Note 1281 — Chapter XXXVII · (continued 2)

Appendix to Home’s Works, vol. iii. No. 46. Cluny himself had several places of concealment on his estate. “He lived for nine years chiefly in a cave, at a short distance from his house, which was burnt to the ground by the king’s troops. This cave was in the front of a woody precipice, the trees and shelving rocks completely concealing the entrance. It was dug out by his own people, who worked by night, and conveyed the stones and rubbish into a lake in the neighbourhood, in order that no vestige of their labour might betray the retreat of their master. In this sanctuary he lived secure, occasionally visiting his friends by night, or when time had slackened the rigour of the search. Upwards of one hundred persons knew where he was concealed, and a reward of £1,000 was offered to any one who should give information against him; and as it was known that he was concealed on his estate, eighty men were constantly stationed there, besides the parties occasionally marching into the country to intimidate his tenantry, and induce them to disclose the place of his concealment. But though the soldiers were animated with the hope of the reward, and though a step of promotion to the officer who should apprehend him was superadded, yet so true were his people, so strict to their promise of secrecy, and so dexterous in conveying to him the necessaries he required, in his long confinement, that not a trace of him could be discovered, nor an individual found base enough to give a hint to his detriment. At length, wearied out with this dreary and hopeless state of existence, and taught to despair of pardon, he escaped to France in 1755, and died there the following year.”—Stewart’s Sketches, 3d Edition, vol. i. p. 62.

“The late Sir Hector Munro, then a lieutenant in the 34th regiment, and from his zeal and knowledge of the country and the people, intrusted with the command of a large party, continued two whole years in Badenoch, for the purpose of discovering the chief’s retreat. The unwearied vigilance of the clan could alone have saved him from the diligence of this party. At night Cluny came from his retreat to vary the monotony of his existence, by spending a few of the dark hours convivially with his friends. On one occasion he had been suspected, and got out by a back window just as the military were breaking open the door. At another time, seeing the windows of a house kept close, and several persons going to visit the family after dark, the commander broke in at the window of the suspected chamber, with two loaded pistols, and thus endangered the life of a lady newly delivered of a child, on account of whose confinement these suspicious circumstances had taken place. This shows that there was no want of diligence on the part of the pursuers. Cluny himself became so cautious, while living the life of an outlaw, that on parting with his wife, or his most attached friends, he never told them to which of his concealments he was going, or suffered any one to accompany him,—thus enabling them, when questioned, to answer, that they knew not where he was.”—Idem.

It may be here stated en passant that Cluny did not leave Scotland from his “dreary and hopeless state of existence,” but in compliance with a special request made to him by Prince Charles. See a letter from the prince to Cluny, of 4th Sept., 1754, among the Stuart Papers.