They arrived at Linlithgow, where they halted; and the next day they marched to Edinburgh. There the mob, and lower orders of people, were very free in their expressions, and some of the higher also spoke very warmly, in favour of Prince Charles; making it appear clearly, _by their own account_, that nothing could prevent his coming to the Crown. The next morning as many of Captain Thornton’s men as had escaped being taken prisoners, (about forty-eight in number,) assembled; and none of them being quite certain of having seen the Captain since he left them with the cannon in the bog, they supposed him to have shared the fate of many other brave men who had fallen in the action of that day, and which they all sincerely lamented—not only on account of the favours he had individually conferred on them, but for the great and liberal example which he had invariably shewn to his brother officers, in the care and attention which he paid to his men in general; the natural consequence of which was, that he possessed the love and confidence of the soldiery. The disappearance, also, of the two other officers, and twenty of their men, greatly dispirited them; and, together with the suspension from their regular pay, induced some of them to apply to Metcalf for a supply, in order to carry them home; but he laudably refused any aid he might have afforded them, on being informed of the purpose for which it was required. The army being fixed at Edinburgh, the head-quarters were at the Abbey. The superior officers sent for Metcalf, thinking it a singular circumstance that a person deprived of sight should enter into the army; and knowing that his master was missing, they desired to converse with him. One of the officers belonging to the dragoons who retreated from Falkirk speaking ironically of Thornton’s men, asked Jack how _he_ got off the field of battle.—Metcalf answered, “I found it very easy to follow by the sound of the dragoon horses, they made such a _clatter_ over the stones.” This reply made the gentlemen turn the laugh against him. Colonel Cockayne likewise asked how he durst venture into the service, blind as he was; to which he replied, “that had he possessed a pair of good eyes, he would never have come there to have risked the loss of them by gunpowder.” Then making his obeisance, he withdrew: For Metcalf, though he had not _read books_, had read _men_; and received his knowledge from the school of the world.