that the Lady Achnagairn disobliged me. He is highly in a mistake; for the worthy Lady never

* This language, addressed to the first law officer in Scotland, may serve to shew the state of the Highlands at that period.

12t

disobliged

disobliged me in her Life: but, on the contrary, was always mighty kind and civil to me. But Baillie James's saying proceeds from a mistake that happened this last week; the Lady Achnagairn wrote to Gortuleg, to beg of me, that I should give her my protection. I desired Gortuleg to give my humble duty to her Ladyship, & tell her that I was not well pleased that she should ask any other man of my Country for any favor that was in my power, and not ask it of myself; but that he might assure her, that I would be always as ready to serve her, as I would be to serve my Mother, my Sister, or Daughter. This is the real fact; so that Baillie James was mistaken when he thought that I was angry at the Lady Achnagairn. I have not been out in my Chariot these three weeks; otherwise I would have done myself the honor to wait of the Lady Achnagairn.

My Lord,

No. CCLXXXIII.

The Lord President to the Earl of Cromertie.

Culloden, Oct 21, 1745.

THE letter which your Lop did me the honour to write of the 19th was delivered to me yesterday by And, Monro; it came to me seasonably to relieve me from abundance of uneasiness, occasioned by very many reports to your Lop's prejudice; to which nevertheless I could not give credite, as they were flatly contradictory to the hearty declarations of your Zeal for his Majestie's Service which your Lop made to me when I last had the honour to see you at this place. But as nothing is more possible, than that the very steps taken by your Lop to forward the intention which you declared to me might, in this age of rumors & suspitions, be construed by those who dislike the Government into so many evidences of your purpose of sideing with them; & as your Lop has again assured me, that your disposition is & has been the same as you formerly declared to me; I dismiss all doubts, & leave those idle reports to be entertainment for those that made them; & I'me very hopefull that if any such reports have found their way Southward (which I assure your Lop they have not from me, or by my means), what I from your Lop's declarations can say, together with your future conduct dureing these Commotions, which I pray God & hope may be soon over, will be effectuall to dissipate all surmises that have hitherto prevail❜d amongst the Makers and Retailers of News in this Country.

My Lord,

I am, with great respect, my Lord,

Your Lop's most ob' & most humble Serv', &c.

No. CCLXXXIV.

From the Lord President to Lord Lovat.

25th Oct 1745PARDON the anxiety I have to know the effect of the last letter I wrote, which your Lop said you sent to the Master. My good opinion of the Master's understanding, & of his reguard for your Lop and for your family, gives me some hopes that he will think seriously befor it is too late; & the necessity I am under of saying somewhat about the situation of this Country, by a Vessell that is soon to sail to the southward, quickens the strong desire I have to hear good news from him; because nothing could give me greater satisfaction, than to have it in my power to prevent those misfortunes which I dread from his Conduct, should he persist. If what I am now doing is not sufficient evidence of my good wishes, it is in vain to employ words to assure you that I am your reall friend, & most humble Serv', &c.

HH 2

No. CCLXXXV,