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on while the young Chevalier drew near her coasts, greeting him with the look of alarm which might be supposed to startle a shopkeeper at the appearance of any riot which would put his goods and traffic in danger— putting up her shutters, locking her till, in unheroic tremor and still more unheroic calm awaiting the issue. The noblest of Jacobite families, they who had kept up anxious relations with the exiled Court for years (and there was scarcely one family of importance, scarcely one eager statesman, who had not one time or other offered services to or excited the expectations of that Court), adopted this attitude. So long as nothing was to be done, they were content to speak of the Prince's advent as if it would bring them salvation; but as soon as he appeared, the warmest prayer they had to utter was, that he would keep away from them and depart from their coasts. Men who are in possession of all the best gifts of fortune may be par

hope for, and its Whigs affecting to fear, gentleman, with all the charm of manner the exiled Stuarts in their distant retire- and person peculiar to his race. There ment; but one party just as ready as the seems every reason to believe that such a other with fine birthday clothes at the Hano- nature, sweetened by prosperity, might verian Court, and traditionary Jacobitism have come to a finer development than ever falling into the constitutional opposition of Stuart yet had attained since the first James more recent times. Never was there an of Scotland, the poet of the race. But such age when men were less likely to sacrifice was not the intention of Providence, in all themselves, and put their fortunes and lives things so inscrutable, and in none more so in peril, for a banished and half-forgotten than in the determination of the influences King. There were a hundred solid reasons which cramp or guide the development of why George and his family should lie heavy character. England did but stand and look on the English mind. He was no Englishman, nor even pretended to be. He had none of the qualities that make a man personally popular, except courage. He gave the world an example of dull profligacy on the one side, and unnatural family discords on the other, such as the public mind, however little toned to virtue, invariably resents. In all his public acts he made it apparent that his new kingdom was nothing to him in comparison with his native principality-"a province to a despicable electorate," as Pitt boldly and bitterly said. Yet so deeply had the dangers of civil war stamped themselves on men's minds; or so bent were all on personal well-being, safety, and such success as was practicable; or so dull was the level of public feeling at a moment when no public leader possessed the thrill of sympathetic genius, and every man schemed and struggled for himself, that notwithstanding all the drawbacks that attended the Hanoverian race, no touch of ancient love seems to have awakened in the English heart to-doned for not rushing blindly into an enterwards the young, noble, and hopeful Pre- prise which is likely to conduct them to the tender, who thus set out with his life in his Tower and the block; but yet it must be hand to claim his hereditary place. The recollected that the men who thus stood whole nation, occupied with its own affairs, apart and let their Prince dash himself to and sullenly awaiting the result of its last pieces against the great wall of a nation's experiment in kingmaking, abstracted itself passive resistance, had given him for years from all new contests, and looked on, angry a theoretical allegiance, had supported his to have its quiet disturbed, indignant at the pretensions, kept up his hopes, and mainthought of new expenses, unmoved by the tained before his eyes a gleam of perpetual romance of the situation or by the daring possibility. They were all waiting, they of the Adventurer. At this moment of his professed, for the moment when it would be career there can be no doubt that of all the wise to make the attempt. Such waiting young princes in Europe Charles Edward was no matter of life and death to them. was personally one of the most promising. Their circumstances were in no way desHis education had been bad, but his mind perate-their lands and livings were sewas open. He was full of noble natural cured, and even public life was not shut gifts, if not of intellect at least of charac- against them. But with him it was life or ter- a gracious, magnanimous, valiant death.

