THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 JAMBS J. MC BRIDE

 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD

 
 Prince Charles Edward 
 
 From a miniature in the possession of E. Beresford Chancellor, Esq.
 
 PRINCE 
 CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 HIS LIFE, TIMES, AND 
 FIGHT FOR THE CROWN 
 
 BY 
 
 J. CUTHBERT HADDEN 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 
 ; COMPOSERS IN LOVE AND MARRIAGE," " THE NELSON 
 NAVY BOOK," "THOMAS CAMPBELL," ETC. 
 
 
 LONDON: SIR ISAAC PITMAN & SONS, LTD. 
 No. 1 AMEN CORNER, E.G. . . . 1913
 
 PRINTED BY SIR ISAAC PITMAN 
 & SONS, LTD., LONDON, BATH, 
 AND NEW YORK . 1913
 
 DA 
 
 TO MY FRIEND, 
 
 MR. WILLIAM BROWN, 
 
 OF THE UNION BANK OF SCOTLAND, ELGIN, 
 
 THIS BOOK, 
 
 ON A SUBJECT DEAR TO HIS HEART, 
 IS INSCRIBED 
 
 b. 
 
 712531
 
 SOME five or six years ago, Lord Rosebery told 
 of a conversation which took place in London 
 between himself and a very distinguished his- 
 torian. " Don't you think enough has been done 
 for the Jacobites of the eighteenth century ? " 
 said the historian. To which Lord Rosebery 
 replied : " Well, perhaps to the eye of reason 
 it may be so ; but to the eye of sympathy I do 
 not think we can ever do enough for the Jacobites 
 of the eighteenth century. I hold the opinion 
 that there is a strong underlying sympathy with, 
 and interest in, the Jacobites to be found some- 
 where in the nature of every Scotsman or Scots- 
 woman ; and, therefore, I feel certain that any 
 one dealing with the Jacobites is meeting a con- 
 stant appetite and desire in the Scottish mind." 
 Not, it may surely be added, in the Scottish mind 
 only, but in the minds of all who have any feeling 
 for romance, for " old, unhappy, far-off things, 
 and battles long ago." 
 
 The present book is neither a history of the 
 rising of 1745 nor a biography of Charles Edward 
 Stuart. It is a biography only in essential details, 
 and the story of the rising is told only as fully as 
 need be at this time of day. On the other hand, 
 an effort has been made to weave around the 
 biography and the history some outline of the
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 social and general conditions of the Scotland, 
 especially the Edinburgh, of the '45 ; while in 
 the sections devoted to Flora Macdonald, Clemen- 
 tina Walkinshaw, and Louise of Stolberg (the 
 last Stuart " Queen "), I have dealt more fully 
 than is usual with these personalities, who were 
 so intimately connected with the Prince. The 
 first three chapters, though not strictly connected 
 with the main subject, will yet be found of 
 interest as leading up to an intelligent under- 
 standing of the whole situation and circum- 
 stances. That entitled " In Search of a Queen " 
 will be found even amusing. 
 
 It is perhaps superfluous to express my 
 indebtedness to previous writers who have dealt 
 with Charles Edward and the '45, especially to 
 Mr. Andrew Lang and Professor Sandford Terry. 
 Mr. Lang left, indeed, very little for later gleaners 
 in the " Charlie " field. 
 
 J. C. H. 
 
 EDINBURGH, 
 April, 1913.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 I. THE ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS ... 1 
 
 II. THE OLD CHEVALIER . . . * . 13 
 
 III. IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN . , . . .26 
 
 IV. BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF CHARLES EDWARD . 44 
 V. " WHEN ALL THE WORLD WAS YOUNG, LAD " 67 
 
 VI. ON THE EVE OF THE '45 .... 85 
 
 VII. THE SCOTLAND OF THE '45 . . .' . 107 
 
 VIII. RAISING THE STANDARD . . . . 4 121 
 
 IX. " BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON " . . . 135 
 
 X. ON THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH . . 145 
 
 XI. THE EDINBURGH OF THE '45 . . . . 163 
 
 XII. AT HOLYROOD ...... 182 
 
 XIII. EDINBURGH TO DERBY AND CULLODEN . . 200 
 
 xiv. CULLODEN'S DARK DAY . . . . .215 
 
 XV. HAUNTED, HOMELESS AND HOPELESS . . 226 
 
 XVI. THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA . . ' . . 237 
 
 XVII. THE '45 IN SONG . . . .' . 256 
 
 XVIII. HOPE AND DESPAIR ..... 270 
 
 XIX. CLEMENTINA WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS . . 290 
 
 XX. THE LAST STUART " KING " AND " QUEEN " i 307 
 
 XXI. THE SOBIESKI STUARTS ..... 329 
 
 XXII. THE LAST OF AN AULD SANG . . . 343 
 
 IX 
 
 A {2005)
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 PACK 
 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD .... Frontispiece 
 
 THE CHEVALIER DE ST. GEORGES . . . . 18 
 
 QUEEN CLEMENTINA . . . . . . . ' . 32 
 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD AS A YOUTH .... 68 
 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD AS A YOUNG MAN ... 94 
 
 JENNY CAMERON . * . . . ! . 136 
 
 OLD HIGH STREET, EDINBURGH . . . , . 168 
 
 CITY CROSS, EDINBURGH 178 
 
 BATTLE OF CULLODEN ...... 216 
 
 ONE OF THE STONES MARKING WHERE THE DEAD LIE ON 
 
 THE FIELD OF CULLODEN 222 
 
 FLORA MACDONALD 238 
 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD LATE IN LIFE . . . 314 
 
 JOHN SOBIESKI STUART 332 
 
 CHARLES EDWARD STUART SOBIESKI .... 336 
 
 STUART MONUMENT IN ROME 348 
 
 PRINCE HENRY, DUKE OF YORK, AS A YOUTH . . 352
 
 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 THE ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 
 
 IN the whole history of monarchy there is no 
 romance like the romance of the Stuarts. A 
 peculiar kind of romance it is, too ; strangely 
 blended of mystery and charm, of bloodshed and 
 oppression, of crime and sorrow, of failure and 
 intrigue, of humour, and pathos, and pity. How 
 many have been fascinated by it ! How many 
 have sought to solve the enigma of that ill-starred 
 dynasty ! " If anything," wrote Voltaire, " could 
 justify those who believe in a fatality which 
 nothing can escape, it would be that continuous 
 series of misfortunes which befell the House of 
 Stuart during three hundred years." So, in truth, 
 it is. Over the stage passes that woeful procession 
 of Stuarts, the finger of Doom ever pointing the 
 way. No royal race was ever so accursed. " What 
 has your family done, sir, to draw down the 
 vengeance of Heaven on every branch of it 
 through so many years ? " The question was 
 addressed to Prince Charles Edward himself, last 
 of the Stuart line who hoped to hold the sceptre 
 of monarchy. What, indeed, had the Stuarts 
 
 i
 
 2 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 done to cover themselves with such an Odyssey 
 of miseries and misfortunes ? 
 
 Think of all the luckless wearers of the Stuart 
 crown ! Think of James I., the poet king, the 
 ablest of the race. Suffering patiently a long, 
 weary imprisonment in England, he comes at last 
 to his regality ; and, after twelve years of a 
 wonderful reign, during which the fierce, turbu- 
 lent clans of the Highlands have been assailed in 
 their mountain fastnesses and reduced to swear 
 fealty to the Saxon King, a band of ruffians 
 bursts into his chamber in the old priory of the 
 Dominicans at Perth, and leaves him lifeless with 
 sixteen stabs in his body. The Fair City never 
 witnessed a darker, a more desperate tragedy 
 than this of the February of 1437. Handsome, 
 brave, a gentleman and a scholar, a musical com- 
 poser, too, in quieter times this accomplished 
 ruler might have shown himself the best of the 
 ancient royal house. But the hand of Fate had 
 been raised against him ; the ban of the Stuarts 
 had fallen upon his young life. 
 
 And, then, think of James II., beginning a 
 troublous government by slaying his own 
 nephews, himself slain, before he was thirty- 
 one, by the bursting of one of his own cannon 
 at the siege of Roxburgh. Think of James III., 
 held a close prisoner in the Castle of Edinburgh, 
 making war against his own son : worsted in the 
 battle that ensued ; foully murdered, after being 
 thrown from his horse, as he galloped from the
 
 ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 3 
 
 field of Sauchieburn. For all that it was 
 inaugurated with such splendour and promise, 
 no more melancholy reign than his is recorded 
 in the annals of Scottish history. 
 
 And what of James IV., the headstrong, the 
 obstinate, the licentious, to whose personal beauty 
 Holbein's miniature bears such notable witness ? 
 Who that has heard of the Field of Flodden, when 
 the flowers of the Forest were " a' wede awa'," 
 can ever forget the fate of that James ? After 
 leading his country to defeat and disgrace, his 
 life-blood ebbed out, with the blood of the best 
 of his nobility, on that day of dule and sorrow 
 when the sixteenth century was young. In her 
 bower at Linlithgow, Margaret, his Queen, " lonely 
 sat, and wept the weary hour," looking for the 
 return of him who would return no more. 
 
 And James V. Consider for a moment his 
 unhappy reign and equally unhappy end. Driven 
 to the verge of madness by his wild barons, he 
 had not yet reached his prime when his people 
 were truthfully describing him as a miserable, 
 half-demented, sorely-stricken man, dragging him- 
 self home on the tidings of the disastrous defeat 
 at Solway Moss. We recall him, lying in Falkland 
 Palace, under the brow of the Lomonds (scene of 
 that dubious disaster enacted in The Fair Maid 
 of Perth}, broken-hearted, with Death at the 
 door, hearing of the last trouble of all, that a 
 daughter had been born to him at Linlithgow. 
 " It cam' wi* a lass, an' it'll gang wi' a lass, an*
 
 4 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the deil gang wi't/' he cried. l And thus the Red 
 Tod died died cursing England, though he had 
 the Tudor blood in his veins, leaving the " lass " 
 whose head was one day to lie on the executioner's 
 block at Fotheringay. 
 
 Ay, there goes a piece of romance ! Think of 
 her, above all, the Mary Stuart of endless specula- 
 tion, the lady of riddles, the Sphinx of Scottish 
 history, the superlative fascination of whose per- 
 sonality is equalled only by the tragic close of her 
 career. Mary Stuart shares with Marie Antoinette 
 the sad pre-eminence of beauty and misfortune. 
 
 " Dim, as through gathering mist, her charms appear, 
 A woman's form in beauty shining." 
 
 The undying attraction of the unexplained lingers 
 around that figure, so made for love, yet giving 
 her heart to so many unworthy to possess it ; 
 that queen so fitted to rule, yet destined for a 
 kingdom where for her to rule was to be lost. 
 Away back in 1563, Thomas Randolph declared 
 her to be " the fyneste she that ever was," and 
 still to-day, as Mr. Swinburne finely said, there 
 beats no heart in English-speaking lands that does 
 not keep her memory aglow. Enigmatical as to 
 her character, baffling the penetration of the most 
 acute minds who have tried to get behind her 
 mask, her misfortunes at least are open to the 
 day. They began before she was born, and the 
 
 1 Referring to Marjorie Bruce, daughter of Robert I., whose 
 son by Walter the Steward, succeeded as Robert II., first of 
 the Stuart dynasty.
 
 ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 5 
 
 society around Catherine de Medici, into which 
 she was early transplanted, was a nursing -ground 
 for a fresh crop. 
 
 A wife before she was sixteen, a widow at 
 eighteen, she seemed from the first enmeshed for 
 her inevitable end. Accused of the murder of 
 her husband by her own brother, brought to the 
 block after eighteen miserable years in captivity, 
 she left a name which still moves every heart to 
 compassionate her sorrows and forget her errors. 
 Mary Stuart is almost as immortal in interest as 
 Helen of Troy. 
 
 Nor does the tragedy of the baleful Stuarts 
 exhaust itself with the Queen of Scots. Follow 
 the dynasty into the country south of the Border, 
 and see how it fares there. James I. of England 
 and VI. of Scotland was the only son of Mary and 
 the dissipated, murdered Darnley. The wisest 
 fool in Christendom, they called him, though, in 
 reality, he was only a pompous pedant, a malicious 
 buffoon, a participator in the most pagan vices. 
 He died peacefully in his bed, and thus achieved 
 a distinction rare in the history of his House. 
 
 After him came his son, Charles I., of most 
 unhappy memory, who, with all his melancholy 
 beauty, derived from his Danish mother, essayed 
 to play the autocrat, and paid the penalty when 
 he " bowed his comely head down, as upon a 
 bed," before the man with the axe at Whitehall. 
 With him was exploded for ever the fallacy that 
 a special divinity doth hedge a king. Charles II.,
 
 6 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the " merry monarch/' a vicious worldling, who 
 " did not rise to the level of contempt," escaped 
 the more untoward fate of certain of his pre- 
 decessors ; but he had been an exile in France, 
 in Holland, and in Germany for many years before 
 the Restoration of 1660. He, too, the mystic 
 " Junius " insisted, should have died upon the 
 scaffold. His brother, who succeeded him 
 James II. of England and VII. of Scotland a 
 bigot and a despot, was a hated man before the 
 crown touched his head, and his tyrannical 
 attempts to Romanise the country made all but 
 the Highlanders of the far North sick to death of 
 the rule of the Stuarts. William of Orange, who 
 had married the King's daughter the good, the 
 gentle, the loving Mary landed at Torbay in the 
 November of 1688, and six weeks later James VII. 
 was a fugitive an exile on the Continent. 
 
 Thus we come, by a path charged with tragedy 
 and darkened by disaster, to the Chevalier de St. 
 George, the son of the exiled James, who looked 
 to the fickle chances of Fate to restore him to the 
 throne as James III. of England and VIII. of 
 Scotland. In him we have the " Old Pretender " 
 of Jacobite history, the father of Charles Edward 
 Stuart. He was a brother of Queen Anne, who 
 succeeded William of Orange, and who died in 
 1714, the last of the Stuarts to sit on the throne. 
 Anne had been engaged in plots to secure the 
 succession to the melancholy James ; but at her 
 death George Louis, Elector of Hanover, was
 
 ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 7 
 
 peacefully proclaimed king as George I. The 
 crown had passed for ever from the Stuarts, the 
 most tragically interesting line who ever wore it, 
 and poetry, so to speak, gave place to prose. 
 
 One has only to compare the sombre, humdrum 
 careers of the four Georges with that record which 
 stretches from the accession of James I. to the 
 death of " Great Anna," to see why the one 
 dominates the romantic sense and the other does 
 not. For what romance can be drawn from the 
 careers of the German " intruders " against whom 
 the biting sarcasm of the Jacobites was so cruelly 
 directed ? The Sybaritism of the Stuarts, with 
 all its lavish expenditure of money, had still 
 about it something of refinement. These rulers 
 of the rueful race were at least kingly and digni- 
 fied, and maintained their royal office with courtly 
 munificence and becoming state. But how little 
 can be said, even by the most charitable, for those 
 who displaced them ! 
 
 George I., the " wee, wee German lair die " 
 what was he but a cold, selfish, odious libertine ? 
 His successor, the second George, was a colourless 
 nonentity : gross, low, sensual ; having neither 
 lordliness, learning, nor wit ; hugging his fat, 
 ugly mistresses ; kicking his coat and wig about 
 in his outbursts of wrath ; calling everybody 
 thief, liar, rascal, with whom he differed. 
 George III., much as we pity him in his old age, 
 blind and bereft of reason, was stubborn, bigoted : 
 a dull man with a small intellect.
 
 8 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 And George IV. behold him, the " first gentle- 
 man in Europe/' in Thackeray's well-known 
 picture. In the whole of that life the novelist 
 could discover only a bow and a grin ; taking 
 him to pieces, could find only silk stockings, 
 padding, stays, a coat with frogs and a fur collar, 
 a star and blue ribbon, a pocket-handkerchief 
 prodigiously scented, one of Truefitt's best nutty- 
 brown wigs reeking with oil, a set of teeth and 
 a huge black stock, underwaistcoats, more under- 
 waistcoats, and then nothing ! Swaddled in 
 feather beds all his life ; lazy, obese, perpetually 
 eating and drinking ; never having a desire but he 
 coddled and pampered it ; frittering away his 
 time among cooks, and tailors, and barbers, and 
 furniture-mongers, and opera -dancers. Such were 
 the successors of the royal line that traced its 
 descent direct from the hero of Bannockburn. 
 
 No one wants to have " the auld Stuarts back 
 again " now, but it is easy to see why the Scottish 
 Jacobites of the '15 and the '45 intrigued and 
 fought, and bled, leaving fathers, mothers, wives, 
 children, loves and friends, risking all for the 
 restoration of the House to which the saviour of 
 their country belonged. The Stuarts, many of 
 them, may have been personally unworthy : pig- 
 headed, self-willed, despotic, narrow-minded, dis- 
 solute, eaten up of royal prerogative and absolute 
 monarchy. But their yoke had never been heavy 
 upon the Highlands ; partly because the power 
 of the chiefs was paramount there, partly because
 
 ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 9 
 
 the inaccessibility of these wild regions precluded 
 kingly influence and interference. The High- 
 landers, moreover, were (as, indeed, they still 
 are) essentially a conservative people, clinging to 
 old customs, old friends, old associations ; shy 
 of novelties, whether as regards men or manners ; 
 resenting fiercely every attempt at innovation. 
 All through the Jacobite minstrelsy one traces 
 this characteristic of the race. The cry is con- 
 stantly for the old ways, for the old insular line 
 of kings. William of Orange and the House of 
 Hanover were importations, a foreign graft upon 
 the native royal tree, and that was enough. 
 
 "Auld Scotland was owre dark a hole 
 
 For nursing siccan vermin, 
 But the very dogs o' England's Court, 
 They barked and howled in German." 
 
 The Stuarts were the people's own kith and kin, 
 as it were, and their dispossession was a lacera- 
 tion of the heart-strings, as well as a snapping of 
 the kingly line. The personal charm, the ill-luck, 
 the very incapacity and weaknesses of the race 
 appealed to that vein of imaginative enthusiasm 
 which, belying a stolid exterior, runs through 
 the depths of the Scottish nature. The Jacobite 
 movement, as one has said, was possible only 
 amongst a susceptible and sympathetic race, with 
 a sense of injustice rankling in their breasts. 
 Thus, while the glory of the Stuarts departed 
 with that precipitate withdrawal of James in 
 1688, the love and loyalty of the Jacobites 
 
 2 {2005)
 
 10 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 revived it at intervals in flashes of lurid brilliancy 
 which have burnt deeply, upon the open pages of 
 history, marks that the hand of Time can never 
 efface. 
 
 And so we return upon the point which all this 
 is meant to emphasise. Tudors, Stuarts, Han- 
 overians : who shall say that the Stuarts do not 
 " have it " when it comes to an appeal to human 
 emotions, to human hearts and sympathies ? 
 And, after Mary Stuart, who has it more surely 
 than the " bonnie Prince Charlie," of a cause for 
 ever lost but never to be forgotten ? To the age 
 of romance most assuredly belongs, as his pseudo- 
 grandsons, the Sobieski Stuarts, observed long 
 ago, the " adventurous and concentrated cha- 
 racter v of Charles Edward Stuart his daring 
 designs, his patience and poverty in exile, his 
 nebulous, perplexed projects, his years of inscrut- 
 able seclusion, eating out his heart in the despair 
 of hope abandoned. His unsuccessful enterprise 
 in the land of his fathers was prompted by the 
 same spirit which carried his namesake across the 
 Baltic and Caesar beyond the Rubicon. Con- 
 querors have planned upon no better hopes, have 
 won battles with greater disparity of force. Con- 
 spicuous to the great world by these adventures 
 towards the regaining of his fathers' crown, the 
 years of bitter, bewildered exile which followed 
 upon the tragedy of Culloden were no less deeply 
 tinged with romance. His sudden, secret, and 
 long journeys, his negotiations with Courts and
 
 ROMANCE OF THE STUARTS 11 
 
 adherents, his momentary apparitions in the most 
 distant parts of Europe, left traces of occult 
 enterprises and ceaseless activity, filled with a 
 spirit as far from the animation of the everyday 
 world as that which threw him alone and practi- 
 cally unsupported into the bosom of the clans. 
 Even in his latest years, incognisable and extra- 
 ordinary occurrences left indelible marks of a deep 
 and troubled history, appearing like twinkling 
 sparks through the veil which Fate compelled 
 him to draw over his seclusion. The working of 
 his dark, sinister designs can yet be outlined in 
 the Cabinets of foreign Governments, in the 
 Senate of Great Britain, in the British Navy 
 itself busy, mysterious phantoms of tradition, 
 more nearly allied to the romaunt of the Middle 
 Ages than to the history of modern times ; and 
 leaving such evidence of his spirit and concep- 
 tion, that there is no event connected with his 
 name of which it may not be said : " It is 
 credible, because it is improbable." 
 
 There is something sad about the end of any- 
 thing, whether it be the building of a palace, the 
 writing of a great history (like that of Gibbon), 
 the finishing of a child's baby-house, or the con- 
 clusion of some small, unpretending work in 
 literature. There is something sad about the end 
 of the House of Stuart, extinguished for ever by 
 the fate of its latest hero. Yet this is not the 
 prominent feeling aroused by the name which 
 forms so brilliant a speck of romantic light in
 
 12 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 that dull, unromantic eighteenth century in 
 whose records it is enshrined. A hundred musical 
 notes, as Mr. Lang puts it, must keep green the 
 memory of the last Prince of Romance, the 
 beloved, the beautiful, the brave Prince Charlie, 
 the glamour of whose personality cast a spell over 
 so many susceptible hearts. His story will send 
 a thrill through the bosoms of men and women 
 as long as the heather blooms on Culloden Moor 
 or the lion-crowned height of Arthur's Seat looks 
 down on the home of his ancestors, the old royal 
 palace of Holy rood. Death, as the poet has said, 
 " takes everything away " ; but those whose 
 penchant is 
 
 "For old, unhappy, far-off things, 
 And battles long ago," 
 
 can never be deprived of the name and the 
 romance of Charles Edward Stuart.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 
 
 " O wae's my heart for Nature's change, 
 And ane abroad that's forced to range ! 
 God bless the lad, where'er he remains, 
 
 And send him safely over ! 
 It's J. and S., I must confess, 
 Stands for his name that I do bless : 
 O may he soon his own possess, 
 
 Young Jamie they call the Rover ! " 
 
 THE King was " over the water " ; " Geordie 
 reigned in Jamie's stead." Jamie had " fore- 
 faulted the right to the Crown/' as the Conven- 
 tion of the Estates of Scotland decided in 1689. 
 Then, for the first time, old England heard of the 
 Jacobites, who took their name from " Jacobus/' 
 the Latin form of James. " The Stuarts will be 
 back again," they kept saying to themselves, and 
 they left nothing undone that could be done 
 towards that end. Exile and loss of estate, death 
 on the battlefield or the scaffold : it was all one 
 to these ardent loyalists, if only the " auld 
 Stuarts " could be re-seated on the throne. 
 
 Killiecrankie had been fought and won, to no 
 permanent advantage for the Stuarts. There fell 
 the gallant Graham of Claverhouse, the " bonnie 
 Dundee " of Scottish song and story : mortally 
 wounded by a random shot when heading a 
 
 13
 
 14 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 desperate but victorious charge. Aytoun's lines 
 are familiar 
 
 " And the evening star was shining 
 
 On Schehallion's distant head, 
 When we wiped our bloody broadswords, 
 
 And returned to count the dead. 
 There we found him gashed and gory, 
 
 Stretched upon the cumbered plain, 
 As he told us where to seek him, 
 
 In the thickest of the slain. 
 And a smile was on his visage, 
 
 For within his dying ear 
 Pealed the joyful note of triumph, 
 
 And the clansmen's clamorous cheer ; 
 So, amidst the battle's thunder, 
 
 Shot, and steel, and scorching flame 
 In the glory of his manhood 
 
 Passed the spirit of the Graeme 1 " 
 
 Well might the late Jacobites exclaim : " Oh, 
 for a single hour of Dundee ! " If Claverhouse 
 had lived it is more than doubtful whether the 
 Hanoverian would ever have ascended the British 
 throne. As it was, the Jacobite army, which 
 carried everything before it by that mad rush in 
 the romantic " Pass," melted away within a few 
 weeks, and all for want of a leader with a per- 
 sonality strong and individual enough to unite 
 the clans. 
 
 Fateful also for the Jacobites was the battle of 
 the Boyne, fought the following year. " It was 
 a' for our right fu' king," said the leal-hearted 
 loyalists. But, alas ! "a* was done in vain." 
 James was there himself, but the day was not
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 15 
 
 saved by his presence. He looked helplessly on, 
 and then, when all was over, 
 
 " He turn'd him right an' round about, 
 
 Upon the Irish shore, 
 An' ga'e his bridle-reins a shake, 
 With, Adieu for evermore, my dear, 
 With, Adieu for evermore." 
 
 The cowardice of the Stuart sovereign on that 
 doleful day moved the contempt even of his 
 followers. " Change kings with us," an Irish 
 officer replied to an Englishman who taunted him 
 with the panic of the Boyne, " change kings with 
 us, and we will fight you again." They did better, 
 as Green observes, in fighting without a king. 
 The French, indeed (for Louis, feeling the impor- 
 tance of the struggle, had sent over 7,000 picked 
 men, under the Count de Lauzun), withdrew 
 scornfully from the routed army as it stood at 
 bay beneath the walls of Limerick. " Do you 
 call these ramparts ? " sneered the Count of 
 Lauzun : " The English will need no cannon ; 
 they may batter them down with roasted apples." 
 So ended that disastrous campaign in the sister 
 isle. James' roving days were over. France made 
 a home for him at St. Germains, and there he 
 died in September, 1701, having vainly busied 
 himself the while with projects for the regaining 
 of his lost crown. A hundred gentlemen, all of 
 good families, had volunteered to attend him in 
 his exile : only four of them Roman Catholics, 
 and Lowlanders by far the greater number of
 
 16 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 them. There are few more pathetic episodes in 
 history than that. Disdaining pecuniary assist- 
 ance from Louis, the faithful, high-minded hundred 
 became private soldiers in the French service. 
 " For the sake of your Majesty," said they to 
 James, " we will submit to the meanest circum- 
 stances, and undergo the greatest hardships and 
 fatigue that reason can imagine or misfortune 
 inflict." And they did. Under French colours they 
 fought most bravely in Spain, many of them 
 dying in the field or in the hospitals there. Interest 
 was made at home for the remainder, and leave 
 was given to them to return to their own country. 
 But loyalty to the old royal line was not easily 
 exhausted in those days. " Louis has been kind 
 to our master," was the answer of the exiles, 
 " and we will fight for him as long as we have a 
 drop of blood to spend." It was no empty boast, 
 no piece of mere bravado. They said what they 
 meant, and meant what they said. Afterwards 
 they served in the campaign against Prince 
 Louis of Baden, on the banks of the Rhine, where 
 they distinguished themselves with " almost 
 unparalleled bravery and devotion." 
 
 When peace was concluded in 1696, only sixteen 
 of the hundred who had followed James from the 
 Boyne to St. Germains remained alive. How is it 
 all to be explained, all this unselfish devotion to 
 a poor, poltroon king who turned tail at the first 
 hint of personal danger ? There is only one way 
 of explaining it. There are those, says a Jacobite
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 17 
 
 sympathiser, in effect, whose disposition and 
 temperament incline them to loyalty. Loyalty is 
 the very essence of their nature. The doctrine of 
 legitimacy, of hereditary monarchy and inde- 
 feasible right, is part of their religion. The revolu- 
 tion of 1688 cut the line of royal continuity, and 
 it was only to be expected that men of such 
 temperaments, holding such principles, should 
 rebel against the new order and seek to reunite the 
 broken thread. They, indeed, looked upon that 
 as a sacred duty which could only be put aside 
 with dishonour. It was misguided heroism, no 
 doubt, that of the honourable hundred of the 
 Boyne ; but England's annals are full of stories 
 of misguided heroism, and it will be an evil day 
 for John Bull when that form of self-sacrifice 
 fails to find its laureate. 
 
 It was said of James II., the unworthy object 
 of this touching devotion, that he had " thrown 
 away three kingdoms for a Mass." The Stuarts 
 had always been deeply attached to the old faith, 
 whose history is itself a sort of romance. John 
 Knox had good cause to know it when, in the 
 course of those rude, uncourtly interviews at 
 Holyrood, he made himself so offensive to the 
 girlish Queen of Scots. Knox's blind intolerance 
 prevented him from realising that it was no part 
 of a queen's duty to change her religion because 
 her subjects had changed theirs. A contemplated 
 marriage with a " Papist " had to be denounced 
 by this long-bearded commoner in language as
 
 18 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 fierce as it was impertinent, notwithstanding that 
 the commoner himself, a worn-out widower of 
 sixty, was about to marry a girl just emerging 
 from her teens ! 
 
 Luckily for James II., there was no bullying 
 John Knox. After his flight, he solaced himself 
 with a devotion almost monastic a devotion 
 which made even his co-religionists deride him. 
 But no one worried him on account of his creed. 
 His insistence upon the faith of his fathers had, 
 it is true, alarmed both kingdoms, but not even 
 the loss of the crown opened his eyes to the fact. 
 He kept steadily looking forward to the death of 
 his sickly son-in-law as re-opening a way to the 
 throne ; but the poor, defeated devot had been in 
 his grave for six months when William passed 
 away in 1702. " Great Anna " came to the 
 throne, and her brother he who should have 
 been James III. of England and VIII. of Scotland 
 was an exile, like his father before him. 
 
 This heir of the unhappy fortunes of the House 
 of Stuart had been born in England in the sum- 
 mer of 1688, the very year of the Revolution. 
 To his " subjects " he was James III. ; to his 
 friends he was the Chevalier St. George (his 
 incognito} ; to his foes he was the Pretender 
 later the Old Pretender, to distinguish him from 
 his son, the " bonnie Prince " of Jacobite history. 
 Of course, he was no " pretender." Upon that the 
 Jacobites were perfectly right in insisting. James 
 Francis Edward was the legitimate heir to the
 
 The Chevalier de St. Georges
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 19 
 
 throne of these realms. No vulgar impostor he ; no 
 Lambert Simnel or Perkin Warbeck. Descended 
 in direct line from the Stuart kings, without a 
 flaw in his pedigree, without the slightest taint 
 of the bar sinister in his blood, why should he 
 be called " pretender " ? 
 
 The opprobrious epithet is said to have arisen 
 from the circumstance that, at his birth, the base- 
 less idea of a suppositious origin was bruited 
 throughout the country. " The Queen's delivery 
 of a prince (whether the birth was genuine or 
 spurious) gave great and just apprehension to 
 the nation." So one reads in a book published 
 in the year 1748. Many people appear to have 
 believed in the spurious birth. Thus we have the 
 contemporary Whig rhyme 
 
 " A bastard for King they set up, sir, 
 Forsooth by hereditary right, 
 
 Though when all is said and done, 
 
 He's but a tailor's son, 
 And will gain but a halter by't." 
 
 Poor James ! Better a thousand times had it 
 been for him to have been, indeed, a tailor's son. 
 Not much of an appeal to the romantic imagina- 
 tion does that figure make the father of Charles 
 Edward Stuart, the unhappy White Rose Prince 
 of Wales, the "old Mr. Melancholy" of the 
 Hanoverian wits. He was an infant in arms when 
 his father fled from his dominions, leaving his 
 crown to England's " Dutch ironical saviour." 
 Surrounded by a French atmosphere, he grew up
 
 20 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 to manhood and traditions altogether alien to the 
 kingdom whose crown he claimed ; and the 
 lessons instilled into him with most persistence 
 were, gratitude to Louis and obedience to the 
 Pope. He lived his young life apart, in the dreary 
 isolation of dethroned royalty, his tender, forma- 
 tive years robbed of all their natural mirth and 
 joyousness by the rigid regulations of an austere 
 parent, whose austerity he himself copied only 
 too well. 
 
 What could be expected ? " Remember that 
 God and religion are above all things," his father 
 had said to him, on his dying bed. This charge, 
 he assured His Holiness of St. Peter's, would 
 never be forgotten. Nor was it forgotten. James 
 was, as Charles De Brosses, first President of the 
 Parliament of Dijon, expressed it, " devout to 
 excess." He " saved his soul alive," but in so 
 doing sacrificed his earthly crown. He knew this 
 himself, no one better. When he attained his 
 majority in 1709, he wrote to the Pope : " Though 
 driven from both our country and our throne for 
 the sake of religion alone, and by the furious 
 hatred of the heretics, we must trust that the 
 greater wrong we suffer from men, the greater 
 help our worldly affairs will receive from the 
 Ruler of all things. But, whatever may happen 
 therein, we are resolved that, with God's grace, 
 no temptation of this world, and no desire to 
 reign, shall ever make us wander from the right 
 path of the Catholic faith, having been taught
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 21 
 
 how infinitely the Kingdom of Heaven transcends 
 all the kingdoms of this world." How can we of 
 a broad-minded age help admiring that spirit ? 
 In James' case we may see in it a stupid, tactless 
 misreading of the situation temporal. But what 
 then ? James' first concern was not for the 
 situation temporal. What shall it profit a man if 
 he gain the whole world, even the Crown of 
 England, and lose his own soul ? The best that 
 can be said for James and it is much, and wholly 
 creditable is that he was no bigot. " To his own 
 creed," writes Mr. Lang, " he must cling, but 
 never would he do other than protect the religion 
 of his subjects." The author of a certain pamphlet 
 (said to be Lord Blandford) was amazed to find 
 that in Rome, James had an Anglican chapel for 
 his Protestant adherents. 
 
 James, in fact, as we shall see, suffered keenly 
 in his domestic relations from his religious tolera- 
 tion. But religion came to him chiefly as a solace 
 in exile . In brighter days he had brighter moments, 
 in spite of his rigid upbringing. It was then that 
 they wrote of him as " Jamie the Rover," and 
 (anticipating our story) we shall not greatly err 
 if we attribute Charles Edward's instinct of 
 wandering to him. When the hot blood of youth 
 coursed through his veins, he was " brave and 
 eager," and charged the English lines again and 
 again with the Maison du Roi at Malplaquet, 
 though Thackeray says that here he "won but 
 little honour." " There was always a question
 
 22 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 about James' courage/' he adds. " Neither then, 
 in Flanders, nor afterwards in his own ancient 
 kingdom of Scotland, did the luckless Pretender 
 show much resolution ." The historian tells how he 
 " boldly passed, disguised and unhurt, through the 
 armed myrmidons of Stair." But James certainly 
 we must regretfully admit it did not distinguish 
 himself in " his own ancient kingdom, Scotland." 
 An attempt had been made to restore the Stuart 
 dynasty in 1708. In that year a French invasion 
 of Scotland sailed out from Dunkirk, with James 
 himself in attendance, and, on the 12th March, 
 appeared off Montrose. Sir George Byng, the 
 English Admiral, put to sea in pursuit, and the 
 French returned whence they had come, without 
 even attempting a landing. The effort of seven 
 years later, James' little " rising," was no more 
 successful. Sheriffmuir, the Culloden of the '15, 
 did not disturb the equanimity of the " German 
 lairdie " in his royal chair. Nor, when James 
 himself landed in the north-east of Scotland at 
 the eleventh hour, did the " cause " assume any- 
 thing more of a hopeful aspect. James had none 
 of the qualities, physical or other, which fired the 
 Jacobites of the '45 on behalf of his son. .If the 
 '15 had been headed by the glamorous, energetic 
 young Prince who unfurled his standard on the 
 Crag of Glenfinnan, it is all but certain that 
 Sheriffmuir would have been won for the Jacobites. 
 But " old Mr. Melancholy " inspired no enthusiasm, 
 set no hearts beating.
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 23 
 
 We have several descriptions of him as he 
 appeared about that time, all bringing out in 
 bold relief the same unfortunate features of 
 character and physique. His dark complexion 
 and sombre cast of countenance repelled rather 
 than attracted the Scots, who had no sentimental 
 leanings towards asceticism and an " interesting " 
 appearance. Physical strength, manly vigour, 
 personal courage these were the qualifications 
 which the sons of the mountain and the flood 
 regarded as essentials in the beau-ideal leader. 
 James possessed no such qualifications. One of 
 his adherents, writing of the doings at Perth, 
 whither James had proceeded (in an " aguish 
 distemper ") from Peterhead, wrote thus 
 disparagingly 
 
 " When we saw the man whom they called our King, we 
 found ourselves not at all animated by his presence, and 
 if he was disappointed in us, we were tenfold more so in him. 
 We saw nothing in him that looked like spirit. He never 
 appeared with cheerfulness and vigour to animate us. Our 
 men began to despise him ; some asked if he could speak. 
 His countenance looked extremely heavy. He cared not to 
 come among us soldiers, or to see us handle our arms or do 
 our exercise. Some said the circumstances he found us in 
 dejected him ; I am sure the figure he made dejected us." 
 
 Compare this with the portrait drawn by the 
 Rev. Charles Leslie, Protestant chaplain in James' 
 household 
 
 " He is tall, straight, and clean limb'd, yet his bones pretty 
 large. He has a very graceful mien, walks fast, and his gait, 
 his great resemblance of his unkle King Charles II., and the 
 lines of his face grow dayly more and more like him. . . .
 
 24 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 He is always chearful but seldom merry, thoughtful but 
 not dejected, and bears his misfortunes with a visible 
 magnanimity of spirit." 
 
 These descriptions are abundantly corroborated. 
 Thus one pourtrays him as " a tall, thin, though 
 not inelegant figure, with high, narrow forehead, 
 cold eye, shapely nose, full weak lips, and long 
 oval face." Another says : " His person was tall 
 and thin, seeming to incline to be lean rather than 
 to fill as he grows in years. His countenance was 
 pale, but perhaps looked more so than usual by 
 reason he had three fits of ague, which took him 
 two days after his coming on shore." This was 
 written of his landing in the '15. "Yet," con- 
 tinues the chronicler, " he seems to be sanguine 
 in his constitution, and there is something of a 
 vivacity in his eye that would have been more 
 visible if he had not been under dejected circum- 
 stances. His speech was grave, and not very 
 expressive of his thoughts nor over much to the 
 purpose ; but his words were few, and his 
 behaviour and temper seemed always composed." 
 Rather a tame, colourless character, obviously. 
 
 The poet Gray saw this triste James in Rome in 
 1740, and thus outlined his portrait 
 
 " A thin, ill-made man, extremely tall and awkward, 
 of a most unpromising countenance, a good deal resembling 
 King Charles II., and has extremely the look and air of an 
 idiot, particularly when he laughs or prays. The first he 
 does not often, the latter continually." 
 
 The author of the famous " Elegy " had sized up
 
 THE OLD CHEVALIER 25 
 
 the King whose crown rested on the head of the 
 alien. An old writer says that, being once asked 
 what he most delighted in, James replied that it 
 would be "to hear wise men discourse upon 
 useful subjects." The sentiment was excellent, 
 but what bearing did it have on those persistent, 
 futile attempts to regain the lost crown ? 
 
 James, in fact, showed himself a miserable 
 craven in that so-called " rising " of 1715. "I 
 shall ever pursue with the utmost vigour my 
 just designs," he wrote when he left Scotland, 
 never to see it again, in February, 1716 ; but he 
 scuttled off by a back way from his lodgings at 
 Montrose, leaving his disgusted and enraged 
 adherents to shift for themselves. Such a man 
 could put no inspiration, no heartening into the 
 " cause." The wonder is that Jacobitism survived 
 the despicable desertion.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 
 
 IT is not good for man to be alone. James had 
 so far lived the celibate life. He had had his 
 amours, of course, though he was far from being 
 the reckless profligate of that distorted caricature 
 in Esmond. Mr. Lang protests that James 
 never was amorous or profligate. As a young 
 man, resident at Bar-le-Duc, he undeniably kept 
 a mistress. But a pamphleteer of 1716 actually 
 rails at him for his incontinence and " cruelty " to 
 the Caledonian beauties ! After his death, when 
 there was some talk of an " indiscretion," those 
 who had known him best in Rome declared that 
 the story must be false. But all this merely by 
 the way. 
 
 Settled down, in 1718, to his long exile in Italy, 
 James began to think seriously of taking a wife, 
 " lest his line should fail." He was now in his 
 thirtieth year, and various matrimonial projects 
 had been designed for him, all abortive. " His 
 partizans," says an author of 1748, " were zealous 
 in pressing him to marry, to continue the line. 
 But it was not easy to find a match for him that 
 might be some way suitable to the rank he 
 assumed ; for it was scarce to be supposed any 
 sovereign Prince in Europe would contract an 
 alliance with an adventurer who, whatever his
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 27 
 
 pretensions were, had nothing to support them 
 but his sword." Those who were scheming to get 
 James married did not take that view. The Duke 
 of Lorraine favoured a sister of the Emperor 
 Charles VI., no less, though the Duke of Berwick, 
 that distinguished "natural" son of James II., 
 who established the throne of Philip V. by the 
 decisive victory of Almansa, doubted whether 
 Charles would give his consent to the suggested 
 union until James had regained his crown. 
 
 But Charles had nieces daughters of the late 
 Emperor Joseph. Berwick told James in 1714 
 that he should try for one of the nieces. " The 
 younger," he wrote, " has but a portion, which 
 would not be sufficient to maintain you and 
 children, so that the eldest is the only one at this 
 time that can be of use to you. But there is no 
 time to be lost, for as soon as Bavaria gets into his 
 country, your Majesty may be sure he will work 
 for his son, if even he is not about it already." 
 Nothing came of that proposal. But no matter. 
 The Elector of Bavaria now had his eyes on the 
 bachelor James. The Elector had a daughter : 
 why should she not be Queen of England in posse y 
 if not in esse ? The sanguine parent mentioned 
 the matter to Berwick, and Berwick passed on 
 the word to James. James had not been favoured 
 with a vision of the Elector's hope, and he was 
 prudently cautious. " My answer in laughing 
 was," he wrote, " that one would be glad to see 
 one's wife before one would say one's thoughts."
 
 28 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 It seemed reasonable enough. But kings in those 
 days had often to make consorts of princesses 
 they had not seen. The occupant of the throne 
 was no mere figurehead, then. It was impossible, 
 or, at least, impolitic, for him to leave his kingdom 
 for any length of time in search of a wife. Thus, 
 the only method remaining open to him was to 
 send a trusted deputy scouring across the Con- 
 tinent, who would look in at the various Courts, 
 review all the likely ladies, and report home. 
 
 It was a hazardous method, liable to result in 
 awkward surprises and disappointments. One 
 recalls the case of George III. and Queen Charlotte, 
 who was not a beauty, to put it mildly. " I do 
 think the bloom of her ugliness is going off," an 
 old Colonel long about her Court said, in the 
 exuberance of his wit. George never saw his 
 Charlotte until shortly before the marriage, when 
 the poor little Mecklenburg bride of seventeen 
 crossed to Harwich ; storm-tossed in the royal 
 yacht, most unromantically sea-sick, yet cheering 
 the company by singing Luther's hymns to the 
 harpsichord in her cabin, with the door open. 
 Perhaps she remembered the saying attributed to 
 Henrietta Maria, the wife of Charles I., who was 
 nearly wrecked on her crossing : " Les reine ne 
 se noient pas." It was unkind, at any rate, of the 
 bridegroom to wince so visibly when the homely 
 little bride was presented to him. 
 
 Not very different was the arrival of Catherine 
 of Braganza, who, when first seen by Charles II.,
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 29 
 
 was laid up with a cough and a fever in bed. 
 Charles was not impressed with his consort, and 
 remarked as much to his attendants. And who 
 does not remember the reception which George IV. 
 gave to his bride, the blue-eyed, bouncing, buxom 
 Caroline of Brunswick ? When Caroline was first 
 conducted into the presence of the King, Lord 
 Malmesbury says she very properly attempted to 
 kneel. George raised her " gracefully enough," 
 but, turning round to Malmesbury, said, in a 
 whisper : " Harris, I am not well ; get me a 
 glass of brandy." The shock was too much for 
 him. " Drunk on the wedding night," the Princess 
 afterwards reported. 
 
 Such were the risks of royal courtship by 
 deputy. The father of Charles Edward Stuart 
 was shy about experiments of the kind. He must 
 know what his proposed consort was like. A 
 miniature was produced by the Elector. Berwick 
 reported it " neither handsome nor ugly," adding 
 that the eagerly interested Elector " says she had 
 a swelling in her left eye, but that is well now." 
 The artist might surely have ignored the swelling, 
 unless, indeed, the lady herself desired to be 
 painted, like Cromwell, warts and all. Berwick, 
 at any rate, was prudently polite. " I thought it 
 was not convenient to tell him [the Elector] your 
 Majesty would not think of his daughter, but 
 what I said to him was only civil, and engages to 
 nothing." So that proposal was off, too ! 
 
 A suggested alliance with a niece of the Elector
 
 30 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Palatine led to the same unfruitful results. Ber- 
 wick's hopes were next centred in the Austrian 
 House. " I am assured," he wrote in January, 
 1715, " that there is a sister of the Emperor of 
 not above five or six and twenty ; if that be so, 
 and she be not horrible, I could heartily wish 
 James had her." James did not have her. Per- 
 haps she was " horrible." More charitably to the 
 lady, let us remember that it was the year of 
 Sheriff muir, when James had other things to 
 think about than getting married. 
 
 These were merely tentative suggestions hesi- 
 tating, timid " feelers," all ante-dating the day 
 when James forsook his followers at Montrose. 
 The hunt for a bride now began afresh, and in 
 dead earnest. In 1718 a Russian princess was 
 coaxed, and coaxed in vain. But success was in 
 prospect at last. In that same year, Charles 
 Wogan set out on a tour through the Courts of 
 Europe, determined to find somewhere a lady 
 willing to link her fortunes with the house of 
 Stuart. 
 
 The delegate deserves more than passing men- 
 tion. Wogan was of a family which had been 
 settled in Ireland from the twelfth century. 
 " A gentleman of Ireland who has distinguished 
 his zeal and capacity on several occasions," is 
 how he is described in a pamphlet of 1722. He 
 was a friend of Pope and Swift ; took an active 
 part in the rising of 1715, when he was only 
 nineteen ; and paid for his loyalty by becoming
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 31 
 
 one of the prisoners of Preston. He was a hand- 
 some, gay, witty fellow ; and Mr. Lang hints 
 that he may have made love for himself with 
 some of the princesses when he should have been 
 making love for James. Small blame to him if 
 he did ! James, later, when he found that the 
 matrimonial lottery-bag had not provided him 
 with a jewel, declared, in effect, that Wogan was 
 responsible for much of the misery of his domestic 
 life. The idea was quite unfounded, though it 
 receives some countenance in Mr. A. E. W. 
 Mason's novel Clementina, a book which, how- 
 ever, sentimentalises and romanticises the 
 historical facts. 
 
 Mr. Lang suggestively observes that, " accus- 
 tomed to the gay and resourceful chivalry of 
 Wogan, good at need, Clementina may have 
 been disappointed in her grave, patient, and 
 laborious lord." She was disappointed. But 
 where was Wogan, good at need, then ? The 
 young Irishman certainly proved himself resource- 
 ful in the carrying out of his delicate mission. 
 The story of his adventures when he had happily 
 found the bride makes a sort of comedy-romance. 
 Wogan, if one may so express it, brought down 
 his game with the first shot. Chance carried him 
 to Silesia, to the Court of Prince James Sobieski, 
 a son of the victor of Vienna, the saviour of 
 Europe from the tyranny of the invading Turks ; 
 the brave, the high-minded John of Poland, who 
 leaped into a light that almost blinded the nations.
 
 32 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 There he found, as one might find in a fairy tale, 
 three daughters all waiting to be " asked/' one 
 having already " run strange risks for the dazzle 
 of an airy crown." Wogan addressed himself 
 covertly to a study of their respective qualities 
 of person and temperament. One he discovered 
 to be " bristling with etiquette and astonishingly 
 solemn " ; another was " beyond all measure gay, 
 free, and familiar " ; the third, Clementina, the 
 youngest, was " sweet, amiable, of an even 
 temper, and gay only in season." Here, the 
 envoy concluded, was the very woman for the 
 exiled King. Was he right ? We shall see. 
 
 Without delay, Wogan posted away to Urbino, 
 where he reported to James the gladdening result 
 of his mission. Imagine him as he sits in close 
 conclave with his royal master, detailing the 
 charms of the chosen bride ! We know not in 
 what eloquent terms he commended his choice 
 a Princess already courted by many, a Princess 
 who would have been a prize to the noblest. But 
 we know what was said by others much less 
 directly interested. We have the Marquis of 
 Blandford describing the prospective bride as "of 
 middling stature, well-shaped, and lovely features ; 
 with wit, vivacity, and mildness of temper painted 
 in her looks." Charles Louis, Baron de Pollnitz, 
 who knew her personally, says she was a Princess 
 who deserved to be a queen. " Without posses- 
 sing the lustre of a great beauty, she unites endless 
 attractions in Jier person." Her disposition, adds
 
 By permission of Messrs. Methuen & Co., Ltd.
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 33 
 
 the Baron, " was amiable, and her deportment 
 sweet and engaging ; her temper was benevolent 
 and compassionate, and her life blameless and 
 exemplary ; she had a quick comprehension and 
 an admirable memory, and spoke the Polish, 
 High Dutch, French, Italian, and English so well 
 that they seemed natural to her." Remember 
 that this was the future mother of Charles Edward 
 Stuart, whose " gift " of languages astonished the 
 men who fought with him, a youth of fourteen, 
 before the fortress of Gaeta. 
 
 Clementina Sobieski must have been painted by 
 Charles Wogan in the brightest of colours, for 
 James no longer wavered, no longer demanded to 
 see the lady who had been named for him before 
 giving his assent to the union. He expressed his 
 gratification at all that was told him about 
 Clementina, and at once began arranging for the 
 return of the gay Irishman to further and complete 
 the negotiations. 
 
 But James King as he called himself was not 
 his own master even in so intimately personal a 
 matter as the taking of a wife. He had to reckon 
 with the Jacobite factions around him ; and the 
 factions, strong on the Protestant side, decreed 
 that Wogan, being a Catholic (and a son of Erin, 
 besides : which was apparently a fault), should 
 be relieved of further active interest in James' 
 matrimonial arrangements. Hence, to Prince 
 Sobieski went, in place of Wogan, Murray (Lord 
 Dunbar), " son of a Jacobite mother, a Scot and
 
 34 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 a Protestant " ; brother of Lord Mansfield ; 
 coming cause of trouble to Clementina. Murray 
 had the worst possible luck in his mission. News 
 of the contemplated union had reached England, 
 and England disapproved, for several substantial 
 reasons. The bride was one of the richest heiresses 
 in Europe, and St. James* was envious of the 
 prospective good fortune of its rival. Unluckily 
 for James and his bride-elect, England had 
 adequate means of applying the screw. Clementina 
 Sobieski was cousin-German to the Queen of Spain 
 and the Emperor of Germany. Her father was 
 dependant on the latter, who, at the time, was 
 being supported in his claims on Sicily by the 
 reigning dynasty in Britain. 
 
 It was easy to see what must happen. Taking 
 advantage of this obligation, the ministers of 
 George I., jealous of the influence and the wealth 
 which the union of the Polish Princess would 
 bring to the House of Stuart, made interest with 
 the Court of Vienna to prevent the marriage- 
 Their interposition was temporarily, at least 
 only too effective. In the circumstances, the 
 Emperor of Germany must stand well with 
 England, and it was plain that James' bride- 
 elect would not be allowed to travel from Silesia 
 to Italy through the Imperial territory. 
 
 But perhaps the Sobieskis could outwit the 
 Emperor ? They would try, anyway. Hearing 
 of the opposition to the union, the parents of the 
 bride proposed that she should be spirited away
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 35 
 
 to Bologna, there to be married. The " lovers " 
 themselves approved, and the Princess and her 
 mother set out from Poland to cross the Alps. 
 Alack ! they had not taken sufficient account of the 
 Emperor. Before many days had passed, mother 
 and daughter were safely immured in a convent 
 at Innsbruck, under the strict surveillance of a 
 garde de corps in their ante-chamber. 
 
 Here was Wogan' s opportunity. For how 
 could Murray carry through such an enterprise ? 
 Wogan dearly loved an adventure, and this, in 
 prospect at least, was an adventure after his own 
 heart. One may still read about it at first hand 
 in that rare little work of 1722, entitled : Female 
 Fortitude Exemplify' d in an Impartial Narrative 
 of the Seizure, Escape, and Marriage of the Princess 
 Clementina Sobieski. " The story," says the 
 eighteenth century author, who had it direct 
 from Wogan himself, " chief manager in that 
 whole affair, contains all the entertaining 
 variety of a novel." And so it does. Truth, as 
 revealed here, is, indeed, stranger than fiction. 
 
 Wogan, having received permission from James 
 to kidnap his imprisoned bride, sped away to the 
 Tyrol, disguised as a travelling merchant. When 
 he arrived at Innsbruck, he contrived to com- 
 municate his purpose to Clementina, who " wel- 
 comed his romantic resolve." But the father of 
 the Queen-prospective must be consulted before 
 anything further could be done. Would Prince 
 Sobieski approve of the " rescue " and its
 
 36 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 consequent defiance of the Emperor ? Wogan lost 
 no time in consulting the Prince on that point. 
 Laughing at first at the Quixotic enterprise, the 
 Prince was soon brought to approve heartily of it. 
 Wogan must have had " a way wid him," like 
 Father O'Flynn. He suffered nothing, but rather 
 gained, by this daring exploit ; while the unfor- 
 tunate Sobieski, for his share in the business, was 
 deprived of his government of Augsburg, and 
 clapped in prison like any common rogue. 
 
 But to the story. Dillon's Irish regiment was 
 stationed at Schlettstadt, near Strasburg, and 
 the resourceful Wogan resolved upon seeking aid 
 from his countrymen. An eager party was soon 
 organised Major Gay don ; " one Misset, an 
 Irishman " ; the " huge blue-eyed O'Toole, the 
 Porthos of the party " ; and one Mitchell, who 
 had already given proof of his spirit for such 
 enterprises by contriving the escape, from the 
 Tower of London, of Lord Nithsdale, disguised in 
 a woman's dress. That was a Jacobite affair, too, 
 for Nithsdale was one of the seven lords who 
 led the rebels of the '15 to Preston. Besides these, 
 there went with the party Mrs. Misset, a lady of 
 Irish birth, but bred in France, and her maid 
 Jeanneton, a girl of " a pleasant comical humour 
 in her way." Mrs. Misset was expecting an 
 " interesting event," but she readily consented 
 to act as chaperon to the Princess, a post for 
 which she was specially fitted, being " young, 
 with a sprightly turn of wit, and a conversation
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 37 
 
 so engaging as could not fail to make her an 
 acceptable companion." 
 
 "All these persons," says the contemporary 
 chronicler, " came to Innsbruck with an equipage 
 which denoted them to be people of distinction." 
 At Strasburg they had, in fact, bought a strong 
 travelling coach, " able to stand the shock of so 
 great a journey, provided with double braces and 
 spare tackle of all sorts in case of accidents." 
 This notable conveyance they cunningly con- 
 trived to break down at the gates of the town, 
 which afforded them a pretext for remaining in 
 the place while it was repairing. In the mean- 
 time, according to Baron Pollnitz, whose account 
 of the adventure may be set by the side of 
 Wogan's, they appeared at all the assemblies, 
 and bribed a nun to carry a letter to the Princess. 
 The arrangement was, in brief, that the bride- 
 elect should feign indisposition ; that the con- 
 venient Jeanneton should somehow be passed 
 through the guard to her chamber, take the place 
 of the Princess in bed, the Princess then getting 
 away under the disguise of Jeanneton. 
 
 This audacious programme was successfully 
 carried out. Between eight and twelve o'clock of 
 an April night, the Princess marched boldly from 
 her room, dodged the guard without discovery, 
 and presently joined Misset, who, according to 
 the arrangement, stood outside the convent 
 whistling, so that the runaway might know 
 whom to address : a practical reading of " O
 
 38 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 whistle, and I'll come to ye, my lad/' long before 
 Burns made his song. The elements (unless for 
 the darkness) were far from favourable for such 
 an escapade. " It was terrible weather," says the 
 chronicler ; "it snow'd and rain'd in abundance ; 
 the streets were dirty and the night very dark." 
 On the way to the hotel where her newly-found 
 guardians were staying, the Princess plunged her 
 foot into a puddle, lost her shoe, and had to 
 scamper on through the slush in her stocking. 
 The gallant Wogan was much concerned at the 
 contretemps, but the Princess " only laughed, and 
 was very merry upon it." When they reached 
 the hotel they found the fires black and the 
 servants in bed. So Mrs. Misset " dry'd her [the 
 Princess'] feet with the sheets, changed her shoes 
 and stockings, and, to keep her warm on the road, 
 put her legs into Wogan's and Gaydon's muffs." 
 Was ever Princess on the way to the altar so 
 accoutred ? 
 
 The carriage was at the door ; Wogan stood 
 by, mounted on horseback. The Princess was 
 hustled in, with Gay don and Mrs. Misset for 
 companions, and away they rumbled en route for 
 the frontier, at two o'clock in the morning. 
 Misset was to remain behind for a couple of 
 hours " to wait the issue " ; in other words, to 
 see if the trick were discovered. The coach 
 rattled on, and the tongues inside rattled with 
 it. Suddenly the Princess remembered that she 
 had left an important packet behind her in the
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 39 
 
 hotel. James' present was in that packet the 
 Crown jewels of England, if you please. Fancy 
 the consternation of the Princess and her party ! 
 By this time some prying person at the hotel 
 might have looked into the parcel and revealed 
 the secret. What was to be done ? It was 
 OToole who saved the situation and the jewels. 
 He " returned upon the spur to the hotel, and 
 found the packet in the place it had been laid." 
 Thus simply and laconically does the recorder of 
 1722 dismiss the episode. There ought to have 
 been more in it than that : a forcing of the hotel 
 gate, an encounter with the porter, angry words 
 with mine host, perhaps an arrest for breaking 
 into lock-fast places. But there was no hitch in 
 all this mad piece of work. 
 
 The coach rolled away again, making for the 
 frontier, on the other side of which lay security. 
 Clementina, merry of heart at the thought of 
 meeting her Prince, enjoying, besides, the fun of 
 the whole affair, gave cheer to everybody. She 
 laughed and made light of everything " the 
 precipices, the breakdowns, the fears of Mrs. 
 Misset, and her own fall into a flooded stream." 
 She took the jolting of the crazy coach on the 
 wretched roads with the greatest good-humour, 
 and joked at the discomforts of the wayside inns. 
 She even protested her relish of tea made in " a 
 porringer that smelt of oyl." Wogan, trans- 
 ported with the triumph of his perilous under- 
 taking, was as blithe as the future " queen," who
 
 40 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 listened with rapt attention to his vivid narrative 
 of the " affair " of Preston. 
 
 Time was being gained ; the miles were being 
 eaten up by the lumbering wheels. Jeanne ton, 
 the deputy Clementina, was lying at Innsbruck, 
 pretending to be ill. Twenty-four hours passed 
 before the deception was discovered, and already 
 Misset was hurrying to overtake his advance 
 party. He himself was presently overtaken by 
 one of the couriers sent off in hot haste by the 
 Commandant of Innsbruck in search of his 
 escaped charge. But a German courier was no 
 match for Irish strategy. Misset drugged the 
 fellow with drink, saw him helpless under the 
 table at the inn, relieved him of his dispatches, 
 and in a very short time handed these same 
 dispatches to the Princess. The last risk of 
 capture had been obviated. After three days' 
 and three nights' travelling without a break, 
 Clementina Sobieski found herself safe in the 
 states of the Church. Her lucky and romantic 
 escape gave immense delight to the Jacobites, 
 who regarded it as a happy portent, prognosti- 
 cating good to the Stuarts. Alas ! that happy 
 portent, like many another in the story of the 
 " cause," was never fulfilled. 
 
 Clementina was received at Bologna by Murray 
 (Lord Dunbar), and made at once for the Palazzo 
 Caprara. She wanted to examine the portrait of 
 a certain lady who was reported to have the 
 honour of pleasing James. The daughter of the
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 41 
 
 House of Poland was already jealous, then ! One 
 of the Irish musketeers says she " flushed ver- 
 milion " on seeing the canvas. It was a rival, 
 perhaps ; perhaps, too, a rival with more engaging 
 charms than herself. What did it matter now ? 
 Clementina was already bound to the King, to 
 the melancholy James. But where was James ? 
 Why was he not here to meet his bride ? James 
 was far away in Spain : gone thither in pursuit 
 of his old delusive, will-o'-the-wisp hopes of the 
 British crown. Spain had promised the help of 
 men and ships, but those " Protestant winds " 
 which dispersed the invincible Armada of the 
 great Philip blew fiercely on James' allies, and 
 the defeat at Glenshiel, in the midsummer of 1719, 
 brought the poor King's active Pretendership to 
 a sad and decided end. 
 
 Meanwhile, Clementina, after a proxy marriage 
 in May, was anxiously awaiting the arrival of her 
 tardy bridegroom. He came towards the end of 
 August ; and on the 1st September, 1719, the 
 regular marriage ceremony was celebrated at 
 Montefiascone, that charming little town cresting 
 a hill, supposed to have been the site of an ancient 
 Etruscan city. One would have liked to be there 
 that September day, a day so full of fate for the 
 Jacobites. What were the thoughts of the newly- 
 wedded queen ? Was she perfectly happy as she 
 looked down on that magnificent and truly 
 Etruscan panorama ; on the lake of Bolsena, 
 more than twenty-six miles round, shining beneath 
 
 4 (aOOj)
 
 42 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 in all its breadth and beauty, mirroring its twin 
 islets and white castellated cliffs, and the distant 
 snow peaks of Aminta and Cetona ? Did the 
 dark mountains of Umbria say anything to her ? 
 or the giant Apennines of Sabina looming afar off ? 
 or the nearer Cimian, black with its once dread 
 forests ? or the long line of mist which that day 
 may have marked the course of the noble river 
 " that rolls by the towers of Rome " ? Who 
 knows ? 
 
 The daughter of the Sobieskis was, at any 
 rate, James' consort now, entitled to sign herself 
 " Clementina R." She would be sorely dis- 
 illusioned by-and-bye. This triste et pieux husband 
 of hers should have had that other daughter, the 
 sister reported by Wogan as " astonishingly 
 solemn " ; not this sprightly beauty who, under 
 his cold indifference and selfish neglect, was to 
 become petulant and sullen ; " the round, glad, 
 girlish face to be drawn and melancholy, peaked 
 and wan, yet resigned and sweet, before all was 
 done." For the time, James was vastly pleased 
 with his bride. It was not only that she had 
 brought him a fortune, to say nothing of the 
 valuables of her dowry the rubies of the Polish 
 crown ; the golden shield presented by the 
 Emperor Leopold to the heroic deliverer of 
 Vienna ; the cover of gold brocade adorned with 
 verses of the Koran in turquoise, in which the 
 standard of the Prophet was kept during the 
 siege. James honestly esteemed his bride for her
 
 IN SEARCH OF A QUEEN 43 
 
 own sake. She had, he said, "the agreeableness 
 of seventeen and the solidity of thirty," and had, 
 so far, " surpassed all my expectations." " I 
 would not be satisfied," he wrote on September 23, 
 " without telling you again, with my own hand, 
 of the happiness I enjoy . . . for it is true that 
 if I had had to ask God to give me a wife with all 
 the qualities that would suit me or that I could 
 desire, I could not have wished other than the 
 woman He has been pleased to choose for me." 
 But all this was said during the first joyous days 
 of wedded life, while the Jacobites were waiting 
 hopefully for the birth of a Prince of Wales.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD OF CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 AT the northern end of that Piazzi del Santi 
 Apostoli which lies midway between the Forum 
 of Trajan and the beautiful Trevi fountain, stands 
 the old palace of the Stuarts, object of curious and 
 pathetic interest to the Roman society of the 
 eighteenth century, scene of many a Jacobite plot 
 and intrigue. Gifted to James by Pope Clement XL, 
 it has passed through several hands, including the 
 family of About 's charming and unhappy Tolla 
 Ferraldi, since the Chevalier de St. George lived 
 so dismally within its walls ; but time and change 
 have left it the tall, featureless, dingy structure 
 it was when, through half a century, it made a 
 home for Britain's exiled kings and their miniature 
 Court. " A vast dwelling with no pretence of 
 beauty," was how Debroses described it. 
 
 The glory has departed from the Palazzo 
 Stuart, once distinguished by every recognised 
 mark of reigning sovereignty, including the 
 mounted guard of the Papal cuirassiers. The 
 great, big, roomy place, which had housed so 
 many Jacobite courtiers and attendants, is known 
 now as the Palazzo Balestro, seat of the British 
 consulate ; and the stranger passes it by totally 
 oblivious to its old romantic associations, unless, 
 indeed, he happens to enter its dingy courtyard 
 
 44
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 45 
 
 and reads there the inscription on the marble 
 tablet which commemorates Henry, Cardinal York, 
 " in whom the dynasty of Stuart expired." Thus 
 passes the glory of the world ! 
 
 It was to this dreary old house that James 
 brought his young wife. And into this dreary old 
 house came the baby Prince of Romance, the 
 long-hoped-for Prince of Wales. Romance was 
 in Charles Edward Stuart's blood. Romance 
 attended at his birth. It was on the last day of 
 December, 1720, that he arrived. One day later, 
 and the babe would have saluted that month 
 always so fatal to the Stuarts, the month of 
 January. Sixty-eight years after, this same babe 
 died on the 31st January. So they averred. But 
 Earl Stanhope was told, on the authority of some 
 members of his household, that Charles had 
 passed away on the evening of the 30th ; that 
 date was altered in the public announcement on 
 account of the evil omen which, notwithstanding 
 the difference between the Old and New Styles, 
 was supposed to attend the anniversary of King 
 Charles' execution. 
 
 As yet, however, we are far enough away from 
 that. Charles Edward Stuart was a son of 
 December, and in that respect no evil omen 
 attended his birth. " The most acceptable news 
 which can reach the ears of a good Englishman," 
 was the remark of the famous Atterbury, Bishop 
 of Rochester, when he heard that Clementina had 
 been safely delivered, after a weary travail of six
 
 46 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 days. The circumstances attending this event 
 were surely unique. James, the expectant parent, 
 had not forgotten the doubts that had been cast 
 on his own birth. No such aspersion should cloud 
 the life of his first-born : of that he would make 
 sure. Hence it was that round this couch, attended 
 by doctors and nurses, sat also a quartet of 
 Cardinal protectors, with ladies amongst them 
 whose names and titles had for centuries been 
 recorded in the Libro d'Oro : all there to attest, 
 should it ever be called in question, the reality of 
 that accouchement. Poor little Jacobite Prince ! 
 Nobody, looking at his life history, could say that 
 he was born under a lucky star. Yet they 
 declared that a new star appeared when his baby 
 cries were first heard in this room crowded with 
 solemn Cardinals and whispering grand dames. 
 No doubt they said, too, that at the same time 
 a violent storm raged throughout Germany, com- 
 mitting fearful havoc. But there is a romance in 
 stars that's not in storms, and the Jacobites made 
 much of Charles Edward's orb. Referring to his 
 pathetically brief period of glory, when he cap- 
 tured the capital of his ancestors and routed 
 Johnnie Cope in the morning, one described him 
 as " glittering all over, like the star which they 
 tell you appeared at his nativity." An English 
 visitor to Rome, some years after the great 
 " event " of this December night, tells how, when 
 Charles and his brother Henry were at their 
 devotions in the Anglican chapel which the
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 47 
 
 thoughtful James had set up for his Protestant 
 adherents, " a small piece of the ceiling detached 
 itself from the rest, and a Thistle fell into the lap 
 of the elder, on which he started, and, looking 
 up, a Rose fell immediately after : this, together 
 with a star of great magnitude which the 
 astronomers pretend appeared at his nativity, 
 might have had some share in exciting him to 
 his rash enterprise." Well, Napoleon believed in 
 his star, so why not Charles Edward ? He, too, 
 may have had a superstition of that kind, though 
 we do not hear of it. A star was introduced on 
 one of the medals struck in his boyhood, but this 
 would be his father's doing. 
 
 In any case, who would think of an unlucky 
 star just now ? Congratulations poured in at the 
 gaunt old palace. Salvos were fired from the 
 Castle of St. Angelo. The Pope came in person 
 to bestow his blessing, and sent the costliest baby- 
 linen that Rome could produce. Members of the 
 Sacred College and the Spanish Court presented 
 scudi and doubloons. Medals were struck busts 
 of James and Clementina on one side ; a mother 
 and child, with the motto " Spes Britannia" on 
 the other. Clad in his consecrated swaddling 
 clothes, the royal babe was laid on a couch under 
 a gorgeous canopy of State. " It was his first 
 levee" says Ewald. " Never in after life did he 
 receive such homage. Beautiful dames, the 
 brilliant leaders of a brilliant society, bent the 
 knee and covered him with caresses. Cardinals
 
 48 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and prelates stood over him and gave him their 
 blessing. Soldiers, who had been exiles from their 
 country to follow the declining fortunes of his 
 House, pressed his chubby hand with their 
 bearded lips, and felt a new life animating their 
 loyalty. Bigoted intriguers, whose one prayer was 
 that England might return to the Catholic faith, 
 hurried to the couch to pay homage, knowing 
 that as long as the old line still survived there 
 was a chance of their hopes being granted." 
 
 And what was this royal babe like ? Among 
 the gossips opinions were divided. One plain- 
 spoken male person, John Walton, the English 
 agent in Italy, declared that he was " d'une 
 saute qui de jour en jour montre plus d'imperfec- 
 tions." His legs were so misshapen turned in 
 that he could never walk ! Walton's wish must 
 have been father of the thought. At the most 
 interesting period of his life, no one noticed any- 
 thing amiss with Charles Edward's limbs. It was 
 all nonsense. The lad who boated on the lake at 
 Albano, who marched from Edinburgh to Derby 
 and from Derby to Glasgow in fifty-six days, was 
 " as vigorous and straight-limbed as athletic 
 youth need ever wish to be." The Stuarts, in 
 spite of their bracing cradle-land, had never been 
 a stalwart race ; but when they represented the 
 baby Charles Edward as weak and ailing, they 
 must have been as far out as was the interested 
 Earl of Arran when he circulated the report that 
 the infant Mary Stuart was " sickly, and not like
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 49 
 
 to live." That calumny stung the Queen-mother 
 to the quick, and she lost no time in getting from 
 Sir Ralph Sadler, the emissary of Henry VIII., 
 that oft-quoted certificate : " It is as goodly a 
 child as I have ever seen, and as likely to live, 
 with the blessing of God." 
 
