latter number were the Earl of Argyle, Sir John
Cochrane, and Sir Patrick Hume of Polwarth. The fugitives found safety
in Holland, where they remained in peace till the death of Charles II.
in February 1685, when the Duke of York, the object politically of their
greatest detestation, became king. It was then determined to invade
Scotland with a small force, to embody the Highland adherents of Argyle
with the west country Presbyterians, and, marching into England, to
raise the people as they moved along, and not rest till they had
produced the desired melioration of the state. The expedition sailed in
May; but the Government was enabled to take such precautions as, from
the very first, proved a complete frustration to their designs. Argyle
lingered timidly in his own country, and, finally, against the advice of
Cochrane and Hume, who were his chief officers, made some unfortunate
movements, which ended in the entire dissolution of his army, and his
own capture and death. While this well-meaning but weak nobleman
committed himself to a low disguise, in the vain hope of effecting his
escape, Sir John Cochrane, after a gallant fight against overwhelming
numbers, finding his enemies were gathering large reinforcements,
retired with his troops to a neighbouring wilderness or morass, where he
dismissed them, with the request that each man would provide the best
way he could for his own safety. For himself, having received two severe
wounds in the body during the engagement, and being worn out with
fatigue, he sought refuge in the house of his uncle, Mr. Gavin Cochrane
of Craigmuir, who lived at no great distance from the place of
encounter. Here he was seized and removed to Edinburgh, where, after
being paraded through the streets bound and bare-headed, and conducted
by the common hangman, he was lodged in the tollbooth on July 3rd, 1685,
there to await his trial as a traitor. The day of trial came, and he was
condemned to death, in spite of the most strenuous exertions of his aged
father, Earl of Dundonald.

No friend or relative had been permitted to see him from the time of his
apprehension; but it was now signified to him that any of his family he
desired to communicate with might be allowed to visit him. Anxious,
however, to deprive his enemies of an opportunity of an accusation
against his sons, he immediately conveyed to them his earnest
entreaties, and indeed commands, that they should refrain from availing
themselves