expedition, and arrived at Inversnaid. Here, in order to "arouse those
thieves and rebels from their dens," they fired a gun through the roof
of a house on the declivity of a mountain; upon which an old woman or
two came crawling out, and scrambled up the hill; but no other persons
appeared. "Whereupon," adds the narrator,[115] "the Paisley men, under
the command of Captain Finlason, assisted by Captain Scot, a half-pay
officer, of late a lieutenant of Colonel Kerr's regiment of dragoons,
who is indeed an officer, wise, stout, and honest; the Dumbarton men,
under the command of David Colquhoun and James Duncanson, of Garshark,
magistrates of the burgh, with several of the other companies, to the
number of an hundred men in all, with the greatest intrepidity leapt on
shore, got up to the top of the mountain, and drew up in order, and
stood about an hour, their drums beating all the while: but no enemie
appearing, they thereupon went in quest of the boats which the rebels
had seized; and having casually lighted on some ropes, anchors, and oars
hid among the shrubs, at length they found the boats drawn up a good
way on the land, which they hurled down to the loch. Such of them as
were not damaged, they carried off with them; and such as were, they
sunk or hewed in pieces. And that same night they return'd to Luss, and
thence next day, without the loss or hurt of so much as one man, to
Dumbarton, whence they had first set out altogether, bringing along with
them the whole boats they found in their way on either side the loch,
and in creeks of the isles, and moored them under the cannon of the
castle. And thus in a short time, and with little expense, the
M'Greigours were towed, and a way pointed how the Government might
easily keep them in awe."
The historian remarks, as a good augury, that a violent storm had raged
for three days before. In the morning, notwithstanding this much
magnified triumph on the part of his enemies, neither Rob Roy nor his
followers were in the least daunted, but went about "proclaiming the
Pretender," and carrying off plunder. "Yesternight,[116] about seven,"
writes the same historian, "we had ane accountt from one of our
townsmen, who had been five miles in the country, in the paroch of
Baldernock, that three or four hundred of the clans, forerunners of the
body coming, had at Drummen, near Dunkeld, proclaimed the Pretender; but
no accountt to us from these places, nor from Sterling. Our magistrates
sent fitt men at eight yesternight for information, and can hardly
return till afternoon, if they have access to the three garrisons, of
which they are I hear ordered to goe to to-day. I hear by report,
without sufficient authority, that it's the M'Grigors come with a party,
proclaimed the Pretender, tore the exciseman's book, and went away.
H. E."
* * * * *
In a letter from Leslie, dated the twentieth of January, 1716, it is
stated that the country did not oppose the incursions of Rob Roy, being
mostly in his interest, or indifferent. Emboldened by this passive
conduct, Rob Roy marched to Falkland on the fourth of January, 1716, and
took possession of the palace for a garrison. He afterwards joined the
Earl of Mar's forces at Perth, yet, whether from indolence or caution,
took but little share in the signal events of the day. He hovered
sometimes in the Lowlands, uncertain whether to proclaim peace, or to
embark with his Macgregors in the war: some said he declined fighting
under Lord Mar, from the fear of offending the Duke of Argyle; at all
events he had the wiliness to make the belligerent powers each conceive
him as of their respective parties.
At the battle of Sherriff Muir, Macgregor had the address to make both
the Jacobites and Hanoverians conceive, that, had he joined them, the
glory of the day would have been secured.
The inhabitants of Leslie, who had heard, with dismay, the news of the
burning of Auchterarder and Blackford, were now affrighted by a rumour
that Rob Roy had a commission to burn Leslie, and all between that place
and Perth. But, whilst the burgesses of Leslie were daily looking for
this dreaded event, Rob Roy was forced to retreat to Dundee, by the
approach of the King's troops. He left behind him a character of
reckless rapacity, and of a determined will, notwithstanding some
generous and humane actions. He was, nevertheless, esteemed to be among
the fairest and discreetest of the party to whom he was attached,
notwithstanding his favourite speech, "that he desired no better
breakfast than to see a Whig's house burning." The people could not,
indeed, trust any man's assurances after the recent and cruel
devastation at Auchterarder.
When the fortune of the battle was decided, he was heard to say, in
answer to demands that he should send his forces to the attack, "If they
cannot do it without me, they cannot do it with me," and he immediately
left the field. Such is the popular account of his conduct on that
occasion.
