Ayrshire > Volume 2

THE EARLDOM OF LOUDOUN 227
not long before dissensions broke out among the leaders
of this hopeless movement, and the Earl, recognising
how futile it was, left the camp and retired further north.
Later, he surrendered to General Monck, but he had so
far committed himself that both he and his eldest son,
Lord Mauchline, were excepted from Cromwell's act of
indemnity. The Countess of Loudoun received a grant
of £400 a year from the revenues of her husband's estates.
There is no record of how the Earl spent his time
during the Cromwell occupation of Scotland ; it is
believed, however, that he lived a private life, as so
many of the Scots nobles of the period did. Upon the
Restoration, notwithstanding all he had done for the
royal cause, he was deprived of the Chancellorship,
which had been granted to him for life ; his pension,
however, was not interfered with. Charles II. was no
better friend to the cause of the Covenant than his-
father had been, and it was not long before he began to
exercise that malignant influence that was destined to
make his reign so disastrous to the people of Scotland.
When the Marquis of Argyll was under a charge of high
treason, the Earl of Loudoun, in the first session of
Parliament, 1661, spoke strongly in favour of his friend,
but in vain ; it had been determined that the Marquis
should die, and to the scaffold he went. Loudoun had
only too much reason to conclude that he himself might
be the next victim. According to Covenanting history,
" he often exhorted his excellent lady to pray fast that
he might never see the next session of Parliament, else
he might follow his dear friend the Marquis of Argyll ;
and the Lord granted his request ; for he died in a most
Christian manner at Edinburgh, March 15, 1663, and his
corpse was carried home and interred with his ancestors."
A friendly historian sums up his character in these
words : — " He was a most exquisite orator in the Senate,
a refined politician, an honour to his name, an ornament
to this nation ; and in every virtue, in politic, social,
and domestic life, a pattern to be imitated." The
estimate, however, appears to have been fairly earned.