ster at
Stockholm, who notified it to Lord Townshend, Secretary of State.
Notwithstanding this manly determination, Lord Duffus was arrested on
his way to England, at Hamburgh, and was detained there until the time
specified for surrendering had expired. He thence proceeded to London,
where he was confined more than a year in the Tower, but released in
1717, without being brought to trial. Lord Duffus died, according to
some accounts, in the Russian service; to others, in that of France. He
married a Swedish lady, and attained to the rank of Admiral.[75]

Such were some of those Jacobite chieftains whose history has sunk into
obscurity, partly from the difficulty of obtaining information
concerning their career, after the contest was at an end. Amongst those
who met Lord Mar in the hunting-field, but who afterwards became
neutral,[76] although most of his clan joined in the Rebellion, was the
Earl of Errol, one of a family whose fame for valour was dated from the
time of the Danish invasion. The origin of the House of Errol is
curious, and marks the simplicity of the times. An aged countryman,
named Hay, and his sons, had arrested the progress of the ruthless
conquerors in a defile near Lanearty in Perthshire. The old man was
rewarded by Kenneth the Third with as much land in the Carse of Gowrie
as a falcon from a man's hand flew over until she lighted. The bird flew
over a space of six miles, which was thence called Errol, and which is
still in possession of the family; and the old man and his sons were
raised from the rank of plebeians by the assignment of a coat of arms,
on which were three escutcheons, gules, to denote that the father and
the two sons had been the shields of Scotland. The family grew in wealth
and estimation, and the office of Hereditary High Constable of Scotland
was added to their other honours.

The Countess of Errol, the mother of the High Constable, and sister of
the Earl of Perth, had already taken a decided part in the affairs of
the Jacobite party. When Colonel Hooke had been sent over in 1707 to
Scotland, she had met him at the sea-coast, and had there placed in the
hands of that emissary several letters from her son, expressing his
earnest intention to support the cause of the Chevalier. The Earl of
Errol had also received Hooke at his castle, and had entertained him
there several days, and employed that time in initiating Hooke into the
various characteristics and views of the Jacobite n