es at the openings to intercept an
escape. In the course of his researches he passed a very old tree,
which, from some slits in its trunk, he and his men perceived to be
hollow. One of the soldiers, peeping into the aperture, thought he saw a
man's leg; upon which he summoned his captain, who, on investigating
farther, found on one side a large opening, in which stood a pair of
legs, the rest of the figure being hidden within the hollow of the tree.
This was, however, quickly discovered to be Lord Lovat, for whom this
party had then been three days in search. He was wrapped in blankets, to
protect his aged limbs from the cold.

Thus discovered, Lovat was forced to surrender, but his spirit rose with
the occasion: he told Captain Mellon that "he had best take care of him;
for if he did not, he should make him answer for his conduct before a
set of gentlemen the very sight of whom would make him tremble." He was
taken, in the first instance, to Fort William, where he was treated with
humanity, in obedience to the express orders of the Duke of Cumberland.
From this prison Lovat wrote a letter to the Duke, reminding his Royal
Highness of the services which he had performed in 1715, and of the
favour shown him by George the First. "I often carried your Royal
Highness," pursues the unhappy old man, "in my arms, in the palaces of
Kensington and of Hampton Court, to hold you up to your royal
grandfather, that he might embrace you, for he was very fond of you and
the young princesses." He then represented to the Duke that if mercy
were shown him, and he "might have the honour to kiss the Duke's hand,
he might do more service to the King and Government than destroying a
hundred such old and very infirm men like me, (past seventy, without the
least use of my hands, legs, or knees,) can be of advantage in any shape
to the Government."

He was conveyed soon after this letter, which is dated June the
twenty-second, 1746, to Fort Augustus. He had requested that a litter
might be prepared for him, for he was not able either to stand, walk, or
ride. On the fifteenth of July he was removed, under a strong guard, to
Stirling, where a party of Lord Mark Ker's dragoons received him. After
a few days rest he passed through Edinburgh for the last time; thence to
Berwick, and on the twenty-fifth he began his last journey under the
escort of sixty dragoons commanded by Major Gardner. His journey to
London was divided into twenty stages, and he