If there is one figure in the past that still acts powerfully upon the tradition, literature, and imagination of Scotland,--in a word, upon that which remains and is imperishable, after stone and brass are but mouldering relics,--it is the figure and fortunes of Charles, the Young Pretender to the throne of Great Britain. With him ended Celtic Scotland, Scottish feudalism, and the age of Highland romance. About the “Young Chevalier”--the image on the Scottish mind is that of the fair youth in the full splendor of manhood; not the wretched dregs of the human form that many years afterwards was cast out of memory like an abominable branch. It is of the bonnie young fellow that such songs as “Wae’s me for Prince Charlie,” “Charlie is my darling,” “Come o’er the stream, Charlie,” and “The White Cockade,” were written and are still sung. His full name was Charles Edward Louis Philippe Casimir Stuart. This young man, of extraordinary beauty and fascinating manners, against the advice of his friends and most loyal supporters, landed in Scotland, and summoning the Highland chiefs, who, by affinities of blood, politics, and religion, were most attached to the Stuart dynasty, asked for their support. One and all, they declared against the uprising, but they, nevertheless, agreed to follow their liege lord. Born at Rome, on December 31, 1720, grandson of King James II of England, and eldest son of James, the Old Pretender, who called himself James III, Charles was nominated by his family the Prince of Wales. Educated under brilliant tutors, he travelled through Italy. He was able to speak English, French, and Italian, but could never write well in English. Despite the previous failure, in 1715, of his father, and the loss at sea by storm of a French fleet, with seven thousand men who were to assist his Highlanders, Charles landed in Scotland when most of the British army was in the Belgic Netherlands. On August 19, 1745, in Glen Finnan, he unfurled his standard as “James VIII of Scotland and III of England” against George II and the Hanoverian dynasty of Great Britain. He wore the Highland costume and won the hearts of the women by his charming manners and manly beauty. After a meteoric career, including a brilliant series of marches, victories, occupation of Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, invasion of England almost to London, and sudden retreat, he had to face with his loyal clansmen the King’s son William, Duke of Cumberland, with an army specially trained to the use of the bayonet. The two forces met on Drummossie Moor, near Culloden, April 16, 1746. Cumberland’s men were in high spirits and fine condition, while the ill-fed followers of Charles, hungry and weary after a night march, numbered five thousand. His attempt to surprise the Duke and settle the issue with cold steel had failed!