actions of their fathers and of their adherents need not in future create unpleasing sensations. Time, which buries in promiscuous ruin and oblivion the hopes and fears of mankind, has long disarmed this subject of its acrimony, and justly appreciated its merits. Of late, we have seen our venerable Monarch liberally assisting the last heir of the ancient rivals of his House, during the downfall whereinto France had plunged the Church, of which he was one of the pillars, and himself; and we know, that the latest moments of this solitary representative of that House, so long pursued by misfortune, were employed in declaring his willing resignation of its long unavailing pretensions, and in blessing THAT FAMILY to whose generosity he had been so deeply indebted. March 1, 1815. " INTRODUCTION. ON presenting the following papers to the Public, it may not be improper to give a short biographical sketch of the members of the Culloden family, who were chiefly concerned; particularly of the Lord President Duncan Forbes, a man whose public and private virtues justly raised him to celebrity. Persons who have been most successful in writing the lives of eminent men, have been surprised to find, in their researches, how soon those, who might be supposed to be most generally known,' have, after their deaths, become difficult to trace, and so have afforded but scanty materials for the biographer. In this respect likewise it may be observed, that men of literary eminence (and those whose history does not present the animating vicissitudes of life incident to the warrior, to the traveller, and to him who emerges from poverty, and the humbler walks of life, to dignity, notoriety, or opulence,) generally afford but meagre subjects for narrative; and the attention is, perhaps, more forcibly excited by the varied history of a vicious man, than by the gradual and expected ascent to dignity and fame of him who, born in the higher class of society, pursues, without deviating, the usual road to eminence: the want of surprising incidents in his life, however, does not detract from the admiration due to the unvarying tenor of excellence in the career of a great and virtuous man; and that of President Forbes was so connected with the most important transactions of his time, as to deserve a fuller account than is compatible with the nature of this work. 2 DUNCAN FORBES,' the great grandfather of the Lord President Forbes, was member of parliament and provost of the town of Inverness. He was descended from the The perusal of history too often shews, that those whose folly or crimes produce lamentable events in the sequel, escape from feeling their effects, and leave their descendants to expiate what they have had no blame in producing; this was the case with Charles 1st; who, perhaps, may be forgiven for the worst of his actions, if we except that which fixed his own destiny, and for which he could never forgive himself (the death of Strafford), for he never smiled afterwards. A multitude of events conspired to draw forth the disturbances which heavily threatened the kingdoms before the death of James 1st. In England, the jealous policy of Henry 7th had abased the nobility, the natural support of the crown, and giver birth to a new race of small proprietors, who aspired to independence. The selfish policy and passions of his son 3 the family of Lord Forbes, through that of Tolquhoun, as a narrative in the handwriting of the president's father informs us, and purchased the barony of Culloden from son had pulled down the clergy; commerce had introduced the influence of extensive fortunes gained by men of no family; and the reformation excited a spirit of discussion dangerous to a government reared with no consent except the fiat of the conqueror. The Scotch nation, and, of course, a Scotch succession to the crown, was odious to the English people. The person and character of James were calculated to excite contempt; and the three kingdoms were truly, as Henry 4th remarked, "too fine a morsel for a pedant." The Tudor princes might be hated, but they were far from being contemptible; and they might with justice use this maxim to their subjects, odeant dum metuunt. James was both hated and despised; and it must be owned, that he appears to have been a cruel, timid, sensual, and despicable prince, unable to govern his own family. Some of his letters, lately published, admit of no rational explanation, except one so abominably degrading to his nature, as might shake the character of a more unexceptionable man. The power of this monarch being weakened and precarious in England, the Presbyterians, who had long been bringing it into disrepute in Scotland, gained additional courage and strength to keep pace with their English brethren, until the monarchy was subverted. Scotland indeed, after the accession of