ROBERTSON, ALEXANDER, of Strowan, a
distinguished Highland chief and poet, was the second son of the preceding
laird of Strowan, who bore the same name, by Marion, daughter of general
Baillie of Letham, and was born about the year 1670. He was educated, with
the design of his becoming a clergyman, under John Menzies, regent in the
university of St Andrews, who aided the influence of hereditary associations
in inspiring him with a zealous attachment to the persons and principles of
the Stuarts. His father died in 1688, after having enjoined upon him, with
his latest breath, that he should never forget the loyal example of his
ancestors; and as his elder brother only survived his father a few months,
he fell into the family inheritance at a very early age, immediately before
the Revolution. When Dundee raised the clans in the ensuing year, on behalf
of the exiled King James, young Strowan joined him with his men, but does
not appear to have been present at the battle of Killicranky. He was taken
prisoner in September, and put under honourable confinement at Perth; but
was soon after liberated, in exchange for the laird of Pollock.
Being now attainted and deprived of
his estate, he joined the court of the expatriated monarch at St Germain’s
where he lived for several years, chiefly supported by remittances from his
friends in Scotland. In 1703, queen Anne having promised him a remission of
his attainder and forfeiture, he returned to Scotland; and though, from some
unexplained cause, the remission never passed the seals, he does not appear
to have found any difficulty in obtaining possession of his estates, or any
danger to his person in a residence within the seas of Britain. Unwarned by
the misfortunes which had flowed from his first military enterprise, he
joined the earl of Mar in 1715, with between four and five hundred men, and
took a very active part in the whole enterprise. He seized the castle of
Weem, belonging to a whig gentleman, Menzies of Weem; was present at the
battle of Sheriffmuir, where he was taken prisoner, but rescued; and with
great reluctance yielded to the order for the dispersion of his clan, which
was issued to him, in common with the other chiefs, at the departure of the
unfortunate character and his generalissimo from the country. Strowan was
soon after taken prisoner in the Highlands, but making his escape from a
party of soldiers who were escorting him to Edinburgh castle, again
proceeded to France, to spend another period of poverty and exile. Long ere
this time, he had gained the esteem of his party both at home and abroad, by
his poetical effusions, which were chiefly of the class of political
pasquils, and also by his pleasing and facetious manners. Having received an
excellent education, and seen much of the world, he exhibits in his writings
no trace of the rudeness which prevailed in his native land. He shows
nothing of even that kind of homeliness which then existed in Lowland
Scotland. His language is pure English; and his ideas, though abundantly
licentious in some instances, bear a general resemblance to those of the
Drydens, and Roscommons, and the Priors, of the southern part of the island.
Ker of Kersland, who saw him at Rotterdam in 1716, speaks of him "as a
considerable man among the Highlanders, a man of excellent sense, and every
way a complete gentleman." He seems to have also been held in great esteem
by both James II. and his unfortunate son, whom he had served in succession.
By the intercessions of his sister with the reigning sovereign, he was
permitted to return home in 1726, and in 1731, had his attainder reversed.
The estates had in the mean time been restored to the sister in life-rent,
and to his own heirs male in fee, but passing over himself. He,
nevertheless, entered upon possession; and hence, in 1745, was able, a third
time, to lend his territorial and hereditary influence to the aid of a
Stuart. He met prince Charles on his way through Perthshire; and, on being
presented, said, "Sir, I devoted my youth to the service of your
grandfather, and my manhood to that of your father; and now I am come to
devote my old age to your royal highness." Charles, well acquainted with his
history, folded the old man in his arms, and wept. The ancient chief was
unable, on this occasion, to take a personal concern in the enterprise, and,
as his clan was led by other gentlemen, he escaped the vengeance of the
government. He died in peace, at his house of Carie, in Rannoch, April 18,
1749, in the eighty-first year of his age.
A volume of poems, by Strowan, was
subsequently published surreptiously, by means of a menial servant, who had
possessed himself of his papers. It contains many pieces, characterized by
the licentious levity which then prevailed in the discourse of gentlemen,
and only designed by their author as another kind of conversation with his
friends. While he is chargeable, then, in common with his contemporaries,
with having given expression to impure ideas, he stands clear of the fault
of having disseminated them by means of the press.