[231a] In his article on James Mohr (Scotsman, March 15, 1896), Mr. Murray Rose cites some papers concerning James’s early treacheries. For unfathomable reasons, Mr. Murray Rose does not mention the source of these papers. This is of the less importance, as Mr. George Omond, in Macmillan’s Magazine, May 1890, had exposed James’s early foibles, from documents in the Record Office.
[231b] Trials of Rob Roy’s Sons (Edinburgh, 1818), p. 3.
[232a] The reader may remember that Pickle’s earliest dated letter is from Boulogne, November 2, 1752. As on that day James Mohr was a prisoner in Edinburgh Castle, the absurdity of identifying Pickle with James Mohr becomes peculiarly glaring.
[232b] Trial, &c. p. 119.
[232c] According to Mr. Murray Rose, James Mohr applied to the King for money on May 22, 1753. This letter I have not observed among the Stuart Papers, but, from information given by Pickle to his English employers, I believe James Mohr to have been in France as early as May 1753. Pickle, being consulted as to James’s value, contemns him as a spy distrusted by both sides.
[234] Add. MSS. 32,846.
[235] He had been, as a spy!
[236] How worthy of our friend!
[238] As James was not in France till May 1753, he cannot have written Pickle’s letters from France of March in that year.
[239] Balhaldie’s papers, not treasonable, belong to Sir Arthur Halkett of Pitfirrane, who also possesses a charming portrait of pretty Mrs. Macfarlane. Sir Arthur’s ancestor, Sir Peter, fought on the Hanoverian side in the Forty-five, was taken prisoner, and released on parole, which he refused to break at the command of the Butcher Cumberland.