ndependence for a
younger brother, and therefore interest, it is alleged, could not have
been an inducement to his actions.

Whether from real admiration, or from a wish to disseminate in Scotland
a favourable impression of the Stuart Princes, it is difficult to
decide; but Mr. Murray, in 1742, dispatched to a lady in Scotland, who
had requested him to describe personages of so great interest to the
Jacobites, the following, perhaps, not exaggerated portrait of what
Charles Edward was in the days of his youth, and before he had left the
mild influence of his father's house.

"Charles Edward, the eldest son of the Chevalier de St. George is tall,
above the common stature; his limbs are cast in the exact mould, his
complexion has in it somewhat of an uncommon delicacy; all his features
are perfectly regular, well turned, and his eyes the finest I ever saw;
but that which shines most in him, and renders him without exception the
most surprisingly handsome person of the age, is the dignity that
accompanies his every gesture; there is, indeed, such an unspeakable
majesty diffused throughout his whole mien and air, as it is impossible
to have any idea of without seeing, and strikes those that do with such
an awe, as will not suffer them to look upon him for any time, unless he
emboldens them to it by his excessive affability.

"Thus much, madam, as to the person of this Prince. His mind, by all I
can judge of it, is no less worthy of admiration; he seems to me, and I
find to all who know him, to have all the good nature of the Stuart
family blended with the spirit of the Sobieskys. He is, at least as far
as I am capable of seeing into men, equally qualified to preside in
peace and war. As for his learning, it is extensive beyond what could be
expected from double the number of his years. He speaks most of the
European languages with the same ease and fluency as if each of them
were the only one he knew; is a perfect master of all the different
kinds of Latin, understands Greek very well, and is not altogether
ignorant of Hebrew; history and philosophy are his darling
entertainments, in both which he is well versed; the _one_ he says will
instruct him how to govern _others_, and the _other_ how to govern
_himself_, whether in _prosperous_ or _adverse_ fortune. Then for his
courage, that was sufficiently proved at the siege of Gaita, where
though scarcely arrived at the age of fifteen, he performed such things
as in attempti