ight be difficult to say
whether it would be most with the view of making James Stuart a king or
Fergus Mac-Ivor an earl. This, indeed, was a mixture of feeling which he
did not avow even to himself, but it existed, nevertheless, in a powerful
degree.

In Flora's bosom, on the contrary, the zeal of loyalty burnt pure and
unmixed with any selfish feeling; she would have as soon made religion
the mask of ambitious and interested views as have shrouded them under
the opinions which she had been taught to think patriotism. Such
instances of devotion were not uncommon among the followers of the
unhappy race of Stuart, of which many memorable proofs will recur to the
minds of most of my readers. But peculiar attention on the part of the
Chevalier de St. George and his princess to the parents of Fergus and his
sister, and to themselves when orphans, had riveted their faith. Fergus,
upon the death of his parents, had been for some time a page of honour in
the train of the Chevalier's lady, and, from his beauty and sprightly
temper, was uniformly treated by her with the utmost distinction. This
was also extended to Flora, who was maintained for some time at a convent
of the first order at the princess's expense, and removed from thence
into her own family, where she spent nearly two years. Both brother and
sister retained the deepest and most grateful sense of her kindness.

Having thus touched upon the leading principle of Flora's character, I
may dismiss the rest more slightly. She was highly accomplished, and had
acquired those elegant manners to be expected from one who, in early
youth, had been the companion of a princess; yet she had not learned to
substitute the gloss of politeness for the reality of feeling. When
settled in the lonely regions of Glennaquoich, she found that her
resources in French, English, and Italian literature were likely to be
few and interrupted; and, in order to fill up the vacant time, she
bestowed a part of it upon the music and poetical traditions of the
Highlanders, and began really to feel the pleasure in the pursuit which
her brother, whose perceptions of literary merit were more blunt, rather
affected for the sake of popularity than actually experienced. Her
resolution was strengthened in these researches by the extreme delight
which her inquiries seemed to afford those to whom she resorted for
information.

Her love of her clan, an attachment which was almost hereditary in her
bosom, was