 So with this descendant of the Queen of Scots, 
 born to James and Clementina. Lord Blandford, 
 who saw the Spes Britannia in May, 1721, 
 described him as " really a fine, promising child." 
 He kissed the podgy hand, impelled to that piece 
 of courtesy by the " racket " of the women. 
 Clementina was charmed with the attention paid 
 to her darling. She " laughed very heartily, and 
 told us she did not question but the day would 
 come that we should not be sorry to have made 
 so early an acquaintance with her son. I thought 
 myself under a necessity of making her a com- 
 pliment that, being hers, he could not miss of 
 being good and happy." The Englishman was 
 obviously something of a gallant. He was right, 
 at any rate, about the " promising " youngster. 
 Only two and a half years had gone over his 
 head, when Colonel John Hay, who had been 
 with Mar in the '15, was proclaiming him "the 
 finest child in the world, healthy and strong," 
 with a sturdy pair of legs (no hint of their being 
 " turned in ") that carried him running about 
 from morning till night. 
 
 Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir so he 
 was christened. One of his biographers says there
 
 50 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 is not a single instance of the Prince himself 
 making use of any but the first of these names. 
 He is probably justified in the statement, though 
 " Charles Edward " is on the monuments at St. 
 Peter's and Frascati. As for the form of the sur- 
 name, there is some justification for those who 
 write it "Stewart" instead of "Stuart." The 
 name was originally " Steward " : it was changed 
 to " Stewart " merely for the sake of euphony. 
 The earlier kings of the line wrote " Steward," 
 " Stewart," or " Stuart," according to personal 
 fancy. But we do not know the " Stewart " 
 kings in a literary sense. So far as the royal 
 name is concerned, literature practically begins 
 with the Queen of Scots, and she spelt " Stuart " 
 because she was educated in France, and the 
 French alphabet failed to furnish a " w." Why 
 should we, with whatever " ancient authority," 
 seek to upset her practice, which was followed 
 also by Prince Charlie ? 
 
 But we are forgetting that same Prince, now 
 emerged from his swaddling clothes, and blessed 
 by the Father of the Faithful. A livery sprig he 
 was ; full of mischief, " continually in motion." 
 In the first letter he wrote to his father he makes 
 the significant promise to be " very dutifull to 
 mamma, and not jump too near her ! " The Duke 
 de Liria was charmed with him as a youngster of 
 six. " In his very countenance I discover," he 
 said, " something so happy that presages to him 
 the greatest felicity." It is safe not to prophesy
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 51 
 
 unless one knows ! Charles Edward's troubles 
 may be said to have begun in the nursery 
 certainly with his education and upbringing. 
 
 Among the numerous counsellors surrounding 
 the taciturn James was one who conceived the 
 silly notion of having the boy sent over to Scot- 
 land for training there. The idea was that the 
 Prince's presence would keep alive the spirit of 
 Jacobitism. A similar project was mooted when 
 Henry, his brother, was born. It would be wise 
 to keep the Court of Spain in remembrance of 
 the Stuarts and their claims, said James' ministers. 
 To that end they would have the infant Duke 
 sent to Madrid, there to be brought up and 
 educated. In this case, James was ready with 
 his consent. No one seems to have thought of 
 the mother's feelings in the matter. These young 
 Princes were simply " men " on the political chess- 
 board, to be moved about as diplomacy might 
 direct. The maternal instinct rebelled and saved 
 Henry without further discussion ; in the case 
 of Charles, there was some doubt. James hesi- 
 tated : he could not himself decide as to the 
 wisdom of the plan proposed. Like his father, he 
 would consult his confessors, the keepers of the 
 royal conscience. These oracles saw danger in 
 the scheme. The Prince might be taken prisoner, 
 or, worse, might be converted to Protestantism ! 
 They had an idea of their own. Why not send a 
 pseudo Charles to Scotland to test the devotion 
 of the Prince's future subjects ? The real Charles
 
 52 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 could be kept meanwhile in a convent at Rome, 
 and when the time was ripe, when the nation's 
 loyalty to the House of Stuart was assured, he 
 would be sent over to his kingdom. 
 
 It was an innocent and ingenious scheme, for all 
 its absurdity. Nor would it have been difficult to 
 work. A pseudo Charles could easily have been 
 managed ; for, as Mr. Lang observes, hundreds 
 of faces like Charles Edward's boyish face may 
 be seen at the public schools. Charles, as a matter 
 of fact, had many doubles, who sometimes traded 
 on the resemblance, and sometimes, after Cul- 
 loden, " wittingly or unwittingly misled the spies 
 that constantly pursued him." During the '45 
 itself a false Charles appeared in Selkirkshire ; 
 while seven years later, another was discovered 
 at Civita Vecchia. Mr. Lang mentions the tradi- 
 tion of Roderick Mackenzie, who died under 
 English bullets crying, " You have slain your 
 Prince." 
 
 Fortunately, the fantastic proposal of James' 
 confessors was knocked on the head by Colonel 
 John Hay (one of James' closest friends and 
 counsellors, and a brother of Lord Kinnoul), who 
 bluntly declared that the King's oracles "knew 
 nothing of English affairs," and that their blind 
 zeal would spoil all. Thus the little Charles 
 remained beside his parents in Rome, the inno- 
 cent cause, as it turned out, of a world of 
 wrangling between the heads of that already 
 unhappy household.
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 53 
 
 Why were they unhappy ? It was chiefly, no 
 doubt, the husband's fault. James was much 
 more concerned about his lost crown than about 
 the care and comfort of his young wife. Look in 
 upon him at the old Palace, and you will find 
 him moping and melancholy, busying himself 
 eternally over the momentous affairs (as he 
 imagined them) of his kingdom. No outlet in that 
 dull existence for the natural gaiety of the 
 Sobieskis ; no sympathy with the young mother 
 lively, fond of society, devoted to those 
 pleasures without which many of her sex find 
 life unsupportable. The pair were obviously 
 unsuited to each other, to begin with. But there 
 was much more than that. James was a master- 
 ful person : disposed, as Lockhart of Carnwath 
 quaintly said, to " skrew up the prerogatives of 
 a sovereign and a husband." He would be King 
 even in the nursery. What should a woman know 
 about the management of a Prince of the House 
 of Stuart ! James would see to that himself. 
 
 Before Charles was many weeks old, he set 
 about engaging a governess, telling Mar that till 
 the child was a year old " our Englishwoman 
 [apparently the Welsh Mrs. Hughes] will do, but 
 after that, she will not be bigg enough ; I mean 
 of too low a rank." The new governess was to be 
 " bigg enough " so far as the qualifications James 
 demanded of her. She was to be prudent, with 
 " a reasonable knowledge of the world," and 
 (most significant of all) " a principle of obedience,
 
 54 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 attachment, and submission to me." James 
 would have no governess for his child who would 
 be likely to question his authority ! It was easier 
 saying what he wanted than to get it. He got the 
 governess indeed, the Mrs. Sheldon so often 
 mentioned ; but she, woman-like, sided with 
 Clementina, and was so plainly concerned in 
 fomenting the quarrel between the royal pair, 
 that James ultimately removed her. Charles was 
 little over a year old when Hay was writing of 
 James that he was resolved to meddle no more 
 in matters of the nurseiy. 
 
 But this was only a temporary mood. James 
 must, at least, concern himself with the education 
 of his son. And here we touch one of the sorest 
 points with poor, unhappy Clementina . The miser- 
 able religious question had vexed the domestic 
 atmosphere from the beginning. There is no sub- 
 ject that men and women are more likely bitterly 
 to quarrel over than the subject of creed, and the 
 imagination is far from being strained in picturing 
 the disputes that must have raged around the 
 cradle in the Palazzo Stuart. James was tolerant, 
 Clementina was not. The same writer who paid 
 her the " compliment," quoted a few pages back, 
 says : " The Princess observed to us that as she 
 believed Charles was to live and die among Pro- 
 testants, she thought fit to have him bred up by 
 their hands, and that in the country where she 
 was born, there was no other distinction but that 
 of honest and dishonest." These were excellent
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 55 
 
 sentiments, but if Clementina ever really held 
 them, she did not hold them long. James' idea 
 was to educate his son without religious bias : to 
 combine Protestant with Catholic tuition ; 
 Clementina, on the other hand, protested that 
 he ought to be entrusted solely to Catholic tutors. 
 There was no reason, of course, why James should 
 not have his way ; and he did have his way, to 
 the further ernbitterment of the situation. Charles 
 must have a tutor, and James would choose him 
 without reference to his consort. 
 
 In 1724 the Chevalier Ramsay was brought to 
 Rome to fill the post. Ramsay was a learned 
 pedagogue, the friend of Fenelon, like James 
 himself. James professed to be " mightily pleased 
 with him," but his tutorship was of short dura- 
 tion. Rightly or wrongly, he was suspected of 
 treachery, of being " a creature of the Duke of 
 Mar," who was now out of favour with James* 
 ' Two glasses of wine unhinges him, and he is not 
 capable of sincerity," wrote Hay. Ramsay 
 returned to Paris in the autumn of 1724, and his 
 place was taken by that same James Murray 
 (Lord Dunbar) who had received Clementina at 
 Bologna, after her flight from Innsbruck. Murray 
 was the son of Lord Stormont, and a brother of 
 Mrs. Hay, of whom we are to hear more. Sir 
 Thomas Sheridan, a left-handed cousin of James, 
 who later figured as one of the Seven Men of 
 Moidart, in the '45, was also called in. The choice 
 of Murray vastly envenomed the dispute. " Make
 
 56 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 my compliments to Murray/' wrote the profligate 
 Duke of Wharton, " and desire that he will not 
 only train the Prince to glory, but likewise give 
 him a polite taste for pleasurable vice." No one 
 objected to Murray on the ground of this sup- 
 posed qualification. But Murray was a Pro- 
 testant, and that was enough for Clementina 
 Stuart, to whom any other faith than her own 
 was the rankest, most pernicious heresy. A child 
 of four, one would think, could not be influenced 
 much, one way or another, in religious matters. 
 But Clementina's anxiety was not allayed. 
 Murray, it was said, had been seen to snatch the 
 Prince up and place him in his carriage when the 
 bells rang for the Ave Maria, and all Rome was 
 on its knees. Walton expressly declares, though 
 the statement seems incredible, that after Murray's 
 appointment, Clementina and other Catholics were 
 prevented speaking to the Prince, which thus 
 created the suspicion that James meant to have 
 him brought up as a Protestant. The suspicion 
 would doubtless be carefully fostered by the 
 Romish clergy and the bigoted intriguers about 
 the Court. Some even professed to detect the 
 sinister influence of the Protestant tutor when 
 Charles was taken to the Vatican in the autumn 
 of 1724. The royal parents made their homage to 
 the Supreme Pontiff, but Charles was fractious. 
 " His conduct," says Ewald, " was an offensive 
 exhibition of Protestantism." Imagine the petit 
 " Protestant " of four trying to affront the Holy
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 57 
 
 Father ! Charles had nothing of the inherent 
 religious temperament of his father, and he was 
 very likely thinking more of play than of Pro- 
 testantism when the Pope gave him audience in 
 the gardens. Later on, in September, 1726, he 
 behaved better, and was able to repeat his 
 Catechism. 
 
 But just now he was undoubtedly " bad," and 
 the shocked Clementina put it all down to Murray. 
 The problem preyed more and more on her mind, 
 until, after the birth of her second son, she 
 declared hysterically that James " wished to 
 bring up her boys as heretics ; and rather than 
 permit such an infamy, she would stab them with 
 her own hand." The matter was certainly real 
 enough to her so real, that we may readily find 
 in it the sole cause of her subsequent resolve to 
 live no longer under the roof of a husband who 
 insisted on the semi-Protestant education of his 
 children. But there were many causes of dis- 
 agreement in this wretched household. There was 
 " another woman " in the case : so, at least, the 
 green-eyed Clementina believed. James' troubles, 
 according to one authority, came about largely 
 " because he allowed his little Court to be directed 
 by that triumvirate, John Hay, Mrs. Hay, and 
 James Murray." Mrs. Hay (known also as Lady 
 Inverness) had certainly a good deal to do with 
 the embroilment. Walton, who speaks of the 
 " sovereign authority " which she and her hus- 
 band exercised in the house, blames them for 
 
 5 (2005)
 
 58 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 driving away Mrs. Sheldon, " the only confidante 
 of the Princess," describes her as " a mere coquette, 
 tolerably handsome, but withal prodigiously vain 
 and arrogant." Clementina suspected a guilty 
 connection between her husband and Mrs. Hay, 
 and outside scandal supported her in the assump- 
 tion. James paid no little court to her, at any 
 rate. Walton, who saw so much, says he showed 
 " extraordinary kindness " to Mrs. Hay, while he 
 treated Clementina " very badly." One pregnant 
 incident is recorded. Clementina was sitting in 
 her own private room when James opened the 
 door and led in Mrs. Hay by the hand. Clemen- 
 tina naturally showed her annoyance ; James 
 retorted by offering Mrs. Hay his arm, and, 
 saying, " Let me take you into supper," left the 
 room. Clementina had seen too much ! She 
 boldly accused her husband of infidelity, and 
 declared that he must choose between losing his 
 wife or dismissing his mistress. The hot blood 
 of the Sobieskis would not stand this the last and 
 worst insult of all. 
 
 The advent of the second son stilled the troubled 
 waters for a time. When Charles was born, the 
 female gossips proclaimed that Clementina could 
 never have another child. Walton was assured 
 " par plusieurs dames, connoisseuses dans le 
 metier de faire des enfants, que la Princesse 
 Sobieski, a juger du present etat de sa sante, nen 
 fera point d'autres." The fiction, as Mr. Sanford 
 Terry remarks, matched that of Charles' jambes
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 59 
 
 estropifes. But we need not dwell upon that. 
 Poor Clementina had scant pleasure in her off- 
 spring ; and when it was proposed to send her 
 infant Henry away to Madrid, she felt that the 
 tension of the whole situation must be relieved at 
 last. She would go. She was unhappy with 
 James : she had no say in the management and 
 upbringing of her children ; she suspected a rival 
 in the King's regard ; she was not even mistress 
 of her own domestic affairs. In quarrels between 
 a husband and a wife it is always difficult to get 
 at the truth, difficult to apportion the blame. 
 On the whole, however, one's sympathies are with 
 Clementina Stuart. True, a queen, like a com- 
 moner, it may be said, should take her husband 
 for better or for worse. But Clementina Stuart 
 did not ask for a divorce, or even for a separation. 
 She simply ran away ! 
 
 At first, so far as we can gather, she merely 
 retired to her own suite of rooms in the palace. 
 She was presumably there when James wrote on 
 the 9th of November (1725) imploring her to 
 " return to reason, to duty, to yourself and to 
 me, who await your submission with open arms, 
 and am eager to give you peace and happiness as 
 far as depends on myself. I conjure you once 
 more, my dear Clementina," he adds, " to reflect 
 seriously." But Clementina had done with reflec- 
 tion for the present, at least. Having taken her 
 final resolve, she wrote to the Abbess of the 
 Convent of St. Cecilia, at Trastevere, begging that
 
 60 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the door of the house might be left open on the 
 following day, when she would present herself 
 and seek admission. It was this same convent, 
 let it be noted, in passing, that many years later 
 (1781) sheltered the Countess of Albany from the 
 drunken violence of Charles Edward Stuart. Next 
 day (November 15th) saw Clementina with the 
 Ursuline sisters, who, as we learn from the omnis- 
 cient Walton, were greatly concerned and alarmed 
 at her hysterical outbursts. She " wept freely and 
 used very exaggerated language," says Walton, 
 who had his information from a brother of one of 
 the nuns. 
 
 This is not the place to tell in full the story of 
 Clementina's estrangement from her husband 
 a story which, at the time, made gossip for every 
 Court and coffee-house in Europe. As Charles 
 Greville, the diarist, said of Caroline of Brunswick, 
 " the discussion of the Queen's business had now 
 become an intolerable nuisance in society." The 
 story has been told elsewhere with more detail 
 than was perhaps necessary. James pleaded ; 
 Clementina protested. Return to " reason and 
 duty," he reiterated. " I will rather suffer death," 
 she replied, " than live with persons that have no 
 religion, honour, or conscience." The outside 
 world was invited to interest itself in the " sad, 
 lamentable subject " (the words are James'), and 
 the outside world took the part of the woman. 
 Remonstrances poured in upon the unhappy 
 James. The Pope hinted at his " concubinage,"
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 61 
 
 and sent representatives to argue with him. 
 Cardinal Alberoni came. James, irritated at his 
 remarks, haughtily observed that the Cardinal 
 was forgetting himself. On this, Alberoni rose 
 from his seat and in such a fury that his robes 
 were torn by the arms of the chair. He had, he 
 said, never failed to speak the truth even in the 
 presence of powerful sovereigns who could have 
 had him executed on the spot, and he was not to 
 be intimidated by a king without a country. And 
 with that Parthian shot, the Cardinal sailed from 
 the room. 
 
 His Holiness presently put on the screw 
 in another way by cutting off half of James' 
 pension. From every possible quarter was the 
 erring husband assailed. When he proposed 
 to visit Spain for political purposes, the Queen 
 of that country (a sister of Clementina) dared 
 him to put a foot within her dominions unless 
 accompanied by his wife. The Emperor of Ger- 
 many was indignant at the treatment of his 
 kinswoman, and sent his remonstrances. The 
 Jacobites, too, protested against James' conduct 
 as greatly injuring the " cause." But James was 
 obstinate. He would not, as Clementina had 
 demanded, part with Hay and his wife, nor dis- 
 miss Murray. He would be reconciled to his con- 
 sort, but only if she owned herself in the wrong. 
 And when Clementina, stiffening her neck, declined 
 to own herself in the wrong, the glum old King 
 took the mean revenge of appearing in public
 
 62 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 with Mrs. Hay ! It was whispered in Roman 
 society that a reconciliation had been effected 
 between the estranged pair, and that James and 
 his consort would visit the theatre together on 
 a given evening. That evening all Rome assembled 
 at the play. James, indeed, came : but with 
 whom ? with Mrs. Hay, " magnificently dressed." 
 A murmur of disapprobation went through the 
 house. Even that " free " Society was disgusted 
 at the unseemly exhibition. Rome, in truth, was 
 becoming too hot for James. A change of scene, 
 a little bit away, he thought, would do him good. 
 Suppose he tried Bologna ? The Pope heard of 
 his resolve, and sent a trio of Cardinals with final 
 representations. His Holiness, they assured him, 
 would never allow James to establish himself 
 permanently at Bologna if his purpose was to 
 escape from his wife and to get a freer hand for 
 his sons' education. Thus was James baulked in 
 that direction, too ; for did not the Pope hold 
 the purse-strings ? Nevertheless, he proceeded to 
 Bologna, where he ostentatiously drove about 
 with the " fascinating " Mrs. Hay. 
 
 But things were shaping themselves towards a 
 settlement of the matrimonial estrangement. 
 James had begun to listen to reason. Now he 
 agreed to part with the Hays and to remove 
 Charles from the tutelage of the Protestant 
 Murray. This was what Clementina had all along 
 demanded, and now, when James sent her an 
 affectionate letter (she was so moved by it that
 
 63 
 
 she " fainted straight away "), the unhappy 
 inmate of the Ursuline Convent decided to rejoin 
 him at once, at Bologna. But James was no 
 longer at Bologna, though Clementina learned the 
 fact only when she was well on the road. George I. 
 had just died, and our Old Pretender had hurried 
 away to Lorraine in futile quest of " something 
 to his advantage." Alas ! there was no " advan- 
 tage " for the Stuart King. George II. already 
 sat in his father's chair, and old England recked 
 nothing of the Jacobite claim to kingship. It 
 was a whole year after she started to join him at 
 Bologna before Clementina saw her James. He 
 had settled at Nancy, and was driven from 
 there ; he went to Avignon, and Avignon 
 politely moved him on. And so the home had 
 to be re-made at the old Palazzo Stuart. 
 Clementina returned, and the breach was healed. 
 Things went on smoothly enough for a time ; but 
 in the matter of matrimony, once incompatible, 
 always incompatible. It was an ill-assorted union, 
 and only the children's interests kept the parents 
 together. There were mutual recriminations, 
 squabbles about money, complaints from Clemen- 
 tina about her husband's attentions to this and 
 the other " dear charmer," and so on ; until, by 
 the autumn of 1730, poor James was wishing that 
 he could hit upon some " prudent means of separa- 
 tion." Clementina was neither well in health nor 
 in temper. True, she had become devout, like 
 James himself, but religion could not cover the
 
 64 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 multitude of domestic differences. Later, James 
 pity seems to have been aroused on behalf of his 
 sad, soured, broken-hearted partner, whose bright 
 smiling face, as he had first beheld it at Monte- 
 fiascone, had now assumed an abject, nun-like 
 expression. One who saw her in these days 
 reported that she was " too pale and thin to be 
 reckoned a handsome woman." Of what account 
 was it for her now to be reckoned a handsome 
 woman ? Her day was done ; she had played the 
 game and lost. Early in January, 1735, James 
 had to report her " at the last extremity." On 
 January 12th she received the viatique. " She is 
 perfectly in her senses," wrote James, " and dies 
 with a tranquillity, a piety, and a peace which is, 
 with reason, a great comfort to me in my present 
 situation." 
 
 In the death-chamber the poor, distracted James 
 was seen continually on his knees, nearly fainting 
 with his long litanies and supplications. Walton 
 unfeelingly said it was " in order to efface from 
 the minds of the Roman people the idea that 
 his bad treatment of her some short years ago 
 shortened her days." Let us think more charit- 
 ably of James. The little Princes, as we learn 
 from Murray, were " almost ill with weeping and 
 want of sleep." The mother had asked to see 
 them when she realised that her last hour had 
 arrived. " Hold fast by the old faith," she 
 faltered ; " do not quit it for all the kingdoms of 
 the world, none of which can ever be compared
 
 BIRTH AND BOYHOOD 65 
 
 with the kingdom of heaven." The ruling passion 
 strong in death ! 
 
 It was all over at 5 p.m. on the 18th January, 
 when Clementina breathed her last. That her 
 bright life, bubbling over with the warm, mer- 
 curial Sobieski blood, had been linked with the 
 hopeless, melancholy fortunes of the Stuarts, was 
 a cruel blow from the hand of Fate. She had 
 known no real happiness, and she died, devout 
 but broken-hearted. One easily discerns her 
 faults her quick temper, her doggedness, her 
 intolerance of any religious creed but her own. 
 But James had his faults, too. A husband of a 
 different temperament would have easily " man- 
 aged " this " gay and charming girl," who used 
 to call the intrepid Wogan her " papa Warner." 
 But James had no art of managing a wife (an 
 excited wife especially) ; no tact, no human con- 
 sideration for the weaknesses of the sex. His 
 fault, as Mr. Lang says, was a desire to be always, 
 and always to be acknowledged to be, in the right ; 
 d' avoir tou jours raison. The same temper, wildly 
 indulged in, was to ruin Charles. Great men, it 
 is contended, are often more indebted to the 
 mother than to the father. It would be difficult 
 to say just what Charles Edward gained from 
 either parent. From his mother he can have 
 gained little but the adventurous qualities of the 
 Sobieskis, to which we may fairly attribute his 
 transient dashes of heroism. Under success, that 
 temperament the Polish element in him would
 
 66 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 have survived and effectually checked the other 
 strain the Stuart strain, which came uppermost 
 in his later years of ignominy, of hopes deferred 
 and disappointed " the morose obstinacy, the 
 gloomy brutality of James II., and of his father." 
 Charles was strangely compounded of the 
 Englishman and the Pole. 
 
 Clementina Stuart was laid to rest in St. Peter's, 
 though her heart is preserved in the Church of 
 the Sancti Apostoli. Here, in that same church, 
 James daily heard mass for years, and prayed 
 beside his wife's tomb, and here he himself was 
 laid when his life's fever was over. Clementina's 
 funeral obsequies were conducted on a scale of 
 lavish pomp. The wax tapers burnt on the occa- 
 sion alone weighed 13,000 Ibs., says the prosaic 
 historian. Poor lady ! All this extravagant 
 illumination she would gladly have bartered for 
 a little real love. Benedict XIV. raised a monu- 
 ment to the pure and blameless " Queen," which 
 may be seen in St. Peter's to-day. In 1741 Lady 
 Mary Wortley Montagu was in Rome, and learnt, 
 " on the spot," that Benedict and Clementina 
 were lovers ! Thus is history invented.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 " WHEN ALL THE WORLD WAS YOUNG, LAD " 
 
 WHAT was our young Prince doing, what was he 
 thinking about all this time ? When his mother 
 " flew into a passion and a convent " he was not 
 yet five. How was the situation explained to 
 him ? Doubtless, like any other child of his age, 
 he would " ask for mamma." And what would 
 papa say ? Eighteen months went by before 
 mother and child were re-united. Perhaps the 
 vivacious Prince, busied about his juvenile affairs, 
 would forget. The Palazzo Stuart itself must 
 have been " slow " enough, in all conscience, for 
 a high-spirited youngster of his type. Here was 
 just the sort of existence which the chubby 
 Prince of Wales, the future George IV., had to 
 endure in that castle of ennui where the third 
 George sat, " posting up his books and droning 
 over his Handel, and old Queen Charlotte over 
 her snuff and her tambour-frame." The deadly 
 dulness of Papa Stuart's Court, its vapid amuse- 
 ments, its dreary occupations, the maddening hum- 
 drum, the stifling sobriety of its routine, might 
 well have made a scapegrace of a much less lively 
 Prince than Charles Edward Stuart. That it did 
 affect him in a way not altogether for his good, 
 we shall see by-and-bye. In the meantime, his 
 patchwork education had begun ; and what with 
 
 67
 
 68 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 lessons and play the time would pass quickly 
 enough. 
 
 We have several pictures of the Prince about 
 this date. His cousin, the Duke de Liria, before 
 mentioned, a son of the attainted Duke of Berwick, 
 writing of him in 1727 says 
 
 " The Prince of Wales was now six and a half, and, besides 
 his great beauty, was remarkable for dexterity, grace, and 
 almost supernatural address. Not only could he read fluently : 
 he could ride, could fire a gun ; and more surprising still, 
 I have seen him take a cross-bow and kill birds on the roof, 
 and split a rolling ball with a bolt ten times in succession. 
 He speaks English, French, and Italian perfectly, and alto- 
 gether he is the most ideal Prince I have ever met in the course 
 of my life." 
 
 Here, allowing for some exaggeration, was the 
 " bonnie Prince Charlie " who was to set so many 
 hearts aflame when he went to fight for his father's 
 crown. When Murray of Brought on made his 
 acquaintance in Rome, in 1742, he wrote home 
 
 " Charles Edward is tall, above the common stature ; his 
 limbs are cast in the most exact mould, his complexion has 
 in it somewhat of an uncommon delicacy ; all his features are 
 perfectly regular and well turned, and his eyes the finest 
 I ever saw. But that which shines in him, and renders him 
 without exception the most surprisingly handsome person 
 of the age, is the dignity that accompanies his every gesture ; 
 there is indeed such an unspeakable majesty diffused through 
 his whole mien as it is impossible to have any idea of without 
 seeing, and strikes those that do with such an awe as will not 
 suffer them to look upon him for any time, unless he emboldens 
 them to it by his excessive amiability." 
 
 This is, perhaps, rather too rose-coloured. Yet 
 there must have been something very fascinating
 
 train UH; pa:ruins, by 
 
 Prince Charles Edward as a youth 
 
 By permission of the ' Caxton Publishing Co., Ltd.
 
 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG' 1 69 
 
 about the Prince. His portraits do not quite 
 explain the fascination, any more than do the 
 portraits of his ancestor, Mary Stuart. 
 
 " Was this the face that launched a thousand ships, 
 And burned the topless towers of Ilium ? " 
 
 asks Marlowe, writing of the vision of Golden 
 Helen. Was this the face that turned the heads 
 of the women of the '45 ? might be the echoing 
 answer as we look at most of the likenesses of 
 Prince Charlie. And yet they are pleasant enough, 
 too, these contemporary portraits. They repre- 
 sent him with a high, broad brow, a shapely nose, 
 and eyes of a rich dark brown colour, as in the 
 portrait in the National Portrait Gallery, Edin- 
 burgh. There has been some discussion about the 
 eyes. Sir Horace Mann, the British Minister at 
 Florence, describes them as blue ; and that colour 
 is also mentioned in the Letters from Italy, by an 
 Englishwoman, of date 1770. 
 
 It is a curious mistake to have made, for blue 
 eyes are almost as easily recognised as red hair. 
 One remembers how Mary Stuart's eyes have 
 been set down as "decidedly brown"; some- 
 times as of a yellowish hue (hazel) ; more fre- 
 quently as of an absolutely reddish colour, like 
 chestnut and the paint known to artists as burnt 
 sienna. Of course, the contemporary portraits are 
 not to be implicitly relied on as fixing the colour 
 of eyes, for colours (on canvas) lose much by 
 sinking in : they not only lose brilliancy, but
 
 70 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 they darken. There can, however, be no reason- 
 able doubt about the colour of Prince Charles' 
 eyes. He inherited, as Mr. Lang remarks, the 
 dark eyes of his father, the " Black Bird," and of 
 Mary Stuart. We shall hear more about the 
 glamour of those eyes, about the fascination of 
 those features, which narrowly escaped disfigure- 
 ment by an attack of smallpox in 1730. As yet 
 Charlie is still " a lad with the bloom of a lass." 
 Many and varied were his occupations and 
 interests. He was musical, and already, in his 
 fourth year, had been reported as playing the 
 fiddle " continually," which, however, we are 
 not required to read as indicating that he could 
 draw a tune from the strings. So the baby 
 George IV. " played elegantly on the violoncello." 
 One looks upon these royal attempts at music- 
 making through very mildly critical eyes, remem- 
 bering the stinging answer made by Handel to a 
 certain German sovereign : " Your Majesty plays 
 like a prince." But both Charles and Henry 
 excelled on the strings excelled for princes, that 
 is to say. That genial old French gossip, Charles 
 Debrosses, tells how he once entered the room 
 while they were executing the celebrated Notte di 
 Natale of Corelli, and " expressed my regret at 
 not having heard the commencement." In later 
 life, Charles tried the French horn and, as became 
 a claimant of the Scottish crown, the bagpipe. 
 What a sight it would have been that leader of 
 the '45 marching at the head of his forces in kilt
 
 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 71 
 
 and philabeg, sounding the chanter, the " drones " 
 over his shoulder ! 
 
 But music was only one of his youthful diver- 
 sions. One observer, writing of him in 1727, says 
 he has " a stable of little horses, and every day 
 almost diverts himself by riding." He is " most 
 alert in all his exercises, such as shooting, the 
 tennis, shuttlecock, etc." A gentleman in town 
 " has prepared a Caccia of pigeons and hares to be 
 shot by him this afternoon." And then, " you 
 would be surprised to see him dance : nobody 
 probably does it better, and he bore his part at 
 the balls in the Carnival as if he were already a 
 man." Later, one reads much about the young 
 Prince at the dances in Rome and elsewhere, and 
 the fluttering anxiety to secure the royal partner 
 visible among the beauties of the ballroom. Like 
 his grandfather, James VII., Charles played "the 
 golf " (not then a popular game, as it is now) ; 
 and " it would very agreeably surprise you," Sir 
 James Hamilton is informed, " to see him play 
 so well at it." By-and-bye he learned to handle 
 the gloves to some purpose. In short, he was a 
 happy, vigorous, restless boy, plucky and pretty, 
 fond of the open air and of all open-air activities 
 in the way of sport and amusement, physically 
 built for strength and health as Lord Elcho said, 
 " with a body made for war." Ah ! if only the 
 Fates had been kind to him, and brought success 
 out of his " forlorn hope " ! Charles Edward 
 Stuart was born for high enterprise, for adventure,
 
 72 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 for activity ; for a crown and a kingdom. Given 
 these, and that tragic story of his later years 
 despairing, disillusioned, inactive, devoted to the 
 " nasty bottle " for want of something to do of 
 real import in the world that sad, pathetic story 
 would never have had to be written. His, surely, 
 was the worst luck of all the luckless Stuarts. 
 Better to have died at Culloden in a halo of 
 glory ; better, perhaps, to have lost his head, like 
 the martyrs of Whitehall and Fotheringay. 
 
 But to return. Charles' studies, we may take 
 it, did not greatly vex him. Much has been 
 written about his education. "It is told with 
 what astonishing rapidity he learned all languages, 
 ancient and modern," says Thackeray of the 
 " first gentleman in Europe." That also is told 
 of Charles Edward Stuart. Murray of Brought on, 
 " secretary " of the '45, writing of him in 1742, 
 says his learning is " extensive beyond what could 
 be expected from double the number of his years. 
 He speaks most of the European languages with 
 the same ease and fluency as if each of them was 
 the only one he knew ; is a perfect master of the 
 different kinds of Latin, understands Greek very 
 well, and is not altogether ignorant of Hebrew," 
 Greek and Hebrew such a paragon ! Who 
 taught him Hebrew, and what did he want with 
 Hebrew ? Much better if he had been taught 
 spelling and a " good hand of write." Spelling 
 was not much heeded in the eighteenth century, 
 certainly. But Charles' spelling was shocking, and
 
 'WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG " 73 
 
 there was no sense in his learning Hebrew when 
 he could not spell English. 
 
 His mental accomplishments were very likely 
 overrated. The unprejudiced Debrosses said he 
 was " less cultivated than became a prince " ; 
 while ^Eneas Macdonald, the Scots banker, who 
 made his acquaintance in France and got so 
 involved in the '45, wrote that " he seemed to 
 have been badly educated, and to care for little 
 else than hunting and shooting." Lord Elcho, 
 too, spoke disparagingly of his acquirements, 
 though it has to be remembered that Elcho had 
 lent him money which the Prince could not or 
 would not repay. 
 
 Whatever his education was, the Prince clearly 
 proved himself something of a worry to his tutors. 
 Towards the end of 1728, a Mr. Stafford had been 
 engaged in that capacity. He remained attached 
 to Charles for many years, and aided his secret 
 flight from Rome in 1744. There is nothing to 
 show that Stafford had any more success with his 
 mettlesome young charge than had his pre- 
 decessors. In truth, Charles was slowly but surely 
 passing beyond control. The Sobieski tempera- 
 ment, no doubt, in part accounted for this. But 
 it is only fair to him to remember the circum- 
 stances which surrounded him. The wretched 
 intrigues of the Court and the miserable bicker- 
 ings of his parents cannot have been other than 
 pernicious in their influence upon his character 
 and general conduct, while at the same time they 
 
 6 (a 005)
 
 74 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 had their effect in robbing him of that parental 
 affection and attention so important in the 
 guiding of a young mind. 
 
 It soon became apparent, at any rate, that 
 Charles Edward Stuart was no docile son of a 
 devout father. By the year 1733 he had, as Earl 
 Marischal reported, " got out of the hands of his 
 governors." He had threatened to kill Murray, 
 his old tutor, and was regarded with such appre- 
 hension, that weapons were removed from his 
 reach, and he was placed under ward in his 
 rooms. It seems rather too much to believe of a 
 youth of thirteen, but that vivacite bmtale, of 
 which Walton speaks, was clearly latent if not 
 now actually apparent. One regrets parting with 
 the young, innocent Prince, busied with his violin 
 and his golf, and his shooting, and his tennis. 
 But Mr. Lang is right in asking us to regard 
 Charles' education as practically ended at thirteen. 
 Up to that age he is the pretty, fair-haired, brown- 
 eyed child, the cheery, active little fellow, already 
 distraught between two religions. " Then comes 
 a kind of revolt against teaching and teachers, 
 and we find him the handsome, petulant lad (as 
 in several portraits) who is to see war at Gaeta." 
 No mere carpet knight he, now ! 
 
 The year 1733 was full of fate for more than 
 one of the dynasties of Europe. It was the year 
 which saw the outbreak of the war of the Polish 
 Election. Augustus the Strong had just died, and 
 there was a double election to the crown of Poland
 
 'WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 75 
 
 between Frederick Augustus, Elector of Saxony, 
 the son of the late King, and Stanilaus, who had 
 before been made king by Charles XII. Russia 
 and Germany supported Augustus, but as Louis XV. 
 had married the daughter of Stanilaus, he promptly 
 declared war on Germany. Louis was joined by 
 the King of Sardinia and by Philip of Spain, both 
 of whom had designs on the Austrian possessions 
 in Italy. Spain's younger son, Don Carlos, was 
 in search of a crown : why should the Don not be 
 King of the two Sicilies ? For once, thanks mainly 
 to Sir Robert Walpole's wisdom and courage, 
 England took no part in the contest. George II., 
 now six years on the throne, was eager to fight ; 
 Queen Caroline, also, her German sympathies 
 prompting her, was inclined to join in the fray. 
 But Walpole stood firm. " There are fifty thou- 
 sand men slain this year," he was able to say as 
 the war proceeded, " and not one Englishman." 
 A long business it proved, and all over so little ! 
 The united armies poured into Austrian Lom- 
 bardy ; a Spanish army was hurrying forward 
 with Don Carlos to Naples. Already the power 
 of the Austrians in Northern Italy had been 
 crushed by the battle of La Crocetta. Charles 
 Edward Stuart was itching to " see life," to make 
 some acquaintance with another world than that 
 which lay within his reach in the city of St. 
 Peter, where everyone who was not a noble or 
 a soldier married men, lawyers, doctors, writers, 
 even strangers wore the black dress and cloak
 
 76 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 of the priest and was addressed by the title of 
 Abate. Rome was no doubt " the most cosmo- 
 politan city of eighteenth-century Europe " ; 
 crowded, too, in the Prince's young days, with 
 British travellers and others, all more or less 
 interested in the exiled King and his Court. 
 But Charles Edward had other interests than 
 priests and tourists. He was only fourteen, but 
 the cannon were booming almost within hearing. 
 Was it not possible to get some little share in the 
 campaign ? He would have to fight in his father's 
 " bonnie Scotland " yet. Might it not be well to 
 have some experience of " war's alarms " before 
 that time arrived ? 
 
 The unexpected often happens with oppor- 
 tunities as with other things. The Duke de Liria 
 had given his services to Don Carlos. He came 
 to Rome on a brief visit when the Spaniards were 
 settling down to business in front of the fortresses 
 of Capua and Gaeta, into which the pick of the 
 Austrian troops had thrown themselves. Would 
 the young Prince " like to see some service " ? 
 What would the young Prince like better ! Charles 
 jumped at the idea with boyish enthusiasm. James 
 was not displeased. The Pope bestowed his bene- 
 diction (which cost nothing), but " gave me no 
 money on this occasion," James pathetically 
 added. He blessed his boy himself, " with all the 
 tenderness I am capable of," voicing the hope 
 that the boy would one day be both " a great and 
 a good man." It was the end of July when the
 
 'WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 77 
 
 excited youth set out from home for the first 
 time, already the " young Chevalier " of Scottish 
 song, for he went incognito under his father's old 
 name, the Chevalier de St. George. It was the 
 first of a series of mystifications that were to 
 follow in that life now beginning in something 
 like real earnest. For suite, he took with him 
 Murray and Sheridan, a surgeon, four servants, 
 and a couple of Spanish friars, the latter, we may 
 assume, a concession to his mother's devout 
 notions. For Clementina was at the Palazzo 
 Stuart again, to see her boy off. There would be 
 tears mixed with maternal counsel and solicita- 
 tion at that parting. But Clementina Stuart had 
 faith in her Prince and his future. Had she not 
 remarked, fourteen years back, that " the day 
 would come " ? 
 
 She had good reason to be proud of her boy 
 now. In that short and dashing campaign which 
 ended in the addition of a third Bourbon kingdom 
 to Europe, few veterans distinguished themselves 
 with more bravery than this fourteen-year-old 
 who had never smelt powder but in sport. Don 
 Carlos welcomed him when he arrived, saluting 
 him, with royal courtesy, as Prince of Wales. 
 A command was immediately assigned to him 
 worth a thousand crowns a month. He wanted 
 to go into the trenches at once. The risks were 
 great, for was not this a Prince of the Stuart 
 line in whom the hopes of the Jacobites were 
 already centred ? The Duke, his guardian,
 
 78 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 hesitated, more especially as the Don had so far 
 declined to expose himself to danger. But Charles 
 was not to be denied. He sprang into the trenches 
 and actually seemed to enjoy the lead hissing 
 about his ears. " Valour does not wait for numbers 
 of years," exclaimed the astonished Duke, watch- 
 ing him. The balls were making havoc of the 
 house in which he resided, but he took it all 
 " with an undisturbed countenance." 
 
 Officers and soldiers adored him, amazed at the 
 pluck and intrepidity of one so young. " I cannot 
 express to you," wrote one, " how much our whole 
 army is charmed with the Prince of Wales. Never 
 was any Prince endowed with so much vivacity, 
 nor appeared more cheerful in all the attacks. If 
 he had been master of his own inclinations, he 
 never would have quitted the trenches, and was 
 overheard to say that the noise of the cannon was 
 more pleasant music to him than the opera at 
 Rome." It is worth emphasising this in view of 
 the charges of cowardice in the '45. Such charges 
 were totally unfounded. Whatever were Charles 
 Edward's failings, cowardice was not among them. 
 His courage may, indeed, have been purely 
 physical, but it is enough to know that he 
 possessed it, whether it was the courage of 
 Nelson, who " never knew fear," or the rash, 
 impetuous, unthinking courage which dashes into 
 danger regardless of consequences. At Gaeta, at 
 any rate, there could be no question. When the 
 affair was over and the fortress invested, it was
 
 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 79 
 
 written of Charles, from the scene of operations : 
 " All who have seen him affirm that he is born 
 to a happy fate, and to make others happy, too." 
 Alas ! the prophecy was sorely " out " on both 
 counts. 
 
 From Gaeta, Charles proceeded to Naples, 
 clothed in glory and golden opinions ; with 
 "numerous jewels" and two splendid horses 
 presented to him by the admiring Don, now 
 King of the Sicilies. Debrosses tells a good story 
 of the voyage. In the course of the trip, Charles' 
 hat blew off into the sea. A prince's hat was a 
 thing to be looked after, and the seamen were 
 preparing a boat for the rescue. " Never mind," 
 said our gallant Prince ; "I shall be obliged 
 before long to go and fetch myself a hat in Eng- 
 land." Already, then, he was thinking of the 
 Crown ! Naples made a hero of him far too 
 much of a hero, for we find that he was ill and 
 Papa advising him to be more temperate in his 
 " dyet." Before September ended, he was with 
 Papa at Albano, suffering reproaches on account 
 of the brevity of his letters while away. His old 
 temper returned, so that " he was in penance 
 again yesterday, but things went better to-day." 
 We may easily imagine him after the exciting 
 experiences through which he had passed, getting 
 restlessly rebellious against the dreary life which 
 his father was content to live. What were Albano 
 and the Palazzo Stuart to Gaeta and the glory of 
 Naples ? " Everybody," writes Walton, " says
 
 80 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 that he will be in time a far more dangerous 
 enemy to the present establishment of the Govern- 
 ment of England than ever his father was." If 
 Charles had any real idea of this himself, can we 
 wonder at his impatience now ? 
 
 Meanwhile, he was suffering the distress of his 
 mother's death. Charles would probably take the 
 bereavement less to heart than Henry ; for 
 Henry was " thoughtful," as his father said. 
 Henry was hurt at not being allowed to go to 
 Gaeta, but one can hardly imagine the future 
 ecclesiastic as a military hero. Charles was 
 " wonderfully thoughtless," addicted to " little 
 childish amusements " ; but then he was made 
 for adventure, not for a cardinal's hat. He was 
 only fifteen, and could hardly be expected to 
 show gravity. A wife might steady him, thought 
 James. The Spanish Infanta was asked for and 
 refused, and there the matrimonial idea exhausted 
 itself for the present. A visit to grandfather 
 Sobieski in Poland was contemplated ; but, 
 finally (in 1737), it was resolved that Charles 
 should make a tour through Italy. Once more 
 he travelled incognito, this time as the Count of 
 Albany, a name full of suggestion to those who 
 know his later history. Murray was again in his 
 suite (Murray whom he had threatened with his 
 vivacite brutale) ; also Mr. Strickland, who was in 
 Scotland in the '45, and was now to " super- 
 intend his writing " ; and Henry Goring, son of 
 Atterbury's accomplice Sir Harry, who served
 
 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 81 
 
 him long and faithfully, and was ill-requited for 
 his devotion. 
 
 The tour was begun towards the end of April. 
 There was a two days' stay at Bologna noble 
 old Bologna, looking out on the green plains 
 of Lombardy where Charles danced at a ball 
 given in his honour at the magnificent palace of 
 the Marquis of Tibbia. At Parma he inspected 
 the troops, danced again, saw all the shows, 
 and carried away valuable presents. From there 
 he went to Piacenza (where another ball was 
 arranged), and thence to Genoa, Milan, and 
 Venice. We ought to imagine him enraptured, 
 in spite of himself, with the beautiful city in the 
 sea, crumbling gaily away : that sure asylum for 
 men of letters like Boccaccio and Petrarch, where 
 Beckford could " dream Oriental dreams of 
 luxuriousness and hidden terrors, and compare 
 the motley population, not less than the cupola 
 and minarets, with the strange world of Vathek 
 which he carried in his mind." But, in fact, there 
 is nothing to show that Charles Edward felt any- 
 thing of that fascination indicated by Byron's 
 famous lines 
 
 " Italia, oh ! Italia, thou who hast 
 The fatal gift of beauty, which became 
 A funeral dower of present woes and fast, 
 On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough' d by shame 
 And annals graved in characters of flame." 
 
 As Mr. Lang says, the seductions of Italy were 
 lost upon him. He " never dallied in Armida's
 
 82 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 gardens, but loved the wintry woods, hunting, 
 shooting, walking stockingless, all to harden him- 
 self for the campaigns that lay before his 
 imagination." 
 
 Here, at Venice, for the first time on the tour, 
 he enjoyed something of the distinction due to 
 royalty. The " gorgeous gondola " of the French 
 ambassador was placed at his disposal ; he was 
 received by the Doge, and sat on the Bench of 
 Princes at the Assembly of the Grand Council. 
 England, far away, nearly interested, was looking 
 on, and promptly repaid the royal hospitality of 
 Venice by dismissing the Venetian resident from 
 St. James'. The lesson was not lost on Florence, 
 whither Charles presently betook himself after 
 visits to Padua and Ferrara. The fair capital of 
 Tuscany, with her Frenchified rulers and intensely 
 Italian people, painted in all her frivolity by the 
 frivolous Mann friend and life-long correspondent 
 of Horace Walpole, British Minister there for forty- 
 six years this was ever after the favourite city 
 of Charles Edward Stuart. The royal carriage had 
 been sent away to meet him, but the English 
 envoy, flustering about the Government officials 
 of the Grand Duke, impressed them with the fact 
 that this seemingly innocent act of courtesy would 
 mar the friendly relations existing between the 
 Court of His Highness and that of St. James', and 
 the royal carriage returned empty. Charles Edward 
 would not be officially recognised in Florence. 
 He was, nevertheless, splendidly entertained
 
 "WHEN THE WORLD WAS YOUNG" 83 
 
 by the Florentine aristocracy, the Parisians 
 of Italy. At Lucca, at Pisa, too, the visitor had 
 royal junketings and festive fraternisings ; and 
 when the tour came to an end at Leghorn, Charles 
 Edward had " watched and enjoyed the glories 
 of actual royalty : had beheld the splendour of 
 that gilded papier-mache Italy ; the brilliant, 
 fading, and fated sunset of the Venetian 
 Republic." 
 
 Murray had meanwhile been sending home 
 " ecstatic descriptions " of the " splendid recep- 
 tions and the glittering company," the " noble 
 dinners," and the " compliments," and all the 
 rest. Charles, we learn from him, " wore curl 
 papers in the morning." Captain Redmond, from 
 Dublin, chanced to see the royal hair thus 
 bestowed, but was cautioned not to mention it 
 in the Irish capital, " where these artifices might 
 be thought effeminate." Charles was assuredly 
 not effeminate. " Had I soldiers," said he, " I 
 would not be here now, but wherever I could 
 serve my friends." He was pleased when (on 
 August 3rd) his long hair was cut and his caput 
 covered by a wig. Later, on his seventeenth 
 birthday, he was shaved for the first time. He 
 was now a man ! But this was after the Italian 
 tour. During that expedition, as we gather from 
 Murray, his real character came out in its full 
 strength and weakness. In public he carried 
 himself with princely distinction ; in private, he 
 was rather less than polite. Thus Murray to
 
 84 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 James, who, deploring his son's inattention in 
 the matter of correspondence, had written : 
 " Don't forget a father that loves you better 
 than himself." Murray continues 
 
 " I cannot but tell your Majesty that in private we might 
 make the same exceptions as formerly, and that he gives us 
 rather more uneasiness when he travels. But this is only a 
 trouble to his own people, and particularly to me who go in 
 the chair with him." 
 
 Thus we see the wilful, spoilt boy, his horizon 
 widened by this Italian tour, sick of his dull 
 existence in a community of priests and curious 
 English tourists, chafing at the deadly routine of 
 the Palazzo Stuart, eager to be up and doing, 
 possessed of a heart for any fate. He " felt deeply 
 the oppressive character of his present position," 
 says Debrosses. Who can doubt it ? Charles 
 Edward, it must be repeated, was born for action. 
 Given employment that he could understand and 
 relish, he " rose gaily and strenuously to the needs 
 and duties of the hour. Unoccupied, he relapsed 
 into the bitter gloom of his long years of later 
 life, and fell back on the stimulant that was his 
 ruin." But now hope and anticipated happiness 
 were in front of him : the opportunity was again 
 presenting itself.
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 ON THE EVE OF THE '45 
 
 THE embers of the long-smouldering Jacobite 
 fires were reviving into active flame ; the " cause " 
 was about to experience a new breath of life. 
 It had never, of course, been dead. Though the 
 Old Chevalier was not a character to inspire 
 enthusiasm, to the Jacobites he was still " The 
 King." So they toasted him, with furtive glances 
 (for spies were always to be feared) and the pass- 
 ing of the glass across the vessel of water on the 
 table. " The King over the water " was under- 
 stood though unexpressed. In bolder mood the 
 toast would run 
 
 " Here's to the King, sir, 
 Ye ken who I mean, sir." 
 
 All the time they were scheming and plotting in 
 secret with the view of getting the auld Stuarts 
 back again. Not a Court in Europe but had its 
 Jacobite agent intriguing for arms and money. 
 Atterbury was plotting at Versailles, Wharton at 
 Madrid. Partisans of the cause were similarly 
 engaged at Vienna and elsewhere. Irresponsible 
 " agents " wandered about, weaving their empty, 
 ineffective plots. The little Court of James him- 
 self was " ever swelled by the arrival of some 
 impulsive Jacobite, who had endless plans for 
 the future." But nothing had been done openly 
 for some years. England was at peace with her 
 
 85
 
 86 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 neighbours, and foreign diplomacy, whose one 
 ambition was to hamper John Bull and his sea- 
 girt isle, had consequently no use for the 
 Jacobites. Year by year the Crown became more 
 firmly fixed on the head of the Hanoverian. 
 Even Lockhart of Carnwath, old-time optimist, 
 had begun to despair. " All the King's [ James'] 
 then schemes and projects were at ane end," he 
 wrote, " as the affairs and views of almost all the 
 princes of Europe took a quite different turn, 
 and their designs in favour of the King were 
 superseded." The darkest hour is before the 
 dawn. The opportunity of the Jacobites was at 
 hand. 
 
 In 1720 Philip of Spain had yielded to the 
 Quadruple Alliance, and war between England 
 and Spain ended. There was peace between the 
 two countries until 1739. But peace could not 
 last in those war-vexed times. English commerce 
 and Spanish commerce were equally at stake, and 
 fair dealing on both sides seemed to be attainable 
 only by the arbitration of the sword. The West 
 Indies and Spanish America continued to be the 
 chief source of irritation. England wanted to 
 trade there ; Spain was resolved that she should 
 not trade there. " Remember Jenkins' ear " was 
 now made a war-cry in England ; and Walpole, 
 man of peace as he was, answered the cry by 
 declaring war against Spain (October, 1739). 
 Historians speak of " the egregious Jenkins." 
 Robert Jenkins was master of the Rebecca brig,
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 87 
 
 of Glasgow. The Spaniards fell in with him on 
 the high seas, and boarded him in search of 
 contraband. Jenkins protested ; whereupon a 
 Spaniard lopped off his ear. " Carry that home 
 to your master, the King," said the insolent son 
 of Spain, " and tell him that if he had been here 
 he would have been served in the same manner." 
 It was a trifling incident except to Jenkins ! 
 But the English took it as a national affront, and 
 demanded blood for blood. 
 
 The war went on ; and then, in 1740, the death 
 of Charles VI., the last German Emperor of the 
 proud house of Hapsburg, set Europe by the ears. 
 The War of the Austrian Succession began, and 
 the Jacobites leapt from their lairs. A Jacobite 
 Association, including Lovat, Cameron of Lochiel, 
 Lochiel the Younger, the Earl of Traquair, and 
 others, was formed, and an official agent for Scot- 
 land was appointed Murray of Broughton, the 
 future renegade of the cause. Murray, a young 
 man of good birth and fortune, fresh from Edin- 
 burgh University, was in Rome, making the indis- 
 pensable " grand tour." Looking through the 
 picture galleries one morning, he was approached 
 by two gentlemen, who asked if he would care to 
 see the Palace of the exiled Stuarts. Certainly ! 
 A day or two later, Murray was introduced to 
 James and presented to the young Princes. The 
 elder Prince was about his own age, and the pair 
 took to each other. Murray was, in fact, so 
 captivated by this heir of the house of Stuart,
 
 88 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 that he at once enrolled himself among the 
 adherents of the cause. He became a daily guest 
 at the Palace, acquired the confidence of James, 
 learnt of all the secret schemes and intrigues in 
 progress, and, by special writ, was appointed 
 " Secretary for Scottish Affairs.'* It was an evil 
 day for the Jacobites when that appointment was 
 made. But of this we may not speak now. 
 
 Fleury, the French Minister, a doubtful friend 
 of the Jacobites, died in January, 1743 ; and 
 was succeeded by Cardinal Tencin, who was 
 indebted to James for his Hat, and might, there- 
 fore, be expected to do the right thing by the 
 Stuarts. Tencin did not disappoint. He sug- 
 gested that Charles Edward should proceed to 
 France, there to wait an opportunity for action. 
 James reluctantly consented, and Charles set out 
 from Rome on the romantic adventure in the 
 early days of January, 1744. The greatest secrecy 
 had to be observed, for Walton, the English 
 agent, his keen, diplomatic eyes always on the 
 Palazzo Stuart, might get to know, and would 
 report home. It was Walton who first saw Charles 
 in a kilt, and he regarded his appearance in that 
 picturesque garb as highly suspicious. It was at 
 a ball given at the Palazzo Pamphili. The kilt 
 had been sent from Scotland by some ardent 
 Jacobite, and, " being a costumeyjpknown in 
 Italy, it attracted considerable attention." Thus 
 Walton, who adds that the we$ rer^onscious of 
 the admiration the bright tartan of his house
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 89 
 
 created, " swaggered about the rooms, and chatted 
 in terms of enthusiasm about Scotland and his 
 people." Clearly this young man had better be 
 watched ! 
 
 Walton himself noted the great precautions 
 that were taken to hide the most trifling 
 steps of the Prince. But he was entirely out- 
 witted now. Charles made his exit from Rome 
 under cover of a boar-shooting party an arrange- 
 ment curiously in keeping with the complicacy 
 and secrecy of his exile after Culloden. Even 
 brother Henry was not admitted to the secret. 
 Nay, brother Henry was sleeping soundly in his 
 bed when, about midnight, Charles stealthily 
 descended the staircase. Papa was sitting up to 
 take farewell ; and an affecting farewell it was. 
 "I go, sire," said the Prince, " in search of three 
 crowns, which I doubt not but to have the honour 
 and happiness of laying at your Majesty's feet. 
 If I fail in the attempt, your next sight of me 
 shall be in my coffin." Alas ! he failed in the 
 attempt ; and James, though he lived for twenty- 
 one years after this, never saw his " dearest 
 Carluccio " again. The poor King was sorely 
 distressed over Charles' little speech. " Heaven 
 forbid ! " he cried, amid his tears, " that all the 
 crowns of the world should rob me of my son. 
 Be careful of yourself, my dear Prince, for my 
 sake, and, I hope, for the sake of millions." And 
 so they parted, parted for ever in this world. 
 
 Charles' sorrow would be short-lived. His 
 
 7 (2005)
 
 90 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 heart was in the adventure on which he had 
 entered, and he carried the thing through with 
 true romantic realism. At the porch of the old 
 palace, Murray stood waiting for him, with a 
 chaise and two saddle-horses led by a groom. 
 He got into the chaise, but after posting some 
 miles, he said he was cold and would rather ride. 
 Murray, who was, of course, in the secret, pre- 
 tended to thwart his purpose and, being defeated > 
 threw himself into a ditch to divert attention 
 from the Prince. They were all on the way to the 
 boar-hunt, remember all but the Prince. While 
 Murray was being got out of the ditch, the Prince 
 rode off. He seemed to be making in the direc- 
 tion of Albano, but this was only his ruse. Out 
 of sight, he changed his coat and wig, and habited 
 himself in the guise of a Neapolitan courier bound 
 for Spain. Further on the road, he became a 
 Spanish officer. Soon he was in Massa ; from 
 there he went by boat to Genoa ; next he took 
 ship to Savona, where, for reasons unexplained, 
 he was " locked up and in a very ugly situation." 
 He got safely away, at any rate away hurrying 
 to the land of Louis. Herve Riel himself did not 
 ride more swiftly. For five days he neither slept 
 nor changed his clothes ; and when he at length 
 arrived at Antibes, cleverly running though the 
 English fleet on his way, his attendants were so 
 exhausted, that he declared if he had had to go 
 much further he would have been obliged to drag 
 them along with ropes.
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 91 
 
 All this time they had been trying to make 
 believe that Charles had never left the Palazzo 
 Stuart. The boar-hunt proceeded, as had been 
 arranged, and hampers pretending to come from 
 the Prince were sent to the Pope and other friends 
 in Rome. Nay, when at length the hunting party 
 broke up, a young man who bore a close resem- 
 blance to Charles was made to ride in the company 
 (this was Murray's idea), so as to still preserve 
 the secret from the Romans. How many people 
 did resemble the Prince ? His portrait was 
 painted by Sir Horace Mann as he rode away 
 from home for ever, and this was how it came out 
 
 " The young man is above the middle height and very thin. 
 He wears a light bag-wig, his face is rather long, the complexion 
 clear, but borders on paleness ; the forehead very broad, the 
 eyes fairly large, blue, but without sparkle, the mouth large, 
 with the lips slightly curled, and the chin more sharp than 
 rounded." 
 
 The blue eyes again, and large, too ! Whereas an 
 Englishman who had an audience of the Prince 
 about this time says he had " a small but lively 
 eye." But what was the need for all Charles' 
 wild haste in getting to France ? No need what- 
 ever, as it appeared. Louis, indeed, as Charles told 
 his father, received him with " great tenderness " 
 and promised to be " careful " of his concerns. 
 But Louis was not in such impetuous haste as 
 his visitor : he and his ministers must see their 
 advantage in it before they would rush precipi- 
 tately to the help of the Jacobites. Promises 
 were made, certainly promises specious enough
 
 92 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 but, as James bitterly wrote, France's promises 
 were not to be reconciled with France's indifferent 
 behaviour to the Prince. For France had no royal 
 honours to bestow on Charles Edward. How 
 could she, when his very presence in her midst 
 was a breach of treaty ? King, ministers, persons 
 of distinction all shied at this compromising 
 representative of the Jacobites. He was even 
 obliged to assume an incognito. " At Antibes," 
 he wrote to his father, " there was such a rumour 
 that I was there that I durst not write in my 
 own hand for fear the packet might have been 
 opened." In one letter he even admits himself a 
 serving man ! Still, " little intrigues " were in 
 progress for his interest. Nay, an invading force 
 was actually being got ready at Dunkirk, under 
 the superintendence of that Marshal Saxe who 
 was to give England such a beating at Fontenoy. 
 Charles was to go with it, and now he was sitting 
 patiently at Gravelines, looking for the call to 
 come to him. 
 
 The February of 1744 brought what seemed 
 likely to be the realisation of his hopes. The 
 combined squadrons of Brest and Rochefort 
 (twenty-three ships) were now actually sailing up 
 the Channel. The French army, with the Prince 
 in its keeping, stood " all ready " at Dunkirk. 
 The fleet was to clear the way for the transports. 
 But what was England doing ; England, boasted 
 mistress of the seas ? England knew all ; Sir 
 John Norris was at Spithead with twenty ships
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 93 
 
 of the line, waiting for the French admiral. 
 Unfortunately before the enemy arrived, Sir John 
 had been driven by stress of weather to seek 
 shelter in the Downs. De Roqueville sailed up 
 cautiously : Spithead was clear ; not so much as 
 a frigate to be seen. Word was sent to Saxe to 
 hurry his forces to sea. Seven thousand men were 
 soon aboard the transports, Saxe and the Prince 
 among them. Away they moved gaily for the 
 shores of Albion. The " Protestant winds " again 
 favoured Albion. Saxe's transports were all but 
 totally wrecked ; some of the largest were lost 
 with all their human freight ; others were hurled 
 against the coast and the men saved with diffi- 
 culty. Norris, too, surprised the French admiral 
 off Dungeness, and the admiral coasted back to 
 his country during the night, ere yet battle could 
 be offered. England and the throne of the 
 Hanoverian were so far safe. 
 
 Thus ended the sadly-misguided enterprise 
 which made such a bad beginning to Charles' 
 efforts to restore the " three crowns." It was a 
 terrible blow to the Jacobites. James, eagerly 
 waiting for news in Rome, was stunned, mortified, 
 prostrate with grief, shut up in his room for days 
 in succession. So assured had he been of success, 
 that he had ordered new liveries for his house- 
 hold, to be donned when the tidings came 
 to Charles' triumphant entry into London ! 
 And what of Charles himself ? Never for a 
 moment did he lose heart or ambition. Sad and
 
 94 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 disappointed enough he was when he returned to 
 Gravelines, but not broken-hearted. Early in 
 March he writes to tell his father that he is in 
 perfect health, and that " everything goes well." 
 The little difficulties and dangers he has so far 
 run are nothing. He has every day large packets 
 to answer. Yesterday he had one that cost him 
 " seven owers and a half/' and it was " fore a 
 clock before I could get my dinner." He was still 
 hoping for aid from France, though the army had 
 been withdrawn from Dunkirk, and Saxe was in 
 Flanders ; and his chief business all this busy 
 correspondence, etc. was to get friends at Court 
 to " push on " Louis and his ministers. The half- 
 hearted promises and delays sorely tried his 
 temper and patience. But what could he do but 
 wait and hope ? He declared, indeed, to Earl 
 Marischal that, failing French help, he would go 
 to Scotland alone ; but the Earl, " wise with the 
 wisdom of age and humour," " dose all that Use 
 in his power to hinder it." Moreover, the French 
 minister had requested his withdrawal from 
 Gravelines, and he was driven (incognito, of 
 course) to Paris, where he lurked about, " eating 
 his own heart, avoiding the paths of men." 
 Writing to James on the 3rd April, he draws a 
 pathetic picture of his situation 
 
 " Nobody nose where I am or what is become of me, so 
 that I am entirely Baried as to the publick, and can't but say 
 but that it is a very great constrent upon me, for I am obliged 
 very often not to stur out of my room, for fier of some bodys
 
 Ffom the portrait by 
 
 Le Tocque, painted in 1748 
 
 Prince Charles Edward as a young man
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 95 
 
 noing my face. I very often think that you would laugh very 
 hartily if you saw me goin about with a single servant bying 
 fish and other things and squabling for a peney more or less. 
 I hope your Majesty will be thoroughly persuaded that no 
 constrent or trouble whatsoever either of minde or body, 
 will ever stope me in going on with my duty, in doing anything 
 that I think can tend to your service or your Glory." 
 
 Again, in recognised orthography : " Everybody 
 is wondering where the Prince is : Some put him 
 in one place and some in another, but nobody 
 knows where he is really ; and sometimes he is 
 told news of himself to his face, which is very 
 diverting." Later in the month he reports that 
 he is in strict retirement ; " his retreat unknown, 
 reading hard." Louis was polite, but at a dis- 
 tance. It is said that he openly shunned the 
 Prince at the bals masques at Versailles. France's 
 promise had proved illusive. And poor Charles 
 had other difficulties. He could not get his pen- 
 sion of 5,000 livres a month from the French 
 Minister of Finance, and his debts had now run 
 up to the tidy total of 30,000 livres. James 
 hinted that he might as well return to Rome. 
 " That would be just giving up all hopes," replied 
 the Prince. He had seen enough of Rome ! He 
 would rather retire to Avignon. 
 
 Meanwhile, he stayed on where he was in a 
 little house near Montmartre, practically a 
 prisoner. The details of these many months of 
 waiting, from April, 1744, to July, 1745, are, in 
 Mr. Lang's words, " copious, but uninteresting." 
 It was the weary waiting that drove Charles into
 
 96 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the romantic adventure with which his name will 
 be for ever associated. He had looked to France 
 for help ; France had timidly held back. Charles 
 would therefore go to Scotland himself, if he 
 took only a single footman with him. We can 
 understand the strain he was enduring. His 
 father was worrying him, the attitude of Louis 
 and his ministers was worrying him, the Scottish 
 Jacobites were worrying him. " You may well 
 imagine how out of houmer I am," he says. 
 We can well imagine it ! Sitting here doing nothing 
 but writing futile letters to lukewarm sym- 
 pathisers all day long how could this impatient 
 Prince bear it at all ? To regain the crown he 
 would put himself in a tub, like Diogenes, if 
 necessary. So he told his father. And as France 
 had disappointed him, he would take the business 
 into his own hands. " I cannot but mention a 
 parable here," he wrote, " which is that, if a 
 horse which is to be sold, if spurred, does not 
 skip, nobody would care to have him, even for 
 nothing ; just so, my friends would care very 
 little to have me if, after such usage as all the 
 world is sensible of, I should not show I have 
 life in me." He meant serious business, clearly ! 
 In spite of his personal difficulties of finance, he 
 raised 180,000 livres for broadswords to be used 
 in the " cause," and gave orders to his father to 
 pawn the Sobieski jewels. 
 
 James was not sanguine : he had been too 
 often deluded. The proposed descent on
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 97 
 
 Scotland he declared to be rash and imprudent. 
 But Charles read himself as " invited " by the 
 party over there ; England was in trouble 
 (Fontenoy had been fought), and was temporarily 
 depleted of her troops. The time seemed oppor- 
 tune. Charles would go to Scotland. " I have 
 taken a firm resolution to conquer or dye, and 
 stand my ground as long as I shall have a man 
 remaining with me," he wrote. And, anticipating 
 James* veto, he added : " Your Majesty cannot 
 disapprove a son's following the example of his 
 father." And so the die was cast. " The most 
 forlorn of all hopes was on its way to win a 
 throne. . . On no side was there a gleam of 
 promise, a single omen of good." But 
 
 " Young blood must have its course, lad, 
 And every dog its day." 
 
 It was the June of 1745. Charles was at St. 
 James, the seat of his " kind cousin," the Duke 
 de Bouillon. His equipment was ready, or as 
 good as ready 20 small field pieces, " two of 
 which a mule may carry " ; 1,500 muskets, 
 11, 000 broadswords, ammunition, "durks," powder 
 and ball, and other supplies. Of brandy, too, he 
 had laid in a fair quantity ; and 4,000 louis d'or 
 were at his command. With these resources he 
 would " challenge the might of Britain." He 
 had never seen that Scotland to which he was 
 going, bent, as he told his father, "on restoring 
 you to the Crown, and them to their liberties."
 
 98 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Scotland still carried memories of the miserable 
 part played by James in the affair of 1715 ; of 
 the defeats of Sheriff muir and Glenshiel. Scot- 
 land, moreover, knew practically nothing of 
 Charles Edward. But a considerable number of 
 Scots remained faithful to the Jacobite cause. 
 The Lowlands might be lukewarm, but the 
 Highlands could be depended on. 
 
 Nearly a generation of tedious inactivity had 
 gone since the Old Pretender made his last futile 
 bid for the Crown. From about 1719 on to 1743 
 nothing effective had been done for the " cause." 
 But the Jacobite leaders were not wholly idle. 
 Schemes were numerous, intrigues went on in 
 every Court of Europe ; and if the old Chevalier 
 had been a character capable of rousing enthu- 
 siasm, the cause would doubtless have been 
 actively revived. It was different with Charles 
 Edward " a shoot of the stem of Robert Bruce, 
 one who, by every perfection of mind and body 
 was destined to play anew the part of that great 
 restorer of the Scottish monarchy." And Charles 
 Edward's time had come, young as he was. 
 
 " The dark hours of night and of slumber are past, 
 The morn on our mountains is dawning at last ; 
 Glenaladale's peaks are illumined with rays, 
 And the streams of Glennnnan leap bright in the blaze. 
 Ye sons of the strong, when that dawning shall break, 
 Need the harp of the aged remind you to wake ? 
 That dawn never beam'd on your forefather's eye, 
 But it roused each high chieftain to vanquish or die." 
 
