In 1745--6, as stated in the text, a garrison on the part of the Chevalier was put into the castle, then less ruinous than at present.It was commanded by Mr.Stewart of Balloch, as governor for Prince Charles; he was a man of property near Callander.This castle became at that time the actual scene of a romantic escape made by John Home, the author of Douglas, and some other prisoners, who, having been taken at the battle of Falkirk, were confined there by the insurgents.The poet, who had in his own mind a large stock of that romantic and enthusiastic spirit of adventure, which he has described as animating the youthful hero of his drama, devised and undertook the perilous enterprise of escaping from his prison.He inspired his companions with his sentiments, and when every attempt at open force was deemed hopeless, they resolved to twist their bed-clothes into ropes, and thus to descend.Four persons, with Home himself, reached the ground in safety.But the rope broke with the fifth, who was a tall lusty man.The sixth was Thomas Barrow, a brave young Englishman, a particular friend of Home's.Determined to take the risk, even in such unfavourable circumstances, Barrow committed himself to the broken rope, slid down on it as far as it could assist him, and then let himself drop.His friends beneath succeeded in breaking his fall.Nevertheless, he dislocated his ankle, and had several of his ribs broken.His companions, however, were able to bear him off in safety.
The Highlanders next morning sought for their prisoners with great activity.An old gentleman told the author he remembered seeing the commander Stewart, Bloody with spurring, fiery red with haste, riding furiously through the country in quest of the fugitives.
Note R, p.<? p263>.---Jacobite Sentiments.
The Jacobite sentiments were general among the western counties, and in Wales.But although the great families of the Wynnes, the Wyndhams, and others, had come under an actual obligation to join Prince Charles if he should land, they had done so under the express stipulation, that he should be assisted by an auxiliary army of French, without which they foresaw the enterprise would be desperate.Wishing well to his cause, therefore, and watching an opportunity to join him, they did not, nevertheless, think themselves bound in honour to do so, as he was only supported by a body of wild mountaineers, speaking an uncouth dialect, and wearing a singular dress.
The race up to Derby struck them with more dread than admiration.But it was difficult to say what the effect might have been, had either the battle of Preston or Falkirk being fought and won during the advance into England.
Note S, p.<? p266>.---Irish Officers.
Divisions early showed themselves in the Chevalier's little army, not only amongst the independent chieftains, who were far too proud to brook subjection to each other, but betwixt the Scotch and Charles's governor O'Sullivan, an Irishman by birth, who, with some of his countrymen bred in the Irish Brigade in the service of the King of France, had an influence with the Adventurer, much resented by the Highlanders, who were sensible that their own clans made the chief or rather the only strength of his enterprise.
There was a feud, also, between Lord George Murray and James Murray of Broughton, the Prince's secretary, whose disunion greatly embarrassed the affairs of the Adventurer.In general, a thousand different pretensions divided their little army, and finally contributed in no small degree to its overthrow.
Note T, p.<? p291>.---Field-piece in the Highland Army.
This circumstance, which is historical, as well as the description that precedes it, will remind the reader of the war of La Vend<e'>e, in which the royalists, consisting chiefly of insurgent peasantry, attached a prodigious and even superstitious interest to the possession of a piece of brass ordnance, which they called Maria Jeanne.
The Highlanders of an early period were afraid of cannon, with the noise and effect of which they were totally unacquainted.It was by means of three or four small pieces of artillery that the Earls of Huntly and Errol, in James VI.'s time, gained a great victory at Glenlivat, over a numerous Highland army commanded by the Earl of Argyle.At the battle of the Bridge of Dee, General Middleton obtained by his artillery a similar success, the Highlanders not being able to stand the discharge of _Musket's-Mother,_which was the name they bestowed on great guns.In in old ballad on the battle of the Bridge of Dee, these verses occur:---The Highlandmen are pretty men For handling sword and shield, But yet they are but ****** men To stand a stricken field.
The Highlandmen are pretty men For target and claymore, But yet they are but naked men, To face the cannon's roar.
For the cannons roar on a summer night, Like thunder in the air;Was never man in Highland garb Would face the cannon fair.
But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of their forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little they dreaded artillery, although the common people still attached some consequence to the possession of the field-piece which led to this disquisition.
Note U, p.<? p302>.---Anderson of Whitburgh.