ESSAYS.
Glasgow Saint Andrew Society.
1874.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM RANKIN, 192 ARGYLE STREET, GLASGOW,
UNDER the conditions of this year's Competition, Prizes fell
to be awarded for the two best Essays. Twenty in all were
presented, from various quarters, Scotland, England, and the
Colonies. The task of making a selection was one of no
small difficulty, partly, among other causes, owing to the
conflicting partialities of the writers. In this respect, how-
ever, the Adjudicators did not feel either entitled, or called
upon, to adopt the impressions, or indorse the animadver-
sions of particular Essayists; but rather to discriminate fairly
between the merits of the Essays, as combined historical and
literary productions. The two selected will be found to
differ widely from each other in the views maintained; but
they thus afford an opportunity of seeing both sides of the
historical picture.
G. FYFFE CHRISTIE,
President.
GLASGOW, October, 1874.
THE
tsoSte in jSodH$f: If
ITS RELATIVE LITERATURE
AN ESSAY
WILLMOTT DIXON, LL. B.,
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, AND OF THE INNER
TEMPLE, BARRISTER-AT-LAW.
" Nor wanted at their end
from tender hearts,
And those who sorrowed o'er a vanished race,
Pity, the violet on the tyrant's grave." Tennyson, sfylmer's Field.
JOHN MENZIES & COMPANY,
EDINBURGH & GLASGOW.
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & COMPANY,
LONDON.
9-14
(KU
PREFATORY NOTE.
As the limits of the present Essay do not admit of its being
encumbered with copious references to authorities, the
author thinks it desirable to give the following list of works
consulted in its compilation :
Memoirs of Lochiel Correspondence of Colonel Hooke
Jacobite Correspondence of the Athole Family The
Lockhart Papers The Culloden Papers Memoirs of the
Master of Sinclair Memoirs of the Master of Lovat
Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland Wod-
row's Correspondence Defoe's History of the Union The
Letters of Captain Burt Macpherson's Original Papers
Patten's History of 1715 Rae's History of 1715 Forbes's
Jacobite Memoirs of 1745 The Chevalier Johnstone's
Memoirs of 1745 Genuine Memoirs of John Murray of
Broughton Dr. King's Political Anecdotes Marchant's
History of 1 745 Henderson's ditto Boyse's ditto Home's
ditto.
In addition to these contemporary records of the Jacobite
Episode, the author has to express his indebtedness to the
following later works :
Thomson's Memoirs of the Jacobites Jesse's Memoirs of
the Pretenders Oliphant's Jacobite Lairds of Gask
Vlll. PREFATORY NOTE.
Napier's Memorials of the Life and Times of Graham of
Claverhouse The Waverley Novels Tales of a Grand-
father Chambers' History of 1745 Gregory's History of
the Western Highlands Brown's History of the Highlands
Wright's History of Scotland Burton's History of Scot-
land from the Revolution Lord Russell's Memoirs of the
Affairs of Europe from the Peace of Utrecht Buckle's His-
tory of Civilization and the Histories of Hume, Mahon,
and Macaulay.
With reference to the Ballad Literature of Jacobitism, the
author has consulted the Collections of Hogg, Ritson,
Cromek, Cunninghame, and Mackay.
THE
Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
AND ITS
RELATIVE LITERATURE.
*' Tros IjrhttVt mih'i nullo dhcrlmine agetur" VIRGIL, JEn, I, 574.
ROMANCE seems to have claimed the Jacobite
Episode as its own, and has so fiercely resented
any encroachment upon its domains that History
has abandoned the field in despair. Even sober
students, who have approached the subject with
an honest desire for truthful inquiry and impar-
tial investigation, have been unable to resist the
magic spell, and have found themselves convert-
ed, against their will, from historians into ro-
mancers. They have seen every person and
every circumstance connected with this episode
through a glowing atmosphere of romance ; and
2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
traditions which would, under ordinary conditions,
have been scouted as poetical myths, have in
this case been accepted as grave and indisputable
historical facts.
But romance is not the only obstacle in the
way of the patient and honest seeker after truth
in this period of Scottish history. Another and
almost as formidable an impediment is parti-
zanship. Even now it is difficult to approach
the subject without feeling something of party
heat and something of party bias. What it
must have been when personal recollections
and experiences added tenfold bitterness to
these feelings, is not hard to imagine. It was
almost impossible for writers to take any middle
course between the extremes of rabid Jacobitism
and equally rabid Whiggism. And it is a
wearisome task wading through the pages of
extravagant eulogy or unmeasured invective,
according as the writer treats of friends or
enemies, which deface and obscure almost every
record of this interesting and eventful period.
and its Relative Literature.
To the Jacobite, the inhabitants who peopled
Great Britain at that time were divided into
two classes the angels who followed the exiled
Stuarts, paragons of perfection, models of all
that is chivalrous, noble, and heroic and the
devils who held by the usurping Elector of
Hanover, monsters of iniquity and cruelty,
poltroons, knaves, and scoundrels of the deepest
dye. And, mutatis mutandis, the same holds
true of the Whig. There is no believing or
trusting either of them ; and all that the honest
historical student can do, is to follow Ovid's
advice, " Media tutissimus ibis" and hope that a
middle course will be nearer the truth than
either extreme. It is in this spirit that I have
essayed to treat the subject. If I have not
always been able to free myself from the bias of
political opinions, I have at least tried in the
main to be impartial and give each side a fair
hearing. That it is not always easy even to do
this, all who have studied the subject will admit ;
and they will bear me out, I am sure, in the
4 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
assertion that the exasperating disregard of
truth, the reckless acceptance of tradition, and
the irrational love of romance, which are the
chief characteristics of most of the literature of
the Jacobite episode in Scottish history, are a
sore trial of human patience.
With this explanation of the aim of the present
essay, by way of preface, I shall proceed to sketch
briefly the history of the Jacobite episode,
dwelling chiefly on the causes which enabled
Jacobitism to retain so tenacious a hold upon
Scotland, reviewing some of the more prominent
of its social and political results, and touching
upon the literature, both contemporary and sub-
sequent, which it produced, and the influence
which that literature exercised over the senti-
ments of the Scottish people.
Tin-: Revolution of 1688 was, on the whole, a
quiet and orderly affair in England; men's
passions were not much excited ; the flight of
one king and the arrival of another were facts
and its Relative Literature.
accepted, to all outward appearance, with philo-
sophical calmness, not to say indifference, by
the large bulk of Englishmen. But it was far
otherwise in Scotland. A long course of wanton
and cruel persecution, of systematic tyranny and
organised oppression, had kindled feelings of
bitter hatred and resentment. The Scotch had
seen their national Church, dear to them as their
own lives, dishonoured and despoiled ; whilst a
Church which they hated and abhorred, a Church
associated in their minds with all that was idola-
trous, tyrannical, and odious, had been forced
upon them by sword and fire, by the rack and
the thumb-screw. They had seen hordes of
savage Highlanders brought down from their
mountain glens, at the express command of their
sovereign, and quartered upon the inhabitants
of those Western shires who had fought so
heroically for .the faith delivered to them by
their fathers ; they had witnessed the barbarous
outrages and excesses which these ferocious
mercenaries had committed, in pursuance of the
6 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
royal orders to devastate the country and harry
the people. They had felt the intolerable in-
solence, arrogance, and injustice of the Bishops
whom the Crown had set over them as legisla-
tors, councillors, and judges creatures who lent
themselves to every scheme for crushing civil
and religious liberty creatures swoln with pride
and eaten up with avarice, who arrogated to
themselves all temporal as well as all spiritual
power. With such grievances and sufferings
rankling in their memories, there can be little
wonder that the Scottish people hated Episco-
pacy with a deep and passionate hatred a
hatred which the King to whom they owed it
shared equally with his Bishops. They had no
grateful recollections of the Stuarts. James I.,
Charles I., Charles II., had all done their fair
share towards laying up a legacy of hatred for
their line ; but it was left to James II. to eclipse
.all the iniquities of his predecessors. The
most bloody and remorseless persecutor these
islands have ever seen, his barbarities towards
and its Relative Literature.
the hunted Covenanters were only matched by
the atrocities of Philip II. in the Netherlands.
For James personally enjoyed the spectacle of
human suffering ; it was a pleasure to him to
witness the infliction of the most horrible tor-
tures. And he had not even Philip's poor
excuse religious zeal ; for these cruelties were
perpetrated in behalf of a religion which in his
secret soul he really hated as much as that he
was persecuting. If English Protestants would
but candidly and honestly study the records of
Episcopal persecution in Scotland under the
Stuarts, they would, perhaps, be less bitter in
their invectives against Roman Catholic perse-
cutors they would certainly understand better
the feelings with which the Scottish nation then
regarded Episcopacy, and the deep - rooted
national aversion to it which has shown itself
so often since.
From the moment of James the Second's
accession till his flight in 1688, Scotland had
been subjected to a tyranny so cruel and so
8 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
exhausting that, as Buckle truly remarks, * it
would have broken the energy of almost any
other nation. But, tough as their own mountain
ash, the energy of Scotsmen is not to be easily
broken. And the moment that the news of
James's flight reached Scotland, the people
seemed to spring into life again, like a twig
which, long bent back, is at last loosed. They
felt the spirit of liberty surging in their veins
again, and with the memory of all that they had
suffered under the tyrant fresh upon them, it
was not likely that they would welcome such an
event without feelings of intense excitement.
Under the influence of these feelings the
Convention of the Estates of Scotland met on
the 4 th of April, 1689, and declared that James
"hath forefaulted the right to the Crown, and
the throne is become vacant." There was no
legal fiction of abdication here, but a bold, blunt,
outspoken statement of facts which contrasts
* History of Civilization, vol. Hi. chap. xxii.
and its Relative Literature.
reverence for precedent which marked the actions
of the English Parliament, a feature of English
parliamentary procedure which however safe and
useful in the abstract, as a check upon rash and
reckless innovations, has been often carried, as
in this case, to absurd and unreasonable lengths.
And this manly expression of opinion was the
more creditable to the Scottish Parliament be-
cause it was attended with no little personal risk
to those who uttered it. For Dundee's dragoons
were clanking through the streets, and the Par-
liament House was within easy range of the
guns of the Castle which the " Gay Gordon "
still held for the fugitive monarch. The two
hostile factions were in much more immediate
danger of collision than in England. But the
vote was passed without any actual display of
violence, and James Stuart ceased to be King of
Scotland as he had already ceased to be King
of England.
There can be no question that the Revolution
was welcomed with sincere and hearty joy by
io The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
the great mass of the Scottish people. They
had good reason to be joyful for such a signal
deliverance from the clutches of the worst tyrant
that had ever scourged their country. If there
was any sympathy at all for James in Scotland
at this time, it was a very lukewarm feeling,
and even in that form only existed among
those fanatical cavaliers with whom loyalty to
the House of Stuart was a family heir-loom,
the value of which they never dreamt of ap-
praising, but were content to* accept it on the
strength of tradition, and cherish it with the
unquestioning faith of children. The wrongs
inflicted by the Stuarts had been too glaring to
admit of any extenuation, and they were too
fresh in the memories of all to allow of any feel-
ing but that gratitude for the timely relief, which
was uppermost in men's minds. How then did
it come to pass that Scotland, which had more
reason to detest the Stuart dynasty than any
other part of the British Isles, and which wel-
comed the dethronement of that dynasty with
and its Relative Literature. 1 1
such unequivocal signs of gladness and en-
thusiasm, should of all other countries have
become, par excellence, the refuge and home of
Jacobitism ? What produced this extraordinary
revulsion of feeling ? Was it really a national
reaction, or was it merely the movement of a
bold and clamorous minority, composed of dis-
appointed statesmen, selfish politicians, and a
few fanatical enthusiasts ? These are the ques-
tions which I shall endeavour to answer as fully
as the limited space at my disposal will allow.
After the Vote of Forfeiture had been passed
by the Scottish Parliament, the prospects of the
House of Stuart in Scotland were certainly not
encouraging, but they were not so utterly des-
perate as at first sight they may have appeared.
Of all the Scottish nobles, indeed, only three
remained faithful to James, but it must not
therefore be supposed that all the rest were
staunch supporters of the Revolution. Far from
it; to quote the words of Sir John Dalrymple,'"
* Memoirs of Great Britain and Ireland.
12
The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
they merely "waited for events in hopes and fears
from the old Government and the new, in-
triguing with both, and depended upon by
neither." And the three faithful nobles really
represented a far more certain and reliable source
of strength and trust, than the crowd of waver-
ing time-servers. These three were the nucleus
of the future Jacobite party, and they were, the
Duke of Gordon, Lord Balcarras, and Viscount
Dundee. The two first played but a secondary
and inconsiderable part in the events which
followed, but the third was the great central
figure of the first Jacobite rising, the life and
soul and hope of Scottish Jacobitism. But for
him William of Orange would have been peace-
ably proclaimed King of Scotland, and neither
hand nor voice would have been raised in de-
fence of James Stuart. Indeed, it is not too much
to say, that it was only the bold and energetic
action of Dundee at this critical moment which
kept Jacobitism from expiring in Scotland, and
made the rebellions of 1715 and 1745 possible.
and its Relative Literature. 1 3
Dundee was not a man of original genius, but
he was gifted with a keen perception, of the right
thing to be done at the right moment, and with
the necessary resolution and force of character
to carry out promptly his conceptions. He was
an ardent and devoted admirer of Montrose,.
whom, in many respects, he resembled, though
far inferior both in moral and intellectual qualities
to the great Marquis ; and it was the success of
that brilHant general at the head of an army of
Highlanders, which suggested to Dundee the
possibility of effecting a diversion in favour of
his royal master at this juncture, by an attempt
to raise the Highlands in revolt.
That " lying spirit " of romance, which is re-
sponsible for so much gross perversion of history,
for so many false notions and deplorable mis-
conceptions, has foisted upon the world no
falsehood that has obtained wider credence than
the famous fiction of Highland loyalty to the
Stuarts. We have been taught to believe that
these Highlanders, from the day they fought
14 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
under Montrose, at Kilsyth, till the day they
foughf under Murray, at Culloden, were the
staunch and devoted adherents, the leal and loyal
henchmen of the House of Stuart, and the sturdy
champions of divine right and hereditary suc-
cession. It is a picturesque and captivating
idea; but unfortunately for those who have
grounded upon it conclusions favourable to the
Highland clans, it has no foundation whatever
in fact. The Highlanders cared as little for the
House of Stuart as for the House of Orange.
What little they knew of the Stuarts by experi-
ence, was not calculated to increase their affection
and respect for that dynasty. James VI. had
coolly planned their extermination, his successors
had indorsed the scheme, and it was not from
any want of vigorous efforts to carry it into
execution that it had failed. Of James VII.,
indeed, they had some more pleasurable recol-
lections, for he had on one or two occasions
made them the instruments of his vengeance
upon the Covenanters, and they were naturally
and its Relative Literature. 1 5
grateful for the opportunity of gratifying with
impunity, not only their predatory inclinations,
but also their revenge upon the despised and
detested Lowlanders, between whom and them-
selves there had existed a deadly feud and deep-
rooted hatred for centuries. But beyond this the
Highlanders had no reason whatever to cherish
any feelings of gratitude or affection for the
Stuarts, whose laws they had persistently defied,
and whose heavy chastisements they had fre-
quently suffered. To assert that there was any
innate loyalty to the Stuart family among the
Highlanders is simply to betray sheer ignorance
of their habits, their customs, and their internal
government. They owned no authority, they
recognized no sovereignty but that of the chief
of the clan ; him they were bound to follow in
whatever enterprize he engaged. Whatever side
in a quarrel their chief, from policy or inclination,
chose to take, for that side they were bound to
fight without asking any questions ; for it was
to the chief only that they owed allegiance ; and
1 6 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
not one of them but would have felt it the dead-
liest insult to be told that he was a subject of
any other king in Christendom. The predilec-
tions of the chiefs were invariably in favour of
the side which offered most opportunities for
plunder and revenge. They were at this time
a race of brawlers, murderers, and robbers, with-
out any of those chivalrous feelings which were
claimed for them at a later date, and which
were unquestionably developed as they advanced
in civilization. Fletcher of Saltoun who, like all
genuine Scotchmen of his day, despised and
abhorred the Highlanders as a race of worthless
freebooters who were a disgrace to the country,
thus pithily sums up his estimate of them " A
people who are all gentlemen only because they
will not work ; and who in everything are more
contemptible than the vilest slaves, except that
they always carry arms, because for the most
part they live on robbery."
At this early stage of the Jacobite movement
the leaders of the clans played fast and loose
and its Relative Literature. 1 7
with both sides; and it was not until some
rash or careless step had irretrievably com-
promised him, that a chief definitely took sides
with either party. There was very little
romantic sentiment about the Highland chief.
He possessed a large share of the national
shrewdness, he knew how to make a good
bargain, and had a keen eye to the main
chance. He must be persuaded that the
advantage to be gained by espousing the
cause of King James, was decidedly greater
than that to be gained by espousing the
cause of King William, before he would
budge a step or strike a blow for the exiled
monarch. But once the chief was gained,
the clan followed as a matter of course ;
they had no choice; the chief settled for which
cause they were to fight; it was not for them
either to dispute his commands or inquire
into his motives ; with the preliminary nego-
tiations they did not concern themselves, their
business was to obey the order of their chief,
1 8 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
and fight just when and for whom he pleased.'"
When Dundee, therefore, resolved to set out
and rouse the Highlands to arms, it was not
because he expected to find more loyalty there
than in the Lowlands, but because he knew that
the clans were always ready for fighting and
plunder, and might therefore be more easily
and rapidly collected for a sudden movement.
Dundee had sufficient tact and eloquence to
induce the chiefs to associate the cause of the
Stuarts, (which simply on its own merits they
would have regarded with indifference,) with all
that they loved best revenge upon the clans
they hated, and a raid upon the Lowlands. On
these conditions they were ready to forget cer-
tain passages in their former relations with the
Stuarts they had a bond of union and sym-
pathy now in their common hatred of the existing,
* A curious illustration of this feature of the clan system is to be found
in the conduct of the Fraser clan. In 1715, they fought on the Hanoverian
ide, because at that time it suited the interests of their chief, the notorious
Simon, Lord Lovat, to take that side. In 1745, they fought on the Jacobite
side, because their wily and fickle leader saw fit to change his mind
and its Relative 'Literature. 19
government, which, whether Stuart or Orange,
was to the Highlander always odious as the
representative of law, order, and justice, three
abstractions which he cordially detested.
But the Highlanders, as the most prominent
actors in the Jacobite episode, have not only
been credited with a loyalty which they neither
understood nor professed, they have also been
credited most unjustly with all the prowess
which has made Scotland renowned for centuries
as a martial nation. Everywhere outside Scot-
land, Highlander and Scot have been taken as
synonymous terms; and, even now, I question
whether a very large section of Englishmen do
not make the same confusion, and, because there
is no very palpable line of demarcation at this
day between Highlands and Lowlands, conclude
that all inhabitants of Scotland, from the Solway
to the Orkneys, are and always have been of
the same race ; and that the great martial exploits
of Scottish history have all been achieved by the
ancestors of those kilted heroes who beat Cope
20 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
at Prestonpans and routed Hawley at Falkirk.
Ignorant romancers have fostered this delusion
by pictures of Bruce and Wallace, in kilt and
tartan, at the head of their plaided clansmen,
which, letting alone the fact that neither kilt nor
tartan existed till some two centuries later,*" is
as absurd an anomaly, to borrow Macaulay's
illustration, as to represent George Washington,
in his character of leader of the Americans,
brandishing a tomahawk and girt with a string
of scalps. The Highlanders were of a totally
* It has been the fashion to speak of the kilt or philabeg as the ancient
national dress of the Highlanders. Few, perhaps, are aware that the kilt, as
we now know it, is not of Scottish origin at all. The honour of its invention
is divided between two Englishmen an army tailor who accompanied Marshal
Wade's force to Scotland in 1719, and Thomas Rawlinson, overseer of some
iron-works in Glengarry's country. For more than a century previous to
this the tartan plaid had been the common garb of the Highlanders, but it was
all in one piece, wound in folds round the body, leaving the knees bare. It
was worn in much the same way as the Red Indian now wears his blanket
its appearance was equally grotesque, and its condition equally filthy. English
people in 1715 and 1745 were horrified at the disgusting and revolting appear-
ance of the Highlanders, with their matted hair and beards, their unwashed
skins, and their greasy, vermin-covered blankets of tartan, their only article
of attire. Previous to the adoption of the tartan, which probably took place
about the close of the fifteenth century, the long loose saffron-coloured shirt
was the Highland garb.
and its Relative Literature. 2 1
different race from those steel-clad spearmen of
the dales, whom Bruce and Wallace led to
victory before whose disciplined valour and
serried phalanx, the despised Highland savages
were scattered like chaff. The famous Scottish
heroes were Lowlanders, little if at all different
in race, manners, and speech, from their English
neighbours. Bruce himself was an English
baron, bred if not born in England; his father
was an English courtier, his grandfather an
English judge, and he would have scorned any
connection with the savage kernes of the High-
lands, who were never admitted to be Scots.
In behalf of the Lowlanders who have made
Scotland what she is, and to whom of right
belongs the glory of her ancient prowess, I think
it is but fair to restore to them the credit which
the Highlanders, as the heroes of the Jacobite
rebellions, have usurped. It does not in any way
detract from the reputation of the Highlanders
for valour a reputation nobly won and as nobly
maintained. But the Highlanders' renown dates
22 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
no farther back than the time of Montrose,
while that of the Lowlanders can be proudly
traced back to Bannockburn, and far beyond,
till it is lost in the mists of tradition.
In speaking of the spirit and sentiments of
the Highland chiefs when they joined Dundee
in 1689, 1 do not mean to assert that these were
the feelings which actuated them all through the
Jacobite episode. No doubt fifty years worked
a considerable change both in the sentiments
and the manners of the Highlanders, and many
of them entered upon the rebellion of 1 745 from
other motives than those I have described. On
this point I shall have occasion to speak in its
proper place, but enough has been said here to
show that loyalty to the House of Stuart was
certainly not the motive which led the clans to
take arms under Dundee.
It is a proof of Dundee's remarkable sagacity
and tact, that he, a Lowlander by birth and
breeding, a stranger and of a hated race, wholly
ignorant of the language and manners of these
and its Relative Literature. 23
wild mountaineers, should have succeeded in
gathering round himself all their military enthu-
siasm, and have persuaded them to accept him
as their leader. The very fact, however, of his
being a stranger gave him one great advantage
no clan felt aggrieved at serving under him,
no chief considered his dignity compromised, as
he would unquestionably have done had any
Highland chieftain, no matter what his rank or
power, attempted to take the command. The
rivalry of the various clans was carried to the
most absurd extremes ; there was as much
jealousy and sensitiveness among them on points
of precedence and etiquette, as among the court
ladies of Louis Quatorze. Dundee's 'tact was
invaluable in reconciling the differences which
arose from these petty rivalries, differences
which threatened a hundred times to turn the
swords of one half of his army against the other
half. This little resolute dark man, " Black
John of the Battles," as they loved to call him,
with the face so melancholy and beautiful in
24 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
repose, so stern and cruel when roused to action,
had an influence over them which they themselves
felt to have something weird and uncanny about
it. They regarded him with a strange mixture
of admiration and superstitious awe. There is
something in the commanding intellect of a little
man which always has this effect upon brute
force, and it is a noteworthy fact that the great-
est generals the world has seen have been of
the same physical type, and have in consequence
wielded the same moral influence. That Dundee
should have kept together an army composed
of such discordant elements and such inflam-
mable materials for a single week, is a wonder
which increases our admiration of his tact the
more we study it; but that even he, with all his
tact and cleverness, could have kept such an
army together long enough to do any real or
lasting service to the House of Stuart, is more
than we can believe possible. It would have
melted away from him as a similar army had
melted away from Montrose, even in the hour
and its Relative Literature. 25
of his triumph. And even supposing it had not
been so; supposing all the great results, which
Dundee's sanguine admirers believed would
have ensued but for the abrupt close of his
career, had actually come to pass what would
the Stuarts have done with these victorious
Highlanders ? How could they have shown
their gratitude to these lawless warriors, with
due regard to the safety and order of their king-
dom and the security of their law-loving lieges ?
They would have found these wild and reckless
freebooters a terrible thorn in their side; they
would have been compelled at last to put down
their excesses with a strong and stern hand ; and
it would have been worse for the Highlanders
in the end, perhaps, than Culloden.
Dundee, however, kept his Highland army
together long enough to immortalize his own
name, and shed a ray of sentiment over the field
of Killiecrankie, which did more for Jacobitism
than the victory itself, for it gave it a memory
which in days to come was a sure spell to con-
26 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
jure up Highland enthusiasm. The victory
itself, indeed, was not a brilliant one; and the
success, such as it was, must be attributed to the
impetuous rush of the clans, rather than to the'
skilful dispositions of the general. But Dundee
gained that spurious fame which attaches to
death on the field of battle, and which is sup-
posed to be the highest glory that can crown a
soldier's career. It is hard to tell why it should
be so in this case especially hard for the
circumstances of Dundee's death were rather
ignominiqus than otherwise. And yet while the
cool and steady courage and splendid retreat of
Mackay are forgotten, the accident which gave
Dundee the honour of his death-wound will be
remembered as though it had been some noble
achievement of his own.
Of the character of Dundee it is not easy to
form a correct estimate. That he was a soldier
and a gentleman, a chivalrous and devoted
cavalier, I think there is good reason to believe;
but it is equally true that with these qualities
- and its Relative Literature. 27
were combined the hardness, the selfishness, and
the recklessness of human life, which were the
results, partly of a naturally stern disposition,
partly of long training as a mercenary in con-
tinental camps. Probably one half of the tales
told by the Covenanters of his cruelty are either
exaggerated or wholly untrue ; but even making
due allowance for the rabid hostility and fanatical
hatred of the Covenanters, whose malignant and
persistent efforts to blacken his character by fair
means and foul have done their cause more
harm than good, his own letters show that there
are abundant grounds for the stigma of merciless
and cold-blooded cruelty which rests upon his
name. Many chivalrous efforts have been made
to cleanse his memory from these dark stains,""*
* Macaulay's strictures on Dundee have called forth three doughty cham-
pions. Professor Aytoun in a special note attached to his " Lays of the
Scottish Cavaliers," Mr. John Paget in his " New Examen," Mr. Mark
Napier in his " Memorials of the Life and Times of John Graham of Claver-
house," have all striven hard to clear the fame of their heroj and a greater
than any of them has also taken up the cudgels in his behalf, though for
dramatic effect he once joined the other side. In a letter from Scott to
Southey there occurs this curious passage in reference to Dundee : " As for
28 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
but I confess that all the eloquence and all the
arguments of his champions seem to me to have
failed to establish his innocence, although to
some extent they may have cleared his fame.
But while it is impossible to believe that he was
either the fiend that his fanatical enemies
paint him, or the Christian hero that his equally
fanatical admirers represent him, I think we
may fairly say of him, that with all his faults,
and they were neither few nor small, he had
most of the virtues of a cavalier of the best
type; and the cause of the exiled Stuarts, from
first to last, numbered among its followers none
abler, more gallant, or more devoted than John
Graham of Claverhouse.
my good friend, Dundee, I cannot admit his culpability in the extent you
allege; and it is scandalous of the Sunday bard (Wordsworth) to join in your
condemnation, ' and yet come of a noble Graeme ' ! I admit he was tant salt
feu savage, but he was a noble savage ; and the beastly Covenanters, against whom
he acted, hardly had any claim to be called men, unless what was founded on
their walking upon their hind feet. You can hardly conceive the perfidy,
cruelty, and stupidity of these people, according to the accounts they have
themselves preserved." This is not quite in harmony with the sentiments
expressed in "Old Mortality," but Scott himself admitted that he was in that
instance carried away by his subject.
and its Relative Liter at^{,re. 29
With the death of Dundee at Killiecrankie the
first Jacobite rising may be said to have virtu-
ally ended. But before it actually closed it was
marked by one brilliant exploit on the other side
which it would be unfair to pass over in silence.
The memorable defence of Dunkeld by the Cam-
eronians stands unequalled as a military achieve-
ment in all the annals of the Jacobite wars.
They had been left in this lonely and unfortified
outpost, as they believed, from the same motive
which led Joab to place Uriah the Hittite in the
forefront of the battle. But so far from mur-
muring, they accepted the desperate situation
with grim delight. The same stern Puritan
spirit which had turned Marston Moor from a
defeat into a victory was here. It rose to fever
heat as one avenue of escape after another was
closed. The more hopeless their position
became, the higher rose the fierce fanatical joy
of battle. For hours they held their own against
tenfold odds, until, repulsed at all points, the
Highlanders fled in confusion. But the victory
30 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
was dearly bought; the gallant young leader of
the Cameronians, William Cleland, who, had he
lived, would have rivalled the fame of Dundee,
was shot dead while stimulating his men by his
own noble example to prolong what seemed a
hopeless struggle, a death more glorious and
heroic than the great Jacobite leader's, though
it has found no sacer vates to give it a niche in
the temple of fame.
The ridiculous stampede of Cromdale, when
the Highlanders ran like sheep, and the Jacobite
generals only escaped capture by flying in ig-
nominious deshabille, the one without hat, coat,
or sword, the other in literally nothing but his
night-gown, brought to a close a war of which
the Jacobites had little reason to be proud.