 And so Charles Edward was off on his mad
 
 THE EVE OF THE J 45 99 
 
 enterprise. We see him now, in imagination, 
 embarking at Belle Isle on July 5th, Old Style. 
 For companions he has (1) the Marquis of Tulli- 
 bardine (" the high-minded Moray, the exiled, 
 the dear "), called by the Jacobites, Duke of 
 Athol, though he had been attainted for his 
 share in the '15, and the title had descended to 
 his younger brother, a Whig ; (2) Sir Thomas 
 Sheridan, his old tutor ; (3) Sir John Macdonald, 
 an officer in the Spanish service ; (4) ^neas 
 Macdonald, a young banker, brother of Kinloch- 
 Moidart, with whom he had been " chumming " 
 in Paris ; (5) Colonel Francis Strickland, an 
 English gentleman ; (6) George Kelly, a non- 
 juring clergyman, who had been concerned in 
 Atterbury's plot ; and (7) Captain O'Sullivan. 
 There were others, of course, including Buchanan, 
 the messenger, and Walsh, the owner of the ship. 
 But these seven should be specially noted, since 
 they are known to Jacobite history as " The 
 Seven Men of Moidart." " Old allagrugous-like 
 fellous as ever I saw," was how Mr. Bissatt, 
 writing from Blair Athol, described these Men 
 of Moidart. 
 
 Charles' ship was a frigate of 44 guns, called 
 the Doutelle. An escort ship, the Elizabeth, of 
 68 guns and 700 men, had been provided by his 
 ardent friend Routledge, of Dunkirk. The French 
 Court knew nothing about this expedition so far. 
 The arms had been shipped by Walsh under the 
 false statement that they were meant for his own
 
 100 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 plantations in Martinique. Even Young had not 
 been .admitted to the secret not till the Elizabeth 
 had cast her moorings in Belle Isle harbour and 
 was in full sail for Scotland. Then Charles wrote 
 and told his father all. "I never intend to come 
 back," he said. He would begin with his own 
 country, and having won that by the aid of his 
 loyal Highlanders, the " stalwart adherents from 
 its rocky glens and heather-crested hills," he 
 would go on to England. For what said the 
 proverb ? 
 
 " He that would England win, 
 
 Must with Scotland first begin." 
 
 But even Scotland itself knew practically nothing 
 of the expedition. The Prince had only sent a 
 note to Murray of Broughton to say that he was 
 " coming," and desiring Murray to inform "friends ' ' 
 of his setting out. It seemed the most forlorn of 
 all hopes of winning a crown. History knows no 
 parallel instance of such determination and force 
 of character in any one, prince or commoner, as 
 this man, who, at the age of twenty-four, started 
 with seven companions to wrest a throne from 
 one of the most powerful monarchies of the time. 
 As Mr. Terry remarks, by every law that rules 
 success, the story of the '45 should unfold a 
 comedy. But Charles Edward Stuart made no 
 comedy out of it : more of a tragedy it proved 
 for him ! 
 
 On board the Doutelle, he was again incognito, 
 masquerading as the son of his tutor, Sir Thomas
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 101 
 
 Sheridan. He wore the habit of a student of the 
 Scots College at Paris, and, the better to conceal 
 his features, allowed his beard to grow. None of 
 the crew knew the rank of their distinguished 
 passenger. The ship sailed away round the Land's 
 End, and nothing notable occurred during the 
 early part of the voyage. But after they were a 
 week out, when the Doutelle was lying south- 
 westward of the coast of Ireland, a suspicious 
 vessel appeared in the offing. It was evening : 
 the stranger drew near, then disappeared. Next 
 morning she repeated the manoeuvre, and was 
 then identified as H.M.S. Lion, The Lion was a 
 vessel of 58 guns, and was commanded by Captain 
 Brett, who had seen service with Anson when he 
 stormed Paita. She was one of several cruisers 
 which had been sent out to intercept the Prince 
 when the news of his sailing was officially 
 confirmed. 
 
 Meanwhile, the captain of the Elizabeth scented 
 battle. He consulted with Walsh, but Walsh had 
 his Prince in keeping, and was much more con- 
 cerned about the safety of his charge than about 
 gaining fame from an encounter with the enemy. 
 He " answered him civilly," is all that we read 
 of Walsh's reply to Captain d'Eau of the Elizabeth. 
 But Captain d'Eau was a Nelson in a small way. 
 He was for immediate action. He concluded that 
 the Lion was simply putting off time till a consort 
 should appear ; and he judged it prudent to 
 fight her before assistance arrived. Later in the
 
 102 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 afternoon the ships ranged up against each other, 
 the Doutelle standing away at a respectful dis- 
 tance. The action began with great fury and 
 lasted for five or six hours. The Frenchman had, 
 of course, first of all, to secure the safety of the 
 frigate under his convoy. With that view, he 
 strove, above all, to disable his adversary in the 
 sails and rigging. He was completely successful, 
 for by nine o'clock the Lion's masts were riddled 
 through and through. She sheered off " like a 
 tub upon the water " ; and Captain Brett 
 describes the situation by saying, " I lay muzzled 
 and could do nothing." 
 
 And Charles what about him all this time ? 
 He was a chivalrous young man, and he wanted 
 Walsh to go to the help of his escort, the Elizabeth. 
 But Walsh's one consideration was the Prince's 
 safety, and he not only " positively refused " 
 when the Prince pressed him to share in the 
 engagement, but declared that he would confine 
 the Prince in his cabin if he persisted. The Prince 
 was, therefore, helpless : he could only pace the 
 deck and look on, gnawing with impatience, eager 
 for the fray, which was being carried on in his 
 interest. There is an absurd tale to the effect 
 that he wanted to "go below " when the fight 
 was proceeding : absurd, because it implies 
 cowardice, and is in conflict with Charles' 
 " habitual audacity." Legends of that sort were 
 invented by the Whigs and other non-sympa- 
 thisers. The best example, perhaps, is that
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 103 
 
 ridiculous letter of David Hume to Sir John 
 Pringle, in which we are told that the Prince, 
 repenting him of his resolve, had to be carried 
 forcibly on board the Doutelle at the last 
 moment ! The case, as we know, was very 
 different, for Charles persisted in his determina- 
 tion against all the remonstrances of his friends. 
 Not likely, then, that he would " go below " now, 
 when the Lion and the Elizabeth were engaged ! 
 Burns' stinging stanza on the Earl of Galloway 
 comes to mind 
 
 " No Stuart thou, Galloway, 
 
 The Stuarts all were brave ; 
 
 Besides, the Stuarts were but fools, 
 
 Not one of them a knave." 
 
 And what an encounter this was ! The Lion had 
 55 men killed and 107 wounded, amongst the 
 latter being Captain Brett himself ; while the 
 Elizabeth's loss was afterwards learned to have 
 been 64 killed and 140 wounded. Both vessels 
 were helpless as derelicts. Neither could now give 
 the slightest attention attention of friend or foe 
 to the Doutelle ; and the Doutelle , unharmed 
 and unescorted, sailed away to the coast of Scot- 
 land. The Elizabeth had to run back to Brest, 
 and thus Charles lost nearly all the arms and 
 ammunition which it had cost him such efforts 
 to obtain. 
 
 Burning no light at night, the Doutelle held on 
 her course. She met with no further check, 
 though a couple of British men-of-war crossed
 
 104 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 her path ; and on the 23rd July (1745) the Prince 
 and his attendants landed at the low-lying island 
 of Eriskay, between Barra and South Uist, 
 
 " Breaking the silence of the seas 
 Among the farthest Hebrides." 
 
 In the offing of the Long Isle, a happy omen had 
 presented itself to the adventurers. There is a 
 story of the wars of Rome which Stevenson very 
 much envied for England. Germanicus was going 
 down at the head of his legions into a dangerous 
 river (on the opposite bank the woods were full 
 of Germans), when there flew out seven great 
 eagles, which seemed to marshal the Romans on 
 their way. The eagles did not pause or waver, 
 but disappeared into the forest, where the enemy 
 lay concealed. " Forward ! " cried Germanicus ; 
 " forward ! and follow the Roman birds." It 
 would be a very heavy spirit that did not give a 
 leap at such a signal ; a very timorous spirit that 
 continued to have any doubt of conquering the 
 foe. And so, when an eagle hovered over the 
 Doutelle in the offing of the Long Isle, the faint 
 hearts drew courage from the omen. " Here," 
 said Tullibardine, " is the king of birds, come to 
 welcome your royal highness to Scotland." It 
 was a variation of the birth-star incident. 
 
 Eriskay must ever be a romantic spot in the 
 Jacobite memory. Remote from the modern 
 world, " attached to ancient songs and to old 
 beliefs in apocryphal sagas," its beauty is now 
 largely the beauty of desolation. The crofts are
 
 THE EVE OF THE '45 105 
 
 small in extent and poor in quality. They are, in 
 reality, fishermen's homes. But the old affection 
 for the Stuarts still lingers there. When women 
 sing at the " fulling " in Eriskay, it is often of 
 Prince Charlie that they sing. They boast of 
 young Clanranald, whose uncle met the Prince 
 here the day after he landed, and look back 
 lovingly to the old times of the '45. They still 
 call the place where landed the lad that was born 
 to be king, the " Prince's Strand " ; and Mr. 
 Lang writes that a pink convolvulus, not else- 
 where known on the island, is said to have sprung 
 from some seeds that happened to be in Charles' 
 pocket. It is a pretty notion. But what should 
 Charles be doing with flower seeds in his 
 pocket ? 
 
 At any rate, here he is, in Scotland at last 
 " There's a Stuart in Scotland again ! " they 
 exclaimed. Songs were addressed to him from 
 the mainland 
 
 " Glad my heart is ; he is nearing ; 
 
 Soon we'll hear him hailed as king. 
 By his side, begirt with armour, 
 Sword and target loud will ring. 
 
 " Fierce he comes, like winter lowering, 
 
 Cold with showers and thick with rime ; 
 Blade in hand like sickle sweeping, 
 Fields to reap in harvest-time. 
 
 " Banners waving, pibrochs sounding, 
 Soon would rouse the clans afar ; 
 High our hearts would beat around you, 
 Charging down the ranks of war. 
 
 8 (2005)
 
 106 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 " Bombs and cannons loud would thunder, 
 
 Earth asunder spring to hear ; 
 Hills and glens the din resounding 
 Deep confound the listening ear. 
 
 " Woe that day to every varlet 
 
 That in scarlet coat appears ; 
 Soon he'll find his hat cockaded 
 Split and splayed about his ears." 
 
 This, and much more that we cannot stay to 
 quote. And before we go further with this 
 adventurous Prince, it may be well to consider 
 what the Scotland which he hoped to conquer 
 was like socially, politically, and ecclesiastically.
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 THE SCOTLAND OF THE '45 
 
 IT was not so long, comparatively, since the Union 
 had been consummated. From 1603, England 
 and Scotland had one King, though each country 
 had its own Parliament. Attempts at union had 
 often been made, and even effected temporarily. 
 Edward I., after the manner of his time, carried 
 fire and sword across the Tweed towards that 
 purpose. Henry VIII. first negotiated for a 
 marriage between his infant son Edward and the 
 infant Mary ; and when the negotiations failed, 
 he resorted to arms. James VI. no sooner ascended 
 the English throne than he set his heart upon a 
 union of the kingdoms. " King of Great Britain " 
 he called himself. He declared that England and 
 Scotland were names of hostility which ought to 
 be abolished. 
 
 His son, Charles I., adopted his views, but made 
 no practical progress with them. It was left for 
 Cromwell to effect with a strong hand what many 
 sovereigns had been unable to accomplish. During 
 his reign, England and Scotland were one nation, 
 with one Parliament ; and though Scottish pride 
 was wounded, a prosperity hitherto unknown 
 helped to salve the sting. Unhappily, when 
 Cromwell died, his policy died with him. All 
 these efforts permanently to knit the two nations 
 
 107
 
 108 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 into one had failed. At last the thing was to be 
 accomplished. 
 
 A union of some kind had been for many years 
 under discussion. During the reign of William III., 
 it had become an urgent constitutional necessity. 
 A Parliament at Westminster and a Parliament 
 at Edinburgh could not each maintain its auton- 
 omy unless England and Scotland were content 
 to suffer the woes of a country divided against 
 itself. In the eyes of Queen Anne's English 
 Ministers, the Union was not only a constitutional 
 but also a political necessity, and only a complete 
 incorporation of North and South Britain could 
 suffice. Their chief interest lay in the maintenance 
 of the Protestant succession, and the existence of 
 Scotland as an independent kingdom was a con- 
 stant menace to that succession. Nothing less 
 could suffice than the end of the two kingdoms 
 and their incorporation in one United Kingdom 
 and the Parliament of Great Britain. If that 
 could be accomplished, no power remained which 
 could, with any pretence of legality, restore the 
 Crown of Scotland to the Stuarts ; and, if James 
 landed in Scotland at all, he must land as a 
 Pretender and an invader. 
 
 It was accomplished. In the spring of 1707 
 the Scottish Parliament sat for the last time. 
 On the 25th March of that year the Union was 
 formally ratified when the Duke of Queensberry, 
 Queen Anne's representative in Scotland, rode in 
 state from Holyrood to the Parliament Square,
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 109 
 
 attended with all the pomp which had marked 
 the ceremonial meetings of the Estates of Scot- 
 land, and which a hundred and fifty years earlier 
 had pained the soul of John Knox as a display 
 likely to provoke God's vengeance upon Scotland. 
 But (and the fact must be remembered in 
 reading the inner history of the '45) it was not a 
 popular union. 
 
 " Shall thy name, O my country ! no longer be heard ; 
 Once the boast of the hero, the theme of the bard ; 
 Alas ! how the days of thy greatness are gone, 
 For the name of proud England is echoed alone ! " 
 
 Good feeling between Scotland and her " auld 
 enemy " had never been restored since its earliest 
 and most complete destruction under Edward I. ; 
 and the memories of the hatred of 400 years had 
 been revived by William's merciless and vindictive 
 order for the massacre of Glencoe, and by his 
 personal treachery in the matter of the Darien 
 scheme. 
 
 The Scots deplored the surrender of their 
 national independence, an independence bound 
 up especially with the glorious names of Wallace 
 and Bruce ; and there were many angry 
 ebullitions over the Union of 1707. 
 
 " We're bought and sold for English gold. 
 Such a parcel of rogues in a nation," 
 
 sang one contemporary rhymer. " There's an 
 end of an auld sang," observed the Lord 
 Chancellor Seafield, as he attested the exemplifica- 
 tion of the English Act. The words stung his
 
 110 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 countrymen like a poisoned barb. Captain Ogilvie, 
 Seafield's brother, was a considerable farmer and 
 cattle-dealer. One day Seafield reproved him for 
 engaging in a profession so mean. " True, 
 brother," retorted the Captain ; "I dinna flee 
 sae high as you : I only sell nowt [cattle], but 
 ye sell nations." The anecdote may be taken as 
 significant of the popular feeling. More than all, 
 the Scots dreaded the threatened loss of their 
 religious freedom. The Presbyterians could not 
 forget the trials through which their Church had 
 come, and they conceived all sorts of dangers to 
 Presbytery from a Parliament in which so many 
 Church of England dignitaries had a seat. 
 
 Some of them called to mind the Covenant they 
 had sworn to extirpate Prelacy from both Eng- 
 land and Ireland, and how could they now tolerate 
 its mitred representatives in the legislature of the 
 United Kingdom ? Popular opposition and public 
 excitement continued but not for long. When 
 Parliament reassembled in October its delibera- 
 tions were accompanied by almost unceasing 
 uproar and tumult in the Scottish capital, and 
 Edinburgh reflected the feeling throughout the 
 country. 
 
 It was all in vain. The English Ministers and 
 the majority of the Scottish Estates had decided 
 to carry a great national reform in the face of 
 almost unanimous opposition in Scotland and of 
 unquestionable ill-will in England. The Treaty 
 of Union is, in the opinion of the greatest living
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 111 
 
 authority on constitutional law, the highest legis- 
 lative achievement of this country, and it was 
 rendered possible only by a Whig Government 
 which had the courage to ignore the popular will. 
 It was not for many years that the wisdom of the 
 step came to be generally admitted, and within 
 the first decade of its enactment the Union more 
 than once came near to being dissolved. But for 
 the last hundred years there have been few dis- 
 sentient voices, and the feeling of most Scotsmen 
 is probably that of Sir Walter Scott, who, writing 
 to Miss Edgeworth from Dublin in 1825, spoke 
 of it as " an event which, had I lived in that day, 
 I would have resigned my life to have prevented, 
 but which, being done before my day, I am 
 sensible was a wise scheme." 
 
 Still, in this place, we cannot forget the feeling 
 of hatred and the prejudice with which the Union 
 was so long and almost universally regarded in 
 Scotland. Many intelligent, well-educated men 
 were known to have favoured the insurrection of 
 1745 less from attachment to the Stuarts than 
 from a hope that their restoration would lead to 
 a repeal of the Union. Naturally the feeling was 
 strongest in the northern parts of Scotland. 
 Defoe found the Highlanders a source of real 
 danger in Edinburgh during the Union debates. 
 Under date November, 1706, we have him writing 
 
 " Highlanders here [Edinburgh] in unusual numbers ; 
 formidable fellows. I wish His Majesty had 25,000 of them 
 in Spain, a nation equally proud and barbarous all gentlemen.
 
 112 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Not a thrum-cap among them but halts on that foot will 
 take affront from no man, insolent to the last degree. You 
 see a man with claymore, target, two pistols, and a dirk, 
 staff in hand, stalking upright and haughty down the street 
 driving a cow ! Pride of birth and contact with a crowd of 
 helpless vassals have made them gentlemen, only in the sense 
 of never doing any work." 
 
 Leaving this side of the question, it must be 
 admitted that the Union did something to improve 
 matters social, if not political. Dr. Johnson 
 seriously averred that until this amalgamation 
 made them acquainted with English manners, 
 the tables of the Scots were " coarse as the feasts 
 of Esquimaux, and their houses filthy as the 
 cottages of Hottentots." Things were not so bad 
 as that, we may be sure, for Johnson had an 
 unreasoning hatred of the Scots, and never lost 
 an opportunity of lampooning them. 
 
 But the country was undoubtedly poor, and 
 many of its people were ignorant and degraded. 
 Fletcher, in his " Second Discourse," speaks of 
 thousands dying from want. Set on estimates the 
 population at 800,000, Defoe at 2,000,000. The 
 " submerged tenth " Fletcher puts down at 
 200,000 penniless unfortunates, " sorning on those 
 who had anything to lose from force or impor- 
 tunity, and a constant terror to the outlying dis- 
 tricts. The colliers and salters were expressly 
 exempted from the Habeas Corpus Act of 1701 
 as slaves. Transportation to the Colonies was a 
 recognised mode of getting rid of undesirables. 
 A Maryland planter in 1704 petitions the Privy
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 113 
 
 Council for six young Papists and twenty-two 
 unfortunates from Paul's Wark in Edinburgh. 
 Cadets of feudal houses get commissions in the 
 Army on the strength of forced recruiting among 
 serfs and blackguards." 
 
 One may infer a good deal from the single fact 
 that, at the time of the '45, 138 a year was the 
 highest salary enjoyed by any minister of the 
 Church. One hundred and twenty-six ministers 
 had only 45 a year ! Only twenty-nine of the 
 total had salaries running into the three figures, 
 and there were more than a hundred stipends 
 under 40 a year. 
 
 Most observers, English and Lowland, comment 
 on the enslaved and poverty-stricken condition of 
 the common people. They remark on the dirt 
 and destitution seen in many places ; on the 
 organisation of cattle-theft, of which more pre- 
 sently ; and on the institution of blackmail, or 
 money paid for protection. The poorer classes 
 were evidently in a desperate state of slavery and 
 ignorance. The population far exceeded the 
 means of subsistence and the opportunities of 
 industry. Tradition would have us believe in a 
 golden age behind Culloden. But there was no 
 golden age. Charles Edward could not get salt 
 from one of his hosts. " Salt is dear," he was told. 
 Agriculture was scanty and primitive. The soil 
 was for the most part barren, and was, therefore, 
 neglected or imperfectly cultivated. Lord Rose- 
 bery put it frankly when, in a speech of 1906,
 
 114 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 he declared that before the '45 there was a veil 
 of darkness over the Highlands a most interest- 
 ing veil. " North of the Firth of Forth/' he said, 
 " there were clans living like, or almost like, the 
 tribes that we find in Africa, conducting their 
 affairs almost without reference to the central 
 government, having their petty warfares, their 
 pitched battles, their districts bounded not by 
 parchment so much as by immemorial tradition, 
 and the jealousy of the tribes inhabiting them. 
 You have a condition of things, immediately 
 neighbouring civilisation of a more advanced 
 type, which was almost barbarous in many 
 respects in its character.'* 
 
 Robbery was undoubtedly considered a laud- 
 able custom among many of these " barbarians/' 
 But theirs were no petty thefts. Cattle consti- 
 tuted nearly all the wealth of the Highlands, and 
 cattle were stolen on a noble scale. Perhaps these 
 predatory incursions diffused a martial spirit. 
 In any case, the Highlanders were not the despic- 
 able robbers and miscreant cut-throats that the 
 partisan Macaulay has painted them. Not every 
 chieftain was a Rob Roy, living by plunder. If 
 he had been, the depredations of Macgregor and 
 his gang would not have gained the peculiar 
 notoriety that they did. Macaulay pictures the 
 traveller in the Highlands as in imminent peril of 
 being " stripped and mangled by marauders and 
 his eyes given as meal to the eagles." This is too 
 absurd to be quoted even for refutation. As a
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 115 
 
 matter of fact, Hampstead Heath 200 years ago 
 was less safe to the pedestrian than the remotest 
 corner of the Highlands at the same period. 
 What says Captain Burt of the Highlanders ? 
 He says 
 
 " Personal robberies are seldom heard of among them. 
 For my own part, I have several times with a single servant 
 passed the mountain-way from hence to Edinburgh with four 
 or five hundred guineas in my portmanteau, without any 
 apprehension of robbers by the way, or danger in my lodgings 
 at night, though in my sleep anyone with ease might have 
 thrust a sword from the outside through the wall of the hut 
 and my body together. I wish we could say as much of our 
 own country, civilised as it is said to be, though we cannot be 
 safe in going from London to Highgate." 
 
 They had many a tough, gory tussle one with the 
 other, but their hospitality to the stranger was 
 such that it has passed into a proverb. As Burns 
 wrote 
 
 " When Death's dark stream I ferry o'er, 
 
 A time that surely shall come, 
 In Heaven itself I'll ask no more 
 Than just a Highland welcome." 
 
 As regards the Highlands especially, there is no 
 question that the Clan system was inimical to 
 peace and settled habits of industry. In 1745 
 the feudal authority of the chiefs was still as 
 strong as ever. Civilisation, working its healthy 
 way in the Lowlands, had not yet reached the 
 northern wilds. There the people still adhered to 
 the customs of their forefathers. That patriarchal 
 system so dear to Stuart monarchs still pervaded 
 every clan. The chief was the Highlander's
 
 116 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 leader in war, his judge and protector in peace 
 " his God and his everything," as Murray of 
 Broughton said. 
 
 The chief was no absentee laird. He stayed 
 among his people and looked upon them as his 
 children. The whole income of the tribe, paid 
 into his purse, served to maintain " that rude 
 but generous hospitality which was meted out 
 to the poorest of the clan." His table was always 
 open. Loyalty to the chief was, therefore, only 
 natural. Accidental circumstances, moreover, 
 added to his power and authority : the moun- 
 tainous nature of the country, the want of towns, 
 distance from the seat of government, and so on. 
 Destitute of books, unvisited by strangers, with 
 no resources against ennui but what lay within 
 themselves, these Highlanders were ignorant and 
 superstitious, with an unwavering belief in witches, 
 goblins, second sight, and the power of the " evil 
 eye." 
 
 They were averse to regular labour and a 
 settled life. " The lightness of their habit and the 
 wandering nature of their avocations in the 
 mountains made them superior to fatigue and 
 indifferent to the inclemency of the weather." 
 The Highlander would wrap himself in his plaid 
 and defy the most pitiless storm. He was well 
 armed, too, when in full costume : a claymore or 
 great two-handed sword, a target, a brace of 
 pistols, a dirk, a gun, and a skeandhu or small 
 hunting -knife placed in the garter of the right leg.
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 117 
 
 Captain Burt compares a man thus accoutred to 
 a whole company of foot. But, mostly, only the 
 gentlemen, he adds, were skilled swordsmen : 
 commoners had no powers but personal courage 
 and violence. 
 
 Altogether, Scotland was then a very different 
 country from what it is now, when the auto- 
 mobile traverses the Great North Road on its 
 way to the Highlands, and Inverness is within a 
 sixteen hours' journey of London. In 1745 it 
 took twelve hours to get from Edinburgh to 
 Glasgow, and two days from Edinburgh to Aber- 
 deen. Letters took from three to six days on the 
 road between Edinburgh and London. Riding 
 was the only comfortable mode of travelling, for 
 the huge and expensive old post-chaises shook the 
 occupants cruelly. The roads in the North were 
 incredibly bad mere cart tracks, as a rule. The 
 Selkirk carrier in 1747 preferred the bed of the 
 Gala water during summer to the road ! The 
 gravel for the roads in Stirlingshire (when decent 
 roads were made) had to be carried across the 
 Forth in sacks. Sprained ankles were common 
 with pedestrians. 
 
 The Lowlands did not then exist as we know 
 them. The charming scenery of the South of 
 Scotland, the country seats (each with its own 
 " policy "), the well-built farms with their gardens 
 and steadings, the churches and schoolhouses, 
 did not then diversify the landscape. The country 
 was very nearly a treeless waste. Johnson made
 
 118 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 fun of the scant timber of Scotland, and assured 
 Boswell that his own stout oaken staff, which he 
 lost in Mull, was of rare value in an unwooded 
 land. 
 
 At the country inn one had to be content with 
 a modest supper of potted pigeons, though in 
 rare cases the landlady might offer the choice of 
 " a deuk [duck] or a fool [fowl]." Inn cooks were 
 unbelievably dirty ; but the bedrooms, although 
 without a carpet or wallpaper, or plaster on the 
 roof, were often richly stored with clean and well- 
 spun linen. Linen-weaving was at that time one 
 of the chief industries of Scotland. Tea had just 
 come in, and was denounced by many. Before 
 this, they used " twopenny " ale at breakfast. 
 Tea, they said, was sure to enervate the human 
 constitution and ruin the State ! Resolutions 
 against its use were adopted by many towns and 
 counties. A body of farmers declared it " a con- 
 sumptive luxury, fit only for those who could 
 afford to be weak, indolent, and useless." Even 
 the intelligent and patriotic President Forbes, of 
 Culloden, attributed almost all the misfortunes 
 of the Jacobite rising to the " villainous practice " 
 of tea-drinking, and mourned oVer the degeneracy 
 of people who could give up their wholesome 
 beer for such a vile drug. 
 
 Before the '45, and for some time after, the 
 national drink of Scotland among the poorer 
 classes was ale ; and this was even the beverage 
 upon which Tarn O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie
 
 SCOTLAND OF THE '45 119 
 
 got " roarin' fou." Whisky was but little drunk. 
 The better classes drank claret ; and even in the 
 first half of the eighteenth century, wine-carts 
 used to go round the Edinburgh streets dis- 
 pensing the " laird's drink," as it was called, to 
 jug-customers. Brandy, Johnson's drink for 
 heroes, was much used by the Scottish gentry, 
 and even by yeomen, like Dandie Dinmont. 
 Port was all but unknown. It seems to have 
 been first imported in 1743. In 1746 it was 
 given as a great rarity by a Hessian Prince at a 
 banquet to the magistrates of Stirling, but the 
 company were offended at the innovation ! Public- 
 houses were not so common as now. Ray, the 
 historian of the Rebellion, declares that in the 
 city of Aberdeen he " with great difficulty found 
 a public-house, there being but one sign in the 
 whole town to notify such a house, though at the 
 same time there is plenty of them in the place." 
 It was Ray who, even before he reached Edin- 
 burgh from Berwick, on his Northern tour, found 
 " the houses and inhabitants so miserable, that 
 'twas with sorrow I beheld them. The houses 
 smoaked, very few that had a chimney (only a 
 hole in the thatch), and stunk so of turf, that I 
 began to condole my condition." Of course, in 
 the Highlands things were worse. A stone house 
 was rare. Turf huts with earthen floors were only 
 to be seen, and very often the family would 
 occupy one end and the cattle the other, without 
 any dividing partition.
 
 120 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Such, in rough outline, was the Scotland which 
 Charles Edward came to conquer. It was the 
 '45 which, as Mr. Sandford Terry has so well 
 shown, marked off her past from her future. 
 During Charles' wanderings after Culloden, his 
 loyal followers were given up to the vengeance 
 of the " butcher Cumberland." The Highlanders 
 scuttled despondently to their homes such of 
 them as escaped. Punitive expeditions swept their 
 glens. English influence and English institutions 
 found a footing and spread over the Highlands. 
 Peremptorily and conclusively, the Anglicising 
 of the Clan districts was pushed forward, with 
 what results Sir Walter Scott (born 1771) may be 
 left to tell, for readers interested, through the 
 pages of Waver ley.
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 
 
 " Follow thee ! follow thee ! wha wadna follow thee ? 
 
 Lang hast thou loved us and trusted us fairly ; 
 Charlie, Charlie, wha wadna follow thee, 
 King o' the Highland hearts, bonnie Prince Charlie ? " 
 
 INTO this Scotland, then, came Charles Edward 
 Stuart, in the summer of 1745. The Highlanders 
 were still suffering from the severe measures 
 adopted by the Government after the '15. At 
 that time an Act had been passed depriving them 
 of their arms. Estates and leaders in the rising 
 were forfeited and proscribed ; garrisons of Eng- 
 lish soldiers were stationed in the different High- 
 land forts ; native companies of men favourable 
 to the established Government were formed ; and 
 various measures for weakening the power of the 
 chiefs were tried measures all more or less 
 abortive. Even the Disarming Act proved practi- 
 cally a dead letter. With the exception of the 
 Duke of Argyll's clan, not a single tribe had been 
 effectually stripped of their weapons. As a rule, 
 the Government got the worn-out, old arms, while 
 those that were serviceable were carefully hidden 
 kept ready for future use. 
 
 At the accession of George I. the Highlanders 
 continued to present the same singular aspect as 
 in former reigns. The Union had not removed the 
 
 bitter conflicts of party spirit, and the conduct of 
 
 121 
 
 9 (2005)
 
 122 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the new monarch was no more calculated to allay 
 disaffection. When George was proclaimed in 
 Inverness, the magistrates opposed the sheriff in 
 this duty, and even encouraged the mob to break 
 the windows of those who had illuminated their 
 houses. In short, even by 1745, the spirit of 
 change had effected little on the character of the 
 Highlanders. Society had practically stood still. 
 The people, almost without exception, clung to 
 the hope that the Stuarts would regain the Crown. 
 " Shall a royal Stuart be banished, while a 
 stranger rules the day ? " they demanded. They 
 " grieved for the lad that's far away, over the 
 seas." George might reign in James' stead, but 
 only, as they believed, for a time. " The Stuarts 
 will be back again," they said to each other, and 
 
 " Then George and his breed shall be banished our land, 
 To his paltry Hanover and German command ; 
 Then freedom and peace shall return to our shore, 
 And Britons be blessed with a Stuart once more." 
 
 The heather was blooming, the July sun lit up 
 the glories of the rugged landscape, when the 
 Prince arrived to rouse " the sleep that is among 
 the lonely hills." One wonders what he thought 
 of the scenery, so different from that of Italy or 
 France. Perhaps he thought nothing about it at 
 all ! They were not given to admiring landscape 
 in those days. Not until Scott's time were the 
 Scottish Highlands really discovered. The pen of 
 Mr. William Black, the novelist, has splendidly 
 pictured the wonders of the dawn flaming along
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 123 
 
 the crests of the mountains of Lochiel and 
 Ardgour ; those magical twilight evenings, too, 
 when the northern glow hangs high in the heavens 
 far into the night : that no-man's-land of twi- 
 light which, in those regions, lies between the 
 lingering evening and the coming of the dawn. 
 In summer, the West Highlands, when they are 
 not darkened by purple rain storms from the 
 west, become faint and ethereal in the haze pro- 
 duced by fine weather ; the mountains recede 
 behind a veil, as it were, through which you can 
 see the pale lilac-greys and rose-greys of their 
 lofty peaks and shoulders, with the shadows 
 traced in lightest blue ; but in the colder and 
 clearer atmosphere of late October, when the 
 brackens on the lower slopes have turned to 
 orange, and the bent-grass of the higher slopes 
 has withered, the hills come startlingly near, and 
 are of a solid russet-red, with every corrie and 
 water-course sharply marked in deep cobalt ; 
 while as the afternoon wanes, and the skies 
 richen in intensity, the wide calm stretch of sea 
 becomes a lake of crimson fire. 
 
 But what, really, should Prince Charlie care 
 for all this ? If he thought of the scenery at all, 
 it may have struck him as it struck Oliver 
 Goldsmith, when, more than a century ago, he 
 ventured to explore the Highlands. Goldsmith 
 was disgusted by the hideous wilderness, and 
 declared that he greatly preferred the charming 
 country round Leyden : the vast expanse of
 
 124 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 verdant meadow, and the villas with their statues 
 and grottoes, trim flower beds, and rectilinear 
 avenues. Charles' friends and followers may have 
 thought differently. This glorious country was 
 theirs, and, with the noble Fitz-Eustace, they 
 may have been ready to shout, 
 
 " Where's the coward that would not dare 
 To fight for such a land ? " 
 
 The Prince and his followers would require, 
 indeed, to be in the blithest of spirits when they 
 landed that day in Eriskay. For Eriskay had no 
 royal palace to open its doors and offer fitting 
 hospitality and comfort to " the lad." There was 
 only the humble hut of Angus Macdonald, near 
 the shore : the usual low, thatch-roofed erection, 
 with the fire in the middle of the earthen floor, 
 and a hole in the roof to serve for chimney. The 
 party, as we read, had been unable to find " a 
 grain of meal or one inch of bread, but they 
 catched some flounders which they roasted upon 
 the bare coals, and Duncan Cameron stood cook. 
 The Prince sat at the cheek of the little ingle, 
 and laughed heartily at Duncan's cookery." His 
 identity was quite unsuspected by his host, and 
 one can imagine the chuckle he and his followers 
 would enjoy when Angus proudly announced that 
 even a prince need not be ashamed to lie in his 
 bed ! Charles had been feigning concern about the 
 bed linen. Nor was that his only concern. The 
 peat reek was proving too much for him, and he 
 was " obliged to go often to the door for fresh
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 125 
 
 air." Angus became resentful under this restless- 
 ness. " What a plague is the matter with that 
 fellow," he testily exclaimed, " that he can 
 neither sit nor stand still, and neither keep within 
 nor without doors ? " 
 
 How should Charles Edward be expected to 
 stand still the eager lad who had his foot for the 
 first time on Scottish soil, and was anxiously 
 looking to Fate for the fortunate turn of his great 
 adventure ? Angus Macdonald little knew that 
 he was entertaining in his tumble-down cottage 
 the Stuart Prince that he, in common with other 
 Highlanders, was looking for. Charles, let it be 
 remembered, was still, to all but his personal 
 following, the " son " of Sir Thomas Sheridan. 
 Moreover, he was not now, in appearance, the 
 " bonnie Prince Charlie " of the portraits. He 
 had a most unromantic beard (grown purposely), 
 and was habited as a parson in " a plain shirt, not 
 over clean ; a cambric stock fixed with a plain 
 silver buckle ; a fair, round wig ; a plain hat 
 with a canvas string, having one end fixed to one 
 of his coat buttons ; and black stockings, with 
 brass buckles to his shoes." 
 
 Thus, then, we are to picture him : the centre 
 of a little group gathered around the door of the 
 reeking hut on the grey morning after the landing. 
 Alexander Macdonald of Boisdale, the uncle of 
 young Clanranald, had come over from South 
 Uist in answer to the Prince's summons. They 
 were discussing the course of procedure. Boisdale
 
 126 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 was not sanguine. " You should return home," 
 he said to the Prince. " I am come home," was 
 the witty reply. The retort did not, however, 
 silence the discouraging prophecies of the laird 
 of Boisdale. He rowed away back to his island, 
 declaring that the expedition was hopeless. With 
 6,000 troops and 1,000 "stand of arms" at his 
 back, the Prince might win, but not with his 
 present meagre resources. 
 
 But Charles was not to be discouraged. He 
 felt sure of his Highlanders, of the men who 
 would actually fight for him. His patience was 
 exhausted ; he would tarry no longer. On the 
 25th July he was again on board the Doutelle, 
 this time bound for the rocky basin of Loch- 
 nanaugh, between Moidart and Arisaig, on the 
 rugged coast of Inverness. Arrived there, he soon 
 found himself in the midst of a new band of 
 sympathisers men whose very names (Lochiel, 
 Clanranald, Glenaladale, and the rest) awaken 
 the romantic sense. He remained on the ship, 
 and a sort of levee was held on board under a 
 tent, " well furnished with a variety of wines and 
 spirits." The bulk of the company needed some 
 such kindly cheer, for they were left on deck for 
 three hours, while Charles and young Clanranald, 
 closeted below, were debating affairs. 
 
 When the Prince at length appeared it was 
 still as a clergyman " a tall youth of most agree- 
 able aspect, in a black coat." " I found my heart 
 swell to my mouth," said one who was present.
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 127 
 
 Charles was the grand dissembler. He had long 
 desired so he told one who was " not in the 
 know " to see and converse with the High- 
 landers, to study their dress and social customs, 
 and so on. Now, in the character of " ane English 
 clergyman," he drank to the company and with- 
 drew. Much as they sympathised with him, none 
 of his followers, so far, encouraged his desperate 
 resolve. Lochiel the " gentle Lochiel " had 
 deprecated his coming at all without bringing 
 French soldiers with him, and his opinion 
 remained unchanged now that he could speak 
 with the Prince himself. The English Jacobites 
 had all along taken this view, insisting that with- 
 out the aid of a foreign power, no attempt in 
 favour of the cause had the slightest chance of 
 success. 
 
 Clanranald hung back ; others hinted at impru- 
 dence, wild schemes, disaster, and so on. The 
 Prince's impatience resulted in a pretty little 
 incident. Standing beside him, among others, was 
 young Ranald Macdonald, a brother of Kinloch- 
 Moidart. The Prince " saw the lad's eyes kindle, 
 and his hand grasp his sword hilt. ' Will you not 
 assist me ? ' he exclaimed. ' I will, though no 
 other man in the Highlands should draw his 
 sword/ cried the gallant lad ; and the heather 
 was on fire. . . . The Clanranald loyalty leaped 
 up at Ranald's word ; and when young Clanranald 
 marched, young Lochiel would not be left behind." 
 That " noblest heart in Scotland " had been
 
 128 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 suffering from the taunts of Charles, who had 
 assured him that he might stay at home and 
 learn from the newspapers the fate of his Prince. 
 The reproach touched Lochiel to the quick. 
 " No/' he replied, " I'll share the fate of my 
 Prince, and so shall every man over whom Nature 
 or fortune hath given me any power." Ah ! 
 
 " Lochiel, Lochiel ! beware of the day 
 When the Lowlands shall meet thee in battle array 1 
 For a field of the dead rushes red on my sight, 
 And the clans of Culloden are scattered in fight. 
 They rally, they bleed, for their kingdom and crown ; 
 Wo, wo to the riders that trample them down I 
 Proud Cumberland prances, insulting the slain, 
 And their hoof-beaten bosoms are trod to the plain." 
 
 The die was cast. The timid now took courage in 
 their hands ; the clans were already answering 
 to the calls of their chiefs. Swift-footed messengers 
 were carrying the news of the Prince's landing. 
 Stout-limbed henchmen sped the fiery cross, and 
 soon the land, from north to south, trembled in 
 wild excitement. Now was heard the call 
 
 " To your arms, to your arms, my bonnie Highland lads ! 
 To your arms, to your arms at the touk o' the drum ! 
 The battle trump sounds, put on your white cockades, 
 For Charlie, the great Prince Regent, is come." 
 
 And again 
 
 " Come through the heather, around him gather, 
 Ye're a' the welcomer early, 
 Around him cling, wi' a' your kin, 
 For wha'll be king but Charlie ? " 
 
 Active preparations were everywhere in progress ; 
 arms were distributed ; the Doutelle was sent back
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 129 
 
 to France, and Charles wrote to Rome begging 
 that her captain might be created an earl. For 
 Charles there was now no going back. Where he 
 had been discouraged before, he was now fired 
 with the zeal and enthusiasm of his followers. 
 He declared himself ready to " dye at the head 
 of such brave people " as were now pressing round 
 him. The French Court, he wrote to James, 
 " must take off the maske or have an eternal 
 sheme on them ; for at present there is no medium, 
 and wee, whatever happens, will gain an immortal 
 honour by doing what wee can to deliver our 
 country, in restoring our Master, or perish sord 
 in hand." Charles uttered no empty bombast. 
 He meant what he said ; and, as even the hesi- 
 tating James admitted, his courage and senti- 
 ments on this important occasion must always do 
 him honour. A brave spirit in a young leader 
 commends itself to all adventurous souls, and 
 Charles' Highlanders could not fail to be roused 
 by his militant example. Charles was a brave 
 man and a capable soldier. In a song of this 
 time he is referred to as " The Chevalier devoid 
 of fear." Lochiel's brother, Cameron of Fassie- 
 fern, said : " If this Prince once sets eyes upon 
 you, he will make you do whatever he pleases." 
 So, indeed, it was. Charles did everything to 
 ingratiate himself with the people. He was affable 
 to all ; he denied his presence to none. He wore 
 the kilt, joined in the native sports, took to 
 whisky, and even tried to talk Gaelic !
 
 130 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 And now the day was nearing when the Royal 
 Standard was to be raised. The place chosen was 
 Glenfinnan, a narrow, lonely, peaceful, sequestered 
 vale, some twenty miles from Fort William. No 
 more suitable spot could be imagined. Shut off 
 from the outer world by stupendous, craggy 
 mountains that rise almost perpendicular from 
 the level of the blue surface of the long stretch of 
 fresh water (26 miles) named Loch Shiel, it 
 " forms a natural amphitheatre of soft, green 
 turf, intermixed with great masses of heather, 
 which at that season of the year would be clothed 
 in all the glory of purple raiment and afford a 
 carpet of Nature's own weaving, worthy of being 
 trodden by the feet of the gallant young Prince." 
 The approach to the Glen presents points of sur- 
 passing grandeur until the view dissolves into the 
 blue waters of Loch Eil and Loch Shiel, which 
 pours its rapid stream into the sea strait of Loch 
 Moidart. On the spot where the standard was 
 raised, a lofty monument, surmounted by a 
 colossal statue of the Prince, now stands as a 
 lasting memorial of the historic event, thus pre- 
 serving for the generations an imperishable testi- 
 mony to the zeal, the undaunted bravery, and the 
 inviolable fidelity of the Highlanders of the '45 
 and the rest of those who fought and bled in the 
 arduous and unfortunate enterprise. 
 
 The date fixed for the raising of the standard 
 was the 19th August. Eight days before that, 
 Charles, with his artillery and baggage, took boat
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 131 
 
 to Kinloch-Moidart, where he remained till the 
 18th. Leaving the little grey house, near by which 
 the " Prince's avenue " may still be seen, he set 
 off by Glenaladale to keep his tryst at Glenfmnan. 
 Mr. Lang thinks he landed under the blackened 
 shell of Clanranald's Castle Tirrim, burned by the 
 chief's own orders when he left home in 1715. 
 " Long it had resisted the galleys of the Camp- 
 bells of Argyll : now it was, as to-day it is, a 
 frowning ruin, looking across the sea-strait of 
 Loch Moidart to Eileen Shona." Little heartening 
 there was for Charles when at length he reached 
 the appointed rendezvous. The glen, which should 
 have been gay with tartans and resounding with 
 the skirl of the pipes 
 
 " Those thrilling sounds that call the might 
 Of old Clan Alpin to the fight " 
 
 instead of this, the plain was deserted. No vast 
 concourse of armed Highlanders, such as the 
 Prince had expected ; only a few shepherds, who 
 wished him ''Godspeed" in Gaelic as he passed. 
 His friends found it hard to cheer his despondency : 
 even that sanguine temperament had received a 
 shock. Two hours of painful anxiety, of weary 
 waiting, went by ; and still he mused in melan- 
 choly suspense and surmise in the little barn at 
 the head of the Loch. But his forces were on the 
 march, drawing gradually nearer. Lochiel and his 
 Camerons, to the number of six or seven hundred, 
 were coming. Hark ! there is the stirring note of
 
 132 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the pipes, " the war-note of Lochiel." Nearer and 
 nearer sounds the welcome music. At last 
 
 " The tartan plaid it is waving wide, 
 The pibroch's sounding up the glen." 
 
 The men whose appearance was being so eagerly 
 awaited swung into view over the hill. Up they 
 marched and the day's ceremony simple but 
 momentous in what it betokened was proceeded 
 with. 
 
 " Then raise the banner, raise it high, 
 For Charles we'll conquer or we'll die : 
 The clans a' leal and true men he, 
 And shaw me wha will daunton thee ! 
 Our gude King James will soon come hame, 
 And traitors a' he put to shame ; 
 Auld Scotland shall again be free : 
 O that's the King wad wanton me 1 " 
 
 Raised by the hands of the exiled Atholl, the 
 white, blue, and red silk unspread its folds and 
 floated in the breeze. A deafening shout went up, 
 echoing from the clustered mountain peaks, 
 resounding through the glen. Bonnets were 
 hurled into the air ; claymores were unsheathed 
 and held aloft by brawny arms. Pipers, clad in 
 all the glory of tartan bravery, blew as they had 
 never blown before, fingering the " chaunter " 
 to its gayest notes. It was a scene of never-to- 
 be-forgotten bustle and animation. Then, if ever, 
 Charles must have felt the blood of Bruce stir in 
 his veins, prompting to heroic endeavour ; then, 
 if ever, he must have felt the pride of royal 
 descent kindle in his breast. While the emblem
 
 RAISING THE STANDARD 133 
 
 still waved in the breeze, he delivered what 
 Murray of Broughton calls a " short, but very 
 pathetick, speech." He never doubted, he said, 
 that he would find in Scotland brave men fired 
 with the " noble example of their predecessors, 
 and jealous of their own and their country's 
 honour, to join with him in so glorious an enter- 
 prise." That he would bring the affair to a happy 
 issue he felt certain. Meanwhile, as these pro- 
 ceedings were in progress, more men were marching 
 up the plain. 
 
 " Down from the mountain steep, up from the valley deep, 
 
 Out from the clachan, the bothy and shieling. 
 Bugle and battle drum, bid chief and vassal come, 
 
 Loudly the bagpipes the pibroch are pealing. 
 When hath the tartan plaid mantled a coward ? 
 
 When did the blue bonnet crest the disloyal ? 
 Up ! then, and crowd to the standard of Stuart, 
 
 Follow your leader the rightful the royal ! 
 Chief of Clanranald, and Donald Macdonald 1 
 
 Come Lovat ! Lochiel ! with the Grant and the Gordon ; 
 Rouse every kilted clan, rouse every loyal man, 
 
 Gun on the shoulder, and thigh the broadsword on ! " 
 
 Macdonald of Keppoch came with 300 of his 
 followers ; Stuart of Appin, a " bashful man of 
 few words," was there with 250 ; Macdonald of 
 Glencoe, " very proud," with 150 ; and others : 
 till, when the shades of evening fell over Glen- 
 finnan, a body of some thousand strong lay ready 
 to march with the Prince and fight for the Stuart 
 Crown.
 
 134 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 " We a' maun muster soon the morn, 
 
 We a' maun march right early, 
 O'er misty mount and mossy muir 
 
 Alang wi' royal Charlie. 
 Yon German cuif that fills the throne, 
 
 He clamb to 't most unfairly ; 
 Sae aff we'll set and try to get 
 
 His birthright back to Charlie." 
 
 Such was the " gathering rant " of the brave 
 and loyal fellows who had that day, in deep 
 Glenfinnan's valley, seen the stately ensign waving 
 in the northern breeze. 
 
 " Then loudly let the pibroch sound, 
 
 And bauld advance each true heart ; 
 The word be, ' Scotland's King and Law ! ' 
 And 'Death or Charlie Stuart!'"
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 " BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON " 
 
 " Ye'll a' ha'e heard tell o' Bonnie Jeanie Cameron, 
 How she fell sick, and she was like to dee, 
 And a* that they could recommend her 
 Was ae blithe blink o' the Young Pretender. 
 Rare, oh rare, Bonnie Jeanie Cameron ! 
 Rare, oh rare, Jeanie Cameron ! " 
 
 LEAVING the Highlanders there for the moment, 
 let us look into the tangled story of " the cele- 
 brated Miss Jenny Cameron," who was present 
 at the raising of the standard, and who, for some 
 unknown reason, was believed by the English to 
 be Charles' mistress, and to have accompanied 
 him throughout his campaign. Jenny Cameron's 
 history is, as Mr. Lang says, " a mass of confu- 
 sion," told in a different way by almost every 
 writer who has dealt with the '45. 
 
 Her celebrity (or notoriety) is, at least, suffi- 
 ciently attested by the fact that in the year 1746, 
 the year of Culloden, no fewer than three works 
 purporting to be the " Life " of Jenny Cameron 
 were published. The first is entitled : A Brief 
 Account of the Life and Family of Miss Jenny 
 Cameron, the Reputed Mistress of the Pretender's 
 eldest son, containing many very Singular Incidents. 
 The second is largely, but not entirely, a reprint 
 of the first, and on the title page Charles is 
 described as the " Deputy -Pretender ! " The 
 
 135
 
 136 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 heroine is here depicted as given over to wicked- 
 ness from her early youth ; her father dies of a 
 broken heart owing to her conduct ; her gal- 
 lantries in Scotland and France are recounted j 
 and the author winds up by accusing her of incest 1 
 The third " Life " of Jenny is the largest of the 
 lot a volume of 280 pages. It bears this long 
 title : Memoirs of the Remarkable Life and Sur- 
 prising Adventures of Miss Jenny Cameron, a 
 Lady who, by her Attachment to the Person and 
 Cause of the Young Pretender, has rendered herself 
 famous by her Exploits in his Service ; and for 
 whose Sake she underwent all the Severities of a 
 Winter's Campaign. The author of this work 
 carries the heroine through far more adventures 
 than in the other two works. Constantly masque- 
 rading in male attire, and perpetrating gallantries, 
 both as a man and as a woman, she becomes the 
 acknowledged Queen of a robber band. She 
 eventually joins Prince Charles, and makes him 
 a set speech, in which she compares herself with 
 the Queen of Sheba. She is the life and soul of 
 the army, and heads the Camerons at the battle 
 of Prestonpans. She accompanies the Prince to 
 England, and finally is captured by a marauding 
 party sent out from Stirling Castle, which was 
 then being besieged by the Highlanders. The 
 whole thing reads like (and, doubtless, may be 
 rightly described as) a Grub Street novel. 
 
 But the point is : Why all this writing about 
 Jenny Cameron ? What can have been the
 
 From a 
 
 Contemporary print 
 
 Miss Jenny Cameron 
 
 By permission of the Caiton Publishing Co., Lid.
 
 "BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON' 137 
 
 history and doings of any Jenny Cameron to 
 excite so much attention in 1746 ? Nor did the 
 attention end with the works just mentioned. 
 In that same year (1746) a pantomime entitled 
 " Harlequin Incendiary, or Columbine Cameron/' 
 music by Dr. Arne, the composer of " Rule, 
 Britannia," was performed at Drury Lane, with 
 Kitty Clive, the celebrated actress, in the part 
 of " Jenny Cameron." Again, and, perhaps, most 
 significant of all, when Fielding's Tom Jones 
 was published in 1749, it was found that Sophia 
 Western, the charming heroine, was mistaken for 
 Jenny Cameron at Upton. When Sophia lies 
 fainting in the inn parlour (in the eleventh book), 
 the concern and sympathy of the landlady are 
 greatly stimulated by this supposition that Sophia 
 is Miss Jenny. Obviously, Jenny must have been 
 a celebrated figure before Fielding would have 
 used her in this way. Sophia Western, let it be 
 further noted, was young and lovely : is it, there- 
 fore, to be assumed that the Jacobite Jenny was 
 young and lovely too ? One writer speaks of 
 " the whispered style of allusion " in Fielding's 
 novel, suggesting that Jenny's name possessed 
 some sort of forbidden interest, and popular 
 tradition rather supports that idea. 
 
 Perhaps it should be added that another con- 
 temporary account of the lady is to be found in 
 the appendix to a Life of Dr, Archibald Cameron, 
 published shortly after Cameron's execution in 
 1753. The writer of this account goes further 
 
 io (1005)
 
 138 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 than his predecessors in one respect, for his 
 Jenny Cameron is made " the head of her party," 
 not only at Prestonpans, but at Falkirk and 
 Culloden. The book also includes a portrait of 
 " Miss Jenny Cammeron [sic] in a military habit/' 
 but probably the portrait is a creation of the 
 imagination. 
 
 Now what is to be made of all the queer story ? 
 That a Jenny Cameron was prominently present 
 at the raising of the standard is certain ; but that 
 Jenny Cameron had no further intimate concern 
 with the Prince and his campaign, and cannot, 
 therefore, be identified with the profligate and 
 adventurous " heroine " of the several writers 
 above mentioned. The truth would really seem 
 to be, as Mr. W. B. Blaikie, an authority on the 
 subject, suggests, that there were two Jenny 
 Camerons, and that they got mixed up and 
 confused, the one with the other. 
 
 The Jenny Cameron who was present at Glen- 
 finnan was, as we are told by -/Eneas Macdonald 
 (the Paris banker who accompanied Charles from 
 France), a daughter of Cameron of Glendessary. 
 Macdonald describes her as "a genteel, well- 
 looked, handsome woman, with a pair of pretty 
 eyes, and hair as black as jet " ; a woman of 
 " very sprightly genius and very agreeable in 
 conversation " ; " buxom, but no longer young." 
 She was, in fact, a widow nearer fifty than forty. 
 The story is that she took the place of her nephew, 
 the new laird, a youth of " doubtful intellect,"
 
 "BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON' 139 
 
 who was personally unable to respond to the 
 summons of Lochiel to organise and arm the local 
 Camerons for the Prince's service. 
 
 Two hundred and fifty Camerons responded to 
 the lady's call, and she accompanied them to 
 Glenfinnan. The picturesque writers of the books 
 cited represent her (or at least their Jenny 
 Cameron) as riding up mounted on a bay gelding, 
 gorgeously arrayed in trappings of green and gold, 
 with a velvet cap and scarlet feathers on her 
 head, and holding a drawn sword in her hand. 
 If she was really thus accoutred, we can readily 
 believe that she " presented a very extraordinary 
 spectacle." However this may be, we have neas 
 Macdonald's explicit statement that the Jenny 
 Cameron of Glenfinnan " was so far from accom- 
 panying the Prince's army, that she went off 
 with the rest of the spectators as soon as the 
 army marched, neither did she ever follow the 
 camp, nor was ever with the Prince but in public 
 when he held his Court at Edinburgh." So much 
 for Jenny Cameron the first. 
 
 The second Jenny, as we must regard her, 
 comes on the scene by reports in contemporary 
 newspapers. Thus in the Scots Magazine for 
 November, 1746, we read : " Miss Jeanie Cameron 
 was admitted to bail on the 15th, the Duchess of 
 Perth on the 17th, the Viscountess Strathallan on 
 the 22nd October. They had lain in the Castle of 
 Edinburgh (whither Miss Jeanie Cameron was 
 brought from Stirling) since the beginning of
 
 140 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 February." There is corroboration of this in 
 certain orders of the Duke of Cumberland, dated 
 at Stirling in February, 1746, where the military 
 are required to march to Edinburgh and " take 
 under their guard the rebel officers who are 
 prisoners, and ye lady, and put them into the 
 Castle of Edinburgh." By " ye lady," according 
 to some authorities, is intended the heroine of 
 Glenfinnan, who, as they assume, had been left 
 behind at Stirling on its evacuation by the High- 
 landers. She " was released from Edinburgh 
 Castle on bail, October 15, 1746, and afterwards 
 retiring to the Continent with a son (said to be 
 the child of Charles Edward), died at Ghent in 
 1767." So we read. 
 
 But this Jenny Cameron who was taken prisoner 
 was assuredly not the lady of Glenfinnan. Who, 
 then, was she ? The most reasonable explanation 
 is that given by Richard Griffith, author of 
 Ascanius, published in 1746. " Ascanius," let it 
 be premised, is Charles Edward. " The most 
 flagrant instance of the impudence of our common 
 scribblers," says Griffith, " has been furnished by 
 Mrs. Cameron, the innocent occasion of more lies 
 and nonsense than have been published concern- 
 ing any other person whose name has of late been 
 tack'd to our public reports and pamphlets." He 
 goes on to protest that he cannot understand 
 " how it came to be rumoured abroad that 
 Ascanius had any mistress, or at least any par- 
 ticular mistress in Scotland," for " those who saw
 
 "BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON' 141 
 
 most into his private life knew of none." Yet, 
 " we are told that he had a mistress, that her 
 name was Jenny Cameron, and that she marched 
 with the Highlanders into England and back with 
 them to Scotland ; all of which is absolutely false 
 and groundless." This exculpates Jenny the first, 
 at any rate. 
 
 As to Jenny the second, Griffith proceeds to 
 say that she was a milliner in the High Street of 
 Edinburgh, " who was for some time confined in 
 Edinburgh Castle under the notion of her being 
 the person so much talked of in England." It is 
 a pity that Griffith did not explain why a Jenny 
 Cameron was " so much talked of in England." 
 But that by the way. This milliner, Jenny, he 
 says, was " never out of her shop and business 
 during the whole course of the Rebellion, except 
 for a day or two before she was made prisoner." 
 And the way she was made prisoner was this : 
 During the Highlanders' siege of Stirling, she 
 went to see a rich relative there. Here it may be 
 well to quote verbatim from Griffith 
 
 " On the very next Day after her arrival at the Camp, 
 the Duke of Cumberland arriving at Edinburgh, immediately 
 marched the English Army to raise the Siege of Stirling. On 
 his Approach the Besiegers retired with Precipitation, and 
 Mrs. Cameron, far from having any Desire to accompany the 
 Highlanders in their Flight, thought only of returning to 
 Edinburgh to her Shop and Business ; but being stopped and 
 interrogated by the Duke's People, her very Name, added to 
 the Circumstance of her being found so near Stirling, was 
 enough to make her a Prisoner ; and without Farther Ceremony 
 she was committed to Edinburgh Castle, but was after a short
 
 142 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Confinement enlarged upon Bail. Nor Has she any Reason to 
 regret that ever such an Accident befel her, since it has given 
 her a fame she might never otherways have acquired, and may 
 prove the Means of her making a good Fortune so great is the 
 Increase of her Business, all the City crowding to buy Ribbands, 
 Gloves, Fans, etc., of the Young Adventurer's mistress, who 
 might well, indeed, fall under the Displeasure of the Govern- 
 ment, when every Body knew her to be so zealously affected 
 to its great Enemy, and to hold so close a Correspondence with 
 him. This celebrated Milliner is neither young nor handsome, 
 but is a Woman of Wit and very good Sense ; however, she has 
 nothing in her remarkable, which makes it the more strange 
 that the News-makers should pitch upon her for the Object of 
 the Young Adventurer's Affections, in Preference to all the 
 other Ladies in Scotland." 
 
 All this seems plausible enough. But we are 
 not done with the tangle yet. In 1793 the Rev. 
 David Ure published a History of Rutherglen and 
 East Kilbride. In that work Mr. Ure expressly 
 states that Jenny Cameron, a parishioner of his, 
 was " a lady of a distinguished family, character, 
 and beauty, whose attachment to the House of 
 Stuart, and the active part she took to support 
 its interest in 1745 made her well known through- 
 out Britain." Mr. Ure adds that Jenny died at 
 Mount Cameron, a house she had built for her- 
 self in East Kilbride, in 1773 ; and was buried 
 under a clump of trees in the grounds. This 
 Jenny Cameron, we are told, was sister of Captain 
 Allan Cameron of Glendessary, so we may accept 
 her as the heroine of Glenfinnan. 
 
 There are, however, at least two other accounts 
 of a " celebrated " Jenny Cameron's end. According
 
 "BONNIE JEANIE CAMERON' 143 
 
 to one account, she followed Charles to France, 
 only to find herself neglected and cast off ; and, 
 when she returned to Scotland, her relatives closed 
 their doors against her. Robert Chambers says 
 that a friend of his saw her in the streets of 
 Edinburgh about the year 1786, in male attire 
 and with a wooden leg ! She died, he says, in a 
 stair-foot somewhere in the Canongate. 
 
 The matter is further complicated by the appa- 
 rently authentic fact that a Jenny Cameron went 
 to Rome to solicit the continuation of a pension 
 formerly granted by Charles Edward. Why should 
 Charles grant a pension to any Jenny Cameron, 
 if we accept the facts as previously stated ? The 
 Marchesa Vitelleschi, in her A Court in Exile, 
 identifies the pensioner with the lady who appeared 
 at Glenfinnan. But this must surely be a 
 mistake. 
 
 Mr. Blaikie thinks it more likely that she was 
 the prisoner of Edinburgh Castle, " to whom it 
 may be fairly surmised that the Prince had at 
 one time granted a small pension as compensation 
 for her imprisonment." There is, however, no 
 documentary evidence to prove this ; and it is 
 just as likely that the pensioner was the widow 
 of Dr. Archibald Cameron, who perished in the 
 Prince's cause. At least, she had more claim to 
 recognition in this way than either of the other 
 two. 
 
 But the whole Jenny Cameron business is much 
 too involved to make more of it. It is full of
 
 144 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Nile sudd, choked with the weeds of tradition 
 and lying legends, and no clear way seems out of 
 it, so much has romance overgrown it and devita- 
 lised the original truth that was in it. All the 
 same, it is an interesting and chivalrous story, 
 with sufficient variations to make it entertaining 
 reading.
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 ON THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 
 
 " Over the lonely moors we ride, 
 Booted and spurred, with sword at side, 
 Our hearts beating strong with loyal pride, 
 
 And we're off to fight for Prince Charlie. 
 Fearing no foe, onward we go." 
 
 AWAY they marched from Glenfinnan, over the 
 cra ggy mountains, down through the solitudes of 
 the mossy glens, past hamlets and villages and 
 small towns, where the lasses would now sing of 
 nothing but of Charlie and his men. The price 
 of 30,000 was on Charles' head by this time. 
 In spite of his incognito, the Prince's departure 
 had soon been made known in London ; and the 
 Government reward was promised in a Pro- 
 clamation of August 1st. Before he reached 
 Edinburgh, Charles replied by a counter pro- 
 clamation denouncing " a practice so unusual 
 among Christian Princes," and " while abhorring 
 and detesting it," setting a similar price on the 
 head of King George II. It says much for the 
 loyalty of the Highlanders, that no one even 
 attempted to earn the money placed on their 
 leader's head. It could easily have been earned, 
 yet " there was nane wha would betray." Traitors 
 were only to be found among chiefs of high 
 degree, for the heart of the people, even the 
 poorest, was always true. Nothing, not even 
 
 145
 
 146 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Culloden, could shake their faith in the Stuart 
 Prince. Come weal, come woe, they would " live 
 or dee wi' Charlie." 
 
 Southward they marched, then, these daunt- 
 less Highland laddies, tossing their bonnets in 
 the air in bursts of wild enthusiasm. By the 
 26th August they had reached Invergarry, where 
 Charles was received by the young laird, a lad 
 of nineteen, whose father (such were the con- 
 tradictions of the situation) had been fraternising 
 with Sir John Cope, the Government General, in 
 Crieff . Before this, Charles had been obliged, for 
 want of transport, to bury a good half of his 
 twenty swivel guns. Cope was on his way north 
 with his 1,500 men, probably thinking it a child's 
 business to check the progress of the rebels. 
 
 For, much later than this, the even tenor of 
 English life was hardly disturbed by the " rising." 
 Gray, the poet, writing from Cambridge to Horace 
 Walpole, in February, 1746, remarked that " we 
 talk of war, famine, and pestilence with no more 
 apprehension than of a broken head, or of a 
 coach overturned between York and Edinburgh. 
 I heard three people, sensible, middle-aged men 
 (when the Scotch were said to be at Stamford, 
 and actually were at Derby), talking of hiring a 
 chaise to go to Caxton (a place on the high road) 
 to see the Pretender and the Highlanders as they 
 passed." Even when the Hanoverian troops were 
 defeated at Falkirk, Gray thought it was " a 
 rueful affair for the honour of the troops," but
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 147 
 
 otherwise he had " no more sense of danger than 
 if the battle had been fought when and where the 
 Battle of Cannae was." 
 
 But to return. Cope had told the War Office 
 that his plan of campaign was to " march into 
 the Highlands, to seek out the rebels, and try to 
 check their progress." But Cope's plans went 
 " sair agley." He was, as a contemporary 
 described him, " of the pipe-clay school, and with 
 little adaptability to strange and unexpected 
 conditions." Horace Walpole wrote : " I pity 
 poor Cope, who, with no shining abilities, and no 
 experience, was sent to fight for a crown. He 
 never saw a battle but that of Dettingen, where 
 he got his red ribbon. Churchill, whose led cap- 
 tain he was, and my Lord Hartington, have 
 posted him up to this misfortune." 
 
 The misfortune is yet a little way off. The 
 Highlanders would have been only too glad to 
 meet Cope at once, and have it over with him, 
 one way or another. But he had gone the other 
 way, thus leaving the rebels to proceed southward 
 unchecked. 
 
 " Cope rode a race to Inverness, 
 
 And fand the prince gane south already, 
 Like lion bold, all uncontrolled, 
 
 Wi' belt and brand, and tartan plaidie." 
 
 Recruits poured in as they marched, and 
 Charles " swept leisurely along to his goal " at 
 the head of a spirited following over two thou- 
 stand strong. How all these men were brought
 
 148 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 together to fight for Charlie is an interesting 
 consideration. We know something of the method 
 from Scott's Lady of the Lake 
 
 " When a mountain chief his bugle blew, 
 Both field and forest, dingle, cliff, and dell, 
 And solitary heath the signal knew ; 
 And fast the faithful clan around him drew." 
 
 When a clan had to be summoned on any sudden 
 emergency, a blazing cross of wood was sent 
 round as a signal by light-footed messengers. 
 The power of the chiefs and landed proprietors 
 was paramount in getting men together, whether 
 willingly or unwillingly. The value of an estate 
 in those days was never estimated according to 
 its rental, but according to the number of men 
 it could raise. Macdonald of Keppoch, when 
 entertaining some Lowland gentry at his High- 
 land seat, was asked by one of the guests what 
 was the rental of his estate. " I can raise 500 
 men," was his only reply. 
 
 The peasantry were poor, and they must obey 
 their chief from necessity. They had to live, and 
 when he who gave them the means of living in 
 time of peace asked a warlike service from them, 
 it was at their peril if they refused. Each chief 
 was a king within his own domain, and exercised 
 patriarchal authority, if not absolute power over 
 the members of his clan. This is not to say that 
 Charles Edward did not have a large body of 
 willing followers. But some who were compelled 
 to follow would be unwilling for various reasons.
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 149 
 
 We know that a certain proportion tried to 
 escape service ; and many were the subterfuges 
 adopted by the women to keep the brother, the 
 " gudeman," or the lover at home. 
 
 Thomas Campbell, the poet, used to tell an 
 amusing anecdote of a shrewd Highland dame 
 whose husband was Stuart mad, and determined 
 to join the insurgents. He informed his wife one 
 night that he would start on horseback early in 
 the morning. " Very well," said she ; " but you 
 will allow me to prepare your breakfast before 
 you go ? " " Oh, yes, of course." She accord- 
 ingly got the breakfast ready, and, bringing in a 
 kettle of boiling water, poured it by " intentional 
 accident " over his legs. There could be no 
 " mounting for Charlie " that day, nor for days 
 after, and the ruse probably saved both the 
 laird's head and lands. Doubtless, then, many 
 who served in that army answered the call of 
 their chiefs with reluctance. But, on the whole, 
 the bulk of these rude, technically-unskilled 
 fighters would be " for Charlie." Sentiment for 
 the ancient House of Stuart was strong the 
 doctrine of hereditary monarchy an essential part 
 of the Highlander's religion. So it came to be 
 a question of 
 
 " Wha wadna fecht for Charlie ? 
 
 Wha wadna draw the sword ? 
 Wha wadna up and rally 
 
 At the royal Prince's word ? " 
 
 And what was this Highland army like ? " The
 
 150 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 poorest, naked creatures," said one. Vere, an 
 English officer, who saw them on the way to the 
 south, wrote : " There are great numbers of 
 them, perfect boys, without arms, stockings, or 
 shoes, of about fourteen or sixteen years of age. 
 They have brass-hilted swords tied about them 
 with straw ropes." Ray, the historian of the 
 Rebellion, writing after Derby, confirms this 
 when he says that among the rebels " were many 
 old men, and boys of fifteen and sixteen years 
 of age, mostly without shoes and stockings." 
 One, speaking of them as they appeared in Edin- 
 burgh, describes them as " presenting a strange 
 sight. The chiefs, dressed in their picturesque 
 costumes, were all well armed, and not one who 
 wore the eagle's plume but possessed firelock and 
 broadsword, dirk and target, pistols, and the 
 short knife so terrible at close quarters. But 
 with the chiefs, equipment and uniformity ended. 
 Their vassals had to be content with whatever 
 weapons they could lay hands on." 
 
