Volume II Part 12 (1/2)
[116] Loch Lomond Expedition Wodrow Correspondence, p 30 Also Reay's History of the Rebellion, p 286
[117] Macleay, p 279
SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT
The memoirs of Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, have been written in various forreat diversity of opinions Soular, depraved, and unfortunate ive to every action the darkest possible tinge; others have waived all discussion on his deely upon the fame and antiquity of his fay for his life, and from his e are bound to take so much, but only so ation of the heinous facts which blast his memory with eternal opprobrium
As far as the researches into the remote antiquity of Scotland may be relied upon, it appears that the nast the first of those which Scotland derived froin of this nae of Charles the Simple A nobleman of Bourbon--such is the fable,--presented that monarch with a dish of strawberries The loyal subject, who bore the nahted on the spot, and the sirnaiven him in lieu of that which he had borne Hence the ancient ar of the Frasers, a field azure, se connection of the Frasers with the noble family of Frezeau, or Frezel, in France, a race connected with many of the royal families in Europe For a considerable period after the elevation of Julius de Berry, the name ritten Frezeau, or Frisil
The period at which the Frasers left Norned to the days of Malcolm Canmore, where John, the eldest of three brothers of the house, founded the fortunes of the Frasers of Oliver Castle in Tweedale, byEupheme Sloan, heiress of Tweedale: whilst another brother settled beyond the Forth, and beca Eventually those members of this Norman race who had at first settled in Tweedale, branched off to Aberdeenshi+re, and to Inverness-shi+re;[118] and it was in this latter county, at Beaufort, a property which had been long held by his family, that the faenerally received According to others, the fain When the Scandinavians invaded the eastern coast of Britain, and the northern coast of France, one branch of the family of Frizell, or Fryzell, settled in Scotland; another in Norinal pronunciation[119]
The castle of Beaufort, anciently a royal fortress, had been bestowed upon the Frasers, in the year 1367 It is situated in the beautiful neighbourhood of Inverness, in the district of the Aird; it was besieged by the ar the invasion of Scotland by the usualstones from catapultae, at a distance of seven hundred yards A subsidiary fortress, Lovat, heretofore inhabited by one of the constables of the Crohom the lawlessness of the wild inhabitants and the turbulence of their chieftains had rendered it necessary to establish in the west of Scotland, also fell into the possession of the Frasers
The present seat of the family of Lovat, still called Beaufort, is built on a part of the ground originally occupied by a fortress It lies on a beautiful eminence near the Beauly, and is surrounded by extensive plantations
The race, thus engrafted upon a Scottish stock, continued to acquire frouished by bravery and fidelity When Edward the First determined to subdue Scotland, he found three Powers refuse to acknowledge his pretensions These were, Sir William Wallace, Sir Siarrison of Stirling When Bruce, with an inconsiderable force fought the English army at Methven, near Perth, and was thrice dismounted, Sir Simon Fraser thrice replaced him on his saddle; he was hiht be witnessed one of those rohland devotion, which appear almost incredible to the calmer notions of a modern era A ruallant Fraser, was to suffer for his fidelity to his country's interests Herbert de Norham, one of his followers, and Thomas de Boys, his armour-bearer, swore, that if the report were true, they would not survive their master They died voluntarily on the day of his execution
In 1431, the Frasers were ennobled; the head of the house was created a Lord of Parliaular succession, until, by the death of Hugh, the eleventh Lord Lovat, it reverted, together with all the family estates, now of considerable value and extent, to Thoreat uncle of the last nobleman This destination of the property and honours was settled by a deed, executed by Hugh, Lord Lovat, in order to preserve the male succession in the fas and feuds Hugh had hter of John, Marquis of Athole, and had daughters by that e He had, in the first instance, settled upon the eldest of theentlereed ill with the Highland pride; and upon a plea of his having been prevailed on to give this bond, contrary to the old rights and invest been irant this bond, he set it aside by a subsequent will in favour of his great uncle, dated March 26th, 1696[120]
The families of Murray and Fraser were, at the time that the title of Lovat descended upon Thomas Fraser, united in what outwardly appeared to be an alliance of friendshi+p Their politics, indeed, at times differed
The late Lord Lovat had persisted in his adherence to Jaland after his abdication, and had marshalled his own troops under the banners of the brave Dundee The Marquis of Athole, then Lord Tullibardine, on the other hand, had adopted the principles of the Revolution, and had received a coi ement between these faravated by private and jarring interests, and by ues, of which Lord Lovat, who has left a recital of them, was, from his own innate taste for cabals, and aptitude to dissie
