THIS favourite of the Jacobite historians was born in 1657. He distinguished himself at an early age, in several naval actions with the Dutch, against whom he served as a volunteer. While yet a minor, he married the heiress of Nairn; and in 1683, when she succeeded to her father's dignities, he assumed the title of Lord Nairn, according to the custom of Scotland.

The Earl of Mar having raised the Pretender's standard, in 1715, Lord Nairn was summoned, as a suspected Jacobite, to appear and surrender himself at Edinburgh, under pain of being declared a traitor. He, however, proceeded at once to arm a number of his followers, at whose head he marched to join the Earl of Mar, in spite of the melancholy forebodings of his wife, to whom, on departing for the field, he said, "I hope shortly to see you a

countess."

After having distinguished himself by several acts of gallantry, as a soldier,

Lord Nairn, at length, had the misfortune to be taken prisoner. On being impeached, he pleaded guilty, at the urgent entreaty of his friends, who entertained strong hopes of obtaining his pardon. Having received sentence of death, on the 9th of February, 1716, he immediately afterwards, sent a petition for mercy to the king, which, however, was not honoured with the least notice. On the 14th, Lady Nairn, by a stratagem, procured an interview with his majesty, and earnestly implored him to save her 'husband's life; but the king gave her a rough and positive refusal. At the intercession, however, of some influential English peers, Lord Nairn was respited until the 7th of March, and ultimately obtained his liberty. It is said that he never after ceased to regret what he deemed his disgraceful meanness, in suing for and accepting the clemency of a prince, whom he considered an usurper. He died in 1725.

JAMES, the son of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, and grandson of James, the twelfth Earl and first Duke of Ormond, was born on the 29th of April, 1665. He succeeded to the dukedom on the death of his grandfather, in 1688. He was actively concerned in bringing about the revolution; and fought, with great gallantry, at the battle of the Boyne. He subsequently obtained the command of a body of troops, destined to secure the quiet of Dublin; and, during the campaign of 1693, he served, as one of the king's aid-de-camps, at the battle of Landen, where he was severely wounded. He had now become a great favourite with William the Third, whose confidence he continued to enjoy during the remainder of that monarch's life.

On the accession of Queen Anne,

he lost none of his influence at court: in 1702, he was appointed, jointly with Admiral Rooke, to the command of the forces, sent out against Cadiz and Vigo. Notwithstanding the reluctance with which the admiral acted in this expedition, and his repeated declarations that it would end disastrously, and although he would not cordially co-operate with the duke, the armament was so decidedly fortunate, that, on its return, the queen, attended by Ormond, as chief staff officer, went in great state to St. Paul's cathedral, to return solemn thanks for the success with which her arms had been crowned; and, on the following day, the duke received the thanks of both houses of parliament for his services. He soon afterwards called for a public inquiry into the conduct of Rooke; who, as he

asserted, had obviously endeavoured to render the expedition unsuccessful. In consequence, however, of the admiral's influence, the duke failed to procure the investigation he sought.

By this time he had become the idol of the public, in whose applauses he appeared to take a very undignified delight. He had soon to experience the fickleness of those, to whose approbation he attached so much importance. Being appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, in 1703, and having adopted the views of his predecessor, his measures soon rendered him generally unpopular. The Irish parliament, with which he was on very bad terms, severely annoyed him, by ordering an inspection of the public accounts: "for," says Burnet, "though he was generous, and above all sordid practices himself, yet, being a man of pleasure, he was much in the power of those who acted under him, and whose integrity was not so clear."

In 1705, he is said to have fomented the divisions between the protestants and catholics, and to have rendered himself deservedly obnoxious to both. During the latter part of his vicegerency, which continued until 1711, he appears to have not only favoured the high church party, but to have laid himself open to a suspicion of encouraging the adherents of James Frederick. It is, however, altogether uncertain whether, at this period, he had so far abandoned his Whig principles, as to be zealously inclined towards the exiled prince, or aimed at acquiring increase of favour with the queen, by affording some countenance towards the avowed friends of her brother, whose pretensions to succeed her, she was apparently disposed to support.

