The church of All Saints witnessed what its Protestant ministers must
have viewed with indignation and sorrow. Prayers were ordered to be said
at six o'clock in the evening, when a Roman Catholic clergyman entered
the sacred edifice, and performed the service according to the ritual of
his church.[141]
In addition to these impolitic acts of a short-lived power,
proclamations were made by the Town Crier, levying the excise duties;
and a demand of one hundred pounds was made upon the post-office. In
other quarters, even these forms were omitted, and plunder and outrage,
which, says the author of the Derby Mercury, "were they to be stated
would fill our paper," were mercilessly committed. Nevertheless, such
was the tendency of the town of Derby to Jacobite principles, that,
among the higher orders, the brief appearance of the young and
unfortunate adventurer was long remembered with interest, and his fate
recalled with regret. The ladies of Derby vied with each other in making
white cockades, of delicate and costly workmanship, to present to the
hero of the day. To some of these admiring votaries he presented his
picture, a dangerous gift in after-times, when a strict system of
scrutiny prevailed; and when even to be suspected of Jacobite principles
was an effectual barrier to all promotion in offices, and a severe
injury to those in trade. One of these Jacobite ladies[142] is known by
her family to have kept the portrait of the Prince behind the door of
her bedchamber, carefully veiled from any but friendly inspection.
Early on the morning of Friday, the sixth of December, the drums beat to
arms, and the bagpipes were heard playing in different parts of the
town: the forces, it was expected by the townsmen, were thus summoned to
continue their march to Loughborough, a town full of Jacobites, who were
known to have been pledging the young adventurer's health on their bare
and bended knees.[143] The retreat was begun in such haste, and attended
with such confusion, that many of the Highlanders left their arms behind
them, where they were quartered.
At nine o'clock, Prince Charles, in deep dejection, was seen mounted on
a black horse, which had belonged to the brave Colonel Gardiner;--to
quit Exeter-house, and, crossing the market-place, to proceed to
Broken-row; he then turned through Sadler Gate, towards Ashbourn; he was
followed by the main body of his army. Before eleven o'clock, Derby, so
lately resembling, in its busy streets, the animated scene of a Highland
fair, was totally cleared of all the Highland troops. But the
consternation of the inhabitants paralyzed them. On that day no market
was held, as usual; nor did the bells toll to church on the next Sunday;
nor was divine service performed in any of the numerous and fine
churches which grace the town.[144]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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