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Charles Edward went first to Paris, where | mand the embarkation." His letters are he was kept for some time in great retire-full of excitement, alarm, and doubt. Noment, seeing nobody, not even the King- body knew, it is evident, how far the people and afterwards to Gravelines, a little forti- were to be calculated upon. The agitated fied town on the dreary line of coast between Whig world, which felt itself on the edge Calais and Dunkirk, where he lived in more of a revolution, on one side of the Channel, utter seclusion still, attending the prepara- with Walpole for an interpreter, waiting an tions for the expedition and watching their event which "to me must and shall be deciprogress. From this spot, for the first sive," as he says, with an earnestness which, time, amid the mists and storms of winter, considering his perfectly private position, he looked across the angry Channel upon seems uncalled for; and, on the other, on England with such thoughts as may be con- the border of the separating sea, Charles ceived. On that monotonous shore, linger-Edward, eager, breathless, full of hope, ing upon the margin of the wild sea, catch- waiting with a still more burning eagerness ing glimpses, as the clouds lifted and fell, for the outset of the expedition, make a of the island-kingdom of his forefathers, the curious picture. So deep were the appreAdventurer becomes his own historian; but hensions of the ruling Whigs among whom his record is of facts only, not of sentiments Horace lived, that he writes, with such conand feelings. His sole attendant was a solation as he could muster, to his friend Highland gentleman, one of the busy con- Mann, the envoy at Florence. "Trust to spirators of the time, in whom he seems to my friendship for working every engine to have been able to repose scanty faith. "The restore you to as good a situation as you situation I am in is very particular," he will lose, if my fears prove prophetic," he writes, "for nobody knows where I am, or writes; but the only real gleam of comwhat is become of me, so that I am entirely fort he has is, that the populace, always so buried as to the public, and cannot but say ready to be led away by a name, had been that it is a very great constraint upon me, seized with a horror of the French invasion. for I am obliged very often not to stir from "The French name will do more harm to my room for fear of somebody noticing my the cause than the Pretender's service," he face. I very often think that you would says. All this fright on the one hand, and laugh heartily if you saw me going about hope on the other, came to an end without with a single servant, buying fish and other the striking of a blow. The French fleet things, and squabbling for a penny more or was watched and pursued, and let slip, by less. I have every day large packets to the English admiral, old and prudent, who answer, without anybody to help me but had been sent out to look for it; but anBohaldie. Yesterday I had one that cost other guardian, more potent than even an me seven hours and a half." These pack-English fleet, watched the British coasts. ets included the correspondence of secret There have been terrible winds these four agents, of friends in England, and of the or five days," Horace writes, catching at councillors about the French King all the the straw of good fortune. The storm different machinery by which the great in-blew directly upon Dunkirk," beating vasion was to be completed. Thus he back the invading vessels. 'Some of the waited secluded, with England in sight, till largest ships, with all the men on board, the ships were fitted out and the soldiers were lost," says Lord Mahon; "others marshalled which should enable him to put were wrecked on the coast, and the remainhis fortune to the touch- -a moment of su- der were obliged to put back to the harpreme anxiety, and yet more supreme hope.bour with no small injury." After all these The news reached London before long, elaborate preparations, this storm sufficed and made the peaceful population tremble. to discourage France from her project. The Early in February, Horace Walpole, scoff-royal exile, who had embarked so eagerly, ing, supposes "the Pretender's son," then was put ashore again, in that dejection which in Paris, was as near England as ever he follows too triumphant hopes. A plan so is like to be." But a week after his tone large and elaborate, collapsing so suddenly is mightily changed. The "imminence of and utterly, has few parallels in history. our danger" are the words on Horace's In England, it is evident, nobody believed lips. "Don't be surprised if you hear that it was over by this one encounter with the this crown is fought for on land," he writes. winds. "That great storm certainly saved "As yet there is no rising; but we must us from the invasion then," writes Horace expect it on the first descent." "There is Walpole, in the middle of March. But of no doubt of the invasion," he adds, on the all the expedition, the only individual who 23d February; "the young Pretender is at seems to have thought more of it after setting Calais, and the Count de Saxe is to com-foot on French soil, was the one princely

