LETTER FROM LORD LOVAT TO THE LAIRD OF LOCHIEL.

[This letter is expressed with so much display of character, as might excite a suspicion that it is an imitation of what Lovat might be supposed to think on the occasion, rather than a genuine document. I have seen the original, however, and compared it with Lovat's undoubted handwriting, and it bears no other difference than an appearance of compression and tremulousness natural at his advanced age.]

"FOR

"THE LAIRD OF LOCHIEL.
66 THESE,

"DEAR LOCHIEL,

66

Sept. 1745.

"I FEAR you have been our rash in going out ere affairs were ripe. You are in a dangerous state. The Elector's General Cope is in your rear hanging at yr tail wh 3000 men,-such as have not been seen heir since Dundee's affair,-and we have no force to meet him. If the Macphersons wd take the field, I wd bring out my lads to help the work, and 'twixt the twa we might cause Cope keep his Xmas heir; bot only Cluny is earnest in the cause, and my Lord Advocat plays at cat-and-mouse wh me; but times may change, and I may bring him to the Saint Johnstoun's tippet. Meantime look to yrselves, for ye may expect many a sour face and sharp weapon in the south. I'll aid you what I can, but my prayers are all I can give at present. My service to the Prince, but I wish he had not come heir soe empty-handed; siller wd go far in the Highlands. I send ys be Ewan Ffraser, wm I have charged to give it to yr self, for, were Duncan to find it, it wd be my head to an onion.

"Farewell,
"Yr faithfull friend,

VOL. XXVI.

66

"LOVAT."

CHAPTER LXXVII.

Preparations for Defending Edinburgh against Prince Charles, who Marches from Perth- Confusion occasioned by his Approach to Edinburgh-Pusillanimity of the Volunteers-Flight of two, Regiments of Dragoons by which the City was Covered-Consternation of the Citizens -Negotiations between the Magistrates and the Prince— The City Captured by a Party under Lochiel-Prince Charles takes possession of the Palace of Holyrood-Appearance of his Army-he is Joined by the Jacobites of the Lothians.

[1745.]

EDINBURGH had long been a peaceful capital; little accustomed to the din of arms, and considerably divided by factions, as was the case of other towns in Scotland. The rumours from the Highlands had sounded like distant thunder during a serene day, for no one seemed disposed to give credit to the danger as seriously approaching. The unexpected intelligence, that General Cope had marched to Inverness, and left the metropolis in a great measure to its own resources, excited a very different and more deep sensation, which actuated the inhabitants variously, according to their political sentiments. The Jacobites, who were in considerable numbers, hid their swelling hopes under the cover of ridicule and irony, with which they

laboured to interrupt every plan which was adopted for the defence of the town. The truth was, that in a military point of view there was no town, not absolutely defenceless, which was worse protected than Edinburgh. The spacious squares and streets of the New Town had then, and for a long time after, no existence, the city being strictly limited to its original boundaries, established as early as the fourteenth or fifteenth century. It had defences, but they were of a singularly antique and insufficient character. A high and solid wall enclosed the city from the West Port to the Potterrow Port. It was embattled, but the parapet was too narrow for mounting cannon, and, except upon one or two points, the wall neither exhibited redoubt, turret, or re-entering angle, from which the curtain or defensive line might be flanked or defended. It was merely an ordinary park-wall of uncommon height and strength, of which you may satisfy yourself by looking at such of its ruins as still remain. The wall ran eastward to what is called the South Back of the Canongate, and then, turning northward, ascended the ridge on which the town is built, forming the one side of a suburb called Saint Mary's Wynd, where it was covered by houses built upon it from time to time, besides being within a few feet of the other side of the wynd, which is narrow, and immediately in its front. In this imperfect state the defence reached the Netherbow Port, which divided the city from the Canongate. From this point the wall ran down Leith Wynd, and terminated at the hospital

called Paul's Work, connecting itself on that point with the North, or Nor' Loch, so called because it was on the northern side of the city, and its sole defence on that quarter.

The nature of the defensive protections must, from this sketch, be judged extremely imperfect; and the quality of the troops by which resistance must have been made good, if it should be seriously thought upon, was scarce better suited to the task. The town's people, indeed, such as were able to bear arms, were embodied under the name of Trained Bands, and had firelocks belonging to them, which were kept in the town's magazines. They amounted nominally to sixteen companies, of various strength, running between eighty and a hundred men each. This would have been a formidable force, had their discipline and good-will corresponded to their numbers. But, for many years, the officers of the Trained Bands had practised no other martial discipline, than was implied in a particular mode of flourishing their wineglasses on festive occasions; and it was well understood that, if these militia were called on, a number of them were likely enough to declare for Prince Charles, and a much larger proportion would be unwilling to put their persons and property in danger, for either the one or the other side of the cause.' The only part of the civic de

1 ["The Trained Bands of Edinburgh appear to have been first established A D. 1626. At that time, the Town Council, upon a narrative of the foreign wars then subsisting, and other circumstances, which however do not appear to have been their

fenders of Edinburgh who could at all be trusted, was the small body of foot called the City-guard, whom we have already seen make some figure in the affair of Porteous. The two regiments of dragoons, which General Cope had left behind him for the protection of the Lowlands, were the only regular troops.

Yet, though thus poorly provided for defence, there was a natural reluctance on the part of the citizens of Edinburgh, who were in general friendly to Government, to yield up their ancient metropolis to a few hundred wild insurgents from the Highlands, without even an effort at defence. So early as the 27th of August, when it was known in the capital that the regular troops had marched to Inverness, and that the Highlanders were directing their march on the Lowlands, a meeting of

real motives, resolved that the citizens should be mustered and divided into eight companies of 200 men each. In the year 1645, it was resolved, that the citizens should be mustered in sixteen companies, and to that effect the city was divided into as many departments. [See MAITLAND, folio, 285, 286]. These are still the boundaries according to which the present companies of trained bands are mustered. Each of the sixteen companies consists of 100 men. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh is their Colonel; but their Commanding Officer in Ordinary is known by the title of Captain Commandant. Under him there are a Lieutenant-colonel and Major, and in each company a Captain, Lieutenant, and Ensign. In the late rebellion, the arms provided for the trained bands, and kept in the city armoury, were carried off. They have never been restored nor replaced. The trained bands are now neither possessed of arms, nor instructed in military discipline; nor do they serve any purpose, but to display a parade upon public processions of the citizens (1788.)"-ARNOT, D. 504.]