 Those were to be envied who possessed either 
 sword, dirk, or pistol ; many had nothing but 
 scythe blades set straight on the handle an 
 unwieldy but murderous implement ; while not 
 a few were only armed with heavy clubs and 
 cudgels. As the more civilised Lowland crowds 
 watched these ill-clad, ill-armed, ill-fed troops 
 marching past their Prince, some wanting coats, 
 some hose and shoes, some having their hair tied 
 back with a leather strap, without bonnet or
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 151 
 
 covering of any kind, how many may have 
 observed with Jonathan Oldbuck that they were 
 " a proper set of ragamuffins to propose to over- 
 turn an established government." Carlyle, of 
 Inveresk, who estimates the force at 800, says 
 only the half of them were armed. We may 
 reasonably assume, however, that all had a 
 weapon of some sort. Major-General Tulloch 
 writes 
 
 " The Highlanders, trained to the use of arms from boyhood, 
 were all proficient in the use of the claymore broadsword, 
 which all except the lowest class of clansmen habitually wore. 
 A small round shield and dirk were also part of their personal 
 equipment, and when on active service a firelock was slung 
 over the shoulder, while a haversack containing oatmeal and 
 an ample plaid supplied all that was necessary in the matter 
 of food and shelter. Brought up as they were, the Highlanders 
 thought nothing of lying out in the heather in any weather 
 when herding cattle or marching to an attack on a neighbour- 
 ing clan. To the Lowlanders they were at times a perfect 
 terror, raiding the country whenever this became a necessity. 
 To the English they were unknown except as wild mountain- 
 eers and fierce swordsmen who despised all occupations but 
 that of arms." 
 
 At any rate, armed or not, the Highlander was a 
 terror to the southern regular who had now to 
 confront him the regular, well-groomed and fed, 
 the Highlander with his plaid, his only covering 
 in storm and stress, his imperfect weapons, and 
 his little bag of oatmeal slung from his girdle. 
 How much the Highlanders dared, how much 
 they accomplished in the face of terrible odds, 
 we can hardly realise now.
 
 152 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 All this time they are making steady progress 
 southwards, with Edinburgh, the old home of the 
 Stuarts, for objective. 
 
 " The tartan plaid it is waving wide, 
 
 The pibroch's sounding up the glen, 
 And I will tarry at Auchnacarry, 
 
 To see my Donald and a' his men. 
 And there I saw the king o' them a' 
 
 Was marching bonnily in the van ; 
 And aye the spell o' the bagpipe's yell 
 
 Was, turn the blue bonnet wha can, wha can ! " 
 
 Full of youthful energy and activity, Charles won 
 the admiration of the mountaineers, showing that 
 in feats of agility and strength he was almost 
 their equal ; marching on foot at the head of the 
 different clans in turn, with his target slung over 
 his shoulder ; sharing all the fatigues and the 
 discomforts of the rapid advance. 
 
 Thus led, the Highlanders marched on down 
 by the " thundering Spey " ; down through the 
 wild, romantic passes of Badenoch, the country 
 of Cluny Macpherson, breaking the solitudes in 
 the heart of the Grampians. When, under the 
 shadow of steep Corriearack, he heard of the 
 flight of Cope and his troops to Inverness, Charles 
 called for a glass of brandy and drank " to the 
 health of good Mr. Cope, and may every general 
 in the usurper's service prove himself as much 
 our friend as he has done." Bumpers of usque- 
 baugh were served out to the men by the express 
 wish of the Prince, and merriment became the 
 order of the day,
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 153 
 
 By the end of August, Charles was within six 
 miles of Blair Athole, and on the last day of the 
 month he occupied the grand old ducal seat, a 
 building of great strength (originally the work 
 of the historic family of Comyn) and of many 
 notable memories. Montrose had occupied it in 
 1644 ; in 1653 Cromwell's soldiers were there ; 
 in 1689 " bonnie Dundee " slept in it before the 
 battle of Killiecrankie. Anxious as he was to 
 press forward, Charles was loath to leave Blair. 
 The " rightful lord," the Duke William, had been, 
 as we have seen, an exile since 1715, and was 
 now among the Prince's attendants. He sent to 
 bespeak dinner in advance, but his younger 
 brother, the Duke in possession, had fled when 
 he heard that the insurgents were approaching. 
 
 The tenantry hailed the exiled Duke with joy. 
 Murray, the Jacobite secretary, tells how " men j 
 women, and children came running from their 
 houses, kissing and caressing their master whom 
 they had not seen for thirty years ; an instance 
 of the strongest affection, which could not fail to 
 move every generous mind with a mixture of 
 grief and joy." Here, at Blair Athole, Charles 
 saw for the first time pineapples and a bowling 
 green. Somebody had sent him bowls to Rome, 
 but Rome had no bowling greens. Perhaps bowls 
 were then a purely Protestant institution ! We 
 know at least that Calvin was once discovered at 
 the game on a Sunday. 
 
 Early in September, Charles was at Lude, the 
 
 II(3005)
 
 154 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 seat of the Robertsons, an old family devoted to 
 the Stuarts. Bissatt, the Whig Duke of Athole's 
 commissary, described the Lady Lude of the time 
 as a " giglet." She was " so elevate," adds another 
 observer, " that she looked like a person whose 
 head had gone wrong/' Lude certainly saw light 
 hearts, if not light heads, at this time. Charles 
 was in the highest spirits : danced (it is said) till 
 he was exhausted ; called for reels and " This is 
 no my ain house," an excellent specimen of the 
 contemporary Jacobite lyric. It was, indeed, a 
 merry company that tripped to the music of 
 Lude that September night : too merry, perhaps, 
 if we may credit the report that Sir John 
 Macdonald, one of the seven men of Moidart, was 
 " drunk, or mad, or both," and made the company 
 uneasy by insulting Keppoch. 
 
 From Lude, Charles proceeded to Perth, dining 
 at the " Auld House " of Cask by the way that 
 same house which produced Caroline Oliphant 
 (Lady Nairne), the chief modern singer of the 
 Jacobite cause. There was a Charles Oliphant 
 in the family, and George II. is said to have 
 been tickled on hearing how, every day, after 
 dinner, the " auld laird " would turn to his son 
 with, " Charles, the King's health." It was the 
 auld laird who now, in feudal wrath at his tenants 
 for holding back from joining their "rightful 
 Prince," issued orders that their grain, then ripe 
 for the scythe, should not be cut. Riding through 
 the pleasant lands of Cask, Charles saw the golden
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 155 
 
 harvest dropping, and heard the story. Exclaiming, 
 " This will never do ! " he leaped from the saddle, 
 and, going into the field, gathered a handful of 
 corn and gave some to his horse, and then made 
 the bystanders understand that, with his royal 
 authority, the farmers were now at liberty to 
 gather in the harvest. Charles did many graceful 
 acts of this kind, and there is no reason to doubt 
 the story. 
 
 The Highlanders reached Perth, the " St. 
 Johnstone " of early history and Scottish song f 
 in the soft evening light of September 4th 
 Perth, which once lorded it over broad Scotland, 
 whose capital she was until Edinburgh rose to 
 pride of place. Even the Romans had said hand- 
 some things of Perth and her noble river. Did 
 not a Roman army, upon coming within sight of 
 the Tay and the city on its banks, burst into 
 tears as they gazed fondly down upon the river, 
 crying " Ecce Tiberim ! " 
 
 " ' Behold the Tiber ! ' the vain Roman cried, 
 Viewing the ample Tay from Baiglie's side ; 
 But where's the Scot who would the vaunt repay, 
 And hail the puny Tiber for the Tay ? " 
 
 Perth is as old as Scottish history. It has been 
 the seat of Parliaments and the home and burial- 
 place of kings, and its name is interwoven with 
 great and stirring events. Wallace and Bruce 
 battled around and within it ; tore down the 
 banners of tyranny from its walls, and raised the 
 flag of freedom in their place.
 
 156 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 At Perth, Charles was still in excellent spirits, 
 playing practical jokes on Sullivan, his quarter- 
 master-general, by pulling him out of bed. Balls 
 were given in his honour, and he " soon obtained 
 the verdict of the fair sex in his favour," though 
 he offended more than one lady by neglecting her 
 charms for a military inspection. He visited 
 Scone, two miles away, where so many of his 
 ancestors had been crowned ; where the " Stone 
 of Destiny " rested for long years until " Lang- 
 shankit Neddy cam' doon wi' his cuddy " and 
 carried it off to Westminster. 
 
 " Kings unnumbered were crooned on its tap, 
 The bareleggit lads, oor auld-farrant dads, 
 An' mony a helmed and mail-clad chap." 
 
 Kings and queens have been crowned upon it 
 since (King George V. the latest), and kings and 
 queens will be crowned upon it in days to come. 
 No doubt Charles Edward confidently expected 
 to be crowned on it, too. 
 
 It was from Perth, on the 10th September, 
 that he wrote to his father 
 
 " I have occasion to reflect every day on your Majesty's 
 last words to me, that I should find power, if tempered with 
 justice and clemency, an easy thing to myself, and not grievous 
 to those under me. Tis owing to the observance of this rule, 
 and to my conformity to the customs of these people that I 
 have got their hearts to a degree not to be easily conceived 
 by those who do not see it. One who observes the discipline 
 I have established would take my little army to be a body of 
 picked veterans ; and to see the love and harmony that reign 
 amongst us, you would be apt to look on it as a large, well- 
 ordered family, in which every one loves another better than
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 157 
 
 himself. I keep my health better in these wild mountains 
 than I used to do in the Campagna Felice, and sleep sounder 
 lying on the ground than I used to do in the palaces of Rome." 
 
 From Perth, the march was continued on 
 September llth. Cope had reached Aberdeen 
 that same day, and was coming on to Edinburgh 
 by sea. Charles must be in the capital before 
 him. And that was easily managed. His forces 
 held on by Dunblane ; by Sherrifmuir (the Cul- 
 loden of the '15) ; by Stirling with its proud 
 monuments of Wallace and Bruce, its houses of 
 great nobles like Argyll and Mar, its ancient 
 castle (closely associated with the fortunes of the 
 Stuarts) topping the town, whose ramparts look 
 down on Scotland's dearest battlefields. On by 
 Bannockburn, Scotland's Marathon, where Charles' 
 ancestor, the Bruce, had led the victorious Scots 
 against the English ; on by Torwood and by 
 Falkirk, on whose plains Wallace had been taught 
 the bitter lesson of defeat and desertion. The 
 Prince slept for a night at the old house of Touch, 
 now Seton Stuart, and the sheets are still pre- 
 served. At Sir Hugh Paterson's place, near 
 Bannockburn, he dined one evening, and fell in 
 love with Sir Hugh's niece, the dark-eyed 
 Clementina Walkinshaw, of whom more anon. 
 
 Presently he was at Linlithgow, where Angus 
 and Lennox had waged mortal combat, the 
 birthplace and occasional home of Mary Stuart. 
 These were scenes which he, the heir of the 
 ancient line, can hardly have beheld without
 
 158 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 emotion. Linlithgow especially should have 
 appealed to him. To its " sumptuous and noble 
 palace " James V. had brought his bride, Mary 
 of Lorraine, the mother of the unfortunate Queen 
 of Scots. In the first days of her wedded joy she 
 had said of the already historic structure that it 
 was " the most princely " place her eyes had 
 ever beheld ; and Sir Walter Scott, after the 
 lapse of three centuries, echoed her words 
 
 "Of all the palaces so fair, 
 
 Built for the Royal dwelling, 
 In Scotland far beyond compare, 
 
 Linlithgow is excelling ; 
 And in its park, in jovial June, 
 How sweet the merry linnet's tune, 
 
 How blithe the blackbird's lay ! 
 The wild-buck bells from ferny brake, 
 The coot dives merry on the lake ; 
 The saddest heart might pleasure take 
 
 To see all nature gay." 
 
 Edward II. spent a whole winter of tranquillity 
 here, and fled to the Palace after the defeat of 
 Bannockburn. It was a favourite residence of 
 David II. The Stuarts were all more or less 
 intimately connected with it. During the period 
 of their dynasty the Scots Parliament often met 
 in the Great Hall. The rude hand of time has 
 left it but a mere fragment of its ancient glory ; 
 but its ruins, kissed by the waters of a beautiful 
 lake, still show something of the fine taste and 
 architectural beauty which characterise all the 
 Scottish palaces erected by the Stuarts. Charles
 
 THE MARCH TO EDINBURGH 159 
 
 spent a day at the Palace, though he did not 
 sleep in it, but in a house to the east of the town. 
 
 On his arrival, he immediately gave orders that 
 the Sunday services should be proceeded with, 
 as usual. His orders were unheeded : the parish 
 minister declined to preach. The excitement, he 
 said, was too great. There was, indeed, excite- 
 ment enough. Thus, the Glencoe Macdonalds 
 insisted that they must withdraw from the army 
 if they were not allowed to act as guards of 
 Newliston. Newliston was the residence of Lord 
 Stair, whose grandfather was the " author " of 
 the massacre of Glencoe. The Macdonalds carried 
 their point. Their chief was of a chivalrous 
 temper ; but " what an army was that," exclaims 
 Mr. Lang, " in which clans could always carry a 
 point by threatening to desert ! " Charles sub- 
 sequently, in pardonable temper, told his officers 
 that of all the force, he alone could not use this 
 argument. 
 
 Before September was out, Charles was within 
 a dozen miles of Edinburgh. He could see the 
 capital, where soon he hoped to reign as king* 
 So far, his had been a triumphal march : nowhere 
 had his progress been opposed. Such good fortune 
 he had not really expected. Gardiner's men had 
 been at Kirkliston ; now they retreated to Colt's 
 Bridge, and the road was open to Charles as far 
 as Corstorphine, to-day practically amalgamated 
 with Edinburgh. At two o'clock one afternoon, 
 Charles himself was in Corstorphine, within three
 
 160 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 miles of Edinburgh town. That same evening his 
 forces encamped at Slateford, about two miles 
 from the capital, from whence he sent a summons 
 to the authorities demanding the immediate 
 surrender of the city. 
 
 What, meantime, had Edinburgh been thinking 
 of this Jacobite " rising " ? Edinburgh was in a 
 quandary. Her walls were unsubstantial as 
 incapable of defence as the men who might be 
 called to defend them. Parts of the walls were 
 strengthened with bastions and provided with 
 embrazures, but no cannon were mounted. Volun- 
 teers were asked for. They assembled and were 
 laughed at. Carry le, of Inveresk, one of them, 
 says : " The ladies in the windows treated us 
 very variously ; many with lamentation and even 
 with tears, and some with scorn and derision. 
 In one house on the south side of the street there 
 was a row of windows full of ladies, who appeared 
 to enjoy our march to danger with much mirth 
 and levity." 
 
 As a matter of fact, when they scented danger 
 near at hand a good many of these volunteers 
 decamped. The dragoons were " worse than use- 
 less a terror to their friends rather than to the 
 enemy." General Guest, who commanded 600 
 men in the Castle, was old and in feeble health. 
 In short, Edinburgh was wholly unprepared, with 
 her own resources, to resist the invaders. In 
 these circumstances, the authorities deemed it 
 best to temporise. Cope, they knew, was on the
 
 way from Aberdeen, with forces for their relief. 
 They would send out a deputation to Charles, 
 merely to put off time. The deputation was sent, 
 followed by other deputations. Messages passed 
 to and fro, Charles demanding instant surrender ; 
 Edinburgh, by " confused shufflings," playing 
 with the question, against Cope's arrival. Charles 
 grew impatient. He was tired of dilly-dallying : 
 instead of receiving messages, Edinburgh must 
 receive himself, and that without further delay. 
 The story of the Highlanders' entry is amusing 
 enough. It was in the nature of a coup de main. 
 After one of the city's deputations left the Prince's 
 camp, the Prince directed that a body of Camerons, 
 led by the " gentle Lochiel," should move forward 
 and stealthily reconnoitre the town wall. Be- 
 friended by the darkness, they safely reached the 
 Nether Bow Port, which then closed the head of 
 the Canongate. There they halted and lay in 
 ambush, ready for such opportunity as might 
 offer. They had not long to wait. The 
 Port opened to let out a coach going to 
 the Canongate, and in rushed Lochiel and his 
 men with drawn swords and targets. Up the 
 street they marched, colours flying, the pipes 
 
 playing 
 
 " We'll awa' to Shirramuir, 
 
 And baud the Whigs in order." 
 
 Not an armed enemy was to be seen only the 
 townspeople in their night garb at the windows, 
 drawn from their beds by the excited yells of
 
 162 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Charlie's men. The Highlanders surged forward 
 in triumph to the guard-house, disarmed the 
 guard, captured the cannon and arsenal, placed 
 their pickets at the eight principal gates, and, 
 drawing up their main body in the Parliament 
 Close, awaited, in gleeful anticipation, the arrival 
 of their leader. It had been a " walk over " and 
 no mistake ! A citizen, taking his usual morning 
 airing round the walls, found a Highlander 
 bestriding a cannon, waiving his bare legs about 
 in the breeze. " You do not belong to yesterday's 
 guard ? " said the astonished citizen. " Oh, no ; 
 she be relieved," replied the unconcerned Celt. 
 
 Edinburgh had not taken the Highlanders 
 seriously. " They are only a pitiful crew," said 
 the C our ant, which was hostile to the Jacobites, 
 and was promptly suppressed when Charlie entered 
 the capital " only a pitiful crew, good for nothing, 
 and incapable of giving any reason for their pro- 
 ceedings, but talking only of tobacco, King James, 
 the Regent, plunder, and new brogues." " The 
 dregs and scum of two or three petty Highland 
 gentlemen," said one high authority. They had 
 achieved their purpose so far, at any rate !
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 THE EDINBURGH OF THE '45 
 
 THE exulting procession which brought Charles 
 Edward to Holyrood, the home of his ancestors, 
 mingled the dramatic with the romantic in a 
 striking manner. Edinburgh itself had yielded 
 to the summons of " Charles P.-R.," but the 
 Castle still held out for " Geordie " ; and Charles, 
 to avoid its fire, made a detour by the Borough- 
 muir (where Marmion surveyed the Scottish 
 forces before Flodden), entered the King's Park 
 by a breach in the wall, and passed to Holyrood 
 by the Duke's Walk, so called after his grand- 
 father, the Duke of York, who was fond of 
 promenading there. 
 
 " He started," says one, " upon this march of 
 foot, but so closely did the people crowd round 
 him, eager to kiss his hand or only to touch his 
 tartan doublet or plaid, that he could make no 
 progress. He called for his horse, and, mounting 
 it, rode forward with the Duke of Perth on his 
 right and Lord Elcho on his left. By the time he 
 reached the Palace, his very boots were dim with 
 the kisses of the rabble, for his noble appearance 
 won the hearts of all who beheld him." 
 
 "As he cam' marching down the street, 
 
 The pipes played loud and clear ; 
 And a' the folk cam' rinnin' oot 
 To meet the Chevalier." 
 163
 
 164 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 The scene was more like a dream than a reality, 
 so quick and amazing had been the change. At 
 the Market Cross, on Tuesday, the 17th, the 
 Heralds had proclaimed him King James VIII., 
 the beautiful wife of Murray of Broughton sitting 
 beside them on horseback, with drawn sword in 
 hand, giving away cockades to the eager, excited 
 crowd, the people huzzaing, and the ladies flaunt- 
 ing their handkerchiefs from the windows. Not 
 even in his most sanguine moments could Charles 
 have imagined that within a month of the raising 
 of his standard, and without the shedding of one 
 drop of blood, he would be in possession of Scot- 
 land's capital, welcomed by the loud and long 
 jubilations of a crowd that filled the Park. 
 
 Hearts were everywhere won by the grace and 
 beauty of the Prince who had thus, as Scott 
 says, thrown himself on the mercy of his country- 
 men rather like a hero of romance than a calcu- 
 lating politician. Tall and handsome, fair and 
 noble in aspect, he excited the admiration of all 
 the fearless Jacobites, the ladies especially. John 
 Home, an eye-witness of this scene, who wrote a 
 History of the Rebellion, says everybody was 
 charmed with the Prince, whom he describes as 
 of a fair complexion, and as wearing a light- 
 coloured periwig with his own hair combed over 
 the front. Many compared him with Bruce, 
 whom he resembled, they declared, in his figure 
 as well as in his fortune. The Whigs naturally 
 looked upon him with other eyes. They admitted
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 165 
 
 that he was a goodly person, but observed or 
 pretended to observe that even in that exultant 
 hour, " the air of his countenance was languid 
 and melancholy " ; that he looked like a gentle- 
 man and a man of fashion, but not like a hero 
 or a conqueror. 
 
 Home says that he wore at this time " the 
 Highland dress, that is, a tartan short coat with- 
 out the plaid, a blue bonnet on his head, and on 
 his breast the star of the Order of St. Andrew." 
 By " Highland dress," we understand nowadays 
 the kilt, and it has been contended by some that 
 Charles never wore the kilt. But what means, 
 then, that record of 1741, which tells us of Charles' 
 presence at a carnival ball, rigged out in a kilt 
 which an admirer had sent him from Scotland. 
 And if the contention as to his never having worn 
 the kilt is meant to apply to the time he was in 
 Scotland, it still seems unfounded. 
 
 Ewald says he donned it soon after his landing, 
 and quotes 
 
 " Oh, better loved he canna be, 
 
 Yet when we see him wearing 
 
 Our Highland garb sae gracefully, 
 
 'Tis aye the mair endearing." 
 
 Then there is the statement of Macdonald of 
 Kingsburgh, who says that " the Prince got him- 
 self equip t in the Highland clothes, with the 
 claymore in his hand," prior to parting with 
 Flora Macdonald in Skye. Of course, the " High- 
 land clothes " might mean in this case either the
 
 166 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 kilt, the belted plaid, or the tartan trews and 
 plaid. But there is less ambiguous evidence. 
 Thus in Captain Malcolm Macleod's journal, the 
 Prince himself is quoted as remarking when in 
 Skye : "I have had this philabeg on now for 
 some days, and I find I do as well with it as any 
 the best breeches I ever put on. I hope in God, 
 Macleod, to walk the streets of London with it 
 yet ! " Then, in a document by Hugh Macdonald 
 of Balshor, the writer, referring to the Prince's 
 stay in South Uist, says that " his dress was then 
 a tartan short coat and vest of the same, got 
 from Lady Clanranald . . . , a short kilt, tartan 
 hose and Highland brogs, his upper coat being 
 English cloath." Patrick Grant, too, one of the 
 devoted Glenmoriston men, in his account of the 
 Prince when in that part of the country, speaks 
 of him as having " no breeches, but a philabeg." 
 Other instances might be cited from the same 
 authorities, all showing that Charles constantly 
 wore a plaid, sometimes with a philabeg and 
 sometimes without it ; the Highland plaid being 
 readily folded up and belted round the waist so 
 as to form what a perfervid Celt calls a " tempo- 
 rary kilt." At the same time, it would be interest- 
 ing to know what authority there may be for the 
 Prince wearing the kilt he often wore the tartan 
 coat, vest, plaid and trews during the period 
 dating from his arrival in the Highlands till his 
 defeat at Culloden. 
 
 But we are in Edinburgh in 1745 just now
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 167 
 
 Edinburgh filled with loyal Highlanders, the 
 streets echoing to the skirl of the pipes ; the 
 white cockade glistening in the eyes of strangers ; 
 the air charged with excitement ; hope, enthu- 
 siasm in every breast. A very different Edinburgh 
 was " Scotia's darling seat " then. It was not a 
 big town, though there was a population of some 
 40,000 huddled together within a very small area. 
 The High Street, Canongate and Cowgate, with 
 the wide, open space of the Grassmarket, formed 
 the principal streets. The New Town had not yet 
 come into being, the ground on which it stands 
 to-day being then fields and meadows. Cattle 
 browsed where the visitor now gazes on the Castle 
 heights from the pavement of Princes Street, and 
 the Gardens of that famous promenade were yet 
 undreamt of, for the muddy waters of the Nov' 
 Loch lay there undrained. 
 
 In Prince Charlie's time you might shoot snipe 
 and course hare where George Street now runs. 
 Not, indeed, until 1752 did the idea originate of 
 extending the city northward, so as to include 
 the open fields across the Nor' Loch and the 
 road then known as " Lang Dykes," now Princes 
 Street. There was no Princes Street till 1767 ? 
 when the first house built was that now standing 
 at the corner of West Register Street. The High 
 Street was then the centre of business. The town 
 was still practically confined within the limits of 
 its old Flodden walls, to live outside which was 
 held to be highly unfashionable. Hence rose,
 
 towering into the air, those tenements of the 
 High Street and the Lawnmarket, ten and a 
 dozen storeys high, the grim, grey backs of some 
 of which may be seen from the Princes Street of 
 to-day, their evening lights twinkling romantically 
 away up, as it seems, in " high heaven," very 
 suggestive of the disabilities and inconveniences 
 of the Edinburgh of 1745. 
 
 In those days, Edinburgh could hardly have 
 been called " mine own romantic town." Indeed, 
 another adjective was freely used, and the adjec- 
 tive was " dirty." Every traveller remarked on 
 the loftiness of the houses and the prospect of 
 the Castle ; but every traveller remarked also on 
 Edinburgh's unsavouriness. It is significant to 
 find Defoe describing the rival Glasgow as " one 
 of the cleanest, most beautiful, and best-built 
 cities in Great Britain." When Charles Wesley 
 visited Edinburgh in 1751, six years after the 
 other Charles, he declared that the High Street 
 smelt " worse than a common sewer " ; that even 
 the stately rooms at Holy rood were " as dirty as 
 stables." " How long," he demanded, " can it be 
 suffered that all manner of filth should be flung 
 into the streets ? " 
 
 This was eighteenth-century Edinburgh's unique 
 characteristic. There was no water in the houses 
 then but what was carried in ; none of our 
 boasted modern " conveniences " of sanitation. 
 All refuse and slops had to be carried down the 
 long, narrow turnpike stairs, or thrown out of
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 169 
 
 the windows ! The easier method naturally com- 
 mended itself to maids and housewives. After 
 nine at night, one dare not walk abroad, having 
 any regard for the comfort of his person. True, 
 the warning cry of " Gardy loo " (French influence 
 again, for was it not a corruption of " Gardez a 
 1'eau " ?) might ring out, but how could one 
 guard his head against an avalanche ? Taylor, 
 the Water Poet, had some repulsive experiences 
 when he came to Edinburgh in the footsteps of 
 Ben Jonson, and wrote about them in terms too 
 shuddering to be fully quoted here. "In a 
 morning," he says, " the scent was so offensive 
 that we were forced to hold our noses as we 
 passed the streets, to take care where we trod 
 for fear of disobliging our shoes, and to walk in 
 the middle at night, for fear of an accident to 
 our heads." Smollett knew, too, as his Humphry 
 Clinker shows. " They say it is wholesome," 
 urges one of the characters in that now forgotten 
 book. Most people did not feel it to be whole- 
 some. " Dealers in brown paper are said to have 
 made no little profit by selling that article for 
 deodorising purposes." Imagine Charles Edward 
 stepping gingerly down the High Street and the 
 Canongate to Holyrood o' nights, holding his 
 nose and guarding his head ! 
 
 The Edinburgh of that day was sadly over- 
 crowded. Her people lived, as one puts it, 
 literally packed together like herrings in a barrel. 
 Well-born gentlemen and their households 
 
 12 2005)
 
 contrived to be happy and healthy in rooms which 
 to-day would hardly serve for a charwoman or 
 a chimney-sweep. Bruce of Kennet, a prominent 
 lawyer, afterwards raised to the Bench, lived in 
 a house of three rooms and a kitchen, a parlour, 
 a consulting room, and a bedroom. The children, 
 with their maid, had beds laid down for them 
 every night in the consulting room ; the house- 
 maid slept under the kitchen dresser, and the 
 one man-servant was turned, at night, out of the 
 house. Gentle and simple were massed together 
 in the most delightfully Bohemian fashion in 
 those residences in and off the High Street, up 
 whose dark stairs fine ladies and men of note 
 would guardedly pick their way. 
 
 Yet, crowded and " clarty " as it was, this 
 eighteenth-century Edinburgh was a sociable, 
 hospitable, gay, easy-going town. There were 
 few " amusements," no doubt, as moderns under- 
 stand the term. The Kirk, which Burns was to 
 satirise later, made sure of that ! As late as 1811, 
 when Shelley was in Edinburgh, after his elope- 
 ment with Harriet Westbrook, he solemnly 
 declared that a stranger rebuked him for laughing 
 in Princes Street on the " Sawbath." Think, then, 
 of the greater restraint of 1745 ! Sunday was an 
 awful day. You must not even " gaze idly " out 
 of your windows, for you ought to be at church 
 or reading your Bible. If any one were found on 
 the streets " during sermons," he was at the 
 mercy of the Kirk's " seizers," who had power
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 171 
 
 to arrest him and bring him before the Session 
 for fine or discipline. At night, when the Kirks 
 were closed, Edinburgh was like a city of the 
 dead, for the patrols watched the streets 
 " followed any belated passenger's echoing foot- 
 steps, peered down wynds, looked up stairs for 
 lurking transgressors of the law of Mount Sinai." 
 Even the barbers who on Sunday furtively 
 carried home their customers' wigs and shaved 
 the owners into tidiness for worship, even against 
 them the Kirk uttered its anathemas. 
 
 Nor were the week-day pleasures less jealously 
 guarded by the Popes of Presbytery. Edinburgh 
 had no regular theatre, though travelling com- 
 panies occasionally came to "fill up our cup of 
 sin," as the parsons said. The pit of a playhouse, 
 they declared, led straight to the pit that is 
 bottomless. Some of the clergy even threatened 
 to withhold the Communion from such of their 
 members as patronised this " nursery of Satan." 
 In 1736, Allan Ramsay, the ex-wigmaker poet of 
 " The Gentle Shepherd," built a theatre which 
 the magistrates, acting under the influence of 
 the clergy, refused to licence. 
 
 " Shall London have its houses twa 
 And we be doom'd to nane ava ? 
 Is our metropolis, ance the place 
 Where lang syne dwelt the royal race 
 Of Fergus, this gate dwindled doun 
 To th' level o' a clachan toun, 
 While thus she suffers the desertion 
 Of a maist rational diversion ? "
 
 172 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Thus wrote honest Allan, who was almost ruined 
 by the bigoted action of the magistrates. He 
 sought legal redress, but had to console himself 
 with the subtle verdict that, though he had been 
 damaged, he had not been injured ! It is a point 
 of interest to us ^ihat he sent in a petition to the 
 famous Forbes of Culloden, then Lord President 
 of the Court of Session. There is, too, another 
 point of interest in the fact that John Home, 
 already mentioned as the author of a History of 
 the Rebellion, had to resign his living as a minister 
 of the Church because he had written a stage- 
 play, the tragedy of " Douglas." It was not until 
 1756 that " Douglas " was performed in Edin- 
 burgh, but the Kirk had lost none of its horror of 
 the stage ; and while the town was delighted, the 
 ministers denounced " the illegal and dangerous 
 entertainments " of the playhouse, and moved 
 heaven and earth to restrain their flocks from 
 frequenting " such seminaries of vice and folly." 
 One parsimonious parson deprecated especially 
 the " prodigiouse summ of money " that Edin- 
 burgh threw away on the strolling players, more 
 particularly the money spent in " cloathes " for 
 attending. The tyranny of the Kirk in this 
 direction was terrible. But bigotry was dying at 
 last, though dying hard ; and in 1746 a theatre 
 was licensed set up on a piece of ground which 
 had been the scene of Whitefield's fervid religious 
 meetings ! 
 
 Of course, the Kirk denounced other things
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 173 
 
 besides theatres. There were the clubs, for 
 instance, the members of which were understood 
 to ridicule the Kirk, and indulge in the most 
 appalling bacchanalian orgies. The names of 
 some of these clubs with which Edinburgh 
 swarmed about the time of the '45 certainly do 
 not look nice the " Sulphur Club," the " Hell- 
 Fire Club," the " Ten-Tumbler Club/' the " Demi- 
 reps," and so on. There is a dare-devil and dare- 
 dirk sound about them which fully bears out the 
 character they obtained for their goings-on : 
 their free talk, their ribald verses, and their 
 blaspheming songs. There was the " Cape Club," 
 the name of which some bibulous burgess hit 
 upon after doubling the " Cape " of Leith Wynd 
 when " half -seas over." There was the " Pious 
 Club," where members met at fixed periods to 
 indulge Gargantuan appetites in the consumption 
 of pies. There was the " Spendthrift," where 
 nobody was allowed to spend more than four- 
 pence halfpenny. And there were others. " No 
 custom, no usage, no jest, seemed too trivial to 
 be seized upon as the pretext to give a colour of 
 excuse for founding a Club." 
 
 And then there were the dances. It would 
 have been bad enough to have this " invention 
 of the devil " going on in private houses. But 
 there was no room in private houses for the 
 country dance or the minuet ; ''no room for 
 guests to sit, or refreshments to be eaten, or 
 be-hooped ladies to move." A fat female squeezing
 
 174 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 through a narrow turnstile is nothing to the 
 crinolined ladies of 1745 trying to squeeze through 
 the narrow passages leading off the turnpike stairs 
 of Edinburgh's towering tenements. These articles 
 of raiment were " enormous and capacious," as 
 young Robert Strange, the Jacobite engraver, 
 found, when, beneath the hoop of his betrothed, 
 the vigorous-minded Isabella Lumsden, he sought 
 concealment from his pursuers, while she sat 
 quietly spinning in seeming innocence before the 
 baffled searchers. 
 
 Even late in the century, when ladies had 
 learnt to restrict the circumference of their dress, 
 Mrs. Cockburn, who sang so sweetly " The Flowers 
 of the Forest," reported of a dance which she 
 dared to give in her flat in Blair Close, that the 
 fiddlers " sat where the cupboard is, and the 
 table was stuffed into the window." Thus, it was 
 at public halls that Edinburgh society met and 
 danced in the " assembly rooms " against which 
 the ministers hurled their objurgations as nurseries 
 of vice. Their own phrase was " promiscuous 
 dancing," which they condemned as a seductive 
 allurement, an incentive to sensuality. 
 
 Still, Edinburgh society went on dancing, 
 receiving its rebukes solemnly in public and 
 laughing heartily at them in private. " We have 
 an assembly at Edinburgh," writes one, " where 
 every Thursday they meet and dance from 4 till 
 11 at night. It is half-a-crown ; and whatever 
 tea, coffee, chocolate, biscuit, etc,, they call for,
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 175 
 
 they must pay as the managers direct ; and they 
 are the Countess of Panmure, Lady Newhall, the 
 President's Lady, and the Lady Drumpellier. 
 The ministers are preaching against it, and say 
 it will be another horning order." One assembly 
 was held in the now unfashionable West Bow, 
 in a poor, incommodious room, just opposite 
 " the grim and haunted lodging of the wizard, 
 Major Weir." 
 
 There, .outside, one would find, from 4 o'clock, 
 " a crowd of sedan-chairs with their gaily attired 
 occupants, the noisy mob pressing to witness the 
 fine sight ; the invectives, in safe Gaelic, of com- 
 peting chairmen ; the clanking of the swords of 
 gentlemen in bright, silken coats." Off the High 
 Street, again, in the Assembly Close, the dancing 
 revels went on under the patronage of such high- 
 born dames as Lady Panmure and the beautiful 
 Susanna, Countess of Eglinton. When the revels 
 were over (stopped by the St. Giles' bells) at 
 eleven, " the stream of fashion poured down the 
 dark stair, and then, as the Countess of Eglinton, 
 lovely herself, and her seven lovely daughters, 
 were borne off in their sedan-chairs, the gentle- 
 men, with drawn swords, escorted them to their 
 lodgings in Jack's Land." 
 
 Oliver Goldsmith did not think much of these 
 fashionable gatherings when, as a poor Irish 
 medical student at Edinburgh University, he 
 spent one of his scanty half-crowns in the dancing 
 room. " Deplorably dull," was his verdict. But
 
 176 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Nolly, alas ! was ugly " with no attractions to 
 speak of " and no lady to dance with. These 
 entertainments, socially crude, shabby, attended 
 by discomforts at which twentieth -century nerves 
 would shiver, were, nevertheless, the charm of 
 Edinburgh fashion in these olden times, and lived 
 long in the memories of those who took part in 
 them. The ladies of that day carried their dainty 
 snuff-boxes, from which they " primed " their 
 noses at dance or social gathering. You would 
 see them with their green and red plaids, held 
 with one arm round the waist to keep them tight 
 to the body, the gloved hand holding them close 
 to the face, from which the eyes sparkled brightly. 
 Gentlemen moved about in silk and satin, in 
 gold-laced coat and waistcoat, clinking sword 
 and waiving periwig. At night they would be 
 encountered in the dark streets, making their 
 way home, 
 
 " With tattered wigs, fine shoes, and uncocked hats, 
 And all-bedaubed with snuff their fine cravats." 
 
 Gilt sedan-chairs borne by Highland porters 
 claimed the causeway with pedestrians. Caddies, 
 in their rags and impudence, ran their errands 
 from wynd to wynd. Archers marched along in 
 blue St. Andrew's bonnets, trimmed with green 
 ribbons on their wigs, to shoot at butts on Leith 
 or Musselburgh Links. 
 
 But really it was in the " tumultuous taverns " 
 that Edinburgh's fun and jollity had freest play. 
 There the drink was copious, the songs were
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 177 
 
 merry, the jokes as broad as the nights were long, 
 the air thick with the steam from a score of 
 punch-bowls. You might hear " the tread of 
 hasty citizens " leaving their shops to drink at 
 the taverns. It has been suggested that the 
 harshness of the northern winter explains the 
 old-time universal devotion to tavern-life. It 
 does, partly, no doubt. "It is one of the vilest 
 climates under heaven," wrote Louis Stevenson 
 of his native city, shivering in his South Sea 
 home at the mere remembrance of it. 
 
 Small wonder if the eighteenth-century man's 
 idea of enjoyment should have been a warm, cosy 
 corner by the fireside in one of the innumerable 
 " howfs " which studded the High Street closes ; 
 or that every poet from Allan Ramsay to 
 Fergusson and Burns should have sung of the 
 delights of joyous evenings at Johnnie Dowie's 
 or the Crochallan Club, with the high jinks, the 
 uproarious mirth, the hilarious songs. 
 
 But there was another reason for the popularity 
 of the taverns. There could be no real comfort 
 and social enjoyment in the cramped, narrow, tall 
 " lands " ; and so the tavern became the mutual 
 rendezvous alike for business and pleasure. The 
 lawyer and his clients went there, and the doctor 
 and his patients. Professional people had no 
 offices then, as they have now. It was the time 
 when the Lord Provost of the city would invite 
 his guests to supper at Clerihugh's or Fortunes'. 
 Even men of the highest social position preferred
 
 178 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the ease and freedom of restraint at the " howf " 
 to the decorous dulness of their own firesides ; 
 and Lord Cockburn in his youth saw some dozen 
 of the aristocracy of Mid-Lothian including the 
 Duke of Buccleuch and the Lord Advocate 
 crowded in the low-roofed room of a village ale- 
 house, drinking huge potations of claret and 
 whisky punch, and making the rafters echo with 
 songs and toasts and uproarious festivity. These 
 taverns varied in degree and quality, from the 
 larger and more fashionable " howfs " frequented 
 by the Lords of Session, the great advocates, and 
 men of letters, to the humble " laigh shops," 
 where clerks and shop-assistants repaired after 
 the day's work, and where the fun and merriment 
 were as unrestrained as at " Poosie Nancy's," 
 which sheltered the " Jolly Beggars." The prices 
 for eatables at all events ruled low, and at 
 many of the clubs a man might sup frugally off 
 collops or a haddock, or a roasted skate and 
 onions, for a few pence. 
 
 Almost every tradesman had his favourite 
 tavern where, business over by 8 o'clock and his 
 booth closed, he had his frugal supper and cracked 
 his joke with his friends over a bottle before 
 going home for the night. And what royal 
 drinkers they were ! One thinks with envy of 
 these high old rioting days, when the winter 
 fires roared in the landlords' capacious chimneys, 
 when nobody dreamt of going home till morning, 
 and many were unable to go home at all.
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 179 
 
 Sometimes they would drink the whole night 
 through, and work off the debauch by an early 
 morning tramp to Roslin or Queensferry. 
 
 Convivial knights-errant used to " save the 
 ladies " by toasting their idols in a bumper from 
 glasses of " vast length." The deepest drinker 
 " saved " his Dulcinea, and the bold champion 
 had often considerable difficulty in " saving " 
 himself from the floor in his efforts to regain his 
 seat. How they managed to put away so much 
 liquor and yet retain a clear head must ever 
 remain a mystery. Three-bottle-men were as 
 common as cock-fights in Prince Charlie's day. 
 Nay, topers used to be met with who could tuck 
 six bottles under their belts without turning a 
 hair. There is further amazement in the fact that 
 these persistent drinkers lived to such a ripe age. 
 Kames and Monboddo were far on in their eighties 
 when death claimed them. So were John Home 
 and Adam Ferguson, Carlyle of Inveresk, and 
 Dr. Blair ; Tytler, and Reid, and Mackenzie 
 (the " Man of Feeling "). Seventy was a com- 
 monplace term of existence in those leisurely 
 days. Lord Hermand, one of the Court of Session 
 men, in spite of his " stupendous drinking," was 
 vigorous till he was eighty-four. 
 
 These names remind one of another point. 
 It was about this time that such men as Hume, 
 and Smollett, and Robertson, and Adam Smith, 
 and Robert Blair, and Lord Kames all born 
 after the Union, and most of them between the
 
 180 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 two Rebellions began that literary activity of 
 the Scottish mind which, kept up by such of 
 their immediate successors as Burns, Henry 
 Mackenzie, and Dugald Stewart, was continued 
 for long years, with ever-increasing effect, by 
 writers whose names will never be absent from 
 any history of Scottish letters. 
 
 It was Edinburgh's Augustan age of literature. 
 Now were living most of the writers whose 
 characters, wit, and genius warmed the capital 
 throughout the century. They commingled 
 together, a familiar fraternity, in the narrow 
 wynds, knowing each other intimately, meeting 
 every day (or night) in the wine cellars and the 
 roaring taverns, where Scots drink thawed them 
 into conviviality and softened their native dour- 
 ness. Some of them recall the earlier, even harder- 
 drinking days when Allan Ramsay made wigs 
 and sold songs. Charles Edward Stuart, had he 
 been so minded, might have looked up David 
 Hume in James* Court the agnostic who died 
 confessing, not his sins, but his Scotticisms. He 
 might have rubbed shoulders with the dapper 
 Dr. Hugh Blair of " Rhetoric " fame ; Lord 
 Kames might have passed him in wig and gown 
 on his way to Court. He might have talked with 
 Adam Ferguson, who had tutored Lord Chester- 
 field's disappointing son round Europe, and 
 taught optics, astronomy, and Newton's Principia 
 by keeping himself only a few days ahead of his 
 pupils. William Robertson, the future historian,
 
 EDINBURGH OF THE '45 181 
 
 was there, too, a young man of twenty-four ; and 
 Jemmy Thomson, the corpulent poet of The 
 Seasons ; and Thomas Blacklock, the blind bard, 
 whose ideas of colour interested Dr. Johnson ; 
 and Lord Monboddo, the eccentric anticipator of 
 Darwin, who never could be induced to ride in a 
 coach, and practically killed his consumptive 
 daughter, the lovely Miss Burnett, besung by 
 Burns, by making her do the yearly journey to 
 London on horseback. Tobias Smollett, missing 
 good fortune at every turn, was there ; and 
 Henry Mackenzie, bending over his fighting cocks ; 
 and " Ossian " Macpherson, whose impotent 
 wrath Dr. Johnson defied, prepared with a stout 
 cudgel. To these names were added scores of 
 others judges, clergymen, lawyers, and school- 
 masters, each with his talents and whims, each 
 cutting his own figure in streets and social circles. 
 Ah ! that was, indeed, the golden age. When 
 Amyat, the King's chemist, was in town, he 
 declared : " Here I can stand at the Cross of 
 Edinburgh, and can in a few minutes take fifty 
 men of genius by the hand." Prince Charlie 
 could not, perhaps, have taken so many. Per- 
 haps, indeed, he was not interested in that side 
 of Edinburgh at all. Yet it has seemed not amiss 
 to try here to re-create the capital as he saw it. 
 And so, now, let us pass with him to Holyrood, 
 and, similarly, try to re-create the Holyrood of 
 the past.
 
 CHAPTER XII 
 
 AT HOLYROOD 
 
 THE curtain had risen again on the ancient 
 Palace of Holyrood. Once more these walls 
 sheltered, and for the last time, a Stuart Prince. 
 
 " The moon passed out of Holyrood, white lipped to open 
 
 sky ; 
 The night whimpered on the crags to see the ghosts go by.' 
 
 So sings a modern poet. And what ghosts do go 
 by as one stands in the moonlight by that old 
 home of the kings, with the green slopes of 
 Arthur's Seat and the Salisbury Crags looking 
 over the Forth to Fife and the Ochils dominating 
 the scene ! Long before the Palace of Holyrood 
 rose into being, there was an Abbey of the name, 
 whose conventual buildings served for the lodg- 
 ment of the royal family and their suite when 
 they made Edinburgh their headquarters. 
 
 But the romance of the Palace really begins 
 with the Stuart dynasty say, with James I., the 
 poet King, who sang of " The Kinge's Quair " 
 and " Peebles to the Play." Since the days of 
 Malcolm Canmore, Dunfermline had been the 
 royal city, and most of the kings had been laid 
 to rest in Dunfermline Abbey. But the assassina- 
 tion of James I. at Perth proved Dunfermline to 
 be too near the turbulent line, and then Edinburgh 
 was made the capital. James I. came to Scotland 
 
 182
 
 AT HOLYROOD 183 
 
 in 1424. Five years later, a very dramatic scene 
 occurred at Holyrood. James had been trying to 
 reduce the Highlands to some sort of order, 
 " setting chief and thieves to catch each other/' 
 Alastair, Lord of the Isles, prudently decided to 
 save his life by anticipating arrest. The King 
 and Queen were at their devotions in the Abbey. 
 A noise was heard without, and, like an appari- 
 tion, Alastair suddenly appeared, clad, as Bower 
 tells, only in shirt and drawers. The Queen 
 would naturally be shocked ; but, perhaps, Mr. 
 Lang is right in suggesting that the Lowland 
 Bower mistook the national costume for the more 
 prosaic garments. At any rate, Alastair, pushing 
 aside the courtiers, and holding a naked sword 
 by the point, knelt before his sovereign, imploring 
 pardon. His life was spared, but a few days later 
 the gates of Tantallon, the grim fortress whose 
 ruins still look out on the Bass Rock, closed on 
 the Lord of the Isles, and he troubled the King 
 no more. 
 
 And then it was at Holyrood that the twin sons 
 of James I. were born : here that the little 
 James II., the surviving twin, riding down from 
 the Castle, was hastily crowned (in March, 1437), 
 after the murder of the King at Perth. Here, too, 
 that same James II. (he whom they called " James 
 with the fiery face," from the red birth-mark on 
 his cheek), was wedded to Mary of Gueldres, when 
 the " wine and other beverages " flowed for four 
 or five hours like " so much sea water." It is
 
 184 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 recorded that the first dish at the bridal feast 
 was in the form of a boar's head, painted, and 
 stuck full of coarse flax which was afterwards set 
 aflame " amid the acclamations of the numerous 
 assembly." What a week that must have been ! 
 Alas ! ten years later, they laid the King to rest 
 here, "unhappily slain with ane gun " at the 
 siege of Roxburgh Castle. Born, christened, 
 crowned, wedded, buried at Holyrood no King 
 of Scots was ever more closely associated with 
 the Edinburgh home of his house than was 
 James of the fiery face. 
 
 Next, there was James III., married here, in 
 July, 1469, to that Princess Margaret of Den- 
 mark, who sailed into Leith with her Danish 
 fleet a maiden of thirteen, mated with inex- 
 perienced eighteen. For dowry, her father had 
 assigned the bride a sum of 60,000 florins. But 
 money was scarce at that time in the Danish 
 treasury, and the ultimate marriage portion was 
 the Orkney and Shetland Islands, which ever 
 since have formed part of the realm of Scotland. 
 One sees in imagination the thoughtful, dreamy 
 King, who " loved solitariness, and desired never 
 to hear of wars nor the fame thereof," moving 
 about here among his fiddlers and bricklayers ; 
 disgusting his barons because he " delytit mair 
 in musik and building than he did in the 
 Government of his realme." His was a melancholy 
 reign one of the most melancholy, indeed, in 
 the annals of Scotland. Yet, somehow, one
 
 AT HOLYROOD 185 
 
 sympathises with the King who was pleased with 
 music rather than with military. 
 
 From Holy rood it was that James IV. made his 
 way out to Dalkeith, accompanied by a long 
 train of knights and nobles, to meet the little 
 Margaret of Tudor, then a girl of thirteen, who 
 had come north to be his bride. James was, as 
 one says, " only a boy when his father's estranged 
 nobles had used him as a figurehead for their 
 rebellion, yet he always wore to the day of his 
 death a hidden chain round his body, in penance 
 for his father's death." To-day, in the August of 
 1503, as he rides away to Dalkeith, we see him 
 " gallantly dressed in a jacket of crimson velvet, 
 bordered with cloth of gold," his beard "some- 
 thynge longe." Margaret came " mounted on a 
 faire palfrey," the lords and gentry having turned 
 out everywhere as she passed to bid her God- 
 speed. Following the tender salutes of the first 
 meeting, the King sought to seat the Princess on 
 his own horse, but the animal became restive, and 
 the bridegroom mounted in front of the bride on 
 her palfrey. 
 
 Thus they "progressed " into Edinburgh, where 
 the ladies had gathered on the forestairs, " gay as 
 beds of flowers," to see their sovereign come in 
 with his Queen. Here was a bridegroom of thirty 
 and a bride of thirteen. It was a long time before 
 they could be alone at Holyrood, for Scottish 
 hospitality was proverbial even thus early. But 
 
 when at last they were able to breathe by 
 
 13 (2005)
 
 186 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 themselves, he played to her on the virginal, and 
 she played and sang to him. What a pretty picture 
 one can conjure up ! Here, four years later, were 
 presented to James that sword and belt, the gift 
 of Pope Julius II., which, after certain romantic 
 adventures, now lie with the Honours of Scot- 
 land, the Regalia, in Edinburgh Castle. And, 
 finally, it was from Holyrood that James rode off 
 to meet his end at Flodden, where the flowers 
 o' the Forest were " a' mede awaV 
 
 And James V., the gay " gudeman of Ballengeich" 
 what things the ghosts of Holyrood could tell 
 of him, the " Red Tod " of so many adventures ! 
 There he was born. There, when a boy of twelve, 
 he took up house, and, in the quaint language of 
 Lindsay of Pitscottie, " changed all the old 
 officeris, both treasurer, comptroller, secretair, 
 Mr. Maissar, Mr. Household, Mr. Stableris, cop- 
 peris, carveris, and all the rest." A masterful 
 youth, evidently ! There he was, in 1536, invested 
 with the Order of the Garter, the first Scottish 
 monarch to receive that distinction. Thither, 
 again, in the following year, when he was twenty- 
 two, he brought his French bride Madeleine, whom 
 he had already married in Notre-Dame, at Paris. 
 The poet Ronsard he whose name is as closely 
 associated with Meudon as that of Rabelais, 
 whose presence still haunts the woods he described 
 in glowing verse was a twelve-year-old page in 
 the Queen's train when she came. 
 
 Poor little soul ! She was already far gone in
 
 AT HOLYROOD 187 
 
 consumption when she landed at Leith. She 
 stooped and kissed the " Scottish earth " when 
 she set foot on it, like the long-exiled " Black 
 Watch/ 1 home at last ; and in less than two 
 months that same kindly Scottish earth was 
 serving for her shroud in the grounds of Holy- 
 rood. A year had not passed when, in June, 1538, 
 Mary of Guise was made the King's second wife. 
 She bore her husband a son in 1540, another in 
 1541 ; both were buried at Holy rood in the latter 
 year. Then King James undertook that invasion 
 of England which miscarried so tragically in the 
 rout of Solway. 
 
 Matters went from bad to worse in Scotland. 
 It was a doleful time for the courftry in general, 
 and for Edinburgh in particular, when, in 1543, 
 Hartford barbarously burned and plundered the 
 Abbey in its temporal parts ; and after Pinkie, 
 in 1547, the invaders returned to complete the 
 destruction of the repaired royal building. 
 
 But Holyrood soon recovered from these cruel 
 disasters ; and when Mary Stuart, coming to her 
 capital in August, 1561, took up her residence in 
 the royal apartments, Brantome, who was in her 
 suite, could describe the palace as " undoubtedly 
 a fine building, little in keeping with the country." 
 One reads again, in the contemporary accounts, 
 of that serenade with which the loyal citizens 
 greeted her first arrival while the bonfires on 
 Arthur's Seat still burned. " Fyres of joy," says 
 the buirdly John Knox, " war sett furth all
 
 188 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 nyght, and a cumpany of the most honest, with 
 instrumentis of musick and musitians gave thair 
 salutationis at her chalmer wynds. The melody 
 (as she alledged) lyked her weill ; and she willed 
 the same to be continued some nightis after." 
 It was prudent to put in that reservation, " as 
 she alleged." Brantome knew better than Knox 
 knew how intolerable to the young Queen was 
 the " musick " of these " vile fiddles and rebecks " ; 
 how fatal to repose the persistent psalm-singing, 
 droned out by five or six hundred untrained 
 throats. But Holyrood did not long witness this 
 mood. To Holyrood, in a day or two, came 
 Knox, denouncing his Queen because she declined 
 to forswear the religion of her ancestors ; stand- 
 ing stolidly proof against that charm of person 
 and speech which had already mitigated the 
 bitterness of some of the " lords of the 
 congregation." 
 
 Mary kept gay Court at Holyrood, nevertheless 
 as gay as the circumstances of her poor, war- 
 wasted country would permit. She hunted and 
 hawked ; played golf and billiards, dice and back- 
 gammon. She dressed in a splendour wherein the 
 godly, represented chiefly by the long-bearded 
 Reformer, could see only " the styncken pryde of 
 wemen." Yet the people in the streets would say : 
 " God save your sweet face ! " Through these 
 same streets, the black midnight streets of her 
 capital, she would sometimes wander disguised 
 masked in male apparel, or flitting in homely
 
 AT HOLYROOD 189 
 
 attire, which " caused men's tongues to chatter 
 faste." And inside what was the mode of life in 
 that old Palace where Mary moved and smiled, 
 and spoke, and wept, trying with her beauty, 
 and her wit, and her courtesy, and her wonderful 
 power of forbearance, to soften her brutish nobles 
 and turn their harsh disapproval into loyalty ? 
 
 Randolph, the English ambassador, saw it at 
 first hand : saw the Queen reading " somewhat 
 of Livy " every day after dinner, " instructed by 
 a learned man, Mr. George Buchanan " ; saw the 
 Queen attended by Molle de Pinguillon and her 
 four maids of honour, each of her own age, and 
 each bearing the name of Mary the " Four 
 Maries " of the old song. " There they sat and 
 worked at embroidery, while one made music or 
 read aloud. In sunny weather they would shift 
 the scene to that garden which now lies so bare 
 and cheerless, but which then, one may assume, 
 was tastefully laid out in pleached alley and 
 secluded ' pleuse.' ' 
 
 Ay, Holyrood must ever be what it must 
 surely have been to Charles Edward the Holy- 
 rood of Mary Stuart. There we must always see 
 her, trying to keep at bay the bigots and the 
 intriguers of her dreary kingdom, into which she 
 had come a mere girl full of the confidence of 
 youth. Bitterness and treachery confronted her 
 here almost at the landing. From the beginning, 
 sour, jaundiced faces condemned the radiant 
 vitality of her girlhood, her gaiety, her wit, her
 
 190 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 spirit. Knox denounced her to her face from the 
 pulpit, thundering against the Queen's dancing 
 and " little exercise of herself in virtue and god- 
 liness " ; while the whole Court harsh, austere, 
 suspicious chilled to the bone her irresponsible 
 young life. She had come from a Court where 
 love-making, flattery, and a joyous lightness had 
 enveloped her like a perfume ; and surely, here 
 at Holyrood, she had sufficient excuse, not only 
 for plucking sweetness from whatever roots she 
 could, considering how rare it was, but in taking 
 also a certain natural zest in defying those 
 narrow-minded souls who had lowered their eye- 
 brows at her with not one whit less derision when 
 she first came, a blameless juvenile, into their 
 depressing society. 
 
 Here, dressed in a robe of black velvet (mourn- 
 ing for her former husband, the young King of 
 France), between five and six on a July morning, 
 she was married to her cousin, the dissipated, 
 detestable Darnley, a boy of nineteen. It was 
 surely significant that after the ceremony, Darnley 
 left her in the chapel to hear Mass alone. Mary, 
 indeed, afterwards laid aside her weeds for the 
 royal banquet, and the evening it was Sunday 
 was closed with dances and joyous revelry, while 
 the halls of Holyrood rang with music and the 
 merry laughter of the guests. From that hour a 
 shadow lay on the life of the fair young Queen. 
 Two years had not passed before the storm had 
 gathered and broken . Rizzio, her Italian secretary,
 
 AT HOLYROOD 191 
 
 had been done to death on the secret stair of 
 Holyrood, a few months before the birth of her 
 child, the future King. " Sauve ma vie, Madame ! 
 sauve ma vie ! " exclaimed the terrified Italian, 
 as he clung to his mistress* skirts for protection. 
 He appealed to deaf ears 
 
 " Stern swords are drawn and daggers gleam her words 
 
 her prayers, are vain, 
 The ruffian steel is in his heart the faithful Rizzio's slain." 
 
 And Darnley, too ; thither, to Holyrood, was his 
 body brought, after he had been blown into the 
 air at Kirk-o-Field, when Mary lay in a darkened 
 room draped with crepe, her voice sounding " very 
 doleful." Here, within a few short weeks, she 
 surrendered herself to the relentless power, 
 the horrible fascination of the brutal Bothwell. 
 At that marriage, as the contemporary chroniclers 
 tell us, there was " neither pleasure nor pastime 
 used." Here her foes came, surrounding her with 
 the universal lying and baseness of that rough 
 period. Yet she never cowed before them. Fight- 
 ing single-handed against a very sea of hate, 
 intrigue, and treachery, driven by Fate into 
 fearful and inextricable situations, Mary Stuart 
 never flinched for a moment. Her courage in life 
 was as splendid as her courage in death a death 
 exquisite, so tranquil and undisturbed, that its 
 courage was, indeed, more prominent than its 
 ghastliness. 
 
 We look at her portraits and see lurking about 
 the mouth an enigmatic smile which, rather than
 
 192 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the sidelong of the eyes, seems to utter " a 
 thousand histories." We remember the unsolved 
 problem of the Darnley murder, the impenetrable 
 mystery of the Bothwell marriage, the character 
 of the woman herself, the many intricate dilemmas 
 in her disturbed career ; her charm, like her 
 beauty, a thing felt rather than seen : curiously 
 indefinable, insidious, like a fever in the blood. 
 And for all that has been said against her, rightly 
 or wrongly, we love Mary Stuart ; and Holyrood 
 is, above all, her Holyrood. 
 
 " There beats no heart on either border 
 Wherethrough the north blasts blow 
 But keeps your memory as a warder 
 His beacon-fire aglow. 
 
 " Long since it fired with love and wonder 
 Mine, for whose April age 
 Blithe midsummer made banquet under 
 The shade of hermitage. 
 
 " Soft sang the burn's blithe notes, that gather 
 Strength to ring true : 
 And air and trees and sun and heather 
 Remembered you. 
 
 " Old border ghosts of fight or fairy, 
 Or love or teen, 
 
 These they forgot, remembering Mary, 
 The Queen." 
 
 Soon after Queen Mary's day, the glory of 
 Holyrood was eclipsed by the glory of St. James'. 
 To Holyrood came James VI., a boy just entered 
 on his teens, in 1579 the first visit to his capital,
 
 AT HOLYROOD 193 
 
 where he proved " ane great delyt to the 
 beholders." Three years later he was seized in 
 the famous Raid of Ruthven, and kept a prisoner 
 for ten months. Not till 1586 did Holyrood see 
 him again, when he gave that " love-feast " in 
 the Palace by which he hoped to put an end to 
 the private feuds of his nobles which made good 
 government impossible. We see him pledging his 
 guests three times, then causing them to drink 
 to each other and to shake hands. 
 
 He went abroad for his bride, the Princess 
 Anne of Denmark, who was crowned and anointed 
 here in the May of 1590. " For God's sake, see 
 that all things are richt at our hame-coming," he 
 had written anxiously to the Lord Provost. His 
 wishes were respected, and the festivities at the 
 Palace were so " richt " that they were continued 
 for a month ! They spared no expense then, any 
 more than they did on the occasion of the 
 christening of Queen Anne's first-born, Henry, 
 when the magistrates sent ten tuns of wine to 
 replenish the cellars of Holyrood. Two years 
 later, James had to be hurried off to a remote 
 turret in the Palace to escape the furious Earl of 
 Bothwell and his abettors. " The bells they were 
 rung backwards, the drums they were beat." 
 The King was saved, but Bothwell was not to be 
 done. The notorious Gowrie Conspiracy was only 
 a little way ahead a romantic story, too, but 
 not to be told here. 
 
 Holyrood's end as a royal residence may be
 
 194 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 said to have come that night in the spring of 
 1603 when, as the Palace lights were going out 
 one by one, James was summoned to receive the 
 announcement that he was King of England- 
 Elizabeth was dead, and Sir Robert Carey had 
 galloped north with the news, clattering into 
 Holyrood after riding 400 miles in sixty-two hours. 
 It was at Holyrood that the first token of James' 
 new sovereignty came to him, for there he received 
 the keys of Berwick town. When he set out for 
 London, a great following of gentlemen in his 
 train, he promised to visit Holyrood every third 
 year, but it was fourteen years before he returned, 
 and, that brief visit over, he returned no more. 
 Small stir did Holyrood witness for at least 
 sixteen years after James left for his seat of wider 
 government ; nor did the place feel the royal 
 touch again until Charles I. came to be crowned 
 in 1633. Alas ! poor Charles, he made a sad 
 breach of etiquette, noted eagerly as ominous of 
 ill by the superstitious in such matters. It was 
 at the Chapel Royal. A carpet-covered platform, 
 six feet high, had been set up in the centre of the 
 nave, and upon this a dais, two feet higher, whereon 
 was the throne. When Charles ascended the plat- 
 form, he made straight for the throne and seated 
 himself, " in direct violation of the fundamental 
 rule of coronation ritual that the sovereign must 
 not occupy the throne until he is solemnly 
 inducted into it." Censorious eyes marked the 
 misadventure, and it was not forgotten, we may
 
 AT HOLYROOD 195 
 
 be sure, when that same " blessed martyr's " 
 head was laid on the executioner's block. 
 
 Charles was back at Holy rood in 1641, when 
 " the nobility and barrens kist his hand in the 
 long gallery." For nine years after this, the story 
 of Holyrood is all but silent. Then, in 1650, the 
 Palace was burnt by Cromwell's troops, who had 
 come to Scotland to establish the authority of the 
 Commonwealth. The burning was probably an 
 accident. At any rate, Cromwell caused the 
 Palace to be restored, and by 1659 it was 
 " completely biggit up." 
 
 The last great ceremony of which it was the 
 scene took place in October, 1662, when the 
 " riding of Parliament " was gone through in 
 much state. Charles II. never was in Scotland 
 after the Restoration. But architecture was one 
 of his hobbies, and in 1671 he ordered plans for 
 a radical reconstruction of Holyrood. Says Sir 
 Herbert Maxwell 
 
 " It appears from his contracts with Robert Mylne, his 
 Majesty's Master Mason, that the west front, as rebuilt by 
 Cromwell, was pulled down and rebuilt, and a new south-west 
 tower was erected, corresponding with the north-west tower of 
 James V. Behind this west front was built the Palace as it 
 now stands, a creditable example of late Scottish renaissance 
 architecture." 
 
 When the new Palace was at length finished in 
 1679, the Duke of York afterwards James VII. 
 and II. took up his residence there. A black 
 year it was for Scotland the year of Drumclog 
 and Bothwell Brig ; the year of Archbishop
 
 Sharpe's murder on Magus Moor, the first of the 
 five years known as " the killing time." When he 
 became king, James of York effectually put an 
 end to Holy rood's active history by his religious 
 bigotry and intolerance, flaunting a detested faith 
 in the faces of his Protestant subjects. William 
 of Orange was already on the way to the relief of 
 Protestant Britain ; and the Presbyterian mob, 
 with the students, assailed the Palace and Chapel 
 of Holyrood, burst open the Chapel doors, wrecked 
 the interior, throne, stalls, and organ, rushed 
 to the Royal vault, and tore open the leaden 
 coffins of the Kings and Queens of Scotland. 
 
 Something of the old stirring life came about 
 Holyrood in 1706, during the last stage of the 
 Parliamentary contest about the Union. But 
 that same Union tore nearly all the old glory and 
 importance from Holyrood. Silent and solitary 
 it stood, memorial of a checkered past ; wakened 
 to life and movement only by the annual visit of 
 the Lord High Commissioner Commissioner no 
 longer to Parliament, but to the General Assembly 
 of the Church of Scotland. 
 
 Then came the sudden revival of 1745 ; bril- 
 liant, certainly, but also brief. As Lord Rosebery 
 once said, we all take our impressions of Charles 
 Edward and Holyrood from Waverley. Scott 
 wrote some seventy or eighty years after the 
 event he recorded, and he treated it with know- 
 ledge, with experience of writing narratives of 
 the contemporaries of those times, and, above all,
 
 AT HOLYROOD 197 
 
 with the exquisite touch of genius which enabled 
 him to enter into the very details of those times, 
 and represent them to us in a manner which we 
 cannot forget. After all, fiction is not, perhaps, 
 the worst place in which to look for history. 
 There is a story of Disraeli at the time of his 
 extremely bumptious youth, that when he had 
 just returned from his travels in the East, and as 
 a young man much under thirty, he met Lord 
 Melbourne, who was then Prime Minister, at 
 dinner. He proceeded to discourse on the Eastern 
 Question, and Lord Melbourne proceeded to dis- 
 course on the Eastern Question ; but instead of 
 listening to the Prime Minister with that respect 
 which he ought, the young Disraeli said, "It 
 seems to me your Lordship has taken your know- 
 ledge of the East from the Arabian Nights." 
 Some Prime Ministers would have snubbed the 
 young man severely, but Lord Melbourne was not 
 of that kind. He rubbed his hands with great 
 cheerfulness, and said : " And a devilish good 
 place to take them from." So Waver ley is an 
 uncommonly good source from which to derive 
 one's impressions of Charles Edward at Holyrood. 
 The sober historian takes the gilt off the ginger- 
 bread. We know from Waver ley that Charles led 
 Flora M'lver out to the dance. The historian 
 assures us that there is nothing so authentic as 
 the fact that Charles did not dance at Holyrood. 
 Nevertheless, Charles will lead Flora out to the 
 dance for centuries to come !
 
 198 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Sober fact, at any rate, shows us officers in 
 Highland and in Lowland garb passing and 
 repassing in haste through the Palace, or loitering 
 in the hall, waiting for orders. Secretaries are 
 engaged making out passes, musters, and returns. 
 All seem busy and earnestly intent upon matters 
 of import. A thousand lights glittered in the Palace 
 that night when Charles Edward " came home." 
 In the great, long, low picture gallery, with its 
 mythical portraits of a long line of Scottish kings, 
 the flower of Scotland's nobility, her beauty, and 
 her chivalry, gathered for that ball in the Prince's 
 
 honour. 
 
 
 
 " The lamp shone o'er fair women and brave men ; 
 A thousand hearts beat happily, and when 
 Music arose with its voluptuous swell, 
 Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spoke again, 
 And all went merry as a marriage bell." 
 
 Hearts in hundreds were won for the Stuart cause 
 by the grace and demeanour of the Prince, as he 
 moved in the halls of his ancestors, " wearing his 
 own fair hair " : dignified, yet polished and easy 
 in his manner ; the noble expression of his well- 
 formed and regular features generally remarked ; 
 the star on his breast and the embroidered garter 
 on his knee pointing him out to any who were in 
 doubt. " A Prince to live and die under ! " as 
 Waverley exclaimed in his enthusiasm. 
 
 Yet they could not help remarking on his 
 melancholy. Why should he look so sad ? It was 
 not so many days since he had been playing those
 
 AT HOLYROOD 199 
 
 practical jokes on Sullivan at Perth. Alas ! the 
 jealousies and intrigues of his more immediate 
 followers were already disturbing him. " No 
 marvel is it," says Mr. Lang, " that his confidence 
 in men broke down, as his own character collapsed 
 under distress and disappointment." After all, 
 the Prince's melancholy is not so difficult to 
 explain. Sanguine as he was, he must at times 
 have been seized with the conviction that his 
 was a forlorn hope. 
 
 But the danee is now over at Holyrood. The 
 Prince led the way to another suite of apartments, 
 and assumed the seat and canopy at the head of 
 a long range of tables, with an air of dignity 
 mingled with courtesy which well became his 
 birth and lofty pretensions. An hour had hardly 
 flown away when the musicians played the signal 
 for parting. 
 
 " Good-night, then," said the Chevalier, rising ; 
 " good-night, and joy be with you ! Good-night, 
 fair ladies, who have so highly honoured a pro- 
 scribed and banished Prince. Good-night, my 
 brave friends : may the happiness we have this 
 evening experienced be an omen of our return to 
 these our paternal halls, speedily and in triumph, 
 and of many and many future meetings of mirth 
 and pleasure in the Palace of Holyrood ! "
 
 CHAPTER XIII 
 
 EDINBURGH TO DERBY AND CULLODEN 
 
 ALL this time the Prince's forces were resting at 
 Duddingston, to-day a mere toy village, breathing 
 soft smoke pillars and fruit-tree fragrance ; silent 
 almost as Pompeii itself. There the sturdy High- 
 landers might lie on their backs and look out to 
 the south at Queen Mary's favourite castle of 
 Craigmillar, now an ivy-clad ruin. They could 
 look up to the low hills of Braid, over which 
 Marmion rode, on which Fitz -Eustace, at sight 
 of the old Edinburgh of the Jameses, 
 
 " Raised his bridle hand, 
 And made a demivolte in air." 
 
 Beyond them lay the lovely undulating line of 
 the Pentlands. Arthur Seat looked down on the 
 little village, where the " jougs " still dangle, 
 beside the " loupin'-on stane," at the gate of the 
 picturesque parish church. 
 
