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Johnstone, merchant in Edinburgh. His family, by
descent and alliance, was connected with some of the first houses in
Scotland. His sister Cecilia was married to a son of Lord Rollo, who
succeeded to the title and estate in 1765. The chevalier moved in the best
society of the Scottish capital, and was treated by the then celebrated
Lady Jane Douglas with the tenderness of a parent. Educated in
Episcopalian and Jacobite principles, on the first intelligence of the
landing of Prince Charles Edward, he made his escape from Edinburgh to the
seat of Lord Rollo, near Perth, where he waited the arrival of the Prince,
and was one of the first low-country gentlemen that joined his standard.
He acted as aid-de-camp to Lord George Murray, and also to the Prince; and
after the battle of Preston-Pans, he received a Captain’s commission, and
bore a part in all the movements of the rebel army till the defeat at
Culloden. From Culloden, he escaped with the utmost peril to Killihuntly,
where Mrs. Gordon, the lady of the house, offered to build him a hut in
the mountains, and give him a few sheep to look after, so that he might
pass for a shepherd ; but the uneasiness of his mind would not allow him
to adopt such a life. He fled to Rothiemurchus, where the young laird
advised him to surrender himself to the Government, as he had advised
others, particularly Lord Balmerino; advice which, had he adopted it,
would have caused his destruction, as it did theirs. From house to house,
and place to place, he escaped by the most wonderful chances and under all
sorts of disguises. He passed continually amongst the English soldiers
busy at the work of devastation, his blood boiling with fury at the sight,
but instant death his fate if he gave one sign of his feelings. Seventeen
days he remained in the house of a very poor peasant, named Samuel, in
Glen-Prossen; Samuel’s daughter watching at the entrance of the glen. He
was determined to reach Edinburgh if possible, and thence escape to
England, and so to the Continent; but the |
