though known to be a devoted partisan of the Stuarts. This gentleman, the first that joined Charles at Edinburgh, now stepped from the crowd, drew his sword, and marshalled his Prince up the stairs. The palace of his ancestors was found by Charles nearly in the same condition in which his grandfather had left it, with the exception of the Catholic chapel, which had been destroyed by the populace in 1688. The long deserted chambers were that evening enlivened by a ball; and, as on the eve of another great battle, "The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men ; Music arose with its voluptuous swell, Soft eyes look'd love to eyes which spake again, The fatigues of the preceding days, and the anxiety that could not but be felt with respect to the coming battle, were alike unable to depress the buoyant spirits of Charles, or to impair his natural vivacity and power of pleasing. The enthusiasm of the ladies was unbounded, and many a fair waverer was perhaps confirmed in her devotion to the house of Stuart, by the graceful dancing of so handsome a representative of Scotland's rightful kings. CHAPTER XII. CHARLES MARCHES TO MEET COPE - THE VICTORY OF PRESTONPANS SUBJECTS ALL SCOTLAND TO THE AUTHORITY OF CHARLES-HIS POPULARITY. THIS day of jubilee was followed by one devoted to more serious cares. The army of Charles had lately been strengthened by the arrival of a great number of distinguished men, among whom, it is true, were many who were induced to join him, less by personal devotion than by an unconquerable aversion to the Union. Among his new adherents were the Earl of Kellie, Lord Elcho, Lord Balmerino, Sir Stuart Threipland, Sir David Murray, and a number of Lowland gentlemen, whose names were of value to the cause. Lord Elcho brought the prince a present of 500l. from his father, whose age alone kept him from the field; and the magazine of Edinburgh furnished him with a thousand muskets that had served to arm the redoubtable volunteers. The Prince was now in a condition to pay his troops regularly; and many of the mountaineers, who had hitherto been armed only with a pistol or dagger, and sometimes only with a scythe or a club, were now equipped in a more regular manner. He imposed upon the city a requisition for tents, targets, shoes, and canteens. Of the citizens of Edinburgh few joined his army: a circumstance which may be quite as reasonably attributed to the unwarlike character of which the good burghers had given such recent proof, as to any strong feeling against the cause. On the very day after his entrance, however, Lord Nairn, who had been left in the north to gather reinforcements, arrived with five hundred men of the clan Mac Lauchlan, with their chief, and other Highlanders from Athol. The whole of his force was reviewed by Charles on the same day, and he announced to them his intention of leading them against Sir John Cope, and giving him battle: an announcement received by officers and men with the greatest satisfaction. Sir John Cope, who had been unable to save Edinburgh, was now anxious at least to effect a reprisal. He had landed with his troops at Dunbar on the same day on which the Highland army had entered the capital, and, including the reinforcements lately received, he was at the head of a force of about 2200 men, well provided with every military appointment, anxious to retrieve the past, and animated, apparently with the most perfect contempt of their Highland antagonists. On the 30th of September, Cope encamped at Haddington, and continued his march on the following morning, in expectation that the Highlanders would choose the high-road. Two Edinburgh volunteers, whom he sent forward to reconnoitre, might have undeceived him, but were taken prisoners; so that the general, who was constantly looking for the appearance of the Highlanders in front of him, suddenly, on the 1st of October, perceived them to the south, and in the rear of his army. He immediately drew up his men in order of battle, his infantry forming the centre, with a regiment of dragoons and three pieces of artillery on each wing. His right was covered by Colonel Gardiner's park wall, and by the village of Preston; Seton House was at some distance on his left; and the sea, with the villages of Prestonpans and Cockenzie, lay in his rear. Charles left Edinburgh during the night of the 30th of September, and held a council of war at Duddingstone, where he had an opportunity of satisfying himself of the martial ardour of his followers. He asked how the men would be likely to behave when opposed to regular troops. Keppoch, who had served in the French army, answered in the name of his brother chiefs that, as the country had been so long at peace, few or none of the private men had ever seen a battle, and it was not easy, therefore, to say how they would behave; but he would venture to assure his Royal Highness that the gentlemen would be in the midst of the enemy, and the men, as they loved the cause, and loved their chiefs, would certainly follow. When, however, the Prince announced his intention to lead his troops in person, on the day of battle, a general outcry ensued. They told him that their own safety and that of the cause centred in his person, and that if he were killed it could matter little to them whether the battle terminated in a victory or a defeat. When Charles persisted, they |