In a note to this tale it is stated that tradition reports that the young Pretender visited the Principality prior to the Rebellion; but this statement is scarcely credible, nor is there any evidence in support of its truth. It is, however, indisputable, that he reckoned the greater number of the wealthy landowners of Wales among his adherents, and one of the original projects of his army, in its advance from Scotland, was that of marching into Wales, where the people, and even the clergy, {14a} were well known to be warmly devoted to the Stuarts, while the character of the country was considered to be favourable to the desultory mode of warfare practised by the Highlanders. Anticipating that such a course would be adopted, several of the leading gentry had prepared themselves to join him, and many of them had left their houses, and were actually on their way to meet him, {14b} when the mortifying intelligence reached them of the retreat from Derby. At that period, the influence of the gentry of Wales over their tenantry, and the peasantry generally, was very great, and it is extremely probable that an advance into Wiles would have secured to the Pretender an immense accession to his forces. The unexpected retreat, however, prevented any rising among the Welsh, and the adherents of the Stuarts were thus saved from the ruin in which most probably they would otherwise have been eventually involved. They were fully prepared to risk both life and estate in the cause of the prince whom they loved, though that prince, like other Stuarts, may, after all, have proved unworthy of their sacrifices and devotion. Tradition states that, for many years subsequent to the memorable Forty-Five, {15a} the Welsh squires, at their convivial meetings, were accustomed to discuss and dispute as to the share which each had taken in the movement, and the respective distances that intervened between them and the prince’s army, when the news of the retreat reached them, and compelled them to return to their homes. In a letter written many months subsequently, {15b} the young Pretender, while referring incidently to Mr. Barry, states that he “arrived at Derby two days after I parted. He had been sent by Sir Watkin Wynn to assure me, in the name of my friends, that they were ready to join me in what manner I pleased.” The prince himself is said to have been most anxious to proceed into Wales; {15c} for at Derby, when the retreat was under discussion, and all his arguments in favour of an advance to London had proved unavailing, he, at last, “as a middle course, proposed that they should march into Wales, to give their partizans in that country an opportunity of joining.” {15d}