326 OLD AND NEW EDINBURGH. 11745.
-the identical vehicle in which the deputies had returned
from Gray?s Mill, and the driver of which
wanted to pass out at that critical juncture. ?Open
the port,? he cried, ?for I behove to get out.? ?You
cannot,? yeplied the sentinel, ?without an order from
Provost Stewart.? ?Let the coach out instantly,?
said James Gillespie, under-keeper of the gate,
?:for I have an order to that effect.? ?Oh, sir, ?tis
very well; you have the keys of the port and must
answer for it,? replied the soldier,. as he pulled
back the ponderous gate in the arch between its
two massive towers.
At that moment a Highlander sprang in and
wrested his musket from him ; it was the chief of
Lochiel; and immediately the whole clan Cameron
advanced up the street, with swords drawn and
colours flying, their pipes playing
? We?ll awa to Shirramuir,
And haud the Whigs ip order.?
Other noise there was none, and no bloodshed;
not an armed man was to be seen on the streets, to
the astonishment of the Highlanders, who saw only
the people in their nightdresses, at the windows,
by the light of the early dawn.
They seized the Guard-house, disarmed the
Guard, captured the cannon and arsenal, placed
pickets at the eight principal gates with the
utmost order and regularity, while the magistrates
retired to their houses, aware that their authority
was ended. .
Generals Guest and Preston hoisted the royal
standard on the Castle, and fired a few cannon to
warn all to keep from its vicinity, and, meanwhile,
after two hours? sleep, Charles prepared to take
possession of the palace of his forefathers. Making
a tour to the south, to avoid the fire of the Castle
till he reached Braidsburn, he turned towards the
city as far as the Hare Stone, a mass of granite
on the turnpike road near Morningside-the old
banner stone of the Burghmuir. He then wheeled
to the east by the beech-shaded Grange Loan (now
bordered by villas, sequestered and grassy then),
which leads by the old house of the Grange to the
Causeway side
Near Priestfield he entered the royal parks by
a breach that had been made in the wall, and
traversed the Hunter?s Bog, that had echoed so
often .to the bugles of his ancestors. Leaving his
troops to take up their camp, about noon he rode
-with what emotions we may imagine-towards
old Holyrood, of a thousand stirring memories,
attended by the Duke of Perth and Lord Elcho,
with a train of gentlemen and the veterans of his
Highland guard-veterans of Sherriffmuir and Glenshiel-
eighty in number, at the very time that Sir
John Cope?s armament was disembarking at Dunbar.
On reaching the eminence below St. Anthony?s
chapel and well, when for the first time he came
in sight of the old palace, he alighted from his
horse, and paused to survey the beautiful scene.
Then descending to the Duke?s Walk (so called
because it had been a favourite resort of his grandfather,
to whose flagrant misgovernment he owed
his exile) he halted for a few minutes to show himself
to the people, who now flocked around him in
great numbers with mingled feelings of ccriosity
and admiration. Loud huzzas came from the
crowd, and many of the enthusiastic Jacobites
knelt down and kissed his hand. He then
mounted his horse-a fine bay gelding, presented
to him by the Duke of Perth-and rode slowly
towards the palace. On arriving in front of Holyrood
he alighted, and was about to enter the royal
dwelling, when a cannon ball fired from the Castle
struck the front of Jarnes V.?s tower, and brought
down a quantity of rubbish into the court-yard.
No injury was done, however, by this gratuitous
act of annoyance, and the Prince, passing in at the
outer gate, and proceeding along the piazza, and
the quadrangle, was about to enter the porch of
what are called the Duke of Hamilton?s apartments,
when James Hepburn of Keith, who had takeii
part in the rising of 1715, ?a model of ancient
simplicity, manliness, and honour,? stepped from
the crowd, bent his knee in token of homage, and
then drawing his sword, raised it aloft, and marshalled
the way before Charles up-stairs.?
On this day Charles wore a short tartan coat, with
the star of St- Andrew, a blue velvet bonnet, and
white cockade, a blue ribbon over his shoulder,
scarlet breeches, and military boots, Tall, handsome,
fair, and noble in aspect, he excited the
admiration of all those fearless Jacobites, the ladies
especially. ?All were charmed with his appearance,?
says Home; ?they compared him to
Robert Bruce, whom he resembled, they said, in
his figure and fortune. The Whigs looked upon
him with other eyes; they acknowledged that he
was a goodly person, but observed that even in
that triumphant hour, when about to enter the
palace of his fathers, the air of his countenance was
languid and melancholy; that he looked like a
gentleman and man of fashion, but not like a hero
or conqueror.? He adds, however, that he was
greeted with acclaim by the peasantry, who, whenever
he went abroad, sought to kiss his hand3 and
even to touch his clothes.
