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. SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT. 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 be said of him, "nothing, in his life, became him like the leaving of it." He supped heartily on the night preceding his execution, and dressed himself for the scaffold with peculiar care; observing that the event of the day would be delightful to him. He took his breakfast with apparent nonchalance and appetite, and conversed, during the repast, with the lieutenant of the Tower and some of his own friends, in the most easy and unembarrassed manner imaginable. With some reluctance, and in order, as he said, not to appear singular, he admitted a priest to his presence, from whom, it is stated, that he received absolution. At the house to which he was conducted from the Tower, previously to ascending the scaffold, he ate a morsel of bread and drank some wine; in helping himself to which, the remarkable steadiness of his hand attracted particular notice. He ascertained the sharpness of the axe by passing his finger across its edge, jested with the executioner on his occupation, and died, says Smollett, like an old Roman, exclaiming, "Dulce et decorum est pro patriâ mori!" He was decapitated at a single blow, and his remains were deposited in St. Peter's church, in the Tower. Many atrocious ruffians have displayed as much nerve under the gallows as Lovat exhibited at the block; but among those who have equalled him in this respect, few have exceeded him in low cunning and brutality. Basely sordid in his motives, he was alike devoid of humanity, patriotism, gratitude, and common honesty. That he possessed extraordinary talents is indisputable; that he grossly abused them scarcely admits of a question; and, finally, that he was one of the most unprincipled, treacherous, and detestable characters of his day, it is almost impossible to doubt. GEORGE KEITH, EARL MARISCHAL. THIS nobleman, the precise date of whose birth appears to be uncertain, was thus described by Mackay, who wrote in 1713:-" Earl Marischal is representative of the ancient and noble family of Keith, and hereditary great marshal of the kingdom; he always opposed the measures of King William's reign, but waited on the queen, on her accession to the throne, and acknowledged her government. He is very wild, inconstant, and passionate; does every thing by starts; hath abundance of flashy wit; and by reason of his quality, hath good interest in the country. All courts endeavour to have him on their side, for he gives himself liberty of talking, when he is not pleased with the government. He is a thorough libertine, yet sets up mightily for episcopacy; a hard drinker; a thin body; a middle stature; ambitious of popularity; and is forty-five years old."" He refused to take the oaths of allegiance on the accession of George the First; and treated a citation, which, on account of his avowed principles, had been served upon him to appear and surrender himself at Edinburgh, with indignant contempt. Soon afterwards, he set out with a number of followers to join the Earl of Mar, in whose army he highly distinguished himself for talent and intrepidity. When James Frederick landed, the Earl Marischal was among the first of those who met him at Fetterosse; and on the prince's departure from Scotland, he was appointed to the command of a thousand horse which were destined to cover the retreat of the main body of the insurgents from Aberdeen. While thus employed, his skill and bravery were equally conpicuous. He abandoned his arms only when any further effort against the royal forces would have been impotent and absurd, and soon afterwards succeeded in making his escape to the continent. Meantime, being attainted as a traitor, his estates and honours became forfeited, and he sought to procure that distinction abroad, which he could no longer hope to obtain in his native land. He resided successively at the courts of France, Spain, Rome, and, eventually, at that of Prussia; whence he was despatched, in 1750, as ambassador extraordinary to the French king. His diplomatic services on this occasion were rewarded with the insignia of the black eagle. In 1750, he was appointed governor of Neufchatel; and, having procured his pardon from George the Second, he came over to England, in that year, for the purpose of taking possession of his Kintore estate. After residing for a few months only in this country, he returned to the continent, and died at Berlin towards the close of the year 1751. The celebrated Marshal Keith who, while yet a minor, distinguished himself for his bravery in the ranks of the insurgent army, at Sheriff-muir, was a younger brother of this nobleman. JOHN ERSKINE, EARL OF MAR. JOHN EKSKINE, the eleventh Earl of Mar, was born in 1671, and after having received the rudiments of education in Scotland, passed some time at the university of Oxford; where, however, he did not remain long enough to obtain a degree. Previously to attaining his majority, he made an extensive tour on the continent, during which he is supposed to have formed an intimacy with the Pretender that ultimately led to his ruin and exile. Having received intelligence of his father's death, while at Genoa, towards the close of 1691, he forthwith returned to Scotland, where he soon acquired great popularity. To the usual influence attendant upon high birth and large possessions, he added that of great abilities, combined with extensive acquirements, amenity of manners, and a most daring spirit. The eloquence with which he supported his patriotic professions in the Scottish house of lords, rendered him the darling of the people, while the zeal which he affected, but, perhaps, did not feel, for the government, procured him the high consideration of Queen Anne. In September, 1705, he became one of the secretaries of state. During the debates which subsequently took place on the union act, his conduct was so wavering, that although, perhaps, he avoided giving serious offence to any party, he satisfied none. He rendered himself conspicuous at the trial of Sacheverel, evidently leaning, on that occasion, towards the high church politicians, by whose intrigues the nation was then considerably agitated. In 1711, he entered into a warm competition with the Duke of Hamilton for the Scotch secretaryship; which it was deemed prudent by government entirely to abolish, rather than offend either of the claimants, by conferring it on his rival; or, rather than incense both, by giving it to a third person. In June, 1713, he opposed the extension of the malt tax to Scotland, and became so troublesome in other respects to his official superiors, that, with a view to appease him, they nominated him third secretary for Scotland, in the following August. On the accession of George the First, who appears to have considered him a secret partisan of the exiled Stuarts, the earl was dismissed from his English secretaryship. He had evidently foreseen his approaching disgrace, and had endeavoured to avert it, by sending a congratulatory letter to the king, on his majesty's arrival, wherein he expressed a hope that the new sovereign would not believe any malicious representations to his discredit. "My family," continued the earl, "has had the honour, for many years, of being faithful and devoted servants to the crown; a predecessor of mine was honoured with the care of your majesty's grandmother, when young; and I have letters under her hand, owning her gratitude to my house. always honoured by the late queen's favour, and since your happy accession, I trust I have not been wanting in my duty. You shall ever find in me as faithful a subject as ever any king had," &c. &c. I was |