 Here, in short, the Highlanders found them- 
 selves face to face with scenery which would 
 recall to many of them the mountain fastnesses 
 they had left behind. On the right they had the 
 bold outline of Samson's Ribs ; in front, the high 
 precipices of the Salisbury Crags, and the rugged 
 sides of Arthur Seat, under whose shadow they 
 were encamped. It has been suggested that 
 Charles settled his army at Duddingston with a 
 
 200
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 201 
 
 view to preserve discipline and prevent the High- 
 landers getting into dissipation and creating dis- 
 turbance in the capital itself. But the capital 
 was, after all, within a stone's throw to a High- 
 lander. And Charlie's men were not really the 
 drunken savages they have sometimes been 
 pictured. 
 
 Mr. W. B. Blaikie, who has made a special 
 study of this branch of the subject, says that, in 
 his investigations into the history of the '45, he 
 has read a number of letters and narrations both 
 of Highlanders and Lowlanders, high and low, 
 and has found that in writing, spelling, and com- 
 position, the Highlander was at least as good as 
 the Lowlander. The discipline of the Highland 
 clansmen, too, was, he declares, wonderful. 
 Throughout the occupation of the capital there 
 was little excess and no oppression by the High- 
 land soldiers, the utmost being an occasional 
 demand for a few coppers to buy snuff. It is on 
 record that there were no riots in the streets, and 
 not so much as a drunk man to be seen. That is 
 Mr. Blaikie's finding. It is, perhaps, a trifle on 
 the side of partiality for the Highlanders, who 
 may well have found it impossible to get drunk 
 upon Edinburgh small ale ! But that is an 
 aside. 
 
 The Highlanders had come South, not to drink, 
 but to do business with the Saxon usurper. And 
 now the time for action was at hand. Charles 
 
 Edward had been but two days at Holyrood when 
 
 14 '2005)
 
 202 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the news came that Cope was marching from 
 Dunbar to the capital. The famous contemporary 
 ballad indicates the situation 
 
 " Cope sent a letter frae Dunbar : 
 ' Charlie, meet me gin ye danr, 
 An' I'll learn ye the airt o' war, 
 If you'll meet wi' me in the morning.' 
 
 "When Charles look'd the letter upon, 
 He drew his sword the scabbard from : 
 Come, follow me, my merry men, 
 And we'll meet Johnnie Cope i' the morning." 
 
 What Charles actually said (and he said it with 
 " a very determined countenance ") was : "Gentle- 
 men, I have flung away the scabbard ; with God's 
 assistance, I don't doubt of making you a free 
 and happy people. Mr. Cope shall not escape us 
 as he did in the Highlands." And so, with the 
 cavalry scouts in front, the army set off to " meet 
 Johnnie Cope in the morning." 
 
 We get a vivid picture of the forces as they 
 appeared to a lady while they passed out of 
 Duddingston : " They strode on with their squalid 
 clothes and various arms, their rough limbs and 
 uncombed hair, looking round them with an air 
 of fierce resolution. The Prince rode amidst his 
 officers at a little distance from the flank of the 
 column, preferring to amble over the dry stubble 
 fields beside the road, his graceful carriage and 
 comely looks, his long light hair straggling below 
 his neck, and the flap of his tartan coat thrown 
 back by the wind, so as to make the jewelled St.
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 203 
 
 Andrew dangle for a moment clear in the air by 
 its silken ribbon, making him the centre of 
 attraction to all spectators." 
 
 The army pressed forward through Porto- 
 bello ; through Musselburgh and the rising ground 
 made memorable by the battle of Pinkie, fought 
 nearly two centuries before ; past Fawside Castle, 
 and on to Tranent, between which and Preston- 
 pans they came in sight of Johnnie Cope and his 
 men. They were encamped below, in marshy 
 ground ; and the Highlanders, high up, noted 
 the situation with gleeful anticipation. " Even 
 a haggis (God bless her !) could charge downhill," 
 they said. 
 
 And how the Highlanders did charge, emerging 
 upon Cope's men that memorable morning from 
 the mists that the sun was just beginning to dis- 
 perse I Not many hours before, Cope, so it is 
 reported, had addressed his army in these 
 terms 
 
 " Gentlemen, you are about to fight with a parcel of rabble, 
 a small number of Highlanders, a parcel of brutes. You can 
 expect no booty from such a poor, despicable pack. But I 
 have authority to declare that you shall have eight full hours' 
 plunder and pillage of Edinburgh, Leith, and suburbs (the 
 places which harboured and succoured them), at your 
 discretion, with impunity." 
 
 But Johnnie Cope's men never saw Edinburgh. 
 Within a few minutes of the onset of that " parcel 
 of brutes," the Royalist forces were in full flight, 
 leaving 1,500 prisoners behind them, their cannon,
 
 204 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 baggage, treasure chest, and all the rest. " Cope 
 would not cope," as an incorrigible punster wrote. 
 
 " Some rade on horse, some ran on foot ; 
 
 Their heels were light, their heads were giddy : 
 But, late or air, they'll lang nae mair 
 To meet the lad wi' the Highland plaidie." 
 
 The poor " pudding-headed General," as Cope has 
 been called, was alarmed almost out of his wits. 
 He was quite incapable of withstanding the 
 impetuous military tactics of the Highlanders, 
 the mere sight of whose peculiar costume and 
 weapons terrified him into an ignominious retreat. 
 Or, as another version of the old song runs 
 
 " But when he saw the Highland lads, 
 Wi' tartan trews and white cockades, 
 Wi' swords and guns, and rungs and gauds, 
 O, Johnnie he took wing in the morning." 
 
 " In faith I got sic flegs, 
 Wi' their claymore and philabegs ; 
 If I face them, ye may break my legs, 
 So I wish ye a' guid morning." 
 
 It was at Prestonpans that the Highlanders' 
 peculiar mode of fighting was, perhaps, best 
 exhibited. When the pipes gave the signal to 
 advance, every man took off his bonnet and 
 murmured a short prayer. Then, replacing their 
 bonnets, and pressing them well down over the 
 forehead, the men went forward to the attack in 
 characteristic fashion. They made for the foe at 
 a sharp trot ; discharged their pieces ; threw 
 them away, and dashed among their enemies.
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 205 
 
 A military expert says that when on a hostile 
 expedition, a Highland column marched three 
 deep. On halting and fronting, the line was thus 
 at once in three ranks, which was the formation 
 of attack. 
 
 " Each sept, of which there might be several in a clan, then 
 massed itself together, the chief leading, the doaine wailse 
 his blood relations next to him, and in the rear of these 
 the ordinary men, who might not be so well equipped. The 
 line was thus formed of small irregular columns, each under 
 its own chief, who at the final rush led them on, claymore and 
 dirk in hand. Comparatively little use was made of the 
 musket, which was often thrown aside after a round or two, 
 the great object being to close with the sword as rapidly as 
 possible. From the size of some of the clan regiments, it is 
 evident that they must have been divided into bodies corre- 
 sponding to the modern company, and that they were able 
 to form open or quarter column and deploy." 
 
 But the Highlanders' mode of fighting is really 
 best described by the Chevalier Johnstone, aide- 
 de-camp to the Prince. He says 
 
 " They advance with rapidity, discharge their pieces when 
 within musket length of the enemy, and then, throwing them 
 down, draw their swords, and holding a dirk in their left hand 
 with their target, they dart with fury on the enemy through 
 the smoke of their fire. When within reach of the enemies' 
 bayonets, bending their left knee, they, by their attitude, 
 cover their bodies with their targets that receive the thrusts 
 of the bayonets, which they contrive to parry, while at the 
 same time they raise their sword-arm and strike their adver- 
 sary. Having once got within the bayonets and into the 
 ranks of the enemy, the soldiers have no longer any means 
 of defending themselves, the fate of the battle is decided in an 
 instant, and the carnage follows ; the Highlanders bringing 
 down two men at a time, one with the dirk in the left hand, and 
 another with the sword . . the attack is so terrible that the
 
 206 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 best troops in Europe would with difficulty sustain the first 
 shock of it ; and, if the swords of the Highlanders once came 
 in contact with them, their defeat is inevitable." 
 
 The Highlanders had a violent dislike to musket- 
 fire. That much we learn from the Jacobite 
 minstrelsy, if from no other source. To them, 
 the ordinary bullet seemed as unfair as lyddite 
 shells seemed to the Boers. The complaint is 
 found in an old song, which explains the failure 
 of the attack on Dunkeld after Killiecrankie, by 
 denouncing the " cowherds " who fired from 
 cover, and would not come forward to have the 
 matter out with the claymore. Dundee's men had 
 suffered from the same cause at Raon-mairi ; and 
 the deadly effect of the volleys poured in by 
 Mackay's troops is realised all the more vividly 
 in the light of Iain Louis' lines : " the ground was 
 so bare that a hare could not hide her ears on it/' 
 But enough of that : we must hurry on. 
 
 The defeat of the English at Prestonpans gave 
 extraordinary eclat to the Jacobite movement. 
 Lord President Forbes did not exaggerate when 
 he said that after this victory, all Jacobites, how 
 prudent soever, " became mad ; all doubtful 
 people became Jacobites ; all bankrupts became 
 heroes, and talked of nothing but hereditary 
 rights and victory. And, what was more grievous 
 to men of gallantry, all the fine ladies became 
 passionately fond of the Young Pretender, and 
 used all their arts for him in the most intemperate 
 manner." Everybody joined the Old Jacobites
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 207 
 
 in drinking deep potations to a prince who, as the 
 Caledonian Mercury said, " could eat a dry crust, 
 sleep on pease straw, take his dinner in four 
 minutes, and win a battle in five/' 
 
 The Prince's army returned to Edinburgh (or, 
 rather, to Duddingston) after the great victory, 
 and the Camerons were actually sounding their 
 pipes in hearing of Holyrood within three hours 
 of the taking of the colours from Cope's dragoons. 
 Next day was Sunday, but, " for a' that," the 
 main body of the army paraded through the 
 streets of the capital, with flags flying, prisoners 
 in keeping, cannon at heels, the pipes trium- 
 phantly enouncing the Cavaliers' air of " The 
 King shall enjoy his own again." Charles himself 
 arrived at Holyrood in the tail of the procession, 
 having been resting at Pinkie House with his 
 officers the previous evening. 
 
 The people welcomed him with " the loudest 
 acclamations." He was now practically in posses- 
 sion of the country. The Castles of Stirling 
 and Edinburgh alone held out, unsubdued. He 
 encamped his troops at Duddingston again, and 
 settled down at Holyrood, where he enjoyed for 
 a brief period the privileges of undisputed sove- 
 reignty, holding Court for distinguished sympa- 
 thisers, giving balls to the Jacobite ladies of the 
 capital, visiting his camp daily, reviewing his 
 troops, stimulating their zeal, improving their 
 discipline and organisation. Everybody liked 
 him, equally for his personal appearance
 
 208 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and for his evident desire to satisfy national 
 prejudices. 
 
 In the camp at Duddingston the scene must 
 have been animated enough. The equipment, as 
 a local historian says, was certainly none of the 
 best, but the sturdy North-men, accustomed to 
 rough it in the open, thought nothing of dis- 
 comforts. All were enthusiastic and hopeful, and, 
 with not a little military skill, measures were 
 immediately taken by the Prince and his officers 
 to organise their forces to the best advantage for 
 the next important movement. All through this 
 September, the Highlanders at Duddingston were 
 favoured with such splendid weather that most 
 of them slept on the open ground, ignoring their 
 tents. Charlie himself often went out in the 
 evening (from Holyrood) to the camp, and slept 
 there in his Highland plaid. 
 
 From the diary of one of the officers we have 
 the following interesting memorandum of the 
 Prince's movements after Prestonpans 
 
 '* In the morning before the Council met, the Prince Regent 
 had a levee of his officers and other people who favoured his 
 cause. Upon the rising of the Council, which often sat very 
 long for his councillors frequently differed in opinion with 
 one another, and sometimes with him he dined in public with 
 his principal officers. After dinner he rode out to Duddingston 
 to the camp. In the evening he returned to Holyrood and re- 
 ceived the ladies in his drawing-room. He then supped in public, 
 and generally there was music at supper, and a ball afterwards." 
 
 It was the eve of a campaign romantic, wildly 
 adventurous, disastrous. Prince Charlie never
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 209 
 
 saw Edinburgh again. The home of his House 
 was dead to him for ever. 
 
 Master of Scotland, as he felt hmself, he now 
 determined on an invasion of England. The 
 prudent of his Council deprecated the rash 
 procedure ; the wilder spirits sang 
 
 " Cock up your beaver, and cock it fu' sprush, 
 We'll over the border and gi'e them a brush ; 
 There's somebody there we'll teach better behaviour 
 Hey, brave Johnnie lad, cock up your beaver." 
 
 Ultimately, an agreement was made ; and Charles, 
 with an army of between five and six thousand 
 men, commenced the march southward. On the 
 17th November, they entered Carlisle, "wi* its 
 zetts an' castles an' a'," as conquerors. Lady 
 Nairne's song (her father was with the army, so 
 she would get the facts at first hand) tells how 
 
 " The Esk it was swollen sae red and sae deep, 
 But shouther to shouther the brave lads keep ; 
 Twa thousand swam ower to fell English ground, 
 An' danced themselves dry to the pibroch's sound." 
 
 We may well apply to these wild Highlanders the 
 words of Shakespeare's Belisarius : " 'Tis wonder- 
 ful that an invisible instinct should frame them 
 to loyalty unlearned ; honour untaught ; civility 
 not seen from other ; valour, that wildly grows 
 in them, but yields a crop as if it had been sown." 
 The capitulation of Carlisle spurred Charles to 
 further advance ; nor was his progress stayed till 
 he reached Derby, within 90 miles of England's 
 capital farther into the country of the " auld
 
 210 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 enemy " than any Scottish invading force had 
 yet penetrated. Should he go on, and dispute, 
 under the walls of the metropolis, the pretensions 
 of the reigning monarch to the throne ? The 
 question was much debated. Charles was all for 
 advance. But his advisers took in the situation 
 with a cool calculation to which he was a stranger. 
 The resources, they saw, were wholly inadequate. 
 Provincial England was unsympathetic ; recruits 
 were not forthcoming. Two persons only had 
 joined from Northumberland ; except a few of 
 the common people of Manchester, not a soul had 
 appeared in the Prince's behalf. The confidence 
 of the Highlanders was weakening the farther 
 they became removed from their native hills and 
 glens. Conflicting opinions were voiced in the 
 Jacobite council ; but the prudence of timely 
 retreat was urged on the over-ambitious leader, 
 by whom the disheartening measure was finally 
 accepted. The army, it was decided, must return 
 to Scotland without delay. 
 
 It was on Black Friday, the 6th December, 
 1745, that the retreat from Derby began. A 
 fortnight earlier, when the Highlanders were still 
 pressing southward, and when there were all 
 sorts of rumours as to their actual whereabouts, 
 we 'learn from Shenstone, the poet, writing from 
 The Leasowes, near Birmingham, that 
 
 " Every individual nailer here takes in a newspaper, a more 
 pregnant one by far than any of the London ones, and talks 
 familiarly of kings and princes as ever Master Shallow did of
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 211 
 
 John of Gaunt. Indeed, it is no bad thing that they do so ; 
 for I cannot conceive that the people want so much to be 
 convinced by sermons of the absurdities of Popery, as they do 
 by newspapers, that it may possibly prevail. The reasons 
 and arguments, too, in favour of the present Government 
 are so strong and obvious, that even I and every country 
 squire, and every country clerk, and Sam Shaw, the taylor, 
 seem to be as much masters of them, as the Bishops 
 themselves." 
 
 Thus it would seem that there were working men 
 in and around Birmingham even then who had 
 minds of their own ! 
 
 The return to Scotland was accomplished in a 
 masterly manner, notwithstanding that two armies 
 were now closing in upon the rebels one at New- 
 castle, the other at Stafford. The Highlanders 
 were at Carlisle again on the 19th December. 
 On the 20th they crossed the Esk, and arrived in 
 Glasgow on Christmas Day, having during the 
 fifty-six days since they left Edinburgh marched 
 a total of 580 miles, and literally walked round 
 two armies, each double their strength and well 
 supplied with cavalry. 
 
 At Glasgow they had a short rest, of which they 
 were obviously in sore need. Here is an interesting 
 illustration of their circumstances at the time. 
 It is dated 31st December, 1745 
 
 " James Fairly, one of the Linlithgow volunteers, went to 
 Glasgow Saturday last and left it yesterday morning. While 
 there he was inform'd by some persons of character who had 
 compted the Rebels as they entered the Town, that their 
 whole number was 3,500 and some odd men. That of this 
 number there are, as nearly as he could learn and observe,
 
 212 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 about 1,000 that are good fighting men and in top spirits 
 and condition. But that the residue of them are sadly dis- 
 tress'd with colds, and so fatigu'd and weak that at present 
 they seem quite unfitt for any action or service. They are 
 mostly very badly cloth' d ; many of them are all in Raggs 
 and barefooted. But make no ceremony in taking stockings 
 and Shoes off any persons that they meet. They have about 
 300 Horse only in all, which is included in the above number, 
 and many of them are sadly reduced and have sore backs and 
 other ailments. Their arms are terribly spoilt with the Rains 
 and Waters when crossing them, and have now the whole 
 smiths in Glasgow at work in repairing them. Their number 
 of Cannon consist only of 3 feild peices [sic]. They have of 
 Carriages in all, 9 cover' d Waggons, and two open Carts with 
 some Ammunition, and have little or no more Baggage than 
 what is on these Carriages. . . . 
 
 " They scour the Country about the Town and seize all the 
 Horses they can get, and rob many in the villages about the 
 place. The pretender has Issued ane order to discourage 
 and discharge this. But little or no regard is had to it." 
 
 The Highland army left Glasgow on the 3rd of 
 January, 1746, and were soon at Stirling, by way 
 of Bannockburn. Stirling itself surrendered, but 
 the Castle held out ; and Charles was designing 
 schemes for its investment when he heard of the 
 arrival of General Hawley's forces, about 9,000 
 men, at Falkirk. Hawley had seen much service 
 on the Continent, and, like Cope, had a supreme 
 contempt for the Highlanders. On the morning 
 after he marched into Falkirk, he went off to 
 breakfast with Lady Kilmarnock at Callender 
 House, never dreaming that the enemy would 
 open hostilities against a force like his. But 
 Charles, depressed and broken by the forced 
 retreat from England, remembering, too, the
 
 EDINBURGH, DERBY, CULLODEN 213 
 
 triumph of Prestonpans, decided to attack Hawley 
 at once. The result was another rout like 
 Prestonpans. 
 
 The Royalist men escaped to Linlithgow, ten 
 miles off, abandoning artillery, camps, stores, and 
 everything ; leaving behind them some 500 killed 
 and 700 prisoners, while the killed and wounded 
 among the Highlanders did not exceed 130 men. 
 " Celtic melancholy " is much insisted on in these 
 later days. But the habit of being depressed in 
 adversity is not at all peculiar to the Celtic race. 
 The Celtic muse can laugh heartily as well as 
 weep. Duncan Ban, who found himself in the 
 Royalist ranks at Falkirk, while his sympathies 
 were with the Prince, is quietly humorous over 
 the discomfiture of King George's troops, and 
 well pleased with his own good luck in getting off 
 scot free. These are the lines with which one of 
 his songs closes 
 
 " All Argyle's militia daring, 
 
 Out went faring with their gentry, 
 Toward the Prince's camp repairing, 
 
 Thinking there to force an entry. 
 Many a man who then was present 
 
 Had less pleasant fate than I did, 
 Left with Death above them stalking 
 
 After Falkirk was decided." 
 
 After Falkirk was decided, Charles returned to 
 the siege of Stirling, but that was reluctantly 
 abandoned ; and on the 1st February the High- 
 landers, breaking up into two portions for different 
 routes, set off for the North, with Inverness as
 
 214 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the point of re-union. On the 16th, Charles was 
 at Moy Hall, about ten miles from the Highland 
 capital, the guest of Lady Mackintosh. Lord 
 Louden, with 1,700 men, was holding Inverness 
 for the Government. He resolved on attempting 
 the capture of the Jacobite leader. 
 
 A force numbering, it is stated, 900 men was 
 sent off at night for this purpose, but the head of 
 the column was itself attacked when en route, 
 and defeated in the dark by four skilfully-handled 
 men under a daring blacksmith named Fraser, 
 who happened to be at the Hall, " having a 
 desire to see the Prince." When night fell, Fraser 
 and his men bestowed themselves on the moor 
 skirting the Inverness road. By-and-bye the 
 tramp of Louden' s men broke the silence. Five 
 shots rang out their echoes over the heather. 
 Death fell among the Louden men. " Advance ! 
 my lads ! I think we have the dogs now," shouted 
 the blacksmith in a stentorian voice. The 
 astonished Royalists hesitated not a moment. 
 " Pell-mell they rushed for Inverness and safety, 
 leaving the strange battlefield to the stalwart 
 five." This affair was long known as the Rout 
 of Moy. 
 
 On the 18th February, Charles took possession 
 of Inverness, with Culloden immediately in front.
 
 CHAPTER XIV 
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 
 
 " They came to Culloden, the dark field of danger, 
 
 Oh, why will not memory the record efface ? 
 Alas ! for their leader, the gallant young stranger ! 
 And woe to the traitors who wrought the disgrace I 
 Weep, Caledonia ! mourn for the fallen. 
 
 " Alas ! for ' my country ' her ' glory departed ' 
 
 No more shall the thistle its purple bloom wave ! 
 But shame to the coward, the traitor false-hearted I 
 And barren the black sod be aye on his grave ! 
 Weep, Caledonia Weep for the fallen." 
 
 CHARLES was not prepared for Culloden. The 
 forces against him were now too great. On the 
 North and West were the scattered clans hostile 
 to the Prince, which President Forbes had got 
 together. On the South were the Argylls and the 
 Hessians ; the Duke of Cumberland was already 
 at Aberdeen, prepared, when the country was 
 sufficiently clear of snow, to advance direct on 
 Inverness. Assistance from France was hopeless, 
 for all the North Highland ports were effectually 
 blockaded by English men-of-war. 
 
 Moreover, the Prince's army suffered from lack 
 of discipline and proper military arrangements. 
 They were tired ; they were hungry. Great 
 numbers of them had dispersed in search of pro- 
 visions ; many, overcome with fatigue and sleep, 
 had thrown themselves down on the heath. 
 
 215
 
 216 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Nobody describes their condition better than the 
 Chevalier Johnstone 
 
 " Exhausted with hunger, and worn out with the excessive 
 fatigues of the last three nights, as soon as we reached Culloden 
 I turned off as fast as I could to Inverness, where, eager to 
 recruit my strength by a little sleep, I tore off my clothes, 
 half asleep all the while ; but when I had already one leg in 
 bed, and was on the point of stretching myself between the 
 sheets, what was my surprise to hear the drum beat to arms, 
 and the trumpets of the piquet of Fitzjames sounding the call 
 to boot-and-saddle, which struck me like a clap of thunder. 
 I hurried on my clothes, my eyes half shut, and mounting a 
 horse, I instantly repaired to our army, on the eminence 
 on which we had remained for three days, and from which 
 we saw the English at the distance of about two miles from 
 us. They appeared at first disposed to encamp in the position 
 where they then were, many of their tents being already 
 erected ; but all at once their tents disappeared, and we 
 immediately perceived them in movement towards us. 
 The view of our army making preparations for battle probably 
 induced the Duke of Cumberland to change his plan ; and, 
 indeed, he must have been blind in the extreme to have delayed 
 attacking us instantly, in the deplorable situation in which 
 we were, worn out with hunger and fatigue ; especially when 
 he perceived from our manoeuvre that we were impatient to 
 give battle, under every possible disadvantage, and well 
 disposed to facilitate our own destruction. The Duke, we 
 were told, remained ignorant till it was day, of the danger 
 to which he had been exposed during the night , and as soon 
 as he knew it, he broke up his camp, and followed us closely." 
 
 Followed us closely ! Ay, too closely ! The 
 fateful day had come when that weird, tumultuous 
 battle prophecy of " Lochiel's Warning " was to 
 be fulfilled : " Culloden is lost, and my country 
 deplores." How shall we describe that last engage- 
 ment fought on British soil ? There before us, in
 
 S
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 217 
 
 imagination, are the tired and hungry Highlanders. 
 Situation and circumstances are only too clearly 
 against them. But they have never yet known 
 defeat, and might not the Fates who presided at 
 Prestonpans and Falkirk again give victory ? 
 Cumberland, at Nairn, is celebrating his birthday, 
 and under cover of night the Highlanders expect 
 to surprise a half-drunk soldiery. But the night 
 march fails, for at dawn they are still four miles 
 from the enemy's camp, and the distant roll of 
 drums announces that the English are awake. 
 Overcome with fatigue, many of the brave moun- 
 taineers have lain down in the woods, and the 
 rest beat a hurried retreat to the moor, which 
 they reach about five in the morning. Now 
 yonder scout has sighted a body of the Duke's 
 cavalry two miles away, and has learned that the 
 whole army is but four miles distant. 
 
 The drums are beat, the pipes play the respec- 
 tive " gatherings," and for the last time call the 
 clans to arms. Face to face stand the armies, and 
 with loud huzzas each greets the other. May 
 not those hill-men, from whom all sense of weari- 
 ness has gone, yet win the day ? But Cumber- 
 land's artillery has opened fire, and many a brave 
 man is stretched on the heather. See ! Was the 
 ball meant for Charles Edward ? It has killed 
 one of his attendants, and the Prince's face is 
 bespattered with mud. 
 
 For more than half an hour the Highlanders 
 
 endure the galling fire ; but, unable longer to 
 
 15 (2005)
 
 218 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 restrain themselves, the clans on the centre and 
 the right rush forward on the English lines, and, 
 although they break through the first, they are 
 repelled by the second. Bravely those men fight ; 
 but what of their comrades on the left ? The 
 Macdonalds, deprived of the position of honour 
 on the right, which they have held since Bannock- 
 burn, remain sullen and inactive. They have, 
 indeed, discharged their muskets, but they refuse 
 to advance, and without flinching endure the fire 
 of the English regiments. Half mad with rage, 
 they hew up the heather with their swords, and 
 flee when the other clans give way. But not every 
 Macdonald. For look at Keppoch, who is charging 
 with a few of his kin. " My God ! " he cries, 
 " have the children of my tribe forsaken me ? " 
 Forward he rushes, with a pistol in one hand and 
 a sword in the other, till a musket ball brings him 
 to the ground. Again he advances, but, on 
 receiving a second shot, he falls to rise no 
 more. 
 
 And what of Macgillivray, the giant leader of 
 the Mackintoshes ? Yonder he is, "a gunshot 
 past the enemy's cannon." How he fights ! 
 Another, and another. A dozen men have fallen 
 before his broadsword. But see ah ! a halberd 
 has been run through his body. He has fallen 
 beside the well. Dead ? Yes, but not until he 
 has carried to the spring a wounded boy who has 
 asked for water. See Gillie Macbean, too ! His 
 companions have fled ; but with his back against
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 219 
 
 a wall, and with targe and claymore, he keeps 
 at bay a party of dragoons who contend for the 
 honour of killing him. Macbean is cut to pieces, 
 but thirteen of his enemies lie dead around 
 him. 
 
 The day is lost, the Prince has left the field, 
 and the Highlanders have fled. 
 
 " All was done that could be done 
 And all was done in vain." 
 
 Unfed and unmarshalled, outworn and out- 
 numbered, hopeless and fearless, fiercely had the 
 men of the mountains fought. But fate and the 
 trained forces of George II. were against them. 
 The Duke of Cumberland, a young man of but 
 twenty-five, had triumphed gloriously : had 
 shown himself possessed of a military genius 
 worthy of the house from which he sprung. 
 Would that he had been content with his simple 
 victory ! Unfortunately, he forgot mercy in the 
 hour of his glory, and stained his laurels with a 
 needless effusion of blood. Well was he named 
 " the royal butcher." 
 
 Twelve hundred Highlanders were slain in the 
 heat of battle and in the pursuit. But not con- 
 tent with this profuse carnage, the English, at 
 Cumberland's orders, traversed the field after the 
 action, and massacred the miserable wretches who 
 lay maimed and slowly dying. Even some of the 
 officers took part in this scene of deliberate 
 assassination. The Duke ordered a barn which
 
 220 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 contained many of the wounded Highlanders to 
 be set on fire ; and having stationed soldiers 
 around it, they, with fixed bayonets, drove back 
 into the flames the unfortunate men who 
 attempted to save themselves. It is said that 
 Cumberland ordered Major Wolfe to shoot Charles 
 Eraser, younger, of Inverallochy , who was wounded 
 and unable to defend himself. To the everlasting 
 honour of Wolfe, he replied : " My commission is 
 at the disposal of your Royal Highness, but I 
 cannot consent to become an executioner." 
 Women were stripped and made to run races on 
 horseback for the amusement of the brutal com- 
 mander and his garrison. The spirit bred by 
 " Butcher Cumberland " at Culloden and after 
 was not likely to tend to loyalty to the Hano- 
 verian ; and the Highland mother still sings over 
 her dying peat fire 
 
 " I aince had sons, I now hae nane, 
 
 I bred them toiling sairly ; 
 And I would bear them a' again, 
 And lose them a' for Charlie." 
 
 Culloden Moor is not forgotten to-day. For a 
 good many years past, each January and April, 
 it has been the custom of a little group of ardent 
 Jacobites to evince in public their interest in and 
 regard for a regal house and a fallen dynasty. 
 There is a long stretch of country between Charing 
 Cross and Culloden, and well-nigh a hundred 
 years separate the historic events which each 
 suggests. Yet both the statue of Charles I., "hard
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 221 
 
 by his own Whitehall," and the fated field of 
 Culloden, have become, to certain Legitimist 
 and Jacobite coteries, the symbol and shrine of 
 monarchial faith and worship. The magnificent 
 floral wreaths, with accompanying fervid expres- 
 sions of devotion, that on each recurring anni- 
 versary of the death of Charles I. are placed 
 around the equestrian statue at Charing Cross, 
 as well as similar tributes affixed on Culloden Day 
 to the memorial cairn on the bleak Inverness-shire 
 moor, testify to the ardour with which, in certain 
 quarters, the Stuart sentiment is cherished. 
 
 Culloden is Scotland's second Bannockburn in 
 point of battlefield interest. That it is not so 
 well known as Bannockburn is due largely to the 
 accident of its position. It has a lonely station on 
 the Highland Railway, about six miles from 
 Inverness ; but as the field is four miles from 
 the station which bears its name, visitors usually 
 prefer to drive from the Highland capital. Every 
 summer, hundreds stoop to the moorland and 
 pluck the heather that blooms where the hopes 
 of the Stuarts were quenched for ever 
 
 " Where the graves of Clan Chattan are clustered together, 
 Where Macgillivray died by the Well of the Dead." 
 
 Cumberland's Stone is, perhaps, the object that 
 first attracts attention an immense grey boulder, 
 some 53 feet in circumference and about 5 feet 
 in height, marking the spot from which the 
 " Butcher " is supposed to have directed his
 
 222 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 forces on that memorable day. If there be any 
 who are eager to sing Culloden as a victory (one 
 has never met the bard) here is the place for the 
 ode ! Near by is another rough stone with the 
 quaint inscription : " Field of the English. They 
 were buried here." 
 
 In another part of the field there is another 
 stone with this inscription 
 
 CLANS. 
 MACINTOSH. 
 MACLEAN. 
 MACLAUCHLAN. 
 
 MACGlLLIVRAY. 
 
 HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Other stones are inscribed severally : "Cameron," 
 " Stewart of Appin," " Eraser." The stones are 
 all of the roughest description. They look as if 
 they had been hewn out with the head of a battle- 
 axe, and lettered as rudely. But, as some one 
 has put it, they are so in keeping with the place 
 and with the strong, rough natures of the fiercely 
 loyal clansmen who fell at Culloden, that they 
 are far more impressive than the most imposing 
 of monuments. 
 
 On one side of the highway the road, it may 
 be noted, traverses the field longitudinally a 
 huge cairn stands as a kind of general memorial 
 of the events of that far-away April day. It is 
 entirely devoid of ornament, this immense, sombre 
 cairn, built of the common stones that had lain 
 broadcast on the moor. On one side is an
 
 Photo by 
 
 Capt. Stuart C. Houston 
 
 One of the stones marking where the dead lie 
 on the field of Culloden
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 223 
 
 inscription guarded by an iron grating. It 
 runs 
 
 "Battle of Culloden was fought on this moor, 16th April, 
 
 1746. 
 The graves of the gallant Highlanders who fought for 
 
 Scotland and 
 Prince Charlie are marked by the names of their clans." 
 
 By the names of their clans ! No separate 
 glory, no distinctive honour, for these heroic, if 
 sadly deluded men who fell at Culloden ! 
 
 " Shades of the mighty and the brave, 
 
 Who, faithful to your Stuart, fell ; 
 No trophies mark your common grave, 
 
 No dirges to your mem'ry swell ! 
 But generous hearts will weep your fate, 
 
 When far has rolled the tide of time ; 
 And bards unborn shall renovate 
 
 Your fading fame in loftiest rhyme." 
 
 Feelings cannot fail to be touched by the sight 
 of these " frail memorials." One short but bitter 
 half -hour's work, and the battle was lost and 
 won, and here we have all that tangibly marks 
 the woeful day when the clans of Culloden were 
 scattered in flight ! 
 
 It must be changed somewhat since 1746, this 
 moor of Culloden ; but the fields which in autumn 
 wave with the golden grain, and the fir planta- 
 tions which clothe the old-time wild, bleak naked- 
 ness of the tableland, do not prevent one from 
 realising pretty clearly the actual scene of the 
 disastrous conflict. It is as grim and shelterless a
 
 224 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 waste as vengeance could desire for an enemy's 
 grave. The ground stands considerably above the 
 sea-level, but it is practically flat for miles, sloping 
 gently on the south side downwards as far as the 
 river Nairn beyond which rises abruptly a dark 
 mountain ridge and on the north side to the 
 Moray Firth. The level nature of the ground must 
 have rendered it peculiarly unfit for the move- 
 ments of the Highlanders against cavalry and 
 artillery. There could be no surprise. There was 
 no bog in which the horses might sink up to their 
 girths ; no precipice from which the mountain 
 men could roll down huge boulders upon the 
 soldiers as they clambered up the narrow 
 defile. 
 
 But we forget much of all that to-day. Seen 
 in the summer sunshine, with the heather bloom- 
 ing profusely around, the glowing cornfields on 
 the gentle slopes and uplands, and the purple 
 beauty of the far-off hills, one can hardly imagine 
 that the plain before him was the scene of a 
 sanguinary conflict. 
 
 Perhaps to get the true " atmosphere " it is 
 better to see Culloden under gloomy skies, when 
 the sun is " sick with eclipse." So Mr. Lang 
 must have seen it, judging from his singularly 
 impressive lines 
 
 " Dark, dark was the day when we looked on Culloden, 
 
 And chill was the mist-drop that wept from the tree ; 
 The oats of the harvest hung heavy and sodden 
 No light on the land, and no wind on the sea.
 
 CULLODEN'S DARK DAY 225 
 
 There was wind, there was rain, there was fire on their 
 
 faces, 
 When the clans broke the bayonets and died on the 
 
 guns, 
 And 'tis Honour that watches the desolate places 
 
 Where they sleep through the change of the snow and 
 the suns."
 
 CHAPTER XV 
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, AND HOPELESS 
 
 " Dark though the day be, its clouds will blaw past, 
 
 An' a morrow will come wi' the sun shining fairly ; 
 Up the red steep we will struggle at last, 
 
 An' place the auld crown on your head, Royal Charlie ! " 
 
 ALAS ! no ; there was no crown for that royal 
 head. Charles Edward was now a veritable out- 
 cast, a wanderer, and a fugitive in the wilds of 
 the land he had looked to govern. His friends 
 bewailed the lost cause, and sadly crooned over 
 the old song 
 
 " Oh, fickle fortune ! why this cruel sporting, 
 Why thus perplex us, poor sons of a day ? " 
 
 With the dispersal of his forces, Charles emerges 
 as the central figure of an afterpiece so strange 
 and thrilling, that there is nothing else in his- 
 tory, nothing even in legend, that can really be 
 compared with it. When love had departed and 
 hope was no more, this, the late Prince Charming, 
 was 
 
 " Haunted by foemen, and soul-clouding sadness, 
 Homeless, and hopeless, by traitors oppressed 
 And stung by the storm of misfortune to madness." 
 
 Some writers insist that his conduct when he 
 rode headlong from his defeat at Culloden is open 
 to censure. But what was he to do ? That day 
 every single soul had to see to his own safety in 
 
 226
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, ETC. 227 
 
 the best way he could. These Highlanders, one 
 must always remember, were of no regular, 
 trained army, bound by military law and military 
 tradition to retire in a body. They fled precipi- 
 tately before the pursuing forces of Cumberland, 
 each dreading capture. Who among them all had 
 more reason to dread capture than their leader ? 
 
 Charles' personal courage has been questioned 
 in connection with this hurried flight from the 
 field. But there is no ground for any such charge. 
 Charles Edward was no coward, as we have more 
 than once seen already. He fled, as others fled ; 
 but not, we may be sure, solely out of regard for 
 his own safety. The game was obviously " up," 
 for the time at least. What more could be done ? 
 It is absurd to talk of the " defection " of the 
 leader. Who wanted to be led now ? There was, 
 it has been proved, some idea of a rally at Fort 
 Augustus. But the Highlanders had had their 
 fill of fighting. They were no more minded to face 
 Cumberland and his men. Charlie was as ready 
 as ever to lead them, if they cared to be led to 
 die sword in hand, as he swore to Cluny and 
 Lochiel when, after months of weary wandering he 
 consulted with these ardent Jacobites in the wild 
 recesses of Benalder. But Culloden had been 
 enough for Charles' rank and file : they would 
 have no more of such adventures. 
 
 Meanwhile, Charles was a fugitive, with that 
 30,000 still upon his head. And what a strange 
 recital he provides in this character ! To quote
 
 228 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the words with which Hill Burton, the historian 
 of Scotland, closes his dramatic narrative of the 
 '45 : " The story of Charles Edward's wanderings 
 made, perhaps, the most perfect romance of real 
 life ever told ; and wherever it went it was 
 accompanied by the honourable national charac- 
 teristic that, passing through the hands of friends 
 and of foes, of respectable gentlemen and of 
 robbers, not one of the thousands who knew 
 where to find him claimed the thirty thousand 
 pounds to be earned by a revelation of that 
 knowledge." 
 
 To this may be added the verdict of James 
 Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd. There is not, says 
 he, speaking of Charles' experiences in the High- 
 lands after Culloden, " there is not an incident 
 recorded in the various narratives that does not 
 reflect rays of honour on the character of the 
 Highlanders, and rays of no ordinary splendour. 
 No mercenary consideration could induce the 
 meanest peasant to swerve from the high prin- 
 ciples of honour for which that people have so 
 often been lauded. The trust confided in them 
 was held sacred, though imprisonment and death 
 threatened on the one side, and riches and power 
 beckoned on the other. Their fate fulfilled the 
 threat ! " 
 
 The common people loved their Prince even 
 in defeat. They sheltered and protected him, 
 running risks even to death itself for him. " The 
 flame of personal loyalty and honour, that greed,
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, ETC. 229 
 
 ambition, and foreign vices had begun to weaken 
 in the hearts of the travelled aristocracy, still 
 burned clear and bright in the bosoms of the 
 poor, primitive inhabitants of the Inverness-shire 
 straths and the Western Isles. Charles' depend- 
 ence now was not upon Highland Jacobitism, but 
 upon the Highland people. The darling of the 
 Jacobite muse, they sang of him 
 
 " Though my fireside it be but sma', 
 And bare and comfortless witha', 
 I'll keep a seat and maybe twa, 
 
 To welcome bonnie Charlie. 
 Although my aumrie and my shiel' 
 Are toom as the glen of Earnanhyle, 
 I'll keep my hindmost handfu' meal 
 
 To gie to bonnie Charlie. 
 
 ' Although my lands are fair and wide, 
 It's there nae langer I maun bide ; 
 Yet my last hoof, and horn and hide 
 
 I'll gie to bonnie Charlie. 
 Although my heart is unco sair 
 And lies fu' lonely in its lair, 
 Yet the last drap o' blude that's there 
 
 I'll gie for bonnie Charlie." 
 
 During the five months of his Highland Sittings 
 and roamings hunted by the eager sleuth-hounds 
 of the Government Charles time and again owed 
 his life to " men and women in whose political 
 record there was nothing to deter them from 
 earning the thirty thousand pounds placed upon 
 his head." But what good would the princely 
 reward have done to any one who earned it ?
 
 230 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 He would probably have been dirked at once for 
 his " disloyalty." Charles Edward was a Scottish 
 Prince, the guest of the Highlanders, and honour 
 demanded that he should leave the country in 
 safety. Truly, as one writer puts it, " there is 
 no prouder page in the annals of any people than 
 the story of those five months," to which we 
 now give our attention. 
 
 What a time it was ! Turning his back on 
 Culloden, Charles and his little company pre- 
 sently arrived at Gortuleg, the mountain strong- 
 hold of that shuffling old fox, Lord Lovat. Lovat 
 was found to be in a state of senile distraction, 
 running about the house crying, " Chop off my 
 head ! Chop off my head ! " as if in prophetic 
 augury of the not distant future. Clearly, Lovat 
 could provide no safety or comfort for the Prince 
 and his companions ; so they pushed on to 
 Invergarry. There, too, the Castle " frowned 
 empty and inhospitable." But the party break- 
 fasted on two salmon found in a net at the river 
 mouth by Edward Burke, the Edinburgh chair- 
 man whom Charles had chosen from among his 
 routed forces as his guide in these northern wilds. 
 The meal was " reckoned very savoury and 
 acceptable " by the worn and anxious fugitives, 
 as we may well believe. 
 
 It was hazardous to rest, however ; and that 
 afternoon saw them on the move again, Charles, 
 throwing away his French finery, disguised in a 
 coat which Burke had proudly lent for the
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, ETC. 231 
 
 purpose. For four days they skulked about in 
 Arisaig. Then, on they went again, over almost 
 inaccessible mountains, sleeping in shielings, 
 cowering in huts darkened by peat reek, always 
 with the dread fear of the pursuers behind them. 
 Foot-sore and weary, despondent and despairing, 
 at length they reached the coast, only to find 
 disappointment there, too. No ministering ship 
 breasted these waters, ready to bear the Prince 
 away to safety and succour. Only a fortnight 
 before, French vessels had brought that Loch 
 Arkaig treasure to Borrodale ; but they were 
 gone, and Charles sighed and looked in vain for 
 a friendly sail. 
 
 One whole week was passed in Borrodale, the 
 Prince moving about uneasily in " a suit of new 
 Highland cloathes," the gift of Macdonald of 
 Borrodale's wife. Friends rose up everywhere. 
 It was here that Charley met that gallant crofter, 
 Donald Macleod, who had come from Skye at 
 the instigation of banker ^Eneas Macdonald to 
 guide him to the Long Island, if necessity arose. 
 
 To the Long Island, then, it was decided they 
 would go, " where I may look for more safety 
 than I can do here," as Charles said. A stout 
 eight-oared boat was got ready ; Donald saw to 
 the commissariat (meal and " a pot for boiling 
 pottage "), and in the twilight of April 26th the 
 company, numbering fourteen passengers and 
 crew pushed away from Lochnanuagh. A great 
 storm arose, and Charles, who sat in the bottom
 
 232 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 of the boat between Donald's feet, pleaded to be 
 put ashore. He would rather, he said, face cannons 
 and muskets than these angry waves. 
 
 But Donald and his boatmen pulled on, refusing 
 to alter their course ; and next morning, from the 
 grey mist emerged the bleak hills of Benbecula. 
 The boat was run into a bay at Rossinish ; and 
 there, in a convenient hut, a fire was kindled for 
 drying the dripping clothes of the tempest-tossed 
 fugitives. Poor Charles ! He lay down to sleep 
 soundly with " an old sail-cloth for blanket." 
 Next day, they seized and killed a vagrant cow, 
 and it was only when the flesh of the unlucky 
 animal gave out that they moved again. 
 
 They put to sea and steered northward, landing 
 at the island of Scalpa, at the mouth of Loch 
 Tarbet, in Harris. There Charles, passing himself 
 off as a Mr. Sinclair, a shipwrecked merchant, 
 found a kindly host in one Donald Campbell, a 
 farmer friend of Donald Macleod. Meanwhile, 
 Donald was on his way to Stornoway, with 
 instructions to hire there a sailing boat for the 
 Orkneys. The boat was found, and Charles, 
 advised to that effect, now set out for Stornoway, 
 accompanied by O'Neil and O'Sullivan. After 
 footing it for nearly forty miles over hills and 
 bogs, the trio reached a moor in the neighbour- 
 hood, " wet to the skin," and hungry as hawks. 
 
 Macleod came with bread and cheese and 
 brandy. When they had refreshed themselves, the 
 little party were led to the house of a Mrs.
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, ETC. 233 
 
 Mackenzie. There Charles cast his shirt, " which 
 one of the company did wring upon the hearth- 
 stone, and did spread it upon a chair before the 
 fire to have it dried." How did Charles survive 
 all these hardships, for which his previous life 
 had given him little preparation ? 
 
 Macleod having seen his Prince made steam- 
 ingly comfortable before the blazing hearth, 
 trudged away back to Stornoway to get things 
 ready for the trip to the Orkneys. But Storno- 
 way, as Donald discovered, was now in possession 
 of the secret : "Mr. Sinclair," it was known, was 
 no other than Charles Edward Stuart. The 
 information had been obtained from a Presby- 
 terian parson, the Rev. John Macaulay, of South 
 Uist, grandfather (one regrets to say, in this con- 
 nection) of the great Lord Macaulay. Donald 
 Macleod had, however, not been daunted. He 
 had appealed to Highland honour by telling the 
 Stornoway people the truth about his " charge," 
 and had added that " if Seaforth himself " (the 
 Hanoverian chief of the Mackenzies) " were here, 
 by God ! he durst not put a hand on the Prince's 
 breast." 
 
 All the same, it was obviously unsafe for the 
 Prince to remain where he was, so the company 
 moved once more. Their next resting-place was 
 the desert islet of Eurin, off the east coast of 
 Lewis, about 12 miles from Stornoway. There, 
 in a " low, pitiful hut," sleeping on the bare 
 ground, they remained for four days, living on 
 
 I 6 (2005)
 
 234 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 " good dry fish," comforting themselves with hot 
 punch, companioned by cheerful fires of heather 
 and twig. 
 
 Again that most serviceable boat put to sea. 
 Charles had decided to re-visit his old host, 
 Donald Campbell, at Scalpa. Unluckily, Donald 
 had " gone a-skulking for fear of being laid up," 
 the fact of his having entertained the Prince 
 having somehow leaked out. Southward still 
 further the fugitives coasted, all toiling mightily 
 at the oars, straining every muscle at sight of 
 every strange ship. Provisions began to give out ; 
 breakfast had to be made of " dramach," a 
 mixture of meal and salt water. This could hardly 
 be called princely fare. But Charles Edward was 
 not particular in those days. " Never any meat 
 or drink came wrong to him," says the faithful 
 Donald, and he " was always cheerful and con- 
 tented in every condition." Charles Edward had 
 a good constitution, as yet, otherwise he could 
 never have come through what he did in the 
 course of these migrations. 
 
 It is unnecessary to follow him and his friends 
 in any detail. The story is always the same. In 
 Benbecula the shelter is a poor grasskeeper's 
 bothy or hut, the door of which is so low that the 
 Prince has to get in and out on all fours. Meals 
 were often scanty enough, but Charles was a good 
 sportsman, and game and fish occasionally re- 
 plenished the larder. One would imagine it to be 
 very dreary for Charles, but he is reported as
 
 HAUNTED, HOMELESS, ETC. 235 
 
 relieving the ennui by cooking and card-playing, 
 and the perusal of fantastic accounts of his own 
 adventures in the Edinburgh and Glasgow journals 
 sent to him by sympathising friends. When 
 things were specially dull, he would, as one of 
 his companions tells, " step into a by-chamber 
 which served as a pantry, and put the bottle of 
 brandy or whiskie to his head, and take his dram 
 without any ceremony." His private practice in 
 this respect, observes one commentator, enabled 
 him to shine conspicuously on one occasion, when 
 a party of young Macdonalds came to pay him 
 their respects. " Their drink was only cold 
 brandy out of a clean shell, without any mixture 
 at all, and the Prince stood it out better than 
 any of them in drinking the health of the day." 
 Indeed, when Boisdale called next morning, he 
 found all the Macdonalds lying sick in bed, and 
 the Prince going round covering them up with 
 plaids. 
 
 Coradale formed a resting-place for some time, 
 but, remote as it was, Coradale, too, proved 
 unsafe. Early in June, Charles learned that the 
 Hanoverians were close on his scent ; and, penni- 
 less and despairing, he had to shift his quarters 
 again. Once more the old boat was manned, this 
 time steering northward. Wiay and Rossinish 
 gave shelter in turn, but the pursuers were 
 narrowing upon the Prince, and, like Noah's dove, 
 he found no place for the sole of his foot. Here 
 and there, in and out among the islands, he and
 
 236 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 his faithful followers crept, dodging suspicious 
 sails. Loch Boisdale was made just in time to 
 escape the attentions of two hostile craft. Charles 
 hid himself in the heather ; but the heather, too, 
 was being scoured by the redcoats, and they were 
 now within a couple of miles of the " lad." The 
 " lad " was getting heartily sick of it. On 
 June 21st he sorrowfully dismissed the devoted 
 Donald and his boatmen ; and that same day 
 introduced him to the equally devoted Flora 
 Macdonald, his most famous preserver.
 
 CHAPTER XVI 
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 
 
 " Kind Providence to thee a friend, 
 
 A lovely maid, did timely send, 
 
 To save thee from a fearful end, 
 
 Thou royal Charlie Stuart." 
 
 DR. JOHNSON uttered a very commonplace senti- 
 ment when he declared that the name of Flora 
 Macdonald " is one that will be mentioned in 
 history, and, if courage and fidelity be virtues, 
 mentioned with honour." Flora Macdonald's 
 name must live as long as the name of bonnie 
 Prince Charlie. No Scottish woman holds a 
 warmer place in the hearts of the Scottish people. 
 She is the " bonnie young Flora " of Hogg's well- 
 known lyric, and of many other songs besides. 
 To tell again, in full, the story of her self- 
 sacrificing devotion would surely be superfluous. 
 Who that has ever heard it is likely to forget it. 
 But for the cool presence of mind displayed by 
 this Highland girl during the time the Prince 
 was hiding in Skye, and the clever stratagem by 
 which she transformed a king's son into an Irish 
 serving-maid, there can be little doubt that the 
 Jacobite leader's capture would have been effected, 
 and one more victim would have been sent to the 
 shambles of Tower Hill or Kennington Common. 
 Something, at least, of the romantic story must 
 be told. We left Charles in South Uist, after he 
 
 237
 
 238 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 had parted with the trusty Donald Macleod. The 
 redcoats were at his heels ; his saviour was at 
 hand. Flora Macdonald had just arrived from 
 her home in Skye on a visit to her brother, 
 Macdonald of Milton. What was her previous 
 history ? She was the only daughter of a small 
 tacksman, a cadet of the Clanranald family, who 
 died when she was two years old. Her mother 
 re-married, and Flora was practically adopted by 
 Lady Clanranald. 
 
 " As a child, and throughout life," says one, 
 " she was a strange blend of dutifulness and 
 dreaminess, of common sense and romance." She 
 would stand for hours watching the Atlantic 
 rollers on the west coast of Uist ; but she " plied 
 her book," and won local fame as a player on the 
 spinet and a reciter of long Gaelic poems. She 
 was a great favourite with the small farmers, and 
 acted as a sympathetic link between them and 
 the gentry. When seventeen, she was taken up 
 by Lady Margaret Macdonald of Sleat, who sent 
 her to a fashionable ladies' school in Edinburgh. 
 She was, in fact, in Edinburgh with Lady 
 Macdonald when the '45 broke out, and returned 
 with her to Skye before Culloden decided the fate 
 of Prince Charlie. 
 
 And thus it came about that " in the pale 
 northern glimmer of a June midnight, on a lonely 
 plain between the silent Hebridean hills and the 
 whispering ocean, Charles met the modest High- 
 land girl whose name is brightest in Jacobite
 
 From the painting by 
 
 Allan Ramsay, in the Bodleian Library 
 
 Flora Macdonald
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 239 
 
 romance." Flora had already met O'Neil, the 
 Prince's only remaining attendant, and she knew 
 that the Prince was in Uist. Probably she had 
 not yet thought of being of service to him, 
 especially as her step-father was among the Skye 
 Militia then scouring the island in search of the 
 fugitive. It seems clear, however, that once on 
 the spot she interested herself very practically on 
 the Prince's behalf. 
 
 O' Neil's story is authoritative. He tells how 
 he met Flora at midnight, while Charles remained 
 some distance off. Flora, it is suggested, had come 
 out in search of O'Neil to warn him of the move- 
 ments of the Militia. They were to pass, not that 
 day, but the day after, she said. " Then I told 
 her," writes O'Neil, " I brought a friend to see 
 her, and she, with some emotion, asked me if it 
 was the Prince. I answered her it was, and 
 instantly brought him." 
 
 There is a romantic account of the first meeting, 
 which represents Flora as falling on her knees 
 before the Prince. Charles, according to this 
 account, was overcome to tears by her devotion ; 
 raised her to her feet ; kissed her on the fore- 
 head, and said : " Do not kneel to me, my dear. 
 I'm but a poor hunted man, with neither name 
 nor home, and never more will Charles Stuart 
 come near the throne of his fathers ! Help me to 
 escape from my enemies, and you will help not 
 only your Prince, but a poor, unfortunate mortal 
 who stands sore in need of sympathy."
 
 240 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 However this may have been, it was no time 
 for sentimental dallying. Charles Edward was 
 being hunted from mountain to glen, from rock 
 to cave. Soldiers were scattered everywhere, 
 guarding and watching every point. Sloops of 
 war patrolled the seas, for it was correctly assumed 
 that Charles would run for France. 
 
 " On hills that are by right his ain 
 
 He roams a lonely stranger ; 
 On ilka hand he's pressed by want, 
 On ilka side by danger." 
 
 This was the critical position of the Prince at the 
 moment, as it had been for many weeks. Could 
 Flora 
 
 " Carry the lad that was born to be King, 
 Over the sea to Skye " ? 
 
 That was the question now addressed to her by 
 the anxious O'Neil. Flora hesitated, not because 
 she feared the personal danger of the enterprise, 
 but because of the suspicion that might fall upon 
 her chief, Sir Alexander Macdonald, then under 
 the orders of Cumberland. O'Neil pressed the 
 point, enlarging on the distinction that posterity 
 would accord to her as the saviour of the Prince. 
 Charles himself assured her of his undying grati- 
 tude. At length, the brave girl assented ; and, 
 after the question of a disguise had been dis- 
 cussed, they parted Flora on her way to Clan- 
 ranald's house, O'Neil and the Prince to their 
 old retreat in Coradale. 
 
 Soldiers intercepted her way and that of her
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 241 
 
 attendant, Neil McEachan, a tutor in the Clan- 
 ranald family. Who were they ? Where were 
 their passports ? No passports were forthcoming, 
 and the pair were detained in custody. Luckily, 
 Flora's stepfather, Hugh Macdonald, was captain 
 of this particular company. Though in the Hano- 
 verian service he was at heart a Jacobite, and 
 when Flora told him of her plans for the Prince 
 how the Prince was to go to Skye disguised as 
 her Irish maid, " Betty Burke," he wrote the 
 necessary passports and ordered the release of the 
 " suspects." Further, he dispatched a letter to 
 his wife, Flora's mother, in which he said 
 
 " I have sent your daughter from this country, lest she 
 should be anyway frightened with the troops lying here. She 
 has got one Betty Burke, an Irish girl, who, as she tells me, 
 is a good spinner. If her spinning pleases you, you may keep 
 her till she spins all your lint, or if you have any wool to spin 
 you may employ her." 
 
 So, then, the way was so far clear. Flora set 
 about procuring the necessary garments for 
 " Betty " a print cotton gown, a white apron, 
 a large coarse cloak, and a linen cap ; and, in the 
 company of Lady Clanranald (a Jacobite to the 
 heart's core) and Neil McEachan, made off for 
 the appointed rendezvous at Rossinish. Charles 
 had been spending some anxious days here, and 
 under the fear that the arrangement was to break 
 down, had (so it is said) made up his mind to 
 surrender. 
 
 But his friends were now at his side. They
 
 242 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 found him in a miserable hut, cooking a dinner of 
 bullock's heart, liver, and kidneys on a wooden 
 spit. Much fun was made of the Prince when pre- 
 sently he began to move about in his petticoats. 
 He made a suspiciously tall and lanky woman ; 
 and being unable properly to manage his novel 
 dress, he often found himself in difficulties. His 
 face was " womanish," and his yellow hair helped 
 him to play the part of Betty Burke. But the 
 petticoats they threatened to prove his undoing. 
 
 In wading the rivulets on their route, for 
 instance, when in company with strangers, the 
 Prince would often lift his petticoats so high as 
 to alarm the fears of Neil McEachan beyond all 
 measure. Neil would then beseech his Royal 
 Highness to be more circumspect, and, if possible, 
 to " keep down te petticoats, or tay would all pe 
 ruined." The Prince, though sensible of the 
 justice of Neil's complaints, used to laugh heartily 
 on such occasions, and would tell him, jokingly, 
 that " it was surely not the first time he had been 
 brought into jeopardy by a petticoat." Flora 
 undertook to be his instructor, and schooled him 
 to take short, mincing steps, making him walk 
 to and fro until she was satisfied that he walked 
 like a woman. 
 
 A jolly supper party they made at this their 
 re-union in Rossinish. But danger lay not far off. 
 The Militia, it was announced, were already at 
 Clanranald House. The company separated, the 
 Prince and Flora proceeding to Loch Uskavagh.
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 243 
 
 There, dog-tired, wet, and weary, they raised a 
 fire, and the blaze, acting as a signal, brought four 
 wherries through the water in its direction. The 
 fire was stamped out, and Charles made for 
 hiding in the heather. 
 
 " Dark night came on, the tempest roared, 
 
 Cold o'er the hills and valleys ; 
 An' whaur was that your Prince lay doon, 
 
 Whose hame should been a palace ? 
 He rowed him in a Highland plaid, 
 
 Which covered him but sparely, 
 An' slept beneath a bush o' broom 
 
 Oh ! waes me for Prince Charlie ! " 
 
 By-and-bye, the coast was clear ; and on that 
 beautiful summer evening of June 28th, 1746, 
 Charles and his Flora set sail " over the sea to 
 Skye." Charles was in high spirits, and sang 
 songs as the Clanranald boatmen pulled at the 
 oars. 
 
 Unfortunately the fair promise of the summer 
 evening was soon belied. A gale sprang up in 
 the Little Minch. Flora slept in the bottom of 
 the boat ; Charles wrapped her in such comfort- 
 able garments as were at hand, and watched her 
 as she slept. In the morning the black mountains 
 of Skye loomed up, dismal and uninviting, against 
 the heavens. As they neared the coast, danger 
 again presented itself. Three boats filled with 
 armed men lay near the shore. Shots suddenly 
 whistled over the fugitive's boat a summons to 
 stop. Yard by yard the fugitives drew away till 
 they passed out of range. They landed at
 
 244 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Kilbride, but what to do next was the question. 
 Assumed friends might turn out to be foes. 
 
 At length they decided to risk making them- 
 selves known to Lady Margaret Macdonald, of 
 Monkstadt, whom they knew to be an admirer of 
 the Prince, though she was the wife of an officer 
 in Cumberland's army. The party remained at 
 Monkstadt till Macdonald of Kingsburgh, factor 
 for Lady Margaret's husband, came to their aid, 
 and personally conducted them to his own house 
 on the north shore of Loch Snizort. Charles 
 strode along as if on the warpath, and one of the 
 Macdonald retinue, who was not in the secret, 
 declared that the strange woman walking at Kings- 
 burgh's side must be a man ! The masquerade 
 dress does not appear to have sat well on the 
 Prince. When the party at length arrived at 
 Kingsburgh, Macdonald's little daughter and Mrs. 
 Macdonald's maid were quite alarmed at the 
 ungainly figure and huge strides of the " muckle 
 woman," as they called the Prince. 
 
 When the lady of Kingsburgh House learned 
 the identity of the petticoated " carlin " who had 
 come into her kitchen, she exclaimed : " O Lord, 
 we will a* be hanged noo ! " To which her brave 
 old husband replied : " Hout ! tout ! guidwife ; 
 if we are hanged for this, I'm sure we'll die in a 
 good cause." So they sat down to supper and 
 made a night of it, Charles alternating ale with 
 brandy, and pulling mightily at a new clay pipe 
 which Kingsburgh provided for him. It was two
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 245 
 
 in the morning before Charles and his host went 
 to their bedrooms, and then only after breaking 
 the punch-bowl in a pretended dispute. Next 
 morning (or rather that same morning) Flora, at 
 the request of Mrs. Macdonald, went blushing into 
 Charles' bedroom, and " while he laid his head 
 in her lap and put his arms round her waist, cut 
 a lock of his hair." This, as one recorder of the 
 incident observes, was " a dangerous approach to 
 sentiment where a Stuart was concerned," but the 
 episode lasted only a few minutes, and Mrs. 
 Macdonald was at the door. In another hour or 
 so, Charles was on his way to Portree. 
 
 Immediately after the departure of the Prince, 
 the bed-sheets in which he had lain were carefully 
 folded up and laid away, never again to be used 
 or washed, and a pair of these were at last 
 employed as a winding-sheet for the lady of Kings- 
 burgh House. The remaining pair, which were 
 valued as a priceless memorial of her distinguished 
 guest, became the property, for a similar purpose, 
 of Flora Macdonald ; and in both instances, long 
 years afterwards, these ladies were actually buried 
 in the shrouds which had been so strangely 
 selected, and which in the course of Flora's 
 strangely adventurous life, though often reduced 
 to the greatest straits abroad, were never parted 
 with till the day of her death, when her body was 
 wrapped in their folds and consigned to the grave. 
 
 It was at Portree, some 14 miles distant from 
 Kingsburgh, that the final parting took place
 
 246 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 between Charles Edward and " our lady/' as he 
 used to call her. After having partaken of a 
 hearty meal the last on his native soil he 
 saluted her with the remark : " Well, Miss Flora, 
 I hope we shall yet meet in St. James', and, 
 perhaps, be in a good coach-and-six, though we 
 be now afoot." As daylight approached on the 
 1st July, the boat containing the Prince and his 
 faithful little band of staunch adherents put out 
 from Portree, some of them taking leave of 
 Scottish soil, never to set foot upon it again. 
 Amongst the few to witness his final departure 
 was the friend of his latest misfortunes, Flora 
 Macdonald. Her feeling of anxiety for his future 
 safety, and respect for one who was the last and 
 sole representative of the fallen House of Stuart, 
 can be easily imagined. James Hogg has put it all 
 into beautiful verse, though he certainly takes a 
 liberty in representing Flora as bewailing a lost 
 lover. Flora Macdonald' s attachment to Charles 
 Edward was founded on duty and humanity, not 
 on love. Neither did Charles view her in any 
 other light than that of a devoted and zealous 
 friend. This is Hogg's " Lament of Flora 
 Macdonald " 
 
 " Far over yon hills of the heather so green, 
 
 And down by the corrie that sings to the sea, 
 
 The bonny young Flora sat sighing her lane, 
 The dew on her plaid, and the tear in her e'e. 
 
 She looked at a boat which the breezes had swung 
 Away on the wave, like a bird of the main ; 
 
 And aye as it lessened, she sighed and she sung,
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 247 
 
 ' Farewell to the lad I shall ne'er see again ! 
 Farewell to my hero, the gallant and young ! 
 Farewell to the lad I shall ne'er see again ! ' 
 
 " The moorcock that crows on the top of Ben-Connal, 
 
 He kens o' his bed in a sweet mossy hame ; 
 The eagle that soars o'er the cliffs of Clan-Ronald, 
 
 Unawed and unhunted, his eiry can claim ; 
 The solan can sleep on his shelve of the shore ; 
 
 The cormorant roost on his rock of the sea : 
 But, oh ! there is ane whose hard fate I deplore ; 
 
 Nor house, ha', nor hame, in his country has he. 
 The conflict is past, and our name is no more : 
 
 There's nought left but sorrow for Scotland and me. 
 
 " The target is torn from the arm of the just, 
 
 The helmet is cleft on the brow of the brave, 
 The claymore for ever in darkness must rust, 
 
 But red is the sword of the stranger and slave ; 
 The hoof of the horse, and the foot of the proud, 
 
 Have trode o'er the plumes in the bonnet of blue, 
 Why slept the red bolt in the breast of the cloud, 
 
 When tyranny revelled in blood of the true ? 
 Farewell, my young hero, the gallant and good ! 
 
 The crown of thy fathers is torn from thy brow." 
 
 Flora's mission was accomplished, and she had 
 to pay for it. Eight or ten days after she returned 
 to her mother's home at Armandale, she was 
 taken prisoner by an officer and party of soldiers, 
 and hurried on board one of His Majesty's ships, 
 under the command of Captain Ferguson. She 
 received kind treatment at the hands of General 
 Campbell, who was on board ; and after a hurried 
 parting with her mother, she, accompanied in 
 the vessel by a maid named Kate M'Dowall 
 (who could not speak a word of English),
 
 248 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 eventually put in at Leith Roads in the month of 
 September. 
 
 Here the ship in which she was confined lay in 
 the roads till the 7th November following. During 
 that time she was visited by most of the best 
 Society in Edinburgh, many of whom vied with 
 each other in showing their friendship by making 
 valuable presents to her. Of Lady Mary Cochrane, 
 a daughter of the sixth Earl of Dundonald, it is 
 told that, on one occasion when a brisk gale 
 sprung up, making the sea rough and unsafe for 
 a small boat to be rowed to Leith, her ladyship 
 whispered to our heroine that she would, with 
 pleasure, stay on board all night that she might 
 be enabled to say that she had the honour of 
 lying in bed with that adherent who had had 
 conferred upon her the high honour of being 
 guardian to the Prince. Another illustrious lady 
 visitor informed Flora during one of her visits : 
 " I could wipe your shoes with pleasure, and 
 think it my honour to so do, when I reflect that 
 you had the honour to have the Prince for your 
 handmaid. We all envy you greatly." While a 
 prisoner in Leith Roads, she was never allowed 
 ashore, and those who were privileged with her 
 acquaintance found her always easy and cheerful, 
 with a certain mixture of gravity in her behaviour 
 which became her situation, and of her it was said 
 that no lady, Edinburgh-bred, could acquit herself 
 better at the tea-table or talk English more 
 fluently and easily than she did in Leith Roads.
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 249 
 
 From Leith she was conveyed to London, where 
 she was kept in an honourable and dignified 
 captivity, in the house of a private family, till the 
 month of July, 1747, when the Act of Indemnity 
 was passed, when she was released. After her 
 liberation, she remained for some time the guest 
 of Lady Primrose, of Dunipace, whose house 
 being visited by the crowds of the London fashion- 
 able world, the fame of Flora Macdonald soon 
 became one of the leading topics of conversation 
 amongst the worshippers of notoriety and fashion. 
 It is said, with no certain proof, however, that a 
 sum of 1 ,500 was raised on her behalf in London ; 
 but probably being satiated with the frivolous 
 gaiety of London society, she followed out her 
 heart's desire in returning home to her native 
 country. 
 
 From the giddy elevation which she had 
 attained, she retired unobtrusively to the secluded 
 life she had temporarily left at the cottage by the 
 mill on the lone loch of Kildonan. There she spent 
 two years, keeping her brother's house and living 
 quietly among her friends " at once the greatest 
 heroine of the age and the simplest of women." 
 Though she might have wedded rank and riches, 
 she remained faithful to the Highland lad of low 
 degree who had won her heart at Monkstadt 
 poor but handsome Allan Macdonald, Kings- 
 burgh's son. In November, 1750, they married 
 and settled down to the old plain life of a farm 
 at Floddigarry, in the north of Skye. Then came 
 
 17 (2005)
 
 250 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 straitened circumstances, emigration to North 
 Carolina, family sorrows, separation from her 
 husband and six gallant sons, all fighting in the 
 War of Independence for the House of Hanover. 
 
 Ultimately, in 1769, after five years' absence, 
 Flora left the States and sailed homewards for 
 Skye, where she settled down for the rest of her 
 life. On the voyage across the Atlantic her old 
 courage was once more exhibited. The ship was 
 attacked by a French privateer, and in spite of 
 entreaty, Flora remained on deck during the fight 
 to have her arm broken by a shot. Strangely, 
 but appropriately, she made her home for a time 
 at the old cottage by Kildonan. There her brother 
 Angus built her a house, opposite the ancient 
 graveyard ; and to this peaceful abode came 
 brave Allan, her husband, after his release in 
 America. 
 
 On the death of the old factor, the pair 
 removed to Kingsburgh, where, in 1773, Flora 
 charmed Dr. Johnson, then on his tour through 
 the Hebrides with Boswell. She lived to a good 
 old age, dying in 1790, survived by five sons and 
 two daughters. Of her eldest son Charles, a captain 
 in the Queen's Rangers, Lord Macdonald, on see- 
 ing him lowered into the grave, said : " There 
 lies the most finished gentleman of my family and 
 name." In 1907 a contributor to Notes and Queries 
 pointed out that a great-great-granddaughter of 
 Flora was then living in London. He gave the 
 lady's name and address Mrs. Duff Baker,
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 251 
 
 4 Chesterfield Street, Mayfair. Her maiden name 
 is Flora Zela Macdonald, and she is the elder 
 daughter of the late Reginald Macdonald of the 
 Colonial Office, whose grandfather was the fourth 
 son of the heroine. Flora's three elder sons died 
 without issue, so that Mrs. Baker is the repre- 
 sentative of the resourceful Highland lassie who 
 was chiefly instrumental in effecting Prince 
 Charlie's escape. 
 
