The troops fired on the people. Several of the ringleaders were captured and hanged. Perth, believing that Queensberry was the author of the attack, in vain promised a pardon to one of them if he would accuse his rival (Fountainhall, 31 Jan., 1 Feb. 1685–6). He was now the chief agent in the catholic administration of Scotland, and when James announced to the privy council his intention of fitting up a chapel in Holyrood he carried through the council an answer couched in the most servile terms (Macaulay, i. 619). He succeeded, however, in inducing James to revoke the proclamation ordering all officials, civil and military, to give up their commissions and take out new ones without taking the test, and to receive remissions for this breach of the law at the price of 8l. each. He was entrusted also with the negotiations which James opened with the presbyterians (Balcarres, Memoirs Bannatyne Club). In 1687 he was the first to receive the revived order of the Thistle. In the same year he resigned the earldom of Perth and his heritable offices in favour of his son and his son's male heir (Douglas).
When James retreated from Salisbury before William, the people, in the absence of the troops, whom Perth had unwisely disbanded, rose in Edinburgh. Perth, who was detested equally for his apostasy and his cruelty, departed under a strong escort to his seat of Castle Drummond. Finding himself unsafe there, he fled in disguise over the Ochil mountains to Burntisland, where he gained a vessel about to sail to France. He had, however, been recognised, and a boatful of watermen from Kirkcaldy pursued the vessel, which, as it was almost a dead calm, was overtaken at the mouth of the Forth. Perth was dragged from the hold in woman's clothes, stripped of all he had, and thrown into the common prison of Kirkcaldy. Thence he was taken to Stirling Castle, and lay there until he was released in June or August 1693 on a bond to leave the kingdom under a penalty of 5,000l. He went at once to Rome, where he resided for two years, when he joined James's court at St. Germain. He received from James the order of the Garter, was made first lord of the bedchamber, chamberlain to the queen, and governor to the Prince of Wales. On the death of James II he was, in conformity with the terms of the king's will, created Duke of Perth. He died at St. Germain on 11 May 1716, and was buried in the chapel of the Scotch College at Paris. He is described as very proud, of middle stature, with a quick look and a brown complexion, and as telling a story ‘very prettily.’ By his third wife, who died in 1726, he had three children.
[Authorities cited above.]
DRUMMOND, JAMES, fifh Earl and second titular Duke of Perth (1675–1720), was the eldest son of James Drummond, fourth earl of Perth [q. v.], by his first wife, Jane, fourth daughter of William, first marquis of Douglas. He joined his uncle Melfort in France shortly after the deposition of James II. He began studying at the Scotch College, Paris, but on James going to Ireland joined the expedition, and was present at all the engagements of the campaign. He then resumed his studies in Paris, and afterwards travelled in France and Italy. In 1694 his father, released on condition of his leaving Scotland, met him at Antwerp after five years' separation, and describes him as ‘tall, well-shaped, and a very worthy youth.’ He had recently danced before the French and Jacobite courts at Versailles with great approbation. The young man was allowed in 1695 to return to Scotland, but was so much a prey to melancholy that his father sent him word ‘to be merry, for a pound of care will not pay an ounce of debt.’ In 1707 he was one of the Scotch Jacobites who conferred with Colonel Hooke, the Pretender's envoy, and though a catholic he stipulated that there should be security for the protestant religion. In 1708 he collected two hundred men at Blair Athol in expectation of the Pretender's arrival. For this he was summoned to Edinburgh, sent to London, and imprisoned in the Tower. In 1713 he made over his estates to his infant son. In the rising of 1715 he undertook with two hundred of his highlanders and some Edinburgh Jacobites to surprise Edinburgh Castle, but the scheme miscarried. He commanded the cavalry at Sheriffmuir. He escaped from Montrose in February 1716 with the Pretender and Lords Melfort and Mar, and after five days' passage reached Gravelines. He was subsequently with the Pretender at Rome and in Spain. He died at Paris in 1720 and was buried beside his father at the Scotch College, where his white marble monument still exists. His widow, Jane, daughter of the fourth Marquis of Huntly, entertained Charles Edward for a night at Drummond Castle in 1746, and was nine months a prisoner at Edinburgh for collecting taxes for him. She died at a great age at Stobhall in 1773.
[Perth's Letters, Camden Society, 1845; Luttrell's Journal; Epitaph at Scotch College; Douglas and Wood's Peerage of Scotland, ii. 364.]
DRUMMOND, JAMES, sixth Earl and third titular Duke of Perth (1713–1747), born 11 May 1713, was eldest son of James Drummond, fifth earl of Perth [q. v.] He was brought up by his mother at Drummond
