In these "malignant regions," as Dr. Johnson describes them, referring
to the severity of the climate and the poverty of the soil, Prince
Charles and his adherents were lodged in a small country house, with a
hole in the roof for a chimney, and a fire in the middle of the room.
The young adventurer, reared among the delicacies of the palace at
Albano, was often obliged to go to the door for fresh air. "What a
plague is the matter with that fellow," exclaimed Angus Macdonald, the
landlord, "that he can neither sit nor stand still, nor keep within nor
without doors?" The night, it must be observed, was unusually wet and
stormy, so that the Prince had no alternative between smoke and rain.
The pride of the Scotch, in this remote region, was exemplified in
another trifling occurrence: The Prince, who was less fatigued than the
rest of the party, with that consideration for others, and disregard of
his own personal comfort, which formed at this period so beautiful a
part of his character, insisted that his attendants should retire to
rest. He took a particular care of Sir Thomas Sheridan, his tutor, and
examined closely the bed appropriated to him, in order to see that it
was well aired. The landlord, indignant at this investigation, called
out to him, "That the bed was so good, and the sheets were so good, that
a prince might sleep in them."[52]
The farm-house in which this little incident took place, and which first
received the Prince, who was destined to occupy so great a variety of
dwellings in Scotland, was situated in Borrodale, a wild, mountainous
tract of country, which forms a tongue of land between two bays.
Borrodale, being difficult of access, was well-chosen as the
landing-place of Charles; whilst around, in most directions, were the
well-wishers to his cause.
The Marquis of Tullibardine accompanied Charles in his progress until
the Prince landed at Glenfinnin,[53] which is situated about twenty
miles from Fort William, and forms the outlet from Moidart to Lochaber;
here the standard of Charles Edward was unfurled. The scene in which
this ill-omened ceremonial took place is a deep and narrow valley, in
which the river Finnin runs between high and craggy mountains, which are
inaccessible to every species of carriage, and only to be surmounted by
travellers on foot. At each end of the vale is a lake of about twelve
miles in length, and behind the stern mountains which enclose the glen,
are salt-water lakes, one of them an arm of the sea. The river Finnin
empties itself into the Lake of Glenshiel, at the extremity of the glen.
On the eighteenth of August Prince Charles crossed this lake, slept at
Glensiarick, and on the nineteenth proceeded to Glenfinnin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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