The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
History
The Chautauquan, Vol. 04, July 1884, No. 10
Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle
Chautauqua Institution -- Periodicals; Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle -- Periodicals
he advanced in his declamation, his ardor seemed to increase. He had at
first spoken with his eyes fixed upon the ground; he now cast them around
as if beseeching, and anon as if commanding attention, and his tones rose
into wild and impassioned notes, accompanied with appropriate gestures.
The ardor of the poet seemed to communicate itself to the audience. Their
wild and sun-burnt countenances assumed a fiercer and more animated
expression; all bent forward toward the reciter; many sprung up and waved
their hands in ecstasy, and some laid their hands on their swords.”
It was in such halls as these that the cause of the Pretender was
cherished. The Lowlanders were for the most part disposed to peace. The
relation of landlord and tenant had gradually lost its feudal character.
The payment was in pounds sterling and not in warlike service. The result
of the Pretender’s adventure might therefore have been foretold at the
outset, but it was brilliant while it lasted, and he had the pleasure of
giving a few feasts in Holyrood—the palace of his ancestors. It will be
remembered that he landed with seven followers in Moidart on the 25th
of July, 1745. The place was well chosen for concealment, being on the
main land south of the islands of Skye. He opened communication with the
clans in the neighborhood, but at first received little encouragement. By
wise measures and cordial address his numbers grew slowly. An association
was drawn up and signed by the chiefs who had taken the field, in which
the subscribers bound themselves never to abandon their prince while he
remained in the realm, or to lay down their arms, or make peace with
government, without his express consent. He marched to Perth with his
little army, where the Chevalier first found the want of money. When he
entered that town, he showed one of his followers a single guinea of the
four hundred pounds which he had brought with him from France; but the
towns and cities north of the Tay supplied men and money, and for a time
his fortune was in the ascendant.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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