aiton, the Chevalier's agent in Edinburgh, he
signified that if five or six thousand bolls of meal could be purchased
by the King's friends and sent to Sweden, where there was then a great
scarcity, it would be of service to his master in conciliating the good
will of Charles. This proposal was communicated by Mar's desire to
Lockhart of Carnwath, to Lord Balmerino, and to the Bishop of Edinburgh.
But it was the sanguine disposition of Mar which alone could lead him to
suppose such a scheme practicable. It was, in the first place, found
impossible to raise so large a sum from men, many of them exiles, or
involved in difficulties from the expenses of the recent insurrection.
It was also deemed folly to conceive that so large a quantity of Scotch
meal as necessary could be exported without exciting the suspicion of
Government.

The next plan which Lord Mar contrived was not so fully unfolded as the
project of which Charles the Twelfth was to be the object. He wrote to
Edinburgh soon after the failure of the first scheme, to this effect:
that a certain foreign prince had entered into a design for the
restoration of James: that it "would look odd if his friends at home did
not assist him;" and he wished they would fall on some means to have in
readiness such a sum as they could afford to venture in his cause when a
fair opportunity occurred. The hint was taken up seriously by the
zealous Lockhart of Carnwath, and assurances were sent from "several
persons of honour, that they would be in a condition to answer his
Majesty's call." Among these, the Earl of Eglintoun offered three
thousand guineas; and the others "would have given a good round sum."
The conduct of the English Government to the Duke of Argyle, who had
been superseded as Commander-in-Chief in Scotland, and the strong
personal friendship between Lockhart and the Duke, emboldened Mar to
hope that a negotiation might be entered into with Argyle, and that he
might be persuaded to join in their schemes. At the same time, Lord Mar
enjoined the strictest secrecy in all these affairs, and with reason,
for the letters of the exiled Jacobites abounded in false hopes and
plans; many of their correspondents at home had not the discretion to
conceal their delight, when the sanguine expectations of their party
prevailed over despair.

The agent employed by Lockhart to treat with the Duke of Argyle was
Colonel John Middleton. By him Lockhart was, however, assured that his
Gr