At one o?clock on the same day a body of the
Cameron clansmen was drawn up around the
?745.1 THE CLAN REGIMENTS. 327
venerable Market Cross, with the heralds, pursuivants,
and the magistrates (many most unwillingly)
in their robes, while Mr. David Beath
proclaimed ? James VIII., King of Scotland,
England, France, and Ireland,? in the usual old
form, and read the Commission of Regency, dated
1743, with the manifesto of the Prince, dated at
Paris, May 16th, 1745. A number of ladies on
horseback, with swords drawn, acted as a guard of
honour. ? A great multitude of sympathising
spectators was present at the ceremony, and
testified their satisfaction by cordial cheers. In
the evening the long-deserted apartments of
Holyrood were enlivened by a ball, at which the
Jacobite ladies were charmed with the elegant
manners and vivacity of the youthful aspirant to
the throne.??
On the
following day Lord Nairne came in with the Atliol
Highlanders; old Lord Kellie came in with only
an aged serving man ; the Grants of Glenmomston,
250 strong, marched in on the morning of the
zoth, but the main body of the clan stood aloof,
though Lord Balmerino and m a y other noble
and disinherited gentlemen (who came almost unattended)
joined the standard.
The Highlanders remained within their camp,
or when in the city behaved themselves with the
utmost order and decorum; no outrages occurred,
and no brawls of any kind ensued ; meanwhile, the
garrison remained close within the Castle, and till
after the battle of Preston Pans, no collision took
place between them and the troops.
Their quiet, orderly, and admirable conduct
formed a marked difference between them and
most of the merciless ruffians, who, under Hawley,
Huske, and Ctmberland, disgraced the British
uniform; for the little army of Charles Edward
vas as orderly as it was brave, and organised in a
fashion of its own-the discipline of the modem
system being added easily to the principle of clanship,
and the whole-then only 3,000-were now
completely equipped with the arms found in the
city. The pay of a captain was 2s. 6d. daily; of
a lieutenant, 2s. ; ensign, IS. 6d. ; of a private, 6d.
In the clan regiments every company had a double
set of officers. The Leine chrios (shirt of mail) or
chosen men, were in the centre of each battalion,
to defend the chief and colours. The front rank,
when in line, consisted of the best blood of the
clan and the best armed-particularly those who
had targets. All these received IS. daily while the
Prince?s money lasted.
The battle of Preston Pans is apart from the
history _ . - of Edinburgh; . but there, on the 20th Sep
But few took up arms in his cause.
:ember, the Highlanders, suffering under innumerrble
disadvantages, gained a signal victory, in a
?ew minutes, over a well-disciplined and veteran
rrmy, sweeping it from the field in irretrievable
:onfusion. The cavalry escaped by the speed
if their horses, but all the infantry were killed
)r taken, with their colours, cannon, baggage,
Irums, and military chest containing L6,ooo.
Zharles, who, the night before the victory, slept
.n a little house still shown at Duddingston, bore
lis conquest with great moderation and modesty,
:ven proposing to put the wounded-among whom
vas the Master of Torphichen, suffering from
wenty sword wounds, of which he died-in Holy-
:ood, but the Royal Infirmary was preferred, as the
?alace was required for the purposes ,of royalty.
On the zrst, preceded by IOO pipers playing
:?The king shall enjoy his own again,? the prisoners,
to the number of 1,500, of whom 80 were
Dfficers, were marched through Edinburgh (prior
:o their committal to Logierait and the Castle
If Doune), together with the baggage train, which
nad been taken by the Camerons, and the colours
if the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons, the 6th, 44th,
+6th, 47th, and Loudon?s Corps. The Prince had
the good taste not to accompany this triumphal
procession. The officers were for a time placed
in Queensberry House in the Canongate.
Curiously enough, Sir John Cope?s cannon were
all captured on a tramway, or line of wooden rails,
the first of the kind known in Europe, and belonging
to some coal-pits in the vicinity of the field.
The pusillanimity of the regulars was very sinylar,
but none more so than that of a party of
light dragoons commanded by Major Caulfield,
who fled from the field to the Castle of Edinburgh,
1 distance of ten miles, permitting themselves to
be pursued by a single horseman, Colquhoun Grant
of Burnside-a little property near Castle Grantwho,
in the battle, at the head of twenty-eight
Highlanders, captured two pieces of cannon. He
pursued the fugitives to the very gates of the
Castle, which received them, and were closed at
his approach. After this he leisurely rode down
the street, and,?aRer being measured for a tartan
suit in the Luckenbooths, left the city by the
Nether Bow-his resolute aspect, ?? bloody sword,
and blood-stained habiliments ? striking terror into
all who thought of opposing him. Grant was selected
as one of the Prince?s Life Guards, under Lord
Elcho. The dress of these Guards was blue faced
with red, and scarlet waistcoats laced with gold ;
the horse-fumiture the same. He lived long after
these events as a Writer to the Signet in Edinburgh,
where he died in 1792. _. He resided in Gavinloch?s