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heart, sick with disappointed hope, down- | heroic kingdom. But though it came to cast, and heavy, but not crushed or help- something very much like this in the end, less, who went back once more alone to the at that moment he was dissuaded from such dreary little seaport, to wait some gleam of a venture. After a while he went to Paris, better fortune. To all the world around where he lived privately, wearily waiting for him his business was secondary. France, succour and encouragement from the French politely regretful, turned aside and went off Court, then actually at war with England. to her own concerns. Jacobite England "I have taken a house within a league of gave a doubtful, distant, sentimental hom- this town, where I live like a hermit," he age, so long as the Deliverer would but keep writes to his father in the beginning of June. away from her. Had the Prince been a In November he is still no farther advanced. man of his father's calibre, no doubt he "As long as there is life, there is hope, would have dropped salt tears into the angry that's the proverb," he writes in his wearisurf of the wild Channel that lay between ness. "You may imagine how I must be him and his kingdom, and abandoned the out of humour at all these proceedings, hopeless desperate attempt. But Charles when for comfort I am plagued out of my Edward was of other mettle. The moment life with tracasseries from our own people, had come when he must do or die. Wild who, it would seem, would rather sacrifice hopes of victory, no doubt, were in his mind; me and my affairs than fail in any private but it is evident that other thoughts vis- view of their own." Already he had begun ions of the possibility of death on the field, to see the disastrous influences which were a violent glorious end- were also present in the field against him, and that the diffibefore him. The only thing impracticable culties in his own camp would be as heavy was to return to the languid misery of Italian a strain on his courage and patience as any dependence the death-in-life of his Roman without. "Our friends in England are captivity. No hereditary enthusiasm for afraid of their own shadow, and think of the house of Stuart moves the mind of the little but diverting themselves," he adds, present writer; but he would be a passion- mournfully, "otherwise we should not need less observer, indeed, who could look upon the King of France." By degrees he learned the forlorn and dauntless figure of this also that the King of France was little likeprincely young man, gazing on his hereditary kingdom across the salt and bitter waves, and making up his mind to all the dangers, all the toils and hardships, of one last struggle for his rights, without a thrill of generous sympathy. He was no philosopher, to consider the weeping train of orphans whom his enterprise would leave fatherless; his was no cruel imagination, capable of realising the pitiless horrors with which a frightened country should stamp out the remnants of rebellion. Himself brave, clement, tender, and magnanimous, how could Charles Stuart conceive of the butcheries of Cumberland? The spirit of his race rose in him to its one last outburst. Error and misfortune ran in the blood — but the Adventurer on that lonely shore seems to have cast off for the moment the dreary memories of the English Stuarts, and served himself heir to the noble old Jameses-gallant monarchs of a barbarous-gallant people the Commons' kings! The time had come when all the nobleness, patience, valour, and courage of the old stock should burst again into flower- one of its best blossoms, and its last.

So eager was the Prince to enter upon the great work of his life, that he proposed to the brave old Earl Mareschal to embark in a herring-boat and make his way to Scotland, with characteristic trust in the ancient

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ly to aid him with more than vague promis-
es of service. He was ready himself to set
out with a single footman if necessary
"put himself in a tub, like Diogenes!" he
says, with half-ironic, half-pathetic humour.
He begs his father to pawn his jewels, which
"on this side the water he would wear with
a very sore heart," in order to furnish the
necessary funds for the undertaking. "The
French Court sticks at the money," he writes
in the spring of 1745, but he himself would
rather " pawn his shirt" than fail. Those
letters, though badly written and badly
spelled, convey anything but an idea of an
untrained or dull intelligence. All the grand
drawbacks to success are clearly indicated
in them—the indifference of France, the
timidity and supineness of the English
Jacobites, the factions and feuds and self-
will of the Scotch. It is thus that he defends
and explains his own motives, and the caus-
es which led him to take the final step, in
a remarkable letter dated June 12, 1745,
about six weeks before his arrival in Scot-
land :-

"After such scandalous usage as I have received from the French Court, had I not given my word to do so, or got so many encouragements from time to time as I have had, I should have been obliged in honour, and for my own reputation, to have flung myself into the arms of my

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"I should think it proper (if your Majesty pleases) to be put at his Holiness's feet, asking his blessing on this occasion; but what I chiefly ask is your own, which I hope will procure me that of God Almighty upon my endeavours to serve you, my family, and my country, which will ever be the only view of your Majesty's most dutiful son, "CHARLES P."

