and his heirs, and the freedom of numerous companies greeted his return. Some grants and honours might also well have rewarded President Forbes, who, more than any other Scotsman of that period, had upheld and saved the King's cause. But his loyal zeal in the hour of danger was forgotten in the equal but less welcome zeal with which, after Culloden, the venerable judge ventured to plead for compassion. It is alleged that, on urging to the Duke the authority of the laws, he was answered, "What laws? I will make a brigade give "laws!" and he died soon afterwards, broken in spirit, and impoverished in estate, unable to obtain repayment of those very sums which, when other resources failed in 1745, he had freely advanced for his country's service.* Notwithstanding the eagerness with which, after Culloden, the rebels were tracked and pursued,.and the guard both of land and sea, several of their chiefs succeeded, after various concealments, privations, and dangers, in effecting their escape. Lord George Murray made his way to Holland, where under the name of De Valignié, he resided for the most part until his death in 1760. In another ship from France embarked the Duke of Perth, Sir Thomas Sheridan, and Mr. O'Sullivan; but the Duke, a young man of delicate frame, expired on his passage, and Sir Thomas Sheridan, going on to Rome, and being severely arraigned by the Pretender for engaging in an expedition with such slight resources, was, it is said, so far affected by the reproof that he fell ill and died.† the other hand the Government officers succeeded in seizing the Earl of Kilmarnock, Lord Balmerino, and Secretary Murray. Lovat was discovered in one of the wildest tracts of Inverness-shire, wrapt in a blanket, and hid in the hollow of an old tree, which grew upon an islet in the centre of a lake.‡ Lord Strathallan died of a wound at Culloden, and Tullibardine of disease and sorrow, when already immured in the Tower and awaiting his trial. On * Culloden Papers, Introduction, p. xxxvii., and Quarterly Review, No. xxviii. p. 329. † Jacobite Memoirs, p. 4. note. Chambers's History, vol. ii. p. 170. 1746. no assurance --- CHARLES'S WANDERINGS. 313 But where was he, the young and princely chief of this ill-fated enterprise-the new Charles of this second Worcester? His followers dismissed to seek safety as they could for themselves-he sometimes alone-sometimes with a single Highlander as his guide and companion-sometimes begirt with strange faces, of whose fidelity he had a price set upon his head-hunted from mountain to island, and from island to mountain-pinched with famine, tossed by storms, and unsheltered from the rains-his strength wasted, but his spirit still unbroken -such was now the object of so many long cherished and lately towering hopes! In the five months of his weary wanderings-from April to September-almost every day might afford its own tale of hardship, danger, and alarm, and a mere outline must suffice for the general historian. It is much to Charles's honour, that, as one of his chance attendants declares," he used to say, that the "fatigues and distresses he underwent signified nothing "at all, because he was only a single person, but when "he reflected upon the many brave fellows who suffered "in his cause, that, he behoved to own, did strike him to "the heart, and did sink very deep within him."* But most of all entitled to praise appear the common Highlanders around him. Though in the course of these five months the secrets of his concealment became entrusted to several hundred persons, most of them poor and lowly, not one of them was ever tempted by the prize of 30,000l. to break faith, and betray the suppliant fugitive; and when destitute of other help, and nearly, as it seemed, run to bay, he was saved by the generous self-devotion of a woman. In the hope of finding a French ship to convey him, Charles had embarked, only eight days after Culloden, for that remote cluster of isles to which the common name of Long Island is applied. Driven from place to place by contrary winds and storms, and having sometimes no other food than oatmeal and water, he at length gained South Uist, where his wants were in some degree relieved by the elder Clanranald. But his course being tracked or suspected, a large body of militia and regular troops, Narrative of Captain Malcolm Mac Leod, put in writing, August 17. 1747. (Jacobite Memoirs, p. 476.) to the number of 2000 men, landed on the island, and commenced an eager search, while the shores were surrounded by small vessels of war. Concealment or escape seemed alike impossible, and so they must have proved but for Miss Flora Macdonald; a name, says Dr. Johnson, which will for ever live in history. This young lady was then on a visit to Clanranald's family, and was stepdaughter of a Captain in the hostile militia which occupied the island. Being appealed to in Charles's behalf, she nobly undertook to save him at all hazards to herself. She obtained from her step-father a passport to proceed to Skye, for herself, a man-servant and a maid, who was termed Betty Burke, the part of Betty to be played by the Chevalier. When Lady Clanranald and Flora sought him out, bringing with them a female dress, they found him alone in a little hut upon the shore, employed in roasting the heart of a sheep upon a wooden spit. They could not forbear from shedding tears at his desolate situation, but Charles observed, with a smile, that it would be well perhaps for all Kings if they had to pass through such an ordeal as he was now enduring. On the same evening he took advantage of the passport, embarking in his new attire with Flora and a faithful Highlander, Neil Mac Eachan, who acted as their servant. The dawn of the next day found them far at sea in their open boat, without any land in