Page:A biographical dictionary of eminent Scotsmen, vol 6.djvu/111

Rh lowed, he resisted, and, in his personal friendship, defended the hereditary title of the duke of Argyle to the lieutenancy of the county ef Argyle. His friends, who could not see the advantage of such a measure, were displeased, but his design was to bring over the duke to the interests of the Pretender, of which he was always suspicious the ministry were less careful than of their own. He, however, continued to sit and to act with them, under the strongest assurances from Bolingbroke, that every thing he could desire would be done for the Pretender so soon as it was possible to do it with safety, till the prorogation before the death of the queen, when he retired to his residence in the country, and though the same parliament was assembled on the death of the queen, did not attend it, having lost all hope of the Pretender's restoration by other means than arms.

He accordingly began privately to provide horses and arms for himself and his dependants, though from his late conduct he was not trusted by the leaders of the party to the extent that might have been expected. Nothing, indeed, but mere general surmises seem to have reached him till the month of August, 1715, when warrants were already issued out against all who were suspected as favouring the designs of the earl of Mar, and under one of these warrants he was, early in that month, apprehended at his house of Dryden, and committed prisoner to the castle of Edinburgh. In these circumstances he immediately wrote to the duke of Argyle, who, in return for his services in regard to the militia bill, procured his enlargement, after he had been fifteen days a prisoner, on his giving bail for six thousand merks. He was no sooner liberated than he waited upon his rebel associates, who had not been apprehended ; but, finding them still disinclined to the communication, he retired to his house at Carnwath, where he secretly and diligently employed his personal influence in the furtherance of the cause, though still unacknowledged by any of the ostensible leaders of the insurrection, and waited till the arrival of the Pretender, or the transit of the Forth by Mar, should give the signal for him and his friends to appear in arms. In the mean time, a letter from the duke of Argyle informed him that his practices were well known to the government, and requiring him forthwith to repair to his house at Dryden. Every thing, arms, horses, &c., were again disposed of in the best manner that could be devised, and he immediately repaired to Dryden, where he negotiated with Kenmure and the southern rebels; his troop of horse, under the command of his brother Philip Lockhart, being sent to join them at Biggar, he himself staying behind for a few days to arrange some minor concerns. To ensure his safety after concluding his transactions with the rebels, he wrote to the lord justice clerk, requesting to know whether he should remain in Edinburgh or go home to Dryden, and was ordered to choose the latter alternative. Mackintosh, however, having that night crossed the Forth, on his march to the south, a party of soldiers was sent out to Dryden, who apprehended Lockhart, and carried him again to the castle; a circumstance which saved both his life and his estate, as well as those of many others who were prepared to set out with him on an expedition that proved desperate his whole troop being taken at Preston, along with the rest of their companions, and his brother shot as a deserter by order of a court-martial.

Mr Lockhart suffered a long confinement, but escaped, through the steadiness of his friends, that punishment which was likely to have followed his conduct, and which the government, could they have elicited sufficient evidence, would most willingly have inflicted; but he was by no means cured of his affection for the exiled family, and before two years had elapsed, he was employed as an agent to bring up six thousand bolls of oatmeal, to be given to the king of