riving on the bank of the river, to have brandished his sword in the air, and pointing to the other side, to have rushed into the water, and darting across, to have taken his station on the opposite bank, on which he stood till all the detachments had crossed, and congratulated each successive detachment as it arrived. In crossing the Forth, the prince may be said to have passed the Rubicon: he had not only committed himself in a struggle with a powerful government, but he had, with intrepid daring, and with a handful of men, entered a country whence retreat was almost impossible.

After passing the Forth, Charles, accompanied by a party of his officers, proceeded to Leckie-house, the seat of Mr Moir, a Jacobite gentleman, where he dined; but the proprietor was absent, having been seized by a party of dragoons, and carried off to Stirling castle the preceding night, in consequence of information having been received at the castle that he was preparing to receive and entertain the prince at his house. The army passed the night on the moor of Sauchie, a few miles south from the Ford. The prince himself slept in Bannockburn-house, belonging to Sir Hugh Paterson, a zealous Jacobite. During this day's march great abuses were committed by the men in taking and shooting sheep, which the duke of Perth and others did every thing in their power to prevent. Lochiel was so enraged at the conduct of his men, that he is said to have shot one of them himself, as an example to deter the rest.‡

• Dougal Graham's Metrical History, p. 15.

+ Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 487.

Dougal Graham, in his Metrical History of the insurrection, thus alludes to the con duct of the Highlanders on the present occasion:

"Here for a space they took a rest,

And had refreshment of the best
The country round them could afford,
Though many found but empty board,
As sheep and cattle were drove away,
Yet hungry men sought for their prey;
Took milk and butter, kirn and cheese,
On all kinds of eatables they seize;
And he who could not get a share,

Sprang to the hills like dogs for hare;

There shot the sheep, and made them fall,

Whirled off the skin, and that was all;

Struck up fire and boiled the flesh,

With salt and pepper did not fash:

This did enrage the Cameron's chief,

To see his men so play the thief;

And finding one into the act,

He fired and shot him through the back
Then to the rest himself addressed,

This is your lot I do protest,—

Whoe'er amongst you wrongs a man;
Pay what you get, 1 tell you plain;

For yet we know not friend or foe,
Nor how all things may chance to go.""

Anglice,-trouble themselves,

Next day Charles put his army in motion towards Falkirk. In passing by Stirling, a few shot were fired at them from the castle, but without damage. Lord George Murray sent a message to the magistrates of the town, requiring a supply of provisions; on receiving which they immediately opened the gates, and having given notice of the demand to the inhabitants, the dealers in provisions went out and met the Highland army near Bannockburn, where it halted for a short time, and sold a considerable quantity of commodities to the men. The army, after receiving this supply, resumed its march, and finally halted on a field a little to the eastward of Falkirk, and the parks of Callender, where it passed the night. Charles took up his abode in Callenderhouse, the seat of the earl of Kilmarnock, who entertained him with the greatest hospitality, and gave him assurances of devoted attachment to his cause. By the earl, Charles was informed that Gardiner's dragoons, who, on his approach to Falkirk, had retired in the direction of Linlithgow, were resolved to dispute the passage of Linlithgow bridge with him, and that they had encamped that night in its neighbourhood.*

On receiving this intelligence, Charles immediately held a council of war, at which it was resolved to attack the dragoons during the night. For this purpose a detachment of a thousand well-armed men was despatched at one o'clock in the morning under the command of Lord George Murray. They marched with the utmost order and regularity, and not a hush was to be heard among them; but they were disappointed in their object, as the dragoons had retired during the night to Kirkliston, eight miles west from Edinburgh. The detachment entered Linlithgow before break of day, where they were joined by the prince and the rest of the army about ten o'clock that morning. The day was Sunday; but the prince does not appear to have gratified the burghers by going to church as he had done the citizens of Perth the preceding Sunday. He, however, partook of a repast which some of the Jacobite inhabitants had prepared for him. The provost preserved a neutrality by absenting himself from town; but his wife and daughters are said to have paid their respects to the prince by waiting upon him at the cross, attired in tartan gowns, and wearing white cockades, and doing themselves the honour of kissing his hand.