At the termination of his vicegerency, in which, notwithstanding the general obnoxious character of his measures, he had displayed some redeeming good qualities, that rendered him оссаsionally, or rather, locally popular, he joined in the parliamentary clamour against the conduct of the Duke of Marlborough; who, he declared, had evidently prolonged the war, to gratify his own sordid inclinations. Ormond was soon afterwards appointed commander-in-chief of all the forces in Great Britain; and, in April, 1712, he

was sent out to succeed the hero of Blenheim, as captain-general of the army in Flanders.

Although he had received positive orders from the queen not to hazard a battle, he assured the Dutch authorities, that it was his intention to prosecute the war with all the vigour in his power; but, on a favourable opportunity to attack the enemy occurring, he not only refused to march towards them, but declared that he would abandon the allies, unless they consented to a cessation of arms. unexpected and hypocritical conduct while it greatly incensed the confederates, proved highly agreeable to Queen Anne; by whom, on his return to England, the duke was received in a very flattering manner.

This

He continued to be a great favourite with the multitude, and, about this period, increased the sphere of his popularity, by zealously encouraging literature and the arts. In June, 1713, he was appointed governor of Dover castle, and warden of the cinque ports; and, in addition to these valuable sinecures, he obtained a grant of £5000 per annum, for fifteen years, out of the Irish revenue.

The more auspicious part of the duke's career, terminated on the death of Queen Anne. The new monarch refused to admit him to the privy chamber, and dismissed him from his post as captain-general of the forces; but a pitiful attempt was subsequently made, to allay his resentment, by appointing him a member of the Irish privy council, and giving him an invitation to make his appearance at court. He was still the darling of the mob. On his birth-day, in 1715, the streets of the metropolis were thronged by large bodies of his admirers, who severely assaulted all such as refused to join in their shouts of "Ormond for ever!" On the 28th of May, in the same year, riots of a more alarming character took place; the populace, on this occasion, mixing religion with politics, vociferated "High church and Ormond!" It was supposed that these disorderly acts were secretly encouraged by the duke; threats of an impeachment were, consequently, heid out to him by ministers: but, blind to the probable consequences of his folly,

he continued to render himself offensive to government, until, at length, the menaces which he had despised, were actually carried into effect.

The turbulence of his spirit, and his greediness for applause, led him to commit a number of absurdities, for which, the moderate portion of his friends in vain endeavoured to excuse him. He displayed considerable pleasure in hearing his name shouted by the mob: he became generous to profusion, in order to keep up his popularity among the lower classes; he held levees on stated days, at which he received his more distinguished partisans, with princely ostentation; and attempted to justify his conduct, in a pamphlet which was remarkable at once for the boldness of its sentiments, and the pomposity of its language. About the middle of June, the following advertisement was artfully published, and without the least foundation, as it is suspected, for the purpose of exciting the feelings of the populace in his favour:-" On Tuesday, the 7th instant, her grace, the Duchess of Ormond, on her return from Richmond, was stopped, in her coach, by three persons in disguise, well-armed and mounted, who asked if the duke was in the coach, and seemed to have a design on his life; and it has been observed, that many armed persons lurk about in the Richmond road, both day and night, no doubt with a view to assassinate him."

On the 21st of June, after a debate of nine hours' duration, in which several of his friends spoke warmly in his favour, he was impeached by a majority of forty-seven. He might still have been treated with more lenity, perhaps, than he merited, had his conduct become moderate; but he thought proper to persevere in his obnoxious course, and even after arrangements had been made for his obtaining a private interview with the king, from whom he had good reason to expect a kind reception, he abruptly quitted the kingdom, and entered into the service of the Pretender.

On the 5th of August, articles of impeachment were exhibited against him, for having treacherously neglected to fight the enemies of England, while he was captain-general of the forces in

Flanders, &c. Being subsequently attainted of high treason, his name was erased from the list of peers, an inventory was taken of his personal estate, and his achievement, as a knight of the Garter, was removed from St. George's chapel, at Windsor. On the 12th of November, in the same year, the Irish parliament not only attainted him, but offered a reward of £10,000 for his head.

