over, gave him a fine army and fleet to go to Ireland
and recover his kingdom, bidding him farewell with this equivocal
sentence, "That the best thing he, Louis, could wish to him was, never
to see his face again." They may further recollect, that King James and
King William met at the battle of the Boyne, in which the former was
defeated, and then went back to St Germains and spent the rest of his
life in acts of devotion and plotting against the life of King William.
Now, among other plots real and pretended, there was one laid in 1695,
to assassinate King William on his way to Richmond; this plot was
revealed, many of the conspirators were tried and executed, but the
person who was at the head of it, a Scotchman, of the name of Sir George
Barclay, escaped. In the year 1696, a bill was passed, by which Sir
George Barclay and nine others who had escaped from justice, were
attainted of high treason, if they did not choose to surrender
themselves on or before the 25th day of March ensuing. Strange to say,
these parties did not think it advisable to surrender themselves;
perhaps it was because they knew that they were certain to be hung; but
it is impossible to account for the actions of men: we can only lay the
facts before our readers.

Sir George Barclay was by birth a Scotchman, of high family, and well
connected. He had been an officer in the army of King James, to whom he
was strongly attached. Moreover, he was a very bigoted Catholic. Whether
he ever received a commission from King James, authorising him to
assassinate King William, has never been proved; but, as King James is
well known to have been admitted into the order of the Jesuits, it is
not at all unlikely. Certain it is, that the baronet went over to St
Germains, landed again in England, and would have made the attempt, had
not the plot been discovered through some of the inferior accomplices;
and it is equally sure that he escaped, although many others were
hung--and few people knew what had become of him. The fact was, that
when Barclay had fled to the sea-side, he was assisted over the water by
a band of smugglers, who first concealed him in the cave we have
described, which was their retreat. This led to a communication and
arrangement with them. Sir George Barclay, who, although foiled in his
attempt at assassination, never abandoned the cause, immediately
perceived what advantages might be derived in keeping up a communication
by means of these outl