Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other PoemsAytoun, William Edmondstoune
History
Lays of the Scottish Cavaliers and Other Poems
Aytoun, William Edmondstoune
Scotland -- History -- Poetry
Some idea of the determination displayed by the Highlanders in this
terrific charge may be gathered from the fact that, in one part of the
field, their bodies were afterwards found in layers of three and four
deep. The slaughter was fearful, for, out of the five regiments which
charged the English, almost all the leaders and men in the front rank
were killed. So shaken was the English line, that, had the Macdonald
regiments, well-known to yield in valour to none of the clans, come up,
the fortune of the day might have been altered. But they never made an
onset. Smarting and sullen at the affront which they conceived to have
been put upon their name, they bore the fire of the English regiments
without flinching, and gave way to their rage by hewing at the heather
with their swords. In vain their chiefs exhorted them to go forward:
even at that terrible moment the pride of clanship prevailed. "My God!"
cried Macdonald of Keppoch, "has it come to this, that the children of
my tribe have forsaken me!" and he rushed forward alone, sword in hand,
with the devotion of an ancient hero, and fell pierced with bullets.
The Lowland and foreign troops which formed the second line were
powerless to retrieve the disaster. All was over. The rout became
general, and the Prince was forced from the field, which he would not
quit, until dragged from it by his immediate bodyguard.
Such was the last battle, the result of civil war, which has been fought
on British soil. Those who were defeated have acquired as much glory
from it as the conquerors--and even more, for never was a conquest
sullied by such deeds of deliberate cruelty as were perpetrated upon the
survivors of the battle of Culloden. It is not, however, the object of
the present paper to recount these, or even the romantic history or
hairbreadth escapes of the Prince, whilst wandering on the mainland and
through the Hebrides. Although a reward of thirty thousand pounds--an
immense sum for the period--was set upon his head--although his secret
was known to hundreds of persons in every walk of life, and even to the
beggar and the outlaw--not one attempted to betray him. Not one of all
his followers, in the midst of the misery which overtook them, regretted
having drawn the sword in his cause, or would not again have gladly
imperilled their lives for the sake of their beloved Chevalier. "He
went," says Lord Mahon, "but not with him departed his remembrance from
the Highlanders. For years and years did his name continue enshrined in
their hearts and familiar to their tongues, their plaintive ditties
resounding with his exploits and inviting his return. Again, in these
strains, do they declare themselves ready to risk life and fortune for
his cause; and even maternal fondness--the strongest, perhaps, of all
human feelings--yields to the passionate devotion to Prince Charlie."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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