 On a stormy day in March this heroine of the 
 '45 was laid to rest in the lonesome churchyard 
 of Kilmuir, near the spot where she had brought 
 the Prince to Skye. The procession at the funeral 
 marched sixteen miles, and was over a mile in 
 length. Three hundred gallons of whisky were 
 served out to the " mourners," and the coronach 
 was played by the dozen best pipers in the world, 
 Macrimmons and Macarthurs from the Skye 
 Colleges. The grave is now marked by an obelisk 
 erected by admirers of the heroine, although for 
 many years it was in a state of disgraceful dis- 
 repair. When Alexander Smith, the Scottish poet 
 and essayist (who married a descendant of Flora), 
 was in Skye some sixty years ago, he wrote of 
 the churchyard that " the gate was open, the 
 tombstones were broken and defaced, and above 
 the grave of the heroine nettles were growing 
 more luxuriantly than any crop I had the good 
 fortune to behold on the island." Skye had only 
 one historical grave to dress, and she left it so ! 
 
 In 1899 Flora's heroic act was commemorated
 
 252 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 by a stately bronze statue on the Castle-hill of 
 Inverness a handsome granite figure 9 feet high, 
 standing on a pedestal 15 feet high. The daughter 
 of the Western Isles, with right hand shading her 
 eyes, is looking across the waters for the boat con- 
 taining Charlie. At her right side, a rough collie, 
 with head thrown back, watches her face. The 
 statue is one of the sights of the Highland capital. 
 It was raised from a bequest of 1,000 left for the 
 purpose by a descendant of the Macdonalds of 
 Kingsburgh. 
 
 Was Flora Macdonald really " bonnie " ? The 
 question is sometimes asked. It is difficult to 
 answer with certainty. 
 
 " There is Flora, my honey, 
 So dear and so bonnie," 
 
 says one of the songs. She has been described as 
 " the beautiful Flora," and she had some claim 
 to the appellation, says one, " for in all the grace 
 of womanhood, with lustrous, blue eyes, rosy 
 cheeks, and a Macdonald mouth, she was one of 
 the fairest daughters of the north." There are, 
 at least, two portraits of her one by Allan 
 Ramsay (the son of the poet who wrote The 
 Gentle Shepherd}, belonging to the University of 
 Oxford ; the other by Tom Robertson, now the 
 property of the Glasgow Corporation. The latter 
 is familiar through many engravings. It shows 
 a somewhat simpering person, after the fashion of 
 the old " books of beauty." But Ramsay has
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 253 
 
 painted an unmistakable Highland lassie. Neither 
 of these portraits seems to be dated, but we may 
 fairly assume that they were painted after the 
 episode of the '45 had made Flora famous. Flora 
 was born in 1720, so that she was twenty-five 
 when Charles Edward made her acquaintance. 
 
 Which of these faces Ramsay's or Robertson's 
 is the real Flora ? There is practically no like- 
 ness between them. Boswell describes the heroine 
 as a little woman of genteel appearance, and 
 uncommonly mild and well-bred. Johnson says 
 her features were soft and her presence elegant, 
 and corroborates Boswell by a tribute to her good 
 manners. The features in Ramsay's portrait can 
 hardly be called " soft," nor is the impression 
 that of an elegant woman. These epithets suggest 
 that Robertson's eye or hand was the surer. Yet 
 the other is the face that one would expect to see, 
 though sentiment might wish to have it otherwise. 
 
 Perhaps both Bos well's and Johnson's ideas 
 were obscured by their entertainment. The great 
 man the bear from Fleet Street was highly 
 delighted at being told by his hostess how she 
 had heard that an English buck (meaning a dandy) 
 was coming to see her ; and the little man, the 
 said buck's satellite, found the punch more than 
 usually excellent. Then Johnson was put to sleep 
 in Prince Charlie's bed ("a neat bed with tartan 
 curtains ") : a spectacle which struck Bozzy " with 
 such a group of ideas as it is not easy for words 
 to describe " ; and even the Doctor, though he
 
 254 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 remarked that his couch had furnished him with 
 no ambitious thoughts, owned afterwards that he 
 would have given a good deal rather than not to 
 have lain in it. 
 
 After parting with Flora, Charles was con- 
 veyed from shelter to shelter by loyal friends, 
 running the gauntlet of the Government troops 
 all the time. Presently he landed safely among 
 the mainland Macdonalds and Camerons, but 
 here, again, he was barred by warships and a 
 cordon of Militia outposts. For more than a 
 fortnight he and his companions " dodged and 
 doubled along the mountain tops, sleeping out in 
 all weathers, sometimes in drenching rain at 
 3,000 feet above the sea, or in woods within 
 hearing of the troops round the outpost fires." 
 
 They got to Poolewe, thanks to the disinterested 
 services of certain outlaws known as the Seven 
 Men of Glenmoriston. Charles' brother Henry had 
 been busying himself in inducing the French to 
 send a couple of privateers to search for the Prince 
 among the isles and lochs of the Western Hebrides. 
 Here, at Poolewe, they expected to find the 
 friendly craft. But they were too late : the 
 French ships had once more come and gone. 
 Doubling south again, they reached Lochiel's 
 shieling in Benalder on August 27th, and two 
 days later began a fortnight of great cheer in 
 Cluny Macpherson's famous cave in the same 
 neighbourhood. The Government, admitting 
 themselves baffled, were now withdrawing their
 
 THE BONNIE YOUNG FLORA 255 
 
 posts, and Charles began to breathe more 
 freely. 
 
 A means of escape was, in fact, at hand. News 
 of French vessels was reported ; and after a 
 journey more lively and less hazardous than he 
 had experienced since Culloden, Charles embarked 
 with Lochiel on the privateer L'Heureux, almost 
 at the spot where he had landed. On September 
 20 he bade farewell to the home of his ancestors, 
 the land he would " ne'er see again."
 
 CHAPTER XVII 
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 
 
 WHAT would have become of the Jacobite cause 
 without " bonnie Prince Charlie " it is impossible 
 to say. Had there been no audacious landing at 
 Moidart, no victory at Prestonpans, and no balls 
 at Holyrood, no piteous rout at Culloden, and no 
 flight through the heather and across the Minch 
 with the faithful Flora what, in that case would 
 be the state of the Jacobite legend and tradition 
 to-day ? The question is really well worth asking, 
 and there is something not a little instructive in 
 the view of our history and literature which such 
 a supposition involves. To begin with, our shelves 
 would be emptied of a whole voluminous library 
 of memoirs and histories, from John Home's 
 narrative and the Young Ascanius down to Robert 
 Chambers' s book and some of the best chapters 
 of the Tales of a Grandfather, and, later still, to a 
 good half-dozen volumes of the Scottish History 
 Society's publications. That, however, would be, 
 perhaps, the least of the loss, for we should be 
 robbed also of the first of the Waverley Novels ; 
 and Fergus and Flora, the old Baron Bradwardine, 
 and Evan Dhu Maccombich would be names and 
 figures unknown. But the saddest gap of all 
 would be in our poetry, where we should look in 
 vain for practically the whole fragrant white-rose 
 garden of Scottish song. 
 
 256
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 257 
 
 Only those who know the minstrelsy of the 
 North can truly estimate the loss that would be 
 involved if the songs of the '45 should suddenly 
 vanish out of the knowledge and memory of men. 
 We should have to make what shift we might for 
 a Jacobite legend and literature with the songs 
 and stories of 1715 and 1689, with Mar and 
 Claverhouse, Brigadier Macintosh, and young 
 Kenmure, with the venerable doggerel about 
 Sheriffmuir, and with Aytoun's lay of Killie 
 crankie and Scott's rousing ballad of " Bonnie 
 Dundee." For the gallant Young Chevalier there 
 would be no better substitute than the dreary 
 bigot who turned tail at the Boyne, and the life- 
 less etender, about whom the Highlanders at 
 Perth in 1716 asked contemptuously if "it could 
 speak." No guardian Flora would aid the 
 ignominious flight of the old Chevalier through 
 the back lanes of Dundee, and for a military hope 
 and hero of the Jacobite cause one would have to 
 accept the ruthless soldier who cut down 
 Covenanters at Bothwell Bridge and hunted John 
 Brown, of Priesthill, across the Lanark moors. 
 
 As a matter of sober fact, no Prince has ever 
 been the subject of such a wealth of song as 
 Charles Edward Stuart. A hundred bards, known 
 and nameless, have given expression to the 
 Jacobite sentiment, which still lives on amid the 
 stoutest allegiance to the House of Hanover. 
 Queen Victoria, following as she did the Puritan, 
 the Roundhead ideal, was proud of her drop of
 
 258 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Stuart blood, and listened with delight to the 
 songs that breathe of hatred to her much closer 
 kindred, the Georges. Jacobite poetry and 
 Jacobite music exert over one the same fascina- 
 tion that inspired the loyalty and the devotion 
 to which they give such vivid expression ; and 
 even now, for one who reads the historical 
 accounts of the '45 and the romantic, tragic 
 story of its hero, hundreds listen to the plaint of 
 " Flora Macdonald's Lament," and " Wae's me 
 for Prince Charlie," and " Will ye no come back 
 again ? " 
 
 With Charles Edward's landing and his pro- 
 gress southward, the whole country became filled 
 with sympathising song ; when all was over, the 
 melody became only the richer for the lost cause 
 and the fallen race. Scarcely a single song can 
 be found in favour of the victors. As Burns said, 
 the Scottish muse was " entirely and only 
 Jacobite." These songs mingle scorn for the 
 usurper, with an unquenchable sorrow for the 
 misfortunes of the " bonnie " Prince. Feelings 
 strong, ardent, fierce, tender, breathe through 
 their lines. Reading them, one seems to touch 
 the pulse of those throbbing times, and to have 
 vividly brought before him the sudden changes 
 from hope, hesitation, success, failure, fierce 
 anger, sarcasm, love, hate, pathos, and other 
 kindred feelings and passions which, for all time, 
 though most strongly, perhaps, in times of civil 
 war, sway the minds of men.
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 259 
 
 The songs would, indeed, be a useful corrective 
 to the dry-as-dust method which at times tends 
 to creep into historical works, for they not only 
 give the facts, but mingle with them pathos or 
 humour, dejection or defiance, affection or hatred, 
 according to the subject or the mood of the poet. 
 In the Highlands, as we have seen, the Prince and 
 his enterprise drew around them from the first the 
 sympathies of the people ; and the emotions of the 
 Gael, stirred to their depths, found immediate and 
 natural expression in verse. Highland conserva- 
 tism burns brightly in every one of these effusions. 
 The old ways, the old insular line of kings it is 
 in favour of these that the Celtic note is constantly 
 being sounded. 
 
 The House of Hanover these sons of the moun- 
 tain and the flood will not away with. " Wha the 
 deil hae we gotten for a king, but a wee, wee 
 German lairdie ! " they sing in derision. Many 
 an anonymous minstrel mingled in his threnody 
 for the fallen a fine scorn for the usurper and an 
 inextinguishable sorrow for the misfortunes of 
 him whose gallantry, youth, and attractive per- 
 sonality, to say nothing of the glamour of his 
 name, had cast a spell over the susceptible hearts 
 of Jacobites, old and young. 
 
 " O this is no' my ain house, 
 I ken by the biggin' o' 't," 
 
 says one, picturing with princely satire the carle 
 with the "unco face," the "foreign loon" who
 
 260 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 had come " a hunder mile and mair " to displace 
 the " rightful owner " of the crown. Another, 
 with touching pathos and loyalty, proclaims that 
 " There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame " ; 
 a third exclaims 
 
 " Down wi' Geordie, Kirn-milk Geordie ! 
 
 He maun hame without stocking or shoe, 
 To mump his neeps, his sybows and leeks 
 And a wee bit bacon to help the broo." 
 
 Poor Geordie ! He was the butt of every 
 bardling who could string a verse in those days. 
 In " The Sow's Tail to Geordie," a poetaster, 
 somewhat coarsely, jibed him about that Mme. 
 Kilmansegg (afterwards created Countess of 
 Darlington), one of his mistresses, of whom Lord 
 Orford wrote that she had " two acres of cheeks 
 spread with crimson, an ocean of neck that over- 
 flowed and was not distinguished from the lower 
 part of the body, and no part restrained by stays." 
 It was because of her " too, too solid flesh " that 
 they nicknamed Madame the " Sow." The 
 London mob were highly diverted by the 
 importation of such an ogress ; but one day, 
 when she was driving with the King, they insulted 
 her. " Coot peoples," said she, putting her head 
 out of the coach, " vy you wrong us ? We come 
 for all your coots." " Yes, damn ye," retorted 
 one of the crowd, " and for our chattels too/' 
 Rough and revengeful are these earlier contem- 
 porary ditties, for the most part. They sing less 
 of the Stuarts themselves than of their enemies,
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 261 
 
 especially of Hanoverian George, whose appear- 
 ance, nationality, and language are all held up to 
 ridicule. Though they are not often heard now, 
 these particular songs, they are documents of a 
 valuable kind, and can never be ignored by 
 historians of the Jacobite epoch. 
 
 I have said they are not much heard now ; and 
 it is certainly significant to note that nearly all 
 the best or at least the best known of the 
 Jacobite ditties, " rants " and " laments," the 
 things that actually live in our own day, were 
 produced when the cause was forlorn by persons 
 who had no real concern as to whether it 
 triumphed or not ; who took, in fact, a purely 
 sentimental interest in it. A critic has remarked 
 that it is very seldom that a Tyrtaeus is born, a 
 man whose verse is moving at the moment, and 
 keeps its charm when the hour of action is past. 
 Perhaps this holds true of all poetry. Not when 
 a man's passions are engaged, not when he is in 
 wrath, or in love, or in poignant grief, can he 
 express himself in verse, but later, when the 
 passion has become a thing for contemplation 
 and conscious study. In the history of a people 
 it is much the same. Not the cavaliers who were 
 exiled with James, not the clansmen who fought 
 for Charles Edward, but their sons and grandsons 
 wrote the songs of loyalty, of regret, of despair. 
 The bulk of these later songs were the product of 
 the Lowlands, while the earlier contemporary 
 songs had their origin mostly in the North.
 
 262 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 That circumstance is easily explained. In the 
 Highlands many causes combined to make the 
 Stuart risings a matter for joyous enthusiasm and 
 high hopes. The old love of fighting for fighting's 
 sake had not yet gone ; the memory of Lowland 
 forays made an armed descent into the low 
 country seem an exploit worthy of gallant men ; 
 loyalty to the chief and to the rightful king filled 
 many a true heart with a burning desire to fight 
 for both, and to die if need be. In such sur- 
 roundings the poetic genius of the Gael had full 
 scope for its natural expression in stirring verse ; 
 and when the high hopes had come to nought, 
 when victories were annulled by defeats, when the 
 brave men had fallen or had fled, the strain, 
 though changed, was still one that came spon- 
 taneous to Gaelic lips, no less ready with the 
 lament than with the battle-song. 
 
 On the other hand, so peculiar were the circum- 
 stances connected with the '15 and the '45, that 
 the single-hearted enthusiasm necessary for the 
 finest song-writing hardly existed in the Low- 
 lands while the events themselves were taking 
 place. The support of the Highlands, however 
 gratifying to James and Charles, was not calcu- 
 lated to further their cause with hesitating and 
 cautious Lowlanders. To many of these the 
 bravest clans must have still been little else than 
 wild, wicked Hielandmen, as they were to 
 Wyntoun, nor could the average ploughman or 
 shepherd have felt much desire to sing " Charlie
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 263 
 
 is my Darling," or " Cam ye by Athole." The 
 faithful and unselfish adherents of the Stuarts in 
 the Lowlands were mainly to be found among 
 the nobility and gentry, and the songs of a people 
 do not come from these. Nearly half a century 
 had to pass before time had so far softened the 
 outlines of the great struggle as to make it a fit 
 subject for national song. Only when the romantic 
 element had thrown its glimmering veil over the 
 stern political facts could the poet be sure that 
 his song would be received in a sympathetic spirit ; 
 what would earlier have been dangerous and 
 seditious was now only a generous tribute to 
 brave hearts that had risked all, and had 
 failed. 
 
 Roughly speaking, the poetry of Jacobitism is 
 the work of Lady Nairne, Allan Cunningham, Sir 
 Walter Scott, William Glen, and James Hogg, 
 who drank of the faery springs of Bonny Kilmeny. 
 Strange about Hogg ! And yet not strange, for the 
 blood of the old Border reivers who fought against 
 the " auld enemy " of England flowed strong in 
 the veins of the Shepherd of Ettrick. 
 
 It was James Hogg, in fact, who, more than 
 any other writer, created the tradition of the war- 
 like poetry of the Young Chevalier. Who does 
 not know his " Cam' ye by Athole ? " 
 
 " Follow thee, follow thee, wha wadna follow thee ? 
 
 Lang hast thou lo'ed and trusted us fairlie ; 
 Chairlie, Chairlie, wha wadna follow thee ? 
 
 King o' the Highland hearts, bonnie Prince Chairlie ! "
 
 264 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 How ringing, how winning, how inspiring are the 
 words ! The Shepherd would probably have gone 
 fishing in Meggat or Yarrow rather than follow 
 any martial music anywhere. Poor, nevertheless, 
 would the Jacobite minstrelsy be without his 
 contributions to its stores ; without (to name 
 only a few) his " Bonnie Prince Charlie," and 
 " Flora Macdonald's Lament," and " Come o'er 
 the stream, Charlie." The latter has a " lilt " in 
 it that carries one away even now, when heads 
 are cool enough about Jacobitism 
 
 " Come o'er the stream, Charlie, dear Charlie, brave Charlie, 
 
 Come o'er the stream, Charlie, and dine wi' Mac Lean ; 
 
 And though you be weary, we'll mak' your heart cheery, 
 
 And welcome our Charlie and his loyal train. 
 If aught will invite you, or more will delight you, 
 
 'Tis ready a troop of our bold Highland men 
 Shall range on the heather with bonnet and feather, 
 Strong arms and broad claymores, three hundred and 
 ten." 
 
 It was no Alan Breck in the regiment of Claver- 
 house that wrote " Bonnie Dundee," but a 
 peaceful Edinburgh lawyer, whom nobody, how- 
 ever, could accuse of shirking duel or other 
 danger. Perhaps " Bonnie Dundee " is the high 
 watermark of Jacobite martial minstrelsy. 
 Reading it, one actually seems to hear 
 
 " The kettle-drums clash, and the horsemen ride on. 
 Till on Ravelston crags and on Clermiston lee 
 Died away the wild war notes of Bonnie Dundee." 
 
 Again, it was no exile, but Allan Cunningham, 
 the Dumfries mason-poet of Carlyle's day, who
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 265 
 
 wrote the beautiful song, " The sun rises bright 
 in France," and the still more beautiful " It's 
 hame, and it's hame, hame fain would I be." 
 And then there is the permanently popular 
 " Wae's me for Prince Charlie," said to have been 
 a great favourite with Queen Victoria 
 
 " A wee bird cam' to oor ha' door, 
 He warbled sweet and clearly, 
 And aye the o'ercome o' his sang 
 Was ' Wae's me for Prince Charlie ' ! " 
 
 That was sung of the dark, direful days after 
 Culloden. How much is expressed, how much that 
 can never be expressed, there is in the lines 
 
 " I took my bonnet aff my head, 
 For weel I lo'ed Prince Charlie." 
 
 But the chief glory of later-day Jacobite song 
 was the Baroness Nairne, who sung the lost cause 
 at once from first-hand knowledge and from per- 
 sonal sympathy. No one has expressed in more 
 haunting strains, with pathos so tender, with 
 realism so vivid, the story of " the lad who was 
 born to be King." Lady Nairne' s father, Laurence 
 Oliphant, was an aide-de-camp of the Prince in the 
 '45, and carried to Edinburgh the news of the 
 battle of Prestonpans. Lady Nairne herself lived 
 until 1845, just a hundred years after the events 
 of which she sings so sweetly. The " auld hoose " 
 of Cask, where the Prince stayed, had many 
 memories that endeared it to her. She does not 
 forget its associations with Charles Edward Stuart ; 
 
 18 (2005)
 
 266 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and as she recalls the auld laird, she gives us a 
 glimpse of 
 
 " The leddy, too, sac genty, 
 
 That sheltered Scotland's heir ; 
 And dipt a lock wi' her ain hand 
 Frae his lang, yellow hair." 
 
 And her admirers the world over will never fail 
 at times to recall her immortal tribute to the 
 leal-hearted men of the Bens and the Isles 
 
 " Ye trusted in your Hieland men ; 
 They trusted you, dear Charlie ! 
 They kept you hiding in the glen 
 Your cleading was but barely. 
 
 " We watched thee in the gloamin' hour, 
 
 We watched thee in the morning grey ; 
 Though thirty thousand pounds they'd gi'e, 
 Oh, there was nane that would betray ! " 
 
 Lady Nairne's Jacobite lyrics make, indeed, a 
 splendid galaxy, each a bay leaf in the chaplet 
 that adorns her brow. This singer of " The Land 
 o' the Leal," " Caller Herrin'," and "The Laird 
 o' Cockpen " was the laureate of later-day 
 Jacobitism, and her refining hand removed the 
 dross and gave us the pure poetic metal. 
 
 The enthusiasm of the ladies for Charlie and 
 his cause has already been remarked. Lord 
 President Forbes declared emphatically that men's 
 swords did less for Charlie than the women's 
 
 tongues 
 
 " And ilka bonnie lassie sang, 
 
 As to the door she ran, 
 Our King shall hae his ain again, 
 And Charlie is the man."
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 267 
 
 This enthusiasm is sharply mirrored in the 
 Jacobite minstrelsy. It was the women who were 
 supposed to sing 
 
 " We'll o'er the water, we'll o'er the sea, 
 We'll o'er the water to Charlie ; 
 Come weel, come woe, we'll gather and go, 
 And live or die, wi' Charlie." 
 
 Ray, the volunteer, states in his journal, that he 
 uniformly found the ladies most violent. " They 
 would listen," says he, " to no manner of reason." 
 Sufficient evidence of this is afforded in another 
 well-known song of the period. We may imagine 
 it to be the expression of the quieter, more 
 retiring, old men, who could only solace them- 
 selves by giving expression to their disgust at the 
 excitement in such words as 
 
 " The women are a' gane wud ! * 
 Oh ! that he had bidden awa' * 
 He's turned their heids, the lad, 
 And ruin will bring on us a'. 
 
 I aye was a peaceable man ; 
 My wife she did doucely behave, 
 But now, do a' that I can, 
 She's just as wild as the lave." 
 
 In these words we find a true indication of the 
 rapid rise of the tide of popular sympathy, which 
 carried onward the hero of the Stuart cause. 
 
 1 Foolish. * Remained away.
 
 268 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Another excellent proof of the enthusiasm of 
 the Jacobite ladies is afforded by the song 
 
 " Wha wadna fecht for Charlie ? 
 
 Wha wadna draw the sword ? 
 Wha wadna up and rally 
 
 At the Royal Prince's word ? " 
 
 Commenting on this song, a critic says : " Viewed 
 in the light of reason, the conduct of these ladies 
 seems to have been ridiculous. They do not allow 
 their . lords the smallest chance of escape from 
 dangerous service ; for we are told 
 
 " ' There's ne'er a lass in a* the land, 
 
 But vows, baith late an' early, 
 To man she'll ne'er gie heart or hand, 
 Wha disna fecht for Charlie.'" 
 
 Evidently they were in earnest, and, though 
 unreasonable, were consistent ; for they ask no 
 more than they themselves are willing to give. 
 One amazon says 
 
 " I swear by moon and stars sae bricht, 
 
 An' the sun that glances early, 
 It I had twenty thousand lives 
 I'd gie them a' to Charlie." 
 
 But who, in these prosaic days, when there are 
 no adventures, when everybody would keenly 
 count the cost if there were who can quite 
 explain, who can quite understand the venera- 
 tion in which the Stuarts were held, as we read it 
 in the Jacobite minstrelsy ? Our knowledge of 
 modern thought and action proves but a poor 
 guide through the mazes of fervid eloquence, love,
 
 THE '45 IN SONG 269 
 
 and devotion which meet us here (in the poetry) 
 at every turn. Our modern ideas have but little 
 agreement with the warmth of this poetry, 
 suggestive so much of the sword and so little of 
 the pen. But it entrances us, and, under the 
 spell, we realise the power of that fire which raged 
 in the exciting times of the '45 ; which cast its 
 broad gleams all over the land, surging and 
 spreading, till subdued by treachery, and quenched 
 by power.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 
 
 CHARLES EDWARD STUART landed in France on 
 September 29th, 1746. Jacobitism, the cause of 
 the Stuarts, was practically dead killed at Cul- 
 loden. But Charles Edward declined to believe it. 
 Culloden was but an unfortunate incident in the 
 campaign, so to speak. The defeated there would 
 yet return to be the victor in the land of his 
 fathers. That was Charles' intention, Charles' 
 hope. " Whatever his conduct after Culloden, he 
 left Scotland with the intention to return," says 
 Professor Terry. " He clamoured passionately to 
 Louis and his Ministers to grant him the means, 
 until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle sent him forth 
 a disappointed outcast." 
 
 That, as the same writer insists, was the death 
 of him morally. Nature had framed him for 
 another Rupert ; fate made him a loafer, and he 
 sank incontinent to the lower plane. Women and 
 the bottle were his undoing. Given his real 
 metier ', these would have had but moderate 
 worship from him. At Holyrood, and in action, 
 he was cold and aloof from the "adorable sex"; 
 and although in the Highlands he took his 
 " dram " with the rest, he was never known to 
 be the worse of it. But now, activity denied him, 
 the wine cup became more and more his source of 
 
 270
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 271 
 
 comfort. Under that baneful influence, his judg- 
 ment, tact, and graciousness left him. He peddled 
 in the methods of opera bouffe, flitted hither and 
 thither, the Don Mysterioso of a wondering 
 Europe. " He became his own worst enemy, the 
 man with a grievance. He quarrelled with his 
 most faithful friends, and drove them from him, 
 and so sank lonely to embittered old age, with 
 no trace of his once sanguine self remaining." 
 Truly, it is one of the saddest pictures in all 
 history. 
 
 The natural thing for Charles to have done now 
 was to rejoin his father in Rome. But he and his 
 father had drifted further and further apart, and 
 there had been little communication between 
 them since they parted in 1744. Even with his 
 brother, Prince Henry, Charles was not on the 
 best of terms, though, as Mr. Lang remarks, it is 
 not easy to see whence their differences arose. 
 
 In any case, France was to be Charles' home in 
 the meantime, for it was to Louis that he looked 
 for practical help in his next campaign. Prince 
 Henry was already in Paris, and had been using 
 his interest with Louis on Charles' behalf. To 
 him Charles wrote soon after he reached Morlaix, 
 intimating his " safe arrivall in this country," 
 and enclosing " to lines " for his father, " just to 
 shew him I am alive and safe." He made excuse 
 for not writing to Louis by " being so much 
 fatigued, and hoping soon to have ye pleasure 
 of seeing him." Towards that end Henry was
 
 272 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 asked to arrange something without delay, for, 
 said Charles, "it is an absolute necessity I must 
 see ye F. K. as soon as possible, for to bring 
 things to a write head." 
 
 Presently the brothers met in Paris, when 
 Henry reported finding Charles not a bit altered, 
 " except grown somewhat broader and fatter, 
 which is incomprehensible, after all the fatigues 
 he has endured." The gay capital proved a 
 pleasant change to Charles after his hardships in 
 the Scottish Highlands. He went to the opera, 
 feasted with his brother at Fontainebleau, and 
 had altogether a royal time. He visited Louis at 
 Versailles : first, privately ; and, later, in state. 
 There is an interesting description of him on the 
 latter occasion. He was dressed, we read, with 
 " uncommon elegance. His coat was rose-coloured 
 velvet, embroidered with silver and lined with 
 silver tissue ; his waistcoat was a rich gold 
 brocade, with a spangled fringe set on in scallops. 
 The cockade in his hat and the buckles of his 
 shoes were diamonds ; the George which he wore 
 at his bosom, and the Order of St. Andrew which 
 he wore also, tied by a piece of green ribbon to 
 one of the buttons of his waistcoat, were pro- 
 digiously illustrated with large brilliants ; in 
 short, he glittered all over." 
 
 The Jacobites were greatly cheered by this 
 regal visit to Louis, and hoped much from it. 
 But promise was easier for Louis than perform- 
 ance. Charles had sent Louis a memorandum of
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 273 
 
 what he wanted. He " represented that his 
 Scottish partisans were in a bad way, victims of 
 England's vengeance. He asked for French 
 troops. Their destination he would not reveal ; 
 no doubt, London." Louis was not prepared to 
 help in this way : all he would do for Charles 
 was to give him a residence and a pension of 
 12,000 francs a month. This intimation came to 
 him verbally through the Marquis d'Argenson. 
 Charles was indignant, as we learn from a letter 
 which he wrote to his father. " I find it, and am 
 absolutely convinced of it," he said, " that ye 
 only way of delying with this Government is to 
 give as short and smart answers as one can, at 
 ye same time paying them in their own coin by 
 loding them with sivilities and compliments, 
 setting apart business ; for that kind of vermin, 
 the more you give them, the more thel take." 
 Such was Charles' tactless diplomacy with the 
 " vermin " to whom he looked for all he wanted. 
 And what a rascally royal " speller " he was ! 
 
 Disgusted and disappointed in the quarter from 
 which he had hoped all things, Charles, early in 
 1747, left Paris and made for Madrid, the object 
 being an interview with His Most Catholic Majesty, 
 the King of Spain. The result of that enterprise 
 he laconically announced to his father in these 
 terms : "I believe your Majesty will be as much 
 surprised as I am to find that, no sooner arrived, 
 I was hurried away without so much as allowing 
 me time to rest." He confesses that he writes a
 
 274 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 little out of humour, " for an angel would take 
 the spleen on this occasion." But he was not 
 hurried away quite so precipitately as he pre- 
 tended. On reaching Madrid, he obtained an 
 interview with Caravajal, the Minister, to whom 
 he had sent a letter for King Ferdinand. 
 Caravajal told him that his letter had not been 
 delivered, explained that his sudden visit was 
 embarrassing, and urged, with " several very 
 nonsensical reasons," that he should get away as 
 soon as possible. Thus Charles was defeated 
 again. He had ridden all these miles to ask 
 support for his *' cause," and now he was dragging 
 himself back to his auberge disappointed and dis- 
 illusioned. Next day the polite request was 
 repeated that he should take his departure. 
 There was no help for it : by March 26th he was 
 once more in Paris, resolved to keep himself 
 " absolutely in private." Louis had failed him, 
 Spain had failed him ; where now was his hope ? 
 Presently another crushing blow fell on this 
 deluded, sanguine hero of the '45. His brother 
 Henry had been getting more and more out of 
 sympathy with him, being of entirely different 
 character and temperament, with interests rather 
 in the world to come than in the world in which 
 he lived. Charles' ambitions Henry now regarded 
 as both foolish and futile ; and, as for himself, 
 he had made up his mind to take the Cardinal's 
 Hat. This meant parting with Charles and 
 returning to Rome. But Henry had not the
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 275 
 
 courage to tell Charles of his resolve, and spirited 
 himself away without saying farewell. He invited 
 Charles to supper on April 29th. When Charles 
 arrived, Henry's house " was brilliantly lighted, 
 supper was spread, Henry's household was in 
 attendance. But Henry was absent. Charles 
 waited until midnight in growing anxiety, lest 
 some evil had befallen him." Three days later, 
 Henry, then far on his way to Rome, wrote and 
 explained everything. Imagine the shock ! If 
 Charles had possessed the shadow of a chance 
 after Culloden, this would have ruined it com- 
 pletely. Charles realised only too plainly that it 
 must at least damage his cause. During his late 
 campaign he had learned how deep and how 
 widespread was the distrust of the Roman Church 
 among all classes in Great Britain (especially in 
 Scotland), and how valuable an asset to the 
 Government in its hour of trial had been this 
 universal feeling, which in the popular mind 
 connected the Stuart cause with Papal designs 
 against religious liberty. 
 
 Modern writers have called Henry's admission 
 to the Sacred College a second Culloden to the 
 Stuart cause ; but it was in reality (as Charles 
 only too clearly perceived) a far greater and more 
 enduring disaster. Under more favourable condi- 
 tions, the effects of Culloden might yet have been 
 wiped out and, indeed, the cruelties of the Duke 
 of Cumberland could hardly have endeared the 
 Highlander to the Guelph dynasty but a definite
 
 276 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and official connection of the Stuarts with the 
 detested and dreaded Papacy was certain to 
 alienate all Protestant waverers. 
 
 In short, Henry Stuart, Duke of York, by 
 accepting the Cardinal's Hat, placed " a red seal 
 on the tomb of the Stuarts." Charles cursed 
 Henry for this action ; he cursed Rome. The 
 seven-hilled city, he swore, should never see him, 
 and see him it did not until twenty years after 
 this, when his father lay dead. 
 
 That same father, who had long given up his 
 own worldly ambitions, now tried hard, but tried 
 in vain, to reconcile Charles to the Cardinalate. 
 " Naturally speaking/' he wrote, " you should 
 have been consulted about a resolution of that 
 kind before it had been executed ; but as the 
 Duke and I were unalterably determined on the 
 matter, and we foresaw that you might probably 
 not approve of it, we thought it would be showing 
 you more regard, and that it would even be more 
 agreeable to you that the thing should be done 
 before your answer could come here, and to have 
 it in your power to say it was done without your 
 knowledge and approbation." 
 
 James went on to say that Henry had long felt 
 a vocation for an ecclesiastical state, but had 
 until recently concealed his desire, " with a view, 
 no doubt, of having it in his power of being of 
 some use to you in the late conjunctures. But 
 the case," he adds, " is now altered, and as I am 
 fully convinced of the sincerity and solidity of
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 277 
 
 his vocation, I should think it a resisting the will 
 of God, and acting directly against my con- 
 science, if I should pretend to constrain him in 
 a matter which so nearly concerns him/' Thus, 
 in effect, James and Henry renounced for ever 
 the pretensions of their House ; and Charles was 
 alone left to uphold them. The Cardinal's Hat 
 had cheated him of his birthright, and his wrath 
 was as abiding as it was impotent. 
 
 Meanwhile, matters were developing in another 
 direction. Louis, who had offered Charles a home, 
 was soon compelled to deny him even that. The 
 war which had raged in Europe since 1740 was 
 drawing to a close ; peace was already being dis- 
 cussed. Presently the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle 
 was signed, and one of its conditions was that 
 Charles Edward Stuart should be expelled from 
 France. The condition was intimated to Charles. 
 He " affected nonchalance. The mob admired 
 him, and at the opera and elsewhere he ostenta- 
 tiously courted their applause." The Dauphin 
 and many of the principal nobility sided with him. 
 He talked of following the example of Charles XII. 
 of Sweden at Bender, who armed his servants, 
 barricaded his house, and repelled force by force. 
 He drew up a protest and sent it to Louis. But 
 Louis, bound by his treaty, and anxious to avoid 
 a scandal, could only suggest to the headstrong 
 youth the wisdom of withdrawing quietly. 
 
 Charles would not listen to counsel, however 
 delicately conveyed. He " continued his course
 
 278 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 of dare-devildom, appeared frequently at the 
 opera, fort gai et fort beau, feasted his friends, and 
 was generally unreasonable." Official dignitaries 
 were sent to reason with him ; his father, on 
 instigation from Paris, pleaded with him all to 
 no effect. Charles declined to budge. Louis was 
 in despair, and when at length England, in a 
 strongly-worded protest, reminded him of his 
 treaty, he had no help but sign an order for 
 Charles' arrest. 
 
 Chateaubriand records the result in indignant 
 terms : " Seized in the Opera House on the 
 llth December, 1748, shamefully bound, he was 
 brought to Vincennes. He was carried to the 
 frontiers. Charles Edward learnt the hard lesson 
 which the great are wont to learn in adversity. 
 He was abandoned. He had his good right on 
 his side ; but legitimacy is no protection. It 
 was decreed that the time should come when the 
 descendants of Louis XV. would be wandering 
 about Europe like the Pretender would read on 
 the corners of streets in Germany : * All beggars, 
 vagabonds, and emigrants are forbidden to tarry 
 longer than twenty-four hours here.' ' 
 
 This is a grandiloquent exaggeration. The 
 arrest was a farcical business in the matter of 
 precautionary and other arrangements, but it 
 was effective. After a week's confinement, Charles 
 was liberated on undertaking to leave France ; 
 and on the 27th December (1748) he arrived in 
 Papal Avignon, " the one spot in Europe still
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 279 
 
 open to him." But not long open to him. Within 
 two months he had to move again, the Pope 
 having been threatened by England with severe 
 reprisals if he continued to shelter the exile. 
 
 This time Charles took his orders with perfect 
 calmness. To cover his retreat, he adopted 
 brother Henry's old ruse. " His house remained 
 open, his servants on duty. His physician called 
 daily, and to enquirers Charles was said to be ill 
 in bed. Some suspicious or imaginative people at 
 length exposed the stratagem. Climbing to the 
 top of the opposite house, they saw Charles' room 
 empty and nreless. But the plan had served its 
 turn. Charles had effectually covered his trail." 
 From that night of February, 1749, when he rode 
 out of Avignon, he hid himself, as Voltaire said, 
 "from the whole world." "He had left his 
 virile, hopeful youth behind. Henceforward he 
 lurks in his secret lairs, sinking lower and lower 
 below the level of his once buoyant self." 
 
 It would be a tedious as well as a sorry task to 
 follow him in all the details of his wanderings for 
 the next sixteen years, until the death of his 
 father called him to Rome and his " accession." 
 Hunted from place to place, he adopted all sorts 
 of disguises to conceal his identity. Once he 
 appeared as an Irish officer in the Spanish service. 
 Another time he was revealed in an abbess dress, 
 " with a black patch upon his eye, and his eye- 
 brows black' d." In 1753 Albemarle thought he 
 detected him in Paris, his face painted with red
 
 280 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and his eyebrows coloured the deepest black. 
 Late that same year he was again in Paris, 
 masquerading as a Capuchin monk. In April, 
 1755, Pickle, the spy, wrote of him that " some- 
 times he wears a long false nose, which they call 
 nez d la Saxe, because Marshal Saxe used to give 
 such to his spies whom he employed. At other 
 times he blackens his eyebrows and beard, and 
 wears a black wig, by which alteration his most 
 intimate acquaintance could scarcely know him." 
 Once he presented himself (and was recognised 
 by the servants) at the door of his old flame 
 Mme. d'Aiguillon as " an ill-dressed stranger." 
 Such were the subterfuges to which this Spes 
 Britannia was now reduced. 
 
 Want of money was another and an ever- 
 pressing trouble. At first his finances were not 
 greatly straitened, for he had substantial drafts 
 from the French Royal Treasury. In 1748, too, 
 he received about 6,000 of the French gold 
 buried near Loch Arkaig, after Culloden. This 
 mysterious treasure consisted originally of 35,000 
 louis d'or. Early in 1749, Major Kennedy, who 
 had shared with Dr. Archibald Cameron the task 
 of hiding the money, set about getting a further 
 share, but the amount he secured for the Prince 
 was not great. 
 
 In 1749, Henry Goring, " one of the Gentlemen 
 of the bedchamber of the Young Chevalier," 
 obtained some 15,000 from sympathisers in 
 England ; and yet, two years later, we find
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 281 
 
 Charles borrowing 1,000 from Lady Montagu. 
 Dr. King, of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford, in his 
 Anecdotes, declares that he borrowed money in 
 Paris from a lady far from wealthy, when he had 
 plenty of gold in his strong box. However this 
 may be, the strong box became sadly in need of 
 replenishing. In February, 1752, when Charles 
 was without means and in debt, Waters, his Paris 
 banker, refused to advance him money ; and 
 Dormer, his agent at Antwerp, had to protest 
 against drafts upon an exhausted account. That 
 same year his establishment at Avignon was 
 broken up and his servants dismissed, largely 
 because of his embarrassed finances. In 1753 he 
 was in Paris, very low in funds. Indeed, someone 
 reported having seen him selling his pistols. 
 
 Small stir the Jacobite " cause " was making 
 in the meantime. In 1750, indeed, there was that 
 wild enterprise when Charles braved all dangers 
 and paid a visit to London. The party were then 
 alleged to be desirous of some action, and, 
 according to Sir Walter Scott, they still looked 
 to Charles as Adam to Orlando in As You Like 
 It 
 
 " Master, go on, and I will follow thee, 
 To the last gasp, with truth and loyalty." 
 
 Charles, at any rate, believed them, and set 
 about a scheme of unusual boldness. He was to 
 sail for London from Antwerp, and James Dormer 
 had instructions to " get me with all ye expedi-* 
 tion possible Twenty Thousand Guns, Baionets, 
 
 19 (2005)
 
 282 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Ammunition proportioned, with four thousand 
 sords and Pistols for horces in one ship, which is 
 to be ye first, and in ye second six thousand guns 
 without Baionets, but sufficient ammunition, and 
 six thousand Erode sords/' A fairly large order 
 for an impecunious Prince ! 
 
 How he designed to employ such an armament 
 we do not know. Mr. Lang thinks that all that 
 was intended was a " ballon d'essai to test the 
 current of public feeling ; possibly no more than 
 an interested effort to strengthen the Opposition." 
 It was a foolish adventure, whatever was intended. 
 When James heard of it, he told his son that he 
 was " a continual heart-break," and warned him 
 that he could not expect much from his friends 
 while he did " all that is necessary to disgust 
 them." But Charles was always impatient of 
 advice. His resolution was to "go over to London, 
 at any rate," and on September 16th he was in 
 the Metropolis. Lady Primrose had undertaken 
 the risk of housing him. Dr. King found him 
 there, as he tells in his Anecdotes : " I received 
 a note from my Lady Primrose, who desired to 
 see me immediately. As soon as I waited on her, 
 she led me into her dressing-room, and presented 
 me to [the Prince]. If I was surprised to find 
 him there, I was still more astonished when he 
 acquainted me with the motives which had 
 induced him to hazard a journey to England at 
 this juncture. The impatience of his friends who 
 were in exile had formed a scheme which was
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 283 
 
 impracticable ; but although it had been as 
 feasable as they had represented it to him, yet 
 no preparation had been made, nor was anything 
 ready to carry it into execution. He was soon 
 convinced that he had been deceived, and, there- 
 fore, after a stay in London of five days only, he 
 returned to the place from whence he came." 
 Such was the result of Charles' nursing of the 
 frail hopes held out by his friends. Horace Mann 
 was astounded on hearing the news of the 1750 
 visit casually from Charles' own lips at a dinner 
 party in Florence in 1783. 
 
 The visit was, however, charged with one inci- 
 dent of more than passing interest. " Nothing 
 but his religion kept Charles from having all 
 Scotland at his back," says Mr. Lang. If Charles 
 had realised this in time, the whole course of 
 events might have been different. But though he 
 was far enough from being " religious," the family 
 tradition had bound him so far to the Church of 
 his fathers. It is a commonplace of historians to 
 point out that among the virtues of the Stuarts 
 a constant loyalty to Rome occupies a foremost 
 place. 
 
 " Faithful, but unfortunate," as the Churchill 
 motto puts it, is the ordinary verdict on that 
 House, which, on the whole, displayed so strong 
 an attachment, at least to the practices, of the 
 Catholic Church. Students of Macaulay do not 
 need to be reminded how Charles II. was at heart 
 a Catholic for some years before he died ; while
 
 284 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the religious policy of James, and all the circum- 
 stances which led to the arrival of " Dutch 
 William," are matters of yet more popular know- 
 ledge. Then, in the history of the preceding 
 century, the career of Mary Stuart has seemed so 
 closely linked with the cause of Rome that some 
 latter-day co-religionists of that unlucky Queen 
 have claimed for her name a place in the martyr- 
 ology of their communion. But with Prince 
 Charles Edward the case was different. In popular 
 estimation, indeed, he is regarded as a Romanist 
 whose devotion to his Church was on a par with 
 that of most members of his family. As a matter 
 of fact, he was the only one of the late male 
 Stuarts who forsook, or even thought of for- 
 saking, the Roman Communion. And it was 
 now, here in London, in 1750, that he 
 did it. 
 
 Among the Stuart papers at Windsor are some 
 " Remarks " written by Charles himself, one of 
 which reads : "To mention my religion [which 
 is] of the Church of England as by law estab- 
 lished, as I have declared myself when in London 
 in the year 1750." His admission into the 
 Anglican Communion was said to have been made 
 at " the New Church " in the Strand, presumably 
 St. Mary-le-Strand, which had been built about 
 thirty years before. The step was of no practical 
 value to him now, though he must himself have 
 considered it one of political opportunism. Per- 
 haps there was also at the back of it something
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 285 
 
 of resentment against his brother in the matter 
 of the Cardinalate. 
 
 To be quite fair to him, however, it will be 
 best to quote his own explanation, as prepared 
 nine years later, in 1759. It is as follows, in 
 legitimate orthography 
 
 " The Roman Catholic religion has been the ruin of the 
 Royal Family, the subversion of the English Monarchy and 
 Constitution in the last century, did like an earthquake 
 raise up that fatal rock on which it split. In that religion 
 was I brought up and educated as other Princes are, with a 
 firm attachment to the See of Rome. Had motives of interest 
 been able to make me disguise my sentiments upon the 
 material point of religion, I should certainly in my first under- 
 taking in the year 1745 have declared myself a Protestant, 
 it was too evidently my interest so to do to leave a doubt 
 with any person. As to the motive which dissuaded me 
 from it, it was no other than a persuasion of the truth of my 
 religion. The adversity I have suffered since that time, has 
 made me reflect, has furnished me with opportunities of being 
 informed, and God has been pleased so far to smile upon my 
 honest endeavour as to lighten my understanding and point 
 me out the hidden path by which the finger of man has been 
 introduced to form the artful system of Roman Infallibility. 
 
 "If it was greatly my interest when last amongst you to 
 appear to be a Protestant, it was surely as much against it 
 after my misfortune and during my exile to become really 
 one. That motive, however, had no weight with me in a 
 matter of so great concern. 
 
 " In order to make my renunciation of the errors of the Church 
 of Rome the most authentic and the less liable afterwards to 
 malicious interpretations, I went to London in the year 1750, 
 and in that capital did then make a solemn abjuration of the 
 Romish religion, and did embrace that of the Church of 
 England, as by law established in the 39 Articles, in which 
 I hope to live and die."
 
 286 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 It appears from a letter of Cardinal Tencin to 
 the Pope in 1752, that the authorities were 
 acquainted with Charles' perversion ; while the 
 news gradually extended to the coffee-house 
 politicians in both Rome and Florence, by whom 
 it was eagerly debated. They need hardly have 
 concerned themselves. Charles' Protestantism 
 did not last very long. Dropping into poetry, he 
 had written 
 
 " I hete all prists and the regions they reign in, 
 From the Pope at Rome to the Papists of Britain." 
 
 But " in later years he reverted easily to the 
 Church which had nurtured him ; and, in spite 
 of his desertion, sheltered him when he was old 
 and friendless." The truth seems to be that, like 
 his ancestor, Henry Quatre, he thought that the 
 practical advantages of sovereignty outweighed 
 the theological value of a Mass. 
 
 This dark period of Charles' incognito is hardly 
 worth going into, so dim and uncertain are the 
 details of his wanderings. Now he was here, now 
 he was there. Hope springs eternal in the human 
 breast, and Charles had still occasional gleams of 
 promise for his forlorn cause. He wooed the Earl 
 Marischal, but failed to enlist his practical help 
 and interest. In 1752 he was deep in what is 
 known as the Elibank plot. Its author was 
 Alexander Murray, brother of Lord Elibank. 
 Murray " had been imprisoned for his conduct at 
 the famous Westminster election, and sought
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 287 
 
 revenge in as hare-brained a plot as ever was 
 planned." 
 
 Murray was to proceed to London, raise a body 
 of desperados, seize the Royal family, and pro- 
 claim a restoration ! Charles, conveniently at 
 hand, was to appear opportunely. Pickle, the spy 
 (young Glengarry), knew all about this mad 
 scheme, and by his means the Government were 
 able to follow it step by step. Meeting Lochgarry 
 and Dr. Archibald Cameron at Menin, some 
 thirty miles from Ghent, Charles informed them 
 of his plans, and sent them to Scotland " to 
 prepare the clans, who were to await Field- 
 Marshal Keith's arrival with Swedish troops 
 before resorting to arms." 
 
 November 10th was the date agreed upon for 
 the execution of the scheme ; but, as Pickle 
 wrote, " when matters came to the push some 
 frivolous excuses retarded this great and glorious 
 blow." Charles, so far as we know, never reached 
 London, and the haphazard bubble burst. " We 
 will see," Pickle wrote in April of next year 
 (1753), "if the month of May or June will pro- 
 duce something more effective than November." 
 The only effective thing produced was the arrest 
 and execution of Dr. Archibald Cameron, the last 
 Jacobite martyr. " Charles had reached the limit 
 of his party's willingness actively to support him. 
 The Elibank plot was the last fizzle of the 
 Jacobite ' devil.' ' Scheme after scheme had 
 failed. For poor Charles Edward every field of
 
 288 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 exertion was finally closed ; all his ambition for 
 ever blighted. 
 
 Under the stress of his position, perhaps we 
 can hardly wonder that he sought in drink that 
 nepenthe by which he would fain put all sorrow 
 out of his mind. As early after Culloden as the 
 Spring of 1749, some one in the know was telling 
 how his credit for sobriety was " a little 
 blemished." The passion for alcohol grew until 
 it became morbid until, as already said, all the 
 good qualities of his nature disappeared, and 
 there remained " only secretiveness and reckless- 
 ness. His kindness and clemency were changed 
 to cruelty and callousness ; his generosity to 
 avarice." Within ten years of Culloden, James 
 Dawkins, his former envoy to Berlin, declared 
 that he was " entirely abandoned to an irregular 
 debauched life, even to excess, which brought his 
 health and even his life daily in danger " ; that 
 in these excesses he " had no guard either on his 
 conduct or on his expressions, and was in some 
 degree devoid of reason." 
 
 Charles, in short, became a degraded dipso- 
 maniac ; given up to solitary and shameful 
 excesses which broke the hearts of his friends, 
 alienated the sympathies of thousands, and 
 reduced him to a political figure of no impor- 
 tance whatever. His accession to the dignity of 
 " Charles III.," on the death of his father in 1766, 
 reclaimed him for a time. But it was not long 
 before his scandalised brother, the Cardinal, was
 
 HOPE AND DESPAIR 289 
 
 writing : "I am persuaded we should gain some 
 ground as to everything, were it not for the nasty 
 bottle, that goes on but too much, and certainly 
 must at last kill him. Stafford is in desperation 
 about it, but has no sway, as, in reality, no living 
 body has with him." His marriage in 1772 pulled 
 him up again, but only temporarily. Before the 
 close of 1773, as Horace Mann too faithfully 
 reported, he had once more fallen into the old 
 vice. But this is anticipating too much. Let us 
 return upon another chapter in the Prince's 
 melancholy career.
 
 CHAPTER XIX 
 
 CLEMENTINA WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 
 
 MENTION has just been made of Charles' marriage, 
 but there is much to tell before we reach that 
 event. Charles Edward was not what in these 
 days would be called " a ladies' man." The ladies 
 were greatly interested in him, but he was not so 
 greatly interested in them. As a youth, his father 
 believed him to be " very innocent and extreme 
 backward " in regard to the gentler sex. Lord 
 Elcho declared that he was abnormally shy and 
 awkward with women. He wrote himself that he 
 understood men, but " despaired of understanding 
 women, they being so much more wicked and 
 impenetrable." He had assuredly very little of 
 that " weakness for the sex " which Thackeray 
 so erroneously attributed to his father. " These 
 are my beauties," he exclaimed, pointing to a 
 whiskered Highland sentinel, when somebody 
 chaffed him about his neglect of the fair. The 
 Marquis d'Eguilles says that he was not coquet 
 or galant, which made the sex admire him all 
 the more. 
 
 Soon after he landed on the Continent in 1746, 
 the question of his marriage began to be dis- 
 cussed. It was of interest in various quarters ; 
 chiefly in Jacobite circles, of course, but in France 
 also, where " the bogey of Jacobitism " was a 
 
 290
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 291 
 
 good political card for play. Cardinal Henry, too, 
 would probably see in matrimony a frail hope for 
 his brother's moral salvation. Suggestions as to 
 the bride were many, and generally impossible- 
 A daughter of the Duke of Modena was proposed, 
 but Charles had more exalted notions. " My 
 opinion is," he wrote to his father, " I cannot as 
 yet marry unless I get the King's dauter." Later, 
 he thought of the Czarina of Russia. In 1749 he 
 made a formal proposal for the hand of the 
 daughter of the Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt. 
 He even drafted a letter (whether he actually 
 sent it is doubtful) to the King of Poland, 
 announcing his coming marriage with that lady. 
 Much later, in 1770, when Charles was fifty, 
 he was negotiating with the Due de Fitzjames 
 for the hand of the daughter of the Due de 
 Deux-Ponts, a girl of seventeen. 
 
 Better for Charles Edward if he had married 
 now, as we shall see presently. Burning with 
 indignation against an unsympathetic world, the 
 Prince, says Terry, " fell easily under petticoat 
 influence not wisely directed." The two " petti- 
 coats " chiefly concerned at first were Mme. de 
 Talmond and Mme. d'Aiguillon, who fought over 
 the Prince " like fish-hags," as Mr. Lang expresses 
 it. Both were beautiful, and neither was a wise 
 counsellor to a flighty, headstrong youth in 
 Charles' position. Mme. de Talmond is described 
 by Mr. Lang as " the unworthy Flora Macdonald 
 of Charles in his later wanderings, his protectress,
 
 292 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 and, unlike Flora, his mistress." Married in 1730 
 to the Prince de Talmond, she was not exactly 
 young when Charles first met her in 1749 
 probably about forty. Mme. d'Aiguillon, her 
 rival for Charles' attentions, speaks of her as 
 vieille femme. Mme. du Deffand described her in 
 her characteristically caustic manner, and there 
 is a rhymed portrait by Voltaire. 
 
 Mme. de Talmond apparently encouraged 
 Charles in free-thinking and ostentatious indif- 
 ference in religion. " He is a handsome Prince, 
 and I should love him as much as my wife does," 
 says M. de Talmond, in a curious MS. play by 
 d'Argenson ; " but why is he not ruled by the 
 Congregation de Saint Squace, like his father ? 
 It is Mme. de Talmond who preaches to him 
 independence and incredulity. She is bringing 
 the curse of God upon me. How old will she be 
 before the conversion for which I pray daily to 
 Saint Franois Xavier ? " Such was the Prince's 
 mistress, Mme. de Talmond. When he went to 
 Avignon in 1748 it was reported that she went 
 with him, but she was then more probably 
 " doing penance in Lorraine, where Charles joined 
 her later." She had estates in Lorraine, and her 
 husband had now forbidden the Prince her house 
 in Paris. Nevertheless, from Lorraine the pair 
 came to Paris, and lived together under strange 
 circumstances. 
 
 Certain ladies of rank had rooms in the Con- 
 vent of St. Joseph, in the Rue St. Dominique ;
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 293 
 
 among them Mme. de Talmond, Mme. de Vasse", 
 Mme. du Deffand, and Mdlle. Ferrand. The 
 latter, we read, was willing to extend to Charles 
 " a friendship as innocent as Flora's," and pre- 
 sently he became a guest of hers in the Convent 
 apartments ! Of course, he continued his liaison 
 with Mme. de Talmond. Between her rooms and 
 his, there was a secret staircase, which he used 
 at nights. She was exacting, we gather, and he 
 was careless. Mme. de Vasse", it is said, had sub- 
 sequently to withdraw her hospitality from 
 Charles " because of the too lively scenes between 
 him and Mme. de Talmond. They begin in tender 
 effusions, and often end in a quarell, or even in 
 blows." Surely not ! 
 
 In January, 1750, Charles was still brawling 
 with Mme. de Talmond, and pledging himself in 
 mock-treaty form, " retirer aux heures qu'il lui 
 convientra a la ditte P[rincesse] soit de jour, soit 
 de nuit, soi de ses etats." That year he was in 
 London, returning to Paris in September. He 
 spent four days in the French capital, and then 
 disappeared for three months. No doubt he 
 would have a meeting, or meetings, with Mme. 
 de Talmond. Many tiny billets, as Mr. Lang 
 discovered, are among the Stuart papers of this 
 year, " easily concealed, and doubtless passed to 
 the lady furtively." 
 
 Things were certainly not going smoothly with 
 the pair. Charles, it appears, had suspected the 
 -"dy's movements before his visit to London, and
 
 294 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 now there was imminent danger of an open 
 rupture. The climax came in 1750, when there 
 was a " tremendous quarrel " ; and Charles is 
 found in correspondence with Mdlle. Ferrand 
 about " la tante," " la vieille femme." Long 
 years after, in 1766, when settled in Rome, he 
 wrote a graceful expression of his " tendre 
 ami tie" " to Mme. de Talmond, now old and 
 devout. 
 
 But here, again, we are anticipating. It has 
 already been mentioned how, in 1752, Charles 
 broke up his establishment at Avignon, mainly 
 for want of funds. Mainly, but not entirely. In 
 the spring of this year, deserting Lorraine and its 
 associations with Mme. de Talmond, Charles pro- 
 ceeded to Flanders and took " a preti house " in 
 Ghent, with " room in it to lodge a friend," as 
 he wrote. Before the summer was far advanced, 
 the " friend " was Installed the dark-eyed 
 Clementina Walkinshaw, whom he had met six 
 years before when besieging Stirling Castle. 
 
 He was then suffering from fever and cold, and, 
 staying at her uncle's house, this twenty-year old 
 girl became his nurse. " We must suppose," says 
 Mr. Lang, " that the lady's charms do not receive 
 justice in her portrait." But the artists of that 
 time did not know how to paint charm. Miss 
 Walkinshaw was probably not a pronounced 
 beauty (readers will judge of the portrait for 
 themselves), but everybody spoke of her " large, 
 bright, black eyes," and eyes have been the
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 295 
 
 undoing of men of much stronger character than 
 Charles Edward Stuart. 
 
 That Miss Walkinshaw became the Prince's 
 mistress seems certain, though whether during 
 the months before he reluctantly sanctioned the 
 retreat from Stirling cannot be determined. 
 There is a letter of her own, dated from Boulogne 
 in 1760, which may be made to bear that inter- 
 pretation. Writing apparently to James' secre- 
 tary, she remarks : " I do not choose to say any 
 more to you but that before 1745 I lived in 
 London, in great plenty ; was between that and 
 1747 undone, and am now in a strange, poor 
 place, starving indeed. I was bred to business 
 about Whitehall, and could be of use to Him, 
 were there not unluckily an obstacle in the way, 
 which has done Him no service and me great 
 hurt." This is sufficiently and romantically 
 obscure. What was the " business " ? What the 
 " obstacle " ? What the nature of the " undoing " ? 
 We can only guess. 
 
 Charles, at any rate, never denied his partiality 
 for Miss Walkinshaw. When he was hiding in 
 the heather after Culloden, he would often give 
 the toast of " The Black Eye " over the punch- 
 bowl. Lord Rosebery has boldly asserted that 
 Clementina was " not merely a scandal but a 
 spy." There is absolutely no foundation for the 
 statement so far as the spy is concerned ; and 
 as regards the scandal well, Charles was surely 
 more to be blamed for that than Clementina.
 
 296 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 It is a romantic story this of Clementina 
 Walkinshaw, not without its difficulties of detail. 
 Miss Walkinshaw had so we read made a pro- 
 mise in 1746 to follow Charles "where Providence 
 might lead him, if he failed in his attempt." We 
 do not know when or where she first rejoined him ; 
 but before the date at which we have now arrived, 
 she had borne him, at Liege, a son, who died in 
 infancy. It is not improbable that he met her 
 in 1750, when he made a sudden descent upon 
 London. 
 
 Even then he had almost broken with Mme. de 
 Talmond, and such a meeting would " revive 
 pleasant memories and suggest a partnership 
 less exigeant." Walton and others assert that 
 Clementina went to him at Avignon in the 
 January of 1749. "The Pretender," writes 
 Walton, " has learned with much vexation that 
 the same Dulcinea who has so greatly disturbed 
 the mind of his son and was the cause of all his 
 wildness at Paris, has joined him at Avignon, 
 where she lives as his mistress with much 
 publicity." But the Dulcinea of the Paris days 
 was, as we have learned, Mme. de Talmond, and 
 there is nothing to show that she followed the 
 Prince to Avignon. On the other hand, the facts, 
 as regards dates, fairly fit in with Charles' efforts 
 to get his old flame beside him again in 1752. 
 For instance, we gather from a memorial pre- 
 sented to the French Court by her daughter 
 Charlotte, that in 1752 an envoy of Charles reached
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 297 
 
 Miss Walkinshaw in the Netherlands (where she 
 held the rank of a canoness in a chapitre noble), 
 charged with tender messages and a suggestive 
 reminder of her promise of 1746. 
 
 There is no direct corroboration of this state- 
 ment, but we may assume its authenticity from 
 other circumstances. Thus, in May, 1752, Mme. 
 de Vasse had declined to execute an unnamed 
 commission of Charles' about a demoiselle ; while 
 in the following month angry letters were passing 
 between Charles and Goring in regard to what 
 Goring called a commission for " the worst of 
 men." Certain " honest men " (whom he names) 
 would decline, says Goring, to do such " work " : 
 why should he be asked to do it ? "I will not 
 act a low part in your pleasures," he wrote. 
 Again : "If any accident should happen to you 
 by the young lady's [Miss Walkinshaw' s] means, 
 I shall be detested, and become the horror of 
 mankind ; but, if you are determined to have 
 her, let Mr. Sullivan bring her to you." The 
 nature of the " accident " hinted at by Goring 
 is easily explained. 
 
 Miss Walkinshaw knew the secrets of the 
 Prince and his party. She had a sister, Catherine, 
 at the Hanoverian Court ; and it was feared 
 that through her, Clementina might give away 
 the Prince or some of his followers who had 
 compromised themselves. The suspicion seems, 
 as already indicated, to have been entirely unjust. 
 Probably Goring put it forward only as an excuse 
 
 20 (2O05)
 
 298 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 for being relieved of a disagreeable duty. In any 
 case, Charles contrived to get the " Canoness " 
 beside him in his " preti house " at Ghent. 
 
 From the first moment of the reunion, according 
 to Saint-Simon, Miss Walkinshaw " was regarded 
 and treated as his wife, bore his name, and pre- 
 sided over his household." " The Pretender keeps 
 her very well, and seems to be very fond of her," 
 wrote one observer. Unhappily, the Pretender's 
 fondness did not last. A child, the future " bonnie 
 lass of Albany," was born to the pair in Paris in 
 1753. She was baptized at Liege in the end of 
 October, and on the 12th November we find 
 Charles writing to Goring : " My mistress has 
 behaved so unworthily that she has put me out 
 of patience, and, as she is a Papist, I discard 
 her." This apparently was written in a temper 
 and under some excitement. At any rate, Charles 
 did not " discard " Miss Walkinshaw not just 
 yet ; though he must have been thinking seriously 
 of it when he wrote that singular note : "A 
 marque to be put on ye Childe iff I part with it." 
 
 The main cause of the trouble, no doubt, lay 
 in his being hunted about, as he put it, " from 
 place to place all over Flanders." Mistress and 
 child were inconvenient impedimenta which made 
 him too easily tracked. Friends kept warning 
 him of the folly of his procedure, insisting that 
 Miss Walkinshaw should be cast adrift. A Mr. 
 Macnamara was especially urgent on the point, 
 and was answered by Charles that, though he
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 299 
 
 had no great regard for the lady, he declined to 
 be dictated to. Goring protested again. In a 
 letter of 13th January, 1754, addressed to an 
 adherent of the " cause," he said 
 
 " Sir, your friend's mistress [Clementina] is loudly and 
 publickly talked off, and all friends look on it as a very danger- 
 ous and imprudent step, and conclude reasonably that no 
 Correspondance is to be had in that quarter without risk of 
 discovery, for we have no opinion in England of female politi- 
 cians, or of such women's secrecy in general. You are yourself 
 much blamed for not informing our friends at first, that they 
 might take the alarum, and stop any present or future 
 transactions with such a person." 
 
 Presently the Earl Marischal broke with Charles 
 because he persisted in keeping up the Walkinshaw 
 connection. Then, in August, 1755, a remon- 
 strance, bearing the initials (as is conjectured) of 
 Cluny Macpherson, reached him from Scotland. 
 The Prince, said the remonstrants, was in grave 
 danger of being undone by his movements " in 
 a family way " ; and if he persisted in his liaison, 
 they would have to regard him as finally and 
 utterly hopeless. He did persist. " I would not 
 put away a cat to please such fellows," he said. 
 // chassoit de race. Mary of Modena said of 
 Charles' grandfather, James II. : " The King was 
 ready to sacrifice his throne to his belief, but he 
 had not force of mind to give up a mistress." 
 
 " The gods are just, and of our pleasant vices, 
 Are made the whips to scourge us." 
 
 What Charles would not do, Miss Walkinshaw 
 ultimately did for herself. Charles was sinking
 
 300 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 lower and lower. He had abandoned all hope, 
 and was now completely given up to his 
 " irregular, debauched life, even to excess " 
 suffering from " nerves," as he said himself. In 
 the old days he might have made a pleasant 
 companion for a woman, but he had lost his 
 better self entirely with the shattering of all his 
 fond illusions. The mistress could bear with him 
 no longer. In the summer of 1760 she hired a 
 coach and disappeared, taking the child with her. 
 Charles was furious, especially over the loss of 
 his now seven-year-old daughter. " I shall be 
 in ye greatest affliction until I guett back ye 
 child, which was my only comfort in my mis- 
 fortunes," he wrote to Gordon, the Jesuit 
 physician. He made frantic efforts to discover 
 the whereabouts of the fugitives, and an emis- 
 sary at length tracked them to a lodging in Paris. 
 The story is best told in the letter which the 
 emissary sent to his master on July 31st, 1760 
 
 " They (Gordon and Bodson) both came to my room and 
 told me to go to the lady's lodgings and see to amuse her untill 
 such time as they had an order to take up the chylde. I went 
 to her lodgings but she was gon out ; I waited untill she 
 came back. She seemed much surprazed at seeing me. I 
 reasoned the matter with her but all to no purpose. She told 
 me that she would sooner make away with herself than go 
 back, and as for the chylde she would be cut to pieces sooner 
 than give her up. I stayed in the Lady's Room untill ten 
 and a half. She sent for a coach to go out. I asked her if she 
 would allow me to accompany her and the Chylde. She told 
 me yes. Wee set out and at a little distance from the lodgings 
 the coach stopt, there came a gentleman well-drest and two
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 301 
 
 others, and told the Lady to come out and to go with the other 
 coach. I came out allong with them. I asked the Lady if 
 there was place for me ; the gentleman answered in Ruff 
 manner, ' No, Sir, go about your business if you have any.' 
 They set off in a coach and four horses, which, Sir, seemed to 
 me to be hired horses. The Gentleman was a Frenchman as 
 far as one could judge. I followed them as far as I was able, 
 but lost sight of them." 
 
 The search was continued for a month without 
 success, and then Charles learned, to his chagrin, 
 that the runaways were safe in the Abbey of 
 Notre-Dame at Meaux, protected by Louis, and 
 pensioned by James, who subsequently explained 
 that he had approved of Clementina's purpose of 
 " withdrawing " and educating her child, pro- 
 vided she had Charles' permission. As for 
 Clementina herself, she made excuse to Charles 
 by saying (February, 1761) : " You pushed me 
 to the greatest extremity and even despair, as 
 I was always in perpetual dread of my life from 
 your violent passions. It is reported that you are 
 not yourself that your head is quite gone." 
 Who should know better about that than 
 Clementina Walkinshaw ? 
 
 As the years went on, Charles' heart softened 
 towards the friends against whom he had con- 
 jured up his imaginary grievances. But there 
 was no softening towards the unhappy Clementina 
 Walkinshaw. Writing to her in July, 1766 (she 
 was still, with her daughter, in the Convent at 
 Meaux), Andrew Lumisden, the Prince's secretary, 
 says : " No one knows the King's [the King's !]
 
 302 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 temper better than you do. He has never, so far 
 as I can discover, mentioned your name. Nor do 
 I believe that he either knows where you are, 
 nor how you are maintained. His passion must 
 greatly cool before any application can be made to 
 him in your behalf . ' ' Clementina and her daughter, 
 might in fact, have starved to death for all the 
 attention Charles bestowed upon them now. 
 
 In the early part of 1767 a rumour somehow 
 gained currency that Charles and Clementina had 
 been legally married. If Scots law had been put 
 to the test on the question, the decision would 
 undoubtedly have been in the affirmative. But 
 Charles' brother, the Cardinal, made no account 
 of Scots law. He was distressed at the idea of a 
 regular union between the " rightfu' heir " and 
 the dark-eyed Clementina ; and, putting pressure 
 on Clementina, he obtained from her a written 
 acknowledgment that she had never been Charles' 
 wife. What a poor, miserable business it was ! 
 
 Nothing more is heard of Miss Walkinshaw and 
 the daughter until just after Charles' marriage in 
 1772. It was then that Charlotte sent her father 
 that delightfully naive, straightforward, girlish 
 letter which has been reproduced by all the 
 historians of the '45. It is usually given in the 
 original French, but a translation will probably 
 be more acceptable here. The letter is dated 
 April 27th, 1772, and reads 
 
 " Sire, it is with the most profound respect, my august 
 Papa, that I take the liberty of complimenting you and wishing
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 303 
 
 you joy on your marriage ; and I entreat your Majesty to 
 believe that in spite of your forgetfulness, and the dreadful 
 oblivion in which you have left me, nothing will ever prevent 
 me from cherishing all the most sincere wishes for whatever 
 may contribute to your happiness and prosperity. I have 
 nothing further to add, having exhausted all my heartfelt 
 sentiments in the infinite number of letters that I have had 
 the honour of writing you, my august Papa, none of which 
 seem to have had any effect on you certainly a clear proof 
 to me of your entire desertion, which I have never deserved. 
 But I see I must take my own part, since no one dare even 
 speak to you of me, nor even pronounce my name to you. 
 So I have addressed myself to Principal Gordon, who has 
 appeared to be touched by my abandoned condition. But he 
 has told me he could not undertake to write you about it for 
 fear of displeasing your Majesty, and many others have said 
 the same to me, so that, my august Papa, while having the 
 honour to be your daugnter, I am plunged in despair, for I am 
 without fortune, without rank, and condemned consequently 
 to lead the most unhappy and most miserable life in the world. 
 There is nothing left for me now but to pray earnestly to Hea- 
 ven to shorten my sad existence, which is already too full of 
 affliction. And I have the honour to remain, my august Papa, 
 with the deepest respect, Sire, your Majesty's most humble 
 and obedient servant and most unfortunate daughter, 
 
 " CHARLOTTE." 
 