Advancing from Linlithgow about four o'clock in the afternoon, the Highland army encamped on a rising ground, nearly four miles east from Linlithgow, near the twelfth mile-stone from Edinburgh, where they passed the night. The prince slept in a house in the neighbourhood Next morning, Monday the sixteenth, Charles renewed his march eastwards, and reached Corstorphine, the dragoons all the while retiring before him as he approached.

Charles was now within three miles of Edinburgh, and could not

Lockhart Papers, vol. ii. p. 445,- Forbes Papers, p. 35.

+ Ibid.

proceed farther in a direct line without exposing his army to the fire of the castle guns. To avoid them, he led it off in a southerly direction, towards Slateford,-a small village about the distance of a mile from Corstorphine. The prince fixed his head quarters at Gray's mills, between two and three miles from the city, and his troops bivouacked during the night of the sixteenth in an adjoining field called Gray's Park.

When intelligence of the prince's departure from Perth reached Edinburgh, the anxiety for the arrival of Cope increased every hour. The Jacobites, of whom there was a respectable party in the city, on the other hand, longed for the arrival of Charles. The whigs, or rather the ex-members of the town-council, had, for several days, kept the city in a state of military turmoil, in the hope, no doubt, that Cope would arrive in sufficient time to prevent their courage being put to the test; but fortune, which favours the brave, was unkind to these pseudo-heroes, who were destined to exhibit a specimen of the most abject and humiliating cowardice. No certain information of the movements of the Highland army reached Edinburgh till the morning of Sunday the fifteenth, when a messenger brought intelligence that the insurgents were in full march upon the capital, and that their van had already reached Kirkliston. The last part of this information was, however, incorrect.

At the time the messenger arrived, all the armed volunteers, in terms of an order given the preceding evening, were assembled in the college yards. About ten o'clock, Drummond, the ex-provost, who was captain of a company, which, from its being partly composed of students belonging to the university, was called the college company, made his appearance. He entered the guard-room, and after some consultation with his brother-officers, came out, and placing himself opposite the right of his company, where some of the more forward volunteers stood, he proceeded to address them :-He informed them of the advance of the Highland army,—that it had been proposed to General Guest to make a stand with the two dragoon regiments, and fight the insurgents on their way to the city; but that the general did not think the measure advisable, as there was not a body of foot to act with the dragoons to draw off the fire of the enemy,—that he (Drummond) knowing that he could answer for two hundred and fifty volunteers, if Provost Stewart would allow fifty of the town-guard to go along with them, had asked the general if that number would be sufficient; and that Guest had given him an answer in the affirmative. "Now, gentlemen," said the ex-provost, "you have heard the general's opinion, judge for yourselves. If you are willing to risk your lives for the defence of the capital of Scotland and the honour of your country, I am ready to lead you to the field." The volunteers to whom Drummond seemed particularly to address himself, threw up their hats in the air, at the

conclusion of this address, and began an huzza, in which the rest of the company joined.*

Having obtained the consent of his own company to march, he went to the other companies in succession; but instead of advising them to follow the example which his own men had set, he told them that though his men were, all of them, going out to conquer or die with him, yet that such a resolution was only proper for young unmarried men, who were at liberty to dispose of their own lives. It is evident that Drummond's object was to intimidate the persons he addressed, and to prevent them from acceding to his own proposal, and that his view in making it to Guest was to obtain a reputation for bravery. Accordingly very few of the volunteers in the other companies would give their consent; but Drummond's company becoming clamorous, the others seemed to yield, and Drummond despatched a messenger to the castle to inform General Guest that the volunteers were ready to march out with the dragoons and engage the rebels. At the request of the general, Provost Stewart ordered a detachment of the town guard and the Edinburgh regiment to accompany the volunteers. General Guest, on being informed of this, directed Hamilton's dragoons, who were encamped on Leith-links, to march through the city, and join Gardiner's regiment at Corstorphine.t

