rgent importunity.
It is said, too, that he was induced to quit his retirement by the
same powerful influence which had made that retirement delightful. Lady
Wentworth wished to see him a King. Her rents, her diamonds, her credit
were put at his disposal. Monmouth's judgment was not convinced; but he
had not the firmness to resist such solicitations. [333]

By the English exiles he was joyfully welcomed, and unanimously
acknowledged as their head. But there was another class of emigrants who
were not disposed to recognise his supremacy. Misgovernment, such as
had never been known in the southern part of our island, had driven
from Scotland to the Continent many fugitives, the intemperance of whose
political and religious zeal was proportioned to the oppression which
they had undergone. These men were not willing to follow an English
leader. Even in destitution and exile they retained their punctilious
national pride, and would not consent that their country should be, in
their persons, degraded into a province. They had a captain of their
own, Archibald, ninth Earl of Argyle, who, as chief of the great tribe
of Campbell, was known among the population of the Highlands by the
proud name of Mac Callum More. His father, the Marquess of Argyle, had
been the head of the Scotch Covenanters, had greatly contributed to the
ruin of Charles the First, and was not thought by the Royalists to have
atoned for this offence by consenting to bestow the empty title of King,
and a state prison in a palace, on Charles the Second. After the return
of the royal family the Marquess was put to death. His marquisate became
extinct; but his son was permitted to inherit the ancient earldom,
and was still among the greatest if not the greatest, of the nobles of
Scotland. The Earl's conduct during the twenty years which followed the
Restoration had been, as he afterwards thought, criminally moderate. He
had, on some occasions, opposed the administration which afflicted
his country: but his opposition had been languid and cautious. His
compliances in ecclesiastical matters had given scandal to rigid
Presbyterians: and so far had he been from showing any inclination
to resistance that, when the Covenanters had been persecuted into
insurrection, he had brought into the field a large body of his
dependents to support the government.

Such had been his political course until the Duke of York came down to
Edinburgh armed with the whole regal authority