Page images
PDF
EPUB

stage in this enquiry, and that many people have their eyes upon you. This is a new motive for rendering your proofs as complete as possible. I cannot conceive any objection, which a man, even of the gravest character, could have to your publication of his letters, which will only attest a plain fact, known to him. Such scruples, if they occur, you must endeavour to remove.

For on this trial of

the judgment of the public finally depend.

yours will

Lord Bathe, who was in the company, agreed with me, that such documents of authenticity are entirely necessary and indispensible.

Please to write to me as soon as you make any advances, that I may have something to say on the subject to the literati of Paris. I beg my compliments to all those who may bear that character at Edinburgh. I cannot but look upon them as my friends. I am yours sincerely,

6th October, 1763.

DAVID HUME.

Extract of a Letter from Bishop Warburton to Mr. Mason. Dated Prior Park, Jan. 12, 1762.

I read Fingal with vast pleasure, but amidst my enjoyment of it, comes a letter from our critic, with such convincing arguments of the forgery, that the visionary scene slips from me, as the pleasing dream of another life did from Bolingbroke.

On the other hand, several fragments in these poems. have been heard, by living witnesses, sung to the harp both in the Highlands and in Ireland. My solution of the difficulty is this, that on these, and from these fragments, the forgery has been erected.

You may judge of its force, when he says, he builds the least on the unsatisfactory account the editor gives of his fairly coming by this treasure, both in his preface, and in

502

DISSERTATION ON OSSIAN'S POEMS.

conversation with some of his friends. You will say it is a
work infinitely above one of those tame cheaters, we call a
sophist. I do not know how it is, but mimicry is a species
of poetic imitation so different from the true, that we have
seen excellent copies in painting, from originals of great
masters, (by those) whose own designs were all sign post
daubings: the most celebrated mimics on the stage, as East-
court and Foot, were the most miserable actors: and, to
come a little nearer, the book written by Burke against
Civil Society, under the name and character of Bolingbroke,
is far superior to any other of his compositions.

INDEX.

INDE X.

N. B. The Roman Numerals refer to the Volume, and the Figures
to the Page.

A

ABERDEEN sacked by Montrose, iii. 263. Surrenders to

Monk, 448.

,

earl of, chancellor, iv. 129. Undermined at court,
141. His defection from the country party carries the vote
for a treaty of union, 313.

Aboyn, lord, second son of the earl of Huntley, besieged in
Carlisle, iii. 264. Joins Montrose, 310. note.

Accession of James VI. to the throne of England, iii. 2. 4.
Accommodations between Charles I. and the Scottish parliament,
iii. 203. Concluded, 208.

Advocates banished from Edinburgh, iv. 70.

African and India company established, iv. 249. Unsuitable
to Scotland, 253. Opposed in London, 254.

And at

Hamburgh 256. The Scots persist in the scheme, 257.
See Darien.

Agriculture of Scotland in the 17th century, iii. 472.

Airdsmoss, Cameronians surprised at, iv. 108.

Airley, earl of, joins Montrose with his two sons, iii. 262.
Alexander, sir William, earl of Stirling, secretary, his poetry,
Obtains a grant of Nova Scotia, with the disposal
of titles of baronet among the adventurers, ib.

iii. 477.

Annandale, earl of, engaged in the revolution, iv. 187. In Mont-
gomery's plots, 225. Betrays Ferguson and Nevile Pain to
government, 230. Displaced from the office of secretary,
324. Opposes the union, 348.

Anne of Denmark, queen of James VI. her death and character,
iii. 80.

-, queen, daughter of James VII. her accession, iv. 276.
By the jacobites expected to secure the succession to her bro-
ther, 277. Supposed to be secretly averse to the succession
of the house of Hanover, 301. Assents to the act of security,
304. Not insensible to the glory of atchieving the union,
320. Suspected of a design to introduce her brother into
Scotland, 383.

Annexation of church lands to the crown dissolved, iii. 32.
Antrim, earl of, iii. 153. Taken prisoner, 240.

Argyle ravaged by Montrose, iii. 265;

Argyle,, earl of, employed to chastise the Macgregors, iii. 48.
Archibald, earl of, his son joins the covenanters, iii. 152.
Created marquis, 208. His and Hamilton's arrest intended
by the incident, 215. Pursues Montrose, 264. Is almost
intercepted, 265. Defeated at Inverlochy with his whole clan,
275. His exertions to resist Montrose, 309. Opposes the
engagement, 372. Against which he takes arms, 380.
Treats with Cromwell, 382. Opposes Huntley's death in
parliament, 412. Declines to vote or assist in the condem-
nation of Montrose, at whose death he secretly exults, 420.
Promotes the recall of Charles II. to Scotland, 423. 547.
Assists at his coronation, 437. Opposes his march into Eng-
land, 441. Retires to his estate, 442. His spirited conduct on
the reduction of Scotland, 450. Obnoxious to government
during the usurpation, 460. Returned as a commoner to
Richard's parliament, ib. His situation during the usurpa-
tion, 485. Arrested, tried, and executed on the restoration,
iv. 11. 14. His sentence and character examined, 16.