friends, and die with them, rather than live lon- | money, next to troops, will be of the greatest ger in such a miserable way here, or be obliged help to me. to return to Rome, which would be just giving up all hopes. I cannot but mention a parable here, which is, a horse that is to be sold, if spurred, does not skip or show some sign of life, nobody would care to have him even for nothing; just so, my friends would care very little to have me, if after such usage, which all the world is sensible of, I should not show that I have life in me. Your Majesty cannot disapprove a son's following the example of his father. You yourThis letter is sufficient to demonstrate self did the like in the year '15; but the circum- that Charles's imperfect education had tolerstances now are indeed very different by being much more encouraging, there being a certainty ably well answered the purpose of all true of succeeding with the least help, the particulars training. Spelling was an art less considerof which would be too long to explain, and even ed in these days than now; but not the most impossible to convince you of by writing, which chaotic spelling or schoolboy penmanship has been the reason that I presumed to take up-could obscure the manly, straightforward on me the managing all this without even letting you suspect that such a thing was brewing.

Had I failed to convince you, I was then afraid you might have thought what I had a mind to do to be rash, and so have absolutely forbid my proceedings, thinking that to acquire glory I was capable of doing a desperate action. But in that case I can't be sure but I might have followed the example of Manlius, who disobeyed his father's orders on a like occasion. ... Let

what will happen, the stroke is struck, and I have taken a firm resolution to conquer or die, and stand my ground as long as I have a man remaining with me. I think it of the greatest importance your Majesty should come as soon as possible to Avignon, but take the liberty to advise that you would not ask leave of the French Court; for if I be not immediately succoured, they will certainly refuse you. And this refusal will be chiefly occasioned by our own people, who will be afraid to have you so near for their own private views, and so suggest things to the French Court, to prevent you coming till all shall be decided. I am certain if you were once at Avignon you would never be obliged to remove, but in order to our happy meeting on the other side of the sea.

"Your Majesty may be well assured I shall never be at rest till I bring about the happy day of our meeting. It is most certain that the generality of people will judge of this enterprise by the success, which if favourable, I shall get more honour than I deserve. If otherwise, all the blame will be thrown upon the French Court for having pushed a young Prince to show his mettle, and rather die than live in a state unbecoming himself. Whatever happens unfortunate to me cannot but be the strongest engagement to the French Court to pursue your cause. Now, if I were sure they were capable of any sensation of this kind, if I did not succeed, I would perish as Curtius did to serve my country and make it happy, it being an indispensable duty on me, as far as it lies in my power. Your Majesty may now see my reason for pressing you to pawn my jewels, which I should be glad to have done immediately, for I never intend to come back, and

sentiments, or the serious, moderate resolution expressed in these lines. The father to whom they were addressed was an elegant penman, correct in style and orthography; but Prince Charles's homely sentences ring with a mettle and meaning unknown to the softer hero of the Fifteen-his style, if not that of a scholar, is always that of a man.

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At last the little expedition got under weigh. It was in the middle of July, sixteen months after the failure of the proposed invasion, that Charles at last set sail from St. Nazaire, at the mouth of the Loire. The vessel in which he embarked he describes as "a frigate" carrying "twenty odd guns, and an excellent sailer," which had been procured for him by one Rutledge and Walsh," the latter of whom commanded the ship. A man-of-war of sixty-seven guns had been procured by the same private individuals, "to cruise on the coast of Scotland, and is luckily obliged to go as far north as I do, so that she will escort me without appearing to do it." In his own vessel he had "fifteen hundred fusees, eighteen hundred broadswords mounted, a good quantity of powder, ball, flints, dirks, brandy, &c. I have also got twenty small field-pieces, two of which a mule may carry, and my cassette will be near four thousand louis d'or." In the man-of-war was "a company of sixty volunteers, all gentlemen, whom I shall probably get to land with me, which, though few, will make a show, they having a pretty uniform." With these provisions the Adventurer set out dauntless to invade a great, rich, and warlike kingBritish man-of-war, and, disabled with the dom. On the way his escort encountered a conflict, had to put back, carrying the sixty volunteers and their pretty uniform away to France again. Nor was it Charles's fault that his own vessel did not join in the combat. His captain threatened to order him