It appears that he felt desirous of personally engaging in the rebellion of 1715 having actually embarked for England, on receiving intelligence of the insurrection, and hovered, for several days, about the coast; but without being able to effect a landing. In 1716-17, he made an unsuccessful attempt to induce the King of Sweden, who had affected great consideration for the Pretender, to invade England with an army of Swedes. In 1718-19, the Spanish government determined on making an attempt to place James Frederick on the British throne: an armament, consisting of ten sail of the line, and numerous transports, with six thousand regular troops, and twelve thousand stand of arms for the Pretender's English and Scotch adherents, was accordingly fitted out at Cadiz, and placed under the Duke of Ormond's command. Rumours of the intended invasion having reached this country, the house of commons addressed the king to offer a reward of £5,000 for the duke's apprehension. The Jacobites eagerly prepared for his landing; and great alarm appears to have prevailed among the more loyal classes of his majesty's subjects. But the expedition, which had occasioned such sanguine hopes on the one hand, and such contemptible fears on the other, was altogether unsuccessful. Many of the transports drifted ashore, and went to pieces; most of the troops were rendered unserviceable; and the duke, after having narrowly escaped shipwreck, was compelled to return to Cadiz, without having seen an enemy, but utterly discomfited by the ele

ments.

In 1722, a Jacobite, named Layer, was executed for having, partly, it is said, at the instigation of Ormond, attempted to enlist a body of recruits for the service of the Pretender, in Essex.

In 1726, the duke appears to have made some fruitless efforts to engage the Spanish government in a new project for the invasion of this country. From this period, he gradually dwindled in importance, and spent the remainder of his life, chiefly at Avignon, in melancholy indolence; wholly subsisting on a pension, from Spain, of 2,000 pistoles per annum. His death took place on the 16th of November, in the memorable year 1745.

The duke married at rather an early period of his public career: but he left no children by his wife, for whom, although they lived upon tolerable terms, he appears to have entertained

but very little affection. He was principally indebted for that importance, which he so long enjoyed, to his rank and connexions. His abilities were good, but not splendid; his morals in private life, and his principles as a public character, were equally lax; his judgment was evidently weak, and his vanity contemptible. He was neither great in his glory, nor grand in his fall." He has been praised for his fidelity to the Pretender; but it does not appear that he ever received any temptation to be treacherous to James Frederick, or that he could have bettered himself by abandoning the Jacobite cause.

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SIMON, the eldest son of Thomas Fraser, of Beaufort, was born in 1668. While yet a mere boy, he acquired a disgraceful notoriety by his vices; and became, in his manhood, one of the most dissolute and daring ruffians of the age in which he lived. His relative, Hugh, the tenth Lord Lovat, dying without male issue, in 1692, Simon, who then held a commission in Lord Tullibardine's regiment, immediately entered into a contest for the succession, with Amelia, the deceased nobleman's eldest daughter. In order to devote himself wholly to the prosecution of his claim, he resigned his military appointment; but feeling impatient at the tardy progress of the legal measures which he had instituted, and fearing that they might not be ultimately successful, he determined on achieving his object, by a compulsory marriage with his rival claimant. Having waylaid Lord Saltoun and his son, the latter of whom was about to be united to the heiress of Lovat, he erected a gibbet, and induced them, by threats of instant death, in case of their refusal, solemnly to renounce the intended alliance. He next endeavoured to obtain possession of Lady Amelia; but being foiled in the attempt, he seized the Dowager Lady Lovat in her own house, and, against her will, caused a priest to read the

marriage ceremony between them in her presence. He then cut open her stays with his dirk; his confederates tore off her clothes; and, with their assistance, he forced her to his bed.

