the kinsman of
Lovat, arrived in the county of Inverness, and declared the purpose of
his journey, the lairds who were well-affected to the nobility, joined
in giving their subscriptions; and the Earl of Sutherland, the Lord
Strathallan, and the nobility of the counties of Ross and Sutherland,
signed them also. The Duke of Montrose, however, boldly opposed them,
and described Lord Lovat as a man unworthy of the King's
confidence.[196]

A year, however, had elapsed, whilst Lovat was hanging about the Court,
before the address was brought to London by Lord Isla, brother of the
Duke of Argyle, and afterwards Archibald, Duke of Argyle. The address
was presented on Sunday, the twenty-fourth of July, 1715. "The Earl of
Orkney," says Lord Lovat, "who was the lord in waiting, held out his
hand to receive them from the King, according to custom. The King,
however, drew them back, folded them up, and, as if he had been
pre-advised of their contents, put them into his pocket."[197] And with
this sentence, denoting that the crisis of his affairs was at hand, end
the memoirs which Lord Lovat either wrote or dictated to others, of the
early portion of his life.

Meantime, the Earl of Stair, the English ambassador at Paris, had
discovered the embryo scheme of invasion, and had communicated it to the
British Court, although, unhappily for both parties, not in sufficient
time to damp the hopes of the unfortunate Jacobites. On the sixth of
September, 1715, the Earl of Mar set up his standard at Braemar.
Consistent with the usual fatality attending every attempt of the
Stuarts, this event was preceded only five days by the death of Louis
the Fourteenth--the only real friend of the excluded family; but the
Jacobites had now proceeded too far to recede.[198]

Lord Lovat resolved, however, to profit in the general disasters. His
influence among his clansmen was obvious: whether for good or, in some
instances, for evil, there is much to admire in the resolute adherence
of those faithful mountaineers, who had resisted the assumption of a
stranger, and invited back to their hills the long-absent and ruined
chief, whom they regarded as their own.

Lord Lovat now found means to represent to the English Government, that
if he could have a passport to go into the Highlands, he might be
instrumental in quelling the rebellion. The Ministry, in their
perplexities, availed themselves of his aid, and a pass was granted to
him, under the name of Ca