William and his advisers were not slow to
read the lessons taught by this first Jacobite
rising. They saw that the Highlanders were
ready to take up arms at the beck and call of
any party who would promise them plunder and
pay, and that they would therefore be a per-
and its Relative Literature. 3 1
petual source of danger and anxiety to the
Revolution Government if left open to the
overtures of the Jacobites. Had William been
unfettered by foreign complications, he would
probably have subjugated the Highlands at the
point of the sword, but he had other and more
urgent work for his army, and he was anxious,
therefore, to get the Highlanders off his hands
as soon as possible. Pacific measures promised
the speediest solution of the difficulty. Efforts
were accordingly made to gain over the chiefs,
and the direction which those efforts took showed
how low an opinion William held of Scottish
morality. Indeed, when dealing with Scotchmen,
whether Lowlanders or Highlanders, William
always acted on the principle that a bribe was
the best argument to convince a Scottish under-
standing.*" In his instructions to Lord Melville
* He was not alone in his opinion of the venality of Scotchmen. Col.
Hooke, who was sent over by Lonis XIV., in 1705, to sound the Scottish
Jacobites, thus described them to his royal master: " Les Ecossais sont
pauvres et ils aiment 1'argent j une somme considerable repandue a propos
gagnera les chefs." And again : "C'est une maxime en Ecosse de ne point
32 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
as his High Commissioner in Scotland, he
openly countenanced, and not only counte-
nanced, but distinctly recommended a wholesale
system of bribery, and gave minute directions to
buy off leading men of the opposition with the
offer of state appointments or presents of money.
There was, no doubt, much in the conduct and
character of the influential Scotch nobles and
politicians of that time to warrant his holding
such an opinion. But William did not under-
stand the Scotch character; he did not take into
account the fact that their pride was stronger
even than their venality, and that nothing could
be more offensive to that pride than the blunt
and business-like way in which these dishonour-
able proposals were conveyed. Many of the
most grievous mistakes in the policy both of
William and of his successors towards Scotland
are to be attributed to this ignorance of the
national character of the Scotch.
P^Tson poste lorsquTl^T^T^server quand le diable viendrois "
very commentary to the Scotch ; but then, Colonel Hooke was himself
a renegade Scotchman, and that may account for his bitterness.
and its Relative Literature. 33
It was resolved, therefore, to bribe the High-
land chiefs, and the Earl of Breadalbane was
entrusted with ,20,000 for that purpose, with
directions to offer 2,000 or a dignity under an
earldom to any chief whose allegiance it might
be necessary to purchase at so high a price;
Breadalbane, who, if we are to believe one of
his contemporaries,* was " cunning as a fox, wise
as a serpent, but slippery as an eel," was
strongly suspected of embezzling the larger por-
tion of this sum, and making threats and promises
serve the purpose of bribes among the Highland
chiefs. It is certain that he gave no account of
his disbursements ; and to all inquiries answered
coolly "the money is spent, the Highlands are
quiet, and this is the only way of accounting
among friends."
Not satisfied, however, with Breadalbane's
assurance of the loyal and peaceful disposition
of the Highlanders, the Government issued a
proclamation summoning all chiefs to take the
* Memoirs of the Secret Services of John Macky.
C
34 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
oath of allegiance before January ist, 1692, on
pain of having " letters of fire and sword " issued
against them. Abundant time was allowed for
complying with the terms of the proclamation.
But many of the chiefs delayed their submission
as long as possible, in the hope that something
might occur to obviate the necessity of an act so
inimical to their marauding instincts and love of
independence. The most dilatory of all these
was the crafty old chief of Glencoe, who, in the
expectation of a fresh Jacobite movement, put
off taking the oath until it was too late to do so
within the appointed time. The story of what
followed is too well known to need repetition
here. That it was the intention of William and
his ministers to make a signal example of any
who should fail to comply with the strict terms
of the proclamation, there can be no doubt. It
is equally certain that there was a general wish,
in which William participated,* that some of the
* In a letter from the Earl of Linlithgow to Breadalbane, published for
the first time in the Edinburgh Rww, No. 213, there occurs this remarkable
and its Relative Literature. 35
most obstinate clans would hold out, in order
that the tremendous punishment inflicted on
them might overawe the rest of the Highlands,
and render it unnecessary to keep a large force
there any longer. This was the broad and
general view of the matter taken by William and
his English ministers. But besides this, there
was an under-current of local jealousy and irri-
tation at work, and some plausible excuse was
wanted by Breadalbane, Dalrymple, and others,
for rooting out the Macdonalds of Glencoe, who
were regarded by their Lowland neighbours
with much the same feelings as those with which
the settlers in Oregon regard the Modoc Indians.
Indeed the action of William and his advisers,
and more especially of Sir John Dalrymple,
cannot be better understood than by calling to
mind recent"'" events in America. Long before
the massacre which led to General Grant's edict
and significant passage: " But the last standers out may pay for all; and
besides, I knoiv that the K does not care that some do it, that he may make examples
of 'them ."
* This was written in the Spring of 1873.
36 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History '
of extermination against the Modocs, there were
men of high reputation men like General
Sheridan, who warmly maintained that the only
safe and prudent policy to pursue towards the
Indians was a policy of extermination. And
this was the opinion of all who had any experi-
ence of the Indians on the borders of the far
Western settlements. Yet no one accuses
General Sheridan of any private or personal
enmity against " Captain Jack," in persistently
advocating that ruthless policy and no one
accuses President Grant of gross inhumanity in
finally adopting that policy after the massacre
of General Canby and his fellow-commissioners.
And it seems to me just as unreasonable to
accuse Sir John Dalrymple of personal enmity
against Glencoe, or William of barbarous in-
humanity, because the one advocated, and the
other approved of a scheme to inflict signal
chastisement upon a gang of mountain-robbers.
With Dalrymple, it was a sincere belief that to
exterminate these Highland caterans was the
and its Relative Literature. 37
only means of securing the peace and safety of
their Lowland neighbours. We find him in
his letters seriously and calmly arguing the
matter from this point of view. " I believe," he
says, on one occasion, " that you will be satisfied
it were a great advantage to the nation that
thieving tribe were rooted out and cut off."
This was no new sentiment. It can be traced
through the policy of all the later Scottish kings,
and it was a source of mortification and vexation
to them that they were unable to carry it
thoroughly into execution. . James VI., who,
whatever his faults, has never been accused of
inhumanity, actually entered into a contract " to
extirpate that barbarous people." It was a
traditional feature in Scottish policy, and there
is therefore nothing surprising in finding it
advocated by Dalrymple. As for William, he
was too cold-blooded to care much by what
means a measure of expediency was carried out.
Of Glencoe's tardy submission, he probably
knew nothing; of the base treachery of the
38 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish^ History
catastrophe he is guiltless ; but that he knew
what his advisers meant by "extirpating" a
clan, when he put that unrestricted warrant into
their hands, the preceding contemporaneous
evidence leaves us no room to doubt. The
responsibility of the hideous and revolting
details rests solely with the executioners ; and
those whose admiration of Highland virtue
amounts to a species of fetichism, will do well
to bear in mind that this foul deed of treachery
and murder was perpetrated by Highlanders,
and in accordance with a custom for which
Highland annals afford no lack of precedents.'*
At the same time there is good reason to doubt
whether we should ever have heard much, if
anything, of the Massacre of Glencoe, but for
the Jacobites and the personal enemies of
Dalrymple. To the former it was a godsend.
They seized upon it with avidity. It offered
* For instances of the perfidy which Highlanders were not ashamed to
avail themselves of in prosecuting their schemes of revenge, see an article in
the Quarterly Review, No. 28 (vol. 14), the author of which is believed to
have been Sir Walter Scott.
and its Relative Literature. 39
far too good a chance of vilifying their opponents
to be neglected. It was paraded as a character-
istic act of the new king a foretaste of what his
subjects might expect under his mild paternal
rule. And so skilful was the use made of it, that
William's government never succeeded in re-
moving the odium which it brought upon them,
whilst it was unquestionably of invaluable service
to the Jacobite cause by lending it the moral
support which it needed. Dalrymple's enemies,
too, and they were many and powerful, made
great capital out of this incident. They pounced
upon it, and clung to it with all the tenacity of
relentless malice. And there can be no doubt
that personal hatred and jealousy of the Secretary
of State, far more than any feelings of outraged
humanity, were at the bottom of the popular
agitation which brought about the subsequent
investigation. The Massacre of Glencoe stands
out prominently from other similar atrocities in
Scottish history, not because it was more treach-
erous and inhuman, but because it happened at
40 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
a time when it was peculiarly useful to a
political party in the state, whose interest it was
to make the most of anything which, by the
force of rabid partisanship and unscrupulous
ingenuity, could be made to blacken the char-
acters of their opponents, and pave the way for
their own restoration to popular favour.
The indignation aroused by the Massacre of
Glencoe had hardly begun to subside, when
there came the Darien Scheme, surely the
wildest, most extravagant, and hopeless scheme
in which a nation, proverbial for its caution and
common sense, ever embarked. The story of
its miserable failure, and the terrible sufferings
of those hapless colonists left to perish on the
lonely isthmus, is familiar to all students of
Scottish history. For that failure England was,
whether justly or unjustly it would be out of
place to discuss here, held responsible, and feel-
ings of the bitterest animosity were roused
against the English Government. Everything
that tended to alienate the two countries was
and its Relative Literature. 41
advantageous to the cause of Jacobitism, and it
was therefore only natural that the Jacobites
should use every means at their disposal to
foment the ill-feeling. The people of Scotland
at this juncture were in much the same frame of
mind as the shareholders of a company which
has suddenly collapsed. They had lost their
money, and they were fretful and angry, and
disposed to believe the very worst that could be
said of those to whom they attributed their loss.
The general depression of trade consequent upon
the failure of the Darien Scheme added fresh
bitterness to these feelings, and produced such
wide-spread discontent that on the death of
Queen Mary the Government party were
actually afraid, in the then temper of the Scot-
tish Parliament, to bring forward the question of
the Hanoverian succession, and that measure
was in fact never passed by the Parliament of
Scotland. This was one of the main reasons
for the opposition of the Jacobites to the Act of
Union. While Scotland was a separate king-
42 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
dom, with a separate Parliament, they felt that
they were strong enough to prevent the Act
which extended the succession to the Electors of
Hanover from being carried ; and consequently
on the death of Anne, James VIII. would be the
only lawful King of Scotland ; his claim would
then be indisputable, because twofold ; the
merger of two distinct rights would give it
double strength, for the crown would be his by
the right of reversion, as well as by the right of
hereditary descent. It is well to understand this
clearly, because it gives the clue to the action of
the Jacobites at this period.
It was while this discontent and irritation
were still rankling in the hearts of the Scotch
that the project for the Union of the two coun-
tries was first broached. It was not, indeed, a
novel scheme ; for more than a century it had
been familiar to the thoughtful statesmen of
both countries, and had been regarded as an
event which must sooner or later take place, nor
had it ever been received with disfavour by
and its Relative Literature. 43.
those who had contemplated its consummation.
To William it had been one of the dearest wishes
of his heart, and in his very last public utterance
he earnestly commended it to the attention of
the legislature in both countries. Nothing can
be more certain than that the idea of Union in
the abstract was not distasteful to the Scotch.
But it was unfortunate that it should have been
brought prominently forward at a time when
the relations between the two countries were
such as to strengthen the hands of its enemies
and weaken the hands of its supporters.
The first negotiations for the Union were
begun in 1702, but the vigorous opposition
of the Jacobites rendered them unsuccessful.
Three years later they were renewed, and
in the interval the irritation and discontent
of the Scotch had subsided in a very remark-
able degree. This change, I think, may be
attributed to the fact that there had been a
lull in the Jacobite agitation, for it was that
organised agitation alone which had kept Scot-
44 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
land in a state of ferment. The Jacobites had
been quiet from policy. It was generally be-
lieved that Anne was in favour of her nephew's
accession, and would, if not alarmed by any
violent demonstrations on the part of James's
adherents, exert all her influence to secure his
succession to the throne. It was therefore the
policy of the Jacobites not to make themselves
obnoxiously prominent, and, owing to this
policy, the land had rest, and the memory of
old grievances began to fade. Consequently,
when a proposal for the Union of the two
countries was again mooted, the bulk of the
people were prepared to accept it, and if they
did not support the measure with enthusiasm,
they at any rate viewed it with contentment.
Nor is there any reason to doubt that this state
of things would have continued, and that the Act
of Union would have been passed without any
-excitement or violent display of feeling, had the
Jacobites only preserved the passive attitude
which they had of late assumed. But they were
and its Relative Literature. 45
not sufficiently certain of Anne's support, nor
sufficiently assured of its value to risk the pas-
sing of an Act of Union, the first result of which
would be to make Scotland amenable to the
laws of the English Parliament, and render the
armies of England available for the defence of
Scotland. The strength of the English Whigs
would neutralize Jacobite influence in Scotland ;
and, if the Act of Union were once passed, there
would be no hope of preventing the Act securing
the succession to the House of Hanover from
being extended to Scotland. At all hazards,
then, Scotland must be kept a separate kingdom,
at any rate until the exiled Stuarts were again
firmly re-established. It was with mingled rage
and apprehension, therefore, that the Jacobites
viewed the tame acquiescence of the great mass
of the people in a measure which, if passed,
must deal a deadly blow to Jacobitism. But
they were determined that matters should not
long remain in this state. Prompt and vigorous
measures were taken to stir up the smouldering
46 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
embers of half-forgotten wrongs, and revive the
old hostility to England. They were utterly
reckless what passions they inflamed, or what
excesses they encouraged, so long as their im-
mediate object was gained. Mischievous agi-
tators laboured to exasperate the people against
England. The memories of Glencoe and
Darien were raked up, and England's share in
them painted in the blackest colours. Every
class of society, every profession, every trade
was incited to oppose the Union by vehement
assurances that the measure would be ruinous
to the interests of each and all of them. All
that the bitter invective and rancorous abuse,
the artful and unscrupulous misrepresentation,
the gross and persistent lying of hired lampoon-
ers and pamphleteers could do to alienate the
Scotch from England, and exasperate them
against the Union, was done. And knowing,
as we do, how easily and with what little show
of reason popular demonstrations are got up in
our own day, there is surely nothing wonderful in
and its Relative Literature. 47
the success which attended these efforts of the
Jacobites. They unquestionably did, by the
means I have described, create suspicion and
dislike of the Union, and persuade the thought-
less and ignorant that the object of the measure
was to sell Scotland to the English, and that, if
they accepted it, their laws, liberties, and estates
would for the future be at the disposal of an
English Parliament.
And yet, after all these exertions, their success
was only partial. Even when the agitation
against the Union was at fever-heat, the nation
was by no means unanimous in its dislike. The
majority of the people were still in favour of the
Union, though the minority were, as minorities
generally are, the more noisy and demonstrative,
making up in clamour for what they lacked in
numbers. There is a passage in Burke's " Re-
flections on the Revolution in France," which is
applicable to this as to most other popular
agitations, it is this" Because half a dozen
grasshoppers under a fern make the field ring
48 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
with their importunate chink, whilst thousands
of great cattle, reposed beneath the shadow of
the British oak, chew the cud and are silent,
pray do not imagine that those who make the
noise are the only inhabitants of the field that,
of course, they are many in number, or, that,
after all, they are other than the little, shrivelled,
meagre, hopping, though loud and troublesome
insects of the hour."
The opposition to the Act of Union in
Scotland was, therefore, almost entirely the work
of the Jacobite party, who felt that their last
hold upon Scotland was slipping from them, and
that a desperate effort was necessary to keep it*
And when, in spite of all their efforts, the great
measure was passed, it was they who, out of
sheer spleen and spitefulness, fabricated and
circulated the foul calumny which attributed the
successful issue of the measure to the bribery of
the Scottish Ministers a charge which, in an
age when political morality was at a low ebb,
was sure to find ready credence. There is
and its Relative Literature. 49
absolutely no valid evidence to support the
charge, which rests mainly upon a list published
in the papers of George Lockhart of Carnwath,
a bitter and rabid Jacobite, who invariably
imputes the worst motives to all who are not of
his way of thinking. This list purports to give
the name of every Scotchman of importance
who was thought worth bribing, with the amount
paid to each by the English Government, and
Lockhart asserts that it is a genuine document
which accidentally fell into his hands. There
is no reason to question the genuineness of the
document; but the fallacy of the assumption
which Lockhart founded upon it, has been ably
and clearly exposed by a living historian,*" the
most impartial and trustworthy of all who have
written on the Jacobite Episode. The moneys
alluded to in this list were a loan of ,20,000,
requested and obtained from the English
Exchequer by the Scottish Government, to
pay arrears of salary due to officials, who were
* Burton, Vol. I., pp. 484-494.
D
50 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
inclined to be angry and discontented at the
delay. The application of the money was
rigidly investigated by that celebrated Tory
Committee which ruined Marlborough and sent
Walpole to the Tower, but they did not find
that the payments were misappropriated; and
we may be sure that if there had been the
slightest suspicion of bribery, they would have
smelt it out, and fastened upon it remorselessly.
Indeed, the list itself seems to me to contain the
refutation of the charge which has been founded
upon it, for it includes the names of some who
were notorious opponents of the Union, and
systematically voted against it. And besides, it
is a slur upon the reputation of Scotchmen
for shrewdness, to suppose that they would not
have made better bargains for the sale of their
honour and patriotism that a nobleman like
Lord Banff, for example, would have sold his
honour, his country, and his religion to boot,
for the ridiculous sum of 11 : 2s.! And yet
such staunch Scotsmen as Sir Walter Scott, and
and its Relative Literature. 5 1
Mr. Robert Chambers, have accepted this reck-
less charge, and have preferred to believe a
shameful calumny against their own country-
men, rather than forego the pleasure of indulging
their scorn and hatred of the Whigs ! A
singular and melancholy instance of judgment
warped by partisanship.
It was not until the Jacobites had tried every
other expedient in vain, that, as a last resource,
they turned to France, hoping that assistance
from that quarter would enable them to strike a
blow before the two kingdoms became actually
united, and one government had control over
the defence of both. Then commenced those
intrigues between the Scottish Jacobites and
the French Court, which raised so many san-
guine hopes destined to end only in misery and
despair. It is doubtful whether the French
Court was ever sincere in its support of Jacobit-
ism, or ever seriously desired its success. The
cause of the exiled Stuarts was a safe card to
play whenever it served the ends of French
52 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
policy to distract, and harass, and perplex
English statesmen, but I do not believe that any
one of the expeditions to which the French
government ostensibly gave its sanction was
ever really intended to succeed, and the false
encouragement which these successive feints
imparted to the Jacobite cause was mainly
instrumental in accelerating its ultimate ruin.
It has been often said that there never was a
more favorable opportunity for a great Jacobite
movement than at the time when the agitation
against the Union was at its height. It has
been asserted that Scotland would have risen
en masse to welcome back her exiled King, and
that the united efforts of English and Scottish
Jacobites would have carried the white cockade
in triumph to Whitehall. But this assertion is
based, I think, upon the grand mistake which
was made by the Jacobites all through the
Jacobite episode, viz.: that irritation and dis-
content against England meant sympathy with
Jacobitism. No doubt the Jacobites had by
and its Relative Literature. 53
astute policy identified themselves with all the
popular grievances, notably with this agitation
against the Union, and had done something
towards associating Jacobitism in the popular
mind with the assertion of national rights and
the preservation of national independence.
They were so far successful that there was a
great deal of Jacobitism talked in Scotland by
indignant opponents of the Union, who, in the
excitement of the moment, forgot all that they
had suffered from the Stuart dynasty. But
when it came to acting, it was quickly seen how
hollow was the Jacobitism of such professors.
At the prospect of an actual restoration of a
family which they had too good reason to dis-
trust and dislike, they took alarm at once, and
there were no deeds forthcoming to back up the
words spoken in moments of heated and gener-
ally vinous enthusiasm. Colonel Hooke, who
was sent over by Louis XIV., in 1705, to sound
the Scottish Jacobites, and report upon the pros-
pects of Jacobitism in Scotland, has left the
54 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
minutest details of his mission, and the whole
tenour of his report is, that there was no earnest-
ness or heart in the Jacobite movement in
Scotland. He found the principal men back-
ward and timid. The great H ighland chiefs were
uncommonly shy even of being interviewed on
the subject of an armed rising, and absolutely
averse to joining in any such enterprize. The
eminent politicians and statesmen, to whom
Colonel Hooke had been directed as the leaders
of the party, he found wholly devoid of any real
interest in Jacobitism, which they merely used
as a political watchword to rally a party of
opposition against their parliamentary rivals.
There was no depth or sincerity in the great
mass of Scottish Jacobitism. And there can be
little doubt that the report which Colonel Hooke
(who, as his published correspondence proves,
was a shrewd and acute observer,) brought back
to his royal master, caused Louis XIV. to dis-
trust all the representations of Scottish Jacobites
in the future, and to be cautious of compromising
and its Relative Literature. 55
himself by lending them any material aid. The
ultimate collapse of Jacobitism was due to false
representations on both sides. The Scottish
Jacobites were for ever sending to France exag-
gerated accounts of the favourable aspect of
Jacobitism in Scotland, in the hope of inducing
the French Court, on the strength of these
reports, to fit out a powerful expedition for an
immediate invasion; while the French Cabinet
was for ever sending to Scotland assurances of
speedy assistance, which had the effect of keeping
the Jacobites in a perpetual state of excitement
and anticipation, and which undoubtedly preci-
pitated the rebellions of 1715 and 1745. Each
side was trying to dupe the other but, unfortu-
nately for the Jacobites, they failed to dupe, and
were duped instead. They believed the repre-
sentations of the French Court, whereas the
French Court was never for a moment deceived
by theirs.
Another broken reed upon which the Scottish
Jacobites leaned was the co-operation of the
56 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
English Jacobites. And it is really extraordinary
how little pains they took to inform themselves
correctly of the spirit and the sentiments of the
Jacobite party in England. The two seem to
have been playing at cross-purposes, and neither
knew exactly what the other wanted. The
Scottish Jacobites wanted a repeal of the Union,
a national King, and a national Parliament ; and,
to obtain these objects, they were not averse to
a French invasion. The English Jacobites, on
the other hand, were in favour of the Union,
and desirous of seeing their hereditary sovereign
rule over the united countries, under one and the
same constitutional government, but nothing
would have induced them to sanction a French
invasion. They had, as Englishmen, an uncon-
querable aversion to the presence of a foreign
soldiery in the country, and in the event of an
invasion their patriotism would have proved too
strong for their Jacobitism.*" This variance of
* A notable example of this feeling was afforded by the conduct of
Admiral Russell, at La Hogue ; the Englishman was stronger than the
and its Relative Literature. 57
aims and difference of sentiments were fatal to
any united and concerted action. And yet,
although no attempt seems ever to have been
made to effect a compromise between these two
sections of the same party, and render concerted
action possible, both in 1715 and 1745 the
Scottish Jacobites took it for granted, with the
most extraordinary infatuation, that they had
the full sympathy of the English Jacobites, and
that the active co-operation of the latter would
follow as a matter of course. How unfounded
these expectations were, the history of the ex-
peditions into England in 1715 and 1745 clearly
proves. And in each case the complete disap-
pointment of those expectations was such a
sudden and unlooked-for blow, that the enterprize
collapsed at once.
These seem to have been the main causes of
the utter failure of the Jacobite movement, and
Jacobite in that gallant sailor, when it came to the push ; and all his loyalty
to the House of Stuart could not make him forget that he was opposed to the
natural enemies of his country, and that his first duty was to retrieve her
tarnished laurels by avenging the defeat of Beechy Head.
58 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
they were causes which existed from the first,
and might have been early removed had there
been any wise and able men among the advisers
of the House of Stuart. But there were none.
And it speaks volumes against Jacobitism, that
hardly a single able, sensible, practical man in
either country was found among its supporters.
Indeed, there seems to me to have been some-
thing amateurish about all the efforts of
Jacobitism. They were the attempts of dilettanti
insurrectionists, with no fixed plans and no defi-
nite ideas, enthusiasts without that hearty practi-
cality which can alone make enthusiasm a useful
quality. Jacobitism, in short, was a romantic
dream carried out by romantic dreamers.
The lukewarmness of the Scottish Jacobites,
of which Colonel Hooke had complained so
bitterly, was fatal to the success of the expedi-
tion of 1708, in many respects the best-timed
and most skilfully organised of all the Jacobite
expeditions. England was almost drained of
her regular troops by the continental war, and
and its Relative Liter at^^re. 59-
Scotland was practically undefended. Backed
by 3000 or 4000 French regulars, the Jacobites
might have scoured the country from end to
end, apparently, without meeting with a mo-
ment's serious resistance. Yet when Admiral
Fourbin with his little fleet reached Scotland, no
response whatever was made to the preconcerted
signals, and no encouragement whatever given
to effect a landing. The Scottish Jacobites saw
him come and saw him depart, knowing that
he had with him the King, to whom they profes-
sed to be devoted, and 4000 regular troops to
boot, and yet they made no sign.*
* Mr. Chambers, in his History of Scotland, puts it thus : " In March,
1708, Fourbin arrived off the East coast with a considerable fleet, carrying
5000 men, and but for some mismanagement and the accidental appearance of the
British Fleet, under Admiral Byng, he would have landed with these troops,
and been probably joined by an immense number ofjblloivers.^ From this state-
ment we are led to imagine that the whole blame rested on Fourbin's shoul-
ders, and that none was due to the backwardness of the Scottish Jacobites. A
curious perversion of facts ! Equally curious is the statement that the appear-
ance of the English fleet was "accidental" Admiral Byng had for weeks
been watching the port from which Fourbin sailed. The temporary disper-
sion of his ships by a storm enabled the Frenchmen to get to sea, but the
English Admiral within a few hours was on his track, and chased him so
closely right up the Frith of Forth that it was only by the superior sailing of
60 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
But there was a cause for this faint-heartedness
among the Jacobites of Scotland. They had
signally failed to gain over the Presbyterians to
their side, and the Presbyterians were the back-
bone of the nation. Whatever success they may
have had with individuals, they found all their
attempts were vain to draw from the General As-
sembly of the Kirk a violent declaration against
the Union. And it is impossible not to admire
the dignity of the attitude assumed by the Scot-
tish Kirk at this crisis. In the midst of all this
passionate excitement and turbulent conflict,
she stood true to her principles; no plausible
promises, no artful temptations, no appeals to
selfish interests, to national prejudices, to the
memory of past wrongs, could lead her to forsake
the first principles of her faith, and enter into
unholy alliance with her sworn enemies, Prelacy
and Popery. And the people were unquestion-
the French ships that they escaped, leaving one of their number in Byng's
hands. But Jacobite writers will never admit that English vigilance had any-
thing to do with the disconcertment of their plans.
and its Relative Literature. 61
ably influenced by the attitude of their Church.
The fast appointed by the General Assembly to
avert the impending invasion, and the uniform
earnestness and solemnity with which it was
observed, proved beyond doubt the true temper
of the Presbyterians, and their unshaken loyalty
to the theory of the Revolution. Even the
Jacobites could not mistake or misrepresent such
a significant expression of opinion, and reluct-
antly they abandoned all hope of co-operation
from that quarter.
The action of the Presbyterians in 1 708 should
have taught the English Government the plain
lesson that they had no worse enemies in Scot-
land than the Episcopalians, and no stauncher
friends than the Presbyterians. Had they
profited by that lesson they would have been
spared much trouble and anxiety in the future.
But with infatuated folly they refused to accept
it, and allowed their prejudices against Noncon-
formists to overcome the dictates both of policy
and justice. The Presbyterian Church was ill-
62 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
rewarded for her faithful loyalty. When the
fear of invasion had passed, she was wounded
in her tenderest part by the Acts of Toleration
-and Abjuration, which cast a slur upon her
loyalty and wantonly trampled upon those sensi-
tive religious scruples which made the interfer-
ence of the State in her devotional services
seem nothing short of sacrilege and impiety.
And then, as if she had not been already
sufficiently hurt and humiliated, the hateful
Act of Patronage was forced upon her, reviving
a relic of Prelacy which she abhorred. All
these measures were characterised not only
by the grossest ingratitude and injustice, but
by an insolent disregard for their religious
sentiments and scruples, which was insufferably
galling to the Presbyterians. And the same
features marked all the policy of England
towards Scotland at this period. English
statesmen were at no pains to make themselves
acquainted with either the character or the insti-
tutions of the Scottish people. The ignorance
and its Relative Literature. 63
of the country and its laws displayed by the
English Parliament was as extraordinary as it
was disgraceful. With that arrogant assumption
of superiority which is even yet a repulsive trait
in the English character, the Government took
it for granted that all existing Scottish institu-
tions must be inferior to those in vogue in Eng-
land, and that therefore the sooner they were
supplanted by English institutions the better.
On this principle, the collection of the taxes and
revenue dues, a sufficiently odious and unpopular
process in the best of hands, was not entrusted
to Scotchmen or conducted on the Scotch system,
but was handed over to English commissioners,
who were even more ignorant of the customs of
the country and the feelings of the inhabitants
than their employers, and who rode roughshod
over the national pride, and ran their heads at
every turn against the national prejudices. The
whole policy of England at this time was a tissue
of offensive acts offensively done, many of them
no doubt the result of ignorance, but ignorance
64 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
so gross and culpable as to bear all the appear-
ance of deliberate insult. It is not wonderful
that under such circumstances Jacobite agitators
should have found little difficulty in persuading
the Scotch to believe that they were looked
upon as a subject people ; indeed, the wonder
rather is that under such treatment the whole
nation did not rise as one man and indignantly
repudiate the Union.
