to
suppose; that if I could have been happy enough to have done it, I
should be flattered to have the merit of it attributed to me; but that a
bare suspicion without proof, would never be a sufficient ground for my
being punished for a supposed offence, though it might be motive
sufficient for me to provide a place of security; so I entreated her to
procure leave for me to go about my business. So far from granting my
request, they were resolved to secure me if possible. After several
debates, Mr. Solicitor-General, who was an utter stranger to me, had the
humanity to say, that since I showed such respect to Government as not
to appear in public, it would be cruel to make any search after me.
Upon which it was resolved that no further search should be made if I
remained concealed; but that if I appeared either in England or
Scotland, I should be secured. But this was not sufficient for me,
unless I could submit to see my son exposed to beggary. My lord sent for
me up to town in such haste, that I had not time to settle anything
before I left Scotland. I had in my hand all the family papers, and I
dared trust them to nobody: my house might have been searched without
warning, consequently they were far from being secure there. In this
distress, I had the precaution to bury them in the ground, and nobody
but myself and the gardener knew where they were. I did the same with
other things of value. The event proved that I had acted prudently; for
after my departure they searched the house, and God only knows what
might have transpired from those papers! All these circumstances
rendered my presence absolutely necessary, otherwise they might have
been lost; for though they retained the highest preservation after one
very severe winter, (for when I took them up they were as dry as if they
came from the fire-side,) yet they could not possibly have remained so
much longer without prejudice."

Lord Nithisdale went to Rome, and never revisited his native country;
indeed, the project of the Rebellion of 1745, and the unceasing efforts
and hopes by which it was preceded on the part of the Jacobites, must
have rendered such a step impracticable to one who seems to have been
especially obnoxious to the house of Hanover.

His escape, according to Lady Nithisdale, both infuriated and alarmed
George the First, "who flew into an excessive passion," as she expresses
it, on the news transpiring; and exclaimed that he was betrayed, and
that