The partizans of Rob Roy have, however, given a very different version
of his conduct. The Duke of Argyle was the patron and friend of
Macgregor; and he could neither, therefore, openly adopt a course which
the Duke disapproved, nor would he altogether retire from a cause to
which he was disposed to be favourable. With the true Gaelic caution Rob
Roy waited to see which side prevailed, and then hastened to avail
himself of an opportunity of that which had become the darling pursuit
of his existence--plunder.
He retired from Sherriff Muir to Falkland, carrying terror wherever he
passed.
* * * * *
The following letter, descriptive of his progress affords a curious
picture of the state of that harassed and wretched country:--
"D. B.
"I received yours this evening, but I find you have been quit
mistaken about our condition. You datt our freedom and libertie from
the rebels long befor its commencement, and for profe take the
folowing accompt of what past heir these last ten days. Upon the
fourth instant Rob Roey, with one hundred and fifty men, com to
Falkland, and took possession of the place for a garrison, from
which they came through the countrey side and robs and plunder,
taking cloaths and victuals, and every thing that maks for them, nor
to oposs them till this day eight days. The sixth instant there coms
thirty-two Highland men (I had almost said devils) to Leslie; we saw
them at Formand Hills and resolved to resist, and so man, wife, and
child drew out.
"The men went to the east end of the town, and met them in the green
with drawn swords in the hands, and we askt them what they were for;
they said they wanted cloaths and money; we answeared they should
get neither of them heir, at which they stormed and swore terribly,
and we told them if they were come for mischeif they should have
thee fill of it; at which ther were some blows. But they seeing us
so bold, they began to feear that we should fall upon them, and so
they askt libertie to march through the town, which we granted, but
withall told them if they went upon the least house in the town,
ther should never a man go back to Fackland to tell the news, though
we should die on the spot, and so they marsht through the town and
got not so much as the rise of a cap. And they were so afraid that
they did not return, but went down over the Hank Hill, and east to
the minister's land; and their they faced about and fired twenty
shots in upon the peple that were looking at them, but, glory to
God, without doing the least hurt. And so they went off to the
Formand Hils, and plundred all the could carry or drive, and
threatned dreadfully they should be avenged on Leslie and burn it."
The pursuit of plunder was considered by Rob Roy as a far more venial
offence than if he had fought against Lord Mar, or offended Argyle, with
whom he continued on such convenient terms, that he did not leave Perth
until after the arrival of that General. He then retired with the spoils
he had acquired, and continued for some years in the practice of the
same marauding incursions which had already proved so troublesome and
distressing to his neighbours.
In the subsequent indemnity, or free pardon, the tribe of Macgregor was
specially excepted; and their leader, Robert Campbell, alias Macgregor,
commonly called Robert Roy, was attainted.
The severities which followed the Rebellion of 1715, drove Rob Roy to a
remote retreat in the Highlands, where he lived in a solitary hut, half
covered with copsewood, and seated under the brow of a barren mountain.
Here he resided in poverty, and what was worse to his restless spirit,
in idleness. Here he was in frequent dread of pursuit from the agents of
the law; and several anecdotes are told with what veracity it is
difficult to judge, of his dexterity in evading justice. Attainted,
disappointed, aged, and poor, he had one grievous addition to his
sorrows, which it required a cheerful and energetic mind to
sustain,--that of a family devoid of principle.
Among the five sons of Macgregor, Coll, James, Robert, Duncan, and
Ronald, four were known to be but too worthy of the name given by the
enemies of the Macgregors to the individuals of that tribe--"devils." Of
Coll, the eldest, little is ascertained. Robert, or Robbiq, or the
younger, as the Gaelic word signifies, inherited all the fierceness,
without the generosity, of his race. At sixteen years of age, he
deliberately shot at a man of the name of Maclaren, and wounded him so
severely that he died. His brothers were implicated in this murder. On
their trials, they were charged with being not only murderers, but
notorious thieves and receivers of stolen goods. Robert was proved to
have boasted of having drawn the first blood of the Maclarens; and the
brothers were all accused of having followed this murder by houghing and
killing forty head of young cattle belonging to a kinsman of the
deceased.
Robert Roy, the principal party in the crime, did not appear before the
High Court of Justiciary, to which he was summoned: he was therefore
outlawed. The other brothers were tried, and the prosecution was
conducted by the celebrated Duncan Forbes, of Culloden. The prisoners
were acquitted of being accessory to the murder of Maclaren; but the
jury were unanimous in thinking that the charge of being reputed thieves
was made out, and they were ordered to find caution for their good
behaviour.
