CHAPTER 111. 1685. A change expected before death, tentiary letter to his father, consenting at the same time to ask pardon of his uncle. A great parade was made of this by the Court, as if it was designed by all means to goad the feelings of Monmouth: his Majesty was declared to have pardoned him at the request of the Duke of York, and his consent was required to the publication of what was called his confession. This he resolutely refused at all hazards, and was again obliged to seek refuge abroad, where he had remained to the period of which we are now treating. A little time before Charles's death, he had indulged the late King's hopes of being recalled, and that his intelligence to that effect was not quite unfounded, or, if false, was at least mixed with truth, is clear from the following circumstance: From the notes found when he was taken, in his memorandum book, it appears that part of the plan concerted between the King and Monmouth's friend, (probably Halifax,) was that the Duke of York should go to Scotland,* between which, and his being sent abroad again, Monmouth and his friends saw no material difference. Now in Barillon's letters to his Court, dated the 7th of December, 1684, it appeared that the Duke of York had told that ambassadour of his intended voyage to Scotland, though he represented it in a very different point of view, and said that it would *Welwood's Memoirs. not be attended with any diminution of his favour or credit. This was the light in which Charles, to whom the expressions, "to blind my brother, not to make the "Duke of York fly out," and the like, were familiar, would certainly have shown the affair to his brother, and therefore of all the circumstances adduced, this appears to me to be the strongest in favour of the supposition, that there was in the King's mind, a real intention of making an important, if not a complete, change in his councils and measures. CHAPTER III. 1685. Scotland. Besides these two leaders, there were on the Continent Exiles from at that time, several other gentlemen of great consideration. Sir Patrick Hume of Polworth had early distinguished himself in the cause of liberty. When the privy council of Scotland passed an order, compelling the counties to pay the expence of the garrisons arbitrarily placed in them, he refused to pay his quota, and by a mode of appeal to the Court of Session, which the Scotch lawyers call a bill of Suspension, endeavoured to procure redress. The council ordered him to be imprisoned, for no other crime, as it should seem, than that of having thus attempted to procure, by a legal process, a legal decision upon a point of law. After having remained in close confinement in Stirling Castle, for nearly four years, he was set at liberty through the + See Appendix, p. viii. CHAPTER 1085. Fletcher of favour and interest of Monmouth. Having afterwards engaged in schemes connected with those imputed to Sidney and Russel, orders were issued for seizing him at his house in Berwickshire; but having had timely notice of his danger, from his relation, Hume of Ninewells, a gentleman attached to the royal cause,* but whom party spirit had not rendered insensible to the ties of kindred, and private friendship, he found means to conceal himself for a time, and shortly after to escape beyond sea. His concealment is said to have been in the family burial-place, where the means of sustaining life were brought to him by his daughter, a girl of fifteen years of age, whose duty and affection furnished her with courage to brave the terrours, as well superstitious as real, to which she was necessarily exposed in an intercourse of this nature.† Andrew Fletcher of Salton, a young man of great spirit, had signalized himself in opposition to Lauderdale's administration of Scotland, and had afterwards connected himself with Argyle and Russel, and what was called the council of six. He had, of course, It is not without some satisfaction, that I learnt, upon enquiry, that this gentleman was the ancestor of Hume the historian, who, in similar circumstances, would most certainly have followed his grandfather's example. + MS. account of Sir P. Home. CHAPTER .III. 1085 -thought it prudent to leave Great Britain, and could not be supposed unwilling to join in any enterprize which might bid fair to restore him to his country, and his countrymen to their lost liberties, though, upon the present occasion, which he seems to have judged to be unfit for the purpose, he endeavoured to dissuade both Argyle and Monmouth from their attempts. He was a man of much thought and reading, of an honourable mind, and a fiery spirit, and from his enthusiastick admiration of the ancients, supposed to be warmly attached, not only to republican principles, but to the form of a commonwealth. Sir John Cochrane of Sir John Ochiltree had fled his country on account of the transactions of 1683. His property and connections were considerable, and he was supposed to possess extensive influence in Airshire and the adjacent counties.. Cochrane. Wark. Such were the persons of chief note among the Scot- English exiles. tish emigrants. Among the English, by far the most remarkable, was Ford, Lord Grey of Wark. A scan- Lord Grey of dalous love intrigue, with his wife's sister, had fixed a very deep stain upon his private character; nor were the circumstances attending this affair, which had all been brought to light in a court of justice, by any means calculated to extenuate his guilt. His ancient family, however, the extensive influence arising from his large possessions, his talents, which appear to have been very considerable, and above all, his hitherto un III. 1685. CHAPTER shaken fidelity in political attachments, and the general steadiness of his conduct in publick life, might in some degree countervail the odium which he had incurred on account of his private vices. Of Matthews, Wade, and Ayloffe, whose names are mentioned, as having both joined the preliminary councils, and done actual service in the invasions, little is known by which curiosity could be either gratified or excited. Rumbold. Richard Rumbold, on every account, merits more particular notice. He had formerly served in the republican armies; and adhering to the principles of liberty, which he had imbibed in his youth, though no wise bigotted to the particular form of a commonwealth, had been deeply, engaged in the politicks of those who thought they saw an opportunity of rescuing their country from the tyrannical government of the late King. He was one of the persons denounced in Keyling's narrative, and was accused of having conspired to assassinate the royal brothers, in their road to Newmarket; an accusation belied by the whole tenour of his life and conduct, and which, if it had been true, would have proved him, who was never thought a weak or foolish man, to be as destitute of common sense, as of honour and probity. It was pretended, that the seizure of the Princes was to take place at a farm called Rye-house, which he occupied in Hert |