It is needless to say that the Jacobites were
not idle at this time. It was an established
principle of their policy that everything which
tended to widen the breach between England
and Scotland was a clear gain to the Jacobite
cause. They hoped to win to their own party
all who were irritated by English policy, by
impressing upon them that the only chance of
obtaining a redress of grievances and a relief
from burdens lay in the repeal of the Union and
the restoration of the House of Stuart. Jacobit-
ism now put on its brightest colours and most
engaging airs. All was concession and tolera-
and its Relative Literature. 65
tion. Papists, Prelatists, Presbyterians, were
each and all to have everything they wanted,
and exist together as a happy family ; though
secretly promises were made to each that it
should be elevated at the expense of its rivals.
It was not a time to be scrupulous about ways
and means. The , great thing to be achieved
was to make the people unanimous in demand-
ing a repeal of the Union. Let that be
accomplished, and then it could be judged how
far it was expedient to fulfil promises when the
object for which they had been made was
attained.
Such was the state of feeling in Scotland at
the accession of George I., and if hostility
towards England meant sympathy with Jacobit-
ism, then never had the Jacobites been more
powerful nor their prospects more hopeful.
The time had now come to test the real
strength of Jacobitism in Scotland, by calling it
into action. It was tried and found wanting,
for it had no real hold on the hearts of the
E
66 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
people. There were a good many drouthy
creatures who could drink bumpers of burgundy
and stoups of usquebaugh without end to the
health of King James and the success of his
cause, but the exploits of these heroes began and
ended over the bottle. They would drink for
King Jamie with any man; but as to fighting for
him, that was quite another matter, with which
they had no concern. These pot-valiant Jaco-
bites represented no inconsiderable section of
the supporters of the House of Stuart, both in
England"''' and Scotland, men who talked a great
deal of blustering treason with a braggadocio
* Patten has the following sarcastic allusion to these pot-valiant Jacobites
in his History of 1715: " Indeed that party (the High Church,) who are
never right hearty for the cause till they are mellow, as they call it, over a
bottle or two, begin now to show us their blind side j and that is their just
character, that they do not care for venturing their carcasses any farther than
the tavern ; there indeed, with their High Church and Ormond, they make
one believe, who does not know them, that they would encounter the greatest
opposition in the world ; but after having consulted their pillows, and the
fumes a little evaporated, it is to be observed of them that they generally
become mighty tame, and are apt to look before they leap ; and, with the snail,
if you touch their houses, they hide their heads, shrink back and pull in their
horns. I have heard Mr. Forster say he was blustered into this business by
such people as these, but for the time to come he would never believe a
drunken Tory."
and its Relative Literature. 67
air over their cups, but whose valour, like that of
Bob Acres, oozed out at the palms of their hands
when their heads were cool enough to appreciate
danger. The utter worthlessness of such adher-
ents was not discovered till the moment of
action. Nor was the real spirit of the Presby-
terians ascertained until subjected to the same
test. Their bitterness against England they
had been at no pains to conceal, and up to a
certain point they had tolerated Jacobitism
because there was this common bond of union
between them. But when they saw Prelatists
and Papists advocating a repeal of the Union
more strongly than themselves, they felt there
must be something wrong about a scheme which
enlisted the sympathies of their deadliest
enemies, and they at once relinquished their
opposition and renounced all connexion with the
Repeal movement. From the moment that the
Presbyterians saw that by helping Jacobitism
they would only be helping the cause of those
religious sects whose views they detested and
68 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
abhorred, they never contemplated an alliance
with the Jacobites. They decided that it was
wisest to choose the lesser of two evils ; and
there could be no question that Protestant
George of Hanover, with all his shortcomings,
and with the Union to boot, was better than
Popish James Stuart with his retinue of prtests
and prelates.
I have said that Jacobitism had at this time
no real hold upon the hearts of the people of
Scotland. The rising of 1715 might seem to
refute that assertion. And indeed it has been
generally stated that the Jacobite party in 1715
comprised a majority, not only as to numbers,
but as to property in Scotland. There is really
no ground for that statement. Of the great
landed proprietors, Argyll, Queensberry, Mon-
trose, Sutherland, Roxburgh, Hopetoun, Tweed-
dale, Annandale, Rothes, Marchmont, Stair,
Buchan, Lauderdale, Torphicen, Loudon, Had-
dington, were all of them at that time decided
Whigs, and favourable to the Hanoverian
and its Relative Literature. 69
succession ; and of the smaller proprietors south
of the Forth, there were few who had not
attached themselves to the same party. The
Episcopalian gentry north of the Frith were,
indeed, generally inclined to the Jacobite cause;
but their tenants were not, and were only forced
by violent compulsion to join the Jacobite army.
The Lowland Scotch were universally opposed
to the cause they had had a little too much of
the Stuarts, and wanted no more of them. The
only real strength of the Jacobites lay in the
Highlands, which included hardly an eighth of
the population of Scotland. And even of the
Highland clans, it is a mistake to suppose that
all were Jacobites. There were many, such as
the Campbells, the Sutherlands, the Mackays,
the Rosses, the Monroes, the greater part of the
Grants and Forbeses, and on this occasion the
Frasers, who were on the side of the Govern-
ment.
There are those who describe the rebellion of
1715 as the outburst of a long-pent-up national
70 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
spirit of Jacobitism. I have shown that this is
an utterly false view to take of it. The fact is,
that the rising of 1715 was not even really a
preconcerted measure. It was the rash act of a
single man, driven to desperation, smarting
under disgrace, conscious of detection, burning
for revenge. Let us glance for a moment at
the antecedents of the man on whose shoulders
rests all the responsibility of the rebellion of
1715-
John Erskine, Earl of Mar, had been the first
to bring the measure for the Union of the two
countries immediately before the Scottish Par-
liament. He had presented the draft of the
Act to appoint Commissioners to treat for the
Union. He had been himself made one of
those Commissioners, and had identified himself
with the Act of Union as one of its most en-
thusiastic supporters. As an acknowledgement
of his services, he had been made a Secretary
of State and Keeper of the Signet, with a special
pension attached. Add to this the fact that he
and its Relative Liter atiire. 7 1
came of an old Protestant family, and it is clear
that every incident of his career had stamped
him as a staunch adherent of the Revolution
party, the very last man to cast in his lot with
the Jacobites. But to the very bottom of his
false heart Mar was a traitor and a knave.
And even at the English court his services,
though they had gained him rewards, had failed
to procure him respect. He was distrusted,
and he knew it. He knew also, on the death
of the Queen, that his enemies would use that
distrust to poison the mind of the new King
against him. He made a desperate effort,
therefore, to forestall them, and persuade the
Elector of his loyalty and devotion before en-
vious tongues had maligned him. While George
was yet in Hanover, Mar wrote to him in these
terms : " Your Majesty shall ever find me as
faithful and dutiful a subject and servant as ever
any of my family have been to the Crown, or as
I myself have been to my late mistress, the
Queen." In order to impress the King with
72 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
his power and influence in the Highlands, he
had also in his possession an address signed by
the principal chiefs in the Highlands, empower-
ing him to offer their entire allegiance to the
King. By what means he procured this docu-
ment it is hard to say. But there can be no
doubt that without a thought of the chiefs whom
he was thus compromising, he would have
played this card to serve his own selfish ends.
He was not, however, able to present it, and he
therefore reserved it for another purpose, which
was fast ripening in his mind. In less than a
year from that time, a disgraced, chagrined, and
disappointed man, he was at the head of those
clans in armed revolt against the sovereign to
whom he had professed such ardent devotion.
And one of the means which he had used to
inflame their passions and their pride, was this
very protestation and offer of allegiance, which
he assured them had been scornfully flung back
in their teeth by the English king.
Like Montrose and Dundee, Mar found no
and its Relative Literature. 73
difficulty in raising the Highlanders in rebellion.
They had no stake in the peace or prosperity of
the kingdom, and were, as usual, ready to fight
on any side which could secure the allegiance of
their chiefs. That allegiance Mar had taken
measures to secure, and by a forged commission
from James induced the Jacobites to believe that
he was their King's accredited agent and viceroy
in Scotland.
In order to understand the success of this
sudden movement of Mar, it must be borne in
mind that a short time previously a great scheme
had been planned by the Jacobites at home and
abroad for a simultaneous invasion of England
and Scotland. Louis XIV. had promised the
assistance of a large force of French troops in
carrying out the scheme. The Duke of
Ormond was to lead the expedition against
England, and the Duke of Berwick that against
Scotland and as they were both generals of
some capacity, the Jacobites were sanguine of
success. But there were two obstacles in the
74 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
way of an expedition leaving France, which the
Jacobites had not taken into their calculations.
The first was the English fleet, which was far
more vigilant and active than its enemies have
ever been willing to admit. The second, and
by far the most formidable, was in the very heart
of the French Court, in the person of John Dal-
rymple, Earl of Stair. The Whigs never did a
shrewder stroke of policy than when they sent
the Earl of Stair as ambassador extraordinary to
the French Court. His vigilance was marvellous,
his sources of information as infallible as they
were mysterious. No plot, however carefully
concealed, however warily planned, escaped his
watchful eye. To the Jacobites the knowledge
which he possessed of their most secret move-
ments and machinations seemed nothing short
of miraculous. He appeared to get wind of a
conspiracy almost before the conspirators them-
selves had quite made up their minds that they
were going to conspire. His system of espi-
onage was perfect. The secret of it has never
and its Relative Liter atiire. 75
been thoroughly divulged, but we know that
much of his information was procured by the
treachery of ladies who were in the counsels of
the Jacobite party. Among these, Mrs. Trant
and Mdle. Chausseraye were afterwards noto-
rious, though neither of them was at this time
suspected by their own party. Stair himself
was the model of a diplomatist ; it is doubtful
whether he has ever been equalled ; it is certain
that he has never been surpassed. Courteous,
subtile, vigilant, resolute, too honest to be bribed,
too courageous to be intimidated, too shrewd to
be over-reached, it is impossible to overrate his
influence upon French policy. So minute and
accurate was his knowledge of every court in-
trigue, that the French Cabinet was literally
over-awed ; and his presence in Paris at this
juncture did more to keep France neutral than
all the fleets of Rooke, and all the prestige of
Marlborough. He had full and early informa-
tion of this great invasion scheme, and long be-
fore the expedition was ready to sail, the British
7 6 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Government was in possession of complete
details as to its design and destination. A vig-
orous and energetic remonstrance was at once
forwarded to the French Government, who felt
themselves compelled to disavow the expedition,
which was consequently rendered abortive.
Now, Mar was perfectly aware of the failure
of this scheme ; he knew, too, what excitement
and preparation it had caused among the Scottish
Jacobites. Before these effects had quite died
away he resolved to strike a blow, for he knew
not when so splendid an opportunity of avenging
himself on the English Government might again
present itself. His own personal influence in
the Highlands was considerable; and, backed by
a forged commission from James, he was con-
fident that in the existing temper of the chiefs
it would be irresistible. The result proved that
he was right. The Jacobites had not yet wholly
abandoned their attitude of expectancy they
were ready* to act, and when Mar presented
himself among them with his forged credentials,
and its Relative Literature. 77
and his announcement of the approach of the
promised succours from France, they took it for
granted that the original scheme had been re-
vived and was to be carried out in its entirety.
This delusion Mar fostered by the most un-
scrupulous and daring falsehoods, and the ad-
herents of the Stuarts rallied eagerly round his
standard. And so, this one man, prompted
solely by mortified pride, and selfish disappoint-
ment, and personal resentment, plunged the
whole country into a civil war, and risked the'
lives and properties of thousands in a cause for
which he had not one atom of affection, and
which he regarded only as an instrument to
further his own purposes.
The Pretender knew nothing of this insurrec-
tion until it was in full swing it was too late
then to declare that it had been commenced
without his sanction ; and besides, as it promised
to be successful, his advisers thought it politic
to overlook Mar's deception, and condone the
forgery of the commission by issuing a fresh
78 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
one, which was secretly substituted for the
forged document. Yet there can be little doubt
that if the enterprize had not worn such a rosy
hue at the commencement, they would have
repudiated it altogether, and left Mar to bear
all the odium of the failure. As it was, they
not only countenanced it, but took to themselves
the credit of having originated it, an assertion
which none but Mar could contradict, and that
only by criminating himself.
In a comparatively short time, Mar had col-
lected the largest army that ever marched under
the banner of the exiled Stuarts. But it had
not been collected without difficulty. Recruits
were only to be obtained in many cases by
severe compulsion. The " Cross of Fire," in-
deed, had been sent through the Highlands
after the gathering at Braemar, but it had lost
its magic power, apathy had chilled the spirit of
the Gael, the dread symbol no longer drew the
plaided warriors from lonely mountain-side and
sheltered glen in haste to the muster-place.
and its Relative Literature. 79
Other less romantic, but more efficacious, meas-
ures had to be resorted to on this occasion ; what
these were may be gathered from the following
letter of Mar to his bailiff at Kildrummie :
" Particularly, let my own tenants in Kildrummie
know, that if they come not forth with their best
arms, I will send a party immediately to burn
what they shall miss taking from them. And
they may believe this only a threat but, by all
that's sacred, I'll put it in execution, let my loss
be what it will, that it may be an example to
others." Press-gangs from one clan were em-
ployed to kidnap recruits from another, and thus
the ranks of the Jacobite army were filled. The
prisoners taken afterwards at Preston declared
-at their trial that they had been driven like
cattle to take arms, and that they had no option
whatever in the matter. In fact, they served as
little by choice as French conscripts or British
pressed-sailors. It was the same in 1745.
Marchant says, " At Dundee, the Duke of
Perth killed two of his own farmers for refusing
80 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
to rise at his command ; and the Lord Ogilvie
was very cruel to every one who denied him for
the same reason." These are specimens of the
gentle persuasion required to induce the loyal
Jacobites of the Highlands to take arms for their
beloved Sovereign! After this, who can say
that even in the Highlands Jacobitism had any
hold on the affections of the people ? Under
such circumstances there is little cause for won-
der in the fact that Mar succeeded in collecting
a large army, and still less cause for wonder that
his soldiers should have deserted by hundreds
whenever they had a chance.
It is only justice to Mar to admit that though
he was -solely responsible for the rising of 1715,
he was quite aware of his own incapacity as a
leader, and would have gladly given up the
command to any one who would have taken it
off his hands. But, strange to say, no one coveted
the distinction of commanding the Jacobite
army. The Duke of Atholl refused the prof-
fered honour point-blank ; the Earl of Seaforth
and its Relative Literature. 8 1
delayed his arrival to avoid it ; the Marquis of
Huntley allowed his religion to be pleaded as a
bar without a murmur, and indeed, probably
himself suggested the disqualification. And so,
Mar was forced to take the command of the
movement, which his own selfishness, and reck-
lessness, and petulance, had called into being.
We have no record of his personal feelings, but
it is hardly too much to imagine that they were
akin to those with which the hero of Mrs.
Shelley's wild romance viewed the monster
which his own hands had created.
And meanwhile, what were the temper and
attitude of the great bulk of the Scottish people ?
They were essentially loyal to the House of
Hanover. In the presence of immediate danger,
they remembered that freedom, and security, and
toleration, were blessings not likely to result from
a restoration of the Stuarts. The spirit which
animated them showed itself in the Appeal of
the Edinburgh Association, where almost for
the first time in the history of the period we
82 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
find the benefits of the Revolution calmly and
sensibly recognised. A short extract will serve
to illustrate its character : " Can we without
horror remember the unparalleled cruelties we
met with when a Popish interest and faction had
the ascendant ? Can we forget the remarkable
deliverance God made for us in breaking the
yoke of the arbitrary and tyrannical government,
by the great King William, in the late glorious
Revolution?" And much more in the same
strain, showing that Scotchmen did at last ap-
preciate the blessings of the Revolution. The
effect of the appeal was instantaneous. In every
town there sprung up a body of loyal men ready
to take arms for the House of Hanover. Edin-
burgh had her Associated Volunteers, Glasgow
her Burgher Guard, Dumfries its Company of
Loyal Bachelors, and Greenock and Paisley
were not behind hand in contributing their quota
of citizen soldiers. There was not a single town
or burgh of any size that did not give such
practical proofs of its loyalty as these. Had
and its Relative Literature. 83
England taken advantage of this burst of
enthusiasm, and given it timely encouragement,
I believe Scotland would alone and unaided
have crushed out the rebellion. But such a
policy did not commend itself to the wisdom of
English statesmen. The ministry, still ridicu-
lously prejudiced against Nonconformism in
every shape and form, looked with cold disfavour
upon this ebullition of Presbyterian loyalty.
They feared that it would clash with other
interests, and his Majesty was therefore advised
to answer the loyal address of the Edinburgh
Association with an intimation that sufficient
measures had already been adopted to secure the
defence of the country, and that he wished to save
his loyal subjects further trouble and expense!
Now, as it was notorious that there were not at
that moment three complete regiments of regular
troops in Scotland, and that England herself
was not in a position to scrape together a regular
army half the size of Mar's, the absurdity of this
statement was patent to every Scotchman, and
84 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
the insult which it conveyed was seen and felt
at once. As might have been expected, a sensi-
tive and high-spirited nation was indignant and
disgusted at conduct so cold, so unsympathetic,
so ungrateful and there was never again the
same readiness displayed to make sacrifices or
take arms for the House of Hanover.
It is not necessary to dwell upon the military
features of the affair of 1715. The mere fact
that Argyll, with a force of scarcely 3000 men,
was able to hold his own against an army of
upwards of 1 6,000 men, is sufficient proof of the
incapacity of the Jacobite leaders. But even their
incapacity could hardly have deprived them of
complete success had the forces under Macintosh
and Forster advanced to join Mar instead of
pursuing their mad and infatuated march into
England. Argyll, thus caught between two fires,
must have been crushed, and all Scotland would
have been at their feet. What the result would
have been in that case is of course only matter
for vague conjecture; but such a success might
and its Relative Literature. 85
have procured them the assistance of France, so
long promised, so long withheld, and the whole
current of events might have been changed.
But " the Gods willed otherwise."
It was in the full expectation of finding the
whole of Scotland in the hands of his victorious
generals that James, deceived by the glowing
rhapsodies of Mar, landed in his kingdom shortly
after the fatal disasters of Preston and Sherriff-
muir. His first sight of the shattered rem-
nants of Mar's dispirited and retreating army
dashed those hopes to the ground. It was a
cruel and unexpected blow, and James suc-
cumbed to it at once. He showed too plainly
by his looks that he despaired of his cause ; and
his presence, instead of raising, most effectually
damped the spirits of his followers.
At no time was his personal appearance pre-
possessing. The thin frame, enfeebled by dissi-
pation the languid air the dull sodden eye-
were not the characteristics of a hero. James
did not possess a single quality calculated to win
86 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
the hearts of his Scottish subjects. He was a
bigot and a coward. He had no sympathy with
his British lieges, and he showed that he had
none. If George I. was a German, James was
a Frenchman in heart and soul, and the one was
not more a foreigner in spirit than the other.
As licentious as Charles the Second,* the Pre-
tender had none of the Merry Monarch's don-
hommie. His profligacy was dull and stupid.
It had not even that false and meretricious
attractiveness which vice sometimes has when
allied to a genial temperament. It required no
very deep student of physiognomy to perceive
that this stolid and sensual face was not the face
of a generous Prince. And yet this was the
* ''The heir of one of the greatest names, of the greatest kingdoms, and
of the greatest misfortunes in Europe, was often content to lay the dignity of
his birth and grief at the wooden shoes of a French chambermaid, and to
repent afterwards (for he was very devout), in ashes taken from the dust pan.
'Tis for mortals such as these that nations suffer, that parties struggle, that
warriors fight and bleed ! A year afterwards gallant heads were falling, and
Nithisdale in escape, and Derwentwater on the scaffold 5 whilst the heedless
ingrate for whom they risked and lost all was tippling with his seraglio of
mistresses in his petite maison of Chaillot." Thackeray, Esmond.
and its Relative Literature. 87
man of whom Mar had told his Highland fol-
lowers " Without any compliment to him, and
to do him nothing but justice, set aside his being
a prince, he is really the finest gentleman I ever
saw." Lying was constitutional with the Earl,
he gave way to it on the slightest occasion, and
so he proceeded to dilate on "the good pre-
sence," the " fine parts," the affability and sweet
temper of this paragon of princes, whom he
declared " to be too good for his subjects ; to
have him, is more than they deserve ! " Even
this piece of flattery, however, was outdone by
the Episcopal clergy of Aberdeen, who presented
an address to the Pretender on his arrival in
their city, in which they had the effrontery to
utter this astounding falsehood : "Your princely
virtues are such that, in the opinion of the best
judges, you are worthy to wear a crown though
you had not been born to it ! " Could the force
of flunkeyism go further ? The bluff High-
landers, who were at least honest in the expres-
sion of their opinion, made no attempt to conceal
88 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
their disappointment and disgust at the unkingly
appearance of their King. They set great store
on physical gifts. They expected a man they
found an automaton.""
Had the Duke of Argyll pressed the Jaco-
bites with any degree of vigour after the battle of
Sheriff- Muir, there can be little doubt that the
Pretender would have fallen into his hands, and
the Rebellion would have been summarily stamp-
ed out instead of being allowed to die a lingering
death. And such a stern suppression would
probably have rendered the rising of '45 impos-
sible. But Argyll was a thoroughly fickle and
selfish politican ; he could not make up his mind
to devote himself honestly to any one side or
party. He thought that Jacobitism might, per-
haps, have sufficient vitality left in it yet to make
it worth his while to keep on good terms with
its supporters. His dilatory and vacillating
* The Highlanders, struck with James's cadaverous looks and want of
animation, asked repeatedly whether he was not an automaton. See
" Account by a Rebel Officer at Perth:''
and its Relative Literature. 89
movements, therefore, were prompted by trea-
sonable motives. And of this the Government
was so well aware, that when the Rebellion was
at an end they showed how little they attributed
the result to any conduct of his, by disgracing
him, and depriving him of his appointments a
punishment which he richly merited.
So ended, with the ignominious flight of James
and Mar, the Jacobite Rebellion of 1715, an
enterprize as feebly executed as it was rashly
conceived.
The conduct of the Government after the
suppression of the Rebellion has met with much
severe censure on the ground of its cruelty. I
think the charge is both unjust and undeserved.
Not more than thirty persons in all, including
the Earl of Derwentwater and Lord Kenmure,
were executed. That there was not much real
vindictiveness against the rebels may be gathered
from the general feeling of relief which per-
vaded the country at the news of the Earl of
Nithisdale's escape, a feat which he would
90 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
probably never have accomplished without the
connivance of his gaolers. The King himself
could not conceal his satisfaction when the
announcement was made to him, but exclaimed
heartily that " It was the best thing a man in
his condition could have done." The number
of escapes from prison was too great to have
been the effect of accident. It was generally
felt that it would not be politic to shed too much
blood and yet to pardon all the offenders would
only give encouragement to rebellions in the
future. The conduct of the Government, so far
from being vindictive, and bloodthirsty, displayed
as much mercy and moderation as was consistent
with the safety of established institutions and the
vindication of the rights of the people.
The alarm and excitement of the Rebellion
were succeeded in Scotland by a calm, during
which Church matters chiefly occupied public
attention. In this season of tranquillity the pro-
sperity of the country advanced with gigantic
strides. Yet, underlying all this appearance of
and its Relative Literature. 9 1
contentment, there was a current of discontent,
daily acquiring fresh strength from new griev-
ances, which were the offspring of a condition
of peace and wealth. The great Lowland land-
owners had found it more profitable to convert
their estates into immense pastures for cattle
than to allow them to remain split up into small
arable farms. To effect this change they had
to eject a large number of small farmers, to make
room for their enormous herds; and the ejected
farmers in consequence suffered great distress,
which in many cases, there is reason to believe,
was purposely aggravated by Jacobite landown-
ers, in order to goad the farmers into fury and
raise a spirit of discontent favourable to the
promotion of Jacobite schemes. Riots ensued;
and though they were easily suppressed, they
left a sore feeling in the country, which accounted
for the apathy with which the Lowland peasantry
and gentry, in 1745, regarded the progress of
the Jacobite arms and the danger which threat-
ened the institutions to which they had hereto-
92 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
fore been loyal. Then there was the Malt-Tax
agitation in the large towns the resolute and
systematic resistance to the payment of revenue
dues, which turned the whole nation, with the
honourable exception of Glasgow, into a smug-
gling community and, arising out of this, the
famous Porteous riots, which stirred the passions
of the people, and roused a good deal of the
old animosity against England. All these things
were so many helps to Jacobitism, and the Ja-
cobites judiciously availed themselves of them.
But meanwhile there had been growing up in
the country a spurious form of Jacobitism, which,
as distinguished from political and practical, I
may call sentimental or romantic Jacobitism.
In later years it wholly supplanted the other,
and was professed by those whose political prin-
ciples were utterly opposed to the doctrines of
genuine Jacobitism. As I shall have to deal
with the subject more in detail, when consider-
ing the ballad-literature of Jacobitism, I will only
say here that it owed its origin to those satirical
and its Relative Liter atiire. 93
and pathetic ballads, and was founded on a
sentiment of pity. Pity of itself, however, is not
a sufficiently powerful form of sympathy to
induce men to launch out into active measures;
and the Jacobites, who had built great hopes
upon the wide-spread diffusion of this sentimen-
tal Jacobitism, found this to their cost found
that they had mistaken a shallow sentiment for
a settled creed. I attribute both the success
and the failure of the Rebellion of 1745 to the
existence of this sentimental Jacobitism, and the
false hopes which it excited. Without the
enthusiasm which it inspired among those whose
sympathies and principles were already Jacobite,
that expedition would never have been possible ;
but at the same time the deceptive promise of
deeper loyalty and devotion which it gave, lured
the Jacobites to their ruin. It is a remarkable
and significant fact, that with all the enthusiasm
which his appearance excited, Charles Edward
was never at any time able to gather under his
standard even half the number of men that had
94 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
followed Mar in 1715. No better proof than
this is needed to show that Scottish Jacobitism
was a sentiment and not a principle.
In making this assertion I do not forget that
there were some families, both in Scotland and
England, in which the " Jacobite tradition " was
an abiding principle, which neither lapse of time
nor change of circumstances could destroy ; it
was a strange fanatical enthusiasm, not amen-
able to reason, not to be defended by logic, but
so strong and so earnest that those who held it
would, without a moment's hesitation, under any
circumstances, and at any time, have given up
life and lands home, and health, and liberty,
for the sake of the House of Stuart.
As to the real feelings of the great bulk of
shrewd and sensible Scotchmen, I have seen
them nowhere more soberly and clearly set forth
than in a letter written in 1 745 (at the very time
when Charles Edward was blockading Edinburgh
Castle, and issuing manifestos from Holyrood),
by Mr. Craik, a Dumfriesshire laird, to the
and its Relative Literature. 95
young Earl of Nithisdale, from which I quote
the following extract : " The present family,"
he says, " have now reigned over us these thirty
years; and though during so long a time they
may have fallen into errors, or may have com-
mitted faults (as what Government is without ?),
yet I will defy the most sanguine zealot to find
in history a period equal to this in which Scot-
land possessed so uninterrupted a felicity in
which liberty, civil and religious, was so univer-
sally enjoyed by all people, of whatever denom-
ination nay, by the open and avowed enemies
of the family and constitution or a period in
which all ranks of men have been so effectually
secured in their property. Have not trade,
manufactures, agriculture, and the spirit of indus-
try in our own country extended themselves
further during this period, and under this family,
than for ages before ? Has any man suffered
in his liberty, life, or fortune, contrary to law ?
Stand forth and name him if you can. Though
the King's person, his family, his government,
96 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
and his ministers have been openly abused a
thousand times in the most scurrilous and re-
proachful terms, could it ever provoke him to
one arbitrary act, or to violate those laws which
he had made the rule of his government ? Look
into the reigns of the Jameses and the Charleses,
and tell me whether these divine and hereditary
princes were guided by the same spirit of mild-
ness and forgiveness." There we have fairly
represented not only the sentiments of Scotch-
men, but also the actual condition of Scotland.
But while the Lowlands had thus increased in
wealth and prosperity, the Highlands had re-
mained stagnant the inhabitants were at least
a century behind their neighbours in civilization
they had no idea of utilizing their natural re-
sources and advantages, but were dependent
upon fishing and the humblest forms of agricul-
ture for subsistence. Hence the abject poverty
of the Highlanders; which was not confined to
the lower classes, but extended even to the
greatest nobles. To such shifts were they driven
and its Relative Literature. 97
to obtain money, that one nobleman, whose
name was a tower of strength in the Highlands,
derived by far the larger portion of his revenues
from a gambling-house which he had the privilege
of keeping in London, whilst another owned and
occasionally served in a glover's shop in Ayr.
So that there is no lack of precedents for modern
Scottish noblemen desirous of sending their
sons " into business." It is hard for us now to
conceive the absolute poverty of these great
Highland Chiefs many of whom scarcely knew
what it was to possess as much as ten shillings
at one time. It was this poverty, pervading all
classes, which made the Highlanders, from the
chief to the gillie, hail any new adventure with
delight as a possible means of repairing their
desperate fortunes. And this practical considera-
tion won more recruits for the Stuarts than any
sentiments of chivalry or romance. At the same
time it is only just to add, that it enhances
tenfold the fidelity, and devotion, and chivalrous
honour of the Highlanders towards their fugitive
98 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Prince with ,30,000 upon his head, to remember
how great and strong were the temptations both
to high and low to betray him. The reward of
treachery would have enriched a whole clan for
ever. And though fear was, perhaps, the
strongest element in a Highlander's fidelity, yet,
giving both to fear and superstition their full
due, there is a residuum of nobleness and high-
minded generous feeling left, which it is impos-
sible not to admire ; and that heart must be callous
indeed which does not feel some thrill of sym-
pathetic pride in a quality which so signally
adorns and elevates our common human nature.
