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 king. He died in June 1642. The son was also a strong loyalist, and in 1650 took up arms with his clan to rescue Charles II from the tyranny of the covenanters. The attempt proved, however, abortive, the king deeming it advisable to return to Perth, and shortly afterwards a letter was written to Atholl in the name of the king and the estates asking him to give in his submission, on pain of high treason (ib. iv. 117). On 16 Oct. he presented a supplication that the word ' rebellion ' be deleted out of his pardon, and a more favourable term inserted, that pardon should be granted to one of his followers for the slaughter of a lieutenant, and that he should have the keeping of his own house of Blair on promise of fidelity. Only the first of his requests was granted (ib. p. 126). On 20 Dec. he was, however, appointed one of the colonels of foot for Perth (ib. p. 211), and on the 23rd the castle of Blair was restored to him upon sufficient security that he would be forthcoming for the king and parliament's service (ib. p. 215). Atholl was the main support of the highland rising under Middleton and Glencairn in 1653, having joined the standard of the royalists with two thousand men and remained in arms till Glencairn finally came to terms with General Monck. Chiefly on this account he was excepted from Cromwell's Act of Grace, 12 April 1654.

At the Restoration, in 1660, Atholl was sworn a member of the privy council, and on 28 Aug. he was nominated sheriff of Fifeshire. In 1663 he was appointed justice-general of Scotland, in 1670 captain of the king's guards, in 1672 keeper of the privy seal, and on 14 Jan. 1673 an extraordinary lord of session. He succeeded to the earldom of Tullibardine on the death without issue of James, fourth earl of Tullibardine, in 1670, and on 17 Feb. 1676 he was created Marquis of Atholl, Earl of Tullibardine, Viscount of Balquhidder, Lord Murray, Balvany, and Gask.

Atholl was at first a strong supporter of the policy of Lauderdale, and endeavoured to win over Hamilton into 'an entire confidence with him' (, Own Time, 1838 ed. p. 224), promising him the chief direction under Lauderdale of 'all affairs in Scotland.' He also represented to him the 'great advantages that Scotland, more particularly the great nobility, might find 'by making the king absolute in England (ib. p. 225). In the prosecution of conventicles he was likewise for some time extremely active, raising in one week no less than 1,900l. sterling by arbitrary fines (ib. p. 226). In 1678, at the head of 2,400 men, he accompanied the 'highland host' in their raid on the western shires, but on account of the excesses then committed he severed himself from Lauderdale, and joined the deputation which shortly afterwards went to the king to plead for a mitigation of the severities against the covenanters (ib. p. 278 ;, ii. 449). On this account he was denounced by the Bishop of Galloway as a sympathiser with conventicles (ib.}, and ultimately, owing to his opposition to Lauderdale, he was deprived of the office of justice-general. In 1681, on account of the death of the chancellor, John Leslie, seventh earl and first duke of Rothes [q. v.], Atholl acted as president of the parliament, but he was disappointed in his hopes of succeeding to the chancellorship, which, after considerable delay, was conferred on George Gordon, first earl of Aberdeen [q. v.] On 5 March a commission was given Atholl to execute the laws against conventicles (ib. lii. 372), and on 5 May he was appointed one of a committee to inquire into the charges against Lord Halton in regard to the coinage and the mint (, ''Hist. Notices, p. 355). The fall of the Maitlands led to his restoration to favour. On 5 Aug. 1684 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Argyll, Tarbat, and the adjacent islands. This, according to Lauder of Fountainhall, was 'to please him, seeing he lost the chancellor's place, and to perfect Argyll's ruin' (ib. p. 547). Argyll had fled to Holland, and Atholl having entered Argyllshire with about a thousand men, apprehended Lord Neill Campbell, Campbell of Ardkinglass, and others, disarmed the inhabitants, and brought their arms to Inverness, and prohibited the 'indulged' ministers from officiating from that time forth (see especially Hist. MSS. Comm.'' 12th Rep. App. pt. viii. pp. 12-13). On learning of the landing of Argyll in Kintyre in May 1685 [see, ninth ], Atholl left Edinburgh on the 18th, and on the 30th reached Inverary, where he was joined by the Marquis of Breadalbane. The energetic measures undertaken by him against Argyll, and the closeness with which he dogged his movements, caused the gradual dispersion of his followers, and on 18 June Argyll was captured at Inchinnan (for various particulars see ib. pp. 17-24). After Argyll's capture Atholl displayed great severity in harassing and plundering his territories (, iii. 310). In July he captured Argyll's second son, Charles, who had sent round the fiery cross to raise the clan, and had also garrisoned a house in Argyll. Notwithstanding that when taken he was ill of a fever, Atholl purposed, in virtue of his justiciary power, to have