heir head, affected to separate
their principles from those of the Jacobites, and, on that account,
obtained the denomination of Whimsicals. The Scottish High Church party,
on the contrary, or, as they termed themselves, the Cavaliers, were more
consistent, if not so prudent, in their politics, and viewed all the
changes now made as preparatory to calling to the throne, upon the
queen's demise, her brother the Chevalier de St. George. Those who had
suffered in his service now entertained the most unreasonable hopes,
not only of indemnification, but of vengeance upon their political
adversaries; while families attached to the Whig interest saw nothing
before them but a renewal of the hardships they had undergone during the
reigns of Charles the Second and his brother, and a retaliation of the
confiscation which had been inflicted upon the Jacobites during that of
King William.

But the most alarmed at the change of system was that prudential set of
persons, some of whom are found in all governments, but who abound in a
provincial administration like that of Scotland during the period,
and who are what Cromwell called waiters upon Providence, or, in other
words, uniform adherents to the party who are uppermost. Many of these
hastened to read their recantation to the Marquis of A----; and, as
it was easily seen that he took a deep interest in the affairs of
his kinsman, the Master of Ravenswood, they were the first to suggest
measures for retrieving at least a part of his property, and for
restoring him in blood against his father's attainder.

Old Lord Turntippet professed to be one of the most anxious for the
success of these measures; for "it grieved him to the very saul," he
said, "to see so brave a young gentleman, of sic auld and undoubted
nobility, and, what was mair than a' that, a bluid relation of the
Marquis of A----, the man whom," he swore, "he honoured most upon
the face of the earth, brougth to so severe a pass. For his ain
puir peculiar," as he said, "and to contribute something to the
rehabilitation of sae auld ane house," the said Turntippet sent in three
family pictures lacking the frames, and six high-backed chairs, with
worked Turkey cushions, having the crest of Ravenswood broidered
thereon, without charging a penny either of the principal or interest
they had cost him, when he bought them, sixteen years before, at a roup
of the furniture of Lord Ravenswood's lodgings in the Canongate.

Much more t