For the first time since they had been embodied, the volunteers now loaded their pieces. In terms of an order which had been issued the preceding day, the fire-bell was rung as a signal of approaching danger, and the volunteers, who had assembled in the college-yards, instantly repaired in a body to the Lawnmarket, the appointed place of rendezvous. Most of the city ministers had enrolled themselves as volunteers, but they were absent on the present occasion, being engaged celebrating divine service in their respective churches. Semper parati being the motto they had adopted in their new vocation, they had gone to church equipped a la militaire, and when the alarm bell sounded, were preaching with their swords by their sides. In an instant the churches were deserted by the worshippers, and a universal panic seized all classes on learning the intelligence. The Lawnmarket, where the volunteers had drawn up waiting for the arrival of Hamilton's dragoons, was soon crowded with inhabitants: many of them, the wives, sisters, mothers, fathers, and friends of the devoted volunteers who clustered around them, and implored them, by ties the most sacred, to desist from the dangerous enterprise they

• Home's Works, vol. iii. p. 48.—Mr Home says that several of these volunteers, of which he was one, were not inhabitants of the city, and were ignorant of the municipal cabals, that they had little deference for the opinion either of Guest or Drummond; but being satisfied that the walls were untenable, and dreading the consequences to the city if taken by storm, they considered the proposal of marching out with the dragoons preferable to keeping within the walls, as with their assistance the dragoons might be able to break the force of the Highland army, and leave to the Highlanders, if victorious, a bloody and fatal victory.

+ Home's Works, vol. iii. p. 48.

were about to engage in. The attention of the people was diverted for a time by the appearance of Hamilton's dragoons who rode up the street. They were received with huzzas by the volunteers, and the dragoons in passing huzzaed in return, and with a gasconading air clashed their swords against each other as they went along. The alarm among the relatives and friends of the volunteers was increased, and nothing was to be heard but the cries and lamentations of unhappy females,-the nothers and sisters of the patriotic volunteers. These doughty champions, who never had any serious intention of exposing their persons to the blows of the Highland broad-sword, moved in appearance by the tears, the entreaties, and embraces of their female friends, seemed rather inclined to allow the dragoons to shift for themselves; but neither the expostulations of the men, (for the male relations of the volunteers were equally solicitous with the females in dissuading the volunteers from marching,) nor the tears of the women, had any effect upon the volunteers of Drummond's company, who had agreed to march.

An order being given to march, Drummond placed himself at the head of the volunteers of his company, and marched them up the Lawnmarket and down the West-bow to the Grassmarket: they were followed by an immense crowd of people lamenting their unhappy fate. Only forty-two privates of Drummond's company followed him, but he certainly expected some accessions from the other companies. Not a single individual, however, belonging to them, accompanied him. Finding himself and his little party alone, Drummond halted his men near the West-port, and sent a lieutenant, named Lindsay, back to the Lawnmarket to ascertain the reason why the volunteers, who were expected to follow, had not joined their associates. Lindsay, on his return to the Lawnmarket, found the volunteers, who still remained in the street, in great confusion. Several of the officers told Lindsay that they themselves were willing to follow Drummond and his party, but that very few of their men would consent to march out. On the other hand, many of the privates complained that they could not get one officer to lead them. After some altercation, Lindsay, with the assistance of Captain Sir George Preston, and some other officers, succeeded in collecting one hundred and forty-one, who professed a willingness to march with the dragoons, out of about three hundred and fifty volunteers who had remained behind; Lindsay led off these to the Grassmarket, where they joined Drummond's party; but if we are to believe a pamphleteer of the day, even this small force was diminished by the way. The descent of The Bow presenting localities and facilities equally convenient for desertion, the volunteers are said to have availed themselves of these on their march. The author alluded to humorously compared this falling off "to the course of the Rhine, which rolling pompously its waves through fertile fields, instead of augmenting in its course, is continually drawn off by a thousand canals, and at last becomes a small rivulet, which loses itself in the sands be