I do not believe in the innate loyalty to the
House of Stuart which enthusiastic and fanatical
Jacobites claim as a feature of the Highland
clans, I think it never had any existence but in
the imaginations of writers who knew very little
of the real temper and habits of the Highlanders;
but I do believe in the simple, sincere, and single-
hearted spirit of chivalry and honour which kept
them faithful to a fallen prince and a ruined
and its Relative Literature. 99
cause, and which has given the Jacobite
Episode of 1 745 a romantic interest that Time
will never lessen nor critical investigation
destroy.
It would be superfluous to dwell upon the
events of 1745, seeing that they have been
celebrated by the pens both of historians and
romancers, though I confess it is often difficult
to decide where history ends and romance
begins, for the two have generally gone hand in
hand. In looking at the results of 1745, how-
ever, it must be remembered that though far
more prolific in events than the rebellion of
1715, it was not full of such deep significance
and importance to the Constitution. The rebel-
lion of 1715 was the test and trial of the
Hanoverian succession ; the Stuart dynasty
ended in Anne; it was to be seen whether the
country would really accept a King who was a
foreigner, and whether Whig principles would
stand the strain upon them. There was no such
significance or importance about the affair of
ioo The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
1745. The temper of the people had already
been tried, and proved to be, if not hostile to
Jacobitism, at least wholly indifferent to it. No
one who knew the forces at the disposal of the
English Government the moral force which lay
in the passive contentment of the people with
their existing institutions the physical force
which lay in vastly superior armies ever thought
for a moment that the success of the Jacobite
raid was within the range of possibility. Lazy
indifference or idle curiosity represented the
general attitude of the great mass of the people
in England,"'" and there was a disposition to let
the matter go on unchecked for a while to see
what would come of it, so confident was the
Government of being able to crush the rebellion
whenever it chose to exert itself. The throne
of England was never for one moment in danger,
and had not the Jacobite leaders wisely resolved
on a retreat when they reached Derby, there
can be little doubt that not a single man of
* See Letter from Gray to Walpole in the latter's published correspondence,
and its Relative L iterature. i o i
their army would ever have left England alive.
This was the opinion and belief of the Jacobite
chiefs themselves, with the sole exception of
Charles himself, who, with the foolish infatuation
and hot-headed impetuosity of a school-boy,
urged an advance upon London. The Chevalier
de Johnstone, who was with the Jacobite army
as aide-de-camp, both to the Prince and Lord
George Murray, and whose opinions on military
matters are always entitled to weight, says
plainly, "If we had continued to advance to
London, and had encountered all the troops of
England, with the Hessians and Swiss in its pay,
there was every appearance of our being imme-
diately exterminated, without the chance of a
single man escaping. Bravery, even when car-
ried the length of ferocity, cannot effect impossi-
bilities, and must necessarily yield to numbers."
There is a further contrast between 1715 and
1745 in this circumstance, that, while in the
former the tardy appearance of the Pretender
was distinctly detrimental to the cause, in the
i o 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
latter the presence of the Prince was the chief
reason for the temporary success of the move-
ment. For there can be no doubt that nine-
tenths of the enthusiasm which greeted Charles
Edward was a tribute paid to his personal
attractions, and not to the cause which he repre-
sented. Canny burghers and tender-hearted
dames wished "God-speed" to the young Prince,
whose " bonny " face and gracious manners took
their sympathies by storm, though beyond good-
wishes they were too prudent and cautious to
venture. And, indeed, Charles had every
physical gift of a popular leader. Handsome,
amiable, high-spirited, of striking appearance,
and singularly fascinating manners, he had also
the address to turn these natural endowments
to the very best advantage. He laid himself
out to captivate every one, and he succeeded.
He flattered the vanity, he appealed to the pride,
of Scotchmen of all classes. And, enchanted by
such condescension from a Prince, the thought
never occurred to them that this was all a piece
and its Relative Literature. 103
of clever acting a necessary adjunct to the
role which he had undertaken, and the character
which he had assumed. His success was natur-
ally greatest among the women, he danced with
them, he smiled upon them and forthwith they
were devoted Jacobites. And historians have
quite overlooked, I think, the importance of
their influence upon his fortunes. It is difficult
to overrate the pow r er which the women of a
country possess when they are animated, as in
this case, by one strong and common sentiment.
An eloquent but paradoxical modern writer has
stated his opinion that all war is woman's fault ;
that at any moment she might put an end to it
with less trouble than she takes every day to go
out to dinner, and that if every lady in the upper
classes of civilized Europe would simply vow
that while any cruel war proceeds she will wear
black, a mute's black with no jewel, no orna-
ment, no excuse for or evasion into prettiness
no war would last a week."" And looking at the
* Ruskin. " Crown of Wild Olive."
1 04 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
results^of women's influence recorded in history,
I do not think there is nearly as much extrava-
gance and exaggeration in that statement as in
most of Mr. Ruskin's utterances. Be this as it
may, there can be no doubt that feminine
influence had a very powerful effect in paving
the way for Charles Edward's success in Scot-
land. Lord-Advocate Forbes recognised that
influence, and complains bitterly of it. Speaking
of 1745, he says, in one of his letters, "All
Jacobites, how prudent soever, became mad; all
doubtful people became Jacobites; and all bank-
rupts became heroes, and talked of nothing but
hereditary right and victory; and, what was
more grievous to men of gallantry, and if you
will believe me, much more mischievous to the
country, all the fine ladies, if you will except one
or two, became passionately fond of the young
Adventurer, and used all their arts and industry
for him in the most intemperate manner." What
Charles Edward afterwards owed to the heroism
and devotion of a woman every child knows, and
and its Relative Literatiire. 105
yet this man, who was more indebted to women
than any other man living, perhaps, could write
thus of them in his later- years " As for men, I
have studied them closely, and were I to live
till fourscore I could scarcely know them better
than I do ; but as for women, I have thought it
useless, they being so much more wicked and
impenetrable " ! Such was the gratitude of a
Stuart !
Of the personal character of Charles Edward,
putting aside these outward graces and attrac-
tions, there is not much to be said that is
favourable. But it would be unfair to pass any
judgment upon his character, without taking
into consideration the surroundings amidst
which he had been brought up. The moral
atmosphere of that mock-court at Rome would
have been fatal to the growth of any young
life. Meddlers of all kinds, ruined soldiers,
broken-down statesmen, shifty priests, sur-
rounded the two boys then growing up to an
inheritance of false hopes and idle great-
1 06 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
ness.'" There they were taught to cherish absurd
and extravagant notions of the royal prerogative
and the divine right of kings. And the result
was, that Charles Edward never felt that grati-
tude for the services rendered him by his
followers in Scotland which they expected and
deserved, because it never occurred to him that
they were doing anything more than their duty.
He accepted the sacrifices made in his behalf
as his right, and he could not see that any par-
ticular credit attached to acts which were in his
view the simple duties which a subject owed
to his sovereign. Hence the charge of ingrati-
tude against him. But it would be a thankless
task to dwell upon all his faults. Superficially
he was a high-spirited and amiable young man-
impetuous and sanguine, but with not one of the
solid qualities of a leader or a ruler. He was
essentially a weak man, a creature of impulse.
Not a single exploit in the Jacobite Episode of
* See a graphic description in Mrs. Oliphant's " Historical Sketches of
the Reign of George II.," from which these details are taken.
and its Relative Literature. 107
1 745 can be traced to any skill or daring of his
or to any spark of military dash, invention, or
genius on his part. Whenever he interfered he
did mischief. It was he who proposed, and,
against the advice of all his wisest counsellors,
insisted upon the march into England. When-
ever his wilful obstinacy was opposed, he knew
that he had but to cast a taunt of cowardice in
the teeth of the oldest Highland chief to scatter
all his prudence and judgment to the winds,
and he meanly and ungenerously availed him-
self of this weapon whenever the wiser counsels
of his veterans clashed with his own impetuous
schemes. When he was unable to carry his
wild project of advancing upon London from
Derby, he behaved like a spoiled child deprived
of a toy. He was by turns reckless, sullen, and
passionate. From that time he displayed no
manliness, no fortitude, nor any single great or
good quality. His character could not stand the
searching test of adversity, and, unfortunately,
he had a more than ordinary share of that bitter
1 08 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
medicine. Without accepting any of the ex-
treme charges against him, and leaving out of
sight his miserable end, I cannot see how any
candid critic of his character can for a moment
endorse the eulogies of those who maintain that
he was the best of all the Stuarts, and that, had
he come to the throne, his virtues as a monarch
would have transcended those of any of his
predecessors. These are the foolish exaggera-
tions of prejudiced and fanatical partizans, and
I see nothing in the character of Charles
Edward, as fairly portrayed by the hands of
unbiassed limners, to lead me to regret for one
moment that he never ascended the throne of
Great Britain.
The young Prince having been the life and
soul of the enterprize of 1745, it naturally
collapsed as soon as he withdrew from it. But
there were many who believed that Culloden
was far from a decisive battle, and that had the
Prince presented himself at the gathering of
Highlanders, which took place shortly afterwards
and its Relative Literature. 109
at Ruthven, he might have continued the struggle
with no small chance of success. It is certain
that the Highlanders were terribly disappointed
at his declining to listen to their earnest entreaty
to come and put himself at their head, and, with
sullen reluctance, dispersed to their homes, vow-
ing that for the second time they had been
abandoned by a Prince at the crisis when his
presence was most needed. Of the cruelties
which stained the victory of Culloden, so much
has been said that it would be idle to say more.
Leaving a wide margin for exaggeration, they
were still inexcusable, though probably not worse
than those which usually mark the suppression of
a rebellion very little, if any, worse for example
than those inflicted upon the Sepoys after the
Mutiny of 1859. The Duke of Cumberland
was indeed a strict martinet, and had been
brought up in a stern school, but he was not the
ferocious fiend which his enemies have repre-
sented him. His heart was not impervious to
generous and tender sentiments, though he
no The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
certainly had few of these to spare for the rebels.
But then there was a cause for this sternness.
He knew that it was the intention of the rebel
generals, had they been victorious, to show no
quarter to the English troops, for Lord George
Murray's orders for the day fell into his hands,
and they were as follows :
" It is His Royal Highness's positive orders
that every person attach himself to some corps
of the army, and remain with the corps night
and day until the battle and pursuit be finally
over, and to give no quarter to the Electors troops
on no account whatsoever. This regards the foot
as well as the horse. The order of battle is to
be given to every general officer, and every
commander of a regiment or squadron. It is
required and expected of each individual in the
army, as well officer as soldier, that he keep the
post he shall be allotted; and if any man turn
his back to run away, the next behind such man
is to shoot him. Nobody, upon pain of death, to
strip the slain or plunder until the battle is over.
and its Relative Literature. 1 1 1
The Highlanders to be kilts, and nobody to
throw away their guns.
(Signed), GEORGE MURRAY,
Lieutenant- General."
There has never been any satisfactory ex-
planation of this order from the Jacobite point
of view, nor have there been any proofs adduced
to support the assertion that it was a forgery.
And the marked difference in the conduct of
the Royal troops before and after Culloden, is
favourable to the theory that the exasperation
caused by this revelation of the intentions of the
rebels prompted many of the excesses perpe-
trated by the English soldiery after their victory.
It is not the only instance of Jacobite cruelty
to be met with in the annals of Jacobitism.
The devastation of Auchterarder in 1715* the
abandonment of the garrison of Carlisle in 1745,
the deliberate proposal of a Scottish gentleman
of high rank to cut off the thumbs of all the
prisoners taken at Falkirk, in order to incapaci-
1 1 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
tate them from holding muskets, are not very
creditable to the humanity of those concerned
in them.
In considering the ruthless measures adopted
by the Duke of Cumberland in stamping out
the Rebellion, it must, however, be remembered
that to him the Jacobites were merely rebels
taken in arms against their lawful sovereign.
In his eyes they were not invested with any of
that romantic heroism with which a later age
has credited them. They were just common-
place insurrectionists, and nothing more; and it
is unreasonable to expect that a victorious
general, who has just overcome a determined
resistance, should regard his enemies with that
generous appreciation which is only possible to
the dispassionate critics of a subsequent genera-
tion. And it must also be remembered that it is
peculiarly characteristic of the Jacobite insurrec-
tions, and the incidents connected with them,
that they have been viewed through the coloured
light of feelings arising since their extinction,
and its Relative Literature. 1 1 3
instead of in that cold light of truth which at
the time surrounded the deeds done and the
men who did them.
The judicial executions which supplemented
Cumberland's rigorous measures have also been
subjected to the harshest criticism, which is not
wholly undeserved. But the arguments adduced
in favour of greater clemency are certainly not
such as to convince us that the English Govern-
ment was transgressing the bounds of reasonable
severity. Take the following as an example :
"Men so true to an ill-fated cause would have
been faithful to any engagements which required
them to abandon their efforts in that cause, under
the influence of gratitude for clemency, but too
imperfectly understood in those turbulent and
merciless times." * The sophistry of that argu-
ment is patent. If really faithful to the cause,
such men would have died rather than have dis-
owned it. If they had renounced it, would not
the fact that they had been faithless to one cause
* Thomson's " Memoirs of the Jacobites."
H
H4 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
under pressure of circumstances, render their
fidelity to another suspicious ? But men like
these would have given no pledge to bind them
to abandon the cause which they had served so
devotedly, would it then have been wise or safe
to set them free without any guarantee of their
abstaining from all insurrectionary movements
in the future ? * The experience of 1715 gave
a direct answer in the negative.
But it is not on the inglorious triumph of
Culloden, nor on its dark and bloodstained
sequel, that our thoughts dwell in contemplating
the episode of 1745. It is rather on that gallant
* "No government can extend to defeated insurgents the privilege of pri-
soners of war, without opening the way to continued insecurity and causing
more public misery than the utmost severity can create. The security which
nations have against the turbulent dispositions of their neighbours is, that they
cannot be assailed by isolated collections of individuals ; the State itself must
make war. But if a government were to treat all the individual subjects who
disturb its order with the etiquette due to nations making war with it, all
guarantee for internal tranquillity would vanish. No diplomatic interchanges,
no consultations of other powers, no formal government arrangements and
preliminaries would be necessary. Whenever interest or passion excited them
with sufficient force, bands of the people would rise against any government,
however beneficent, if the alternative were success or a treaty without punish-
ment." Burton, Vol. II., pp. 207-8.
"The rebel who bravely ventures has forfeited his life." Gibbon.
and its Relative Literature. 1 1 5
young hero who forms its central figure on his
brief and meteoric course the short fourteen
months of glory in which his sun shone so
brightly, only to be wrapped in clouds before its
noon, and to set in darkness and disgrace. Nor
do I envy the man whose heart denies all
sympathy to the outlawed Prince wandering,
hunted, and forlorn, through the wild western
islands or whose imagination cannot realize the
mournful pathos of the exile's last farewell, as
with tearful eyes and bursting heart he takes his
last look at the land of his hopes the scene of
his dazzling and romantic triumph while the
little vessel bears him away from it for ever, to
close a bright career in the pursuit of sordid
ends and the indulgence of ignoble vices.
It has been my object in the present essay
rather to trace the feelings and sentiments of
the Scottish people, and show their bearing
upon political events, than to give any connected
narrative of historical incidents. And I should,
1 1 6 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
therefore, be omitting a very important feature,
were I to conclude without some remarks on
the literature of the period, where it is but
natural to look for the best reflex of the national
sentiments. I shall confine myself to the
"literature which illustrates those sentiments, and
pass over the purely historical chronicles which
the period produced.
And, first, there are the personal records of
those who were actors in these events, to whom
we are indebted for an insight into the charac-
ters of the prominent men of the time, and the
motives which prompted their actions. Of
these, the limited space at my disposal will only
allow me to touch upon a few of the most
important. Taking them in order of time, I
notice first the Memoirs of Lochiel. These
Memoirs, supposed to have been written by Sir
John Drummond, supply much interesting and
valuable information as to the early period of
the Jacobite episode. They are the history of
an epoch as well as the record of the career of
and its Relative Literature. 1 1 7
a great man. For Ewen Cameron, the subject
of them, was that famous Lochiel of whom
General Monk wrote in his despatches, " No
oath shall be required of Lochiel to Cromwell,
but his word to live in peace "; he was Dundee's
right hand in 1689, and he survived to witness
the rising of 1715. These memoirs of his life
and times, therefore, embrace the whole of the
first portion of the Jacobite episode; and they
are remarkable not only for the light they throw
upon the career of a chieftain who, take him for
all in all, had no equal either in ability or in-
fluence among all his Scottish contemporaries,
but also as giving sketches of the characters of
most of the leading men in Scotland at that
time, sketches drawn from personal observation,
and, though necessarily biassed, yet on the
whole commendably moderate in tone.
Very different are the Lockhart Papers, by
George Lockhart, of Carnwath, a most pro-
nounced, and I might almost say, fierce Jacobite,
the character of which may be surmised from the
1 1 8 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
fact that it was their author's intention that they
should not be published until after his death,
when public feeling should have calmed down,
and when the disclosures which they contained
could hurt no one. But the manuscript was lent
to a faithless friend, who gave it to a public
scrivener to transcribe, and the latter kept back a
copy which he sold to a publisher. They were
published in 1719, and, to Lockhart's dismay,
this outspoken expression of opinion, with all its
bitter criticisms and severe strictures, burst like
a thunderbolt upon friends and foes alike, and
created consternation and commotion every-
where. The 'style of the Papers is caustic and
incisive, full of happy and often brilliant touches
of satire and irony. They are marked, too, by
a fair and candid tone, except when the authors
of the Union come under the writer's scalpel.
Then his wrath and indignation are too much
for his judgment. Indeed, he confesses as
much. "Tis true," he says, "my indignation
against the betrayers of my country is so great
and its Relative Liter at^l,re. 119
I never could nor will speak or write otherwise
of them; but, when it does not induce me to
deviate from the truth, on so provoking a
subject I may be granted that grain of allow-
ance which you know is never refused losing
gamesters." That allowance I am sure all
readers, whatever their political opinions, will
be ready to grant in consideration of the amuse-
ment and information which the Papers afford
them.
The Memoirs of the Master of Sinclair cover
the same period, and are of a somewhat similar
type, but with the bitterness and satire intensi-
fied tenfold. To such extreme lengths does the
author carry his acrid sarcasm, that Sir Walter
Scott, although he supplied an Introduction and
Notes to the Memoirs, was deterred from pub-
lishing them lest the malignant and scathing
criticism of contemporaries should even then
give pain to persons still living, and the Memoirs
consequently remained unpublished till 1858.
They abound in graphic and sarcastic pictures
120 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
of the depravity, meanness, profligacy, and
treachery, which were the most prominent
characteristics of the times. The Master of
Sinclair had been chief of " The Grumblers," as
they were called, in Mar's camp, and upon Mar
he pours all the vials of his wrath and bitterness.
Indeed, the persistent malignity of his attack
defeats its object, and there was surely no need
to devote so much energy and earnestness to
the task of painting Mar in blacker colours than
those in which he appeared to all who knew him.
Like Lockhart, the Master rages with impotent
fury against the Treaty of Union he calls it
Mar's first and greatest political crime, " the
blackest and atrociousest of crimes, never to be
forgiven by God Almighty, and I think ought
never to be forgiven and impossible to be for-
gotten by men." It is a characteristic of these
Memoirs, and indeed of all the contemporary
records of personal experience and opinion, that
they contain a complete exposure of the motives
and conduct of the men who figured in the
and its Relative Literature. 1 2 1
Jacobite intrigues, and by introducing us to the
actors, and enabling us to hear what they have
to say of one another, utterly disperse those
notions of the singleness of purpose, the dis-
interested devotion, and the untarnished honour
of the Jacobite leaders which romancers have
striven to inculcate. From the revelations here
given we find that the chief object of a public
man of those days was to find out which side it
would best suit his own ends to belong to
for the time being, and that he would go to
extreme shifts of meanness and treachery to
assure himself on this important point. The
ordinary vision of a Jacobite hero, chivalrous and
self-sacrificing, vanishes into thin air when we
are thus let behind the scenes. But what the
Master of Sinclair tells us of his contemporaries
must be taken ctim grano salts, for his own
antecedents will not bear close investigation.
His two so-called duels with the brothers Schaw
were murders, pure and simple, and there is
plenty of contemporary evidence to show that
1 2 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
he was ruthless, vindictive, ferocious, and malig-
nant. His sketches of his fellow-rebels are
trenchant and clever; but when he describes them
as a collection of knaves and cut-throats, worse
than the riff-raff that followed David to the Cave
of Adullam, one is inclined to say, that, if it were
so, they could hardly have had a fitter com-
panion than the Master himself, whose portrait
I think is pretty correctly hit off in the following
stanza of a contemporaneous ballad :
The master with the bully's face,
And with the coward's heart,
Who never failed, to his disgrace,
To act a coward's part.
The Culloden Papers are another important
contribution to the literature which really re-
flects the manners and sentiments of the period.
They are a collection of documents selected and
arranged from papers discovered in Culloden
House, the family mansion of the Forbeses, in
1812, and consist chiefly of correspondence
ranging over the period from 1625-1748. The
and its Relative Literature. 123
later portion, containing the correspondence of
Duncan Forbes, Lord Advocate, is the most
interesting, enriched as it is by letters from Sir
Robert Walpole, the Dukes of Newcastle and
Argyll, Lords Hardwicke and Mansfield,
Speaker Onslowe, General Oglethorpe, and
many others in England, besides all the famous
men in Scotland without exception. Not the
least valuable item in their contents are the
Memoranda of Duncan Forbes himself, repre-
senting a view taken on the spot of a period of
Scottish history and manners the features of
which are well worthy to be retained, although
the last links which bound it to our own age
are now dissolved. But here, as in the Memoirs
already referred to, the most important feature
is the clue which these letters afford to the
motives which prompted the Highland chiefs to
join the Pretender. So far from being actuated
by heroic and affectionate loyalty to an exiled
and suffering race of kings, it is abundantly
clear that the great majority were directed by
1 24 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
principles just as selfish, and by views just as
personal, as ever guided men in the most pru-
dently conducted concerns of business. Under
the light of these letters, the ideal gallantry of
the Highland chiefs melts into plain, ordinary
political selfishness or ambition. But while
lairds and lords cut but a poor figure, the char-
acter of Duncan Forbes shines out in its true
lustre. It is indeed a noble picture of a Scottish
patriot that we have here presented to us one
who preferred his country's rights to any party
in the State, and who, while acting as the steady
friend of government and order, could yet come
boldly forward as the earnest and eloquent media-
tor for his misguided fellow-countrymen, when
the punishment proposed seemed to him greater
than justice required or their crime deserved.
There was no scheme for promoting the welfare,
the progress, and the prosperity of the country
that did not owe its success to the help of
Duncan Forbes. There is no character in
Scottish history, from the Revolution to the
and its Relative Literatiire. 125
Rebellion of 1745, of which Scotsmen of all
parties have more reason to be proud. A man
of generous and ardent sympathies, a gentleman
of stainless reputation and unsullied honour, a
patriot pure and disinterested, a statesman of
consummate wisdom, of liberal principles, of
enlightened understanding, such is Duncan
Forbes as we have him revealed to us in the
Culloden Papers.
With the exception of some portions of the
Culloden Papers, there is a singular dearth of
personal testimony as to the events, the senti-
ments, and the motives of 1745. The histories
of Home, Marchant, Boyse, and Henderson,
indeed, embody scraps of personal experience
and narratives of events by eye-witnesses, but
they give little real information of any kind as
to the feelings and sentiments prevailing in the
country, and least of all any honest contemporary
criticism of men and measures. In this respect
they are quite colourless, for such was the
peculiar temper of the time, that it was not safe
126 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
to be too plain-spoken on either side. Home's
History of the Rebellion is a remarkable
instance of this cautious reserve. Impartiality
was the professed aim of every writer, but I
confess my faith in Mr. Samuel Boyse's "Im-
partial History of the Rebellion" was some-
what shaken by the ominous appearance of the
title-page, which contains a flattering portrait of
the Duke of Cumberland, with the legend,
" Ecce Homo"! And as for Mr. Henderson,
his sensitiveness and delicacy render him so
susceptible of anything likely to hurt Hano-
verian prejudices, that he does not even venture
to give the Pretender's name in full when he
thinks it would be offensive; and when nar-
rating the scene at Balmerino's execution, he
modestly and discreetly veils the awful treason
of the stout Earl's last exclamation, by the use
of blanks and dashes, thus, " God save K
J s and all his R 1 F y"!
It is a relief to turn from such colourless and
insipid narratives to the racy pages of the
and its Relative Literature. 127
Chevalier de Johnstone, whose Memoirs of the
Rebellion of 1745 are characterized not only by
considerable literary talent, but by candour,
impartiality, and shrewd observation. The
Chevalier is an outspoken critic, he is never
afraid to say boldly and bluntly what he thinks.
He had a high opinion of Lord George Murray,
and he says so. He had a poor opinion of
Prince Charles Edward, and he says so. " Had
Prince Charles," he says, " slept during the whole
of the expedition, and allowed Lord George
Murray to act for him, there is every reason
for supposing that he would have found the
Crown of Great Britain on his head when he
awoke." And again, "All that we can say is,
that the Prince entered on this expedition rashly
and without foreseeing the personal dangers to
which he was about to expose himself; that in
carrying it on, he always took care not to expose
his person to the fire of the enemy, and that he
abandoned it at a time when he had a thousand
times more reason to hope for success than when
1 28 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
he left Paris to undertake it." For thus daring
to express an opinion adverse to the Prince, the
Chevalier, who had special opportunities of
forming a correct opinion on this point, having
acted as aide-de-camp both to the Prince and
Lord George Murray, has been called to severe
account by such Jacobite writers as Sir Walter
Scott, Mr. Robert Chambers, and Lord Mahon.*
And because his opinion does not tally with their
preconceived ideas of their darling Prince, they
have besmirched his fame with foul imputations
and done their best to throw discredit upon
every statement in his Memoirs. Nevertheless,.
I think the Chevalier will hold his own as the
fairest and ablest critic of the Rebellion of 1745*
I may say in passing, that the Episode of '45
has been singularly rich in chroniclers of a later
date. Sir Walter Scott, Mr. Chambers, and
Lord Mahon, may be said to have fairly ex-
* I have alluded to Earl Stanhope by his older title, because it is the one
by which he is best known as a historian ; and I have classed him as a Jacobite
writer because, whatever his proclivities on other occasions, in his treatment
of the Episode of '45 his bias and leaning are too plain to be mistaken.
and its Relative Literature. 129
hausted the subject from a Jacobite point of
view. Mr. Chambers's History is the most
valuable of these contributions as an antiquarian
record, inasmuch as it incorporates and pre-
serves a number of old local and personal tradi-
tions which would otherwise most likely have
been suffered to die out or become so distorted
by oral repetition as to be practically valueless.
But the pronounced Jacobite sympathies of all
these writers will always render their works liable
to the charge of unfair partiality, and will never
suffer them to take rank as history. The fact is,
that any writer with warm sympathies and a
vivid imagination, is in danger of being biassed
in favour of Jacobitism, unless he has judgment
equal to the control of his feelings. For Jaco-
bitism is peculiarly rich in episodes which
appeal to generous and poetic sentiment. It
has enlisted all the poets and romancers on
its side, and they have done more to falsify
history than any amount of patient and honest
investigation can ever wholly undo. And I
1 30 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
cannot help feeling that it is Mr. Burton's want
of imagination which constitutes his greatest
claim to be listened to with respect and deference
as the historian of this period; whatever his
history for this reason may lack in picturesque-
ness, it gains in fidelity and truthfulness.
But it is time now to turn to by far the most
important branch of the literature of the Jacobite
Episode its ballads. Never was any period
in the history of any country so rich in this
species of literature as the Jacobite period in
Scottish History. There is no event of any im-
portance, from the Revolution to the battle of
Culloden, which has not its commemorative
ballad, often two or three. Of the adventures
of Charles Edward in 1745 there is not a single
incident, no matter how minute, that has not
been preserved in verse. Every alternation of
hope and despair is chronicled in song. And
the history of the Jacobite Episode may be
traced with far more clearness and minuteness
in this continuous series of ballads than in any
and its Relative Literature. 131
professedly historical work which has ever ap-
peared or probably ever will appear. But this is
not the only nor the greatest merit which the
Jacobite Ballads possess. They are effusions of
real passion the faithful and graphic expression
of emotions which inspired those who composed
them, and found an echo in those who listened
to them. Moreover, their intrinsic literary ex-
cellence as lyrical compositions is not their least
remarkable feature. For the Jacobite ballad
writers were true poets they knew how to
appeal to the hearts of their hearers in strains
which moved pity, or wrath, or laughter, or scorn,
or enthusiasm, according as the writer wished
the subject to affect those for whom he wrote.
And many, perhaps most, of these ballad- writers
were of the humblest origin ; for there is a
depth of romantic and poetical feeling in the
lower ranks of the Scottish people, which one
would look for in vain amongst the same class
in England. And the Jacobites seemed to
have enjoyed a monopoly of this poetic senti-
132 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
ment. If the sound principles were all on one
side, all the good poetry was on the other; for
it would be hard to find more tame and spirit-
less productions than those of the Whig bards.
