olves, sank into
intrigue, and ended in infidelity to the cause which that had espoused.
But Lord Lovat came under neither of these classes; he knew not the
existence of a generous emotion; he was consistent in the undeviating
selfishness and baseness of his career.

If he had a sincere predilection, he was disposed to the interest of
King James. Hereditary tendencies scarcely ever lose their hold upon the
mind entirely: notions on politics are formed at a much earlier age
than is generally supposed. The family of Fraser had been, as we have
seen, from ages immemorial employed in defence of the Stuart Kings; and
early prepossessions were imbibed by the unworthy descendant of a brave
race, before his passions had interfered to warp the generous sentiment
of loyalty. As he grew up, Lord Lovat learned to accommodate himself to
any party; and it was justly observed by Lord Middleton, one of the
favourite courtiers at St. Germains, that though he boasted so much of
his adherence to his Sovereign, he had never served any sovereign but
King William, in whose army he had commanded a regiment.[165]

The period was now, however, approaching, when he whose moral atmosphere
was, like his native climate, the tempest and the whirlwind, might hope
to glean some benefit from the impending storm which threatened the
peace of the British empire.

On the sixth of September, 1701, James the Second of England expired at
St. Germains. This event was favourable to those of the Jacobite party
who wished to bring forward the interests of the young Prince of Wales.
James had long been infirm, and had laid aside all schemes of worldly
elevation. He had passed his time between the diversion of hunting and
the duties of religion. His widowed Queen retained, on the contrary, an
ardent desire to see her son restored to the throne of England. She
implanted that wish in his own breast; she nourished it by the society
of those whom she placed around him; and she passed her time in
constantly forming new schemes for the promotion of that restoration to
which her sanguine anticipations were continually directed.

The death of James was succeeded by two events: one, the avowed
determination of Louis the Fourteenth to take the exiled family of
Stuart under his protection, and the consequent proclamation of the
young Prince of Wales as King of England; the other, the bill for the
attainder of the pretended Prince of Wales, in the English Parliament,
with