of Strathmore, where he dined, and went thence
to Fingask, the seat of Sir David Threipland. On the eighth of January
he took up his abode in the royal palace of Scoon, where he intended to
remain until after his coronation.

For this event preparations were actually made by the Earl of Mar, whose
sanguine spirit appears to have been somewhat revived by the presence of
the Chevalier. The addition of a new dignity to his own ancestral
honours had marked the favour and confidence of James. Before the
arrival of the Chevalier in Scotland, the Earl of Mar had been informed
that a patent of dukedom was made out for him; on which he thus
expressed himself in a letter, written before the Chevalier's landing,
full of gratitude and professions.[131]

"Your Majesty has done me more honour than I deserve. The new dignity
you have been pleased to confer on me is what I was not looking for; and
coming from your Majesty's hands is what gives it the value. The patent
is not yet come, but tho' it had, I think I ought not to make use of it
till your Majesty's arrival."

The Earl of Mar had now had an opportunity of throwing himself at the
feet of the King, which, as he expressed, "is the thing in the world he
had longed most for." But still, the difficulties in his path seemed to
be rendered more insurmountable than ever by the arrival of James.

In the first place, the landing of the Chevalier evidently sealed the
doom of those gallant and unfortunate noblemen who had been taken
prisoners at Preston; and rendered all hopes of mercy futile. The
sixteenth of January, which witnessed the forming of the Chevalier's
council at Perth, was the day on which the unfortunate Derwentwater,
Nithisdale, Kenmure, Wintoun, and Widdrington, petitioned for two days'
delay to prepare for their trials. Their doom was hurried on in the
general panic; and in the addresses from both Houses of Parliament to
King George, it was declared by the members of those assemblies "that
the landing of the Pretender in this kingdom had greatly encreased
their indignation against him and his adherents."

It is impossible that the Earl of Mar could have heard, without deep
commiseration, and perhaps remorse, of the peril in which those
ill-fated adherents of James were placed, although he may not have
anticipated the full severity of the law. In one of his subsequent
letters he remarks: "By the news I see the Parliament is to have no
mercie on our Preston folks: but