But wit is generally on the losing side in politics
and the successful ballad is very seldom the
accompaniment of the successful cause. This
is even more true of the satirical than of the
sentimental ballad. It has been well said, that
the satirical Muse thrives only in opposition,
and the Government which provokes the bitter-
est satire is generally the most long-lived. All
the exquisite poetry, and humour, and invective
of the Jacobite Muse were powerless to shake
the stability of the Whig monarchy. Yet it
would not be correct, on that account, to assume
that the influence attributed to this pathetic and
satirical literature of Jacobitism has been exag-
gerated. It was unquestionably a power, and
a very effective power, in the country. The
memories of Jacobitism, chequered as they were,
and with little of glory in them, were full of
and its Relative Literature. 133
that pathos and sadness which afford the poet
his best subjects, and work more powerfully
upon the sympathies and feelings of an imagina-
tive and simple people, than all the achieve-
ments of successful renown. It was these
ballad- writers who made Jacobitism capable of
inspiring that dangerous sentiment of pity,
which has done more to bolster up many a
weak and worthless cause than the arms of its
supporters. And the Jacobite ballads are
peculiarly rich in such moving appeals. In the
ballads of no other age or country is there to be
found so much genuine and touching pathos.
It would be impossible to overrate the influence
which the wild plaintive minstrelsy, embalming
the memories of 1689, 1715, and 1719, had
upon the susceptible Celtic nature of the High-
landers. There was a fascination about the
new ideas thus associated with the old familiar
melodies, which took a strange hold upon the
Highland fancy. For the Jacobite minstrels
were quick-witted enough to perceive that the
1 34 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
surest way to make their ballads popular, was
to wed them to the music of those beautiful and
simple national airs, which charmed even the
Saxon ear of Dryden. It was fortunate, per-
haps, that this influence produced its strongest
effects after the last hope of a successful rebel-
lion had been quenched at Culloden. For the
sixty years which succeeded 1745, Scotland was
more thoroughly Jacobite in her sympathies
than she had ever been when there was a
chance of Jacobitism being successful. There
arose then that romantic, ideal, or sentimental
Jacobitism, of which I have already spoken,
which had no connection with the principles of
the Stuart Government. Indeed, had a restor-
ation been effected, those principles would have
effectually destroyed all the romance with which
the ballad-writers had succeeded in investing a
forlorn and hopeless cause. But, as it was,
there could be no danger in chanting the dirge
of a dead dynasty. All the poetry and romance
of Scotland clustered round Jacobitism. " The
and its Relative Literature. 135
Muses are all Jacobites," said Burns and his
own happiest lyrical efforts, as well as those of
Scott, and Hogg, and Cunningham, were in-
spired by imitation of the ballads of '45.
But it is time to examine some of the features
of these Jacobite ballads. It is unfortunate that
we have no sure test of the genuineness of a very
large number which have been admitted into
published collections. For where there is any
doubt of their being contemporary effusions,
their value, as expressions of popular feeling, is
very much lessened. Indeed, their only value
is as reflections of the emotions and passions and
sentiments of the time when the events to which
they refer occurred. We may admire the poet-
ical beauty of the imitations of later writers, for
example, some exquisite ballads of Lady Nairn,
but they have no historical interest. The
Ettrick Shepherd was an indefatigable coiner
of these spurious Jacobite ballads, which he
palmed off upon the public as genuine produc-
tions. There is one admirable song which
136 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
appeared in his " Jacobite Relics," and which for
sly and characteristic Scotch humour is unrivalled,
"Donald's gane up the hill hard and hungry;
Donald comes down the hill wild and angry,"
to which he subjoins this note, " A capital old
song, and very popular." And yet will it be
believed, the old rascal concocted the song
himself, and afterwards, when he was taxed with
the offence, admitted it and boasted "of it! How
many more such spurious ballads and songs may
still be passing for genuine, it is impossible to
say. But when we find Shenstone's "Jemmy
Dawson," and Swift's " Verses on the Union," to
say nothing of Campbell's " Lochiel," and no
end of songs by Burns, admitted into collections
of "Jacobite Ballads," it is impossible to tell
when we have got hold of a genuine old Jacobite
ballad and when we have got hold of an ingen-
ious imitation. A weeding process is strongly
needed, if there were only some one qualified to
undertake the task. I hope the publishers of
and its Relative Literature. 137
the new edition of Jacobite songs and melodies
will endeavour to secure the services of an editor
who will set himself honestly to the task of
separating the genuine from the spurious.
In the hands of the Ettrick Shepherd, and
some other dishonest politicians of his day, the
Jacobite ballads were made to serve a political
purpose which it would be impossible to censure
too harshly. There was a party in the State at
that time animated by a rabid hatred of popular
principles ; they disliked a free and rational
government; they would rather have seen a king
unfettered by a parliament, a judge unchecked
by a jury, and a press free only to praise the
stronger side. To promulgate such doctrines
openly was not safe; so the advocates of these
measures ventilated their views by disguising
them under sympathy with and eulogy of the
Jacobites, and by stamping with every mark of
opprobium and ridicule the great men to whom
we owe our present Constitution. Hogg iden-
tified himself with this movement, and his
1 38 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
" Jacobite Relics " are disfigured by notes full of
personal and political invective.
Such were some of the illegitimate uses which
the Ballads were made to serve. Of their
legitimate effects in raising a sentimental sym-
pathy with Jacobitism, I have already spoken.
There are few, probably, who are not, even at
this day, familiar with the effect of a plaintive
and pathetic Jacobite song rendered by a
woman's voice. It is wonderful what pathos an
expressive singer can throw into one of those
sweet lyrics bewailing the misfortunes of Charlie.
It must be a hard heart that is not melted by
the melancholy strain. It must be a dull spirit
too that is not kindled into enthusiasm by the
martial air and stirring words of " Bonnie Dun-
dee." We feel the effect of such melodies even
now what must they have been when every
incident was fresh in the memories of men and
women who had felt all the excitement of '15
and '45 ? We can hardly wonder at the effects
of such a ballad as " The King shall enjoy his
and its Relative Literature. 139
own again," or "Carle, an' the King come,"
which are said to have done more to re-animate
the hopes of the Stuarts than all the promises
of the French Court, and all their own tem-
porary successes in arms or intrigue."" But I
have often heard it said that, powerful and
telling as these spirited and pathetic ballads are
when they have the advantage of a woman's
sweet voice to give them their most winning
charm, their effect is not to be compared with
that produced by one of the fiercely satirical
ballads, rendered with proper force, and energy,
and emphasis. To hear an old Scottish lawyer,
after his second bottle of port, pour forth the
whole savageness of his soul in the mingled
satire and blasphemy of that wonderfully power-
ful, but horribly grotesque ballad, " Cumberland
and Murray's Descent into Hell"
* It is only fair, however, to state that there were some ballads produced
on the Whig side, which had an almost equally remarkable effect on popular
feeling. Thomas, Marquis of Wharton, the author of the famous song of
" Lillibulero," used to boast, and not without reason, that with this one song
he had " sung a king out of three kingdoms."
1 40 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
" Ken ye whaur cleekie Murray's gane ?
He's gane to dwell in his lang hame,"
this, I have been told, was something still more
characteristic, national, and exciting.
But in considering the influence of these bal-
lads, it must never be forgotten that the object
of all such effusions is to distort and exaggerate.
They are not to be trusted as strictly faithful
pictures of men or manners. Voltaire, speaking
of the tendency of such literature in his time,
says " II y a encore une grande source d'erreurs
publiques parmi nous et qui est particuliere a
notre nation. C'est le gout des vaudevilles.
On en fait chaque jour sur les personnes les plus
respectables et on entend tous les jours calom-
nier les vivans et les morts sur ces beaux fonde-
mens. Ce fait (dit on) est vrai, c'est une chan-
son qui 1'atteste." Voltaire was mistaken, how-
ever, in supposing that this was a peculiarity of
the French nation, or, if it were so when he wrote,
it did not long continue to be. There can be
no question that the tendency of these Jacobite
and its Relative Literature. 141
ballads, as of all other such compositions, is to
burlesque the characters and the events they
celebrate. It would be dangerous therefore to
accept them as being anything more than indi-
cations of the temporary current of popular
feeling, while at the same time it would be un-
wise to disregard them altogether. For, as John
Selden sententiously puts it,* " Though some
make light of libels (lampoons), yet you may see
by them how the wind sits; as take a straw and
throw it up into the air, you shall see by that
which way the wind is, which you shall not do
by casting up a stone. More solid things do
not show the complexion of the times so well
as ballads and libels." It has been urged against
Lord Macaulay, that he has carried this theory
to excess. " Give Macaulay,"t says a recent
writer, " an insulated fact or phrase, a scrap of
a journal, or the tag end of a song, and on it,
by the abused prerogative of genius, he would
construct a theory of national or personal char-
* Selden, " Table-Talk." f Paget, " New Examen."
1 4 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
acter which should confer undying glory or in-
flict indelible disgrace." And indeed so frequent
is this habit with Macaulay, that it has added
greatly to that general distrust of his accuracy
and impartiality which has been steadily growing
among historical critics, and will soon oust him
from the place he now falsely holds as a faithful
and truthful historian. It is safer and wiser
therefore to accept Voltaire's maxim rather than
Selden's.
Any statement of the influence and effects of
Jacobite literature upon Scotland would be
incomplete without an acknowledgement of the
work done in this direction by the author of
" Waverley." It is of course impossible for us
now to appreciate that remarkable novel as it
was appreciated sixty years ago, when there were
persons still living who had spoken with fugitives
from Culloden, and had heard the rebellion
discussed at many a fireside by those who had
a deep personal interest in the rebels. It is
still, and must have been more then, the charm
and its Relative Literature. 143
of " Waverley," that its characters and descrip-
tions are vivid and lifelike, drawn from living
originals. This was the cause of its marvellous
popularity. And it is fortunate for literature
that the national feeling was caught up and
impersonated while there was yet something of
it alive to warm the sympathies of the novelist.
But " Waverley " had a twofold influence. Jaco-
bitism had so long been a tabooed subject, kept
out of sight as a thing fraught with some
mysterious danger to the Constitution, that
people were startled to find that it was now a
matter of history that it need no longer be
banished from contemplation, but might be
freely discussed and sympathized with, without
any fear of consequences. Sir Walter Scott first
roused English people to the conviction that
Jacobitism was a harmless memory of the past,
and it at once became the fashion. Here was a
romance in their very midst which they had all
this while been neglecting. The rest is well
known. The Highlands swarmed with pilgrims
1 44 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
eager to pay their tribute of admiration at the
shrine of Charles Edward and Flora MacDonald.
From that time friendlier feelings sprang up
between Scotchmen and Englishmen, for they
had one common object of admiration. From
that time, too, a closer and more cordial relation-
ship arose between Lowlanders and High-
landers. They discovered that they possessed
cherished memories in common, that they were
sons of the same dear mother-land, and that
the name and fame of Scotland were as dear to
the one as to the other.
" Thus the whirligig of Time brings in his
revenges." The Union, which was the bete noir
of one party, and Jacobitism, which was the
bete noir of the other, have both had their share
in making Scotland what she is, a rich, prosper-
ous, happy, and independent country. We
have lived to see the royal descendant of
George I. build herself a stately mansion in the
very heart of those Highlands which were the
dreaded home of Jacobitism, but which she now
and its Relative Literature. 145
loves better than the Herrenhausen, better than
her noblest English palace, and where she is
loved with an affection as sincere, and served
with a loyalty as devoted, as were ever vouch-
safed even to " Bonnie Prince Charlie."
I 2
THE
h ^jtt$t& m J>ttdH$3| If t
ITS RELATIVE LITERATURE
AN ESSAY
BY
J. LOGIE ROBERTSON, M.A
EDINBURGH.
" Give me the making of a country's songs, and let who will make its laws.
JOHN MENZIES & COMPANY,
EDINBURGH & GLASGOW.
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, & COMPANY,
LONDON.
THE
J acobite Episode in Scottish History
AND ITS
RELATIVE LITERATURE.
"Give me the making of a country's songs, and let iv/io ivill make its taws."
THE Jacobite Episode in Scottish History ex-
tends over a period of about sixty years, from
1688 to 1746. Within these limits is confined
the actual struggle of a party devotedly attached
to the declining House of Stuart, and bitterly
opposed to the introduction of an alien dynasty.
It was a period of great agitation, affecting more
or less every individual in the country, and kept
alive by the very varying fortunes which now
gladdened with hopes, and now embittered with
losses, the parties engaged in the struggle.
Indeed, so sharp was the conflict, and waged
K
1 50 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
with such determined animosity on both sides,
that it would have been impossible for a passive
spectator to predict the ultimate issue, and it
even now surprises the reader of Scottish his-
tory to find that matters terminated as they did.
The Stuart or Jacobite party lost when they
were apparently on the eve of winning: their
hopes, frequently dimmed, never extinguished,
seemed, perhaps, on a general survey of the
events of the period within which the actual
struggle was pent, to become brighter accord-
ing as the struggle enlarged its area, thus
demanding a closer and more numerous atten-
tion, and in proportion as it continued its course,
thus exciting a determination to end it, and an
absorbing interest as to how it would end.
And it was just when the expectations of the
losing side appeared on the point of realization,
that they suffered a full and final eclipse.
But, apart altogether from the excitement of
the struggle as consequent upon the various
phases through which it passed, there were
and its Relative Literature. 151
certain elements in the struggle, from its very
commencement, when it was as yet only pro-
spective, that tended to create an all-engrossing
interest in the national mind. The subject of
dispute was one in which there could hardly be
any neutrals. One of two sides must be taken,
and a compromise was impossible. The divis-
ional line between the two parties was clear and
well defined. It was not made merely on
ecclesiastical grounds, on political grounds, or
on individual grounds. That is too narrow a
view to take of the question upon the settlement
of which a whole nation split. No doubt these
various grounds of differences had their in-
fluence in deepening the rancour of the conflict-
ing parties. But the prime question of differ-
ence was, Are we to have a Stuart to reign
over us ? It was, in other words, Jacobitism
or N on- Jacobitism. And from this, the original
or central question in dispute, sprung other
differences, based upon the character, religion,
and political measures of the unfortunate sov-
1 5 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
ereign in whose reign the seeds of revolution
were sown. These smaller differences centred
in the primal one, and affected it in various
ways. They were not all ranged on the same
side. So that it is not strictly correct to regard
the wars that sprang up around the question of
Jacobitism or Non-Jacobitism, as being waged
between Papists and Protestants, Tories and
Whigs, or adherents to the persons of the
Stuarts and those that were not so. Papists
and Protestants were found on the same side,
in very different proportions, it is true; Whigs
and Tories were banded together against Whigs
and Tories ; and those that had no love or
respect for the person of James II., or of his
son, "the Pretender," leagued with those that
had. In short, the prime question, the settle-
ment of which occasioned the long and per-
sistent sixty years' struggle, must be regarded
in its broadest feature as one involving an
abstract idea of right. And this idea may be
stated thus, the regal jurisdiction of the coun-
and its Relative Literature. 153
try is at all times the right of the direct lineal
descendant of the last hereditary monarch.
This idea is everywhere familiar in the famous
expression the divine right of kings. It is the
same idea which the poet chieftain of Strowan
has thrown into verse
" The laws of God and man declare
The son should be the father's heir.'
This, then, was the great argument of the
Jacobite party; and it is evident that it admits
of only one answer, belief or denial. In the
settlement of the question, which its enunciation
demanded of every intelligent person, the nation
was divided almost to a man. Every individual
was to decide for himself; neutral party there
could not well be. In the decision of the ques-
tion, however, there were naturally many whose
minds were influenced by the character, manners,
beliefs religious and political, conduct, and even
personal appearance of the sovereign in whose
reign the question was propounded, and of his
opponent, the head of the party who denied the
1 54 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
divine right of kings, and advocated parlia-
mentary government.
In this way the struggle was one of very
mixed elements. And the apparently incongruous
mixture for the most part added fury to both
sides. There were, no doubt, persons who
believed in the doctrine of hereditary right, and
who, nominally at least, sided with the Jacobite
party, and who yet viewed with disgust the
papistical and despotic tendencies of the sovereign
to whom they believed they justly owed alle-
giance. Such men could bring only half of their
hearts to the Jacobite side, and by their cold
and reluctant proffer of service exert a deterrent
or damping influence upon others who looked
to them for example. But many of these could
ill bear the unsatisfactory position of one who is
only half pledged to the party among whose
ranks he nominally arrays himself. They either
allowed the grand idea of divine right to swallow
up every other consideration, and then lent their
weight to the cause of Jacobitism; or they were
and its Relative Literature. 1 55
driven to Jacobitism, and entirely committed to
it, heart and body, by the taunts of " renegade "
or "apostate," flung at them by their political or
ecclesiastical confreres of the non- Jacobite ranks.
We do find that such was the case : we find that
Tory and Papist were employed synonymously
with Jacobite in the heat and din of the struggle;
but it must not be forgotten that there were true
Protestants and honest Whigs on both sides, and
that the prime division of the country was by
vote on the question, king hereditary or king
parliamentary ?
From this brief glance of the struggle in its
origin and in its progress, it will be evident how
complete and fierce the agitation of the nation
was. The extent and thoroughness of the
agitation, however, can be fully measured and
estimated only by a reference to the contempor-
aneous literature that sprang up amidst the
storm of the Jacobite dissensions. The period
of active Jacobitism was one of warfare, not
merely of swords but of pens ; and the influence
156 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
of the latter in giving edge and weight to the
former must not be forgotten. Confining our
attention, meanwhile, to the literature of the
time as bearing upon the extent and nature of
the agitation in the country, we observe, as the
first thing to catch our notice, the enormous
quantity of it, and its exclusively controversial
and satirical character in both prose and verse.
Its voluminousness is a remarkable feature, and
in itself indicates the absorbing interest of the
questions which required such extensive discus-
sion. It would appear that the mind of the
nation had been so roused and concentrated
upon one idea, the idea of Jacob itism pro and
con, that the consideration of every other topic
foreign to this was firmly excluded. The
stream of Scottish Literature, which first began
to sparkle out so unmistakeably in the time of
John Barbour, which gained such accessions of
strength and volume in the age of William
Dunbar and David Lindsay, and which was still
further increased by the nameless but romanti-
and its Relative Literature. 157
cally beautiful tributaries of later ballads and
songs, would seem about this time to have
been stayed, dammed up, or turned aside. It
was untasted by the generation of the early part
of the eighteenth century. That generation
dug out a literature for themselves, a big
muddy pool, with, however, many clear freshets,
somewhere near the main stream and only in
trickling contact with it. In other words, the
period in Scotland from about 1688 to 1746 was
not a time fitted for the production or the study
of pure literature. That requires leisure and
fastidious pruning. This was a time of action,
of unpremeditated thought and impulsive
word. It was a time of business. There was
no holiday in which to while away the hours in
the study of past literatures, or in the deliberate
planning and leisurely executing of some care-
fully chosen literary subject. The blood was
coursing too fast through the heart of the nation
to admit of either contemplative study or refined
production. Things had to be said and done
1 58 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
quickly, and there was hardly room for thought.
Yet the pen was too influential an instrument to
be left lying neglectedly, as if it were only de-
signed for peaceful scenes and gala days. It
had already done good work, palpable work,
for Scotland, in the pamphleteering days of the
Charleses. Its aid was therefore required,
and it was used without stint; and often, very
often, to chronicle the fierce thought newly-
sprung in the heart, in both ecclesiastical pam-
phlet and satirical ballad.
Satirical literature flourishes in times of
debate and dissension, and is then always per-
sonal. From this circumstance, and the fact
that the literature of Jacobitism is enormously
large, important conclusions may be deduced.
It is with communities as it is with individuals.
The former are aggregates of the latter. Both
have characters, and the characters of both may
be read in the same way. We read the character
of an individual in private life by his conversation
and conduct; an author's book furnishes us with
and its Relative Literature. 159
a key to his character; and by its literature we
look into the character of a community, a nation,
or a period. It must be premised here, and it
is an admission that all will allow, that a man's
character is formed by what most continuously
and constantly occupies his thoughts; and that
whatever a man thinks most about, he must
speak most about. If this be true of an indi-
vidual in a general way, it is much more worthy
of reliance when spoken of as regards a com-
munity. For a community is less capable of
playing the impostor than an individual: it is
composed of elements that act less harmoniously,
less in concert with each other than the mental
faculties of an individual may; and is, therefore,
as it were, unavoidably compelled honestly to
reveal its character.
The chances of being able correctly and
readily to read the character of a community
are much increased when the prevailing form of
its literature is the satirical. This is obvious.
Satire begets satire. It is personal in its attacks
1 60 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
and in its replies. We thus hear both sides, and
so can form a tolerably correct opinion. At the
same time, it is often unsparing in its revelation
of its author's own character. In his satire the
author not seldom shews his own weaknesses,
meannesses, passions, feelings, hopes, resolutions.
His exposure of the enemy against whom he
has levelled his satire may be incorrect, of
himself it is not so. A man is in earnest when
he is angry; and the angry satiric muse reveals
at once his anger and his earnestness, in other
words, his character.
But further, it has been said that what an
author thinks most about, he must write most
about; and vice versa. As in the voluminous-
ness, therefore, of an author's works, so in that
of the literature of a community, we have another
means of arriving at a correct notion of its
character.
Now, the literature born of Jacobitism is a
well-defined one, wholly cut off from, and un-
tinged by antecedent literatures ; it is, further, in
and its Relative Literature. 161
<*
a very marked degree the offspring of contem-
porary events, and, to use an expressive phrase,
"bristling" with personal allusions; and, in the
third place, it is very voluminous, indeed so
much so, even in the department of poetry, that
hundreds of the ballads which it so largely
includes have been neglected by enthusiastic
collectors.
The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History is
thus abundantly and faithfully mirrored in the
Satirical Songs and ballads which appeared con-
temporaneously with the persons and events of
which they treat. We may, therefore, study
Jacobitism through the medium of these ballads.
It would be no very difficult matter to arrange j
the Jacobite ballads in chronological order,
From the freshness and minuteness of detail
with which they chronicle the passing events to
which they allude, one would be at little loss to
set them in their proper sequence of production,
although the authors are mostly unknown and
no date is affixed to any of them. Indeed, so
1 62 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
full are they of historical allusions, that a very
complete narrative of the main features, and
many of the minor details, of the great Jacobite
struggle can be gathered from their perusal.
They are most numerous and interesting at
those central points in the course of the struggle,
around which Jacobitism was naturally at its
fullest activity. These central points are the
Accession of the Prince of Orange, the Battle
of Killiecrankie, the Glencoe Butchery, the
Darien Expedition, the Death of William III.,
the Act of Succession, the Union, the Corona-
tion of George I., "the Fifteen," and "the
Forty-five," with their accompanying circum-
stances respectively. A noticeable feature in
the narrative of the events of the Jacobite
episode, as told directly or incidentally in the
Jacobite ballads, is the absence of all abuse on
the part of the metrical satirists in connexion
with the names of Queen Mary and Queen
Anne. The name of the latter is frequently
mentioned, but never in the vituperative style
and its Relative Literature. 1 63
which the writers assume when dealing with
William and the Georges: she is warned, and
described in a satirically familiar strain, but
there are no gross allusions or coarse exaggera-
tions of a personal or social nature, which the
writers knew well how to fabricate when speak-
ing of the male sovereigns who occupied the
abdicated Stuart throne. . Mary is scarcely, if
ever, mentioned. Whether the Jacobites had
adopted the motto of making no war against
women, or whether they tolerated the sovereignty
of Queen Mary and Queen Anne as being more
nearly related to the exiled House, it is difficult
to judge, and, probably, both reasons influenced
them to forbearance.
The narrative of the struggle, as gleaned
from the Jacobite songs and ballads, is briefly
as follows: The Revolution was quietly accom-
plished in Scotland, partly owing to the skill
with which the welcomers of the Prince of Orange
had laid their plans, and partly owing to the total
want of Jacobite activity in England. Notwith-
1 64 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
standing the absence of any opposition, how-
ever, when William was proclaimed King he
was acknowledged liege lord by only a faction
in Scotland. There were scattered throughout
the country smouldering embers of discord,
which awaited only the breath of the Viscount
of Dundee to fan them into a blaze. This man,
of whose character we have such conflicting
accounts, was at least fearless and energetic in
the cause he had adopted. He is the central
figure in the early part of the Jacobite struggle.
By the force- of his own genius he drew around
him a body of devoted Highlanders, whose
espousal of the Jacobite interest is an anomaly
requiring explanation. The main body of
Highlanders who gathered around him followed
the command and example of their chieftains,
and these were influenced in favour of the
exiled House by at least two considerations:
in the first place, Argyll, the personal foe of
many of them, was an adherent of the Prince of
Orange, whose establishment on the throne
and its Relative Literature. 165
would restore the power, territorial and political,
which Argyll had lost in the preceding reign;
and this return of power would be at their cost
and to their danger. In the second place, the
policy of the Prince of Orange, manifest from
the first, was to promote peace and commerce
in the country by the suppression of the danger-
ous feudal power held by the chieftains, and
by an equable and rigid administration of
the laws throughout the entire country. This
was the aiming of a blow, likely to prove fatal,
at that warlike mode of life, prevalent in -the
Highlands from time immemorial, by which the
clans maintained their existence. Peace and
commerce were inimical to those whose lives
were spent in feuds and maraudings, and whose
constant and almost sole profession was that of
arms. Conscious of this, conscious also of his
own adaptive and inspiring genius, and with the
great name of Montrose to conjure by, Dundee
had little difficulty in raising a sufficient body of
Highlanders, at the head of whom he met
1 66 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Mackay, the general commissioned by the Scot-
tish Convention to frustrate his plans. The
battle of Killiecrankie ensued, a complete vic-
tory to the Jacobite cause, but without any
except a momentary significance, as Dundee
fell in the action.
We gather from the various ballads descriptive
of this engagement many interesting historical
details. First of all, there is noted the superior
position occupied by the Highlanders, and the
difficulty experienced by Mackay 's troops in
charging uphill the descending foe :
" Clavers and his highlandmen
Came down upon the raw;"
and
" The Solemn League and Covenant
Came whigging up the hills."
The activity of the clansmen is struck off in the
verse,
" O'er bush, o'er bank, o'er ditch, o'er stank,
She flang amang them a'."
It was a hand-to-hand conflict, such as the
" durk "-armed clansmen loved, favourable for
and its Relative Literature. 167
the display of individual exploits. The " bauld
Pitcur" "Pitcurius heroicus Hector Scoticanus"
is especially celebrated for his deeds of
daring. On the winning side, however, there
were cravens. A body of Irish auxiliaries, in
the uniform of the deposed King James, fled to
the hills while the battle was raging. They are
not spared by the Jacobite satirist. Hanging,
in his opinion, would be too good for them; for,
if they had " bent their brows " like the Scottish
Celts, an allusion to the fierce determination
with which the Higlanders are wont to rush to
the onset, they would have "saved their king"
and compelled the flight of William. But there
were cravens, too, among the troops of Mackay;
and the Scottish metrical satirist is especially
derisive on the hare-heartedness of the " Mogan
Dutch," when " Maclean and his fierce men
came in amang them a'." Satire, however, is
not always truthful, and must not be taken as
affording a correct account of the subject of its
play. Conscious, or unconscious of the falsity
1 68 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
of his statement, and, perhaps, as much the
latter as the former in the turbid times in which
he wrote, the contemporary Jacobite satirist of
the battle of Killiecrankie accuses Mackay of
personal cowardice during the engagement:
" O fie, Mackay," he says,
" What gart ye lie
I' the bush ayont the brankie ? "
Mackay 's honour as a brave and skilful general
requires no advocacy. At the same time, it may
be quite true that he kept out of the m16e of
the fight; but this conduct, as the commanding
officer, he was not only warranted but obliged
by a sense of duty to adopt.
On the death of Dundee, General Cannon
was commissioned by King James to maintain
his cause in Scotland. Never was more un-
happy choice of a commander made. He
lacked the genius of his predecessor in dealing
with the fiery-spirited Gaels. His camp was a
scene of almost uninterrupted insubordination.
The chieftains quarrelled with him and with each
and its Relative Literature. 1 69
other, and daily left his diminishing army. The
final disaster was at Cromdale, where he allowed
himself to be entrapped and surprised in bed.
The Jacobite cause was not again supported in
Scottish field till a quarter of a century had
passed.
About two months after the affair at Crom-
dale, the battle of the Boyne was fought
in Ireland. King William's departure from
England to assert his supremacy in Ireland is
described in one of the ballads. He is styled
" Willie Wanbeard," and is depicted as setting
forth on his expedition armed with a " boortree "
gun and a " shabble," and as conducting himself
on the voyage in a most undignified way through
an attack of sea-sickness. The war in Ireland,
it is well known, was prolonged for a year after
the defeat of James's army at the Boyne; and
to support his claims under this reverse, their
own leader being dead, several Scottish Jacobite
gentlemen who had fought at Killiecrankie
now volunteered their services on Irish soil.
170 The Jncobite Episode in Scottish History
- Disaster still attended the arms of the Jacobites
in Ireland; and, on the capitulation of Limerick,
they chose to go into a voluntary exile with
their master, rather than enjoy the comforts of
peace and domestic happiness in their native
land. This chivalric behaviour is referred to in
the ballad:
" It was a' for our richtfu' king
We left fair Scotland's strand,
It was a' for our richtfu' king
We e'er saw Irish land;"
And,
" He turned him richt an' round about
Upon the Irish shore;
An' ga'e his bridle-reins a shake,
With, Adieu for evermore ! "
Nothing in the whole history of Jacobitism
can more forcibly illustrate the devotion and
fidelity which marked the adherence of the
Stuart party to the side of hereditary monarchy,
than the conduct of these gentlemen, upwards
of a hundred in number, and by far the majority
of them Protestants, in cheerfully exposing
and its Relative Literature. 171
themselves to the hardships of exile, foreign
service, scanty means, loss of social position,
starvation, sickness, and even death; and all
this, that they might not be better off than their
master, and might not be chargeable to his
foreign friends.
