History of the Frasers of Lovat

468 HISTORY OF THE FRASERS.
appeared. "This rare tract," he says "has been seldom, if
ever, cited by late writers ; while a work called Memoires de
la Vie du Lord Lovat, published in Amsterdam in 1747,
which is a mere translation of it, has been referred to as an
original authority." This pamphlet was re-published in
1892 by Peter Fraser, bookseller, Beauly, who, however,
by a misprint describes it as "from the rare 1767 edition."
It bears internal evidence of having been written during
Lord Simon's life ; for the author, it will be observed,
predicts that his Lordship's "present conduct" in con-
nection with the rebellion of 1745 "must end in his own
destruction and the ruin of his family." This consumma-
tion was still in the future when the pamphlet was penned.
Its author, who it will be seen writes in the present
tense, says —
" Lord Lovat, as to his person, makes an odd and grotesque figure,
he is generally more loaded with clothes than a Dutchman with his
nine or ten pairs of breeches ; he is tall in stature and walks very
upright, considering his great age, and is tolerably well shaped ; he
has a large mouth and short nose, with eyes very much contracted
and down looking, a very small forehead, almost all covered with a
large periwig ; this gives him a sour and grim aspect, but upon
addressing himself to any one, he puts on a smiling and obliging
countenance, which is not at all disagreeable ; he is near sighted, and
affects to be more so than he really is ; he was naturally of a robust
and vigorous constitution, and a strong and active body hardened by
fatigue, innured to hunger and thirst, heat and cold, and improved by
all manly exercises ; but his long confinement in the Bastile [this
should be the Castle of Angouleme] had greatly impaired his con-
stitution ; he has, however, taken such care of himself, that he still
preserves a degree of health and vigour very uncommon at so
advanced an age. He is a man of some share of learning and of
great parts and abilities of mind. His universal experience and great
attention to political matters have made him acquainted with men as
well as books ; he is polite, affable and agreeable in conversation, and
so great a master in flattery and dissimulation that he generally
pleases and gains the good will, if not the esteem, of those he con-
verses with, however prejudiced or prepossessed they might have
been against him. His knowledge of the history and genealogy of all
the great families in Scotland contributes not a little to this, for there
is no person in that country, but he will make out to be a relation or
ally of some noble or ancient family, or a descendant of some virtuous