arms, secured their own lives by immediate flight. The savage ministers, of vengeance had entered the old man's chamber, and shot him through the head. He fell down dead in the arms of his wife, who died next day distracted by the horror of her husband's fate. The laird of Auchintrincken, Macdonald's guest, who had three months before this period submitted to the government, and at this very time had a protection in his pocket, was put to death without question. A boy of eight years, who fell at Campbell's feet, imploring mercy, and offering to serve him for life, was stabbed to the heart by one Drummond, a subaltern officer. Eight-and-thirty persons suffered in this manner, the greater part of whom were surprised in their beds, and hurried into eternity before they had time to implore the divine mercy. The design was to butcher all the males under seventy that lived in the valley, the number of whom amounted to two hundred; but some of the detachments did not arrive soon enough to secure the passes, so that one hundred and sixty escaped. Campbell, having perpetrated this brutal massacre, ordered all the houses to be burned, made a prey of all the cattle and effects that were found in the valley, and left the helpless women and children, whose fathers and husbands he had murdered, naked and forlorn, without covering, food, or shelter, in the midst of the snow that covered the whole face of the country, at the distance of six long miles from any inhabited place. Distracted with grief and horror, surrounded with the shades of night, shivering with cold, and appalled with the apprehension of immediate death from the swords of those who had sacrificed their friends and kinsmen, they could not endure such a complication of calamities, but generally perished in the waste before they could receive the least comfort or assistance. This barbarous massacre,

performed under the sanction of king William's authority, answered the immediate purpose of the court, by striking terror into the hearts of the jacobite Highlanders: but at the same time excited the horror of all those who had not renounced every sentiment of humanity, and produced such an aversion to the government as all the arts of a ministry could never totally surmount. A detail of the particulars was published at Paris, with many exaggerations, and the

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jacobites did not fail to expatiate upon every circumstance, in domestic libels and private conversation. The king, alarmed at the outcry which was raised upon this occasion, ordered an inquiry to be set on foot, and dismissed the master of Stair from his employment of secretary; he likewise pretended that he had subscribed the order amidst a heap of other papers, without knowing the purport of it; but as he did not severely punish those who had made his authority subservient to their own cruel revenge, the imputation stuck fast to his character; and the Highlanders, though terrified into silence and submission, were inspired with the most implacable resentment against his person and administration.

§ XXII. A great number in both kingdoms waited impatiently for an opportunity to declare in behalf of their exiled monarch, who was punctually informed of all these transactions, and endeavoured to make his advantage of the growing discontent.* King William having settled the domestic affairs of the nation, and exerted uncommon care and assiduity in equipping a formidable fleet, embarked for Holland on the fifth day of March, and was received by the states general with expressions of the most cordial regard. While he was here employed in promoting the measures of the grand confederacy, the French king resolved to invade England in his absence, and seemed heartily engaged in the interest of James, whose emissaries in Britain began to bestir themselves with uncommon assiduity, in preparing the nation for his return. One Lant, who was imprisoned on suspicion of distributing his commissions, had the good fortune to be released, and the papists of Lancashire despatched him to the court of St. Germains, with an assurance that they were in a condition to receive their old sovereign. He returned with advice that king James would certainly land in the spring; and that colonel Parker and other officers should be sent over with full instructions, touching their conduct at and before the king's arrival. Parker accordingly repaired to England, and made the jacobites acquainted with the whole scheme of a descent, which Lewis had actually concerted

g Burnet. Story. Kennet. Life of K. William. Nav. Hist. Ralph. Vol* An. 1692.

taire.

with the late king. He assured them that their lawful sovereign would once more visit his British dominions, at the head of thirty thousand effective men, to be embarked at La Hogue; that the transports were already prepared, and a strong squadron equipped for their convoy; he, therefore, exhorted them to be speedy and secret in their preparations, that they might be in readiness to take arms, and cooperate in effecting his restoration. This officer, and one Johnson, a priest, are said to have undertaken the assassination of king William; but, before they could execute their design, his majesty set sail for Holland.

§ XXIII. Meanwhile James addressed a letter to several lords who had been formerly members of his council, as well as to divers ladies of quality and distinction, intimating the pregnancy of his queen, and requiring them to attend as witnesses at the labour. He took notice of the injury his family and honour had sustained, from the cruel aspersions of his enemies concerning the birth of his son, and as Providence had now favoured him with an opportunity of refuting the calumny of those who affirmed that the queen was incapable of childbearing, he assured them, in the name of his brother, the French king, as well as upon his own royal word, that they should have free leave to visit his court, and return after the labour. This invitation, however, no person would venture to accept. He afterwards employed his emissaries in circulating a printed declaration, importing that the king of France had enabled him to make another effort to retrieve his crown; and that, although he was furnished with a number of troops sufficient to untie the hands of his subjects, he did not intend to deprive them of their share in the glory of restoring their lawful king and their ancient government. He exhorted the people to join his standard. He assured them that the foreign auxiliaries should behave with the most regular discipline, and be sent back immediately after his