 " Mon auguste Papa " did not see things quite in 
 the same light as his " tres infortunee Charlotte." 
 He would take her into his household, he asked 
 Gordon to inform her, but he would have nothing 
 to do with her mother. Charlotte (and one likes 
 her all the better for it) declined to abandon her 
 mother. But something had to be done, and in 
 1773 the pair went to Rome to plead their cause 
 in person. Charles had said, since his marriage, 
 that it would never do to have Clementina and
 
 304 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Charlotte " anywhere about." In Rome they 
 were obviously inconvenient to him, and they 
 were ordered away. Then Charlotte, utterly 
 despairing of help from her fractious, besotted, 
 stupidly obstinate father, told him that she must 
 marry, if only for a living. Why he should object 
 to her marrying is not clear, but he did object : 
 he said that if she married, he would cast her off 
 for ever, which, practically, he had already done. 
 He asked Gordon to tell her this, and Gordon 
 obeyed, with evident distress to himself, as 
 appears from the following letter of February, 
 1775 
 
 " I communicated to the young lady the contents of your 
 letter, it tucht her to such a degree that I was sorry I had spok 
 to her so friely. She seems, since she can have no word of 
 consolation from you, inclined to marry the first who will 
 seek her and has anuff to make her live ; since she is at 
 present of a proper age, and if she were to wait much longer 
 it is probable she would find none. The treatment she has 
 at present is so precarious that in case no match offers she 
 is resolved to go in to a begging order where she will trouble 
 nobody afterwards, if she lives any time, which she does not 
 believe will be the case, as her spirits are intirly brock, and 
 the doctor says that her grief has given her an obstruction 
 on the liver. All she desired was to be acknowledged as a 
 Natural Daughter. ... I am heartily sorry for her unfor- 
 tunate situation and think she deserves better, being esteemed 
 by all who know her as one of the most accomplished young 
 women in this town. Her health at present is not in a good 
 way, and I believe my conference with her will make it worse. 
 I beg therefore you will give me no more such commissions, 
 as it hurts me much to be any ways, tho' innocently, the 
 occasion of the death of a person I esteem and respect 
 much."
 
 C. WALKINSHAW AND OTHERS 305 
 
 Charlotte lived to heap coals of fire on her 
 father's head for his unaccountable and unfeeling 
 behaviour, but that was not until nine years 
 later. 
 
 Byron speculated on the probable effect of 
 Cleopatra joining herself to the chariot of Julius 
 Caesar 
 
 " Had Caesar known but Cleopatra's kiss, 
 Rome had been free, the world had not been his." 
 
 Some of the Jacobites professed to believe that 
 it was Charles' irregular connection with Miss 
 Walkinshaw that gave the death blow to his 
 " cause." In line with this, a recent writer on 
 the '45 asks, " who can estimate the injury which 
 the Prince's Delilah inflicted on the sacred cause 
 of the right divine of Kings by attaching herself 
 to its earthly embodiment in the base manner 
 she did." The " sacred cause " was hopelessly 
 lost long before Charles took Miss Walkinshaw 
 into his household ; and if there was any " base- 
 ness " in the matter, it was, to say the least, as 
 much due to Charles as to Clementina. But there 
 is no need to talk prudishly about virtue, as some 
 commentators on the episode have done. Much 
 history has been made by great men and women 
 who were not virtuous. Circe, Theodora, Cleopatra, 
 Guinevere, Catherine of Russia, Faustine, the 
 Pompadour, Queen Elizabeth, and the ancestress 
 of Charles II. 's dukes were responsible for much 
 good reading. Emma Hamilton had a face and
 
 306 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 form which made history, and, in a sense, unmade 
 Nelson. 
 
 Of Miss Walkinshaw's life after her separation 
 from the Prince not much is known. On the sup- 
 pression of her convent, in common with all 
 others in Paris, at the French Revolution, she 
 removed to Friburg in Switzerland, where Lord 
 Bute, visiting her at the close of the century, 
 found her " a complete Frenchwoman " in manner 
 and appearance. It was at Friburg that she 
 died in 1805, apparently friendless, and also 
 poverty-stricken, although to the last she was in 
 receipt of an annuity from Cardinal Henry. The 
 whole of her property consisted at the time of 
 her death of a few books of piety, some silver 
 spoons, and 12 in money, which, with her dying 
 thoughts pathetically reverting to her long-for- 
 gotten family in Scotland, she begged might be 
 divided as small remembrances amongst her 
 relations, if any such remained to claim them. 
 A sad story altogether, and far from creditable 
 to Charles Edward Stuart !
 
 CHAPTER XX 
 
 THE LAST STUART " KING " AND " QUEEN " 
 
 IN 1765, James was slowly dying, and he had not 
 seen his elder son since their parting in 1744. 
 Cardinal Henry appealed to him to renounce his 
 oath and come to Rome to be reconciled to his 
 father. But Charles remained obdurate : he 
 would have nothing to do with Rome. The 
 Cardinal gave up hope. " After all I have said 
 and done," he wrote in September, 1765, " I 
 quite despair of everything. My only comfort is 
 the consciousness of my having omitted nothing 
 either to convince or persuade the Baron [Charles] 
 to do what is for his true interest." 
 
 It was practically only when James' actual 
 death occurred that Charles foreswore his old 
 dogged resolution ; for he left Paris for Rome on 
 December 30th, 1765, just a few hours before his 
 father passed away. Travelling was slow in those 
 days. The coach overturned near Bologna, and 
 on January 23rd Charles was still on the way 
 when Lumisden met him and found him in per- 
 fect health, but with " legs and feet considerably 
 swelled by the fatigue of the journey." Cardinal 
 Henry received him with unusual magnanimity, 
 considering how the Prince had treated him. 
 The dead King's savings amounted (so it was 
 said) to about 250,000. He left all this to 
 
 307
 
 308 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Henry, and Henry not only passed the fortune 
 over to Charles, but added his own pension of 
 20,000 crowns from the Pope. On the whole, one 
 feels a kindly regard for Cardinal Henry. He 
 was anxious that the Holy See should now 
 acknowledge Charles as King, and he inter- 
 viewed the Pope with that object. But inter- 
 national interests intervened ; and when the 
 College of Cardinals met on January 13th to 
 consider the matter, their resolution was that 
 " the Pope could not per or a grant what was 
 demanded." 
 
 Charles was forty-six when he succeeded to his 
 titular dignity ; and, although he had long 
 indulged in bad habits, Professor Terry is prob- 
 ably right in thinking that an open recognition 
 of his claim by the Holy See would have restored 
 him to some glimmering sense of dignity and 
 decency. But the Pope, whatever were his pri- 
 vate and personal views, was bound by diplomacy. 
 He had the Royal Arms of England which James 
 had placed upon his palace removed ; the 
 cardinals were ordered not to attend Charles' 
 salon ; and certain dignitaries who had paid their 
 respects to him were reprimanded or expelled 
 from Rome. 
 
 Charles, as was his best policy, affected an airy 
 indifference to all this official neglect and snub- 
 bing. At least, he would not now be hunted 
 about as he had been for many years, and he 
 enjoyed his new-found liberty in his own way :
 
 THE LAST STUART 309 
 
 attending the opera, practising music (he played 
 the French horn and the bagpipe), shouldering 
 his gun as a sportsman, driving about the city, 
 and joining in what of its social life was not 
 debarred him by the Papal ban. 
 
 It was all very pleasantly novel, and the 
 novelty stayed him from the " nasty bottle " for 
 a time. But the novelty wore off, and it was only 
 a few months after his " accession " that Mann 
 was reporting a drunken brawl, in which Charles, 
 sword in hand, had pursued some of his house- 
 hold to the danger of their lives. Time hung 
 heavily on his hands, as he confessed himself. 
 Mine, he told his brother, " is a situation that 
 cannot be amused with quails or any diversion 
 whatsoever." No wonder he was found by a keen 
 observer " absorbed in melancholy thoughts, a 
 good deal of distraction in his conversation, and 
 frequent brown studies." The same chronicler 
 represents him as " rather handsome," but " his 
 face ruddy and full of pimples." Another describes 
 him about the same time as " naturally above the 
 middle size, but stoops excessively ; he appears 
 bloated and red in the face, his countenance 
 heavy and sleepy, which is attributed to his 
 having given in to excess of drinking." 
 
 Not a very promising subject for matrimony, 
 certainly ; and yet marriage was once more on 
 the carpet, so to speak. Charles, we have already 
 learned, had often been urged by his father to 
 marry. " You must," said James, in effect,
 
 310 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 " take a wife, lest the Stuart line should become 
 extinct." So great, indeed, had been James' 
 solicitude for a union which might give " lawful 
 heirs to the Crown," that he would " almost have 
 assented to Charles' marriage with a lady of 
 private rank." In the December of 1750, James 
 wrote a specially importunate letter on the 
 matter. " Had you," he said, " entered into the 
 views which I formerly gave, you had been, 
 probably at this time, the father of a family, 
 with a wife whom it would not have been beneath 
 you to have married had you been in England." 
 The Walkinshaw connection was worrying James 
 at this time, so that he wrote : " What gives me 
 the greatest concern is, that you have put your- 
 self into a situation and way of living which 
 renders your marrying anybody absolutely impos- 
 sible." And then he concludes with the hint : 
 " I am so convinced of the necessity of your 
 marrying, that I could almost say I would rather 
 see you married to a private gentlewoman than 
 not at all." 
 
 But Charles always hesitated. Sensibly enough, 
 he told his father that he rather desired to prevent 
 the continuation of any legitimate representatives 
 to maintain an unequal struggle for impotent 
 rights. " It is that," he said, " which will always 
 hinder me to marry, as long as in misfortune, for 
 that would only subject those who had the spirit 
 of their father to be tied neck and heel." In a 
 letter of 1748 he wrote to James : "I think our
 
 THE LAST STUART 311 
 
 family has had misfortune enough. I will not 
 marry so long as I am in misery. If a son chanced 
 to resemble the father in character, he, too, would 
 be bound hand and foot, if he refused to obey a 
 vile minion of authority." There was sense as 
 well as spirit in this view. 
 
 But the time came when Charles had to con- 
 sider seriously the idea of taking a wife. 
 Clementina had forsaken him, and he was in 
 dire financial straits. In 1771 he was summoned 
 to Paris, and informed on behalf of the French 
 Court that if he would marry a lady of their 
 choosing, a pension of 240,000 livres would be 
 settled on him. This plan was conceived by the 
 French Minister, the Due d'Aiguillon, in one of 
 those fits of preparing Charles as a weapon against 
 England. 
 
 The lady of this proposal was Louise, Princess 
 of Stolberg, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus of 
 such ancient lineage that the heralds traced her 
 family back to Justinian, the famous Roman 
 Emperor who gave the world the " Corpus Juris." 
 Her mother was a daughter of the illustrious 
 house of Horn, and maternally allied to the 
 Bruces in Scotland, the Montmorencys and 
 Crequis in France, the de Croys and de Ligues in 
 the Low Countries, the Colonnas and Orsinis in 
 Italy, the Gonzagas and Medinas in Spain. 
 
 Louise was but five years old at the death of 
 her father, when she became the ward of the 
 Empress, Queen Maria Teresa. She was not yet
 
 312 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 twenty when she consented to be Charles' bride, 
 and Charles was fifty-two. The disparity of years 
 need not necessarily have mattered. Many 
 marriages could be cited where equal or greater 
 disparity proved no bar to happiness. But Charles 
 was thoroughly " used up " by this time a dis- 
 sipated rou&, a mental and physical wreck. That 
 was mainly the cause of the resultant trouble. 
 Some writers have censured Louise herself for 
 rushing into a match with a man she had not 
 seen. But Louise was young and innocent, and 
 in her inexperienced eyes Charles may have 
 appeared a hero of romance. 
 
 The marriage, too, might well have attractions 
 for her. "It was a crown that was offered her 
 a crown without true significance, but wreathed 
 by the splendour which is lent by centuries of 
 legitimacy and great events a crown set in rich 
 pearls by the truth of a people, by the sanctity 
 of misfortune, by ready courage in danger, by 
 cheerfulness in self-sacrifice." Louise is repre- 
 sented as being " very impatient to assume her 
 distinguished position." We can readily imagine 
 her saying romantically to herself : "I shall be 
 a queen some day," and so drowning any scruples 
 she may have had about this union with a Prince 
 thirty-two years her senior. Youth has such 
 illusions ! But it was really her mother, influenced 
 probably by more solid reasons than appealed to 
 Louise, who hurried on the wedding. Indeed, it 
 is suggested that the match was arranged by
 
 THE LAST STUART 313 
 
 the mother without consulting the daughter 
 
 at aU. 
 
 " Here is a mother 
 Will truck her daughter for a foreign venture." 
 
 After a proxy marriage in Paris, Louise set out 
 to meet the real bridegroom. Before she goes 
 further, let us see what she was like. A " beautiful 
 little fairy Princess," says one, " with laughing 
 dark eyes and shining golden hair, and brilliant 
 fair skin, more brilliant for the mysterious patches 
 of rouge on the cheeks and vermilion on the lips." 
 In reporting of her to Charles, an emissary sent 
 to interview her, said she had " a good figure, a 
 pretty face and excellent teeth, with all the 
 qualities which your Majesty can desire." Vernon 
 Lee describes her as " a small, plump, well-pro- 
 portioned, rather childish creature, with stiff, 
 half-formed childish features, a trifle snub, a 
 trifle soulless, very pretty, tender, light-hearted ; 
 a charming little creature, very well made to steal 
 folks' hearts unconscious to themselves and to 
 herself." 
 
 Another says she was " of the middle height, 
 blonde, with deep blue eyes, a nose slightly 
 turned up, the complexion dazzlingly fair, like 
 that of an Englishwoman. Her expression was 
 maliciously gay, but naturally not without a dash 
 of raillery. She seemed made to turn everybody's 
 head." Horace Mann wrote : " She is allowed to 
 be a good figure, tall and well made, but the 
 features of her face resembled too much those of 
 
 21 (2005)
 
 314 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 her father to be handsome/' Alfieri, the Italian 
 poet, of whom more presently, describing her as 
 he first saw her in 1776, wrote : " A soft flame in 
 the darkest of eyes, coupled (which rarely hap- 
 pens) with the whitest of skins and light hair, 
 gave her beauty an attraction from which it was 
 no easy matter to escape unwounded or unsub- 
 dued." Long after this, in 1810, Lamartine 
 declared that nothing then in her manner or 
 appearance recalled either the Queen of an 
 Empire or " The Queen of Hearts," as Louise 
 was long called in Florence. " She was," says 
 Lamartine, " a little woman whose figure had 
 lost all lightness and all elegance. The features 
 of her face, too rounded and too obtuse, also pre- 
 served no pure lines of ideal beauty. But her 
 eyes had a light, her fair hair a tint, her mouth 
 an attraction, all her physiognomy an intelligence 
 and a grace of expression which made you 
 remember, if they no longer made you admire." 
 Such, then, was the Princess about to become 
 Charles Edward's bride. At Loreto where " the 
 great sanctuary encloses with a silver and carved 
 marble the little house of the Virgin " she was 
 met by a Jacobite dignitary and five servants in 
 the crimson liveries of England. Charles was 
 waiting for her at Macerata, one of the larger 
 towns of the March of Ancona. What was he like 
 now, this bridegroom of fifty-two ? Not certainly 
 the winsome and handsome hero of the '45, over 
 whom the women had " a' gane wud." Vernon
 
 From the portrait by Hamilton 
 
 Prince Charles Edward late in life 
 
 With the gratious permission of II.R.H. The Princess Royal
 
 THE LAST STUART 315 
 
 Lee has probably painted his portrait as well as 
 any one. She says 
 
 " The man who met Louise of Stolberg at Macerata as her 
 husband and master, the man who had once been Bonnie 
 Prince Charlie, was tall, big-boned, gaunt, and prematurely 
 bowed for his age of fifty-two ; dressed usually, and doubtless 
 on this occasion, with the blue ribbon and star, in a suit of 
 crimson watered silk, which threw up a red reflection into his 
 red and bloated face. A red face, but of a livid, purplish red, 
 suffused all over the heavy furrowed forehead to where it 
 met the white wig, all over the flabby cheeks, hanging in 
 big loose folds upon the short, loose-folded, red neck ; massive 
 features but coarsened and drawn ; and dull, thick, silent- 
 looking lips, of purplish red scarce redder than the red skin ; 
 pale-blue eyes tending to a watery greyness, leaden, vague, 
 sad, but with angry streakings of red ; something inexpressibly 
 sad, gloomy, helpless, vacant and debased in the whole face." 
 
 Imagine the gay young Louise setting eyes for 
 the first time on a bridegroom like this, just as 
 she was to be married ! The ceremony took 
 place at Macerata, in the Palace Chapel, on the 
 17th April, the bridegroom signing the register as 
 Charles III., King of Great Britain, France, and 
 Ireland ! The year and the day were ominous. 
 It was the year (1772) that witnessed the first 
 partition of Poland, the restoration of the 
 despotic Government in Sweden, the startling 
 drama of Caroline Matilde and Struense in 
 Denmark. And it took place on Good Friday. 
 
 One pictures the gloomy desolation of Louise's 
 crossing through the Apennines to Rome in the 
 early spring ; travelling through the black, 
 deserted valleys the last days of her happy,
 
 316 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 innocent girlhood. Did it ever occur to her, as 
 the horses were changed in the little post towns, 
 that it was in honour of Holy Week that the 
 savage-looking, bearded men, the big, brawny, 
 Madonna-like women had got on their best 
 clothes ? Didn't it strike her that the unplastered 
 church fronts were draped with black, the streets 
 strewn with laurel and box, as for a funeral ; 
 that the bells were silent in their towers ? Per- 
 haps not. And yet when, a few years later, this 
 Queen who was no Queen was already wont to 
 say that her married life had been just such as 
 befitted a woman who had gone to the altar on 
 the lamentation day of Christendom, she must 
 have remembered. 
 
 Poor Louise ! One cannot help commiserating 
 her. Notwithstanding the difference in their 
 ages, her husband would have found in her an 
 excellent companion and friend, if not a loving 
 wife, had he not thrust her from him by his 
 constant cold - hearted, rough, unaccountable 
 behaviour. It is one of Montaigne's most cutting 
 remarks that "it is ever proper unto women to 
 be readily bent to contradict and crosse their 
 husbands." Louise was a reasonable person, and 
 would not have contradicted her husband with- 
 out good grounds. But, unfortunately, she early 
 saw sufficient cause for taking a disgust at 
 Charles ; and matters were not improved between 
 them when she failed to give him an heir. Dis- 
 appointed in the hopes which had been his chief
 
 THE LAST STUART 317 
 
 reason for consenting to the match, Charles 
 gradually revealed his true character, relaxing 
 the slight restraint he had put upon his evil 
 tendencies, and often in fits of drunken rage 
 positively ill-treating his young wife. 
 
 Meanwhile, the first days of the honeymoon 
 were being spent at Terni, in the palace of Count 
 Spada, whose family had long been attached to 
 the Stuarts. The ladies of the house were 
 delighted with Louise, though they remarked 
 that, despite her youth and freshness, she wore 
 rouge. Reaching Rome, the pair made an entry 
 in something like royal pomp. Charles officially 
 notified the arrival of " the King and Queen of 
 England " ! His brother, the Cardinal, paid the 
 Princess a long visit, and presented her with a 
 rich snuff-box (ladies took snuff in those days) 
 set in diamonds, containing a draft for 40,000 
 crowns. But the position at Rome proved equiv- 
 ocal and embarrassing, and the couple moved 
 first to Leghorn, then to Sienna, and finally, in 
 1774, established themselves permanently at 
 Florence. 
 
 It was not long before the domestic trouble 
 began. Charles' health became worse : more and 
 more he was indulging in the " nasty bottle " ; 
 his appetite failed ; symptoms of dropsy appeared. 
 " What can a young lassie dae wi' an auld man ? " 
 asks the old Scots song. What could the lively 
 young Princess do with an elderly husband of this 
 sort, especially as he treated her with such scant
 
 318 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 consideration ? There is an extant letter of hers 
 addressed to him, in which she complains of his 
 " sulking " because she had declined to go with 
 him for a walk " in the month of June at the 
 hottest time of the day." It would, she says, 
 " be cruel to make a poor woman tramp the 
 streets in horrible heat because your Majesty is 
 bored in your room." It was a very spirited 
 letter, this ; sarcastic, too, in certain of its 
 expressions. Here is a quotation, verbatim et 
 literatim 
 
 " You suggest also that I should rise at 7 o'clock in the 
 morning, having gone to bed at 2 ; but that is certainly a 
 joke of Your Majesty's, for otherwise one would think you 
 were doting. You have not yet reached that age, Sire, and 
 it would assuredly not do you credit in the world that it 
 should be thought of you, who have always passed for a gallant, 
 that you had degenerated to the extent of being willing to 
 remain only a few hours with a young woman who is pretty 
 and who loves you. But if Your Majesty continues to sulk 
 as you have been doing, I shall be obliged to justify myself 
 in the eyes of the public, as the innocent cause of the royal 
 countenance not being so radiant with glory as it has always 
 been, and of your beautiful eyes being dimmed. I shall put 
 into the hands of all my friends the memorial I enclose in this 
 letter, of which I have before sent a copy to Your Majesty, 
 and in which I have set forth the facts as best I could, and 
 believing that my cause is good, I hope that justice will be 
 done to me." 
 
 The " radiant " royal countenance is rich ! The 
 whole letter is significant of much more than it 
 says. Charles, in a word, had made himself 
 impossible to his wife. 
 
 Such was the state of affairs when, in the
 
 THE LAST STUART 319 
 
 autumn of 1777, Vittoria Alfieri, the poet and 
 dramatist, arrived in Florence. It was a saying 
 of Goethe that each of Balzac's novels was dug 
 out of a woman's heart. More than one of 
 Alfieri's best tragedies and some of his poems had 
 the same kind of origin. He had " adventures " 
 long before he met Louise. In Holland he fell so 
 desperately in love with a young married woman 
 that when she left him at the call of conjugal 
 duty he " became speechless," and when brought 
 to his senses by the lancet, was with difficulty 
 prevented from " tearing of the bandages, and 
 wilfully bleeding to death." A graver affair of 
 the kind happened in England the heroine the 
 wife of a peer, with a duel in the Green Park as 
 one of the consequences. 
 
 The disillusioned Louise was the more ready to 
 turn for consolation to such a determined enslaver 
 of hearts that, besides being unhappy with her 
 husband, she was always something of a coquette. 
 In 1774, two years after her marriage, Walpole 
 wrote : " The young Mr. Coke is returned from 
 his travels in love with the Pretender's Queen, 
 who has permitted him to have her picture." 
 Alfieri, on his side, was completely captivated by 
 Louise. She became to him, he says, " a spur, a 
 comfort, and an example towards every good 
 work." Recognising and appreciating such a 
 treasure, " I gave myself up to her beyond 
 recall." At first when he saw her, " the spouse 
 was always present." Later, he tells that " in
 
 320 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the nine years and more that this pair lived 
 together, never, oh ! never has he gone out with- 
 out her nor she without him : a cohesion which 
 would end by becoming wearisome to two people 
 who were ever so much in love with each other." 
 Here was the dangerous feeling of sympathy with 
 the woman ! Alfieri says his "perfect calm" with 
 Louise would have been unbroken if he had not 
 been so frequently pained " to see my adored one 
 teased by continual domestic annoyances brought 
 about by her querulous, unreasonable, and con- 
 stantly intoxicated husband. Her sorrows were 
 mine." Just so ! 
 
 In the November of 1780 the course of Alfieri's 
 life was rudely disturbed by a sudden outburst of 
 brutality on the part of Charles, who, in a drunken 
 fit, behaved so grossly to his wife as to justify 
 her, not only in the opinion of the Florentine 
 Court, but even of her brother-in-law, Cardinal 
 Henry, in throwing him off for ever. Sir Horace 
 Mann tells the miserable story in a dispatch to 
 the British Government, and does not spare 
 Charles. As for Alfieri, he declared that he merely 
 rescued an innocent victim. " Suffice it to say 
 that I saved my lady from the tyranny of an 
 irrational and constantly drunken master, with- 
 out her honour being in any way whatever com- 
 promised, nor the proprieties in the least trans- 
 gressed." Upon this, Abraham Hay ward observes 
 that " considering the total want of opportunity," 
 it requires no great stretch of charity to believe
 
 THE LAST STUART 321 
 
 him. Unfortunately, as with Both well and Mary 
 Stuart, the subsequent conduct of the pair has 
 thrown a shade of doubt on the purity of their 
 intercourse from the beginning. Mann says that 
 in 1783, when Charles Edward supposed himself 
 to be dying, he convinced his brother that Louise's 
 conduct was not irreproachable. But Charles was 
 naturally prejudiced. 
 
 To return. Earl Stanhope speaks of Louise's 
 " elopement " with her lover, which is hardly the 
 correct term. Louise took refuge in a nunnery, 
 and, when she left it, the arrangements for her 
 departure, her journey, and her reception at her 
 next abode were made by her brother-in-law, the 
 Cardinal, and the Papal Nuncio, who were 
 specially directed by the Pope to facilitate them. 
 On the 13th December, the Cardinal wrote to 
 Louise : "I have long foreseen what has hap- 
 pened, and your proceedings, taken in concert 
 with the Court, are a guarantee for the rectitude 
 of your motives." The Pope also wrote her a 
 letter of approval, with promises of protection. 
 Before the year was out, Louise was on her way 
 to Rome, accompanied by a couple of her Irish 
 friends, and guarded by a mounted escort against 
 Charles' possible interference. At Rome she was 
 treated with the greatest respect, and frequently 
 dined at Frascati with Cardinal Henry. 
 
 Consideration for appearances kept Alfieri from 
 following his " Donna Amata " just yet. Florence, 
 however, was uncomfortable, so he resolved to go
 
 322 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 to Naples, because " the way lies through Rome." 
 As a matter of fact, he stayed in Rome, seeing 
 Louise nearly every evening, until the Pope 
 ordered him to leave within fifteen days. On the 
 4th March, 1783, he proceeded to Sienna, " like one 
 stupid and deprived of sense, leaving my only 
 love, books, town, place my very self in Rome." 
 Meanwhile, a voluminous correspondence was 
 being kept up between the two. When, in 1784, 
 Louise obtained a divorce from her husband, she 
 made the first use of her liberty to proceed to 
 Colmar, where she spent two months with Alfieri. 
 Next summer they met again at the same place. 
 
 Two years later (in 1787), Charles died. Louise 
 wept when she received the news. One easily 
 accounts for this by the softened fancy which 
 " recalls past hours of tenderness, and refuses to 
 dwell on past causes of complaint : we forgive 
 the wrongs we have suffered, and weep bitter 
 tears to think we can no longer ask pardon or 
 atone for the wrongs we may have done." Charles' 
 death, at any rate, made no change in the rela- 
 tions of Alfieri and Louise. They were nearly 
 always together ; they frequently occupied the 
 same house, and were received in the best society, 
 as if no convention was being outraged. 
 
 There may have been a notion that they had 
 been privately married, but, if so, it was unfounded. 
 Hayward says Louise could not make up her mind 
 to abdicate her royalty ; but we know from her 
 letters to Alfieri's mother that she was disappointed
 
 THE LAST STUART 323 
 
 at the poet's unwillingness to legalise the union. 
 To the last she clung to the hope that Alfieri 
 would make her his wife, but her passion for him 
 was too deep for her to put much pressure upon 
 him, and she dared not risk what might possibly 
 have been the result of a threat to leave him. 
 
 It may have been that Alfieri, independently of 
 a poetic dislike to a prosaic termination of his 
 romance, preferred remaining the lover of a 
 " Queen." And it is quite certain that Louise 
 clung with tenacity to her assumed state. At 
 Florence she had in her rooms the canopy of a 
 reigning queen, and the fashionable people spoke 
 of her as "la reine d'Angleterre." Even when she 
 went with Alfieri to Paris, she maintained this 
 assumption of regality. Wraxall, who visited her 
 there, says that in one of the rooms was a throne 
 emblazoned with the royal arms of Great Britain ; 
 that all the plate, including the spoons, was 
 engraved with the same arms ; that her servants 
 always addressed her as " Your Majesty/' Friends 
 gratified her weakness. Mme. de Stael constantly 
 wrote to her as " chere Souveraine " ; the Duchess 
 of Devonshire adopted the same tone. One marvels 
 and smiles at these innocent illusions now. 
 
 In 1790, Alfieri and Louise left Paris for Nor- 
 mandy, and in the following spring visited Eng- 
 land, where they remained for some months, 
 partly in London, and partly in the country. 
 It is alleged that the visit was made with the 
 object of obtaining pecuniary assistance from the
 
 324 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 House of Hanover ! That would have been, 
 indeed, an ironical situation ; but it is worth 
 noting that when Cardinal Henry died in 1807, 
 Louise got 1,600 of the 4,000 pension which the 
 complacent George had given to Henry the year 
 before. 
 
 Louise, it may be remarked in passing, kept a 
 journal during this visit, from which we learn that 
 she did not think much of England or its society. 
 Here is an extract 
 
 " Although I knew that the English were melancholy 
 I could not imagine that their capital was so, to the point 
 at which I found it. No kind of society, plenty of crowds. 
 If England had an oppressive Government, this country, 
 together with its people, would be the last in the universe : 
 bad climate, bad soil, and consequently tasteless productions. 
 The English are severe and exacting husbands, and the 
 women are generally better behaved than in other countries, 
 because they have more to risk. The English are incapable 
 of feeling any of the fine arts, and still less of executing them ; 
 they buy a great many pictures and know nothing about 
 them." 
 
 She had some strange adventures in London. 
 Horace Walpole tells of one in a letter to Miss 
 Berry, May 19th, 1791. Walpole speaks of the 
 topsy-turvyhood that characterises the age as 
 being responsible. " Within these two days the 
 Pope has been burnt at Paris ; Madame du Barry, 
 mistress of Louis Quinze, has dined with the Lord 
 Mayor of London ; and the Pretender's widow is 
 presented to the Queen of Great Britain ! " In 
 a postscript he tells that Louise " was well- 
 dressed and not at all embarrassed " when
 
 THE LAST STUART 325 
 
 announced at St. James'. He mentions another 
 " odd incident " : at the Opera at the Pantheon, 
 Mme. d' Albany was carried into the King's box, 
 and sat there. Then Hannah More tells in her 
 Memoirs of being taken to the House of Lords 
 to hear the King make his speech : " The thing 
 that was most amusing was to see, among the 
 ladies, the Princess of Stolberg, Countess of 
 Albany, wife to the Pretender, sitting just at the 
 foot of that throne which she might once have 
 expected to have mounted ; and what diverted 
 the party when I put them in mind of it, was, 
 that it happened to be the 10th of June, the 
 Pretender's birthday." 
 
 It appears from Louise's " journal " that she 
 and Alfieri meditated an expedition to Scotland, 
 where she wished to see the spots consecrated by 
 the heroism or misfortunes of the Stuarts and 
 their adherents, and that the journey was aban- 
 doned from bad weather. Alfieri attributes the 
 fact to pecuniary difficulties. Two-thirds of their 
 revenue was derived from French investments, 
 paid in assignats, the current value of which was 
 dropping down to zero. It may be added that 
 Alfieri, with his love of horses and hatred of 
 France, was a confirmed Anglo-maniac, but could 
 never learn English. Voltaire said that English- 
 men gained two hours a day by eating their 
 words, and that was Alfieri's view. 
 
 Leaving England, this strange pair got back, by 
 way of Paris, Brussels, Germany, and Switzerland,
 
 326 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 to Florence. It was there that Alfieri died, 
 on October 7th, 1803. Chateaubriand, who was 
 passing through, saw and hung over him in his 
 coffin. He was buried by the side of Machiavelli, 
 in the church of the Holy Cross at Florence, 
 where Louise caused a white marble monument, 
 designed by Canova, to be erected to his memory. 
 By his will he left everything to Louise, con- 
 fiding to her also the printing of his literary 
 remains, and the guardianship of his literary 
 fame. In these respects she fully answered his 
 expectations by publishing a carefully -edited 
 edition of his posthumous works. 
 
 With all her faults and weaknesses, it must be 
 admitted that she was to Alfieri very much what 
 Beatrice was to Dante, Laura to Petrarch, and 
 Vittoria Colonna to Michael Angelo his polestar, 
 his beacon, his inspiration, and his guide. The 
 assertion that after his death she allowed the 
 painter Frangois Xavier Fabre, who was fourteen 
 years her junior, to supplant him is fully dis- 
 proved by her recent biographer, Mr. Herbert 
 Vaughan, who declares that " her devotion to 
 Alfieri, however much open to censure, was 
 sincere, unselfish, and imperishable " ; and that 
 " her character, though far from perfect, has been 
 most unfairly maligned by certain modern critics." 
 
 Nevertheless, it is significant that when she 
 died in January, 1824, it was found that she 
 had made Fabre her universal legatee. The result 
 of this was that all the books, MSS., statues,
 
 THE LAST STUART 327 
 
 paintings, medals, curiosities, and rarities of all 
 sorts that had been collected by Charles Edward 
 and Alfieri became the property of the painter. 
 Hayward rightly observes that if Louise had had 
 fancy or imagination, delicacy or sensibility, this 
 notion of making the Frenchman the personal 
 representative of the royal husband and the poet 
 lover would have been rejected with a shudder 
 if suggested to her. But poor Louise was 
 " deficient in romantic interest," with a character 
 " essentially prosaic " ; and, perhaps, she never 
 once thought of it. She rests, at any rate, beside 
 Alfieri in the church of Santa Croce, where she is 
 commemorated with much flattery for her virtues. 
 She had bestowed large gifts on Santa Croce, and 
 " gifts persuade even the gods." 
 
 In the last twenty years of her widowhood she 
 was the central figure of a salon at Florence that 
 achieved a European reputation. There she pre- 
 sided every evening, and received all sorts of 
 notabilities : Canova, the sculptor ; Ugo Foscolo, 
 the poet, upon whose eccentric genius she exer- 
 cised a highly beneficial influence ; Lord Byron ; 
 Tom Moore ; Lord John Russell ; and Sir 
 Humphry Davy to name only a few. The 
 importance of her salon was, perhaps, most 
 emphasised by Napoleon's order of May, 1809, 
 that she should repair immediately to Paris. At 
 her first audience with the Emperor, he addressed 
 her : "I know your influence over the society of 
 Florence. I know, also, that you employ it in a
 
 328 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 sense adverse to my policy. You are an obstacle 
 to my projects of fusion between the Tuscans and 
 the French. This is why I have summoned you 
 to Paris, where you will have full leisure to 
 satisfy your taste for fine arts." She was not 
 allowed to return to Florence till November, 1810.
 
 CHAPTER XXI 
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 
 
 THE " Queen's " interview with Napoleon suggests 
 another curious chapter in the Stuart story. Mr. 
 Lang tells, from first-hand authority, how, about 
 1823, a young English girl was taken by her 
 parents to see Charles' widow in Florence. She 
 then heard Louise inform her (the English girl's) 
 parents that Napoleon had sent for her when he 
 was contemplating an invasion of England. She 
 was shown into a large room in one of the palaces, 
 and left alone. Presently Napoleon entered, 
 marched up to her, and bluntly said : " Madame 
 had you ever a child ? " She answered : " No 
 Sire " ; and he turned on his heel and strode out 
 again. That Charles Edward Stuart had no child 
 by Louise is indisputable ; that he had no child 
 at all except the son and daughter borne him by 
 Clementina Walkinshaw is a fact accepted by all 
 his biographers. 
 
 Now, in spite of this, we are confronted with 
 the claim of the two brothers known as the 
 Sobieski Stuarts, who declared that they were the 
 grandsons of Prince Charles and his "Queen." 
 Briefly, the story of these claimants of the royal 
 blood is, that a son was born to Charles and 
 Louise in the most private manner in or about 
 the year 1773. This child, they averred, was 
 
 329 
 
 22 (2005)
 
 330 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 secretly sent out of the country by the arrange- 
 ment of a Scotch doctor who had been present at 
 the accouchement. It was entrusted to the care 
 of a Captain (afterwards Admiral) Allen, and by 
 him brought to England, named after himself, 
 and acknowledged as his son. The child, according 
 to the story, grew up to be the father of the two 
 brothers who posed as the direct descendants of 
 our Prince. 
 
 It is a queer, intricate, absurd story. Admiral 
 John Carter Allen was an old Westminster scholar, 
 a brave sailor, a Whig well looked upon by the 
 Rockingham party, and of such good blood as to 
 induce Lord Hillsborough to believe that he was 
 legal heir-male to the Earldom of Errol. He was 
 twice married, and had two sons. By his will, 
 dated February, 1800, he bequeathed to the 
 elder, Captain John Allen of His Majesty's Navy, 
 2,200 ; to the younger, Thomas, also of the 
 Navy, 100. The disproportion has been explained 
 by saying that Thomas Allen was the royal Stuart, 
 and, therefore, not entitled to the same financial 
 consideration as the Admiral's own son. 
 
 Thomas Allen, whatever were the grounds of 
 his belief, subsequently styled himself " Count of 
 Albany," the title which Prince Charlie took in 
 1766 when he laid aside that of Prince of Wales. 
 The fact is certainly curious as showing that Allen's 
 sons were not the first to assume unfounded pre- 
 tensions. Thomas Allen (it is best to retain that 
 name for the sake of clearness), in 1792, married
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 331 
 
 the daughter of an English Church clergyman, 
 and the result of the union was the two brothers 
 who afterwards appeared as John Sobieski Stol- 
 berg Stuart and Charles Edward Stuart. Alas ! 
 that it should have to be told : Thomas Allen, 
 " Count of Albany," died in a London (Clerken- 
 well) lodging-house in 1852. He had resided there 
 for seven years, during which time he never once 
 left his rooms, passing his time chiefly in reading 
 and writing. His female attendant used to state 
 that he was " connected with the highest in the 
 land," but had reasons for living in absolute 
 retirement. 
 
 The account most favourable to the pretensions 
 of the Sobieski Stuarts is that given by " Monsieur 
 le Vicomte d'Arlincourt," in a book called The 
 Three Kingdoms, published in 1844. D'Arlincourt 
 boldly declares that the fact of Prince Charlie's 
 " Queen " having a son is " attested by authentic 
 documents." Some of these he says he has seen, 
 but " will not venture to speak of them." Why 
 not ? Surely there was no risk in 1844, and to 
 reveal the documents would have been all in the 
 interest of the Sobieski Stuarts themselves. 
 
 D'Arlincourt follows with the story of the 
 Scottish doctor, whom he names Cameron. Being 
 in Florence, Cameron was asked to visit a " noble 
 lady " who was dangerously ill. On arriving, he 
 found she had just given birth to a son. " The 
 portrait of Charles Edward, set round with pre- 
 cious stones, lay on the table ; and at the end of
 
 332 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 the room was the Prince himself." The doctor 
 wrote and signed a detailed statement of the fact, 
 which statement, according to D'Arlincourt, was 
 in the possession of the brothers. " There still 
 exists a picture, painted at the time (I am not 
 authorised to say where it is), which represents 
 Charles Edward in the act of entrusting his son 
 to Admiral Allen, to be brought up in secret at 
 a distance from him. The Admiral is standing on 
 board ship, his wife is on the shore, with one knee 
 bent to the ground ; she is receiving the child 
 from the Prince, and the vessel awaits them." 
 Why should D'Arlincourt not have revealed the 
 locale of this wonderful picture ? We may be 
 sure that if it existed, plenty of people would 
 have seen it, and yet it is mentioned by no one 
 else. And if all that is in it was really enacted 
 before the artist's eye (by the way, wouldn't the 
 artist have given away the secret ?), several 
 others, including the ship's crew, must have been 
 present, and, therefore, able to furnish accounts 
 which never were furnished. 
 
 Another version of the ridiculous fable is that 
 Louise was delivered of this child at a lonely villa 
 somewhere in the Apennine country between 
 Parma and Lucca. The doctor, in this version, 
 was a Scottish Jacobite named Beaton, said to 
 have been at Culloden, who then chanced to be 
 travelling in Italy in order to " pay his respects 
 to his legitimate sovereign." It is added that the 
 true circumstances of their father's birth were told
 
 Fhoto *>y A. Swan Watson 
 
 John Sobieski Stuart
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 333 
 
 to the Sobieski Stuart brothers by Dr. Beaton 
 himself after the said father's death. But Thomas 
 Allen, the putative Prince, died in 1852 ; so if 
 Beaton fought at Culloden, he would then be 
 something more than a centenarian ! A clumsier 
 concoction of improbabilities can hardly be 
 imagined. 
 
 Here is another point : If Charles Edward did 
 have a son, what could have been the object of 
 spiriting him away ? D'Arlincourt says that 
 Charles wished to place the child in safety till 
 his majority, convinced that his life would be 
 attempted ! Moreover, he desired the child to be 
 kept in ignorance of his birth, " that his educa- 
 tion and early years might not be disturbed by 
 thoughts of the sceptre and the throne." But, 
 then, why did not the mother, after Charles 
 Edward's death, reveal the existence of another 
 Stuart ? Because, they say, she had received 
 considerable sums for continued silence. 
 
 Now, let it be repeated that Charles Edward 
 had no child, son, or daughter by Louise of 
 Stolberg. If Louise had, indeed, borne him a 
 child, and the parents had wished to keep the 
 birth a secret, they must have found that utterly 
 impossible. In middle and lower-class life such a 
 secret might be kept, but the thing is out of all 
 question even for pseudo-royalty. Louise was 
 always moving about freely, and if she had been 
 enceinte the gossips would have proclaimed it. 
 Charles and his wife were constantly watched by
 
 334 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 keen-eyed emissaries of the British Government. 
 Their system of espionage was perfect at Paris, 
 Leghorn, Florence, Rome. Especially at Florence, 
 where the pair resided, nothing could escape Sir 
 Horace Mann, the envoy there. Yet no hint was 
 ever given by Mann or another of anything of the 
 kind. Again, the Jacobites were looking eagerly 
 for an heir. Charles had married with the express 
 purpose of securing an heir to carry on the 
 exiled dynasty. We know how bitter was his 
 disappointment at the union proving childless ; 
 therefore he was far more likely to produce a 
 suppositions infant (a possible contingency that 
 Mann was ever dreading) than to conceal a real 
 one. If an heir was in prospect, would the 
 Jacobite leaders not be informed of the fact ? 
 And when the " event " came off, how could it 
 have been hidden ? Nay, why should it have 
 been hidden ? 
 
 The explanation of the Sobieski Stuarts that a 
 Stuart baby Prince stood in danger of assassina- 
 tion by hired minions of the Hanoverian House 
 is too ridiculous. The Hanoverians feared nothing 
 from the Jacobites by that time. They knew of 
 the degraded moral and physical state into which 
 Charles had fallen, and King George was too 
 secure in his " chair " to give a serious thought to 
 any would-be disturber of his security. Further, 
 if Charles Edward had a son, why did he ignore 
 him in his will ? Why should he have alienated 
 from that son not only his Italian residence, but
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 335 
 
 the Polish jewels which he had inherited from his 
 mother, and the ancient Crown jewels of England ? 
 
 Louise, again, the reputed mother, made no 
 mention of any offspring in her death settlement, 
 but, as we have seen, left all her property to the 
 companion of her old age, the French painter, 
 Francois Fabre a circumstance which, if the 
 offspring really existed, we should hardly attribute 
 even to a mother of light nature and little virtue. 
 And if Charles had, indeed, a son in the care of 
 Admiral Allen, why did he not recall that son 
 when, in 1784, after his wife had left him, he 
 begged his illegitimate daughter by Miss Walkin- 
 shaw to come and solace him ? With a Jacobite 
 Prince of Wales living, he would assuredly not 
 have legitimised a natural daughter, as he did, 
 in order to create a successor to the Stuart claims. 
 Finally, what about Cardinal Henry ? He, if any- 
 body, would certainly know of the existence of 
 this son. Yet, on Charles' death, did he not assert 
 his right to the British Crown, and style himself 
 Henry IX. ? The whole argument is futile. Both 
 Charles and his " Queen," separately and cate- 
 gorically, denied that they had a child, and no 
 one ever dreamt of doubting them. 
 
 Nevertheless, there are some strange features 
 connected with the story put forward by the 
 Sobieski Stuarts. Mr. Andrew Lang, who seems 
 to have met both, says that their likeness to the 
 Stuart family was most marked. This likeness 
 was, he adds, closest to James VIII. (where it
 
 336 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 could not be affected) in a photograph of the 
 younger brother taken after death. Patrick 
 Eraser Tytler and Lady Eastlake both described 
 the elder brother as very like the portraits of 
 Charles I. D'Arlincourt, who met the pair in 
 Inverness-shire, also writes that this brother 
 " bears a striking resemblance to Vandyke's 
 portrait of Charles I., but is much handsomer." 
 The other brother, he says, is " the living image 
 of the Pretender." 
 
 Both were men of fine physique, and the High- 
 land dress, in royal Stuart tartan, which they 
 always wore, suited them admirably. When in 
 Inverness-shire, D'Arlincourt was assured that 
 they were " the handsomest men in that part of 
 the country." Indeed, their personal beauty and 
 distinguished manners were such that " they 
 could not travel through Scotland a few years ago 
 without awakening the enthusiasm of the High- 
 landers." They were familiar figures in Edinburgh 
 about the middle of last century, and attracted 
 general attention when they appeared in public. 
 Robert Chambers, the Edinburgh publisher, cele- 
 brates them as " two magnificent Highlanders," 
 who came to his house laden with sweetmeats, 
 and drank porter out of old silver tankards, a feat 
 which they repeated many years after with the 
 same tankards in May fair. One calls them " a 
 stately pair, after a somewhat theatrical style." 
 D'Arlincourt says of John Sobieski Stuart : " A 
 number of Orders covers his breast, and, in his
 
 Photo by A. Swan Watson 
 
 Charles Edward Stuart Sobieski

 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 337 
 
 Scottish costume, adorned with his numerous 
 decorations, and enveloped in mystery, he appears 
 surrounded with a mystic charm." On the same 
 writer's authority : " Napoleon, previous to the 
 last disasters of the Empire, heard the brothers 
 Stuart spoken of. He wished to see them and 
 attach them to his person. The young Scots 
 fought beneath his colours. One day, on the 
 field of battle, Napoleon detached his cross from 
 his button-hole and gave it himself to John 
 Sobieski." This has not been verified by the 
 present writer ; but, so far as he knows, the 
 incident is not mentioned in any of the standard 
 " Lives " of Napoleon. 
 
 The claims of the brothers were so far recognised 
 that they were cherished by the Lord Lovat of 
 their day, who provided a beautiful little home 
 for them at Eilean Agais, an islet on the Beauly. 
 D'Arlincourt describes a visit to the place 
 
 " There, beneath trees a hundred years old, in a solitude 
 where one seems transported a thousand leagues from civilisa- 
 tion, stands a building, the architecture of which is in the 
 style of the Middle Ages, with ancient windows and painted 
 glass. This strange hermitage, shaded by firs and oaks, has 
 the pediment of a noble mansion on which are displayed the 
 arms of the Scottish Monarchy. Underneath the escutcheon 
 of Charles Edward is this affecting inscription : ' The Lord 
 gave, the Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the 
 Lord.' " 
 
 D'Arlincourt describes a long hall hung round with 
 flags ; the walls covered with trophies ; several 
 statues ; windows gloomy as those of a cathedral ;
 
 338 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 hammers, ogives, and effigies ; a warlike sanctuary ; 
 memorials of Charles Edward his arms, his ham- 
 mer, his garments, his portrait, his watch, his 
 jewels. " I was shown the chest where the heir 
 of the Highlanders kept his money, his precious 
 stones, and his papers locked up. This chest, 
 originally a present from Francis I., is admirably 
 carved. It still contains title-deeds. 
 
 If the brothers really possessed all these. Charlie 
 remains, how did they come by them ? An 
 Athenceum reviewer of October 20th, 1906 (prob- 
 ably Mr. Andrew Lang) says : " We lately saw a 
 frame containing about a dozen Stuart miniatures, 
 several of them excellent, given by one of the 
 brothers to an acquaintance. Where did the 
 Sobieski Stuarts obtain them ? " Ay, and where 
 now are all those relics mentioned by D'Arlin- 
 court ? Where, too, is that bonnet of " crimson 
 velvet, laid on the seams, and bound with gold 
 and lace," worn by Charles in Glasgow, which the 
 brothers themselves declared they possessed ? 
 We know that when the younger brother died he 
 bequeathed to the Marquis of Bute a Highland 
 claymore (Andrea Ferrara) which he said had 
 been worn by his " grandfather " at the ball 
 given at Holy rood on the eve of Prestonpans. 
 Also he left to Lord Lovat a large two-handled 
 sword made by Cosmo Ferrara, which belonged 
 to his " said grandfather," and two pistols for- 
 merly owned by Rob Roy (1715). But one has 
 the suspicion that D'Arlincourt must have been
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 339 
 
 romancing about many of those possessions he 
 enumerates. 
 
 Lord Lovat, it is said, gave the brothers their 
 conge on being informed that some Government 
 post to which he aspired would not be bestowed 
 upon him if he continued to harbour them. At 
 one time they lived at Logic, on the banks of the 
 Findhorn, being tenants of the Gordon-Cummings 
 there. They were Presbyterians when under the 
 wing of the Earl of Moray, but became Roman 
 Catholics when they moved to the Lovat country. 
 While at Eilean Agais, they attended the Roman 
 Catholic Chapel at Eskadale, and there are sur- 
 viving memories of their proceeding to chapel in 
 full Highland dress, with pipes playing them on 
 the way. It is here, at Eskadale, that they lie 
 buried, beneath large Celtic crosses, within sound 
 of the rushing Beauly. Somewhere about 1847 
 they had retired to Austria, but later on returned 
 to London, and would be seen, with indications 
 of dignified poverty, working earnestly in the 
 British Museum Library. 
 
 For these Sobieski Stuarts did not devote their 
 energies solely to making good their royal descent. 
 " Education, wit, talents they were deficient in 
 none of them," says D'Arlincourt. " They were 
 men of many accomplishments," writes Mr. Lang : 
 " poetical, good sportsmen, and in their Lays of 
 the Deer Forest, excellent writers of natural his- 
 tory." In 1822 the elder brother, John, published 
 a big volume of 344 pages, entitled The Bridal of
 
 340 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Caolchairn, and other Poems, dedicated to the 
 Duke of Argyll. Then there was his Vestiarium 
 Scoticum, a handsome folio, published in 1842 ; 
 followed three years later by The Costume of the 
 Clans. Even now these two works are recognised 
 as the standard authority on the subject of 
 tartans and Highland dress in general. 
 
 In 1847 appeared a curious volume, Tales of 
 the Century, the joint production of the brothers. 
 Dealing largely with Prince Charlie and Jacobite 
 romance, it sets forth, under feigned names, but 
 with a wealth of detail, the whole story of the 
 authors' alleged royal parentage. The book bears 
 the dedication : "To Marie Stuart by her Father 
 and Uncle " ; and the father of the pair, Thomas 
 Allen, figures in it as lolair Dearg, or Red Eagle, 
 which still further increases the mystery. The 
 younger brother, Charles Edward, published on 
 his own account a small volume of Poems in 1869. 
 
 Towards the end of their career, the brothers 
 came down to lodgings in Pimlico, where pseudo- 
 majesty would be heard calling for his boots from 
 the upper floor. Both had married in the same year, 
 in 1822. John died suddenly on board a steamer 
 just leaving Bordeaux at Christmas, 1872 ; Charles 
 Edward on Christmas Eve, 1880. Charles had 
 called himself " Count of Albany " since John's 
 death. John had two daughters and a son, who 
 married Lady Alice Hay, daughter of the Earl 
 of Errol ; Charles Edward had three daughters 
 and a son, who also, curiously enough, married
 
 THE SOBIESKI STUARTS 341 
 
 into the Errol family. Charles' four children are 
 all dead ; and one only, the second daughter, 
 Louisa Sobieski, Mme. Von Platt, left issue ; so 
 that her son, Alfred von Platt, a lieutenant in 
 the Austrian Army, is the present inheritor of 
 the pretensions of the Sobieski Stuarts whatever 
 these may be worth. 
 
 Such is the queer, tangled story. How are we 
 to account for the absurd contention on which it 
 was founded ? Mr. Lang inclined to think that 
 the brothers' legend was based on an anecdote in 
 Bishop Forbes' Lyon in Mourning, the MS. of 
 which was in the hands of their friend, Dr. Robert 
 Chambers. According to this anecdote, " a Scots 
 gentleman, son of a noble family, and captain of 
 a ship of war in Britain," saw Charles at the 
 Opera in Rome. Charles recognised him for a 
 Scot, sent for him, and when he came with his 
 servant, discovered in the latter a man who had 
 brought him a letter at Falkirk in 1746. 
 
 It would be easy, says Mr. Lang, for the fancy 
 of the two Aliens, who knew the MS. Lyon in 
 Mourning, to add that the British captain was 
 Captain Allen, and that a royal babe was secretly 
 entrusted to his charge, to be brought up by him 
 with his own son. Sir Walter Scott attributed 
 their claim to "an over-indulged habit of romantic 
 day-dreaming " ; and Mr. Lang considers that 
 it acquired the force of an actual hallucination. 
 The suggestion does not help us very much ; for, 
 as Mr. Lang himself observes, it is difficult to
 
 342 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 account for hysterical illusion d deux a 
 " collective hallucination," as one might say. 
 
 In any case, the brothers had a touching and 
 an absolutely sincere belief in their connection 
 with the fallen House of Stuart ; and the fact 
 that they went through life accepted by a vast 
 number of people as the grandsons of Prince 
 Charlie, seems sufficient enough reason for giving 
 them once more a place on the borders of the 
 living land.
 
 CHAPTER XXII 
 
 THE LAST OF AN AULD SANG 
 
 IT was in the November of 1780 that Louise fled 
 from her husband, who had all but strangled her 
 in his cups. Naturally he devoted himself more 
 than ever to the bottle. What Murray had written 
 of him in this connection some years before, was 
 doubly true now : " Your Royal Highness is 
 resolved to destroy himself to all intents and pur- 
 poses. Everybody talks of your conduct with 
 horror, and from being once the admiration of 
 Europe, you are become the reverse. Think what 
 cruel anguish these reports give to me and the 
 few that are truly attached to you ! You have 
 banished all your father's subjects." Alas ! yes. 
 What " subjects " would care to own allegiance 
 to a broken-down, dissipated, dyspeptic, irritable, 
 nervous wreck of three-score ? 
 
 In the spring of 1783, Charles was attacked by 
 a serious illness, and thinking himself dying, 
 summoned his brother, Cardinal Henry. Some 
 years before this, he had been seized with an 
 epileptic fit, and was supposed to be dying then. 
 Sir Horace Mann reported the fact to Viscount 
 Weymouth, who returned the coldly contemptuous 
 answer : " It is not necessary to send an Express 
 with the account of the death of the Pretender, 
 if that event should happen, as the early notice is 
 
 343
 
 344 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 not of importance." Not of political importance, 
 certainly. Charles Edward and the " cause " he 
 represented were spent forces. 
 
 But Charles was not to die just yet. In 1784 
 the formal separation was arranged between him 
 and his wife, Louise securing " an amicable 
 divorce a mensa et thoro, and liberty to reside 
 where she pleases." This relieved him from a 
 position which he declared to be cruel, tyrannical, 
 unjust, and even " barbarous." If he had been 
 indulging the hope that his wife would return to 
 him, that hope was now shattered ; and in his 
 loneliness and misery he turned to his daughter, 
 Charlotte Walkinshaw, whom he had treated so 
 abominably. 
 
 Already, in March, 1783, he had made a will, 
 in which he designated Charlotte his heir, and 
 legitimated her, with the title of " Duchess of 
 Albany." Now the aforetime " august Papa " 
 begged her to take pity on him, and come to be 
 the head of his household. Charlotte responded 
 to his invitation, left the convent where she was 
 staying with her mother, and before October 
 (1784) was out had joined her father at Florence, 
 where she remained his tender nurse and faithful 
 attendant till his death. " He welcomed her with 
 genuine affection, and on St. Andrew's Day 
 (November 30th) invested her with the Order of 
 Andrew. The old palace awoke to something of 
 its earlier gaiety in Charles' efforts to please and 
 to entertain her. He gave balls, and drowsed
 
 AN AULD SANG 345 
 
 while his guests danced. He lived, too, a cleaner 
 and better life, for his new-found daughter was a 
 young woman of tact and determination who 
 kept him in order, though with difficulty. The 
 * nasty bottle ' entertained him in moderation. 
 The repentance and conversion of the prodigal, 
 a vista once so remote to the anxious Cardinal, 
 seemed almost in prospect, and the Pope offered 
 his congratulations on the tardy dawn of grace." 
 But Charles was morally, as well as physically, 
 a " done " man, utterly broken in mind and body. 
 Charlotte might " check him when he drank too 
 much," as Mrs. Piozzi said, and her letters to 
 Cardinal Henry show her difficulties in that 
 direction. But it was too late. Charles became 
 more and more feeble. He spoke of himself as 
 being " so bothered in the head," and Mann 
 reported that " his mind seems to approach that 
 of imbecility." " He decays every day visibly," 
 Mann tells Walpole. " The disorder in his legs 
 increases. His daughter did well to come in time 
 to reap his succession, for which she will not wait 
 long." There is a significant anecdote of the time 
 to the effect that one of his visitors, a Mr. 
 Greathead, had encouraged him to talk about his 
 adventures in the '45. Warming to the reminis- 
 cence, he became abnormally excited, and pre- 
 sently dropped to the floor in convulsions. 
 Charlotte happened to come into the room at 
 the moment. " Oh, sir," she said to Greathead, 
 " what is this ? You must have been speaking 
 
 23 (3005)
 
 346 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 to my father about Scotland and the Highlanders. 
 No one dares to mention those subjects in his 
 presence." 
 
 Cardinal Henry was anxious to have his brother 
 in Rome beside him, in the precarious condition 
 of his health ; and in December, 1785, induced 
 him to remove from Florence. The journey had 
 been arranged dependent on " the King's legs 
 not refusing him some service." It was accom- 
 plished in easy stages, with apparently no ill- 
 effects ; and the helpless wreck took up his 
 residence with his daughter in the gloomy old 
 mansion in the Piazza of the Santi Apostoli. 
 " It must," says a biographer of Cardinal Henry, 
 " have been a somewhat depressing home-coming 
 for Charles Stuart, this return to the house of his 
 childhood, that was filled with so many happy 
 and unhappy memories, that was so reminiscent 
 of vain intrigues and bitter family quarrels ; but 
 Charlotte's evident pride and delight in thus 
 entering her father's Roman palace as its mistress 
 gave the invalid some compensation for his 
 melancholy thoughts. Before long the dismal old 
 mansion was made to exhibit some share of its 
 former splendour and gaiety under the rule of its 
 new occupant." 
 
 Dinners and receptions were given to the leading 
 members of Roman society, and on these occa- 
 sions Charlotte invariably presided, richly dressed, 
 and wearing the historic Stuart and Sobieski 
 family jewels that her father had recently given
 
 AN AULD SANG 347 
 
 her. As a beloved daughter at last constantly at 
 her " august Papa's " side, and as undisputed 
 ruler of his household, Charlotte Stuart " was in 
 these days at the height of her glory, and few 
 persons will be found inclined to grudge her the 
 enjoyment of these belated and fleeting honours. 
 As it had been her original aim and her first care 
 to restore her father's health and spirits, so it 
 cannot be doubted that her constant attention, 
 her youthful cheerfulness, and her strange but 
 apparently sincere affection for her royal parent, 
 prolonged the Prince's life, and gave him at the 
 last a few unexpected years of self-respect and 
 of comparative happiness." 
 
 But this was not to last. Early in 1786 the 
 querulous old invalid had a relapse, and was 
 removed to Albano. There, sick to the death him- 
 self, he " touched " others for the " King's evil." 
 Mann wrote that " he has lately assumed the 
 folly practised by his father and grandfather, to 
 touch people who are afflicted with scrofulous 
 disorders. Many old women and children have 
 been presented to him for that purpose, to whom, 
 after some ceremony, he gives a silver medal, 
 which they wear about their necks." In the 
 winter of this same year he returned to 
 Rome. 
 
 Weaker and weaker he became, fighting with 
 dropsy and threatened apoplexy. Early in 1788 
 he was stricken with an acute attack of paralysis. 
 Frequently during that terrible January did the
 
 348 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 Cardinal Duke visit the anxious household in the 
 dingy old palace, where his brother lay in a semi- 
 comatose state, and where Charlotte was nursing 
 her helpless father with unwearied devotion. 
 At last, on January 30th (according to some, as 
 before-mentioned), the anniversary of his great- 
 grandfather's execution at Whitehall, the wreck 
 of the brilliant hero of the '45 passed away at the 
 age of sixty-seven, " worn out by the fitful fever 
 of a life such as few persons in the world's history 
 have experienced." He died in his daughter's 
 arms, and during the absence of his brother, who 
 had not expected a sudden end. In his last 
 moments he was attended by the Franciscan 
 brothers, Fathers James and Michael MacCormick, 
 natives of Ireland, who both lived to a very great 
 age. James died at Rome in 1818 ; Michael, who 
 was an able scholar, and spoke nearly every 
 European language with fluency, at Naples in 
 1820. Father James reported of Charles that 
 " he received all the sacraments of the Church 
 with the demonstrations of a strong faith, and 
 died in the most edifying manner." By his 
 directions, the Fathers watched his corpse, 
 reciting the Office for the Dead, from the 
 moment of his departure till his interment. 
 
 The honours that were denied to Charles 
 Edward in life were heaped upon him in death. 
 His body, duly embalmed and regally vested, 
 was placed in a coffin of sweet-scented cypress 
 wood, with crown on head, ring on finger, and
 
 
 The Stuart Monument in Rome 
 
 By permission of the Caxton Publishing Co., Ltd.
 
 AN AULD SANG 349 
 
 sceptre in hand. It lay in state for a short time 
 in the private chapel at the Palace, and was then 
 secretly conveyed by the Irish Franciscans to the 
 Cathedral at Frascati. There all the wealth and 
 magnificence of the impressive Roman ritual were 
 called into requisition to render solemn impres- 
 siveness to his obsequies. At the end of the 
 ceremony, the body (with the exception of the 
 heart, which had been already placed in a silver 
 urn) was enclosed in a temporary vault, there to 
 remain until Cardinal Henry's death. Now both 
 brothers lie beside their father in the crypt of 
 St. Peter's. On Charles' tomb there is a graceful 
 epitaph in Italian, which may be roughly 
 Englished 
 
 " The ashes of Prince Charles Edward 
 
 Rest in this peaceful place ; 
 Son of King James of England, 
 
 Heir of a royal race. 
 An exile from throne and country, 
 
 You ask what guerdon he hath ? 
 Disloyalty of his subjects, 
 
 But loyalty to his Faith." 
 
 By his will, executed in 1784, Charles left 
 nearly everything to his faithful daughter 
 Charlotte his palace at Florence, with all its 
 rich furniture ; all his plate and jewels, including 
 not only those brought into the family by his 
 mother (among them two rubies of great value, 
 which had been pledged with her father by the 
 Republic of Poland, and a large golden shield
 
 350 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 presented to the heroic John Sobieski by the 
 Emperor Leopold after the siege of Vienna), but 
 also such of the Crown jewels of England as had 
 been conveyed to the Continent by James II. in 
 his hurried flight from his kingdom. 
 
 Charlotte did not long survive her father to 
 enjoy the income with which he thus tardily 
 endowed her. During the summer of 1789 she 
 went to Bologna " for change of air and in order 
 to reduce the feverish illness which was slowly 
 consuming her/' and there she died in the 
 following November. Some writers state the 
 cause of her death to have been the result of a 
 fall from her horse ; but all accounts point rather 
 to a deep-seated and long-concealed internal 
 malady, probably some kind of malignant tumour. 
 In any case, she passed away, comparatively 
 young, " greatly admired by many personages of 
 note, and deeply beloved by a host of friends, so 
 that, instead of regarding her as a possible source 
 of political intrigue, it is more pleasant to think 
 of her as the affectionate, unselfish daughter who 
 came at a timely moment to the rescue of 
 Scotland's national hero." 
 
 When the news of her father's death reached 
 Robert Burns, he was spending a gay time with 
 his friend William Cruickshank, in St. James* 
 Square, Edinburgh. His great heart was filled 
 with pity for Charlotte Stuart, left solitary so far 
 from the land she might have called her own, and 
 the latent Jacobitism in him broke out in the
 
 AN AULD SANG 351 
 
 production of his well-known song in her honour, 
 entitled " The Bonnie Lass of Albanie " 
 
 " My heart is wae, and unco' wae, 
 To think upon the raging sea, 
 That roars between her gardens green 
 An' the bonnie lass of Albanie. 
 
 " This noble maid's of royal blood, 
 
 That rule'd Albion's kingdoms three ; 
 But O, alas ! for her bonnie face ! 
 They hae wranged the lass of Albanie. 
 
 " In the rolling tide of spreading Clyde 
 
 There sits an isle of high degree, 
 And a town of fame, whose princely name 
 Should grace the lass of Albanie. 
 
 " But there is a youth, a witless youth, 
 
 That fills the place where she should be; 
 We'll send him o'er to his native shore, 
 And bring our ain sweet Albanie ! 
 
 " Alas the day, and woe the day ! 
 A false usurper wan the gree, 
 Who now commands the towers and lands, 
 The royal right of Albanie. 
 
 " We'll daily pray, we'll nightly pray, 
 
 On bended knees most fervently, 
 That the time may come, with pipe and drum 
 We'll welcome name fair Albanie." 
 
 With Charlotte Stuart's death the House whose 
 name she bore was represented by a " barren 
 stock," the Cardinal Henry. After his brother's 
 death he assumed the title of Henry IX., but 
 beyond having a medal struck, bearing the
 
 352 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 inscription : " Henry IX., King of England by 
 the grace of God, but not by the will of man," 
 he did nothing to push forward his claim to the 
 Crown. He was not the man to embark on any 
 risky political enterprise, preferring the security 
 of his high ecclesiastical office and its princely 
 emoluments. But he had his regal weaknesses, 
 too. He demanded the use of the title " Majesty " 
 in his domestic circle, and he had the crown of a 
 reigning monarch emblazoned on his plate and 
 seals. He " touched " for scrofula, too, like his 
 brother. 
 
 It is said that an English visitor passing through 
 Rome in the early years of the last century, was 
 summoned across the street to speak to the aged 
 Cardinal in a carriage. " You are an Englishman, 
 I think ? " said the Cardinal. " Yes, your 
 Eminence," replied the visitor. " And how is 
 my army ? " asked the Cardinal. The stranger 
 was naturally unable to grasp the situation, but 
 willing to please an old man in his dotage, replied, 
 ' Very well indeed, sir." " And how is my navy ? " 
 then asked the Cardinal. " It also is very well," 
 was the reply. The carriage drove on, and it was 
 not till some time later that the Englishman 
 discovered that he had been talking with the 
 last of the royal Stuart line. 
 
 Henry had certainly made sure of the comfort 
 of his own future when he became Cardinal. In 
 1761, when he was appointed Bishop of Frascati 
 and Vice-Chancellor of the Holy See, he became
 
 From the painting by 
 
 Blanchet 
 
 Prince Henry, Duke of York, as a youth 
 
 By permission of tlie Caxlon Publishing Co., Ltd,
 
 AN AULD SANG 353 
 
 one of the wealthiest churchmen in Italy. His 
 private means, and the revenues coming to him 
 from Spanish sources and from the various offices 
 he held, brought his income up to 30,000 or 
 40,000 a year. But evil days were now in store 
 for him. Early in 1788, eighteen thousand French 
 troops advanced upon Rome, in the course of 
 Bonaparte's scourging of Italy ; and the city 
 suffered its supreme indignity when the Pope was 
 forcibly removed from the Palace of the Quirinal 
 and placed under guard in the Abbey of the 
 Certosa, near Florence. 
 
 The day before this French invasion of the holy 
 city, Cardinal Henry fled from his retreat at 
 Frascati, as much on account of the local uprising 
 of disaffected persons as from fear of the advanc- 
 ing army. For ten months Naples afforded a 
 refuge to the old man, for the first time in his 
 long life pursued and harassed. But Naples was 
 soon abandoned to the mercies of the French 
 troops, and Henry had to move again for safety. 
 There is a time-honoured tradition that he was 
 conveyed on Nelson's flagship to Palmero, 
 " thereby affording the curious spectacle of a 
 British man-of-war carrying the British Pre- 
 tender to a place of safety " ; but, in reality, 
 Henry had left Naples in a small coasting vessel 
 chartered by himself some time before the King 
 and Queen of the Sicilies embarked on the 
 Vanguard. 
 
 There is no need to recount his subsequent
 
 354 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 doings. He lost practically all his large revenues 
 in Italy, for the Papal Treasury was impoverished 
 by having to pay Napoleon 1,200,000. And 
 though he had a lucrative benefice in Spain, that 
 was absorbed by the pensions with which his own 
 kindly heart and the bequests of his father and 
 brother had burdened him. These bequests, it is 
 interesting to note, included an annual sum of 
 3,000 crowns to Clementina Walkinshaw, till her 
 death in 1802. Henry's unfortunate position 
 moved the generosity of George III., who magnan- 
 imously provided him with a yearly pension of 
 4,000. This, one of the ironies of history, was 
 altogether to George's credit. 
 
