70 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. [Edinburgh Castle.
?? by a net tied to an iron ring ; he fell and fractured
by Miss Balrnain, who remained in her stead, and
who was afterwards allowed to go free. ,
In 1752 the Castle received a remarkable
prisoner, in the person of James Mhor Macgregor
of Bohaldie, the eldest of the four sons of,Rob
Roy, who had lost his estate for the part he had
taken in the recent civil strife, ?and holding a
major?s commission under the old Pretender.?
Robin Oig Macgregor, his younger brother, having
conceived that he would make his fortune by
at his captious employers. ~ ?An old and tattered
great-coat enveloped him ; he had donned a leather
apron, a pair of old shoes, and ribbed stockings.
A red night-cap was drawn to his ears, and a.
broad hat slouched over his eyes.? He quitted
the Castle undiscovered, and left the city without
delay; but his flight was soon known, the city
gates were shut, the fortress searched, and every
man who had been on duty was made a prisoner.
A court-martial, consisting of thirteen officers, sat
-
considered as the chief instigator of this outrage,
thus the vengeance of the Crown was directed
against him rather than Robin, ?who was considered
but a half-wild Highlandman ; ? and in
virtue of a warrant of fugitation issued, he was
arrested and tried. The Lords of Justiciary
found him guilty, but in consequence of some
doubts, or informality, sentence of death was
delayed until the 20th of November, 1752. In
consequence of an expected rescue-meditated by
Highlanders who served in the city as caddies,
chairmen, and city guards, among whom Macgregor?
s bravery at Prestonpans, seven years before,
made him popular-he was removed by a
warrant from the Lord Justice Clerk, addressed
to General Churchill, from the Tolbooth to the
Castle, there to be kept in close confinement till
his fatal day amved.
But it came to pass, that on the 16th of November,
one of his daughters-a tall and very
handsome girl-had the skill and courage to disguise
herself as a lame old cobbler, and was
ushered into his prison, bearing a pair of newlysoled
shoes in furtherance of her scheme. The
sentinels in the adjacent corridors heard Lady
Bohaldie scolding the supposed cobbler with considerable
asperity for some time, with reference to
the indifferent manner in which his work had been
his- skull,? on tlie rock facing Livingstone?s Yards,
-the old tilting ground, oin the south side of the
Castle? rock. This was a singularly unfortunate
man in his domestic relations. His eldest son was
taken prisoner at Carlisle, and executed there with
the barbarity then usual. His next son, Thomas,
was poisoned by his wife, the famous and beautiful
Katherine Nairne (who escaped), but whose paramour,
the third son, Lieutenant Patrick Ogilvie of
the 89th or old Gordon Highlanders (disbanded
in 1765), was publicly hanged in the Grassmarket.
In July, 1753, the last of those who were tried
for loyalty to the House of Stuart was placed in
the Castle-Archibald Macdonald, son of the aged
Cole Macdonald of Barrisdale, who died a captive
there in 1750. Arraigned as a traitor, this unfor.
tunate gentleman behaved with great dignity before
the court; he admitted that he was the person
accused, but boldly denied the treason, and asserted
his loyalty to his lawful king. ?On the
30th March he was condemned to die; but the
vengeance of the Government had already been
glutted, and after receiving various successive reprieves,
young Barrisdale was released, and permitted
to return to the Western Isles.?
From this period till nearly the days of Waterloo
the Castle vaults were invariably used in every war
