world, had taught this monarch disguise and hypocrisy, without eradicating his cruel and tyrannical disposition; and as he hated the Presbyterians in Scotland, he saw no motives for not indulging his revenge against them. In England, the case was different; particularly at the beginning of his reign: the warriors of Naseby and Worcester had taught him to fear the valour of his enemies; and he long walked cautiously over what he thought covered fire, ignes suppositos cinere doloso. His question of "Where "are my enemies?" which he put upon landing, and which has been stated as complimentary, was probably dictated by his suspicions; and his first declarations, such as being most particularly fond of parliaments, and regretting not having funds to entertain the members, could deceive no man of sense, and, compared with the sequel of his reign, shew that fear (which the course of years removed) was alone the motive of all the seeming urbanity and facetiousness of his behaviour: on every occasion when he escaped from the impulse of this base feeling, he evinced an unbounded thirst for blood, and the exercise of undue power. In the course of life it may be observed, that what is at first taken as a misfortune conduces often, when conscience directs the conduct, to our happiness in the sequel; and "Oft the cloud which wraps the present hour "Serves but to brighten all our future days." The truth of this observation, if not felt by John Forbes, was at least evident to his family after his death. The frowning aspect of government, by introducing the habits of economical and private living, instead of hospitality and expense, into his family, must have conduced to the accumulation of his fortune; and about the year 1670 his landed estate was doubled by the purchase of the barony of Ferintosh, and the estate of Bunchrew *. He died about the period of the Revolution, leaving by his wife Anna Dunbar (a daughter, we believe, of Dunbar of Hempriggs, in the county of Moray) a large family, and was succeeded by his eldest son Duncan, who had received a very liberal education at Bourges, and in different parts of the Continent. In 1685, the succession of James 7th to the throne seemed, if possible, to consign Scotland to a lower state of degradation and slavery than she had yet reached. It has been justly remarked, that in the former reign she enjoyed less freedom than the most. despotically governed kingdom in Europe. The dreadful severities following the Rye-house plot, and the expeditions of Monmouth and Argyll, seemed to have extirpated the last champions, and stifled the last sighs, for liberty; and the nation exhibited * These estates were the patrimony of a son of Lord Lovat. The word Ferintosh signifies the Thane's land, it having been part of the thanedom of Calder (celebrated in Macbeth). the the disgraceful appearance of being pleased with the chains which it could not shake off. James possessed, in darker or lighter shades, all the bad qualities of his brother, except his cunning; and had he been more open to good advice, less ardent, and less bigoted, these realms would possibly have been consigned for ages to political insignificance and slavery. Providence, however, ordained otherwise, and drew forth, from the infatuated folly and perseverance of the tyrant, the unlooked-for spirit and exertion which caused his overthrow. Till the great blow was struck in England, much vigour of resistance to a government established by the bloody severity of twenty-five years could not be expected; and the Scotch nation' seemed rather willing to follow the course of events than to direct them: so true it is," that the worst symptom of men reduced to slavery is, the loss of the desire of breaking their chains. It is but justice to Duncan Forbes to state, that he was among the first and the most strenuous of those patriots who, in Scotland, secretly prepared, or openly brought forward, those events which tended to produce the overthrow of the tyrant, and secured his exclusion; and as he was a member in the Scotch parliament, his decided love of freedom made Several historians have attempted to decorate the character of James 2nd with personal courage; and his behaviour at the action of Southwold Bay has been quoted as a proof. That he was in that battle is certain, and in some danger; but how the conduct of a British Admiral quitting his ship repeatedly when hotly engaged, going on board Sir Edward Spragge's ship, and calling out, "Spragge, Spragge, they follow us still," can be reckoned any thing else than cowardice, we are at a loss to discover, The story of Brounker shews cunning, cowardice, and court intrigue; but this affair never was cleared up, as it ought to have been, by a court martial: how a court martial would treat these matters is known to every officer; we shall only contrast them with Nelson's conduct during the hottest fire at Copenhagen; -when he exclaimed, "It is warm work; and this day may be the last to any of us at a moment; but, mark you! I would not be elsewhere for thousands." James was equally careful of himself when shipwrecked in 1682, and at the battle of the Boyne, as at Southwold Bay; and no action of his life displays the smallest intrepidity. He has been said to have piqued himself upon a faithful regard to his word; yet his conduct to Major Holmes, and several others, shews that no dependence could be placed upon his good faith, when the life of a victim was to be saved. The cool cruelty, and unrelenting butcheries, in vain attempted to be laid to the exclusive charge of Jefferies, evince an ungovernable appetite for blood in this tyrant, who knew not how to pardon in any case. Hume's partiality to this king is wonderful. 9 Torture, which was not abolished till after the Union, had been pretty rigorously made use of during the reigns of Charles 2nd and James 7th *. It may be remarked, that the practice of torture is only timorously mentioned as improper in certain cases, in the Scotch List of Grievances: the rest of the paper breathes no very exalted impatience of tyranny; and had not the genius of England carried Scotland along with it of necessity, there can be no doubt that the latter would easily have relapsed into her chains in spite of the Presbyterians. 