?745.1 DEFENCE ABANDONED. 325 .
abandoned; but still the gates were kept closed
and guarded. The Whigs were utterly depressed,
while the Jacobites were in a state of elation which
they were at no pains to conceal, and from the
permission that they should either be touched or
removed ; thus eventually the whole, with 1,200
stand of arms, became the prize of the Highlanders.
Meanwhile the whole of the volunteers, ?riffraff?
as the General stigmatised them, vanished. The
Dalkeith men stole ladders, scaled the walls, and
fled in the night; and the Seceders, who were the
last to abandon their colours, eventually followed
them Then all hope of defending the city was
of what passed at that conference little is known,
save that at ten at night they returned with a letter
from Charles, demanding a peaceable admittance
into his father?s capital; but, aware that prompt
? But to wanton me, to wanton me,
0 ken ye what maist would wanton me ?-
To see King James at Edinburgh Cross,
With fifty thousand foot and horse,
And the vile usurper forced to flee,
Oh, this is what maist would wanton me ! ?
Certain commissioners were sent to Gray?s Mill
to treat with the Highland chiefs for the deliverance
of the keys of the city on the best terms; but
PROVOST STEWART?S LAND, WEST BOW.
(From a Mcasurcd Drawing Sy T. Hamilton,jzuBl~hed in 1830.)
ladies at their spinets, and the gallants in the street,
was heard that song which Dr. Charles Mackay tells
us was themost popular or fashionableone in the city
during 1745-6, and of which two verses will suffice :
? To daunton me, and me sae young,
And gude King James?s eldest son !
Oh that?s the thing that never can be,
For the man?s unborn that?ll daunton me !
Oh, set me ance on Scottish land,
With my gude broadsword in my hand,
And the bonnet blue aboon my bree,
Then show me the man that?ll daunton me ! ?1
measures were necessary, as Cope?s army in a fleet
of transports was already at Dunbar, he detailed a
detachment of go0 men under Lochiel, Ardsheil,
and Keppoch, to advance upon the city, carrying
with them powder to blow in one of the gates.
Crossing the Burghmuu by moonlight, they
reached the vicinity of the Nether Bow Port, by
entering under the archway near St. John?s Street ;
and the narrative of Provost Stewart?s trial records
what followed then. The sentry at the gate stopped
a hackney coach that approached it from the inside