Fearing that the consequences of this daring outrage might be fatal to himself, its abandoned and execrable perpetrator thought proper to quit the country. While abroad, proceedings were instituted against him, not only for rape, but for treason, in having violated the laws at the head of an armed retinue; and he was outlawed for not appearing. King William pardoned him for the treason, but his conviction for rape still remaining in force, he could not with safety return to Scotland. He therefore continued to reside for some time on the continent; but having at length ingratiated himself with the Pretender, and prevailed on Louis the Fourteenth to advance him some money, for the avowed purpose of raising a Jacobite force in the Highlands, he ventured to revisit his native country. On his way thither, he had an interview, in London, with some of the English ministers, and being consequently suspected of treachery, the French government, on his return to France, immured him in the Bastile. In order to obtain favour with the Pretender, he had previously become a Roman catholic; and after

having remained for some time in confinement, he at length succeeded in procuring his liberty, by taking holy orders.

Entering into a seminary of jesuits, he secured the confidence of those about him, by that hypocritical demeanour of which he was so consummate a master, and officiated in his clerical capacity at Saint Omer, until 1715; when he suddenly re-appeared in Scotland, as a furious partisan of the house of Hanover. For his services in securing Inverness from the rebels, he was rewarded with the command of a Highland company, the title of Lovat, and, as it was generally believed, with a large gratuity in cash.

The unhappy Dowager Lady Lovat, having died some time previously to 1718, in that year he married a lady, by whom he had several children; and it was hoped that his conduct would have been ameliorated. But his disposition was so utterly depraved, that he continued to indulge in the lowest and most revolting propensities; and for some years before the insurrection of 1745, he had not only intrigued with the exiled family, but had become the general gobetween of the various Jacobite parties in the Highlands.

It is related of him, that having heard a gentleman divulge a scheme for the prevention of any future rebellion, by transporting the discontented to America, he procured a written statement of the proposition, which he forthwith translated into Gaelic, disseminated it amongst the Highlanders, and by assuring them that the Duke of Cumberland was speedily coming to carry it into execution, produced a feeling of exasperation among the clans, which proved highly favourable to the project of Charles Edward, in 1745.

His conduct had for some time past been so suspicious, that when the young Pretender raised his standard in Scotland, Lord Lovat was placed under restraint; but he contrived to dissemble his real intentions so effectually, that he was soon set at liberty. The first use which he made of his freedom, was to join the rebel standard, with his eldest son, and such of his retainers as he could induce to follow him to the field. Nothwithstanding his notorious villany, he was received with open arms

by Charles Edward, and admitted into the most secret counsels of the Jacobite chiefs. His great age and infirmities prevented him from taking any active part in the campaign; but he exercised an important influence on the movements of the insurgents, whose leaders paid considerable deference to his opinions.

Soon after the decisive battle of Culloden, he began to feel the effects of his treachery and ingratitude to the house of Hanover: his castle was destroyed, his cattle were driven away, his lands ravaged, and he found himself not only reduced from affluence to comparative poverty, but compelled to exert the whole of his great ingenuity to avoid a capture, which he knew would, in all probability, lead to his execution.

An apparently favourable opportunity at length occurring for his escape to France, he endeavoured to make his way to the coast, with two aid-decamps and about sixty of his clan; but a detachment of the Duke of Cumberland's dragoons surprised and captured him. As he could neither walk, nor ride on horseback, the commanding officer of the royal troops was compelled to carry him to head quarters in a sort of litter resembling a cage. On the 15th of August, 1746, he arrived at the Tower in an open landau, drawn by six horses; and, although he had previously displayed extraordinary indifference, it is said, that, when he came in sight of the platforms which had been erected for the accommodation of those who were desirous of witnessing the approaching execution of Balmerino and Kilmarnoch, he lifted up his hands and exclaimed, "A few days, and it will be my unhappy fate!"

During his trial he evinced the most consummate skill and assurance; but, in spite of all his subterfuges and protestations of innocence, he was found guilty; and, notwithstanding the exertions of his friends, who endeavoured to procure a remission of his sentence, on account of his great age, and the services which he had previously rendered the house of Hanover, he was executed on the 9th of April, 1746.

His conduct, during his last hours, was so remarkably calm, firm, resigned, and decorous, that it may truly