condolences. Yet Lovat lost neither heart nor judgment. Obliged to fly, though now so old and infirm that he was transported on the shoulders of his followers, he still advised the chiefs to keep together their men, and either to prosecute a mountain war, or show so bold a countenance as might obtain honourable terms of peace. But this design miscarried; and after skulking from isle to isle, he was at length discovered within the trunk of a hollow tree, and carried on board the Furnace ship of war. Lord Lovat maintained, to the last, his character of versatility and hardihood. In a letter to the Duke of Cumberland, he endeavoured to excite his compassion, by telling him how often he had carried him in his arms when a child, offered to make such discoveries as would be of an hundred times more advantage to government than the sacrifice of an old grey-head, but concluded-he was "in utrumque paratus, Seu versare dolos, seu certæ incumbere morti." During his previous confinement, during the course of his trial, and even till the last hour of his life, his bold and firm demeanour, the satirical causticity of his vein of humour, and the respect commanded by energy of character, even when abused, secured him a degree of interest, of a very different nature, but not much inferior to that which Balmerino gained by his undaunted steadiness, and Kilmarnock by his affecting penitence. At his execution, two expressions marked that he was Lovat still-when the scaffold fell and killed several persons, "Ay, ay" (exclaimed he, just about to die), "the mair mischief the better sport." And he chose for his last words the "Dulce et decorum" of Horace. Such sentiments in the mouth of such a character, and at such a moment, seem preposterous almost to incredibility; but Lovat is not the only criminal whose conduct was guided by selfinterest during life, and who has yet assumed, at his death, the manners and language of a patriot. The reader will naturally expect to hear of the rewards and honours which were showered on President Forbes for his admirable conduct during a period so difficult and dangerous. Of these we learn nothing. But we suspect that the memory of his services was cancelled by the zeal with which, after the victory, he pressed the cause of clemency. We have heard that when this venerable judge, as well became his station, mentioned the laws of the country, he was answered, not, as the editor supposes, by the Duke of Albemarle, but by a personage greater still," What laws ?-I'll make a brigade give laws!"—that his repeated intercessions in favour of those who, from prejudice of education, or a false sense of honour, had joined the Chevalier, were taken in bad part; and his desire to preserve to the Highlanders a dress fitted to their occupations (pp. 289-297), was almost construed into disaffection;—in fine, that he died broken in spirit by witnessing the calamities of his country, and impoverished in estate, by the want of that very money which he had, in the hour of need, frankly advanced to levy troops for the service of govern ment. But he left behind him a name endeared, even in these days of strife and bitterness, to enemies as to friends, and doubly to be honoured by posterity, for that impartiality which uniformly distinguished between the cause of the country and political party.1 1 By a sort of posthumous ingratitude, the privilege of distilling, without payment of duty, upon his barony of Ferrintosh, an immunity conferred to compensate his father's losses and reward his services at the revolution, and hence termed by Burns, Loyal Forbes's chartered boast," was wrenched from the family by government, in 1785, for a most inadequate recompense.(Introduction, p. xliv). [An eminent antiquary, to whom the publisher applied for a copy of the view of Old Culloden House as it stood in 1746, and for the purpose of illustrating this volume, has kindly supplied the following particulars :-" The original proprietors of Culloden, were Strachans, a family from Aberdeenshire: the last of whom was succeeded by his three daughters, as heiresses portioners, who divided his estate among them; so that the barony split into three thirds, and thus it is described to this day. The era of this event must have been circiter A. D. 1520. Fifty years subsequently thereto, Mackintosh of Dunachtoun (now of Mackintosh) purchased the entire barony from these ladies and their husbands. In 1630, or thereabouts, Mackintosh sold the barony to Duncan Forbes, merchant in Inverness, a younger son of a respectable family in Aberdeenshire; I incline to think, of Brux, or Craigievar. Duncan became member of Parliament for the burgh of Inverness, and acquired much property in its neighbourhood. He continued to reside in the old chateau of the Strachans, and he also built a handsome residence in the Castle wynd of the town, over the lintel of which his own and his wife's initials may yet be seen. It adjoined the 'great slated house,' originally sold by Henry Duvar, prior of the monastery of Inverness, in 1517, to Laurence Robertson of Inches, and subsequently the property of the Lovat family; perhaps the first slated house in the capital of the Highlands, for even till 1571 the churches were thatched. To Duncan Forbes succeeded John of Culloden, who likewise represented the burgh for upon If we touch the severities exercised with a most unsparing hand, after the insurrection of 1745, during the course of which the Highlanders had conducted themselves with humanity and moderation, it is but to repel an expression of the editor, who, after admitting the existence of these "acts of atrocity," strangely subjoins, that "no blame can attach to the Duke of Cumberland for them."-(Introduct. p. xxxvi). We, on the contrary, maintain that to the general of the victorious army, and to no other, is imputable every consequence of the orders which he issues; and if a veil is drawn over the conduct of the Duke of Cumberland, it is out of no respect or tenderness to the memory of that prince, but in many years in Parliament, and, like his father, was its provost. Duncan his son again succeeded him, and obtained the privilege of distilling whisky in his barony of Ferrintosh from William and Mary. 'Bumper John,' as his soubriquet went, from his excessive hospitality, was his heir; to him followed the justly esteemed patriot, Duncan Forbes, his younger brother, afterwards Lord President of the Court of Session. Burt, in his Letters from the North, commemorates the joyous hilarity of the castle' of Culloden when tenanted by the elder brother. It is the custom of that house, at the first visit, or introduction, to take up your freedom by cracking his nut (as he terms it)—that is, a cocoa shell, which holds a pint, filled with champaigne, or such other sort of wine as you shall choose. You may guess from the introduction, at the contents of the volume. Few go away sober at any time; and for the greatest part of his guests, in the conclusion, they cannot go at all.' Though less hilariously disposed than his merry kinsman, the good President also could relax from the sterner cares of life, and in the classic shades of his beloved Bunchrew' (a small property on the opposite line of the Murray Frith, which he acquired before his accession to the parternal domain)—many a happy hour fled with those he esteemed."] justice to the far different sentiments of many members of his illustrious family, who knew how to prize faith and honour even in the enemies of their house, and who have often testified respect for the memory of those who risked their all because their mistaken loyalty demanded the sacrifice, and who, in prosecuting their enterprise, did nothing in hate, but all in honour. When the Princess of Wales, mother of his present Majesty, mentioned, with some appearance of censure, the conduct of Lady Margaret Macdonald of Sleat, who harboured and concealed the Prince when, in the extremity of peril, he threw himself on her protection-“ "And would not you, madam," answered Prince Frederick, "have done the same in the like circumstances ?-I hope-I am sure you would." Besides the great measure of restoring the forfeited estates of the chiefs, our venerable sovereign' showed, on many occasions, how little his heart was capable of nourishing dislike against those who had acted upon principle against the authority of his family. The support which he afforded to the exiled branch of the Stuarts will form a bright trait in his history; and secluded as he now is from his government and people, we may, as of a deceased monarch, relate one of those trifling traits which marked the generous kindness of his disposition. His Majesty was told of a gentleman of family and fortune, in — -shire, that, far from taking the oath of allegiance to him, he had never |