Robert Roy was advised to retire to France: his brother James remained
in Scotland, and took an active part in the Rebellion of 1745; when,
with the assistance of his cousin Glengyle, he surprised the fort of
Inversnaid; he afterwards led to the battle of Preston Pans six
companies of his clan. His thigh-bone was broken in that battle; yet he
appeared again at Culloden, and was subsequently attainted.
The life of James Macgregor was spared only to present a tissue of
guilty schemes, and to end in infamy and exile. That of Rob Roy was dyed
yet deeper in crimes, of which a second trial and an ignominious death
were the dreadful result. He was hung in the Grass Market in Edinburgh,
in the year 1754. James, his brother, being reduced to the most
humiliating condition, died in France, after exhibiting in his conduct,
whilst in Scotland, if possible, almost a deeper shade of depravity than
that displayed by his brother.
Their father was, however, released from his existence before these
desperate men had sullied the name which he transmitted to them by their
transgressions.
As he declined in strength, Rob Roy became more peaceable in
disposition; and his nephew, the head of the clan, renounced the enmity
which had subsisted between the Macgregors and the Duke of Montrose. The
time of this celebrated freebooter's death is uncertain, but is
generally supposed to have occurred after the year 1738. "When he found
himself approaching his final change," says Sir Walter Scott, "he
expressed some contrition for particular parts of his life. His wife
laughed at these scruples of conscience, and exhorted him to die like a
man, as he had lived. In reply, he rebuked her for her violent passions
and the counsels she had given him. "You have put strife," he said,
"betwixt me and the best men of my country, and now you would place
enmity between me and my God.""
Although he had been educated in the Protestant faith, Rob Roy had
become a Catholic long before his death. "It was a convenient religion,"
he used to say, "which for a little money could put asleep the
conscience, and clear the soul from sin." The time and causes of his
conversion are only surmised; but when he had resolved on this
important step, the freebooter left his lovely residence in the
Highlands, and repairing to Drummond Castle, in Perthshire, sought an
old Catholic priest, by name Alexander Drummond. His confessions were
stated by himself to have been received by groans from the aged man to
whom he unburthened his heart, and who frequently crossed himself whilst
listening to the recital.
Even after this manifestation of penitence, Rob Roy returned to his old
practices, and accompanying his nephew to the Northern Highlands, he is
stated to have so greatly enriched himself, that he returned to the
Braes of Balquhidder, and began farming.
He is said in the decline of life to have visited London, and to have
been pointed out to George the Second by the Duke of Argyle, whilst
walking in the front of St. James's Palace. He still had an imposing and
youthful appearance, and the King is said to have declared that he had
never seen a handsomer man in the Highland garb.[117] But this, and
other anecdotes, rest on no better authority than tradition. His
strength, always prodigious, continued until a very late period; but at
last it was extinguished even before the spirit which had stimulated it
had died away. He is acknowledged, even by his partial biographer, to
have declined one duel, and to have been worsted in another; but
impaired eyesight, and decayed faculties are pleaded in defence of a
weakness which cast dishonour on Macgregor.
His deathbed was in character with his life: when confined to bed, a
person with whom he was at enmity proposed to visit him. "Raise me up,"
said Rob Roy to his attendants, "dress me in my best clothes, tie on my
arms, place me in my chair. It shall never be said that Rob Roy
Macgregor was seen defenceless and unarmed by an enemy." His wishes were
executed; and he received his guest with haughty courtesy. When he had
departed, the dying chief exclaimed: "It is all over now--put me to
bed--call in the piper; let him play '_Ha til mi tulidh_' (we return no
more) as long as I breathe." He was obeyed,--he died, it is said, before
the dirge was finished. His tempestuous life was closed at the farm of
Inverlochlarigbeg, (the scene, afterwards, of his son's frightful
crimes,) in the Braes of Balquhidder. He died in 1735, and his remains
repose in the parish churchyard, beneath a stone upon which some admirer
of this extraordinary man has carved a sword. His funeral is said to
have been attended by all ranks of people, and a deep regret was
expressed for one whose character had much to recommend it to the regard
of Highlanders.
He left behind him the memory of a character by nature singularly noble,
humane, and honourable, but corrupted by the indulgence of predatory
habits. That he had ever very deep religious impressions is doubted; and
his conversion to popery has been conjectured to have succeeded a
wavering and unsettled faith. When dying, he showed that he entertained
a sense of the practical part of Christianity, very consistent with his
Highland notions. He was exhorted by the clergyman who attended him to
forgive his enemies; and that clause in the Lord's prayer which enjoins
such a state of mind was quoted. Rob Roy replied: "Ay, now ye hae gien
me baith law and gospel for it. It's a hard law, but I ken it's gospel."