James, was always regulated by the destiny of England. The character of James 1st, and of his court, and of Charles 1st, are so well given by Mrs. Hutchinson, and that of the former conduced so materially to the events in which the Forbes's of Culloden were actors, that we insert them: as to Charles 1st, it is probable that no prudence could have saved the monarchy from the storm and ruin which was ready to burst upon it at his accession. "The Court of this King (James 1st) was a nursery of lust and intemperance. He had brought with him a company of poore Scotts, who, coming into this plentiful kingdome, surfitted with riot and debaucheries, and gott all the riches of the land to cast away. The honor, wealth, and glory of the nation, wherein Queene Elizabeth left it, were soon prodigally wasted by this thriftlesse heir; the nobility of the land utterly debased by setting honors to publick sale, and conferring them on persons that had neither blood nor meritt fit to weare, nor estates to bear up their titles, but were fain to invent projects to pill the people, and pick their purses for the maintenance of vice and lewdness; the generality of the gentry of the lande soon learnt the Court fashion; and every greate house in the country became a sty of uncleannesse. To keep the people in this deplorable security till vengeance overtook them, they were entertained with masks, stage plays, and sorts of ruder sports. Then began. murther, incest, adultery, drunkenesse, swearing, fornication, and all sort of ribaldry, to be no concealed, but countenanced vices,because they held such conformity with the Court example."-Again: "Those sermons only pleased, that flattered them in their vices, and told the poor King that he was Solomon; that his sloth and cowardice, by which he betrayed the cause of God and the honor of the nation, was gospell meaknesse and peaceablenesse; for which they raised him above the heavens, while he lay wallowing like a swine in the mire of his lust. He had a little learning, and that they called the spirit of wisdom; and so magnified him, and so falsely flattered him, that he could not endure the words of truth and soundnesse, but rewarded these base, wicked, unfaithfull fawners, with rich preferments, attended with pomps and titles which heaved them up above a humane height." Mrs. H. describes further the characters of the King and his minions, and the events to which they gave rise, with much spirit. Of Charles 1st she gives the following sketch, which, as the lady was a rigid puritan, must be admired for its impartiality. "The face of the Court was much changed in the change of the King; for King Charles was temperate, chaste, and serious; so that the fools and bawds, mimicks and catamites, of the former Court, grew out of fashion; and the nobility and courtiers, who did not quite abandon their debosheries, had yet that reverence to the King, to retire into corners to practise them. Men of learning and ingenuity in all arts were in esteeme, and received encouragement from the King; who was a most excellent judge and a great from the Laird of Mackintosh in 1625. During the civil commotions which disturbed the kingdom in the reign of Charles the First, and after the death of that prince, he seems to have adhered to the Presbyterian party, and to have aided all the measures in which the Marquis of Argyll participated; and from his situation as chief magistrate of an important town, his assistance must have been of much consequence. He died in 1654, aged 82 years, as appears by the following epitaph: "Here lye the bodies of Duncan Forbes of Culloden, and his spouse Janet Forbes; lineally descended of the honourable families of Tolquhoun and Corsinday (5) respectively; who departed this life, viz. the said Janet, aged 66, upon the 8th day of November Anno 1651 and the said Duncan, aged 82, upon the 14th day of October 1654— lover of paintings, carvings, gravings, and many other ingenuities, less offensive than the bawdrys and prophane abusive witt which was the only exercise of the other Court." She then proceeds to attribute the king's hostility to the puritans, which was greater than his father's, to the Queen, Laud, and Strafford; and to the flattery of the prelacy, which preached up his prerogative; likewise to his self-will, and great desire of uncontrolled power, more than to religious motives; for it was his principle (she says), that " an honest man might be saved in any profession." She is very severe upon Charles for his want of good-faith in his dealings with the puritans; which charge, indeed, cannot be said to want foundation. Mrs. H. attributes the favour of Buckingham with James to no other merit except his beauty and prostitution; and says, it was believed, that the monarch died poisoned by his favourite *, for fear that his weakness should