[ocr errors]

121.

earl of, his son, (see Lorn,) is restored to the title of
earl, iv. 18. His opposition to the test in parliament, 117.
His explanation of the test, 120. For which he is accused,
Tried, 122. And convicted of treason, 125. Motives
of his trial, ib. His escape from prison, 126. Effects of
his trial on the public mind, 127. Lands and begins an in-
surrection in Argyleshire, 162. Taken prisoner and executed
on his former sentence, 164.

earl of, his son, afterwards duke, engaged in the revolu-
tion, iv. 187. Deputed by the nobility to tender the crown
to William and Mary, 208. Not engaged in Montgomery's
plots, 228. note.

John, duke of, commissioned to parliament, iv. 310. His
prudent management, 315. His motives for an union, 323.
Created an English peer, 332. Supports the motion to dis-
solve the union, 382. Suppresses the rebellion, 386. His
motives for an union realized, 388.
Arminianism, outcry against, iii. 105.
Army, English, its discontent and mutinous petitions, iii. 351.
Seizes the king, 354. Reduces the parliament, 356. Its
negociations with Charles, 358. Enters London, 361. Seizes
the king's person again, on its return from the north, 390.
Arran, earl of, the duke of Hamilton's son, attends James VII.
to Rochester, and proposes to recall him, iv. 196. See
Hamilton.

Articles, lords of, iii. 29. Mode of their election altered, 81.
102. Regulated, 173. And suppressed, 209. Revived
after the restoration, iv. 34. Lords of articles represented
as a grievance at the revolution, 208. And abolished for
ver, 231.

Articles of Perth, the five articles proposed by James VI. an

explanation of them, iii. 71. 77. Confirmed in parliament,
71.77.
82. Repealed by the assemblies of Glasgow and Edinburgh,
153. 171.

Arts in Scotland, their situation, iii. 471.

Assembly, general, of the church of Scotland, its powers, iii.
20. Assembly at Aberdeen prohibited, and declared un-
lawful, 26. Assembly at Linlithgow, 38. And at Glas-
gow to promote episcopacy, 58. Assembly of Perth adopts'
the five articles, 78. Assembly at Glasgow, 149. Dissolved
by Hamilton, but refuses to disperse, 152. Abrogates pre-
lacy, 153. Assembly at Edinburgh, 171. Commission of
assembly, the authority which it assumed, 278. Authorities
of assemblies annulled at the restoration, iv. 22. Assemblies
restored after the revolution, 232. 246.
Atholl, earl of, prisoner to Argyle, iii. 199.

-, earl and marquis of, justice-general, iv. 64. Employed
to suppress Argyle's insurrection, 164. His cruelties in
Argyleshire, 167. His connection with the prince of
Orange explained, 191. Promotes the revolution at first,
192. Afterwards renews his intrigues with the jacobites, 198.
duke of, accused by Fraser of the Scot's plot, iv. 299.
Undertook to rise in arms against the union, 358. Engaged
for the pretender, 374.

B

Baillie, lieutenant-general of the Scottish army, iii. 248. Re-
called from England with five regiments to oppose Montrose,
306. Defeated at Alford, 308. And again at Kilsyth, 311.
Surrenders the foot at Warrington after Hamilton's defeat at
Preston, 380.

of Jerviswood, imprisoned and fined by a judicial for-
gery, iv. 72. His share in the Ryehouse plot, 133. His
trial and execution, 137.

Balcarras, earl of, retires to the highlands, iii. 449. Capitu-
lates with Overton, 450. Takes arms against the usurpa-
tion, 454.

earl of, treasurer, present at the address to the
prince of Orange, iv. 195. Arrested with his friends before
Dundee took arms, 218.

Balloting, act of, to incapacitate Lauderdale, iv. 28.
Balmerino, lord, secretary, iii. 5. His treason, 55. Attainted, 56.
, lord, his son, his trial for leasing-making, iii. 107.
Condemned to death, but pardoned, 110. Consequences of
his trial, 113. A leading covenanter, 135. Neglected by
the king, 208.

Bargeny, lord, witnesses suborned by ministry to convict him.
of treason, iv. 115. note.

Bedford, earl of, his death interrupts a negotiation between
Charles I. and the popular leaders, for their introduction
into office, iii.

II.

« PreviousContinue »