rl of Mar must have trembled, as he still lingered in the
metropolis. It is probable that he waited there in order to receive
those contributions from abroad which were necessary to carry on his
plans. He was provided at last with no less a sum than a hundred
thousand pounds; and also furnished with a commission dated the seventh
of September, 1715 appointing him Lieutenant General and Commander in
Chief of the forces raised for the Chevalier in Scotland.[69] Large sums
were already collected from Switzerland, Italy, Germany, and France, to
the amount, it has been stated, of twelve millions. It has been well
remarked by Sir Walter Scott, in his notes on the Master of Sinclair's
MS., that "when the Stuarts had the means, they wanted a leader (as in
1715); when (as in 1745) they had a leader, they wanted the means."

With the eye of suspicion fixed upon him, his plans matured, his friends
in the north prepared, the Earl of Mar had the hardihood, under such
circumstances, to appear at the court of King George. A few weeks before
the Habeas Corpus Act had been suspended; but the Earl trusted either to
good fortune, or to his own well-known arts of insinuation. He braved
all possibility of detection, and determined to carry on the game of
deep dissimulation to the last moment.

On the first of August, 1715, the Earl of Mar attended the levee of King
George. One can easily suppose how cold, if not disdainful, must have
been his reception; but it is not easy to divine with what secret
emotions, the subject on the eve of an insurrection could have offered
his obeisance to the Monarch. Grave in expression, with a heavy German
countenance, hating all show, and husbanding his time, so as to avoid
all needless conversation; without an idea of cultivating the fine arts,
of encouraging literature, or of even learning to speak English, George
the First must have presented to his English subjects the reverse of all
that is attractive. A decided respectability of character might have
redeemed the ungainly picture; but, although esteemed a man of honour,
and evincing liberal and even benevolent tendencies, the Monarch
displayed not only an unblushing and scandalous profligacy, but a love
for coarse and unworthy society. His court is said to have been modelled
upon that of Louis the Fifteenth; but it was modelled upon the grossest
and lowest principles only, and had none of the elegance even of that
wretched King's depraved circles; and p