Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/48

391 was very soon, however, engaged in forming another plan for the invasion of Scotland, in which he expected to be employed; but the terrible campaigns of 1710 and 1711, put it out of the power of the court of France to attend to any thing beyond domestic concerns; and the marquis de la Fuziliere, the principal friend he possessed at the French court, dying at the same time, rendered all his prospects in that country hopeless. The conclusion of peace, and the appointment of the duke of Hamilton to represent queen Anne at the court of Versailles, filled him with still more gloomy apprehensions, from which he was not delivered till he read in the public papers the fatal duel that had been fought between that nobleman and lord Mohun, when he again took courage, and applied once more to the French court to be set at liberty. The person he employed, however, had no success; his character seemed to be losing rather than gaining at that court, and he was advised to make his escape. Others, certain that the king would be immediately restored by Anne and her ministers, and was even now on the point of setting out for Scotland to be at hand when wanted, assured him that to depart for Scotland without his permission was only to rush upon inevitable destruction. This seems to have filled him with great apprehension, and he laboured to be reconciled to the Pretender with the greatest but the most fruitless industry, till he was driven to utter despair by the death of queen Anne, and tidings that all the Jacobite clans in the north were arming in behalf of James, who had again and again declared, that, without the consent of the duke of Athol, he would never hear of his name. In this dilemma, one of the Frasers arrived to request his presence with the clan, and advising him to join the party of Argyle, who wag their old friend, and the only one that was likely to be able to afford them protection. He had previously to this written to Argyle, but does not seem to have had any reply. He now despatched a trusty servant to consult with him and Hay, Culloden, Grant, Kilravock, and other of his old friends, who stated, that if he could make his way safely to London, the business was done. This at once determined him to set out for England, taking the best precautions he could to avoid being arrested. On the 1st of November, 1714, after an imprisonment of ten years, he arrived at Dover, where, on account of extreme fatigue, he rested for one night. He then, by a journey of two days, arrived safely in London.

Here his first care was to despatch his trusty friends, James and Alexander Fraser, for the earl of Ilay and brigadier-general Grant. The brigadier lost not a moment in waiting on him, expressed great joy to see him safe and well, and assured him of every good office in his power. Ilay, on the contrary, expressed considerable regret at his having quitted the provision which, amid all the severe treatment he met with, had been made for him in France, while in England he had not even the security of his life, but he engaged to bring his case before the king and the prince that very night, and to let him know the result next day. The circumstances in which Lovat had thus placed himself were by no means pleasant. In Scotland there was a sentence of death in full force against him, and a price set upon his head, while he had nothing to rely upon but a precarious promise from a few friends, who, after all, might neither have the will nor the power to protect him. He was, however, too deeply embarked to draw back, and he determined, regardless of consequences, to throw himself upon the protection of the duke of Argyle and the earl of Ilay, to take no step in his affairs but by their direction, and to live and die in their service. How happy had it been for his lordship had he never lost sight of this prudent determination. Next day Ilay informed him that he had spoken of his case both to the king and the prince, who were well disposed towards him; but,