to Paris to be sold, in order to
send the twenty thousand crowns,[170] which Lord Lovat represented would
be necessary to equip the Highland forces. Hitherto the Court of St.
Germains had been contented merely to keep up a correspondence with
their friends, retaining them in their principles, though without any
expectation of immediate assistance. The offer of Lord Lovat was the
first step towards more active exertions in the cause of the Stuarts. It
is in this sense that he may almost be considered as the father of the
Rebellion of 1715. He first excited those ardent spirits to unanimity
and to action; and the project of restoration, which only languished
whilst Anne lived, was never afterwards abandoned until after the year
1746.

Either through the indiscretion of Queen Mary of Modena, or through some
other channel, the plot of the invasion became known to Lord Middleton.
Jealous of the family of Perth, his avowed enemies, Lord Middleton,
according to Lord Lovat, was enraged at the project, and determined to
ruin the projectors. It is very true that the antipathies between the
prevailing factions may have excited Lord Middleton's anger; but it is
evident, from his lordship's letters and memoranda, that his dislike had
a far deeper source--the profligacy of the agent Lovat; a profligacy
which had deterred, as it was afterwards found, many of the Highland
chiefs from lending their aid to the cause. Party fury, however, ran
high, and before the affair of the insurrection could be settled, Lord
Middleton, declaring that the last words of King James had made a
powerful impression on his mind, retired into the convent of
Benedictines at Paris, to be satisfied of some doubts, and to be
instructed in the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church. But this
temporary retirement rather revived than decreased the favour of the
Queen towards him. She trusted to his advice; and, as the statement
which Lord Lovat gave of the affairs of Scotland appeared too favourable
to the excluded family to be believed, Louis the Fourteenth counselled
the Court of St. Germains to send with Lord Lovat, or, as he is
invariably called in all contemporary documents, Simon Fraser, a person
who could be trusted to bring back a genuine account. Accordingly, James
Murray of Stanhope, the brother of Sir David Murray, was employed to
this effect. "He was," says Lord Lovat, "a spy of Lord Middleton's, his
sworn creature, and a man who had no other means of s