Narrative of a conversation betwixt Donald Cameron of Glenpean & me Robert Forbes, and Copies of Letters in his favours et cetera

Monday Afternoon, July 22d, 1751, I R:Robert
F:Forbes was favoured with a Visit of Donald
Cameron of Glenpean, wtwith whom Donald
MacDonald. Taylortailor in EdrEdinburgh, came along.

I talked over with him his Part of the
Escape, &and he declared, my x 1Information
had been good &and exact. He said, that
Glenalladale accidentally saw him com-
ing through+ the Mist, &and made directly
up to him (Donald Cameron) &and thereby
prevented his missing the Prince, which
otherwise would have happened; that
the Precipice (at the Top of which the
Pr—Prince Sliptslipped a Foot) was so very high, ytthat
the Pr— would unavoidably have been
dead before he could have tumbled
to the Foot of it, had not he (Do-
nald Cameron) catched hold of him,
which he did
only with one Hand, being obliged to
grip fast by the Heath with the other
Hand, to preserve the Pr—Prince &and himself
from tumbling headlong down together;
&and to cry to Glenalladale to haste him
down to their Relief, which Glenal-
ladale accordingly did, &and assisted
Donald Cameron in recovering the Pr— 1648 (1648)
Pr—Prince. Donald Cameron likewise said,
that the Story about the Yuicking of his
Nose was very exact, as I had got it
from MacPherson of Breackachie, &and that one Day, sculk-
ing on the Side of a Hill, &and happen-
ing to spy the Military &and the Camp-
bells driving away some of his own
Cattle, he said to the Pr—Prince, “Does
“your R—Royal H—Highness see Yon? Yonder
“are they driving away my Cattle.”
“How many Cattle may you have (said
the Pr—Prince) “500, or 400?” — “No; not so
“many (replied Donald) only about two
“or 300.” — “Well (said the Pr—Prince)
“I am sorry to see this; but keep up a
“good Heart, Donald. I hope to see
“you yet taking five for one from yethe
“Campbells.” — This speech from the
Pr—Prince pleased Donald Cameron very
much. — Donald said, he was only
six or seven Days with the Pr—Prince in
his sculking, &and that the Pr—Prince had
been ^a Night or two in his House at Glenpean in
his Way to Boradale after the Bat-
tle of Culloden. — Donald Cameron
alleged, he had the best Evidence in
Europe to prove the taking away of his Cattle, 1649 (1649)
Cattle, as the Pr—Prince was looking on,
&and Saw them driven away by the Ene-
my.

After talking over the Part he had
acted in the Escape, I asked, if any
Friends in or about EdrEdinburgh had taken
any Notice of him? To which Donald
Cameron very modestly answered,
“No, No Body has taken any Notice of
“me. I did nothing worth any Body’s
“taking Notice of me. I have used
“Freedom with none but with your selfyourself.”

Upon this I said, ‘twas pity he should
not be taken Notice of by Friends, &and im-
portuned him to dine with me on the
next Monday, July 29th, when he would
have his Business at a Period for
that Session; &and that I would employ my
Thoughts about him till he should
make me the second Visit; but I could
not prevail upon him to give me a
promise, even though his Companion,
Donald MacDonald seconded ^me in my
Importunity; the honest Worthy still in-
sisting, that he had done Nothing worthy
of Notice, &and that 2he longed much to be
at home again with the Wife &and the
Bairns, &and therefore he would immedi-ately1650(1650)
ately set out for Home, when he had
got his Witnesses examined in his
process before the Court of Session.

Upon Friday, July 26th, I was in
EdrEdinburgh, &and once more took an Opportunity
of begging Donald Cameron in a very
earnest Manner to be with me on the
Monday following, assuring him, that I
had devised a Scheme for him, which
would make him better known, and
would fetch him as much at least as
might bear his Charges home: But
still he modestly refused. I then
had Recourse to Donald MacDonald,
expressly desiring him to keep Sight
of Donald Cameron, &and to be sure to
conduct him down to Leith the Mon-
day following to dine with me,
which accordingly was done.

Upon Monday, July 29th, 1751. I gave
Donald Cameron Several Letters, which
I desired him to deliver out of his
own Hand to the Persons, for whom
they were Severally addressed.