In the lull of the Jacobite storm, which fol-
lowed the defeat and dispersion of the High-
landers among the " Haughs " of Cromdale,
government was taking active steps for the pre-
servation of peace in Scotland. In 1690, the
clans were broken up, the oath of allegiance
from the chieftains enforced, forts established in
the Highlands, and a system of espionage
organized throughout the country. These
measures, while they still further weakened the
power of the Highlanders, increased the hatred
of the Jacobites against the prevailing govern-
ment; and then, as if to fill the cup of their
wrath to the brim, came the Massacre of Glen-
coe and the disasters of the attempted Scottish
colonization of Darien. These calamities
172 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
evoked throughout the length and breadth of
Scotland the bitterest expressions of aversion
and hatred to the person of King William.
Even the Lowland Whigs, most of whom were
well-affected towards the sovereignty of the
Prince of Orange, gave utterance to their
displeasure and discontent in threats and ex-
ecrations, for both the calamities were viewed
as national, the unfortunate affair of Darien
particularly rankling in the breasts of the peace-
fully-inclined trading Lowlanders. The death
of the king was accordingly the signal for a
jubilant outburst of Jacobite feeling. The
mole, as the remote agent of his death, was
toasted as "the little gentleman in the velvet
coat." In the satirical ballad of this date (i 702),
'entitled " Willie Winkie's Testament," the king
is represented as being afraid to face death with
the memory of Glencoe and Darien on his
conscience. Father Tennison is his confessor,
receiving his last words at his bedside, and is
being implored by the despairing monarch in
and its Relative Literature. 173
broken English to remove from his mind the
recollection of
" All de curses of de Scot,
Dat dey did give me wonder veil
For Darien and dat Macdonell.
O take dem off mine hands, I pray !
I'll go de lighter on my vay."
He is further figured as being desirous of coop-
ing up the Scots within their own country,
excluding them from the privileges enjoyed by
the English in matters social and commercial,
and cramping all their efforts of national devel-
opment and colonial enterprise. It will annoy
and vex him, even in his grave, to learn that
they are a successful and flourishing people:
"Keep de Scot beyond de Tweed,
Else I shall see dem ven I'm dead."
In another party-song of the same period,
William is erroneously charged with having
urged on to his ruin the young Duke of Mon-
mouth, who suffered for rebellion early in the
reign of James II. He is accused of flattery,
1 74 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
falseness, and duplicity in the matter of Mon-
mouth's death,
" Wi' the waggin' o' his fause tongue
He gart the brave Monmouth dee."
But this charge is quite devoid of proof. It
was, however, apparently the prevailing opinion
among the disaffected, and would doubtless
tend still further to give emphasis to the current
expression in which they spoke of him as "a
fause an' a foreign loon."
All through the latter half of King William's
reign and the whole of Queen Anne's, the
Jacobite party expended their activity in toast-
ing the exiled family, circulating bad reports of
Whiggish government, and above all, in en-
deavouring to turn the popular feeling into
Jacobite channels by means of pamphlets and
songs ; while their leaders exerted their utmost
in striving to oust from places of influence in
the State their Whig opponents, or in plotting
and caballing in secret. In these attempts they
were for the most part unsuccessful, yet always
and its Relative Liter atiire. 175
encouraged to increased exertion by the tempt-
ing nearness to success to which they sometimes
attained. An undoubted success was at last
deemed to have been achieved when, in 1 704,
the Act of Succession was, as the poet of the
event describes it, "kicked out by a vote" in
the Scottish parliament. This result was
brought about by a coalition of parties. The
cementing bond of union between them was the
common determination to have the same com-
mercial privileges extended to Scotland which
obtained in England, or to be an indepen-
dent community and have a sovereign of their
own. This Act of Seciirity, as it was called,
was the outward and palpable expression of
the national discontent with respect to the
Darien failure. It gave unbounded joy to the
Scottish Jacobites, who now began to anticipate
the return of the Stuarts to their ancient king-
dom of Scotland. The time was ardently looked (
forward to " when the king should come o'er
the water"; and many an earnest prayer was
176 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
prayed for life to be prolonged to see the day
when "the king should enjoy his own again."
Heaven was implored to send propitious gales
to hasten his glad approach. But whatever
inclemencies of weather should intervene, only
let him at least be restored, they prayed, to the
love and loyalty of his devoted subjects :
" Then blaw ye east, or blaw ye west,
Or blaw ye ower the faem,
s O bring the lad that I lo'e best,
And ane I daurna name ! "
Shortly after this, the tone of the Jacobites is
changed to one of lamentation. The Union of
the Parliaments was accomplished in 1707.
The strain is now,
" Fareweel to a' our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory,
Fareweel ev'n to the Scottish name
Sae fam'd in martial story ! "
The nation is spoken of as having been "sold."
The transfer of the national rights is attributed
to " a parcel of rogues." The " rogues " are all
mentioned, and wickedly satirized in the ballad
and its Relative Literature. 177
of the Awkward Squad. They are called de-
ceivers, turn-coats, traitors, and worse. The
satire is especially bitter against the Earl of
Stair. He is styled a vulture to his country;
and all the evils that, in the Jacobite estimation,
ever befell Scotland since the Revolution, are
attributed to him. He was the prime instigator
of the massacre of the poor Macdonalds ; and
now, by his influence in procuring the Union,
he has sold his country for gold. In another
satire on the same subject, Stair is alluded to as
the "wonderful" bridegroom to whom Scotland is
to be unwillingly wedded. Among other names
conspicuous in the ballads about the Union, that
of the Earl of Mar is held up to public scorn.
The Jacobites, however, were not quite dis-
pirited. They had sent for the Chevalier Saint
George, the son of the late dethroned monarch,
in whom their hopes and wishes now centred.
He was then residing at Paris, acknowledged by
the French sovereign as the king of Great Bri-
tain, and waiting for a fit opportunity of stretch-
1 78 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
ing forth his arm to claim his rights. He was
spoken of by the Government party as " The
Pretender," from the circumstance that, at his
birth, the absurd idea of a spurious origin was
circulated throughout the country. Amply pro-
vided by the French king with arms, ammuni-
tion, money, and a fleet, he set out for the ancient
kingdom of his ancestors, and arrived in the
Firth of Forth just a couple of days after the
appearance in the same firth of the English
squadron sent to defend the coasts. He avoided
an engagement, and coasting northwards at-
tempted a landing at Inverness. Contrary winds,
however, were against him, and he was driven
back to France. And thus ended disastrously
an attempt which, if it had been undertaken in
favourable weather, would have secured a land-
ing, and without doubt the possession of at least
Scotland.
The latter half of Queen Anne's reign was a
period of intense excitement to the Jacobite
party. Pamphlets and satirical songs were rife,
and its Relative Literature. 1 79
and fomented the ever-growing excitement. The
queen herself was never abusively handled in
these popular satires, we have seen ; on the con-
trary, there are occasional references which seem
to point to the fact of the queen being herself a
Jacobite. It was believed she was at heart a
Tory; it was whispered that she had given aud-
iences to the Chevalier; it is certain that latterly
in her reign the Tories were in possession of
nearly all influential offices of state, and that
just a week before her death they had prepared
a plan which would deprive every Whig in the
country of situations of trust and power, as well
in the army as at the court. Her sudden death,
however, paralyzed their plans ; indecision mark-
ed the policy of the leading Jacobites at court;
the Whigs acted with promptness and vigour,
and, before the Jacob jtes had time to oppose an
effectual resistance, the Elector of Hanover was
in London. He had accepted with alacrity a
crown which he hardly expected ever to wear.
He is represented in the famous ballad of The
1 80 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Wee German Lairdie as quite absorbed in the
petty matters of his own quiet principality, and
scarcely troubling his mind, since the death of
his mother Sophia, about matters in Great Bri-
tain :
" When we gaed to bring him hame,
He was delvin in his kail-yardie."
A great deal of talking and resolving was in-
dulged in, especially in England, on the accession
of the Hanoverian prince. In Scotland the peo-
ple were not so demonstrative, but more deter-
mined upon action. They were still greatly dis-
satified with the Union: it was a national griev-
ance, indeed; and of this fact the Jacobites were
not slow to avail themselves in fomenting a re-
bellion. As the Jacobite feeling became hotter,
it became more national, more Scottish; it sought
to identify Jacobitism with the preservation of
the ancient realm of the Jameses. There began
to be manifested a tendency to revive the old
historical feelings of jealousy and enmity towards
England. The national memory, in the songs
and its Relative Literature. 1 8 1
of this date, is pointed backwards to the times
of Wallace and the Bruce. The past glories of
the country are made to live again:
" See Edward, their king, take his heels in a flight,
Nor e'er look behind, but in Berwick alight;
In an old fishing-boat he bade Scotland good-night,
O the broad swords," &c.
And now England must be met with the same
determined valour in her state attempts to an-
nihilate Scotland. Scotland must regain her
independence. And the combined causes of
national independence and hereditary monarchy
are artfully interwoven :
" Our king they do despise
Because of Scottish blood;
But ere Brunswick sceptre wield,
We'll do or die in field,
But never never yield
To serve a foreign brood."
This tendency, however, to make the struggle a
national one was not general to the country. It
occasionally cropped up, but only among the
ranks of the extreme Jacobites; and is to be
M
1 8 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
regarded as the expression of their willingness
to see the industries of the country they loved
so well injured and ruined, its strength over-
matched, and its independence risked, rather
than witness the old Scottish coronation-chair
filled by other than a Stuart.
To combine the scattered energies of the
Jacobites, there came down from London, whence
he had been driven by the coldness, suspicion,
and actual aversion manifested towards him by
the newly-crowned king, the unscrupulous but
skilful and ambitious Earl of Mar. He came
down to Scotland with nearly half a million of
pounds, which he had been most expeditious in
collecting, and after he had concerted measures
with certain Jacobite leaders for a rising on the
Borders to take place simultaneously with his
own projected gathering of the Highland clans.
The object of Mar's errand to Scotland was not
long in spreading over the land. It was hailed
with exuberant delight by every honest Jacobite;
and Mar's participation in the framing of the
and its Relative Liter atzire. 183
detested Union, as explained by himself, was
overlooked or forgotten. Great achievements
were predicted from his movements in the High-
lands. Success appeared to be still within grasp.
Accordingly we find the songs of the period
even more plentiful, and more daringly outspoken
in their language, from anticipated victory, than
any that had yet appeared. The person, char-
acter, and past life of King George, are keenly
and unspairingly assailed. He is charged with
the crime of murder:
" At hame, in Hanover, he killed in cold blood,
A pretty young Swede,"
an accusation which was substantially true. He
is pictured as a coarse profligate, addicted to
the open indulgence of the most sensual vices.
He is described as "a pilfering bandit." In his
Testament, part of his wardrobe is thus cata-
logued,
" Ane auld black coat, baith lang an' wide,
Wi' snishen barken'd like a hide,
A skeplet hat, and plaiden hose,
A jerkin clarted a' wi' brose."
184 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
And so on, in satirical strains that, while they
confessedly caricature, at the same time utterly
unking the subject of their attack.
There is further proof of the anticipated suc-
cess cherished by the Jacobites, in the tone of
perfect security and carelessness with which,
about this time, they published their treasonable
ideas. A song of this date, which appears to
have been eminently popular in its day, thus
boldly breaks out,
" Come, let us drink a health, boys,
A health unto our king;
We'll drink no more by stealth, boys,
Come, let our glasses ring;
For England must surrender,
To him they call Pretender;
God save our faith's defender,
And our true lawful king."
The work of the Earl of Mar in behalf of the
exiled Stuarts, and his raising of the clans, are
kept no secret. " Hey for Bobbing John," goes
one of the songs, alluding to Mar,
" And his Highland quorum ! . . .
and its Relative Literature. 185
Many a sword and lance
Swings at Highland hurdie;
How they'll skip and dance
O'er the bum o' Geordie ! "
Far from making the rebellion a secret, the
Jacobites even challenge the Government party
to a trial of strength :
" But wad ye come, or daur ye come,
Afore the bagpipe an' the drum,
We'll either gar ye a' sing dumb,
Or ' Auld Stuarts back again.'"
Still further to raise the Jacobite hopes of suc-
cess, the fruit of an alliance with the famous
Charles XII. of Sweden, came in the shape of
a promise of aid in men and ammunition; and
even the "mysterious" Czar, as reads the
ballad in which both he and the "valiant
Swede" are toasted, is expected to assist in
the restoration of the "Auld Stuarts."
The plan which Mar had selected for the
gathering of the clans was the then common
pretext of a hunting-match. Accordingly, there
met at Braemar all the disaffected noblemen
1 86 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
and gentlemen whom the Earl had taken care
to invite, and thus was obtained an opportunity
of planning in concert for the overthrow of the
Guelph dynasty. Among those who were
present at this gathering, the ballads particularly
mention the Marquises of Huntly and Tulli-
bardine; the Earls of Southesk, Errol, Traquair,
and Seaforth; Viscounts Kilsyth and Kenmure;
Lords Rollo, Strathallan, Nairne, and Oliphant;
and among the Highland chieftains, Glengarry,
Glenderule, and Auldubair, besides very many
others of various ranks and conditions. It was
resolved by the assembled Jacobite chiefs to
take the field. The Chevalier was expected
soon to arrive, and, in the meantime, prepara-
tions went on. The Highlands were traversed
by bodies of armed men, " plaided and plumed,"
and all marching to the warlike strains of the
bagpipe, from various quarters to the central
rallying point of Braemar. The Chevalier s
Master-Roll enumerates many of the clans that
made their appearance in answer to the sum-
and its Relative Literature. \ 8 7
mons of Mar. The numbers continued to
increase till fully ten thousand men were in the
field. The standard of rebellion was then flung
abroad on the mountain breezes, but an ominous
event happened at the ceremony, which appears
to have been remembered by the more super-
stitious of the Jacobites. The event is cele-
brated in the lines of the song,
" But when our standard was set up,
So fierce the wind did blaw,
The golden knop down from the top
Unto the ground did fa'."
Government, meanwhile, was not idle. The
Duke of Argyll was in Scotland, and rousing
his clansmen and the Lowland Whigs to a sense
of their danger. Unaided almost, he managed
to collect an army of about three thousand, and
secured a strong position of watch and defence
at Stirling. Mar, long delaying to strike the
blow for which he was so well prepared, was
now in the neighbourhood of Sheriffmuir, wait-
ing for the co-operation from the south of
1 88 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Viscount Kenmure and the Earl of Derwent-
water, and for the arrival of the Chevalier to
head the campaign. His want of despatch,
which allowed Argyll to seize the gate between
the Highlands and the Lowlands; his ignorance
of the clansmen, whose courage rose with acti-
vity and fell proportionately with inaction; his
cowardice, which prevented him from facing an
army trebly outnumbered by his own; and his
total incapacity to manoeuvre large bodies of
men in the field, all combined to produce the
disgraceful check which he sustained on Sheriff-
muir, and which virtually quelled the rebellion
for thirty years.
The Jacobite satirists did not spare the
pusillanimity of certain of the rebel chiefs on
this occasion:
" Whether we ran or they ran, or we wan or they wan,
Or if there was winnin' at a',
There's no man can tell, save our brave general,
Who first began rinnin' at a'."
The ballads of the period describe the battle
and its Relative Literature.
with great minuteness, and with remarkable
fairness to both sides. Those individuals who
showed courage on either side are impartially
commended, and the cowardice and flight of
others are as faithfully ridiculed. The Marquis
of Huntly is especially unfortunate in having
fallen into the hands of a rhyming satirist whose
sympathies are evidently with the Grants, the
hereditary rivals of the Gordons. We must
regard From Bogie Side or The Marquis Raide
as the song of a rival clan glad of an oppor-
tunity to accuse their neighbours of a dishon-
ourable defeat, and greatly magnifying it in the
accusation. There appears to have been de-
cided cowardice, however, in the precipitate
flight of Huntly from the battle-field. It is
alluded to in various songs of the times, be-
sides occupying a prominent place in the satir-
ical ballad of From Bogie Side. In the lament
of O my King, the writer exclaims, " I would
not be in Huntly's case, for honours, lands, an'
a';" and, in a succeeding verse, he is openly
1 90 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
charged with having betrayed the Stuart cause,
not so much out of cowardice as out of treach-
ery. Seaforth is included in the charge; and,
although the general tone of the lament is one
of sad denunciation of the conduct of the rene-
gade lords, yet the writer cannot deny himself
the luxury of an occasional satirical sting :
" I wish these lords had sta/d at hame
And milked their minnie's ewes."
A remarkable feature of the battle was the
total rout of the left wing on both sides. Hence
arose those conflicting rumours of the issue of
the conflict which prevailed for some time after
the engagement was over, and which are em-
bodied in the contemporaneous metrical descrip-
tions of the battle. The " chase " is at one time
represented as having gone to the north, or
Perth-ward, at another time as having gone to
the south, or Stirling-ward. Both accounts are
true, and easily reconcileable. The flight of the
left wing of Mar's forces is attributed to the
treachery of one Lawrence Drummond, a spy
and its Relative Literature. 191
in the pay of Argyll and acting as aid de camp
to Mar, who galloped to Hamilton, the com-
mander of the left wing of the insurgents, with
orders contrary to what he had received from the
generalissimo. Mar's instructions were to attack
instantly and with vigour, as the right wing had
already encountered the enemy and were achiev-
ing a victory. The order delivered by the aid
de camp was to withdraw, as defeat appeared to
be impending. By the delivery of this order a
panic was created in the ranks of the insurgent
left, and when the enemy pressed them they fled
ignominiously from the field. Drummond, sub-
sequently in the day, crossed over to the side of
Argyll. His conduct is severely exposed and
condemned by the song- writers of the day :
" Then Lawrie the traitor, who betray'd his master,
His King, and his country, an' a',
Pretending Mar might give orders to fight (flight?)
To the right of the army awa'.
Then Lawrie, for fear of what he might hear,
Took Drummond's best horse, and awa';
'Stead o' going to Perth he crossed the firth,
Alongst Stirling bridge and awa';
1 9 2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
To London he pressed, and there he professed
That he behaved best o' them a';
An' so, without strife, got settled for life,
A hundred a year to his fa'.
In Borroustounness he resides with disgrace
Till his neck stand in need o' a thraw;
An' theri in a tether he'll swing frae a ledder,
An' go aff the stage with applau'."
Carnegie of Phinaven is satirized in the same
songs, despite the activity and enterprize he had
shewn on former occasions in rousing his coun-
trymen, at Amalree and elsewhere, in favour of
the Jacobite interests. He is described as
possessing the genius of an excellent recruiting
officer, but as being totally unqualified for the
position of a fighting officer. In the disguise of
a piper, and relying upon the Jacobite songs
already circulating through the country, he had
little difficulty in gathering a body of men pledged
to the Stuart cause; but at Sheriffmuir he was
among the most faint-hearted of the fugitives.
He is ranked as "even" with Seaforth and
Huntly.
Almost simultaneously with the suppression
and its Relative Literature. 193
of the Rebellion in the north, the Border Rising, j
headed on the Scottish side by Lord Kenmure,
came to a disastrous end. The first of the
Jacobite Border ballads of historical note appears
to be Kenmure' s on an' awa. As before arranged,
the south Scottish Jacobites were re-inforced by
a body of about two thousand Highlanders, sent
to their assistance by Mar, under the guidance
of the brave and daring veteran of Borlam,
Brigadier Macintosh. He had boldly crossed
the Firth of Forth in open boats in face of the
Government fleet, had captured Leith, frightened
the Whig citizens of Edinburgh, crossed the
Lammermuirs to Dunse, and joined Kenmure
near Kelso. The plan he proposed to the
border leaders was to co-operate directly with
Mar's forces in Perthshire by marching to Stirling
and enclosing Argyll between two fires; but his
policy was, unluckily for the Jacobite interests,
over-ruled; he was induced to add his forces to
the insurrectionary army of Derwentwater and
Foster, then mustered on the English side of the
- iQ4 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Border; and so shared in the misfortunes and
ruin of that ill-managed campaign which termin-
ated in the disgraceful surrender of Preston.
The ballads connected with these border events
are loud in the imputation of cowardice and
treachery against Foster, and in their admiration
of the courage and military honour of " Old
Macintosh," as he is commonly styled.
After the disasters at Sheriffmuir and at
Preston, and in spite of the arrival of the
Chevalier, the insurgent army dispersed; and
executions and imprisonments followed. The
fortunes of the Stuarts were about this time at
their lowest ebb. Every step in " the Fifteen "
had been so badly timed that the Chevalier was
fain to go back again to France and wait for
another tide which should lead to fortune, but
which never again offered so favourably.
The Jacobites in Scotland, in the meantime,
sought to keep alive the feeling of discontent
with the House of Guelph, by lampoons on the
government, and personal attacks of a satirical
and its Relative Literature. 195
and calumnious nature upon the reigning family.
A good deal of their energy also found vent in
bitter accusations and recriminations of each
other. At last their tone appeared to change,
as the figure of " Prince Charlie," the young
Chevalier, began to rise on the political horizon.
His beauty, grace, agreeable manners, and war-
like disposition heralded his coming; and when
at last the news came from Moidart to over- run *=
the country like wildfire, that the royal adven-
turer was on Scottish ground, the fading hopes
of the Jacobites began to brighten and broaden.
Affairs were in a condition not less unfavourable
to the cause than they shewed in 1716, yet the
devotion and loyalty his person and circumstances
inspired soon surrounded him with an army of
Highlanders, with which he boldly sought the
field. Never was Prince more beloved. The
songs and ballads that welcomed his arrival
bespeak the most ardent enthusiasm. They are
all in praise of his princely behaviour, and
breathe the most devoted wishes for his success.
1 96 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Many of them are in the Gaelic tongue, and
these, for fervour of language and unanimity of
sentiment, are unmatched in any literature.
They will be noticed hereafter. It is unnecessary,
here, to trace minutely the events of " the Forty-
five." It will be sufficient to glance at the
broader features of that Rebellion. The defeat
of Sir John Cope at Prestonpans, and the trium-
phal return to Edinburgh, raised the hopes of
the Jacobites to the highest pitch. The unfor-
tunate Cope was pitilessly tortured by the
ballad-mongers of the day. Nothing of all that
he had said or done in connexion with the battle
of Prestonpans, was lost sight of, or unutilized,
to his disadvantage. And each of the many
accounts of his conduct at that battle left him at
Dunbar or Berwick telling the story of his own
defeat. After the victory, the forces of Charles
continued to increase ; and in swelling the ranks
of the Jacobite army, female influence, as exerted
upon husband, brother, or lover, played a signi-
ficant part. At length the march to England
and its Relative Literature* 197
was resolved upon. The border was crossed,
and Carlisle taken. The English Jacobites, how-
ever, were slow to commit themselves to the side
they secretly cherished. They wanted to be
more sure of its proving the winning side. This
was the general feeling among them, so that
the backwardness of each deterred his neighbour.
The Jacobite army reached Derby, but still
there were no decided signs of encouragement
held out by the English. The halt at Derby
was the turning point of the cause. Retreat
was resolved on, and the star of Jacobitism
approached its setting. Dissensions divided the
leaders, privations and inaction disheartened the
men, and the Government was daily recovering
strength and decision. A brief glimpse of vic-
tory shone on the Jacobite arms at Falkirk, where
General Hawley was driven from the field. The
ballads of this battle allude to the fierce wind
that blew in the face of the Government army,
and to the sudden and unexpected disappearance
of the foe:
N
198 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
" Says brave Lochiel, ' Pray, have we won ?
Says Drummond, ' 'Faith the battle's done,
I see no troop, I hear no gun';
I know not how nor why/ "
The Prince, however, was still forced to retreat.
Winter was spent among the Highlands, and in
the ensuing Spring the fatal blow was dealt to
Jacobitism on the moor of Culloden. From
this point onwards in the ballad-history of the
Jacobites, hope is either entirely lost, or shines
with only a transient ray. The vengeance of
Heaven is invoked upon the merciless con-
querors; but the prevailing strain is one of
lamentation and despondency. Satire still con-
tinues, but it is no longer in any of its moods
playful or hopeful : it is earnestly acrimonious,
and tinged with despair. Indeed, the sorrow
that befell the Jacobite party by the disaster of
Culloden, gave quite a new character to the
bulk of the song-literature of that and subse-
quent years. It increased and refined the
poetry of the literature. We might even say,
speaking comparatively of the ballads preceding
and its Relative Literature. 199
the year 1 746, and those of that and the imme-
diately succeeding years, that the sorrows of
the Stuarts were unconsecrated by song till fate
at last fairly determined for doom that the
House should fall. Then the recollection of
the earlier misfortunes, which, however, seemed
only partial while the struggle was going on
and fate had not yet indicated the disastrous
final result, deepened the sorrow and refined
the song.
After the battle, executions and confiscations
followed, and a price was set on the head of the
fugitive prince. The loyalty of the Highlands
kept him safe. " Though thirty thousand pounds
they gi'e, where's the knave that would betray?"
And again, in spite of all the sufferings that had
been entailed upon the Highlanders by their
active support of his cause, with unflinching
devotion they could sing,
" He gat the skaith, he gat the scorn,
I lo'e him yet the better;
Tho 5 in the muir I hide forlorn,
I'll drink his health in water!"
200 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
It would seem that a hope of rallying the
clans after Culloden, existed among some of
the fugitive Jacobites: "Prince Charlie hell
be down again," &c. ; and,
" I yet may stand as I ha'e stood
Wi' him thro' rout an' slaughter,
An' bathe my hands in scoundrel blood
As I do now in water!"
This hope, however, at least its immediate
fulfilment, was soon abandoned; and the bards
of the cause confined their strains to hopes of
the personal safety of their wandering prince,
and continued expressions of devotion to his
service :
" I'll hide thee in Clanranald's isles
Where honour still bears sway;
I'll watch the traitor's hovering sails
By islet and by bay."
The Prince's companion and guide in his skulk-
ings among the glens, and moors, and islands of
the inner Hebrides, is frequently mentioned,
and always with honour and admiration, in this
connexion. And when at last his wanderings
and its Relative Literature. 201
are over, and he is safely embarked, and safely
landed in France, the cry of the almost heart-
broken Jacobite breaks out in the refrain,
"Will ye no' come back again?" Years after
he had left, his memory was cherished. He
was invited back, and promised the utmost help
which in their ruined condition they could
bestow. They were willing to sacrifice their
last drop of blood in his service, as many of them
had already sacrificed the last acres of their
patrimony. Mothers even promised their re-
maining sons in proof of the cheerfulness with
which they had granted the lives of their elder-
born to his cause. So late as 1772 the spirit of
active Jacobitism was kept alive. In April of
that year the Prince married Louisa of Stolberg
and the union inspired considerable joy and
fresh hopes in the breasts of the Scottish
Jacobites. The lady at once became the subject
of loyal toasts. But the sword had been lifted
for the last time in behalf of the Stuarts in April
1 746, and the once vigorous feeling of Jacobitism
2O2 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
began to sink into mere romantic sentimental-
ism.
Not the least interesting feature of the
Jacobite Ballads lies in the numerous incidental
references to the customs of the age, and to the
social, moral, and religious condition of the
nation. These allusions afford vivid side-
glimpses of the home-life of the people. Thus,
from the numerous toasts and healths, the large
enumeration of " horns " and glasses, which
occur in the Songs, we learn that the Jacobite
age must have been an intensely thirsty one.
Drinking appears to have been reckoned a
manly and fashionable accomplishment ; and
the person who would refuse to honour a toast,
that did not shock his political ideas even, would
have been obliged to leave the company, and
held in suspicion by his bacchanalian confreres.
" Take off the toast," is the order of the feast-
master, "for he that refuses, a traitor we'll
mark." From the drinking tendencies of the
age, social gatherings were of frequent occur-
and its Relative Literature. 203
rence, where were discussed the plans of the
Stuart restoration, and the chances of success
likely to be relied on. "A running bumper" is
called for to the health of the " royal Swede."
" Then let us be jovial, social, and free," is part
of a swinging chorus. " I'se be fou, an' thou'se
be toom, cogie, an the king come," is the quaint
utterance of a resolution likely to be acted up to,
from its very undemonstrativeness. Just before
the dismissal of a company, met to concoct
schemes inimical to the government, the cry of
the host is,
" Send roun' the usquebaugh sae clear;
Let's tak' a horn thegither;"
and, as a parting advice to those whose attach-
ment to Jacobitism was in danger of effervescing
in noisy professions over the alcohol, the lines
of the song are quoted,
" He that drinks maun fight too,
To shew his heart's upright too."
Attendant upon these social gatherings were
the pastimes of piping and dancing. In fact a
204 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
piper was an indispensable at a Jacobite meeting".
And dancing is frequently spoken of as if it
were the usual concomitant of the strains of the
bagpipe :
" Mak' the piper blaw,
An' let the lads and lasses baith
Their supple legs shaw ! "
is the command of a south-country " laird " to
whom is brought the intelligence of the expected
arrival of his exiled king.
