landers from the centre and right wing, rushed without orders furiously down, after their usual manner of attacking sword in hand. Being received with a heavy fire. both of cannonade and grape-shot, they became so much confused, that they got huddled together in their onset, without any interval or distinction of clans or regiments. Notwithstanding this disorder, the fury of their charge broke through Monro's and Burrel's regiments, which formed the left of the duke of Cumberland's line. But that general had anticipated the possibility of such an event, and had strengthened his second line, so as to form a steady support in case any par of his first should give way. The highlanders, partially victorious, continued to advance with fury, and although much disordered by their own success, and partly disarmed by having thrown away their guns on the very first charge, they rushed on Sempill's regiment in the second line with unabated fury. That steady corps was drawn up three deep, the first rank kneeling, and the third standing upright. They reserved their fire until the fugitives of Burrel's and Monro's broken regiments had escaped round the flanks, and through the intervals of the second line. By this time the highlanders were within a yard of the bayonet point, when Sempill's battali poured in their fire with so much accuracy, that it brought down a great many the assailants, and forced the rest to turn back. A few pressed on, but, unable to break through Sempill's regiment, were bayoneted by the first rank. The attack of the highlanders was the less efficient, that on this occasion most of them had laid aside their targets, expecting a march rather than a battle. While the right of the highland line sustained their national character, though not with their usual succes, the MacDonalds on the left seemed uncertain whether they would attack or not. It was in vain the duke of Perth called out to them, "Claymore!" telling the murmurers of this haughty tribe, "That if they behaved with their usual valour, they would convert the left into the right, and that he would in future call himself MacDonald." It was equally in vain that the gallant Keppoch charged with a few of his near relations, while his clan, a thing before unheard of, remained stationary. The chief was near the front of the enemy, and was exclaiming with feelings which cannot be appreciated, "My God! have the children of my tribe forsaken me!" At this instant, he received several shots, which closed his earthly account, leaving him only time to advise his favourite nephew to shift for himself. The three regi ments of MacDonalds were by this time aware of the rout of their right wing, and retreated in good order upon the second line. A body of cavalry, from the right of the king's army, was commanded to attack them on their retreat, but was checked by a fire from the French picquets, who advanced to support the MacDonalds. But at the same moment another decisive advantage was gained by the duke's army over the highland right wing. A body of horse, making 600 cavalry, with three companies of Argyleshire highlanders, had been detached to take possession of the park walls, repeatedly mentioned as covering the right of the highlanders. The three companies of infantry had pulled down the east wall of the enclosure, and put to the sword about a hundred of the insurgents, to whom the defence had been assigned; they then demolished the western wall, which permitted the dragoons, by whom they were accompanied, to ride through the enclosure, and get out upon the open moor, to the westward, and form, so as to threaten the rear and flank of the prince's second line. Gordon of Abbachie, with his lowland Aberdeenshire regiment, was ordered to fire upon these cavalry, which he did with some effect. The Campbells then lined the north wall of the enclosure so often mentioned, and commenced a fire upon the right flank of the highlanders' second line. increased by the MacDonalds, who retired upon it, still showed a great men keeping their ground, many of whom had not fired a shot. Lord hecho rode up to the prince, and eagerly exhorted him to put himself at the head of th

That line, l

number of

ose troops

who yet remained, make a last exertion to recover the day, and at least die like one worthy of having contended for a crown. Receiving a doubtful or hesitating answer, lord Elcho turned from him with a bitter execration, and declared he would never see his face again. On the other hand, more than one of the prince's officers declared, and attested Heaven and their own eyes as witnesses, that the unfortunate adventurer was forced from the field by sir Thomas Sheridan, and others of the Irish officers who were about his person.

