2nd Duke of Gordon and the part he played at the battle of Sheriffmuir

'. 10
folio page6, and will be referred to here as the
Seaforth letter. It makes the remarkable sugges-
tion that he entered the rising in an attitude of
cautious doubt: —
He had oonserted with [his uncle] Sr. Petter
Ffraser of Dores yt. he would not take up arms
for the Pretender till all the Kingdoone hade de-
claired for him ; and begged of him to assure
King George and his Ministry yt. he would live
a peaceable man at hom : which Sr. Petter gen-
erously did assure the Court of.
Nor was he without a warning of the consequences
nearer home. Thus Alexander Go - don, younger
of Auohlyn, declared (Allardyoe's "Jacobite
Papers," p. 59) that he
publickly advysed the Marquis of Huntly in pres-
ence of 6everall of hie rebellious adherents to
forbear his preparations [to join the Jacobite
army], and after the said Marquis was marched
to Pearth with his army, the petitioner advysed
him again, from Edinburgh, wheir he then was,
to go home and brake with Mar and the Preten-
der: and, hearing that some diferenses were
arissen betwixt the said Marqui6 and Mar, the
petitioner by mean6 of the latte Deuck of Gordon
improved them to ane ruptur.
Long before that, however, the Marquis had
been committed to the plunge, fatal to so many
others. According to the Seaforth letter : —
The Marquis of Huntly befor and after the
Queen's death appeared to be the most zealous
partizan the Pretender hade in Scotland; and,
being incouradg'd in his zeall for yt. interest by
the D[u]k[e] of Gordon, his father, and by the
Duchess, his mother, he made it his business in
the North to gaine all 'the neighbouring gentle-
men to his pairty: and the most of them haweing"
a natural inclynation yt. way, my Lord Huntly
hade not soe much difficulty to perswade them
to join him in yt. service. He afterwards made
publick rendevowses of his wassals and tennents
under pretence of shooting prizes, which he
gave gratis on those ocations. But the maine
design was to exercise ther arms for the intended
rebellion. He took upon him the manadgment
of the Pretender's affairs in the north, and hade
frequent privat conferences wt. Glengary and wt.
Bri. Mackentosh of Borlum, whom he sent to
Barleduce, and afterwards made use of him to
perswade my Lord Seaforth and the oyr Cheifs
of the Clans to take amies against the Govern-
ment.
The earliest intimation of the Marquis's move
ifl afforded by a letter he wrote from Edinburgh
on February 8-19, 1715, to General Alexander