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Alexander
Robertson
Alexander
Robertson, of Strowan, a distinguished Highland chief and poet,
was the second son of the preceding laird of Strowan, who bore
the same name, by Marion, daughter of general Baillie of Letham,
and was born about the year 1670. He was educated, with the
design of his becoming a clergyman, under John Menzies, regent
in the university of St Andrews, who aided the influence of
hereditary associations in inspiring him with a zealous attachment
to the persons and principles of the Stuarts. His father died
in 1688, after having enjoined upon him, with his latest breath,
that he should never forget the loyal example of his ancestors;
and as his elder brother only survived his father a few months,
he fell into the family inheritance at a very early age, immediately
before the Revolution. When Dundee raised the clans in the ensuing
year, on behalf of the exiled King James, young Strowan joined
him with his men, but does not appear to have been present at
the battle of Killicranky. He was taken prisoner in September,
and put under honourable confinement at Perth; but was soon
after liberated, in exchange for the laird of Pollock.
Being now
attainted and deprived of his estate, he joined the court of
the expatriated monarch at St Germain’s where he lived
for several years, chiefly supported by remittances from his
friends in Scotland. In 1703, queen Anne having promised him
a remission of his attainder and forfeiture, he returned to
Scotland; and though, from some unexplained cause, the remission
never passed the seals, he does not appear to have found any
difficulty in obtaining possession of his estates, or any danger
to his person in a residence within the seas of Britain. Unwarned
by the misfortunes which had flowed from his first military
enterprise, he joined the earl of Mar in 1715, with between
four and five hundred men, and took a very active part in the
whole enterprise. He seized the castle of Weem, belonging to
a whig gentleman, Menzies of Weem; was present at the battle
of Sheriffmuir, where he was taken prisoner, but rescued; and
with great reluctance yielded to the order for the dispersion
of his clan, which was issued to him, in common with the other
chiefs, at the departure of the unfortunate character and his
generalissimo from the country. Strowan was soon after taken
prisoner in the Highlands, but making his escape from a party
of soldiers who were escorting him to Edinburgh castle, again
proceeded to France, to spend another period of poverty and
exile. Long ere this time, he had gained the esteem of his party
both at home and abroad, by his poetical effusions, which were
chiefly of the class of political pasquils, and also by his
pleasing and facetious manners. Having received an excellent
education, and seen much of the world, he exhibits in his writings
no trace of the rudeness which prevailed in his native land.
He shows nothing of even that kind of homeliness which then
existed in Lowland Scotland. His language is pure English; and
his ideas, though abundantly licentious in some instances, bear
a general resemblance to those of the Drydens, and Roscommons,
and the Priors, of the southern part of the island. Ker of Kersland,
who saw him at Rotterdam in 1716, speaks of him "as a considerable
man among the Highlanders, a man of excellent sense, and every
way a complete gentleman." He seems to have also been held
in great esteem by both James II. and his unfortunate son, whom
he had served in succession. By the intercessions of his sister
with the reigning sovereign, he was permitted to return home
in 1726, and in 1731, had his attainder reversed. The estates
had in the mean time been restored to the sister in life-rent,
and to his own heirs male in fee, but passing over himself.
He, nevertheless, entered upon possession; and hence, in 1745,
was able, a third time, to lend his territorial and hereditary
influence to the aid of a Stuart. He met prince Charles on his
way through Perthshire; and, on being presented, said, "Sir,
I devoted my youth to the service of your grandfather, and my
manhood to that of your father; and now I am come to devote
my old age to your royal highness." Charles, well acquainted
with his history, folded the old man in his arms, and wept.
The ancient chief was unable, on this occasion, to take a personal
concern in the enterprise, and, as his clan was led by other
gentlemen, he escaped the vengeance of the government. He died
in peace, at his house of Carie, in Rannoch, April 18, 1749,
in the eighty-first year of his age.
A
volume of poems, by Strowan, was subsequently published surreptiously,
by means of a menial servant, who had possessed himself of his
papers. It contains many pieces, characterized by the licentious
levity which then prevailed in the discourse of gentlemen, and
only designed by their author as another kind of conversation
with his friends. While he is chargeable, then, in common with
his contemporaries, with having given expression to impure ideas,
he stands clear of the fault of having disseminated them by
means of the press.
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To Famous Folks From Perthshire
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