Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 4.djvu/50

396 duke of Athol, Lovat's business was protracted till the month of July, 1715; when the news of the preparations of the Pretender for an invasion of Great Britain, transmitted by the earl of Stair, then ambassador at Paris, and the general ferment that prevailed through the country, had aroused the fears of the government. Hay availed himself of these circumstances for turning the attention of the English minister more particularly to that too long delayed affair. The addresses which had been obtained in his favour were then given in to his majesty, whose gracious pardon he obtained, and in October, making the best of his way for the north, he was arrested by a loyal party at Dumfries as a Jacobite. Referring for his character to the marquis of Annandale, who happened to be in the neighbourhood, and to whom he was known, he was immediately set at liberty. Here he volunteered his services to lead a party of the townsmen in attacking the rebels in their quarters at Lochmaben, but the attack after it had been resolved on was abandoned through the prudent advice of the marquis of Annandale, who was afraid of the consequences both to themselves and the good cause in which they Mere engaged.

Leaving Dumfries, his lordship found his way into the north, where the insurgents were nearly triumphant, being in possession of the whole country save the shires of Sutherland, Ross, and Caithness, with perhaps a detached castle or two in some of the neighbouring counties. Among these was the castle of Culloden. The Grants and the Munroes had also been able in some measure to preserve their own territories; but the rebels were every where around them in great force. The first of Lovat's proceedings was to hold a counsel with his general, as he long after called him, Duncan Forbes, and his brother the laird of Culloden, who was, perhaps, the most trust-worthy man in the north; after which he went home, where he was waited upon by a considerable number of Frasers, with whom he marched for Stratherrick, one of his estates, and by the way compelled the clan Chattan to lay down their arms and disperse to their homes. Macdonald of Keppoch, too, who had three hundred men assembled on the braes of Abertnrf, dismissed them the moment he was apprized of Lovat's approach. At Stratherrick he was waited upon by Fraser of Foyers, and Fraser of Culduthill, with their retainers; and to prevent the Macdonalds from reaching the oilier side of Lochness, he himself crossed over at Bonat, and with two hundred picked men inarched according to agreement for Inverness, by Kinmayles. Colonel Grant, with a number of his own, Elcheiz's and Knockandow's men, captain Grant with three hundred Grants, and all the other gentlemen engaged in the enterprise, were at the same time approaching the northern capital in order to rescue it from the hands of the rebels. For this end, it was proposed that the gentlemen of Moray, in conjunction with lord Lovat and the Grants, should set upon it from the south, while the earl of Sutherland, lord Rae, the Munroes, and the Rosses, should attack it on the north. These latter gentlemen, however, having some of them upwards of fifty miles to march, besides ferries to cross, it was not thought advisable to wait for them. Captain Arthur Rose, brother to Kilravock, was therefore ordered to enter the town, while those that were already come up proceeded to invest it in the best manner they could. Lord Lovat, with his detachment was stationed on the vest end of the bridge, captain Grant 011 the south side, to enter by Castle Street, and the Moray lieutenants, Kilravock, Letham, Brodie, Sir Archibald Campbell, Dunphail, &c. were to attack the east part. The attack was led on with great spirit by captain Arthur Rore, who was unfortunately killed pressing on in the front of his men; and Sir John Mackenzie, the rebel governor, seeing himself about to be overpowered, abandoned the place, escaping with his men across the Frith in a number of