turn to Scotland, but informed him that he had ordered
his banker at Paris to pay his travelling expenses. Thus authorized,
Arthur returned home, welcomed by his aged father with a satisfaction
which happily was not destined to be alloyed by any adverse
circumstances during the lifetime of the venerable nobleman.

Thus was this ill-fated man restored to that land which probably,
although long severed from its glens and mountains, he had not ceased to
love. He was now of middle age, being in his forty-fifth year; but his
disposition, in spite of his long residence among foreigners, was still
thoroughly Scotch. He was as undaunted by danger as any of his valiant
ancestors had been, consequently he had no need to have recourse to
guile; in short, falsehood would have been impossible to that frank
nature. He was blunt in speech, but endowed with the kindest heart that
ever throbbed in the dungeons of that grim fortress in which his manly
career was closed. He had not, however, the prudence which is
characteristic of his countrymen: and which, once well understood, is as
distinct from selfishness and craft as their martial vehemence has
generally been from cruelty. A service in foreign campaigns had not
lessened his ideas of honour; which were perhaps more truly cherished
among military men on the Continent, than at that period in England. Few
British troops, for example, ever proved themselves more worthy of the
name of soldiers than the Hessians who served in Scotland in 1745. To
the fine and soldierly attributes of Lord Balmerino, to an intrepidity
almost amounting to indifference, to a warm and generous heart, were
united that ready and careless humour which accord so well with the
loftier qualities of the mind, and certainly rather enhance, than
detract from the charm of graver attributes of character.

In appearance, Lord Balmerino was strongly contrasted with the
fellow-sufferer with whom his name is indelibly associated. "His
person," writes a contemporary, "was very plain, his shape clumsy, but
his make strong: and he had no marks of the polite gentleman about him.
He was illiterate in respect of his birth; but rather from a total want
of application to letters, than want of ability."[351] His manners are
said to have been natural, if not courtly; his countenance only inferior
in its ungainliness to that of Lovat, but, expressing, we may suppose, a
very different temper of mind, harsh as were its features, it
capti