That lord Elcho and others, who lost rank and fortune in this disastrous adventure, were desirous that the chevalier should have fought it out to the very last, can easily be imagined; nor is it difficult to conceive why many of the public were of the same opinion, since a fatal tragedy can hardly conclude so effectively as with the death of the hero. But there are many reasons besides a selfish desire of safety, which may dictate to a defeated chieftain the task of preserving himself for a better day. This is particularly the case with those in the rank of kings and princes, who, assured by the unanimous opinion of those around them that their safety is of the last importance to the world, cannot easily resist the flattering and peculiar reasons which may be assigned in support of the natural principle of self-preservation, common to them with all mankind.

Besides, although the chevalier, if determined on seeking it, might certainly have found death on the field where he lost all hopes of empire, there does not appear a possibility that his most desperate exertions could have altered the fortune of the day. The second line, united with a part of the first, stood, it is true, for some short time after the disaster of the left wing, but they were surrounded with enemies. In their front was the duke of Cumberland, dressing and renewing the ranks of his first line, which had been engaged, bringing up to their support his second, which was yet entire, and on the point of leading both to a new attack in front. On the flank of the second line of the chevalier's army were the Campbells, lining the northern wall of the enclosure. In the rear of the whole highland army, was a body of horse, which could be greatly increased in number by the same access through the park wall which had been opened by the Campbells. The highlanders of the prince's army, in fact, were sullen, dejected, and dispirited, dissatisfied with their officers and generals, and not in perfect good humour with themselves. It was no wonder that, after remaining a few minutes in this situation, they should at last leave the field to the enemy, and go off in quest of safety wherever it was to be found. A part of the second line left the field with tolerable regularity, with their pipes playing and banners displayed. General Stapleton also, and the French auxiliaries, when they saw the day lost, retreated in a soldier-like manner to Inverness, where they surrendered to the duke of Cumberland on honourable terms. Many of the highland army fled in the direction of Inverness, but the greater part towards Badenoch and the highlands. Some of these never stopped till they had reached their own distant homes; and the alarm was so great, that one very gallant gentleman told me, that he himself had partaken in the night march, and that, though he had tasted nothing for twenty-four hours he ran nearly twenty miles ere he took leisure to sit down and eat a biscuit which had been served out to him at the moment the battle was to begin, and which he had put into his sporran, or purse, to eat when it should be ended.

The duke of Cumberland proceeded with caution. He did not permit his first line to advance on the repulsed highlanders till he had restored their ranks to perfect order, nor to pursue till the dispersion of the highland army seemed complete. When that was certain, Kingston's horse, and the dragoons from each wing of the duke's army, were detached in pursuit, and did great execution. Kingston's horse followed the chase along the Inverness road. They did not charge such of the

enemy, whether French or highlanders, as kept in a body, but dogged aud watche them closely on their retreat, moving more or less speedily as they moved, and haltin once or twice when they halted. On the stragglers they made great havoc till within a mile of Inverness.

It was in general remarked, that the English horse, whose reputation had bee blemished in previous actions with the highlanders, took a cruel pleasure i slaughtering the fugitives, giving quarter to none, except a few who were reservel for public execution, and treating those who were disabled, with cruelty unknown ir modern war. Even the day after the battle, there were instances of parties d wounded men being dragged from the thickets and huts in which they had founi refuge, for the purpose of being drawn up and dispatched by platoon firing; while those who did not die under this fusilade were knocked on the head by the soldiers with the stocks of their muskets. In a word, the savageness of the regulars on this occasion, formed such a contrast to the more gentle conduct of the insurgents, as to remind men of the old Latin proverb, that the most cruel enemy is a coward who has obtained success. It was early found necessary to make some averment which might seem to justify this unheard-of cruelty; and, accordingly, a story was circalated, concerning an order said to have been issued by lord George Murray, commanding the highlanders to give no quarter if victorious. But not one of the insurgent party ever saw such an order; nor did any of them hear of it, till after the battle.

In this decisive action, the victors did not lose much above 300 men, in killed and wounded. Lord Robert Ker, captain of grenadiers, was slain at the head

of his company.