 Cardinal Henry died on the 13th July, 1807, at 
 the long age of eighty-two. Descendant, in direct 
 male succession, of Mary Queen of Scots, with his 
 passing away there disappeared from earth " the 
 last sublime glory of the House of Stuart," and 
 Jacobitism became nothing more than a senti- 
 ment. The legitimate succession now opened to 
 the descendants of James II. 's sister, the Princess 
 Henrietta Maria, wife of Philip, Duke of Orleans. 
 She died in 1670, leaving two daughters. Mary, 
 the eldest daughter, married Charles II., King of 
 Spain, but died without issue ; her sister, Anne, 
 married Victor Amadeus, King of Sardinia, from 
 whom was descended Francis V., Duke of Modena. 
 In March, 1842, Francis married Adelgonde, 
 daughter of Louis I., King of Bavaria, and died 
 without issue in November, 1875. His younger
 
 AN AULD SANG 355 
 
 brother, Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, had 
 married, in 1847, Elizabeth, daughter of the 
 Archduke Joseph of Austria, and left, at his 
 death in 1849, an only daughter, Mary Theresa, 
 who, born in July, 1849, and married in February, 
 1868, to Louis, Prince of Bavaria, is the present 
 heiress of the House of Stuart. 
 
 Thus the story ends a sad end to a life which 
 opened with such high hopes : an end which pre- 
 sents so poignant a contrast to the gallant days 
 when Charles Edward marched buoyant at the 
 head of his forces, led the dance in the halls of 
 ancient Holyrood, and won all hearts by his 
 gracious affability and princely dignity. " For a 
 few brief months he had tasted life as he inter- 
 preted it activity, leadership, the championship 
 of his House and the Cause it blazoned. He had 
 tilted in the ring, and Fate put him for ever out- 
 side the lists." That was his tragedy, that the 
 cause of the fatal and degrading weakness which 
 transformed him as completely as if in reality he 
 were an entirely different personality. When one 
 hope after another deserted him, he drank to 
 drown care and thought, to lose, if but for a time, 
 the deadly, chilling sense of failure. 
 
 " The vanquish'd hero leaves his broken bands, 
 And shows his miseries in distant lands." 
 
 Had Charles died at Culloden, the story of that 
 poor, wasted later life would never have had to 
 be told, and his name would have been fragrant
 
 356 PRINCE CHARLES EDWARD 
 
 in the memories of men as that of the " bonnie 
 Prince Charlie " whom Scotland saw and Scot- 
 land loved in the brief stirring days of the '45. 
 
 Nevertheless, when all is said and done, Charles 
 Edward Stuart was the most successful of his 
 line, the saviour and restorer, in a literary way, 
 of the Stuart House. Jacobites do well to extol 
 him, for had it not been for his dashing enterprise 
 and showy character, the memory of the Stuarts 
 would be very different from what it is to-day 
 in Scotland, at all events. Without him, Jacobit- 
 ism would certainly never have become romantic, 
 and would probably even be in some degree 
 odious and contemptible to the majority of 
 Scotsmen. For until that final flash of the '45 
 the cause of the Stuarts had been associated in 
 Scotland, for the most part, with memories 
 unpleasing and even hateful to the great bulk of 
 the nation. It was only in the stirring adventures 
 and the picturesque figures of the later rising 
 that Jacobitism found the transfiguring element 
 of romance needed for its glorification. The 
 Prince himself " handsome and brave and not 
 too knowing," as Lowell has it was just the fit 
 hero for such a purpose, and for the same end his 
 campaign could not have had better conduct and 
 issue had it been designed by the most cunning 
 artist of romance. 
 
 The daring voyage in the Doutelle, the brilliant 
 victory at Prestonpans, and the astonishing 
 march to Derby were not more effective in one
 
 AN AULD SANG 357 
 
 way than the slaughter at Culloden and the 
 forlorn yet unbetrayed flight through the High- 
 lands were in another. The gleam of success and 
 the cloud of failure were alike appropriate and 
 necessary, for what was needed after all was not 
 the recovery of a kingdom, but the restoration of 
 a shattered line's prestige. That, assuredly, was 
 accomplished to the full, and so it comes that 
 bonnie Prince Charlie, in spite of his defeat and 
 even of his decadence, is really one of the great 
 and rare victors of history. He failed, indeed, as 
 any prince might do, to get the regal crown for 
 himself ; but of how many Pretenders can it be 
 said that they succeeded, like him, in crowning 
 his dynasty with the halo of romance ? 
 
 That, forgetting, if we may, the years of exile 
 and self-debasement, should be our last thought. 
 Mr. Lang has written it, and we may borrow his 
 words : " Farewell, unhappy Prince, heir to such 
 charm and to such uamatched sorrows ; farewell, 
 most ardently loved of all the Stuarts ! " 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., Bath. 
 (2005)
 
 INDEX 
 
 ABATE, title of, 76 
 
 Aberdeen, 1 19 ; Cumberland at, 
 
 Adelgonde, of Bavaria, 354 [215 
 
 Adolphus, Augustus, 311 
 
 Aiguillon, Due d', 311 
 
 , Mme. d', 280, 291 
 
 Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 270 
 
 Alastir, Lord of the Isles, 183 
 
 Albano, 48, 79, 90 
 
 Albany, Countess of, and Charles 
 Edward, 60 
 
 Albemarle, 279 
 
 Alberoni, Cardinal, 61 
 
 Alfieri, on Louise, 314 ; adven- 
 tures of, 319 ; and Louise, 319- 
 20 ; in England, 323-5 ; death 
 of, 326 
 
 Allen, Admiral John Carter, 330, 
 335, 341 
 
 .Thomas, 330, 331, 333; as 
 
 lolair Dearg or Red Eagle, 340 
 
 Almansa, 27 
 
 Alps, 35 
 
 Amadeus, Victor, King of Sardi- 
 nia, 354 
 
 Aminta, peak of, 42 
 
 Amyat, 181 
 
 Angelo, St., 47 
 
 Anglicising of Clan districts, 120 
 
 Anne of Denmark, Princess, 193 
 
 , Queen, 6, 108 
 
 Anson, 101 
 
 Antilles, Charles at, 90 
 
 Antoinette, Marie, 4 
 
 Antwerp, 281 
 
 Apennines of Sabina, 42 
 
 Arabian Nights, 197 
 
 Argenson, Marquis d', 273 
 
 Argyll, Duke of, 340 
 
 Argylls, 215 
 
 Arisaig, 126 ; Charles at, 231 
 
 Arkaig, Loch, 231, 280 
 
 Armadale, 247 
 
 Army, the Highland, 149-150 
 
 Arne, Dr., 137 
 
 Arran, Earl of, on Queen Mary, 48 
 
 Arthur's Seat, 12, 182, 187, 200 
 
 Ascanius, 140, 257 
 
 Assembly Close, 175 
 
 of the Grand Council, 
 
 Charles at, 82 
 
 Athenteum, the, on the Sobieski 
 miniatures, 338 
 
 Atterbury, Bishop, on the birth of 
 Charles, 45 ; plotting at Ver- 
 sailles, 85 
 
 Augustus, the Strong, 74 
 
 August, Frederick, 75 
 
 Austria, 339 
 
 Austrian Succession, War of, 87 
 
 Avignon, 278, 296 [257 
 
 Aytoun, lives of Claverhouse, 14, 
 
 BADENOCH, romantic passes of, 1 52 
 
 Baker, Mrs. Duff, great-great- 
 grand-daughter of Flora, 250 
 
 Ban Duncan, on Falkirk, 213 
 
 Bannockburn, 8, 221 
 
 Bar-le-Duc, 26 
 
 Barra, 104 
 
 Barry, Madame du, 324 
 
 Bass Rock, 183 
 
 Bavaria, Elector of, 27 
 
 Beaton, Dr., and the Sobieski 
 Stuarts, 332-3 
 
 Beauly, the, 337, 339 
 
 Beckford, 81 
 
 Belle Isle, 100 
 
 Benalder, 254 
 
 Benbecula, hills of, 232 
 
 Bender, 277 
 
 Benedict XIV, and Clementina, 66 
 
 Berry, Miss, 324 
 
 Berwick, 119 
 
 , Duke of, 27 
 
 " Bettie Burke," Charles as, 241 
 
 Birmingham, 211 
 
 Bissatt, Mr., on " Seven Men of 
 Moidart," 99 
 
 Black Friday, 210 
 
 Black, Mr. Wm., and the High- 
 lands, 122-3 
 
 Blacklock, Thomas, 181 
 
 Blaikie, Mr., suggested two Jenny 
 Camerons, 138 ; on Jenny 
 Cameron and Charles, 143 ; on 
 
 34 (aoos) 
 
 359
 
 
 360 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Blaikie, Mr. (cont.) 
 
 the Highlanders and Lowland- 
 
 ers, 201 
 Blair, Athol, 99 ; Charles at, 153 
 
 Close, dance at, 174 
 
 , Dr., 179, 180 
 
 Blandford, Lord, 21 ; on Cle- 
 mentina, 32 ; on the babe 
 Charles, 49 
 
 Boisdale, Loch, 236 
 Bologna, 35 ; Clementina and 
 James Edward at, 40 ; James 
 with Mrs. Hay at, 62, 81 
 " Bonnie Dundee," 13, 153 ; the 
 men of, 206 ; the high-water 
 mark of Jacobite martial min- 
 strelsy, 264 
 Bonny Kilmeny, 263 
 Bordeaux, 340 
 Boroughmuir, 163 
 Borrodale, a week at, 231 
 Boswell, 118, 250; on Flora, 253 
 Bothwell, marriage to Mary, 191- 
 2; 193 
 
 Brig, 195, 257 
 
 Bouillon, Duke de, 97 
 Boulogne, 295, 307 
 
 Bower, on Alastair, 183 [257 
 
 Boyne, Battle of, Green on, 15, 
 
 Bradwardine, Baron, 256 
 
 Brant6me, on Holyrood, 187-8 
 
 Breck, Allan, 264 
 
 Brest, 92, 103 
 
 Brett, Captain, commanded the 
 
 Lion, 101 
 " Bridal of Caolchairn and other 
 
 Poems, the," 340 
 Brow, John, 257 
 Bruce, the glorious name of, 109 ; 
 
 and Perth, 155 
 
 of Kennet, the House of, 170 
 
 Buccleuch, Duke of, 178 
 Buchanan, 99, 189 
 
 Burke, Edward, and Charles, at 
 Invergarry, 230 
 
 Burns, 38 ; on the Highlanders, 
 181 ; satirizes the Kirk, 170 ; 
 on the Jacobite songs, 258 
 
 Burt, Captain, on the High- 
 landers, 115, 117 
 
 Burton, Hill, 228 
 
 Bute, Lord, 306 
 
 Byng, Sir George, 22 
 
 Byron, 81, 305, 327 
 
 CADDIES, in rags and impudence, 
 176 
 
 Caledonian Mercury, 207 
 
 Cameron, a doctor mentioned by 
 D'Arlincourt, 331-2 
 
 , Captain Allan, of Glendes- 
 
 sary, brother of Jenny Cameron, 
 142 
 
 , Dr. Archibald, 280 ; exe- 
 cution of, 287 
 
 , Duncan, cook at Eriskay, 
 
 124 
 
 , Jenny, present at the raising 
 
 of standard, 135 ; three works 
 purporting to be the " Life " of, 
 135-6 ; part of, in Drury Lane 
 pantomime, 137 ; used as a 
 model for " Sophia Weston," in 
 Tom Jones, 137 ; account of in 
 Life of Dr. Archibald Cameron, 
 137-8 ; the truth about, 138- 
 144 ; ^neas Macdonald and, 
 138; Scots Magazine, 139; 
 Richard Griffiths, 140; Rev. 
 David Ure, 142 ; Robert Cham- 
 bers, 143 ; Marchesa Vitelleschi, 
 143 
 
 of Fassiefern, on Charles's 
 
 influence, 129 
 
 of Glendessary, father, 138 
 
 of Lochiel, 87 
 
 Campbell, Donald, 234 
 
 , General, 247 
 
 , Thomas, and story of a 
 
 Highland dame, 149 
 
 Campbells of Argyll, 131 
 
 Canmore, Malcolm, 182 
 
 Cannal, battle of, 147 
 
 Cannongate, 143, 161 
 
 Canova, the Sculptor, 326-7 
 
 Capua, fortress of, 76 
 
 Carlos, Don, 75-7 - 
 
 Caroline of Brunswick, 29 ; Gre- 
 ville on, 60 ; eager for war, 75 
 
 Carey, Sir Robert, 194 
 
 Carlisle, capitulated, 209 
 
 Carlyle of Inveresk, on the High- 
 land army, 151 ; on the defence 
 of Edinburgh, 160 
 
 Castle of Edinburgh, 2 
 
 Tirrim, Clanranald's, 131 
 
 Catherine of Braganza, 28 
 
 of Russia, 305 
 
 Caxton, Pretender at, 146
 
 INDEX 
 
 361 
 
 Certosa, the Abbey of, 353 
 
 Cetona, peak, 42 
 
 Chambers, Robert, on Jenny 
 
 Cameron, 143, 256; and the 
 
 Sobieski Stuarts, 336, 341 
 Charing Cross and Culloden, 220 
 Charles I, 5, 28 ; the Union, 107 ; 
 
 at Holyrood, 194 ; statue of, 
 
 220-1 
 
 II, exile in France, Holland, 
 
 and Germany, 6 ; resemblance 
 to James Edward, 23-4 ; and 
 Catherine of Braganza, 28, 283 
 
 II of Sweden, 277 
 
 VI, Emperor, 27 ; death of, 
 
 87 
 
 XII, 75 
 
 Charles Edward, name and ro- 
 mance of, 12, 19 ; instinct of 
 wandering, 21 ; birth, 45 ; story 
 of the Thistle and Rose, 47 ; his 
 first levee, 47 ; what the royal 
 babe was like, 48-9 ; various 
 names of, 50 ; first letter to his 
 father, 50 ; various projects for 
 the training of, 51-2 ; Mrs. 
 Sheldon, governess, 54 ; mother 
 and father differ on the religious 
 training of, 55 ; Chevalier 
 Ramsay, tutor, 55 ; Lord Dun- 
 bar, tutor, 55 ; temper the ruin 
 of, 65 ; indebtedness to mother 
 and father, 65 ; strangely com- 
 pounded of Englishman and 
 Pole, 66 ; pictures of, 65-70 ; 
 Duke de Liria on, 68 ; Murray 
 of Broughton on, 68 ; contem- 
 porary portraits of, 69 ; attack 
 of small-pox, 70 ; occupations 
 and interests, 70, 71 ; educa- 
 tion, 72 ; mental accomplish- 
 ments over-rated : Debrosses, 
 Macdonald, and Lord Elcho on, 
 73 ; a worry to his tutors, 73 ; 
 in the trenches before Gaeta, 77 ; 
 bravery of, 77-8 ; at Naples, 
 79; mother's death, 80; re- 
 fused the hand of Spanish 
 Infanta, 80 ; tour in Italy as 
 Count of Albany, 80^4 ; hos- 
 pitality of Venice, not repeated 
 at Florence, 82 ; real character 
 in its full strength and weak- 
 ness, 83 ; horizon widened by 
 
 Charles Edward (con/.) 
 
 Italian tour, 84 ; set out for 
 France, 88 ; first in kilt, 88 ; 
 exit from Rome ; farewell to 
 James, 89 ; at Massa, Genoa, 
 Savona, Antibes, 90 ; in 
 France, 91 ; attempt on Eng- 
 land a failure, 92-4 ; Louis' 
 half-hearted promises, 94 ; with- 
 drew from Gravelines to Paris, 
 94 ; pathetic picture of, in 
 Paris, 94-5 ; in difficulties, 95 ; 
 openly shunned by Louis, 95 ; 
 would go to Scotland by him- 
 self, 96; raised 180,000 livres, 
 96 ; orders Sobieski jewels to be 
 pawned, 96 ; equipment for 
 descent on Scotland, 97 ; em- 
 barked, 99; on the Doutelle, 
 100 ; landed at Eriskay, 104 ; 
 happy omen, 104 ; songs ad- 
 dressed to, 105 ; life at Eriskay, 
 124-5 ; dressed as a parson, 
 125 ; on the Doutelle again, 
 126 ; arrived at Lochmanaugh, 
 126 ; impatience of, and the 
 result, 127-8 ; active prepara- 
 tions, 128-9 ; and French 
 Court, 129 ; brave man and 
 capable soldier, inspiring the 
 Highlands, 129 ; adopted 
 Scotch manner, 129 ; journey 
 from Eriskay to Glenfinnan, 
 130-1 ; mustering of forces at 
 Glenfinnan, 131 ; speech at 
 Glenfinnan, 133 ; as " Deputy- 
 Pretender," 135 ; march to 
 Edinburgh, 145-162 ; price of 
 30,000 on his head, 145; at 
 Invergarry, 146 ; at Coniearack, 
 heard of Cope's flight, 152 ; at 
 Blair Athole, 153 ; at Lude, 
 154-5; dined at Auld House 
 of Cask, 154 ; story of, at Cask, 
 155; at Perth, 155-6; letter 
 to his father from Perth, 156 ; 
 at Scone, 156 ; at Dunblane, 
 Sherrifmuir, Stirling, Bannock- 
 burn, Torwood, Falkirk, 157 ; 
 in love with C. Walkinshaw, 
 157; at Linlithgow, 157-9; 
 at Corstophine, 159 ; at Slate- 
 ford, 160 ; the defence and 
 taking of Edinburgh, 160-2 ;
 
 362 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Charles Edward (cont.) 
 
 entry into Edinburgh, 163-6 ; 
 proclaimed King at Market 
 Cross, 164 ; John Home on, 
 164-5 ; Erwald on, 165 ; Mac- 
 donald of Kingsburgh on, 165 ; 
 Captain Malcolm Macleod on, 
 165 ; Hugh Macdonald of Bal- 
 shor on, 166 ; Patrick Grant 
 on, 166 ; Holyrood sheltered 
 for the last time, 182 ; impres- 
 sion of Holyrood from Waverley, 
 197 ; passing out of Duddings- 
 ton, 202-3 ; entry into Edin- 
 burgh, 207 ; determined on the 
 invasion of England, 209 ; at 
 Carlisle, Derby, 209-10 ; re- 
 treat to Scotland, 210 ; defeat 
 of Hawley at Falkirk, 213 ; at 
 Mog Hall, 214; flight, 219; 
 Hill Burton and James Hogg 
 on the wanderings of, 228 ; 
 loyalty of Highlanders to, 229 ; 
 at Gortuleg, Invergarry, 230 ; 
 at Arisaig, Borrodale, 231 ; in 
 a storm, 231-2 ; at Rossinish, 
 the island of Scalpa, Stornoway, 
 232 ; as Mr. Sinclair, 232 ; 
 at Eurin, 233 ; at Scalpa, 
 provisions short, 234 ; at Cora- 
 dale, Wiay, Rossinish, 235 ; 
 meeting with Flora Macdonald, 
 239 ; disguised as Bettie Burke ; 
 proceeds to Loch Uskavagh, 
 242 ; sets sail for Skye, 243 ; 
 chased, landed at Kilbride, 244 ; 
 the lock of hair, 245 ; farewell to 
 Flora at Portree, 246; at 
 Poolewe, Benalder, 254 ; em- 
 barked on the L'Heureux, 255 ; 
 wealth of song to, 257 ; in 
 France, 270 ; his vices, 270 ; 
 in Paris, 272 ; Madrid, 273 ; 
 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 277 ; 
 expelled from Paris, 278 ; at 
 Avignon, 278 ; want of money, 
 280 ; visit to London, 281 ; 
 forsook the Roman Catholics, 
 284-5 ; Elibank Plot, 286-7 ; 
 marriage discussed, 290 ; Mme. 
 de Talmond and Mme. d'Ai- 
 guillon, 2914 ; Clementina 
 Walkinshaw, 294-306 ; his 
 daughter Charlotte, 300-1 ; not 
 
 Charles Edward (cont.) 
 
 recognized as king by Pope, 308 ; 
 marriage to Louise, 311 ; at 
 Terni, Rome, Leghorn, Sienna, 
 Florence, 317 ; brutality of, 
 320 ; picture of with Admiral 
 Allen, 332 ; serious illness, 343 ; 
 formal separation arranged , 
 344 ; turned to Charlotte Walk- 
 inshaw, 344 ; joined by Char- 
 lotte at Florence, 344 ; at 
 Rome, 347 ; paralysis, 347 ; 
 death, 348 ; burial, 348-9 ; 
 lines on the tomb of, 349 ; Burns 
 and the death of, 350-1 
 
 Chateaubriand, and Charles, 278 
 
 Chevalier de St. George, 6 ; birth 
 of, 18 ; no pretender, 18 
 
 Church of England, 1 10 
 
 Cimian mountains, 42 
 
 Civita Vecchia, a false Charles at, 
 52 
 
 Clanranald House, 242 
 
 , Lady, 166 ; adopted Flora, 
 
 238 
 
 , uncle of, met Prince, 105 ; 
 
 debating affairs with Charles, 
 126 
 
 Clan system, inimical to peace 
 and settled habits, 115 
 
 Clement XI, Pope, 44 
 
 Clementina, 1 ; Wogan on her 
 qualities, 32 ; Marquis of 
 Blandford and Baron Pollnitz 
 on her virtues, 32-3 ; James 
 accepted, 33 ; opposition to 
 marriage, 33-4 ; attempts to 
 cross Poland, 35 ; immured 
 in convent at Innsbruck, 35 ; 
 her release, 35-40 ; safe in 
 states of the Church, 40 ; proxy 
 marriage, 41; regular ceremony 
 at Montefiascone, 41 ; James' 
 consort, 42 ; presents to, 42 ; 
 medals with bust of, 47 ; intol- 
 erant in religion, 54 ; disagree- 
 ment with James, 57 ; advent 
 of second son, 59 ; decided to 
 run away, 59 ; takes refuge in 
 Convent of St. Cecilia, at Tras- 
 tenere, 59-60 ; Mrs. Hay and 
 Murray dismissed, 61 ; returned 
 to Palazzo Stuart, 63 ; neither 
 well in health nor temper, 63 ;
 
 INDEX 
 
 363 
 
 Clementina (cont.) 
 
 death of 64-5; faults of, 65; 
 buried in St. Peter's, 66; 
 Benedict XIV raised monument 
 to, 66 ; Benedict and Clemen- 
 tine lovers, 66 ; faith in Charles 
 Edward, 77 
 
 Clerihugh's, 177 
 
 Clive, Kitty, in the part of " Jenny 
 Cameron," 137 
 
 Clubs of Edinburgh, 173 ; de- 
 nounced by the Kirk, 173 
 
 Cochrane, Lady Mary, 248 
 
 Cockburn, Lord, saw aristocracy 
 of Midlothian in an ale-house, 
 178 
 
 , Mrs., and a dance at Blair 
 
 Close, 174 
 
 Convention of the Estates of 
 Scotland, 1689, 13 
 
 Cope, " Johnnie," routed, 46 ; Sir 
 John, 146 ; his plans, 147 ; 
 Walpole on, 147 ; flight to 
 Inverness, 152 ; reached Aber- 
 deen, and coming to Edinburgh 
 by sea, 157 ; marching from 
 Dunbar, 202 ; ballad on, 202 ; 
 address to his men, 203 ; com- 
 pletely routed, 203-^1 
 
 Corriearack, Charles, 152 
 
 Costume of the Clans, the, 340 ; 
 recognised authority on the 
 subject of tartans and Highland 
 dress, 340 
 
 Courant, the, suppressed by 
 Charles, 162 
 
 Covenant, the, sworn to extirpate 
 Prelacy in England and Ireland, 
 110 
 
 Crag of Glenfinnan, 22 
 
 Craigmillar, Castle of, 200 
 
 Crieff, 146 
 
 Crocetta, La, battle of, 75 
 
 Crochallan Club, 177 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, 29 ; during 
 reign, England and Scotland 
 one nation, 107 ; policy of, 
 died with him, 107, 153; at 
 Holyrood, 195 
 
 Culloden, tragedy of, 10 ; Jenny 
 Cameron and, 138 ; not for- 
 gotten to-day, 220 ; Scotland's 
 second Bannockburn, 221 ; not 
 a victory, 222 ; memorials on 
 
 Culloden, (cont.) 
 
 the field of, 221-5; lines on the 
 men who fell at, 223 ; of to-day, 
 223-4 ; lines on, by Mr. Lang, 
 224-5 ; 256, 270, 357 
 
 Cumberland, " butcher," 120 ; 
 Duke of, at Aberdeen, 215 ; at 
 Nairn, 217 ; triumphed glo- 
 riously, 219 ; stone raised to, 
 221 
 
 DALKEITH, 184 
 
 Dances, and the crinoline, 173-4 ; 
 Oliver Goldsmith on, 175 ; the 
 charm of Edinburgh, 176 ; con- 
 demned by Kirk, 174 
 
 Darien Scheme, the, 109 
 
 D'Arlincourt, Mons. le Vicomte, 
 on the Sobieski Stuarts, 331, 
 336 ; description of Sobieski 
 home by, 337 
 
 Darnley, 5 ; married to Mary, 
 190; death, 191 
 
 Davy, Sir Humphrey, 327 
 
 Dawkins, James, on Charles, 288 
 
 Debrosses, Charles, on religious 
 devotion of James Edward, 20 ; 
 on Charles Edward and Henry 
 as musicians, 70 ; on culture 
 of Charles, 73 
 
 Deffand, Mme. du, 292 
 
 Defoe, and the Highlanders, 111; 
 on the population of Scotland, 
 112; description of Glasgow, 
 168 
 
 Derby, 48, 146 ; Charles at, 209- 
 10 ; retreat from, 210-11, 356 
 
 Dettingen, and Sir John Cope, 147 
 
 Dinmont, Dandie, 119 
 
 Disraeli and Lord Melbourne, 197 
 
 Doge of Venice, received Charles, 
 82 
 
 Dominique, Rue St., 292 
 
 Dormer, 281 
 
 Doutelle, the, 99, 356 
 
 Dowie's, Johnnie, tavern, 177 
 
 Drumclog, 195 
 
 Drumpellier, Lady, 175 
 
 Dublin, 111 
 
 Duchess of Perth, 139 
 
 Duddingston, forces of Charles at, 
 200 ; after Prestonpans, 208 
 
 Duke of York, fond of promenad- 
 ing, 163
 
 364 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Dunbar, 202 
 Dundee, 257 
 Dundonald, Earl of, 248 
 Dunfermline, the royal city, 182 ; 
 too near the turbulent line, 182 
 
 Abbey, kings laid to rest in, 
 
 182 
 
 Dunkeld, 206 
 
 Dunkirk, 22 ; preparations at, 92 
 
 EAST KILBRIDE, 142 
 
 Eastlake, Lady, 336 
 
 Eau, Captain d', 101 
 
 Edgeworth, Miss, 111 
 
 Edinburgh, 48 ; uproar and tu- 
 mult in, 110; during Union 
 debates, 111; to Glasgow took 
 twelve hours, 117; to Aber- 
 deen, two days, 117; letter 
 from and to London, three to 
 six days, 117, 119; Jenny 
 Cameron in, 141, 143, 146; the 
 defence and taking of, 160-2 ; 
 had not taken Highlanders 
 seriously, 162 ; a dirty place, 
 168; Charles Wesley on the 
 dirty state of, 168-9 ; Taylor, 
 the Water Poet, on, 169 ; 
 Smollett on, 169 ; overcrowded, 
 170 ; a gay, easy-going town, 
 170; clubs of, 173; Kirk 
 made sure of few amusements, 
 170-4 ; Oliver Goldsmith's 
 " deplorably dull," 175 ; fa- 
 shions of, 176 ; life of taverns, 
 176-7 ; Stevenson on the cli- 
 mate of, 177 ; Augustan age of 
 literature of, 180 ; made capi- 
 tal, 182 
 
 Edward I, 109 
 
 Eguilles Marquis d', 290 
 
 Eil, Loch, 130 
 
 Eileen Agais, 337, 339 
 
 Eileen Shoona, 131 
 
 Elcho, Lord/on Charles's physique, 
 71 ; on Charles's acquirements, 
 73 ; with Charles on entry into 
 Edinburgh, 163; 290 
 
 Elibank, Lord, 286 
 
 Plot, 286 
 
 Elizabeth, of Austria, 355 
 , Queen, 305 
 
 Elizabeth, the, 99 ; action with 
 the Lion, 101-3 
 
 Emperor of Germany, and James 
 
 Edward's marriage, 34 
 England, 4 ; in trouble, 97 ; 107 
 English influence and institutions 
 found a footing in the High- 
 lands, 120 
 
 Eriskay, island of, Charles landed 
 at, 104 ; ever a romantic spot 
 in Jacobite memory, 104 ; cha- 
 racter of, 105 
 Errol, Earl of, 340 
 Esk, 211 
 Eskdale, 339 
 
 Esquimaux and the Scots, 112 
 Eurin, islet of, Charles at, 233 
 Europe, set by the ears, 87 
 Ewald, on the babe Charles Ed- 
 ward, 47-8 ; on Charles's con- 
 duct before the Pope, 56 ; on 
 Charles's dress, 165 
 
 FABRE, FRANCIS XAVIER, 326, 
 335 
 
 Fair Maid of Perth, the, 3 
 
 Falkirk, 138, 146; defeat of 
 Hawley at, 213 ; 341 
 
 Falkland Place, 3 
 
 Fawside Castle, 203 
 
 Female Fortitude Exemplify'd in 
 an Impartial Narrative of the 
 Seizure, Escape, and Marriage 
 of the Princess Clementina So- 
 bieski, 35 
 
 Fenelon, 55 
 
 Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, 
 353 
 
 Ferguson, Adam, 180 
 
 , Captain, 247 
 
 Ferraldi, Tolla, 44 
 
 Ferrand, Mile., 293 
 
 Ferrara, 82 
 
 , Andrea, 338 . 
 
 , Cosmo, 338 
 
 Fielding, and Tom Jones, 137 
 
 Fife, 182 
 
 Findhorn, the, 339 
 
 Fitz-Eustace, 124, 200 
 
 Fitz- James, Due de, 291 
 
 Flanders, 294 
 
 Fletcher, in his " Second Dis- 
 course," on the state of Scot- 
 land, 112-3 
 
 Fleury, 88 
 
 Flodden, Field of, 3, 186
 
 INDEX 
 
 365 
 
 Floddigarry, 249 
 
 Flora MacdoncUd's Lament, 258 
 
 Florence, 82-3, 317, 321, 323, 334 
 
 Fontenoy, 92, 97 
 
 Forbes, Bishop, 341 
 
 , President of Culloden, attri- 
 buted almost all the Jacobite 
 misfortunes to tea-drinking, 
 118; 172, 215 
 
 Forth, 182 
 
 Fort William, 130 
 
 Foscolo Ugo, 327 
 
 Fotheringay, 4 
 
 Francis V, 354 
 
 Frascati, 50, 321, 352, 353 
 
 Frazer and the Rout of Moy, 214 
 
 Friburg, 306 
 
 GAETA, fortress of, 33 ; Spaniards 
 
 in front of, 76, 78, 79 
 Galloway, Earl of, Burns' stanza 
 
 on, 103 
 
 Gaydon, Major, 36 
 Genoa, 81 ; Charles at, 90 
 Georges, the four, humdrum ca- 
 reers of, 7 ; compared with the 
 Stuarts, 7 
 
 George I, character of, 7 ; minis- 
 ters of, and marriage of James 
 Edward, 34 ; and the High- 
 lands, 122 ; proclamation of in 
 Inverness, 122 ; the butt of 
 every bardling, 260 ; secure in 
 his " chair," 334 
 
 II, character of, 7 ; eager 
 
 to fight, 75 ; price on, 145 
 
 Ill, character of, 7 ; and 
 
 Queen Charlotte, 28 ; gener- 
 osity of. 354 
 
 IV, Thackeray's picture of, 
 
 8 ; and Caroline of Brunswick, 
 29 
 
 Germains, St., 15 
 
 German " intruders," 7 
 
 " German lairdie," 22 
 
 Germany, Emperor of, remon- 
 strates with James Edward, 61 
 
 Ghent, death of Jenny Cameron at, 
 140, 287, 298 
 
 Glasgow, 48, 87, 211 ; portrait of 
 Flora, 252 
 
 Glen, William, 263 
 
 Glenaladale, 131 
 
 Glencoe, massacre of, 109 
 
 Glenfinnan, chosen for raising the 
 standard, 130, 131 ; mustering 
 of the clans at, 132-3 
 
 Goldsmith, Oliver, disgusted with 
 the Highlands, 123 ; dances of 
 Edinburgh "deplorably dull," 
 175 
 
 Gordon, letter to Charlotte, 300, 
 303, 304 
 
 Goring, Henry, 80-1, 280, 297, 299 
 
 Gortuleg, Charles at, 230 
 
 Gowrie Conspiracy, 193 
 
 Graham of Claverhouse, the gal- 
 lant, fall of, 13 ; lines on, by 
 Aytoun, 14 
 
 Grampians, 152 
 
 Gravelines, Charles at, 92 ; Charles 
 left, 94 
 
 Gray, the poet, on James Edward, 
 24 ; on the indifference of the 
 English to the '45 rising, 
 146-7 
 
 Greathead, Mr., 345 
 
 Great North Road, 117 [15 
 
 Green, on the Battle of the Boyne, 
 
 Greville, the diarist, on Caroline 
 of Brunswick, 60 
 
 Griffiths, Richard, on Jenny Ca- 
 meron, 140-2 
 
 HABEAS CORPUS ACT, 112 
 
 Hamilton, Emma, and Nelson, 305 
 
 , Sir John, on Charles's golf , 71 
 
 Hanover, House of, a foreign 
 graft on the native royal tree, 9, 
 257 
 
 Hanoverian wits, 19 
 
 Hapsburg, House of, 87 
 
 Harris, 232 
 
 Hartford, 187 
 
 Hartington, Lord, 147 
 
 Harwich, 28 
 
 Hawley, General, at Falkirk, 212 ; 
 defeat of, 213 
 
 Hay, Colonel John, prevents the 
 sending of a pseudo-Charles to 
 Scotland, 52 
 
 , Lady Alice, 340 
 
 , Mrs., Lady Inverness, 57 ; 
 
 and James Edward, 58 ; ap- 
 pears in public with James, 61 ; 
 at Bologna with James, 62 
 
 Hayward, Abraham, 320, 322, 327 
 
 Hebrides, 250
 
 366 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Henrietta Maria, Princess, 354 
 
 Henry, Cardinal, 80 ; and Charles's 
 visit to France, 89 ; and Charles, 
 271 ; admission to the Sacred 
 College a second Culloden, 274 ; 
 cursed by Charles, 276 ; chea- 
 ted Charles of his birthright, 
 277 ; distressed at reported 
 marriage of Charles to Cle- 
 mentina Walkinshaw, 302 ; an- 
 nuity to Clementina, 306 ; 
 appeal to Charles, 307 ; passed 
 fortune and pension to Charles, 
 308; to Louise, 321; and 
 reputed son of Charles, 335, 
 343, 345, 346; assumed title 
 of Henry IX, 352 ; Bishop of 
 Frascati, 352-3 ; fled to Naples, 
 354 ; generosity of, 354 ; pen- 
 sion from George III, 354 ; 
 death, 354 
 
 Hermand, Lord, 179 
 
 Hessians, 215 
 
 Highlanders, essentially conserva- 
 tive, 9 ; the chief leader of the, 
 116; characteristics of, 116-7, 
 
 120 ; suffering from the sever- 
 ity of Government after '15, 
 
 121 ; and their arms, 121 ; 
 loyalty of, 145 ; how brought 
 together to fight for Charles, 
 
 148 ; hereditary monarchy an 
 essential part of the religion of, 
 
 149 ; a terror to the southern 
 regular, 151 ; at Duddingston, 
 200-3 ; at Prestonpans, 204-6 ; 
 mode of attack, 205 ; violent 
 dislike of musket-fire, 206 ; at 
 Carlisle, 211 ; at Glasgow, 211- 
 12; at Falkirk, 213; broke 
 into two portions, 213 ; tired 
 and hungry, 215 ; Chevalier 
 Johnstone on, 216; at Cullo- 
 den, 217-225 
 
 Highlands, 8 ; clan system of 
 inimical to peace and settled 
 life, 115; English influence and 
 English institutions found a 
 footing in, 120 ; not really 
 discovered until Scott's time, 
 122; Goldsmith disgusted with, 
 123 ; Fitz-Eustace on, 123 
 Hillsborough, Lord, 330 
 History of the Rebellion. 164 
 
 Hogg, James, on Charles's wander- 
 ings, 228 ; lyric on Flora 
 Macdonald, 237 ; Lament of 
 Flora Macdonald by, 246-7 ; 
 created tradition of the warlike 
 poetry of Young Chevalier, 263 
 
 Holyrood, the home of Charles's 
 ancestors, 163 ; rooms of as 
 dirty stables, 168, 181 ; a 
 modern poet on, 182 ; romance 
 of, begins with Stuart dynasty, 
 
 182 ; dramatic scene at, 183 ; 
 twin sons of James I born here, 
 
 183 ; James II born, christened, 
 crowned, wedded, buried at, 
 
 184 ; James III married at, 
 184 ; James IV, 185-6 ; James 
 V, 186-7 ; first wife and sons 
 of James V buried at, 187 ; 
 Hartford burned and plundered 
 the Abbey, 187 ; destruction 
 of, 187 ; Mary kept gay court 
 at, 188 ; ever the Holyrood of 
 Mary Stuart, 189, 192 ; glory 
 of, eclipsed by St. James', 192 ; 
 James VI at, 192-3 ; used as 
 a royal residence, 194 ; Charles 
 at, 1 94-5 ; burnt by Cromwell's 
 troops, 195 ; Charles II ordered 
 reconstruction of, 195 ; Sir 
 Herbert Maxwell on, 195 ; 
 James VII, 195 ; assailed, 196 ; 
 memorial of a chequered past, 
 196; in 1745, 196-8; Lord 
 Rosebery on, 196 ; Scott on, 
 196-7 ; Waverley, an uncom- 
 monly good source for informa- 
 tion on, 197 ; Charles' last 
 night at, 199 ; 256 ; 355 
 
 Home, John, 164-5, 172 
 
 Houses of Scotland, 119 
 
 Hume, David, on Charles's action 
 during encounter with the Lion, 
 103 ; agnostic, died confessing 
 his Scotticisms, 180 
 
 INNSBRUCK, 35, 37 
 
 Invergarry, Charles at, 146, 230 
 
 Inverness, 117; proclamation of 
 George I in, 122 ; Highland 
 army set out for, 214 ; capture 
 of, 214 ; monument to Flora 
 Macdonald at, 251-2 
 
 lolair Dearg, 340
 
 INDEX 
 
 367 
 
 JACOBITE, minstrelsy of, 9 ; army 
 after death of Claverhouse, 14 ; 
 claim, 63 ; fires reviving, 
 85 ; agents, 85 ; association, 
 a, formed, 87 ; Prestonpans, 
 206 ; poetry and music of, 258 
 
 Jacobites, biting sarcasm of, 7 ; 
 reason for their loyalty to 
 Stuarts, 8 ; love and loyalty 
 revived at intervals, 10 ; first 
 time heard of in England, 13 ; 
 meaning of, 13 ; Battle of the 
 Boyne, 14 ; loyalty to James 
 11,17; delighted with romantic 
 escape of Clementina, 40 ; wait- 
 ing hopefully for birth of Prince 
 of Wales, 43 ; much ado about 
 Charles Edward's orb, by, 46 ; 
 protested against James's con- 
 duct, 61 ; old Chevalier still 
 king to, 85 ; worrying Charles, 
 96 ; and Clementina Walkin- 
 shaw, 305 ; looking eagerly for 
 an heir, 334 
 
 Jacobitism, despicable desertion 
 of, by James Edward, 25 ; 
 spirit kept alive by presence of 
 Charles Edward, 51 ; poetry 
 of, 263 ; practically dead, 270 
 
 James I of England, distinction 
 rare in the history of his House, 
 5 ; as James VI of Scotland, 
 107 ; song of The Kinges Quair, 
 Peebles to the Play, 182 ; and 
 Holyrood, 192^3 
 
 I of Scotland, tragedy of his 
 
 life, 2 ; twin sons of, born at 
 Holyrood, 183 
 
 II of England, hated by 
 
 Highlanders, 6 ; cowardice of 
 at the Battle of the Boyne, 15 ; 
 roving at St. Germains, 15 ; 
 unworthy of Jacobite devotion, 
 17 ; gloomy brutality of, 66 ; 
 Mary of Modena on, 299 
 
 II of Scotland, slaying and 
 
 slain, 2 ; hastily crowned, 183 ; 
 wedded to Mary of Gueldres, 
 183 ; siege of Roxburgh, 184 
 
 Ill of Scotland, 2-3, 184 ; 
 
 married to Princess Margaret of 
 Denmark, 184 ; character of, 184 
 
 IV of Scotland, fate of. 3, 
 
 185 ; death at Flodden, 186 
 
 James V of Scotland, unhappy 
 reign, 3 ; as " Red Tod," 4, 
 186 ; Holyrood, 186-7 ; " gude- 
 man of Bullengeich," 186 
 
 Francis Edward, legitimate 
 
 heir to throne, 18 ; old Mr. 
 Melancholy, 19 ; devotion to 
 religion, 20 ; Jamie the Rover, 
 
 21 ; at Malplaquet, 21 ; Thack- 
 eray on, 21 ; in Scotland, 22 ; 
 at Montrose, 22 ; none of the 
 qualities of Jacobites of '45, 
 
 22 ; descriptions of, 23-5 ; 
 Rev. Charles Leslie on, 23 ; 
 poet Gray on, 24 ; a craven, 
 25 ; distorted caricature of 
 in Esmond, 26 ; not amorous 
 or profligate, 26 ; various ma- 
 trimonial projects abortive, 26 ; 
 Charles Wogan in search of 
 bride, 30 ; Clementina found, 
 32-3 ; James in Spain, 41 ; 
 birth of a son, 47 ; hesitation 
 in the training of Charles 
 Edward, 51, 53 ; domestic 
 troubles, 53-7 ; urges wife's 
 return, 61 ; assailed from every 
 quarter, 61 ; relations with 
 Mrs. Hay, 62, 63 ; returned to 
 Palazzo Stuart with Clementina, 
 63 ; anxious for a separation, 
 63 ; death of Clementina, 64-5 ; 
 faults of, 65 ; Charles Edward's 
 commission, 76 ; slowly dying, 
 307 ; savings of, 307 
 
 Jeanneton, 36 ; to take place of 
 Clementina, 37 
 
 Jenkin's ear, war-cry of, 86 
 
 Johnnie, Souter, 118-9 
 
 John of Poland, saviour of Europe 
 from Turks, 31 
 
 Johnson, Dr., on the Scots before 
 the Union, 112 ; on the scant 
 timber of Scotland, 118; drink 
 for horses of, 119; on Flora 
 Macdonald, 237 ; and Flora, 
 250, 253 ; put to sleep in 
 Charlie's bed, 253 
 
 Johnstone, Chevalier, on the 
 Highlanders' mode of fighting, 
 205-6 ; on the Highland army 
 at Culloden, 216 
 
 " Jolly Beggars," 178 
 
 Joseph, Emperor, 27
 
 368 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Julius II, Pope, gift of, 186 
 
 KAMES, LORD, 179, 180 
 
 Keith, Field-Marshal, 287 
 
 Kelly, George, accompanied 
 Charles to Scotland, 99 
 
 Kenmure, 257 
 
 Kennedy, Major, 280 
 
 Kilbride, 244 
 
 Kildonan, Loch, 249 
 
 Killiecrankie, 13, 153, 206, 257 
 
 Kilmansegg, Mme., 260 ; 
 
 Kilmarnock, Lady, 212 
 
 Kilmuir, 251 
 
 King, Dr., 281 
 
 Kingsburgh, 250 
 
 King's Park, 163 
 
 Kinges Quair, 182 
 
 Kinloch-Moidart, Charles at, 131-2 
 
 Kinnoul, Lord, 52 
 
 Kirk, the, 170 ; " seizers " of, 
 170 ; tyranny of, 172 ; de- 
 nounced clubs of Edinburgh, 
 173 
 
 Knox, John, and Queen of Scots, 
 17 ; and James II, 18 ; meet- 
 ings of Estates of Scotland, 109 ; 
 Mary's arrival at Holyrood, 
 187-8 
 
 LAMARTINE, 314 
 
 Lament of Flora Macdonald, 246-7 
 
 Landgrave of Hesse Darmstadt, 
 
 291 
 
 Lang Dykes, now Princes St., 167 
 Lang, Mr., on Prince of Romance, 
 
 12 ; on lines on Culloden by, 
 
 224-5 
 
 " Langshankit Neddy," 156 
 Lauzun, Count de, at the Battle 
 
 of the Boyne, 15 
 Lavramarket, the evening lights 
 
 of, 168 
 
 Lays of the Deer Forest, 339 
 Lee, Vernon, on Louise, 313; 315 
 Leghorn, 83, 317, 334 
 Leith, 184, 187 
 
 Links, 176 
 
 Roads, 248 
 
 Leslie, Rev. Charles, on James 
 Edward, 23 
 
 Letters from Italy r by an English- 
 woman, 69 
 
 Lewis, 233 
 
 Leyden, 123 
 
 Libra d'Oro, 46 
 
 Life of Dr. Archibald Cameron. 
 See Appendix, 137-8 
 
 Lindsay of Pitscottie, on James 
 V, 186 
 
 Linlithgow, 3 ; Royalists escaped 
 to, 213 
 
 Lion, the, action with the Eliza- 
 beth, 101-3 
 
 Liria, Duke de, 51, 68, 76 
 
 Lochgerry, 287 
 
 Lochiel, the Younger, 87 ; depre- 
 cated attempt without the aid 
 of the French, 127 ; the war- 
 note of, 132 ; led the Camerons 
 at Edinburgh, 161 
 
 " Lochiel's Warning," 216 
 
 Lochmanaugh, Charles bound for, 
 126 ; pushed away from, 231 
 
 Lockhart of Carnwath, 53, 86 
 
 Logic, 339 
 
 Lombardy, Austrian, 75 
 
 London, 249, 339 
 
 Long Isle, happy omen at, 104, 
 231 
 
 Loreto, 314 
 
 Lorraine, James hurried to, 63 ; 
 Charles at, 292 
 
 , Duke of, 27 
 
 Louden, Lord, holding Inverness 
 for Government, 214 
 
 Louis, Charles, Baron de Pollnitz, 
 on Clementina, 32-3 
 
 , George, Elector of Hanover, 
 
 6 
 
 , Iain, 206 
 
 Louise, Princess, of Stolberg, her 
 lineage, 311 ; marriage to 
 Charles, 312-13 ; descriptions 
 of, 313-4 ; her attitude to 
 Charles Edward, 316-7 ; letter 
 to Charles, 318; and Alfieri, 
 
 321 ; divorce from Charles, 
 
 322 ; her assumed regality, 
 322-3 ; visited England with 
 Alfieri, 323 ; Journal of, 324 ; 
 adventures in London, 324 ; 
 Vaughan on, 326 ; central 
 figure of a salon at Florence, 
 327 ; Napoleon's order, 327 ; 
 and a child, 332 ; no mention 
 of child at death, 335 ; all but 
 strangled by Charles, 343
 
 INDEX 
 
 369 
 
 Louise of Baden, Prince, 16 
 
 of France, 15 ; kindness to 
 
 James II, 16 ; gratitude of 
 James Edward to, 20 ; and 
 Charles, 271-3 
 -, Prince of Bavaria, 355 
 
 Lovat, Lord, 87, 230, 337 
 
 Lowell, on Charles, 35-6 
 
 Lowlanders compared with High- 
 landers, 201 
 
 Lowlands, 117 
 
 Lucca, Charles at, 83 ; 332 
 
 Lude, Charles at, 153-4 
 
 , Lady, 154 
 
 Lumisden, Andrew, 301, 307 
 
 Lumsden, Isabella, 174 
 
 Lyon in Mourning, and the 
 Sobieski legend, 341 
 
 MACARTHURS, 251 
 
 Macaulay, and the Scots, 113; 283 
 
 , Rev. John, 233 
 
 Macbean, Gillie, death of, 218-9 
 
 Maccombich, Evan Dhu, 256 
 
 Macdonald ^Eneas, a Paris banker, 
 on Charles' education, 75 ; ac- 
 companied Charles, 99 ; on 
 Jenny Cameron, 139 
 
 , Alexander of Boisdale, 125 
 
 , Allan, 249, 250 
 
 , Angus, Charles in the cot- 
 tage of, 124 
 -, Flora, 165 ; Dr. Johnson on, 
 
 237; story of, 238; meeting 
 of, with Charles, 238-9; as- 
 sented to aid escape of Prince, 
 240 ; letter of step-father, 241 ; 
 with Lady Clanranald and Neil 
 McEachan to Rossinish, 24 1 ; to 
 Loch Uskavagh, 242-3 ; landed 
 at Kilbride, 244 ; cut a lock of 
 Charles's hair, 245 ; burial, 245 ; 
 parting with Charles, 246 ; 
 James Hogg quoted, 246-7 ; a 
 prisoner, 247-9 ; at Kildonan, 
 249 ;! married, 249 ; emigration 
 to North Carolina, 250 ; adven- 
 ture on her return home, 250 ; 
 at Kildonan, 250 ; death, 250 ; 
 funeral, 251 ; statue in Inver- 
 ness, 252 ; portraits of, 252-3, 
 256-7 
 
 , Flora Zela, 251 
 
 of Glencoe, 133 
 
 Macdonald, Hugh of Balshor, on 
 
 Charles's dress, 166, 241 
 , Lady Margaret, 238, 244 
 
 of Keppoch, 133, 148, 154 ; 
 
 death of, 218 
 
 of Kingsburgh, on Charles's 
 
 dress, 165, 244 
 
 , Ranald, and Charles, 127 
 
 , Reginald, 251 
 
 , Sir John, 99 ; 154 
 
 Macerata, 314 ; Charles Edward 
 married at, 315 
 
 Macgillivray, brave deed of, and 
 death, 218 
 
 Macgregor, and his gang, 113 
 
 Mackenzie, Mrs., 232-3 
 
 Mackenzie, Roderick, as a pseudo- 
 Charles, 52 
 
 Mackintosh, Brigadier, 257 
 
 , Lady, Charles the guest of, 
 
 214 
 
 MacLeod, Captain Malcolm, quo- 
 tations of Charles's by, 166 
 
 , Donald, 231 
 
 bread and cheese for Charles, 
 232 
 
 Macnamara, Mr., 298 
 
 Macpherson, Cluny, 152 ; famous 
 cave of, 255 ; 299 
 
 " Ossian," and Dr. Johnson, 
 
 181 
 
 Macrimmons, 251 
 
 Madeleine, French bride of James 
 V, 186 
 
 Madrid, 85 
 
 Magus Moor, 196 
 
 Maison du Roi, 21 
 
 Malplaquet, 21 
 
 Manchester, 210 
 
 Mann, Sir Horace, 69 ; on Flo- 
 rence, 82 ; on Charles, 91 ; 283, 
 289, 309, 313, 320, 321, 334, 
 343, 345 
 
 Mar, 257 
 
 Margaret of Denmark, 184 
 
 , of Tudor, 185-S 
 
 , Queen of James IV, 3 
 
 Marischal, Earl, 299 
 
 Market Cross, Charles proclaimed 
 as King James VIII at, 164 
 
 Marmion, 200 
 
 Martinique, 100 
 
 Mary, daughter of James II, 6 
 
 of Gueldres, 183
 
 370 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Mary of Guise, 187 
 
 Theresa, of Austria, present 
 
 heiress to House of Stuart, 355 
 
 Mason, A. E. W., novel on 
 Clementina, 31 
 
 Massa, Charles at, 90 
 
 Maxwell, Sir Herbert, 195 
 
 McEachan, Neil, 241 
 
 M'Dowall, Kate, 247 
 
 Meaux, 301 
 
 Mecklenburg bride, 28 
 
 Medici, Catherine de, society 
 around, 5 
 
 Melancholy, Old Mr., 19 
 
 Melbourne, Lord, and Disraeli, 
 197 
 
 Menin, 287 
 
 Meudon, 186 
 
 Milan, 81 
 
 Minch, 243, 256 
 
 Minstrelsy, Jacobite, shows con- 
 servatism of Highlanders, 9 
 
 Misset, an Irishman, 36, 37, 38 ; 
 drugged German courier, 40 
 
 , Mrs., 36, 38 ; companion to 
 
 Clementina, 38-9 
 
 Mitchell, 36 
 
 M'lvor, Flora and Charles, 197 
 
 Modena, Duke of, 291, 299 
 
 Moidart, 126 ; Seven Men of, 
 55, 99; Loch, 130, 256 
 
 Monboddo, Lord, 179 ; anticipa- 
 tor of Darwin, 181 ; practically 
 killed his consumptive daugh- 
 ter, 181 
 
 Monkstadt, 244, 249 
 
 Montagu, Lady, 281 
 
 , Mary Wortley, on Clemen- 
 tine and Benedict, 66 
 
 Montefiascone, Clementina and 
 James Edward married at, 41 
 
 Montrose, 22, 25, 153 
 
 Moray, Earl of, 339 
 
 Firth, 224 
 
 Moore, Tom, 327 
 More, Hannah, 325 
 Murray, Alex, 286 
 
 , Lord Dunbar, as emissary 
 
 to Clementina, 34 ; received 
 Clementina at Bologna, 40 ; 
 tutor to Charles, 55, 80 ; on 
 Charles Edward, 343 ; descrip- 
 tions of Charles's Italian tour, 
 83-4 
 
 Murray, of Broughton, on Charles 
 Edward, 68 ; on Charles' edu- 
 cation, 72 ; official agent for 
 Scotland, 87 ; on the Highland 
 chief, 116; on Charles's speech, 
 133 ; beautiful wife of, 164 
 
 Musselburgh, 203 
 
 Links, 176 
 
 NAIRNE, Lady, 154, 263; and 
 Jacobite poetry, 265-6 ; lau- 
 reate of later-day Jacobitism, 
 266 
 
 Naples, 79, 353 
 
 Napoleon, 47 ; and Louise, 327, 
 329 ; and the Sobieskis, 337 
 
 National Portrait Gallery, Edin- 
 burgh, portraits of Charles, in, 
 69 
 
 Nelson, 306 
 
 Nether Bow Port, Highlanders at, 
 161 
 
 Newcastle, 211 
 
 Newhall, Lady, 175 
 
 Nithsdale, Lord, 36 
 
 Nor' Loch, 167 
 
 Norris, Sir John, commander of 
 English at Spithead, 92, 93 
 
 North Carolina, 250 
 
 Northumberland, 210 
 
 Notes and Queries, account of the 
 descendants of Flora Mac- 
 donald, 250-1 
 
 Notre-Dame, James married at, 
 186; Abbey of, 301 
 
 Notte di Natale, played by Charles 
 and Henry, 70 
 
 ODYSSEY, 2 
 
 Ogilvie, Captain, anecdote of, 110 
 
 Oldbuck, Jonathan, on the High- 
 land army, 151 
 
 Oliphant, Caroline, chief modern 
 singer of the Jacobite cause, 154 
 
 , Charles, 154 
 
 , Laurence, 265 
 
 O'Neil, with Charles, 232 ; met 
 Flora Macdonald, 239 ; story 
 of meeting of Charles and Flora, 
 by, 239 
 
 Orkney Islands, transferred to 
 Scotland, 184 
 
 Orleans, Duke of, 354
 
 INDEX 
 
 371 
 
 O'Shanter Tarn, 118 
 
 O'Sullivan, Captain, accompanied 
 
 Charles to Scotland, 99; 
 
 Charles's practical jokes with, 
 
 156 ; on the way to Stor noway 
 
 with Charles, 232 
 O'Toole, 36 ; saved Clementina's 
 
 jewels, 39 
 
 PADUA, 82 
 
 Paita, 101 
 
 Palazzo Balestro, 44, 45 
 
 Caprara, 40 
 
 Pamphili, 88 
 
 Stuart, 44 ; home re-made 
 
 at, 63 ; " slow " to Charles 
 Edward, 67, 79 ; diplomatic 
 eyes always on, 88 
 
 Palermo, 353 
 
 Panmure, Countess of, manager of 
 
 dances in Edinburgh, 175 
 Paris, Charles at, 94; 272, 298, 
 
 306, 334 
 Parliament Close, Highlanders in 
 
 the, 162 
 Parma, Charles inspected troops 
 
 at, 81, 332 
 
 Peebles to the Play, 182 
 Pentlands, 200 
 Perth, 2 ; the " St. Johnstone," 
 
 155 ; Romans said handsome 
 
 things of, 155 ; history of, 155 ; 
 
 assassination of James I at, 
 
 182; 199 
 Peter's, St., 50 
 Philip V, 27 
 Piacenza, 81 
 
 Piazzi dei Santi Apostoli, 44 
 Pickle the Spy, 280, 287 
 Pinguillon, Mdlle de, attended 
 
 Mary, 189 
 Pinkie, 187, 203 
 Piozzi, Mrs., 345 
 Pisa, Charles at, 83 
 Platt, Alfred Von, 341 ; Mme. 
 
 Von, 341 
 Poland, Clementine and mother 
 
 set out from, 35 
 Polish Election, war of, 74 
 Pollnitz, Baron, 37 
 Pompadour, the, 305 
 Poolewe, Charles at, 254 
 Poosie Nancy's, 178 
 
 Pope, the, 20 ; James Edward's 
 letter to, 20 ; cuts off half of 
 James's pension, 61 ; sent three 
 cardinals to James, 62 ; bene- 
 diction on Charles Edward, 76, 
 308; wrote to Louise, 321; 
 hopes of Charles's reform, 345 ; 
 forcibly removed from Palace 
 of the Quirinal, 353 
 
 Popes of Presbytery, 171 
 
 Portobello, 203 
 
 Portree, 245 
 
 Presbytery, dangers to, 110 
 
 President's Lady, the, 175 
 
 Prestonpans, 138, 203, 256, 356 
 
 Pretender, why name given, 19 ; 
 Whig rhyme on, 19 
 
 Primrose, Lady, of Dunipace, 
 249, 282 
 
 Princes Strand, 105 
 Street, 167 
 
 Pringle, Sir John, 103 
 
 QUEEN of Spain, 34 
 Queensberry, Duke of, 108 
 Queensferry, 179 
 Quirinal, Palace of the, 353 
 
 RABELAIS, 186 
 
 Raid of Ruthven, 193 
 
 Ramsay, Allan, 171, 172, 180, 252 
 
 , Chevalier, tutor to Charles, 
 
 55 ; friend of Fenelon, 55 ; 
 
 suspected of being a creature 
 
 of Mar, 55 ; dismissed, 55 
 Randolph, Thomas, on Mary 
 
 Stuart, 4 
 Raon-mairi, 206 
 Ray, on the houses of Scotland, 
 
 119; on the Highland army 
 
 after Derby, 150 ; 267 
 Rebecca, brig, 86 
 Red Eagle, 340 
 Redmond, Captain, and Charles' 
 
 hair, 83 
 Reed, 179 
 
 Regalia of Scotland, 186 
 Robertson, 179 
 , Tom, portrait of Flora, by, 
 
 252 
 
 Robertson's of Lude, 153 
 Rob Roy, 1 14, 338 
 Rochefort, 92
 
 372 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Rome, 26 ; too hot for James, 62 ; 
 the most cosmopolitan city of 
 the 18th century, 76 ; story of 
 the wars of, 104 ; bowls sent 
 to for Charles, 153 ; Charles at, 
 346 ; French advance on, 353 
 
 Ronsard, 186 
 
 Roqueville, De, 93 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, on Scotland 
 before '45, 113-4 ; on Waver ley, 
 196 ; on Clementina Walkin- 
 shaw, 295 
 
 Roslin, 179 
 
 Rossinish, Charles at, 232, 241-2 
 
 Routledge, of Dunkirk, 99 
 
 Rout of Moy, 214 
 
 Roxburgh Castle, siege of, 2, 184 
 
 SADLER, Sir Ralph, 49 
 
 Salisbury Crags, 182, 200 
 
 Sampson's Ribs, 200 
 
 Sauchieburn, 3 
 
 Savona, Charles at, 90 
 
 Saxe, Marshal, 92, 93 
 
 Scalpa, Charles at, 232 
 
 Schlettstadt, 36 
 
 Scone, Charles at, 156 
 
 Scotland, memories of Sheriffmuir 
 and Glenshiel, by, 98 ; knew 
 practically nothing of '45 expe- 
 dition, 100 ; and England, one 
 King, 107 ; and England, one 
 nation, 107 ; union with Eng- 
 land an urgent constitutional, 
 necessity, 108 ; population of 
 112; social conditions, etc., 
 113, 117-120,299, 356 
 
 Scots College at Paris, 101 
 
 Scots Magazine, on Jeanie Ca- 
 meron, 139 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, on the Union, 
 111 ; and Waverley, 120; Lady 
 of the Lake, 148 ; Bonnie 
 Dundee, 257, 263, 281, 341 
 
 Seafield, Lord Chancellor, on the 
 Union, 109 
 
 Seaforth, the Hanoverian chief, 
 233 
 
 Sedan-chairs, 176 
 
 Selkirkshire, a false Charles in, 52 
 
 Seton, population of Scotland, 1 12 
 
 Seven Men of Glemmoriston, 254 
 
 of Moidart, 55, 99 
 
 Sharp, Archbishop, 176 
 
 Sheldon, Mrs., governess to 
 Charles, 54 ; driven away by 
 Mr. and Mrs. Hay, 57 
 Shelley, rebuked for laughing on 
 
 the " Sawbath," 170 
 Shenstone, on the union, 210-1 1 
 Sheridan, Sir Thomas, 55, 77 ; 
 
 with Charles to Scotland, 97 
 Sheriffmuir, the Culloden of '15; 
 
 22, 257 
 
 Shetland Islands, 184 
 Shiel, Loch, 130 
 Sienna, Charles at, 317, 322 
 Silesia, 31, 34 
 Skye, 166, 231, 241, 249 
 Smith, Alexander, on the grave 
 
 of Flora, 251 
 
 Smollett, and dirty state of Edin- 
 burgh, 169, 181 
 Snizort, Loch, 244 
 Snuff-boxes, 176 
 Sobieski, Louisa, 341 
 
 .Prince James, 31, 35; in 
 
 prison, 36 
 
 Stuarts, 329 ; story of, 329- 
 
 330 ; D'Arlincourt on, 331-4 ; 
 likeness to Stuarts most marked, 
 335-6 ; and Napoleon, 337 ; at 
 Eilean Agais, 337 ; and the 
 Athenaum, 338 ; men of accom- 
 plishments, 339^10 ; at Pim- 
 lico, 340 ; death of, 340 ; as 
 count of Albany, 340 ; issue of, 
 340-1 ; Mr. Lang and their 
 legend, 341 ; Sir Walter Scott 
 on, 341 ; touching belief in 
 their claim, 342 
 Sobieskis, natural gaiety of, 53 
 Solway Moss, 3, 187 
 South Uist, 104. 166, 233 
 Spada, Court of, 317 
 Spanish America, 86 
 Spey, 152 
 Spithead, 92 
 
 Stafford, a tutor of Charles, 73 
 Stair, 22 
 Stamford, 146 
 Stanhope, Earl, 45, 321 
 Stevenson, R. L.. 104 
 Steward, 50 
 Stewart. 50 
 
 , Dugald, 180 
 
 Stirling, 119, 213, 294 
 St. Mary-le-Strand, 284
 
 INDEX 
 
 373 
 
 Stone of Destiny, 156 
 
 Stones on Culloden Moor, Cum- 
 berland, 221 ; English, 222 ; 
 Clans, 222 ; " Cameron," 
 " Stewart of Appin," " Frazer," 
 222 
 
 Strange, Robert, and crinolines, 
 174 
 
 Strasburg, 36, 37 
 
 Strathallan, Viscountess, 139 
 
 Strickland, Mr., 80 ; accompanied 
 Charles to Scotland, 99 
 
 Stuart, House of, sentiment for, 
 strong, 149 ; " the last sublime 
 glory of," 354 ; present heiress 
 of, 355 
 
 , Mary, 4 ; tragedy of her 
 
 life, 5 ; Charles and, 10 ; and 
 John Knox, 17 ; royal name of 
 Stuart, 50 ; her portraits, 69 ; 
 Holyrood, 187 ; reading Livy, 
 189 ; denounced by Knox, 190 ; 
 marriage with Darnley, 190 ; 
 and Rizzio, 190-1 ; marriage 
 with Bothwell, 191 ; Holyrood 
 192 ; lines on, 192, 283, 354 
 
 Stuarts, Voltaire on the misfor- 
 tunes of, 1 ; compared with 
 Tudors and Hanoverians, 10 ; 
 Sobieski, the, 10 ; Jacobite 
 faith in, 13 ; Killiecrankie no 
 permanent advantage to, 13 ; 
 attachment to Roman Catholic 
 religion, 17 ; old place of, 44 ; 
 never a stalwart race, 48 
 
 Susanna, Countess of Eglinton, 
 175 ; and her seven lovely 
 daughters, 175 
 
 Swinburne, on Mary Stuart, 4 
 
 Tales of a Grandfather, 256 
 
 Tales of the Century, 340 
 
 Talmond, Mme. de, and Charles, 
 291 ; Mr. Lang on, 291 ; encou- 
 raged Charles in free thinking, 
 292 ; at Lorraine, 292 ; at 
 Avignon, 296 
 
 Tantallon, the gates of, 183 
 
 Tarbet, Loch, 232 
 
 Taverns, tumultuous, the, 176 ; 
 in Scottish poetry, 177 ; 
 three-bottle-men, 179 ; rendez- 
 vous of wits in, 180-1 
 
 Tay, the, 155 
 
 Taylor, the Water Poet, on the 
 dirty state of Edinburgh, 169 
 
 Tea, a consumptive luxury, 118 
 
 Tencin, Cardinal, and Charles, 
 88, 286 
 
 Terni, 317 
 
 Terry, Mr., on comedy of '45, 
 100, 270 
 
 Thackeray, well-known picture of 
 George IV, 8 ; on James 
 Edward, 21 ; on the first 
 gentleman in Europe, 72 
 
 Theodora, 305 
 
 Thomson, of The Seasons, 181 
 
 Tibbia, Marquis of, 81 
 
 Tom Jones, and Jenny Cameron, 
 137 
 
 Torbay, 6 
 
 Tower of London, 36 
 
 Tranent, 203 
 
 Traquair, Earl of, 87 
 
 Treaty of Union, the, 111 
 
 Trevi fountain, 44 
 
 Tudors and Stuarts, 10 
 
 Tullibardine, Marquis of, 99, 104 
 
 Tweed, the, 107 
 
 Tyrol, the, 35 
 
 Tytler, 179, 336 
 
 UMBRIA, mountains of, 42 
 
 Union of England and Scotland, 
 108; not popular, 109 ; wisdom 
 of, 111; Sir Walter Scott on, 
 111; improved matters social, 
 112 
 
 Urbino, 32 
 
 Ure, Rev. David, on Jenny 
 Cameron, 142 
 
 Uskavagh, Loch, 242 
 
 Vanguard, the, Henry embarked 
 
 on, 353 
 
 Vass6, Mme. de, 293, 297 
 Vaughan, Herbert, 326 
 Venice, Charles at, 81-2 
 Vere, on the Highland army, 150 
 Versailles, Atterbury at, 85 ; 
 
 Charles openly shunned by 
 
 Louis at, 95 
 
 Vestiarium Scoticum, 340 
 Victoria, Queen, proud of her 
 
 Stuart blood, 257-8 ; Jacobite 
 
 song, a favourite of, 265
 
 374 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Voltaire, on the House of Stuart, 
 1 ; on Englishmen's eating, 325 
 
 WALKINSHAW, CATHERINE, 297 
 , Charlotte, letter to Charles 
 Edward, 302-3 ; her marriage, 
 304 ; as " Countess of Albany," 
 325 ; with Charles at Florence, 
 344 ; died, 350 ; The Bonnie 
 Lass of Albanie, 351 
 
 , Clementina, Charles met at 
 
 Stirling, 294 ; Charles's mistress, 
 295 ; " not merely a scandal, 
 but a spy," 295 ; birth to a son 
 at Liege, 296 ; at Avignon, 296 ; 
 at Ghent, 298; child born in 
 Paris, 298 ; left Charles, 300 ; 
 Charlotte wrote to Charles, 
 302-3 ; Charles's indifference, 
 302 ; at Fribourg, in Switzer- 
 land, 306 ; death, 306 ; annual 
 pension to by Henry, 354 
 
 Wallace, 109; 155 
 
 Walpole, Sir Robert, wisdom and 
 courage of, 75, 82, 86; Gray 
 writing to, 146 ; on Sir John 
 Cope, 147 ; 319, 324, 345 
 
 Walsh, 99, 101, 102 
 
 Walton, John, 57, 58, 60, 80, 88, 
 89 
 
 Warbeck, Perkin, 19 
 
 War of Independence, 250 
 
 Waters, 281 
 
 Waver ley, 120 ; impressions of 
 Holyrood from, 196-7 ; novels, 
 the, 256 
 
 Weir, Major, 175 
 
 Wesley, Charles, on Edinburgh, 
 
 168 
 
 West Bow, 175 
 Indies, 86 
 
 Register Street, 167 
 
 Weymouth, Viscount, 343 
 Wharton, Duke of, on the training 
 
 of Charles Edward, 56; at 
 
 Madrid, 85 
 Whitefield, 172 
 Whitehall, 5, 221 
 William, Duke of Blair Athole, 
 
 153 
 
 of Orange, landing at Tor- 
 bay, 6 ; an importation, 9 ; 
 merciless and vindictive massa- 
 cre of Glencoe, and personal 
 treachery in the Darien Scheme, 
 109 
 
 Will ye no come back again, 258 
 Wogan, Charles, emissary of 
 James Edward, 30 ; friend of 
 Pope and Swift, 30 ; Mr. Lang 
 on, 31 ; experience in finding 
 a bride for James, 31-4 ; to 
 kidnap Clementina, 35 ; suc- 
 cessful, 35-6 ; story of the 
 exploit, 36-40 ; vivid narrative 
 of Preston, 40 
 Wraxall, 323 
 
 YORK, 146 
 Young, 100
 
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