arrel that some
years ago fell out between the said Master and two sons of the deceased
Sir John Schaw of Greenock_; therefore," the deed proceeds to state, "it
was reasonable that they, James and William Sinclair, should grant a
back bond of settlement, binding themselves to manage the property, when
they should respectively succeed to it by advice of friends, overseers,
and managers,--viz. Sir John Erskine of Alva, Bart., Sir William Baird
of New Baith, Bart., Mr. John Paterson, eldest lawful son to the
deceased Archbishop of Glasgow, their brother-in-law--Sir John Cockburn
of that Ilk, Bart., and Mr. Mathew Sinclair of Hermiston, their uncles.
The said James and William Sinclair, as they should respectively succeed
to the estate, were obliged to make certain necessary expenditure to the
family for behoof of the Master; and the said James and William Sinclair
became also bound, in case the Master, their brother, should become free
of his present inconveniences, or should have a family of lawful
children, then, and in that case to convey the estate to the said
Master, or to his said children, at the sight of his trustees."[243]

In the year 1726, the Master of Sinclair received pardon, as far as his
life was concerned, but the forfeiture of his estates was not taken off,
nor certain other incapacities reversed. He then returned to the family
estate of Dysart in Fife, of which he was, by his father's disposition
of affairs, the actual proprietor; and although the rents of the
property were levied in his brother's name, they were applied and
received by the Master. General James Sinclair, the second brother of
the Master, was then the nominal owner only of the estates. But although
thus returning to his patrimonial inheritance, the Master never
recovered the good will of his former friends, nor the blessings of
security, and of a calm and honoured old age. He seldom visited
Edinburgh, living in seclusion and never going from home without being
well guarded and attended for fear of the Jacobites, or of his enemies
the Schaws. Under these circumstances it seems to have been a relief to
his bitter and mortified spirit to have vented itself, in like manner
with Lord Lovat, in composing memoirs of his own life. "These memoirs,"
says Sir Walter Scott, who long had a copy of them in his possession,
"are written[244] with talent, and peculiar satirical energy: so much
so indeed, that they have been hitherto deemed unfit for publi