The loss of the vanquished army was upwards of 1000 men. The highlanders on the right wing, who charged sword in hand, suffered most severely. These were the MacLeans, and MacLauchlans, the MacIntoshes, the Frasers, the Stewarts, and the Camerons. The chief of MacLauchlan was slain in the action, together with MacLean of Drimnin, MacGillivray of Drumnaglass, several of the Frasers, and other persons of distinction. Lochiel was wounded, but borne from the field by his two henchmen. In short, the blow was equally severe and decisive, and the more so, that the heaviest of the loss fell on the high chiefs and gentlemen, who were the soul of the highland army.

ESCAPE OF CHARLES EDWARD.

SIR WALTER SCOTT.

During the battle of Culloden, Charles had his share of the dangers of the field. The cannon, specially directed against his standard, made some havoc among his guards, and killed one of his servants who held a led horse near to his person. The prince himself was covered with the earth thrown up by the balls. He repeatedly endeavoured to rally his troops, and in the opinion of most who saw him, did the duties of a brave and good commander. When he retreated from the field, he was attended by a large body of horse, from whom, being perhaps under some doubt of their fidelity, he disengaged himself, by dismissing them on various errands, but particularly with instructions to warn the fugitives that they were to rendezvous at Ruthven, in Badenoch; for such had been the reckless resolution to fight, and such perhaps the confidence in victory, that no place of rendezvous had been announced to the army in case of defeat. Having dismissed the greater part of his horsemen,

Charles retained around his person only a few of the Irish officers, who had been his constant followers, and whose faith he considered as less doubtful than that of the Scots, perhaps because they were themselves more loud in asserting it. He directed his flight to Gortuleg, where he understood lord Lovat was residing. Perhaps he expected to find counsel in the renowned sagacity of this celebrated nobleman; perhaps he expected assistance from his power; for the master of Lovat, and Cluny MacPherson, Lovat's son-in-law, were neither of them in the action of Culloden, but both in the act of bringing up strong reinforcements to the prince's army, and on the march thither when the battle was lost.

Charles and Lovat met, for the first and last time, in mutual terror and embarrassment. The prince exclaimed upon the distresses of Scotland; lord Lovat had a more immediate sense of his own downfall. Having speedily found that neither counsel nor aid was to be obtained at Lovat's hands, the prince only partook of some slight refreshment, and rode on. He thought Gortuleg dangerous, as too near the victorious army; perhaps also he suspected the faith of its principal inmate. Invergarry, the castle of the laird of Glengarry, was the next halt, where the chance success of a fisherman who had caught a brace of salmon, afforded him a repast. The mansion-house suffered severely for the temporary reception of the prince, being wasted and destroyed by the English soldiery with unusual rigour. From Invergarry the fugitive prince penetrated into the west highlands, and took up his abode in a village called Glenbeisdale, very near the place where he had first landed. By this time he had totally renounced the further prosecution of his enterprise, his sanguine hopes being totally extinguished in the despair which attended his defeat. Charles dispatched a message to those chiefs and soldiers who should rendezvous at Ruthven in obedience to his order, to acquaint them that, entertaining deep gratitude for their faithful attention and gallant conduct on all occasions, he was now under the necessity of recommending to them to look after their own safety, as he was compelled by circumstances to retire to France, from whence he hoped soon to return with succours.

Although not above one thousand men had attended at the appointed rendezvous, a great many of these thought that there was still hopes of continuing the enterprise, and were disposed to remonstrate with the prince on his resolution of abandoning it. Lord George Murray was of this opinion, and declared that, as for provisions, if he was intrusted with any direction, they should not want as long as there were cattle in the highlands, or meal in the lowlands. John Hay was dispatched to wait upon the prince, and entreat him even yet to resume his post at the head of his army.