"Rob," he said, turning to his son, "my sword and dirk lie there: never
draw them without reason, nor put them up without honour. I forgive my
enemies; but see you to them,--or may"--the words died away, and he
expired.
Reason may disapprove of such a character as that of Rob Roy, but the
imagination and the feelings are carried away by so much generosity,
such dauntless exertion in behalf of the friendless, as were displayed
by the outlawed and attainted freebooter. He was true to his word,
faithful to his friends, and honourable in the fulfilment of his
pecuniary obligations. How many are there, who abide in the sunshine of
the world's good opinion, who have little claim to similar virtues!
FOOTNOTES:
[99] From the Wodrow MS. in the Advocate's Library.
[100] Macleay's History of the Macgregors, p. 110.
[101] Historical Memoir of the Clan Macgregor, by Dr. Macleay, p. 109.
[102] Preface to Rob Roy. Waverley Novels.
[103] Sir W. Scott.
[104] Macleay.
[105] Id.
[106] Macleay.
[107] Stewart's Sketches, vol. i. p. 224.
[108] Macleay, p. 188.
[109] Trials of the Macgregors, xxiv.
[110] Macleay, p. 181.
[111] See Trials, &c. p. 76.
[112] Tour to the Hebrides.
[113] Macleay.
[114] This account of what is called in history the "Loch Lomond
Expedition," is taken from the Wodrow MSS. in the Advocate's Library in
Edinburgh. Extracts from these MSS. have been printed by James
Dennistoun, Esq., to whose work I am indebted for this narrative of Rob
Roy's martial career.
[115] The Loch Lomond Expedition, p. 9.
[116] Loch Lomond Expedition. Wodrow Correspondence, p. 30. Also Reay's
History of the Rebellion, p. 286.
[117] Macleay, p. 279.
SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT.
The memoirs of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, have been written in various
forms, and with a great diversity of opinions. Some have composed
accounts of this singular, depraved, and unfortunate man, with the
evident determination to give to every action the darkest possible
tinge; others have waived all discussion on his demerits by insisting
largely upon the fame and antiquity of his family. He has himself
bequeathed to posterity an apology for his life, and from his word we
are bound to take so much, but only so much, as may accord with the
statements of others in mitigation of the heinous facts which blast his
memory with eternal opprobrium.
As far as the researches into the remote antiquity of Scotland may be
relied upon, it appears that the name of Fraser was amongst the first of
those which Scotland derived from Normandy, and the origin of this name
has been referred to the remote age of Charles the Simple. A nobleman of
Bourbon--such is the fable,--presented that monarch with a dish of
strawberries. The loyal subject, who bore the name of Julius De Berry,
was knighted on the spot, and the sirname of Fraize was given him in
lieu of that which he had borne. Hence the ancient armorial bearing of
the Frasers, a field azure, semé with strawberries: and hence the
widely-spreading connection of the Frasers with the noble family of
Frezeau, or Frezel, in France, a race connected with many of the royal
families in Europe. For a considerable period after the elevation of
Julius de Berry, the name was written Frezeau, or Frisil.
The period at which the Frasers left Normandy for Scotland has been
assigned to the days of Malcolm Canmore, where John, the eldest of three
brothers of the house, founded the fortunes of the Frasers of Oliver
Castle in Tweedale, by marrying Eupheme Sloan, heiress of Tweedale:
whilst another brother settled beyond the Forth, and became possessed of
the lands of Inverkeithing. Eventually those members of this Norman race
who had at first settled in Tweedale, branched off to Aberdeenshire, and
to Inverness-shire;[118] and it was in this latter county, at Beaufort,
a property which had been long held by his family, that the famous Lord
Lovat was born.
Such is the account generally received. According to others, the family
of Fraser is of Scandinavian origin. When the Scandinavians invaded the
eastern coast of Britain, and the northern coast of France, one branch
of the family of Frizell, or Fryzell, settled in Scotland; another in
Normandy, where the name has retained its original pronunciation.[119]
The castle of Beaufort, anciently a royal fortress, had been bestowed
upon the Frasers, in the year 1367. It is situated in the beautiful
neighbourhood of Inverness, in the district of the Aird; it was besieged
by the army of Edward the First during the invasion of Scotland by the
usual method of throwing stones from catapultæ, at a distance of seven
hundred yards. A subsidiary fortress, Lovat, heretofore inhabited by one
of the constables of the Crown, whom the lawlessness of the wild
inhabitants and the turbulence of their chieftains had rendered it
necessary to establish in the west of Scotland, also fell into the
possession of the Frasers.