10 This is the remark of J. J. Rousseau, who compares a people in this state of slavery to those fabled to have been enchanted in the Island of Calypso, who lost all desire of extricating themselves. persons Poor Carstairs, the editor of the State Papers, was thumb-screwed in presence of the privy council; the lords directing the application of the torture to this poor clergyman. him a very conspicuous character in that assembly; and one, finally, not very manageable even by the ministers of King William or Queen Anne. The year after the Revolution, his estates of Culloden and Ferintosh were ravaged by the soldiers of Buchan and Cannon, and the houses and other property destroyed, to the amount of £54,000. Scotch money, as ascertained by a regular proof. His hostility to the Jacobite interest was the avowed cause for those outrages; and his known merit in promoting the Revolution, no doubt, was the real cause of the favourable result of his claim for compensation by the Scotch parliament; which was made by a perpetual grant of a liberty to distill into spirits the grain of the barony of Ferintosh, upon paying a small specific composition in lieu of excise: the value of this privilege, and its fate, shall be stated hereafter. The following extract from a journal of events kept by Mr. Forbes will shew how much his services were valued by King William:-" At that time I contrived the sending him (his brother John) to the Prince of Orange with our address, which took effect. I was in London in 1690, and wrote down scrolls of such letters as I would have his colonel write to Portland anent his officers; and by that means, and other management, got him made major of that regiment; the secretary Melville being zealous for Carlipp, and Mackay for his cousin Roubigill: the king, upon knowing that John was my brother, immediately caused write him down major, because he meant to gratify me, to whom he then looked upon himself to be beholden; nor would he be brought to alter it in favour of either Mackay or Melville,' Duncan Forbes was married to Mary Innes, daughter of the Laird of Innes, a family long established in the county of Moray, with the dignity of baronet; and which, through the female line, has lately succeeded to the dukedom of Roxburgh. By her he left two sons, John and Duncan (the Lord President), and several daughters: " he latterly served in parliament for the county of Nairn, and died in 1704. Of his brothers, John " was a lieutenant-colonel in the army, and Sir David " Forbes, of Newhall, an eminent lawyer. After his death, the Union in 1707 tended to smooth the asperity of many of the feudal remains of tyranny in Scotland, and to shed the influence of English independence and manners, and perhaps of English laws (at least 13 "From daughters of Duncan Forbes are descended Ross of Kendeace, Innes of Innes, and Urquhart of Burdzards. 12 This Lieutenant Colonel John Forbes was employed (as he was at any rate going north) to carry the order respecting the Glencoe affair to Sir John Hill, governor of Fort William; and it is but justice to the memories of both to state, that they expressed their horror at the order when the letter was opened. 13 Sir David Rae, of Eskgrove, is descended from Sir David Forbes's daughter.. in in criminal cases), over that kingdom; and the sources of future prosperity were prepared and rendered so obvious, that many who had opposed the Union became hostile to the dissolution of it afterwards, when it was agitated; of which number his son John Forbes, who was in parliament, was one. We shall now proceed to notice his second son. DUNCAN FORBES was born in Inverness-shire 14 upon the 10th November 1685, and after being some time at the school of Inverness was sent at an early age to Edinburgh, where he prosecuted his studies at the different seminaries of that capital, and gave very early indications of that genius and application for which he was afterwards distinguished. It has been repeatedly asserted, that he had a juvenile bias towards the military profession; which is not improbable, as he had an uncle and several other relations in the army. This inclination, however (if he really had such), does not appear to have been long entertained, as he commenced the study of the law in the chambers of professor Spottiswood in the year 1704; in which year likewise he lost his father, who was succeeded by John Forbes, his eldest son, in all his landed property. It was extremely fortunate for Mr. Duncan Forbes, that this loss was greatly mitigated by the care and unceasing friendship of his brother, who for the period of thirty years, during which he survived his father, appears to have behaved with the greatest affection and generosity towards him: of this conduct he had never cause to repent ; and towards the close of his life had only to reproach his brother (as he indeed did) for the extreme delicacy which induced him to decline those marks of affection which he was ever ready to bestow. Although Mr. Forbes had begun the study of the law in Edinburgh, the tide of celebrity had not yet reached its university, and he found it extremely ill appointed in teachers. This want induced all the young men, whose fortunes permitted them, to resort to those seminaries on the Continent which were rendered illustrious by the reputation of their professors; and at this period Leyden seems to have supplanted Bourges, a city which had formerly generally attracted the Scotch youth intent upon legal knowledge. Mr. Forbes therefore, after a short time spent in Edinburgh in studying the law, took up his residence in Leyden" in 1705, and applied with the greatest 14 We are not certain, whether Duncan Forbes was born at Culloden or Bunchrew; but rather judge the latter, because his grandfather and grandmother occupied Culloden at the time of his birth; his father and mother living at Bunchrew till 1698, when his grandmother, who held the whole barony of Culloden as jointure, died. 15 In a short Memoir of the life of President Forbes, lately prefixed to his Works, it is said, that he laid out his patrimony, £550. sterling, in commerce. This is possible; though, as he studied the law |