sacrifice him to his enemies. The peaceable end of his reign she thus describes: "The land was then at peace; if that quietnesse may be called a peace, which was rather like the calme and smooth surface of the sea, whose darke womb is already impregnated of a horrid tempest." It must be owned, that there is a strong resemblance between the habits and reigns of James 1st and Lewis 15th, as to their private lives, the disaffection which their conduct made a legacy to their heirs, and as to the practices and vices of their courtiers. Their successors, Charles, and Lewis 16th, have been compared by many: both erred alike in one respect (which may perhaps be rather imputable to their embarrassing and multifarious transactions, than to themselves); viz. not acting as if it was requisite to keep rigidly their good faith with their subjects when enemies: this afforded the chief grounds of accusation against both princes. If Charles retains more of our esteem than Lewis, it is owing to his military career alone: both princes were privately virtuous; but Lewis deserved well of the French nation in many respects. The English nation does not appear to have received any boon from Charles: the heart bleeds for Lewis, because he might be called innocent at least of blood, was mild, and a benefactor to his butchers; it bleeds for Charles, because he was virtuous, magnanimous at the last, a warrior, and unfortunate. 2 The families of Baillie of Dunean, and Frazer of Foyers, in Inverness-shire, are descended of this Duncan Forbes's daughters." 3 This is mentioned as the case in Nisbett's Heraldry, and Shaw's History of Moray; and likewise appears in numerous letters of Lord Forbes to the president's father and grandfather. 4 This estate had been but a short time possessed by the family of Mackintosh, during which the castle was begun and built up to the first story. It had previously belonged to a family of the name of Strahan; and before that, to one of the name of Edmestone, as is evident from the old sasines. s This family is likewise descended from that of Lord Forbes. Vide Nisbett's Heraldry. "These "These Polish'd Stones Rais'd here above thy bones, Add to thy honor not a whitt; Which was before, and still remains, compleit. Preserv'd by such as draw their blood from thee; Of thy good fame, Receive rewarde By claimeing to thy name; For thy remains give honor to this place, And thy true vertue honors all thy race." In the year 1684, his son erected a monument to his memory, at the expense of £1000. Scots, in the chapel yard of Inverness. This (though it may not appear large when reduced to sterling money) was a very great sum in those days in point of efficacy; for, a variety of facts could be adduced to shew, that in the purchase of land a Scotch pound was then more efficacious than a pound sterling at present." Duncan Forbes was succeeded by his eldest son John, who was likewise provost of Inverness (we believe, member of parliament for it), and the friend and coadjutor of the Marquis of Argyll. Upon the Restoration, although he escaped the unhappy fate of that nobleman, and of others who were put to death, still, his name being in the list of persons exempted from the Act of Indemnity, he was involved in all the vexatious and tyrannical acts of vengeance, short of death, which disgraced the reign of Charles the Second. He was severely fined, and both himself and family were tormented with every species of civil and ecclesiastical oppression. Misfortune, and experience of the • Duncan Forbes had a brother James, who became lord of La Faye, in France. About 1650, he was engaged in a law suit, which, after lasting for ten years, seems to have ended in the destruction of his fortune. The judgment and passions of the judges appear to have been propitiated by every art of prose and poetry, Latin and French, in voluminous printed memorials; and the variety of procedure far surpasses that described in Racine's comedy Les Plaideurs. The litigants at last, in agony, call heaven and earth to witness the ruinous expense of the law-suit.' 、་ Upwards of 18,000 persons are said to have been put to death in Scotland, during the reigns of Charles 2nd and James 2nd, for religious or political opinions. In the Marquis of Argyll's indictment, Cromwell's name is repeatedly mentioned in such indecorous terms as the following, which do his memory less dishonour, than they do to the want of dignity and propriety in the king's advocate :-" Monster of men and cruel regicide, Oliver Cromwell;" " Oliver Cromwell, that monster of men, vilest of traitors, most cruel murderer, bloody tyrant and usurper;" "Archtyrant and traitor;" "abominable traitor and usurper;" "vile usurper ;"" cruel bloody murderer and usurper," &c. A few years before, the Scotch had resolved to erect a statue to Oliver Cromwell. world, |