It must be owned that these were the thoughts of desperate men; the enterprise had been despaired of by all sensible persons ever since the retreat from Stirling, if not since that from Derby. It was not to be supposed that an army with little hope of supplies or reinforcement, and composed of clans each independent of the others, and deprived of a great many of the best and boldest chiefs, while others, like Lochiel, were disabled by wounds, should adhere to an alliance in which there was no common object; and it is much more likely, that divided as they were by jealousies, they would have broken up, as on former occasions, by each clan endeavouring to make its separate peace.

When John Hay, therefore, came to Charles at Glenbeisdale, to convey lord George Murray's expostulation and request, he received from the prince a letter in answer, declaring, in stronger and plainer words, his determined intention to depart for France, from which he hoped soon to return with a powerful reinforcement. Each behaved according to his character. The stubborn resolution of lord George Murray demonstrated the haughty obstinacy of his rough and indomitable character,

which had long looked on the worst as an event likely to arrive, and was now ready to brave it; while the prince, whose sanguine hopes could not be taught to anticipate a defeat, now regarded it with justice as an irretrievable evil.

From this time Charles must be regarded as providing for his own escape, and totally detached from the army which he lately commanded. With this view he embarked for the Long Island, on the coast of which he hoped to find a French vessel. Contrary winds, storms, disappointments of several sorts, attended with hardships to which he could be little accustomed, drove him from place to place in that island and its vicinity, till he gained South Uist, where he was received by Clanranald, who, one of the first who joined the unfortunate prince, was faithful to him in his distresses. Here, for security's sake, Charles was lodged in a forester's hut of the most miserable kind, called Corradale, about the centre of the wild mountain so named.

But every lurking place was now closely sought after, and the islands in particular were strictly searched, for the purpose of securing the fugitive prince, suspected of being concealed in their recesses. General Campbell sailed as far as the island of St. Kilda, which might well pass for the extremity of the habitable world. The simple inhabitants had but a very general idea of the war which had disturbed all Britain, except that it had arisen from some difference between their master, the laird of MacLeod, and a female on the continent-probably some vague idea about the queen of Hungary's concern in the war.

General Campbell, returning from Kilda, landed upon South Uist, with the purpose of searching the Long Island from south to north, and he found the MacDonalds of Skye, and MacLeod of MacLeod, as also a strong detachment of regular troops, engaged in the same service. While these forces, in number two thousand men, searched with eagerness the interior of the island, its shores were surrounded with small vessels of war, cutters, armed boats, and the like. It seemed as if the prince's escape from a search so vigorously prosecuted was altogether impossible; but the high spirit of a noble-minded female rescued him, when probably every other means must have failed.

This person was the celebrated Flora Macdonald; she was related to the Clanranald family, and was on a visit to that chief's house at Ormaclade, in South Uist, during the emergency we speak of. Her stepfather was one of sir Alexander MacDonald's clan, an enemy to the prince of course, and in the immediate command of the militia of the name of MacDonald, who were then in South Uist.

Notwithstanding her stepfather's hostility, Flora MacDonald readily engaged in a plan for rescuing the unfortunate Wanderer. With this purpose she procured from her stepfather a passport for herself, a man servant, and a female servant, who was termed Betty Burke-the part of Betty Burke being to be acted by the chevalier in woman's attire. In this disguise, after being repeatedly in danger of being taken, Charles at length reached Kilbride, in the Isle of Skye; but they were still in the country of Sir Alexander MacDonald, and, devoted as that chief was to the service of the government, the prince was as much in danger as ever. Here the spirit and presence of mind of Miss Flora Macdonald were again displayed in the behalf of the object, so strangely thrown under the protection of one of her sex and age. She resolved to confide the secret to lady Margaret Macdonald, the wife of Sir Alexander, and trust to female compassion, and the secret reserve of Jacobitism which lurked in the heart of most highland women.

The resolution to confide in lady Margaret was particularly hardy, for sir Alexander MacDonald, the husband of the lady to be trusted with the important secret, was, as you will recollect, originally believed to be engaged to join the prince on his arrival, but had declined doing so, under the plea that the stipulated support