Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 2Scott, Walter
History
Waverley; or, 'Tis sixty years since — Volume 2
Scott, Walter
Historical fiction; Jacobite Rebellion, 1745-1746 -- Fiction; Scotland -- History -- 18th century -- Fiction
The Highlandmen are pretty men
For target and claymore,
But yet they are but naked men
To face the cannon's roar.
For the cannons roar on a summer night
Like thunder in the air;
Was never man in Highland garb
Would face the cannon fair
But the Highlanders of 1745 had got far beyond the simplicity of
their forefathers, and showed throughout the whole war how little
they dreaded artillery, although the common people still attached
some consequence to the possession of the field-piece which led to
this disquisition.
NOTE 7, p. 93
The faithful friend who pointed out the pass by which the
Highlanders moved from Tranent to Seaton was Robert Anderson,
junior, of Whitburgh, a gentleman of property in East Lothian. He
had been interrogated by the Lord George Murray concerning the
possibility of crossing the uncouth and marshy piece of ground
which divided the armies, and which he described as impracticable.
When dismissed, he recollected that there was a circuitous path
leading eastward through the marsh into the plain, by which the
Highlanders might turn the flank of Sir John Cope's position
without being exposed to the enemy's fire. Having mentioned his
opinion to Mr. Hepburn of Keith, who instantly saw its importance,
he was encouraged by that gentleman to awake Lord George Murray
and communicate the idea to him. Lord George received the
information with grateful thanks, and instantly awakened Prince
Charles, who was sleeping in the field with a bunch of pease under
his head. The Adventurer received with alacrity the news that
there was a possibility of bringing an excellently provided army
to a decisive battle with his own irregular forces. His joy on the
occasion was not very consistent with the charge of cowardice
brought against him by Chevalier Johnstone, a discontented
follower, whose Memoirs possess at least as much of a romantic as
a historical character. Even by the account of the Chevalier
himself, the Prince was at the head of the second line of the
Highland army during the battle, of which he says, 'It was gained
with such rapidity that in the second line, where I was still by
the side of the Prince, we saw no other enemy than those who were
lying on the ground killed and wounded, though we were not more
than fifty paces behind our first line, running always as fast as
we could to overtake them.'
This passage in the Chevalier's Memoirs places the Prince within
fifty paces of the heat of the battle, a position which would
never have been the choice of one unwilling to take a share of its
dangers. Indeed, unless the chiefs had complied with the young
Adventurer's proposal to lead the van in person, it does not
appear that he could have been deeper in the action.
NOTE 8, p. 100
The death of this good Christian and gallant man is thus given by
his affectionate biographer, Doctor Doddridge, from the evidence
of eye-witnesses:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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