In connexion with these cheerful recreations
of the Stuart partizans, we may notice the con-
tempt they entertained for the sunless severity
and austerity of life of the Cameronians, or
Scottish Puritans. They ridiculed and mocked
them in many ways, in their garb, features,
talk, doctrines, and especially in the mode of
life they adopted, so destructive of the little
sweets, of social companionship. The mock
solemnity of the ballad of the Cameronian Cat,
that followed its feline instincts of mouse-catch-
ing on a Sunday, is a bitter caricature of the
and its Relative Literature. 205
external strictness in Sabbatarian observances
of the stern Hill-men of the West. Latterly in
the Jacobite struggle they were let alone for the
most part. Many of them, indeed, had become
so dissatisfied with the Union, and with the
treatment of Scotland in commercial matters by
the English, that they were secretly inclining to
the Jacobite side, a state of matters which was
not long in leaking out, and of which the Cheva-
lier was not slow to take advantage for the
furtherance of his claims. In a manifesto, dated
3ist October, 1718, with a view to securing their
aid, or at least their non-interference in any after
attempts he might make against the Hanoverian
Government, he promised to "protect such of
our people, commonly called Cameronians, as
shall prove dutiful and loyal to us, from all sorts
of hardships and oppressions." The Hill-men
as a class, however, had conceived a strong in
some cases, an ineradicable dislike to the very
name of Stuart, ever since the persecutions to
which their fathers and themselves had been
206 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
subjected in the reigns of Charles and James;
and, consequently, the manifesto of the Chevalier
was without result.
The occupation of spinning, &c., then com-
mon to the female portion of the lower and
even middle class, is often alluded to. From
Buchan, we have enthusiasm for the white
cockade blending with the sentiment of love,
expressed in the lines,
" I'll sell my rock, I'll sell my reel,
My ripplin' kame, an' spinnin' wheel,
To buy my lad a tartan plaid,
A broad-sword, and a white cockade."
And, again, in the spirited verses of Lady
Drummond,
" I may sit in my wee croo' house,
At the rock an' the reel to toil fu' dreary," &c.
Many of the ballads have a country air about
them: they smack undeniably of the farmyard
and the sheepfold. " What a delightful picture/'
says the Ettrick Shepherd, "of our ancient and
homely hospitality do these few lines convey,
and its Relative Literature. 207
' Wi' rowth o' kin, an' rowth o' reek,
My daddy's door it wadna steek;
But bread an' cheese were his door-cheek,
An' girdle-cakes the riggin' o't.' "
In the song beginning "What ails thee, puir
Shepherd ? " we have Britain viewed as an
extensive sheep-farm, and, from the Jacobite
point of view, hastening to ruin from the un-
skilfulness and roguery of its "shepherds." In
a song already quoted, two fugitive Jacobite
lords from Sheriffmuir are spoken of as better
adapted to act as shepherdesses than as soldiers.
One of the ballads about the battle of Sheriff-
muir begins, " O cam' ye here the fight to shun,
or herd the sheep wi' me ? " In another ballad,
a disguised Jacobite is represented as climbing
the hillside to " shift his sheep their lair." A
third has the verse, which the closing days of
Walter Scott have filled with a melancholy
Interest,
x " It's up yon heathery mountain,
An' doun yon scroggy glen,
We daurna gang a milk in',
For Charlie an' his men."
208 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
The profligacy, open and unchecked, which
reigned at the court, especially of the first
George, was unsparingly exposed by the Jaco-
bite satirists. This was fair game for the shafts
of satire; but delicacy was required in the mat-
ter, and in this respect the Jacobite bards have
been awanting. They never encourage vice,
and they never deride or jest at virtue; on the
contrary, they denounce vice, but in terms of
wide-mouthed coarseness. Dealing with a foul
subject, they are careless in their mode of treat-
ment of it, and so contract some of the foulness
to themselves. In their hatred, too, of their
political opponents, the Jacobite bards frequently
approach the verge of blasphemy, as well as
indulge in coarseness. But this can more com-
monly be predicated of the language than of the
idea; and, taking the literature of the period all
in all as a fair reflection of the state of matters
in Scotland at the time it was produced, we
must acknowledge that, between that time and
this, Scotland was yet to reach her greatest
depth of profanity and blasphemy.
and its Relative Literature. 209
But the Jacobite ballads of Scotland may be
viewed in another and totally different light from
that in which we have hitherto been regarding
them. They are a repository of interesting
historical facts relating to the period- when they
first appeared; but this, for the most part, they
are only incidentally: the main object of their
production is not now the palpable thing it was
when they were first given in successive instal-
ments to the world. They exercised an influ-
ence, and a mighty influence, in the cause they
advocated. They are now merely the historical
frame-work or skeleton of an energy that no
longer lives and breathes in them. This princi-
ple of life and action, this influence, we have
seen, died hard. It was succeeded by a weaker
influence of less potent range, a watery dilution
of the former, which was confined entirely to the
region of imagination. It appeared only in
words: otherwise it did not reach the outer
world of life and action. It fought and struggled
only in imagination, and exercised no governing
2 1 o The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
sway over the outward life. There were thus
two species of Jacobitism; the one, real, active,'
outward ; the other, sentimental, romantic, fanci-
ful. The latter we shall consider in its proper
place, as an out-growth, or rather after-growth,
of the former. And, in the meantime, let us
confine ourselves shortly to the Jacobitism of the
Jacobite ballads, viewed in the aspect of a prin-
ciple of action.
All literatures affect the age of which they are
the outcome. They are not merely mirrors in
which later generations may trace the broader
mental features of their predecessors. They
were not simply the passive recipients of the
thoughts and feelings of the age: they were
active as well as passive, and helped to modify,
and perhaps even create the very features which
they now hold up as characteristic of the age in
which they were produced. This is true of the
literatures of peaceful times: much more palp-
ably is it true when asserted of a period of
struggle and controversy, such as the period
and its Relative Literature. 2 1 1
before us, when the minds of men are over-
heated, and readily and decisively moved in the
direction to which they are naturally inclined.
We may consider, in the first place, the
cementing influence which the ballads exercised
over the scattered energies of the Jacobite party.
They gave unity and individuality to Jacobitism,
and thus acted as a powerful aid in perfecting
the policy laid down by its leaders. A ballad
which contained the plans or the hopes of the
Jacobite leaders was longer-lived than the spoken
word or communicated letter, penetrated into
remoter localties, and gave a more extensive
publicity. By this means the collective energy
of the Jacobite body was prevented from being
frittered away and lost in desultory and inde-
pendent movements, and greater unity of action
was secured when the time came to strike a
blow. They also revealed to the members of
the party as a collective body their own strength,
and gave them a confidence in themselves which
they could not otherwise have possessed. By
212
The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
the free use of names they marked out in a clear
and unmistakeable manner the number and
strength of the adherents of Jacob! tism. They
confirmed the wavering, the irresolute, and the
faint-hearted, while at the same time they pre-
vented the double-dealing from tampering with
Jacobite matters. A man whose name was
sounded in the same song with well-known and
determined advocates of the Stuart cause, must
have understood that from that moment he had
taken the decisive step which separated him
from the Government, and placed him among
the ranks of the Jacobites; and from the moment
of his public committal to that party, he must
have been stimulated to the utmost to further
the advancement of the interests with which
his name was now bound up, from a sense that
his own safety depended upon the exertions of
his party. Not only therefore would the ballad-
literature increase the strength of the Jacobites,
by collecting their various and far-separated
energies into a unity, but it would still further
and its Relative Literatiire.
add to their collective strength, by inciting
individual action to the highest pitch.
In yet another way would the ballads stir up
the Jacobite partizans to the display of great
individual exertion. When they were in the
field, and a battle impending, they were not
only conscious of the disasters that would be
sure to befall them if they should chance to be
unsuccessful as a body : they were further aware
that, however the issue should go, brave and
honourable behaviour on their part as individual
soldiers would certainly be noted, and sung
about, and circulated ere many days throughout
the country ; and that, on the other hand,
cowardice or treachery, wherever witnessed,
and, if enacted, it could not very well wholly
escape notice, would be unsparingly pro-
claimed, and as loudly by friend as by foe.
The ballads, in fact, in their accounts of the
battles of the Jacobite Rebellion, filled the posi-
tion of the modern newspaper, with this differ-
ence, that they were ten-fold more severe in
o
2 1 4 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
their comments upon cowardice and treachery,
and held up the unfortunate subjects of their
satire and denunciation to a much longer-lived
obloquy. At the same time, furnished as they
were by rhyme with wings and talons, they
were as universal in their range, and clung
more continuously and forcibly to the memories
of men. Thus, the additional stimulus of fame,
or at least the preservation of honour, was
brought to bear with peculiar force upon the
adherents of Jacobitism, by the well-known
character of these ballads. Cowards and trai-
tors were lashed unmercifully by the thong of
the satirist. Indeed, so bitterly was the be-
haviour of Huntly, Seaforth, and Carnegie of
Phinaven assailed for the timidity and evil
example they exhibited at Sheriffmuir, that
they were afraid to show face again among
their own party, and accordingly deserted to the
other side. In this way, the Jacobite camp was
kept pure, by the deterrent influence exercised
by the ballads upon occasions of the faintest
symptoms of cowardice.
and its Relative Liter atiire. 215
But the ballads acted further as an influence
in inducing individuals to throw in their lot with
Jacobitism, by an enumeration of the claims the
Stuarts had upon their loyalty and allegiance.
These claims are sometimes expressly set forth,
and altogether embrace a variety of considera-
tions. One of the writers declares that by the
laws of God the Stuarts must, and yet shall,
reign ; the date of their restoration may be
delayed, but the country will never rest in peace
till these laws are satisfied. He even represents
religion to be an impossible thing in the country
while the Stuarts remain in exile. He says,
" To injure true princes and gloss o'er offences
Is serving God worse than a Turk or a Jew.
Then what we so foully have taken away,
O let us return on our reckoning day,
Or else we as wicked as demons are grown;
And tho' to the skies
We turn up our eyes,
Dishonour the church and the land we own."
And again, in a kindred strain,
" Your Hogan Mogan foreign things,
God gave them in displeasure," &c.
2 1 6 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Then, as visible proofs of the divine displeasure,
he traces the disasters of Scotland to the
establishment of these contemptuous " foreign
things " in the land of the Stuarts :
" Our Darien can witness bear
And so can our Glencoe,
Our South Sea it can make appear
What to your kings we owe.
We have been murdered, starv'd, and robb'd,
By those your kings and knavery;
And all our treasure is stock-jobbed
While we groan under slavery."
The only possible plan of ending these calami-
ties, and averting the mischief which they have
produced, in the words of the song,
" The only way relief to bring,
And save both church and steeple,
Is to bring in our lawful king,
The father of his people.
Ne'er can another fill his place
O'er rights divine and civil."
In another song, James, "the Pretender" of the
whigs, is called by the Jacobite bard "your
God's vicegerent and your king."
and its Relative Literature. 2 1 7
Another argument made use of to enforce the
Stuart claims is the high antiquity of the family.
" His great progenitors have swa/d
Your sceptre nigh the half of time"
The birth of the Chevalier is even the fulfil-
ment of a prophecy uttered ages ago, according
to the Jacobite bard. "'Twas thus," says he,
reading his prophecy backwards,
" 'Twas thus in early bloom of time,
Under a reverend oak,
In sacred and inspired rhyme
An ancient Druid spoke,
' An hero from fair Clementine
Long ages hence shall spring,
And all the gods their power combine
To bless the future king.' "
Similar arguments were largely circulated in
pamphlet-form on the accession of George I.
"I'm confident," says one writer, in an expostu-
latory address, "that in our secret thoughts we
are agreed that King James VIII. is our lawful
rightful sovereign; and we all know that he is
the undoubted lineal heir by blood, and descen-
2 1 8 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
dant of the ancient race of our Scottish kings,
whose ancestors, in a direct line, have swayed
the sceptre in our hereditary monarchy for many
generations without control ; a prince upon whom
the crown is entailed by the fundamental laws
of our country; and to whom, even before he
was born, we have often sworn allegiance and
fealty by those oaths given to former kings, by
which we bound ourselves not only to them, but
to their lawful heirs and successors, &c., &c."
The ballads lay strong force on the Stuarts
being native to Scotland; and the fact of their
being " foreigners " is again and again urged
against William and the Georges as sufficient
in itself to disqualify them from wielding the
Stuart sceptre. In the spirit-stirring song
Wha wadna fecht for Charlie?, the verse occurs
illustrative of this,
" Shall we basely crouch to tyrants,
Shall we own a foreign sway;
Shall a royal Stuart be banished,
While a Stranger rules the day?"
The same idea comes out prominently in the
and its Relative Literature. 2 1 9
pamphlet-literature of the day: "You are to
fight against your lawful and rightful king, born
in our own island, of the ancient stock of the
royal family of the Stuarts."
Every method is adopted to recommend
" Prince Charlie " to the people of Scotland.
His handsome appearance, princely manners,
native courtesy, and courage, are all praised
again and again; and his name is linked with
one which every Scotsman must always respect
with complete unanimity of feeling, the name
of the Bruce. He is called the " Bruce's
Heir," and therefore Scotland was his rightful
patrimony :
" The hills he trode were a' his am ; . . .
The bush that hid him on the plain
There's nane on earth can claim but he."
Ingratitude is charged in the pamphlets, where
they treat of the same arguments, against those
who are about to draw their swords against the
cause of the Stuarts: "His ancestors bravely
defended us, and transmitted down to us the
220 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
liberty and independency of our nation; and
under them our nobility and gentry first received,
and ever since possessed, all the honours, titles,
riches, and estates, &c."
To meet the wishes and secure the aid of
those whose only objections to " the Pretender "
are his popish education and intolerant papisti-
cal creed, the pamphleteer offers the assurance
that "he is truly of the one Catholic Church,
without the addition of Roman." And, further,
" But let the king's religion be what it will, he
has under his hand given us all the security we
can ask that he will maintain the Protestant
Religion in his kingdoms, and fence it from any
danger by such laws, as shall, by the advice of
his Parliament, be thought necessary."
The influence of party-song in keeping alive
the spirit of the cause, in support of which they
were framed, is too manifest to require more than
a passing allusion. King Edward the First of
England sought to destroy this influence in the
prosecution of his conquest of Wales, by com-
and its Relative Literature. 221
passing the death of the Welsh bards, and
suppressing the patriotic strains in praise of
freedom and independence, which formed the
main bulwark of the land of the Cymri. It
was by the universal prevalence of a single
party-song that James II. was said, with con-
siderable show of truth, to have been " whistled "
and sung out of his ancestral inheritance. So
fully acknowledged, indeed, has the power of
song become in the formation and guidance of
national opinion, that the saying, attributed to
Fletcher of Saltoun, " Give me the making of
a country's songs, and let who will make its
laws," has passed into a proverb. It is perhaps
difficult, therefore, to over-estimate the influence
of the Jacobite ballads upon the prolongation
of the struggle between the rival parties in
Britain during the sixty years from the Revolu-
tion. In that, period three important risings
took place, the attempts, namely, of Dundee,
Mar, and the young Chevalier respectively, to
re-instate the Stuart dynasty. These attempts
222 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
mark the epochs when the struggle gathered to
a head, and burst out fiercely in civil war.
Between these points or centres of activity
stretched years of apparent repose, which, how-
ever, were prevented from sinking into apathy,
indifference, or forgetfulness, by the constant
circulation throughout the country of ballads
breathing the most ardent devotion to Jacobit-
ism, and the most determined opposition to
what they regarded as foreign supremacy.
These ballads were repeated from town to
town, and from village to village; they were
sung at secret social gatherings of the Jacobites;
they were treasured in every Jacobite memory;
and thus rendered it impossible that the princi-
ples of Jacobitism should speedily die and be
forgotten. They were taught by Jacobite
parents to their children as, next to the Bible,
the most important part of their education,
instilling into their minds the principles of
loyalty, and furnishing them with a political
creed by which to direct their lives and actions:
and its Relative Liter attire. 223
Indeed, in some of the more intensely Jacobite
households, the spirit of these ballads was in-
culcated into the minds of the rising generation
as a species of religion. The exiled heir was
God's vicegerent on earth; want of loyalty to
him was breach of faith with God. To the
grown-up Jacobite, whose mind did not require
their teaching, coeval as it was with their
earliest production, the ballads came endowed
with hardly less important influences. They
cheered him in his hours of despondency,
inspired him with fresh hopes for the ultimate
success of the cause to which he was pledged,
and encouraged him to renewed exertions in
the Stuart interest when a favourable oppor-
tunity for action should arrive. At the same
time they increased his hatred and aversion to
the government of a sovereign whose innermost
sympathies were with his Dutch or German
subjects, .and whose language, customs, and
traditional instincts, were comparatively alien to
the British nation.
2 24 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
When Jacobitism as a principle of action was
dead, there appeared in the country a post-
humous Jacobitism of a purely sentimental type.
Its sway was wholly in the realms of a romantic
imagination. It gave a peculiar complexion to
the literature of Scotland when, after the tur-
moil of the rebellions had ceased, the current
of the national literature resumed its interrupted
course; but beyond the pale of literature it did
not reach. It was purely literary in its aim, and
was quite unmixed with politics. The romantic
circumstances in which real Jacobitism was
fought out, the heroism, chivalry, unselfish devo-
tion, and unparalleled misfortunes of the Stuart
family and its adherents, viewed historically,
contained many of the elements of poetry, and
possessed strong affinity for the poetical mind.
Perhaps poetical feeling was most strongly
roused to the side of Jacobitism by the misfor-
tunes which befel the ancient House of Stuart
in the person of its last youthful representative,
Prince Charles. This feeling was, at least,
and its Relative Literature. 225
purely poetical, and would have been as readily
awakened if similar circumstances had sur-
rounded the ruin of a different family. The
losing side is always the side on which the
greatest amount of good poetry is enlisted. A
sense of poetical justice, demanding to be shewn
to the undeserving sufferers, arises in the poeti-
cal mind ; and while Fate has crowned the
conquering side with laurel, Poetry weaves for
the prostrate vanquished a chaplet of more
undying bay.
The posthumous influence of Jacobitism
shewed itself, in the first place, in a continua-
tion of the mournful strain which broke out in
the ballads with such thrilling pathos after
Culloden. Jacobitism, as a living principle of
action, was now dead. It was hopeless to
expect its resurrection. It was now only a
feeling. And in this new light of it, it was
gazed backwards upon in its entirety. The
changes it had undergone were reviewed.
The sufferings it had experienced were lingered
226 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
over. The good qualities that had marked its
existence were enumerated, treasured up, in
many cases, a fictitious value put upon them.
Everything that could excite sympathy for the
fallen family was eagerly sought out by the
poetical mind, eagerly caught hold of, and lov-
ingly shewn off in song and ballad. The
sufferings and misfortunes of the Jacobite
leaders, and especially of the Prince, the
most conspicuous in his sorrows of them all-
were mostly dwelt upon in these songs. Many
of them, by nameless bards, are fraught with
the most touching pathos. They appear to have
been flung off, in many cases anonymously, as
a natural and only mode of relief to the sorrow-
o'erburdened mind, and not from ulterior ends
of poetical renown.
But to leave these scattered, and, in many
cases, unacknowledged songs, and to confine our
attention to the works of well-known Scottish
authors whose minds have been tinged with
the feeling of Jacobitism, we may notice un-
and its Relative Literature. 227
mistakeable traces of Jacobite predilection in the
poetry of Carolina Oliphant, Baroness Nairne,
of Burns, of Hogg, of Scott, and, not to exhaust
the whole list, of Campbell, and of Aytoun.
Some of the best so-called Jacobite songs are
by Lady Nairne. And, possessing as she did
in a marked degree the genius of the lyre, it
would have been matter of surprise if she had
turned away her attention from the misfortunes
of the House of Stuart. Her father, her grand-
father, and numerous relatives, were among the
most zealous and active supporters of Jacobitism
in the period of the rebellions. She was born
and educated in " the Auld House of Gask,"-
which was a very centre of Jacobite ideas.
She was taught to sing the praises of the
Stuarts ere she could well lisp the name. Her
family had shared in the misfortunes of the
exiled family. And many little acts of special
favour had been extended to her father by the
young Chevalier himself. Accordingly, her
songs are imbued with the spirit of Jacobitism,
228 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
and are so clearly the offspring of the heart,
that none are more widely known or more
universally popular among Scotsmen. So com-
pletely is the feeling of Jacobitism mixed up in
her mind with all other feelings, that it shews
itself even in songs that have no direct con-
nexion with Jacobitism. One of the many
associations, for instance, by which "the Auld
House" of her childhood, in .the deservedly
popular song of that name, has become en-
deared to her memory, is the circumstance that
the eyes of " Scotland's Heir" have rested upon
its walls ; and that it contains, as one of its most
cherished treasures, a lock of " his lang yellow
hair."
Burns, it is well known, was strongly touched
with the misfortunes that at last overwhelmed
the Stuart line. This sympathetic feeling
occasionally bursts out in his songs, though he
evidently laboured to restrain it. He even
apologises to those who might take his strongly-
uttered expressions of sympathy for the unfor-
and its Relative Liter atiire. 229
tunate Stuarts in other than a poetical significa-
tion:
" A poor friendless wanderer may well claim a sigh,
Still more if that wanderer be royal."
In the Chevaliers Lament occurs the well-
known line,
" His right are these hills, and his right are these valleys,"-
but the statement is urged simply to explain
the poetical sympathy with which his heart was
charged for one, now dead, who was chased
from his paternal inheritance. From Burns's
muse we have also Strathallans Lament.
Hogg's Jacobite predilections in literature
were even more marked, but not more decidedly
intense than Burns's. He has got his comic
as well as his plaintive Jacobite songs. Of the
former class, perhaps the most original is
Donald Macgillivray. It is amusing to find
"the Shepherd" at one time giving it as his
opinion "that Donald Macgillivray is apparently
a very old song, and doubtless is meant to
embrace the whole Highland clans under an
230 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
individual name"; and, at another time, as a
great secret, avowing himself the author of it.
A verse of it runs thus, descriptive of the
fierce descent of the Highlanders upon the
Lowlands in aid of the Stuart cause,
" Donald's run ower the hill, hot his tether, man,
As he were wud, or stang'd wi' an ether, man;
When he comes back, there's some will look merrily;
Here's to King James, and Donald Macgillivray.
Come like a weaver, Donald Macgillivray,
Come like a weaver, Donald Macgillivray,
Pack on your back, an' elwan' sae cleverly;
Gie them full measure, my Donald Macgillivray ! "
But Hogg's genius as a Jacobite song- writer is
best manifested in those translations from the
Gaelic illustrative of Celtic hospitality and
loyalty to the royal adventurer. Macleans
Welcome and Flora Macdonald* s Lament may
stand as instances.
Scott's leanings to the side of Jacobitism are
visible in his Waverley, and in several minor
songs, chief among these the spirited Gather-
ing of the Clans, which reveal the interest he
felt in the fortunes of the Stuart House. From
and its Relative Literature. 231
the natural disposition of his mind, it might
have been predicted of Scott that these fortunes
would claim his sympathies. The passing away
of a dynasty of high antiquity must have power-
fully affected the mind of him to whom every
time-honoured institution was sacred. Even
the destruction of an old bridge called up sad
and contemplative ideas in his mind. It is well
known he was fond of repeating the old Jacobite
ballads, and nothing gave him more pleasure,
deep and undemonstrative, than to listen to the
singing of those of them that bewail the sad
fate of the royal wanderer. But, after all, we
are less able to lay our finger upon any par-
ticular passage of Scott's works indicative of
undoubted Jacobite sympathies, than to feel, in
the perusal of these works as a whole, a per-
vading air faintly tinged with the aroma of
Jacobitism.
Campbell's noble fragment of LochieVs Warn-
ing sufficiently indicates the fascination with
which his mind was drawn to the contemplation
232 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
of the tragic downfall of the Stuart House, a
downfall that included in its completeness the
ruin of so many devoted partizans. His feel-
ings, too, as shewn in the single brief fragment,
are all on the losing side.
But of all the modern Scottish authors whose
works shew a Jacobite leaning, none perhaps
has been more thoroughly steeped in Jacobitism
than Aytoun. With him, Jacobitism was a
passion; and so effectually colours the whole
body of his poetry, that one might say his
genius only lived, and was only inspired, to
celebrate in immortal verse the later fortunes of
the Stuarts. Sympathies of a warmer or more
absorbing character in behalf of Jacobitism, are
nowhere to be found in the entire collection of
literature born of the Stuart struggle after a
restoration. So intense, indeed, were these
sympathies, that they have warped his whole
mental energies, and confined them to the single
task of setting forth the strangely-mingled
glories and reverses of the loyal Scottish Cava-
and its Relative Literature. 233
Hers. And this is the great fault of his poetry :
it is too narrow, too exclusive and one-sided.
His hatred of the enemies of the Stuarts is
unjustly severe and intolerant. He can see
nothing in them to admire, or even respect.
They were all hypocrites, traitors, or cowards;
just as all his cavaliers were heroes, loyal sub-
jects, and men of truth.
There is still prevalent in the country an
influence possessed by the Jacobite songs
which can most aptly be described as tradi-
tional. This influence is, no doubt, greatly due
to the intrinsic literary merits of many of the
songs ; but is chiefly owing to early association.
Let us again recollect that they were once the
only songs in the mouth of an entire genera-
tion : they were sung everywhere, crooned as
cradle-songs, adapted as love-songs, and sung
as impassioned expressions of freedom and
patriotism. They were thus intimately inter-
woven with the every-day life of our fore-
fathers. To the old and the middle-aged, they
234 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
were fraught with associations of times, persons,
and places in the past, whither the memory
loved to turn; at the same time they were
flung in the way of the young, by whom they
were seized, and used as the fittest expressions
of their own individual experiences and modes
of thought and feeling. In this way, they have
come down to our own generation with almost
unimpaired popularity, despite of many excel-
lent rival songs, but, of course, with greatly
altered signification. Their present influence
is eminently healthful. Songs that bring back
to one's recollection childhood, parents, and the
disinterested friendships of early youth, cannot
but tend to keep the mind fresh, and pure, and
true to its youthful instincts. This influence
they exercise as derived from associative
sources. To this, add the further beneficial
influence springing from intrinsic virtues of
courage, fidelity, and patriotism, which they
inculcate in homely but frequently fervid phrase.
It how remains for us to take a survey of the
and its Relative Literature. 235
songs and ballads, born of Jacobitism, with a
view to a judgment of their literary value, and
a determination of their prevailing character-
istics. Produced, as by far the greater propor-
tion of them were, in a controversial age, when
party spirit ran high, we are not surprised to
find that many of them are of a satirical nature.
Much of this satire is only rhymed abuse,
quite devoid of any poetical thought or feeling.
The object of the satire appears to have been
thought attained, if the person at whom its
shafts were launched was seen to wince under
the infliction. A good deal of it is coarse;
rather, however, in expression than in idea.
This was natural, when we consider the heated
passions of the times. Men, in their angry
haste, said things which in their calmer moods
they would have been shocked to hear. They
attacked each other's character with the impu-
tation of the foulest, and often only fanciful,
crimes. They swore dreadful oaths of hatred
and vengeance against each other, and reck-
236 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
lessly condemned each other's soul to ever-
lasting torment. What wonder if, occasionally,
such coarseness, and curses so dreadful, found
their way into the satirical literature of the
day ? But there still remains, after deducting
these, a considerable amount of good and legi-
timate satire. A peculiar feature of this satire
is the microscopical insignificance to which it
dwarfs what it regards as ambitious pretension.
As an example of this, take the ballad of the
Wee wee German Lairdie. The very name
with which they speak of King George is satiri-
cal in the highest degree. He is spoken of as
having been elevated to a position which he
never even aspired to:
/
" When we gade to bring him hame,
He was delvin' in his kail-yardie."
He is represented as bringing in his train a
number of indigent dependents, who are briefly
discussed as "fouth o' foreign trash." His pre-
sence on the throne of England, however, is
nothing to the Scottish satirist, only let him
and its Relative Liter atiire. 237
stay there. If ever he crosses the Tweed to the
ancient kingdom of Scotland, it must in no case
be with the pretentions of a sovereign. That
could not for a moment be tolerated. These
assumed pretensions must then be laid aside.
He must in nowise presume to intermeddle with
the time-hallowed institutions of Scotland. He
is invited to visit and admire, or sink abashed,
but not to touch, overturn, or revolutionize.
" Come up among our highland hills,
Thou wee wee German Lairdie,
An' see how the Stuarts' lang-kail thrive
They dibbled in our yardie !
An' if a stock ye daur to pu',
Or haud the yokin' o' a plou',
We'll break your sceptre owre your mou',
Thou wee bit German Lairdie ! "
More frequently, however, the satire of these
ballads is, metaphorically speaking, a furious
succession of knock-down blows, distributed with
little discrimination, and less mercy. The only
object is to pommel into shapelessness. The
fine art to which Pope ennobled the science of
literary abuse was unknown, or at least unappre-
238 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
elated in Scotland. The Scottish satirists did
not waste their time and expend their fury in
polishing and pointing their instrument of attack.