h The letter was directed not only to privy counsellors, but also to the dutchesses of Somerset and Beaufort, the marchioness of Halifax, the countesses of Derby, Mulgrave, Rutland, Brooks, Nottingham, Lumley, and Danby, the ladies Fitzharding, and Fretchville, those of sir John Trevor, speaker of the house of commons, sir Edward Seymour, sir Christopher Musgrave, the wives of sir Thomas Stamford, lord mayor of London, sir William Ashhurst, and sir Richard Levett the sheriffs, and, lastly, to Dr. Chamberlain, the famous practitioner in midwifery.

reestablishment. He observed, that when such a number of his subjects were so infatuated as to concur with the unnatural design of the prince of Orange, he had chosen to rely upon the fidelity of the English army, and refused considerable succours that were offered to him by his most christian majesty; that when he was ready to oppose force with force, he nevertheless offered to give all reasonable satisfaction to his subjects who had been misled, and endeavoured to open their eyes, with respect to the vain pretences of his adversary, whose aim was not the reformation but the subversion of the government: that when he saw himself deserted by his army, betrayed by his ministers, abandoned by his favourites, and even his own children, and at last rudely driven from his own palace by a guard of insolent foreigners, he had, for his personal safety, taken refuge in France: that his retreat from the malice and cruel designs of the usurper had been construed into an abdication, and the whole constitution of the monarchy destroyed by a set of men illegally assembled, who in fact, had no power to alter the property of the meanest subject. He expressed his hope that by this time the nation had fairly examined the account, and from the losses and enormous expense of the three last years, were convinced that the remedy was worse than the disease: that the beginning, like the first years of Nero's reign, would, in all probability be found the mildest part of the usurpation, and the instruments of the new establishment live to suffer severely by the tyranny they had raised; that even though the usurpation should continue during his life, an indisputable title would survive in his issue, and expose the kingdom to all the miseries of a civil war. He not only solicited but commanded his good subjects to join him, according to their duty, and the oaths they had taken. He forbade them to pay taxes or any part of the revenue to the usurper. He promised pardon, and even rewards, to all those who should return to their duty, and to procure in his first parliament an act of indemnity, with an exception of certain persons whom he now enumerated.

i Those excepted were the duke of Ormond, the marquis of Winchester, the earls of Sunderland, Bath, Danby, and Nottingham, the lords Newport, Delamere, Wiltshire, Colchester, Cornbury, Dunblain, and Churchill; the bishops of

He declared that all soldiers who should quit the service of the usurper, and enlist under his banners, might depend upon receiving their pardon and arrears; and that the foreign troops, upon laying down their arms, should be paid and transported to their respective countries. He solemnly protested that he would protect and maintain the church of England, as by law established in all her rights, privileges, and possessions: he signified his resolution to use his influence with the parliament for allowing liberty of conscience to all his subjects, as an indulgence agreeable to the spirit of the christian religion, and conducive to the wealth and prosperity of the nation. He said his principal

care should be to heal the wounds of the late distractions; to restore trade by observing the act of navigation, which had been lately so much violated in favour of strangers; to put the navy in a flourishing condition; and to take every step that might contribute to the greatness of the monarchy and the happiness of the people. He concluded with professions of resignation to the Divine Will, declaring that all who should reject his offers of mercy and appear in arms against him, would be answerable to Almighty God for all the blood that should be spilt, and all the miseries in which these kingdoms might be involved by their desperate and unreasonable opposition.

XXIV. While this declaration operated variously on the minds of the people, colonel Parker, with some other officers, enlisted men privately for the service of James in the counties of York, Lancaster, and in the bishopric of Durham at the same time, Fountaine and Holman were employed in raising two regiments of horse at London, that they might join their master immediately after his landing. His partisans sent captain Lloyd with an express to lord Melfort, containing a detail of these particulars, with an assurance that they had brought over rear-admiral Carter to the interest of his majesty. They likewise trans

London and St. Asaph, sir Robert Howard, sir John Worden, sir Samuel Grimstone, sir Stephen Fox, sir George Treby. sir Basil Dixwell, sir James Oxenden, Dr. John Tillotson, Dr. Gilbert Burnet; Francis Russel, Richard Levison; John Trenchard, Charles Duncomb, citizen of London: Edwards, Stapleton, and Hunt, fishermen, and all others who had offered personal indignities to him at Feversham; or had been concerned in the barbarous murder of John Ashton Cross, or any others who had suffered death for their loyalty; and all spies, or such as had betrayed his council during his late absence from England.