sh Pretender_, p. 187, by
the Reverend Mr. Peter Rae. Second edition. (London: 1746.)

The Earl of Mar, then at London, not finding how to form his own
interest at court, had resolved on those wicked and traitorous measures
he afterwards followed; and in order to raise and carry on the
rebellion, had, by some means or other, received from abroad, no less
than the sum of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, together with
letters and instructions under the Pretender's own hand, and a
commission appointing him Lieutenant-General and Commander in Chief of
his forces, as he called them, in Scotland: And fearing lest his
traitorous designs against his lawful sovereign prince,[50] to whom he
had so early and solemnly promised fidelity, might possibly be
discovered, and he himself secured by the government, he resolved to
make a sudden tour into Scotland, as the likeliest mean to prevent this
fate, and in order to make some speedy advances in this his pernicious
and bloody undertaking. Wherefore on the 2nd of August, or as some say,
the 1st, in the evening, his lordship, in the dress of a private person,
embark'd with Major-General Hamilton, Colonel Hay, and two servants on
board of a collier in the Thames, and arriving in two or three days at
Newcastle, hired there a vessel belonging to one Spence, which set him
and his company on shore in the Ely, from whence he got over to
Creil[51] in the shire of Fife. Soon after his landing he was attended
by Sir Alexander Areskine, Lord Lyon, and others of his friends in Fife,
to whom he made known the design of his coming, and then went forward to
Kinoul, where he staid on Wednesday the 17th, and on the 18th he passed
the river Tay, about two miles from Perth, with 40 horse on his way to
the north. Next day he sent letters to all the Jacobites round the
country, inviting them to meet him in haste at Brae-Mar, where he
arrived on Saturday the 20th of August.

There is no room to doubt, that he had before-hand concerted measures
with them; and that they were previously advised of his coming, before
he arrived in Scotland: For, on Saturday the 6th of August, their
friends at Edinburgh were apprized of it; and early next morning Captain
John Dalziel, a half-pay officer, who, in view of this rebellion had
thrown up his commission to the Earl of Orkney, was sent out to give the
alarm to his brother, the Earl of Carnwath, then at Elliock, where he
arrived that night; and, early next mo