Of the character of Thomas of Beaufort, the father of Simon, little idea can be foruided by the subtle spirit of his son Simon The loss of an elder son, Alexander, after whose death Sied heir of the Frasers, , ardent temper naturally exercises over a parent advanced in years Of his father, Simon, in his various memoirs and letters, always speaks with respect; and he refers with pride and pleasure to hisin the third person, ”was Dahter of the chief of the clan of the Macleods, so famous for its inviolable loyalty to its princes”[122]
During his life-tireat nephew, Thomas Fraser of Beaufort, had borne the title of Laird of Beaufort ”He now took possession,” says his biographer, ”without opposition, of the honours and titles which had descended to hi to other authorities, however, Thomas Fraser never assumed the rank of a nobleman, but retired to the Isle of Sky, where he died in 1699, three years after his accession to the disputed honours and estates
The family of Thomas of Beaufort was nuht who survived, Simon Fraser only er, John Alexander, who died in 1692, was of a violent and daring temper A determined adherent of James the Second, he joined Viscount Dundee in 1689, when the standard was raised in favour of the abdicateda funeral which had assembled at Beauly, near Inverness, Alexander received soed He killed his antagonist, and instantly fled to Wales, in order to escape the effects of his criadier in the Dutch service, and was known by the name of Le Chevalier Fraser He died in 1716, ”when,” says his brother, Lord Lovat, in his Me fellow”[123]
Simon Fraser, afterwards Lord Lovat, was born at Inverness,--according to some accounts in 1668, to others in 1670: he fixes the date himself at 1676 He was educated at the University of Aberdeen, where he distinguished hi his boyhood he shewed his hereditary affection to the Stuarts,--an affection which was probably sincere at that early age: and he was even imprisoned for his open avowal of that cause, at the time when his elder brother repaired to the standard of Dundee Deserting the study of the civil law, to which he had been originally destined, Siiment of Lord Tullibardine, his relation; nevertheless, he twice atte the insurrection pro a plan, which was rendered abortive by the fa the Castle of Edinburgh, and proclai James in that capital
This plot escaped detection; and the young soldier pursued his h Lord Lovat drew hiues which better suited his restless and dauntless character
Although his father, it is clearly understood, never bore the title of Lord Lovat, Sih, took upon hinity and the offices of Master of Lovat He seems, indeed, to have assumed all the importance, and to have exercised all the authority, which properly belonged to Lord Lovat He was at this tie, and he had passed his life, not in e of the world in prosecuting his own interests It is true, his leisure hours ht have been more innocently bestowed even in theschemes and scandalous society in which his existence was passed: it is true, that in studying his own interests, he forgot his true interest, and failed lamentably; still, he had not been idle in his vocation
He is said, on tradition, to have been one of the arth took of hie natural to his fale respect, shone out at the last with a radiancy that one alrets, since it seemed so inconsistent that a career of the blackest vice and perfidy should close with sonity of virtue He seems to have been endoith a capacity worthy of a better e upon a noble and wealthy relative, or inflahland clans If we may adduce the Latin quotations which Lovat parades in his Me his last hours, we must allow him to have cultivated the classics His letters are skilful, even , yet characteristic It is affirar in feature, and coarse and nant in expression, he could, like Richard of Gloucester, obliterate the impression produced by his countenance, and charm those whom it was his interest to please His effrontery was unconquerable: whilst conscious of the most venal motives, and even after he had displayed to the world a shaiversation, he had the assurance always to claim for himself the merit of patriotism ”For my part,” he said on one occasion, in conversation with his friends, ”I die a martyr to my country”[124]
In after life, Lovat is described by a conterace Tee proportion; and in the later portion of his life, he grew so corpulent, that ”I iined,” says the saet him in”[125]
”Lord Lovat,” says another writer, ”enerally more loaded with clothes than a Dutche, and is tolerably well shaped; he has a large mouth and short nose, with eyes very ; a very sives hi any one, he puts on a shted, and affects to be much more so than he really is”
”His natural abilities,” remarks the editor of the Culloden Papers, ”were excellent, and his address, acco far above the usual lot of his countrymen, even of equal rank With the civilized, he was thehis people, the feudal baron of the tenth century”[126]
It seeious principles of a ion inculcates; yet the mind is naturally curious to knohether any bonds of faith, or suggestion of conscience ever checked, even for an instant, the career of this base, unprincipled , and perhaps much self-delusion, Lord Lovat was, by his own declaration, a Roman Catholic: his sincerity, even in this avowal, has been questioned In politics, he was in heart (if he had a heart) a Jacobite; and yet, on his trial, he insisted strongly upon his affection for the reigning family