The present seat of the family of Lovat, still called Beaufort, is built
on a part of the ground originally occupied by a fortress. It lies on a
beautiful eminence near the Beauly, and is surrounded by extensive
plantations.
The race, thus engrafted upon a Scottish stock, continued to acquire
from time to time fresh honours. It was distinguished by bravery and
fidelity. When Edward the First determined to subdue Scotland, he found
three Powers refuse to acknowledge his pretensions. These were, Sir
William Wallace, Sir Simon Fraser, commonly called the Patriot, and the
garrison of Stirling. When Bruce, with an inconsiderable force fought
the English army at Methven, near Perth, and was thrice dismounted, Sir
Simon Fraser thrice replaced him on his saddle; he was himself taken
prisoner and ordered to be executed. And then might be witnessed one of
those romantic instances of Highland devotion, which appear almost
incredible to the calmer notions of a modern era. A rumour went abroad
that the stay of the country, the gallant Fraser, was to suffer for his
fidelity to his country's interests. Herbert de Norham, one of his
followers, and Thomas de Boys, his armour-bearer, swore, that if the
report were true, they would not survive their master. They died
voluntarily on the day of his execution.
In 1431, the Frasers were ennobled; the head of the house was created a
Lord of Parliament by James the First, and the title was preserved in
regular succession, until, by the death of Hugh, the eleventh Lord
Lovat, it reverted, together with all the family estates, now of
considerable value and extent, to Thomas Fraser, of Beaufort, great
uncle of the last nobleman. This destination of the property and honours
was settled by a deed, executed by Hugh, Lord Lovat, in order to
preserve the male succession in the family. It was the cause of endless
heart-burnings and feuds. Hugh had married the Lady Emelia Murray,
daughter of John, Marquis of Athole, and had daughters by that
marriage. He had, in the first instance, settled upon the eldest of them
the succession, on condition of her marrying a gentleman of the name of
Fraser. But this arrangement agreed ill with the Highland pride; and
upon a plea of his having been prevailed on to give this bond, contrary
to the old rights and investments of the family, he being of an easy
temper, having been imposed on to grant this bond, he set it aside by a
subsequent will in favour of his great uncle, dated March 26th,
1696.[120]
The families of Murray and Fraser were, at the time that the title of
Lovat descended upon Thomas Fraser, united in what outwardly appeared to
be an alliance of friendship. Their politics, indeed, at times differed.
The late Lord Lovat had persisted in his adherence to James the Second
of England after his abdication, and had marshalled his own troops under
the banners of the brave Dundee. The Marquis of Athole, then Lord
Tullibardine, on the other hand, had adopted the principles of the
Revolution, and had received a commission of Colonel from William the
Third, to raise a regiment of infantry for the reigning monarch.[121]
Thus were the seeds of estrangement between these families, so nearly
united in blood, sown; and they were aggravated by private and jarring
interests, and by manoeuvres and intrigues, of which Lord Lovat, who has
left a recital of them, was, from his own innate taste for cabals, and
aptitude to dissimulation, calculated to be an incomparable judge.
Of the character of Thomas of Beaufort, the father of Simon, little idea
can be formed, except that he seems to have been chiefly guided by the
subtle spirit of his son Simon. The loss of an elder son, Alexander,
after whose death Simon was considered as the acknowledged heir of the
Frasers, may have increased the influence which a young, ardent temper
naturally exercises over a parent advanced in years. Of his father,
Simon, in his various memoirs and letters, always speaks with respect;
and he refers with pride and pleasure to his mother's lineage.
"His mother," he remarks, writing in the third person, "was Dame Sybilla
Macleod, daughter of the chief of the clan of the Macleods, so famous
for its inviolable loyalty to its princes."[122]
During his life-time his great nephew, Thomas Fraser of Beaufort, had
borne the title of Laird of Beaufort. "He now took possession," says his
biographer, "without opposition, of the honours and titles which had
descended to him, and enjoyed them until his death." According to other
authorities, however, Thomas Fraser never assumed the rank of a
nobleman, but retired to the Isle of Sky, where he died in 1699, three
years after his accession to the disputed honours and estates.