I would like to edit any word with a root in HONOR from this, but I will let you read it as the hidden hand wrote it.
When he went to Edinburgh he traded his shoes for a horse.
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Significant Scots
James Keith
KEITH, (the Honourable) JAMES, commonly called marshal Keith, the younger son of William, ninth earl Marischal, and lady Mary Drummond, daughter to
the earl of Perth, was born in the year 1696. His aptness for learning seems to have been very considerable, since he acquired in after-life a
reputation for letters scarcely inferior to his military renown; a circumstance which was possibly in no small degree owing to his having had the good
fortune to receive the rudiments of his education from the celebrated bishop Keith, who was allied to his family by consanguinity, and who officiated
as tutor to himself and his elder brother, the tenth earl Marischal.
Mr Keith was originally designed for the law, and with the view of making it his profession, he was sent to Edinburgh to complete his studies. It was
soon discovered, however, that he entertained a much stronger predilection for the camp than the bar;�he seems indeed to have been very early attached
to the military profession. His language, when the subject happened at any time to be alluded to, was always full of martial enthusiasm, even while
yet a mere stripling. "I have begun to study the law," he said, "in compliance with the desires of the countess of Marischal, (his mother,) but
commend me, gentlemen, to stand before the mouth of a cannon for a few minutes; this either makes a man in an instant, or he dies gloriously in the
field of battle:" Such was the spirit in which the young soldier entered on his career of fame.
The earl Marischal, elder brother of the subject of this memoir, was one of those Tory noblemen who signed the proclamation of George I. The party
being disappointed in their hopes of office under the new dynasty, he returned in a state of high irritation to Scotland, and at York met his brother
James, who was on his way to London for the purpose of asking a commission in the army. The two young men returned home together, burning with
resentment, and on the commencement of the insurrection of 1715, they were incited at once by their own feelings, and by the advice of their mother,
who was a catholic, to declare for the Pretender. The meeting held by the earl of Mar, (who was their cousin,) under the semblance of a hunting match,
was attended by the two brothers, and they continued, throughout the remainder of the campaign, to act a bold and conspicuous part under that
unfortunate leader. The immediate subject of this memoir is said to have manifested a degree of resolution and conduct which attracted much attention,
and inspired hopes of his future fortune. On the final dispersion of the rebel army at Ruthven in Badenoch, they had no resource but to make the best
of their way to a foreign land, where they might be safe from the consequences of their enterprise. They proceeded, in company with many other Lowland
gentlemen, to the Western Isles, where they designed to wait till a vessel could be procured to convey them to France. While in the isles, where they
were detained nearly a month, the fugitives were frequently alarmed by reports of their retreat having been discovered, and that an armament had been
despatched in quest of them; and on one occasion they were informed that three frigates, with two battalions of foot on board, were within ten miles
of them. They, however, were not molested. On the 20th of April, a ship which had been despatched from France for the purpose, arrived at the island
on which they were concealed. Losing no time, they, along with about a hundred companions in misfortune, embarked on board of this vessel, and arrived
in safety at St Paul de Leon in Brittany, on the 12th of May, 1716. On their arrival at this port, the greater part of them proceeded immediately to
wait upon the Pretender, who was then at Avignon; the others, amongst whom was Keith, went straight to Paris, where the latter had at that time
several relations residing. On reaching Paris, Keith waited upon the queen-mother, by whom he was most graciously received, and who, amongst other
flattering things, said, that she had heard of his good services in her son�s cause, and that neither of them should ever forget it. Keith now
proposed to the queen-mother to visit the king, by which he meant the Pretender, and asked her permission to do so. She, however, dissuaded him from
taking this step, saying that he was yet but young, and had better remain in Paris and recommence his studies, and concluded by proposing to bear the
charge of his future education. Notwithstanding this flattering reception, a whole month elapsed before Keith heard any thing further from the
queen-mother, and, in the mean time, he was reduced to great straits for want of money, living principally by selling horse furniture, which military
officers were at this period in the habit of carrying about with them, and which, being sometimes richly ornamented with silver, was a very valuable
article. There were many friends of himself and his family in Paris, who would readily have afforded him any pecuniary assistance he might have
required, but, as he himself says, in a MS. memoir of his life, written with his own hand, to which we have access, "I was then either so bashful or
so vain, that I would not own the want I was in." His wants, however, of this kind were soon amply provided for, and from various unlooked for
sources. The queen-mother at length sent him 1000 livres, and much about the same time a Parisian banker waited upon him, and informed him that he had
instructions from Scotland to supply him with money, and an order from king James to pay him 200 crowns a-year, with an apology for the smallness of
the sum, as it was all that his (the king�s) circumstances enabled him to do. Relieved now from his pecuniary difficulties, be betook himself to
study, to which he devoted the whole of the remaining part of the year 1716, and a great part of the following year. Previous to this, and while
pursuing his studies, he received a commission as colonel of horse in the service of the king of Sweden, who entertained a design of making a descent
on Scotland in favour of king James. The project, however, was discovered long before it could be carried into execution, and thus both the intended
invasion and Keith�s commission fell to the ground. Another opportunity, although equally fruitless in its results, presented itself to the young
soldier, now in his twentieth year, of pushing his fortune with his sword. This was the appearance in Paris of Peter the first, emperor of Russia.
Keith made every effort to obtain admission into the service of that potentate, but without effect, he himself supposes on account of his not having
employed the proper means. In the following year, 1718, learning that there was an intention on the part of Spain, similar to that which had been
entertained by the king of Sweden, viz, to attempt the restoration of king James by invading Scotland�Keith and his brother the earl Marischal set out
for Madrid, with the view of offering their services in the proposed expedition. These were readily accepted, and the two brothers, after repeated
interviews with cardinal Alberoni, then prime minister of Spain, were furnished with instructions regarding the intended descent, and with means to
carry that part of it which was intrusted to them into execution. By previous appointment, Keith and his brother the earl Marischal were met at Havre
de Grace, the point at which they had fixed to embark for Scotland, by several of the Scottish leaders in the rising of 1715, who were still lurking
about France. All of them having been advised of the undertaking, were furnished with commissions from the king of Spain, to apply equally to the
Spanish forces which were to be sent after them, and to those which they should raise in the country.
The co-operation in this enterprise which they were led to expect was the landing in England of the duke of Ormond with an army, which it was proposed
should immediately take place. Two frigates, with Spanish troops on board, were also to follow them within a day or two, to land with them in
Scotland, and enable them to commence their operations in that kingdom. On the 19th of March, the expatriated chiefs embarked on board a small vessel
of about twenty-five tons, and after encountering some stormy weather and running great risk from some English ships of war which they fell in with,
they reached the island of Lewis on the 4th of April. They were soon afterwards joined by the two frigates, and a debarkation on the main land was
immediately determined upon. In the expectation of being joined by large bodies of Highlanders, they proposed to march forward to Inverness, from
which they hoped to drive out the small force by which it was garrisoned.
Continued......