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down to the cabin ere he would cease his entreaties to that effect. At length the lonely little ship, not without pursuit from other wandering cruisers, reached, after a fortnight's voyage, the Western Isles. As the invader approached the shore of one of those wild and rocky islands, an eagle came hovering round the ship. "Old Tullibardine, who first spied the bird, did not choose to take any notice of it, lest they should have called it a Highland freat in him." But when he saw the royal creature following the course of the ship, the heart of the old Highlander rose within him. "Sir, I hope this is an excellent omen," he said; "the king of birds has come out to welcome your Royal Highness." At such a moment the whole party, thus arrived at the crisis for which they had been so long preparing, were naturally open to all influences; they looked "with pleasure" upon their winged attendant at first the only mountain prince who welcomed Charles Stuart to the home of his fathers.

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ment of youth. "I will!" cried the lad, with Highland fervour; though not another man in the Highlands should draw a sword, I am ready to die for you!" This eager outburst of devotion, and the sudden emotion with which Charles, wound up to the uttermost, and at the point of despair, received the frank allegiance, was the spark that was needed to light the flame. Clanranald and his Duinhewassels, impervious to reason, had no shield to defend them from this sudden enthusiasm. They did not even appear to have made any effort to resist it. The fire was set to the heather, and henceforth every passing breath did but fan the flame.

While this momentous conference was going on, other Macdonalds waiting at the other end of the deck, half-informed of what was passing and full of excitement, saw "a tall youth of a most agreeable aspect,' whose looks moved them, they scarcely knew why. They were told sometimes that he was a young Englishman, sometimes a The story is so well known that it seems French abbé, anxious to see the Highlands; almost a work of supererogation to follow yet nature told them otherwise. "At his its details. The Prince's welcome was un-first appearance I found my heart swell to doubtedly cold. He had been invited to my very throat," says one spectator. One Scotland by a parcel of conspirators -men laird after another came and went from the whose lives were always in danger, and to isles and misty mainland to the little ship, whom a little risk, more or less, did not the centre of so many fears and hopes. matter- not by the chiefs to whom he now Each of them came with his burden of reappealed, who had life and lands, and the monstrance, his intended protest against the lives of their clansmen, to answer for. The mad enterprise; and each, like young Racondition of their rising had always been the nald, went away with fire in his heart and in support of a body of French Troops -a his eyes, to raise his men and risk his life for kind of assistance which was not so revolting the "native Prince," who had thus thrown to the Scottish, still less to the Highland himself on Highland devotion. Hugh of the mind, as to the English. When they found house of Morar warned Donald of Kinlochhe had come among them alone, with seven moidart that he "did not like the expedition men only in his company, a thrill ran at all, and was afraid of the results." "I through the islesmen. They tried hard to cannot help it," said the other: "if the support each other in entreaties that he matter go wrong, I'll certainly be hanged, would give up his enterprise, and protesta- for I am engaged already." When Hugh tions that it was hopeless; but Charles had himself went on into the all-fascinating a thousand weapons to use against this sim- presence, he lifted his voice, as they all did, ple heroic race. While he discussed the in warning. The Prince made answer that matter with several influential Macdonalds," he did not choose to owe his restoration headed by Clanranald himself, his quick eye noted a young Highlander standing apart, in whose face the tide of emotion ran high. While Ranald followed with moving lip and gleaming eye the course of argument- all entreaty on one side, all resistance and reason on the other -his hand sometimes seeking his dirk, his foot beating impatiently on the deck, the Prince saw before him the final plea by which he could overcome. Turning suddenly towards the agitated youth, "You at least will help me?" he said. Such an appeal could only have been made by a man himself still thrilling with the self-abandon

to foreigners, but to his own friends; and that could he get but six trusty men to join him, he would choose far rather to skulk with them among the mountains of Scotland than to return to France." The next glimpse we have of this protesting Hugh, he is importuning "his young chieftain (Clanranald) to go ashore immediately, and raise as many men as might be sufficient to guard the Prince's person! Thus Charles played upon them as a musician on his strings. They could not resist the contagion of his high spirit and chivalrous trust in them. What were lives or lands in comparison to

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