view; soon, however, the dark mountains of Skye rose on the horizon. Approaching that coast at Waternish, they were received with a volley of musketry from the soldiers stationed there, but none of the balls took effect, and the rowers, vigorously. plying their oars, bore them away from that scene of danger, and enabled them to disembark on another point. Charles was now in the country of Sir Alexander Macdonald, at first a waverer in the contest, but of late a decided foe. When the prudent chief saw the Jacobite cause decline, he had been induced to levy his clan against it, and was now on the mainland in attendance on the Duke of Cumberland. Yet it was of his wife, Lady Margaret, a daughter of the Earl of Eglinton, that Flora determined to implore assistance, having no other resource, and knowing from herself the courageous pity of a female heart. Lady Margaret received the news 1746. FLORA MACDONALD. 315 with pain and surprise, but did not disappoint Flora's firm reliance; her own house was filled with militia officers, but she entrusted Charles, with earnest injunctions for his safety, to the charge of Macdonald of Kingsburgh, the kinsman and factor of her husband. As they walked to Kingsburgh's house, Charles still in woman's disguise, they had several streams to pass, and the Prince held up his petticoats so high as to excite the surprise and laughter of some country people on the road. Being admonished by his attendants he promised to take better care for the future, and accordingly in passing the next stream allowed the skirts to hang down and float upon the water. "Your enemies," said Kingsburgh, "call you a Pretender, but if you be, I can tell you, you are "the worst of your trade I ever saw !" 66 Next day, at Portree, Charles took leave of the nobleminded Flora with warm expressions of his gratitude, and passed over to the Isle of Rasay, under the less inconvenient disguise of a male servant and the name of Lewis Caw. His preservers soon afterwards paid the penalty of their compassion, both Kingsburgh and Flora Macdonald being arrested and conveyed in custody, the former to Edinburgh, the latter to London. The conduct of Lady Margaret likewise was much inveighed against at Court; but once, when it provoked some such censure from the Princess of Wales: "And would not you, madam," asked Frederick, with a generous spirit, "would not you "in like circumstances have done the same? I hope"I am sure you would!"* It was at the intercession, as it is said, of His Royal Highness, that Flora was released from prison after a twelvemonth's confinement. A collection was made for her among the Jacobite ladies in London, to the amount of nearly 1500l. She then married 66 * Quarterly Review, No. xxviii. p. 330. In the Culloden Papers, p. 291., is an apologetic letter from Sir Alexander. He tells us that "the Pretender accosted Kingsburgh with telling him, that his life was now in his hands, which he might dispose of; that he was in the "utmost distress, having had no meat or sleep for two days and two "nights, sitting on a rock, beat upon by the rains, and, when they ceased, ate up by flies, conjured him to show compassion but for one night, and he should be gone. This moving speech prevailed, and "the visible distress, for he was meagre, ill-coloured, and overrun with "the scab; so they went to Kingsburgh's house," &c. 3 Kingsburgh's son, and many years afterwards went with him to North America, but both returned during the civil war, and died in their native Isle of Skye.* From Rasay Charles again made his way to the mainland, where he lay for two days cooped up within a line of sentinels, who crossed each other upon their posts, so that he could only crouch among the heather, without daring to light a fire, or to dress his food. From this new danger he at length escaped by creeping at night down a narrow glen, the bed of a winter stream, between two of the stations. Another vicissitude in his wanderings brought him to a mountain cave, where seven robbers had taken their abode; and with these men he remained for nearly three weeks. Fierce and lawless as they were, they never thought for an instant of earning "the price of blood;" on the contrary, they most earnestly applied themselves to secure his safety, and supply his wants. Sometimes they used singly and in various disguises to repair to the neighbouring Fort Augustus, and obtain for Charles a newspaper or the current reports of the day. On one occasion they brought back to the Prince, with much exultation, the choicest dainty they had ever heard of — a pennyworth of gingerbread! On leaving these generous outlaws, and after other perils and adventures, Charles effected a junction with his faithful adherents, Cluny and Lochiel, who was lame from his wound. There he found a rude plenty to which he had long been unused. "Now, gentlemen, I live like a "Prince!" cried he on his first arrival, as he eagerly devoured some collops out of a saucepan with a silver spoon.† *Tales of a Grandfather, vol. iii. p. 329., and Chambers' Hist. vol. ii. p. 221. She is described as "a little woman, of a genteel appearance, and uncommonly mild and well-bred." (Boswell's Hebrides, p. 214. ed. 1785.) 66 † Cluny's Narrative (Home's Appendix, p. 380.). There is a vague and romantic story about this time of one Mac Kenzie, lately an officer in the insurgent army, who, being beset and killed by some soldiers, cried, in his dying moments, "I am your Prince,"—his object being to afford a diversion for Charles's escape. It is added, that his head was cut off and passed for that of Charles, and was taken to London by the Duke of Cumberland in his own carriage, &c. This story is adopted both by Sir Walter Scott and Mr. Chambers; but on examination, I cannot find that it rests on any better authority than that |