They were too hot-blooded for that. Nor did
they take delicate aim from behind some loop-
hole in front of which the enemy was thought-
lessly breathing himself, with armour laid aside
or vizor up. The object of their attack had
notice, for the most part, of the intended assault;
the bolts, sharp or blunt, as they came to hand,
were shot off at random, and when they were
exhausted the butt of the cross-bow was a handy
instrument of offence. Thus Scottish satire
rather bestowed surface bruises, which stunned
as much by the noise as the pain with which their
delivery was accompanied, than poisoned
wounds that rankled secretly, and bled inwardly,
and were long and painful in healing. This had
from time immemorial been the orthodox mode
of dealing literary castigation in Scotland. Dun-
bar was an adept in it, and Lyndsay and all the
literary disciplinarians of the past had so taught
and its Relative Liter atiire. 239
the art. To illustrate this mode of satirical
writing, so often adopted by the contributors to
the Jacobite ballad-literature, look for a moment
on this wholesale onslaught upon the Whigs of
Fife:
" O, for a bauk as lang as Crail,
An' for a rape o' rapes the wale,
To hing the tykes up by the tail
An' hear the beggars yell !
O, wae to a' the Whigs o' Fife,
The brosy tykes, the lousy tykes,
O, wae to a' the Whigs o' Fife
That e'er they cam' frae," &c.
One can fancy the Whigs of Fife themselves,
after this tremendous deluge of wordy invective,
recovering their scattered ideas, and laughing
immoderately at the imaginary gallows of
Herculean dimensions, with its abnormally-
strung load of yelping curs. In the same
song the writer prays for the return of that
happy day when " ilka ane shall get his ain,
an' ilka Whig the mell:" he implores also that
Satan be loosed among the Fife Whigs for a
240 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
while "to claw the traitors wi' a flail" These
ponderous implements of industrial occupation
are fitting emblems of the author's own powers
as a satirist. They break bones, and bruise,
and make noise enow; but, after all, they are
not the most lethal weapons which one might
carry with him to the battle-field. There is
often a ludicrous weirdness of imagination
portrayed in this species of Jacobite Satire.
Thus in the lines,
" O, to see Auld Nick gaun hame
Wi' Charlie's faes afore him!"
we have a vivid vision that half shocks us with
its daring, and half shakes us into laughter
with its ludicrousness.
It may be as well here to notice the frequency
with which the figure of Satan is made to
appear and re-appear in the long series of the
Jacobite ballads. It seems, indeed, that about
this time was formed that idea of the " Deil "
and his supposed usual place of abode, which
was afterwards more fully elaborated by the
and its Relative Literature. 241
genius of Burns, and is now come to be regarded
as peculiarly Scottish. Whatever may have
been the origin of the Scottish idea of hell and
the Devil, it was certainly not English nor
German. The hell of Paradise Lost is a vast
unexplored region of "doleful shades" through
which we have sublimely indistinct glimpses of
a tall, battle-scarred, archangelic figure stalking
with uncomplaining pain "over the burning
marie," grasping in his hand the defiant spear,
and grandly terrific in his blasphemies and
challenges against a greater than himself. In
Faiist he is a mixture of the sceptical philosopher
and the man about town, well versed in all the
fashionable vices of a refined but licentious age,
and ready with his sophistical arguments to
shew that vice loses all its evil by losing all its
grossness. In Scotland, on the other hand, he
is represented by the Jacobite ballads as having
dispensed with disguise, and as journeying
about in his native nigritude. He is, however,
more frequently in his own proper domain
242 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
superintending the disposal of multitudinous
arrivals. Rarely is he in the intermediate
region of earth surveying his prospects and
calculating the chances of a plenteous harvest.
Occasionally, however, he is out for an airing.
At one time we have him perched on the
commanding site of Stirling steeple, at another
time in secret conclave with the Whig leaders;
but most commonly he is immersed in the cares
and anxieties of subterranean business. His
occupation, as obtained from passing glimpses
in the ballads, is to keep alive the fires of huge
furnaces, to provide fuel, manufacture brimstone,
secure the more refractory of his prisoners by
gyves and chains, administer the proper rotation
of punishment suited to individual cases, and,
generally, preserve an ill-acknowledged supre-
macy. These cares he seeks to alleviate by
blasphemous songs, and "scraps of Auld Calvin's
catches." In that weird and powerfully imagina-
tive poem, entitled C^lmberland and Murray's
Descent, we have a comprehensive insight into
and its Relative Literature. 243
the whole infernal economy. The poem is an
attack upon the cruelties perpetrated upon the
defenceless Scots after Culloden by the Duke
of Cumberland; and the traitorous conduct of
Murray of Broughton, who, after his capture,
consequent upon the suppression of " the Forty-
five," was carried to London, and purchased his
indemnity by discovering the secrets of many
noble families concerned in the late rebellion.
The Jacobite idea of justice can only be satisfied
by figuring the heinousness of the crimes of
these two arch-enemies to the interests of the
Stuarts, as demanding all the penal resources
of the place of torment. The curtain of hell is
drawn aside, and an extensive underground
vault of fire, smoke, brimstone, terrific noises,
writhing victims, and rejoicing devils is revealed.
The floor of this vault is covered with a vast
sea of simmering vats, which fade away in end-
less series in smoky perspective. In these vats
Satanic imps are now and again descried,
swimming and diving, and generally disporting
244 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
themselves among the mysterious contents, after
the fashion of dab-chicks. At suitable distances
there are great " dubs," or " lowing haughs " of
fire, being constantly fed with sulphureous fuel.
Around and in the midst of these are the " puir
wretches " undergoing their measured allotment
of punishment; while at intervals, through the
flame-streaked smoke,
" The worm of hell, which never dies,
In wintled coil, writhes up an' fries ! "
Each inferior demon has his own apportioned
work.
" Ae deil sat splitting brunstane matches,
Ane roasting Whigs like bakers' batches;
Ane wi' fat a Whig was bastin',
Spent wi' frequent pray'r an' fastinV
Around lie the various instruments of their
profession, the hideous paraphernalia of hell :
"fry thing pans," "caudrons," "spunks," "chains,"
"leisters," " scalping-whittles," and "whunstane
hones." In the midst of this busy scene, the
two unfortunates, in condemnation of whom the
poem was written, are seized upon and submitted
and its Relative Literature. 245
to the severest torments of Satanic ingenuity.
Their uttered agonies are represented as un-
speakable, and striking even the hardened
aborigines of the region with astonishment :
" A' ceased when thae twin butchers roar'd,
An' Hell's grim Hangman stopt an' glow'r'd ! "
This idea is Dantesque in its horror. Murray's
greed of gain, the supposed ruling passion of his
life, and his impudent cleverness in acquiring it,
are represented as still accompanying him in the
midst of these awful scenes :
" Ae deevil roar'd, till hearse an' roupit,
' He's pykin' the gowd frae Satan's poopit ! '
Anither roar'd wi' eldritch yell,
' He's howkin the keystane oot o' hell
To damn us mair wi' Gpd's day-light!'
An' he dookit i' the caudrons oot o' sight !
He stole auld Satan's brunstane leister,
Till his waukit loofs were in a blister;
He stole his whig-spunks, tipt wi' brunstane,
He stole his scalpin-whittle's whunstane;
An' oot o' its red-het kist he stole
The very charter-rights of hell !
Satan, tent weel the pilferin' villain;
He'll scrimp your reverence by stealin';
Q
246 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
Th' infernal boots in which you stand in,
Wi' which your worship tramps the damn'd in,
He'll wile them aff your cloven cloots,
An' wade thro' hell-fire in your boots ! "
The preparation of an infernal banquet is
descibed, but with such shocking particularity
of details that we cannot venture upon the sub-
ject. The "black mastiff," that guarded "the
hallan gate," in the bustle of the carnival, " slipt
her collar;" and, the portals being thus left un-
guarded, we are told, with an allusion that may
perhaps determine the local origin of the poem,
" Whigs poured in, like Nith in spate."
With the notice of this wholesale inundation,
the poet abruptly closes his vision of hell, leav-
ing, in another horrible but masterly tableau,
" Hell's grim Sultan, red-wud glowrin',
Dreadin' that Whigs would usurp owre him."
This poem, as a whole, is the most original
in idea, and certainly the most daring in execu-
tion in the whole compass of Jacobite literature.
Indeed, it is one of the most original of all
Scottish literary attempts, not even excepting
and its Relative Literature. 247
Burns's Address to the Deil, or his vision of
unhallowed pastimes in " Alloway's Auld
Haunted Kirk," in the poem of Tarn o Shanter.
And, as regards its mode of dealing with the
element of horror, we shall search any literature
in vain for a poem that will over-match it.
The most apparent characteristic of the
poems of the Jacobite literature as a whole, is
a grim humour. Wit, in word or phrase, there
is none. There is perhaps only a single at-
tempt at wit in the collected Jacobite relics, and
that is a failure. It is that species of wit
usually described as the pun which the writer is
attempting when he says,
" Sin' our true king abroad is gone
There's nought but Whelps sit on his throne."
As we have already observed, the satire is
for the most part humorous, and there is even
a humour of the grimmest sort blending with
the horrible in that most powerful and merciless
of all the Satires, Cumberland and Murray s
Descent. But humour is distinctive of only one
248 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
side of the Scottish national mind, the other
and equally characteristic side of which is a
most affecting pathos. There must, therefore,
be some explanation of the apparent prepon-
derance of humour in the Jacobite ballads and
songs. And this is to be sought, doubtless, in
the circumstance that the Jacobite cause re-
mained a hopeful one down to the date of its
final extinction, which was generally believed
by the Jacobites as a party to have happened
in or about 1 746. So long as the struggle for
the Stuart restoration went on, and hope cheered
the Jacobite partizans, just so long was satirical
humour the prevailing characteristic of the con-
temporaneous literature. But as soon as the
clouds of fate began to collect with unmistake-
able denseness over the Stuart House, and the
beams of hope to be unable to pierce these
clouds, then the tone of the literature was
changed: elegy and lament took the place of
satire and song, and a pathetic tenderness
marked the succeeding literature. A verse-
and its Relative Literature. 249
monger can write satire, but real sorrow can
only be expressed melodiously by a true poeti-
cal mind. As a consequence, we find that much
real poetry attended the downfall of the Stuart
House, greatly superior to what accompanied
the struggle when the downfall was as yet
unforeseen. This has, in the histories of all
individuals, families, and nations, been invari-
ably the case. Sorrows and misfortunes are
more frequently sung than joys and successes.
The deeper chords of the heart, those which
thrill most powerfully through a man's being,
are sacred to the touch of sorrow. Hence
Bannockburn as a victory is less embalmed in
song than Flodden as a defeat. And Culloden
as a victory is altogether unsung.
Of the pathetic Jacobite ballads and poems
which appeared when the ultimate event of the
struggle, though yet unforeseen, began to be
whispered about forebodingly, many are in the
Gaelic language. Several of these have been
collected and translated, and shew the most
2 50 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
intense devotion to the Stuarts, and the deepest
sympathy for their reverses. As examples of
songs illustrative of this devoted feeling, take
Lenacharis Farewell; the Highlanders Farewell,
in which, amidst the enumeration of his indivi-
dual misfortunes, the poet is not forgetful of his
prince,
" And thou, my prince, my injured prince,
Thy people have disown'd thee,
Have hunted and have driven thee hence,
With ruin'd chiefs around thee.
Though hard beset, when I forget
Thy fate, young helpless rover,
This broken heart shall cease to beat
And all its griefs be over;"
the Highland Widow s Lament; the Welcome to
Skye; the Frasers in the Corrie; Farewell to
Glen-Shalloch ; Calhim d Glen; Culloden Day,
&c.
Of pathetic songs in the Lowland language,
there are many examples. The mutilated frag-
ment of Carlisle Yetts has a good deal of the
fascinating simplicity of lament of the still older
and its Relative Literature. 251
ballads of Scotland. It is a maiden's wail, and
recalls to one's mind the affecting rhymes of the
crazed Ophelia:
" His lang lang hair, in yellow hanks,
Waved o'er his cheeks sae sweet and ruddie;
But now they wave o'er Carlisle yetts,
In dripping ringlets clotting bloodie.
My father's blood's in that flower-tap,
My brother's in that harebell's blossom;
This white rose was steeped in my luve's blood,
An' I'll aye wear it in my bosom."
The sad fate of Prince Charlie has changed the
whole face of Nature to the bewailing bard.
Life has now nothing joyful to offer. The once
glad songs of the wild birds seem now to be
turned into sorrowful refrains:
" Whene'er I hear the blackbird sing
Unto the e'ening sinking doun,
Or merle that makes the woods to ring,
To me they ha'e nae ither soun'
Than 'Will he no come back again?'" &c.
The "o'ercome," in another minstrel's ears, is
" Wae's me for Prince Charlie." Even Smollett,
among London distractions and London apathy,
252 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
like a true son of Scotland, lets fall a few " mel-
odious tears" in sympathetic remembrance of
the misfortunes of his country.
The heroic ardour and patriotic spirit breathed
by the Jacobite songs is another remarkable
feature. Never was a more martial strain than
the song of Who, wadna fecht ? It contains
every warlike inducement that can prompt he-
roic thoughts and actions. The past glories of
Scottish war are recalled to mind; a prince is
their leader; they are surrounded with the in-
spiring insignia of battle, "the pomp and cir-
cumstance of glorious war;" their numbers are
increasing; the clans are advancing to swell their
host with heroes; swords are flashing, pibrochs
sounding and the ancient banner of Scotland,
floating over them on the buoyant winds, has to
be defended.
" Wha' wadna fecht for Charlie,
Wha' wadna draw the sword?"
Surely none but cowards!
Many other Jacobite ballads breathe the same
and its Relative Literature. 253
sentiments; of which we may particularly notice
Macdonald's Gathering, and Kenmures on and
awa. In the ballad of the Lament of Lord
Maxwell, the warlike minstrel speaks of the
glory of dying on the battlefield, and taking " a
bluidy nievefu' o' fame to the grave."
A peculiar feature of the earlier half of the
Jacobite ballads is the enigmatical and allegori-
cal form into which many of them are cast.
This appears originally to have been occasioned
by the strict watch maintained by government
over seditious and suspicious publications. The
Jacobite rhymster accordingly took refuge under
the shield of ambiguity of language, and so could
sing the (in many instances) meaningless words
with a mental interpretation of his own, even in
public gatherings of a mixed or doubtful nature.
Songs expressly Jacobite were openly sung at
meetings where every member was an avowed
friend of the Stuart cause; but it was necessary
also to have songs that, without betraying any
decided leaning this way or that, should yet act
254 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History
as "feelers" to test the character or political
opinion of a mixed assembly. Among these
enigmatical productions a good many are,
naturally enough, toasts. One of them goes
thus,
" To the turners out of the turners out
And a return to the turned out,"-
and so on in such intricate fashion that the
labyrinth of turnings gets quite bewildering.
Another of these has much the look of a
genealogical puzzle;
" To ane king, and no king, ane uncle and faither,
To him that's all these, yet allowed to be neither," &c.
The Jacobite cause is symbolized in one ballad
as a moor-hen, as a blackbird in another, and in
a third as a cuckoo.
Sometimes the Jacobite songs admit of an
interpretation of a purely amatory nature; and,
of course, as such, were beyond the power of
the law to suppress them. A good example of
this is found in the well-known song of Some-
body, beginning,
and its Relative Literature. 255
" My heart is sair, I daurna tell,
My heart is sair for somebody;"
which may either be explained as the passionate
sigh of an ardent lover, wearying for the return
of his or her absent and secret sweetheart; or,
as the longing desire of the not less ardent
Jacobite, wearying for the restoration of his
exiled king.
Allegorical songs are also of common occur-
rence among the literary products of Jacobitism.
It was noticed that allegory is often mixed up
with the Jacobite satire. George I. is a German
"Lairdie;" the kingdom is a "Kailyard;" its
institutions are "lang kail," "syboes," "leeks."
In offering counsel to Queen Anne, a Jacobite
writer represents his native country of Scotland
as "a gude gray mare," somewhat "thrawart,"
but if well-treated a useful and valuable and
obedient animal. He goes on to particularize
the successive acts of ill-treatment which had
rendered the "gray mare" unmanageable, and
worse than useless to its new owner; and advises
256 The Jacobite Episode in Scottish History.
the adoption of judicious usage, to avoid the
risk of losing it altogether. Among other songs
of this nature may be enumerated Aikendrum;
The Riding Mare; There was a man came from
the Moon; What ails thee, Poor Shepherd?
Kirn-Milk Geordie, &c. The allegory is some-
times so obscure as to baffle interpretation.
Glasgow Saint Andrew Society,
Instituted 30th November, 1854.
LIST OF MEMBERS
At jot/i November,
President.
G. FYFFE CHRISTIE, 62 George Square!
Vice-President.
T. Mum GRANT, 114 West George Street.
ALEX. WATT, ex-qfficio.
FRANC GIBB DOUGALL,
officio.
WILLIAM STEVENSON.
Directors.
JOHN LORIMER.
ex- JOHN WHITE.
DANIEL MUNRO.
W. FORREST SALMON.
Honorary Secretary.
JOHN WIGHT, 150 Hope Street.
HONORARY MEMBERS.
ANDERSON, JAMES, Q. C.,
BALLANTINE, JAMES,
BLACKIE, J. S., Professor of Greek,
BLIND, KARL,
BURTON, J. H., LL.D.,
BLANC, Louis, - -
FREILIEGRATH, FERDINAND, -
FROUDE, JAMES ANTHONY,
GARIBALDI, GENERAL, -
MICHEL, FRANCISQUE, -
SCOTT, CHARLES, Advocate, -
London.
Edinburgh.
Edinburgh.
London.
Edinburgh.
Paris.
Stuttgart.
London.
Caprera.
Paris.
Edinburgh.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
ORDINARY MEMBERS.
Those marked * are ex-Presidents.
Alexander, William, Jeweller, 3 Gordon Street.
Allan, P. G., 123 Argyle Street.
Allan, William, Merchant, 27 Smith Street, Whiteinch.
Arthur, John, Jeweller, 80 Argyle Street.
* Arthur, William Rae, 29 West George Street
Auld, R. R., Writer, 49 West Regent Street.
Bain, James, 3 Park Terrace.
Baker, Thomas, Beech Bank, Mount Vernon.
Bannerman, W., Valuator, 85^ Hope Street.
Barrow, F. A., Drysalter, 191 Hope Street.
Belch, John, Merchant, 184 North Street.
Bell, B. Barton, 17 Gordon Street.
Black, George, Writer, 88 West Regent Street.
Breen, George, 18 George Square.
Bremner, George W. M., 19 St. Vincent Place.
Brownlie, John, 522 Gallowgate.
Bryan, F. G. D., Factor, Drumpellier.
Brydon, William J., 18 George Square.
Buchanan, T. D., M.D., 275 Argyle Street.
Burns, John, Surgeon, 10 John Street, Bridgeton.
Burns, Thomas, Belmont, Dowanhill.
*Burns, William, Writer, 151 St. Vincent Street.
Butler, Dugald, 12 Newhall Terrace.
Campbell, William, New Club.
Campbell, William F* M., New Club.
Carrick, John, City Master of Works, 4 South Albion Place.
Carruthers, Henry S., Writer, 150 Hope Street.
Christie, Archibald, Merchant, 87 Wilson Street.
Christie, G. Fyffe, Writer, 62 George Square, President.
Christie, Robert, 17 Royal Crescent, Crosshill.
Colquhoun, Alexander, 3 Ashton Place, Dowanhill.
Copland, William R., C.E., 83 West Regent Street.
Cowan, James, Brassfounder, 1 1 Hyde Park Street.
GLASGOW ST. ANDREW SOCIETY. 111.
Craig, Bailie, 16 Abbotsford Place.
Crombie, Archibald, 5 Buchanan Street.
Cruickshank, James, Builder, 67 Both well Street.
Dewar, Peter, 26 Minerva Street.
Dickie, Alexander, at M. M'Farlane & Coy.'s, Distillers,
Port-Dundas.
Douie, Robert, Writer, 145 Ingram Street.
*Dougall, Franc Gibb, Bank Agent, 167 Canning Street.
*Dreghorn Colonel, 5 Dixon Street.
Dunn, Hugh, Writer, 59 St. Vincent Street.
Dunn, John, High Kennedies, Hamilton.
Dykes, John, Jun., Accountant, 79 St. Vincent Street.
Ewing, George E., Sculptor, 225 Hope Street.
Faulds, W. B., Writer, 97 West George Street.
Fisher, George D., Manufacturer, 55 Wilson Street.
Fleming, James, 257 West George Street.
Forbes, John, Wine Merchant, 175 Sauchiehall Street.
Frame, Robert, Writer, Sheriff Chambers, Wilson Street.
Frame, William, Wine Merchant, i Ashton Place, Dowanhill.
Fraser, William, Wine Merchant, 10 Clyde Place.
Fyfe, John T., Resident Secretary, Scottish Provincial
Assurance Co., 106 St. Vincent Street.
Gale, James M., Civil Engineer, 23 Miller Street.
Gardner, John, i Brighton Place, Govan.
Gartshore, Joseph, Falkirk.
Gemmell, Andrew, Jun., Writer, 18 Renfield Street.
Gibson, Hugh, Resident Secretary, Scottish Equitable Life
Assurance Society, 128 St. Vincent Street.
Gildard, Thomas, 31 Elderslie Street.
Gillies, W. D., Metal Broker, 10 Prince's Square.
Gilmour, Graham, Merchant, 160 Buchanan Street.
Graham, John, City of Glasgow Bank, Trongate.
Grant, Donald, Manufacturer, Coatbridge.
Grant, T. Muir, Resident Secretary, Scottish Widows Fund,
114 West George Street, Vice-President.
Gray, David, Writer, 108 West Regent Street.
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Hedderwick, James, "Citizen" Office, 34 St. Enoch Square.
Hewat, Archibald, Secretary, The Edinburgh Life Assurance
Co., 112 St. Vincent Street.
Hinshelwood, John, St. Vincent Park, Paisley Road, Go van.
Hislop, J. R, F.R.C.S.E., 10 South Portland Street.
Hogg, William, Merchant, 81 Eglinton Street.
Hunter, Matthew, Muslin Manufacturer, 70 Union Street.
Hutch eson, Thomas S., Bookseller, 135 Buchanan Street.
Jamieson, T. B., Windham's Club, St. James Square, London.
Kay, James Cairns, 229 St. George's Road.
Kay, John Z., 229 St. George's Road.
Kaye, Robert, at R. S. Muir & Coy.'s, 46 Ingram Street.
Keir, Provost, Falkirk.
Kennedy, A., Wholesale Stationer, 13 Glassford Street.
Lament, James, National Bank of Scotland, 1 74 Trongate.
Lamont, John, Merchant, 33 Virginia Street.
Lauder, Mungo, i Somerset Place.
Lawrence, William, 29 Kent Street.
*Leggatt, Rev. William, Buchanan Institution, 7 1 Greenhead
Street.
Lindsay, George, Merchant, 34 Bedford Street.
Lockhart, James, Writer, 58 West Regent Street.
Lorimer, John, Merchant, 56 Howard Street.
Lucas, William, Writer, 133 West George Street.
M'Adam, John, 45 Hyde Park Street.
M'Call, Alexander, Chief Constable, Police Chambers.
M'Caul, James S., Merchant, 72 Ingram Street.
M'Culloch, John, Governor, Govan Poorhouse, Merryflats,
Go van.
MacDonald, J. K., Resident Secretary, Scottish National
Insurance Co., 120 St. Vincent Street.
M'Ewan, George, Surgeon, 196 Pitt Street.
M'Glashan, John, Merchant, 145 Stobcross Street.
M'Gregor, P. Comyn, Lonend House, Paisley.
M'lntosh, Major, 129 Stockwell Street.
Mackay, Alexander, Merchant, 212 North Street.
GLASGOW ST. ANDREW SOCIETY. V.
M'Kenzie, John, Merchant, 159 Stobcross Street.
M'Kinnon, Charles, Merchant, i Holland Place.
M'Kinnon, William, C. A., 140 St. Vincent Street.
M'Lachlan, Henry, Accountant, Coatbridge.
M'Onie, William, Engineer, i Scotland Street.
*M'Tear, Robert, Auctioneer, North Court, Royal Exchange.
Marr, Thomas, 35 St. Vincent Place.
Marshall, William, of Newhouse, Falkirk.
Mathieson, George, Warehouseman, 42 Glassford Street.
Mathieson, Thomas A., 13 East Campbell Street.
Maxton, John, Writer, 175 St. Vincent Street.
Meikleham, Lieut. William, 72 Cathedral Street.
Menzies, Thomas, F.E. I.S., Hutcheson's Hospital School,
211 Crown Street.
Michel, Roland, Paris.
Miller, D. S., 9 Prince's Square.
Miller, Peter, 9 Prince's Square.
Mitchell, Moncrieff, C.A., 4 National Bank Buildings.
Moir, Alexander, Muslin Manufacturer, 73 Mitchell Street.
Morrison, Bailie, 52 Sauchiehall Street.
Morrison, James, Writer, 115 St. Vincent Street.
Mossman, John, Sculptor, 83 North Frederick Street.
Moyes, J. R., Stationer, 331 Sauchiehall Street.
Moyes, William, Merchant, 56 Howard Street.
Muir, Robert, 37 West Nile Street.
Munro, Daniel, 39 Hope Street.
Munro, Donald, F. C. S, Glasgow University.
Murdoch, James, Baker, 247 Argyle Street.
Murray, D. A. B., 2 Clarendon Place.
Murray, Provost, Paisley.
Orr, William, Painter, 173 St. Vincent Street.
Park, Gavin, Measurer, 167 St. Vincent Street.
Paterson, Alexander, (of Charles M'Donald & Co.), 68
Ingram Street.
Paton, David C., 17 Newhall Terrace.
Pearson, Alexander, Sheriff Clerk Depute, County Buildings.
R
LIST OF MEMBERS.
Provan, James, Accountant, 17 Gordon Street.
Raeburn, James, Merchant, 263 Argyle Street.
Ramsay, Thomas, 22 Holyrood Crescent.
Rankin, William, Printer, 192 Argyle Street
Rattray, John, Plumber, 94 Renfield Street.
Reid, Peter, Dyer, Govan.
Reid, William, Surgeon, 26 Canning Street.
Rice, A. K., Yarn Agent, 51 George Square.
Robertson, John, Engineer, 172 Lancefield Street.
Rochead, J. T., Architect, Wellbridge, Morningside, Edin-
burgh.
Rodger, George S., Lansdowne Place, Shawlands.
Rodger, William, Parkview, Uddingston.
Ross, A. B., 1 1 St. Vincent Place.
Ross, William, "Citizen" Office, 34 St. Enoch Square.
Rule, Robert, 13 Ashton Terrace, Dowanhill.
""Salmon, James, LA., 197 St. Vincent Street.
Salmon, W. Forrest, LA., 197 St. Vincent Street.
Scotland, J., Custom House.
Scott, Bailie, 32 Jamaica Street.
Scott, Thomas, 6 Queen's Square, Strathbungo.
Scott, William, 18 Old Broad Street, London.
Service, James, Writer, 35 Bath Street.
Shand, George, Chemist, Stirling.
Simpson, John, Muirpark, Renfrew.
Smellie, T. D., Surveyor and Valuator, 213 St. Vincent Street.
*Smith, Gordon, Writer, 133 West George Street.
Smith, James, Benvue, Dowanhill Gardens.
Smith, Robert, Wine Merchant, 124 Sauchiehall Street.
Somerville, Rev. Thomas, 5 Richmond Street.
Stark, Andrew, 41 Queen Street.
Steel, James, Plasterer and Modeller, 25 Holmhead Street.
Stevenson, William, Oil Merchant, 28 Robertson Street.
Stewart, Andrew, Tubemaker, 153 Hill Street, Garnethill.
Stewart, James, 262 Bath Street.
Stewart, John M., Manufacturer, 73 Mitchell Street.
GLASGOW ST. ANDREW SOCIETY.
Stewart, Peter, Springfield House, 340 South York Street.
Taylor, James, Druggist, 132 Trongate.
Taylor, William, Surgeon Dentist, 144 Wellington Street.
Taylor, William, 34 St. James's Road.
Templeton, James, Manufacturer, 26e Bothwell Street.
Thomson, Alexander, 6 Nelson Terrace, Billhead.
Thomson, James, F.G.S., 276 Eglinton Street.
Thomson, James, 25 Monteith Row.
Torrance, William B., Merchant, 55 Hutcheson Street.
Ure, John, Merchant, 68 Washington Street.
Vallance, Alexander, Manufacturer, 62 Queen Street.
Waddell, Alexander, Bank Agent, 44 Canning Street.
Waddell, James, Bank Agent, 419 Gallowgate.
Walker, Andrew, Manufacturer, 23 Royal Exchange Square.
Walker, Robert, Resident Secretary, Reliance Mutual Life
Assurance Society, 162 St. Vincent Street.
*Watt, Alexander, Writer, 183 St. Vincent Street.
Watt, James, Writer, Airdrie.
Watt, Robert, Writer, Airdrie.
Wellstood, Stephen, Manufacturer, 14 Newington Street,
Edinburgh.
White, James, Crown Place, Partick.
White, John, Scotstown Mills, Partick.
Whyte, John, Assistant Master of Works, 4 South Albion
Place.
Whitelaw, Matthew, 37 Queen Street.
Wight, John, C.A., 150 Hope Street, Honorary Secretary.
Wilson, Daniel, 87 Hope Street.
Wilson, James, Merchant, 30 John Street.
Wilson, John, South Bantaskine, Falkirk.
Wilson, John, C.A., 59 St. Vincent Street.
Wilson, Thomas M., Warehouseman, 42 Glassford Street.
*Wilson, William, Warehouseman, 42 Glassford Street.
Wink, James, C.A., 4 National Bank Buildings.
Wood, George, Merchant, 27 Frederick Street.
Wylie, Matthew, 239 North Street.
PRINTED BY WILLIAM RANKIN, igz ARGYLE STREET, GLASGOW.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
