way by the enthusiasm of
the moment; 'I will share the fate of my Prince, and so shall every man
over whom nature or fortune has given me any power.' Such was the
juncture upon which depended the civil war of 1745; for it is a point
agreed, says Mr. Home, who narrates this conversation, that if Locheill
had persisted in his refusal to take arms, no other chief would have
joined the standard, and the spark of rebellion must have been instantly
extinguished." Not more than twelve hundred men were assembled in
Glenfinnan on the day when the standard was unfurled by the Marquis of
Tullibardine, and, at the head of this mere handful of followers,
Charles Edward commenced the stupendous enterprise of reconquering the
dominions of his fathers.

With a force which, at the battle of Preston, did not double the above
numbers, the Prince descended upon the Lowlands, having baffled the
attempts of General Cope to intercept his march--occupied the city of
Perth and the town of Dundee, and finally, after a faint show of
resistance on the part of the burghers, took possession of the ancient
capital of Scotland, and once more established a court in the halls of
Holyrood. His youth, his gallantry, and the grace and beauty of his
person, added to a most winning and affable address, acquired for him
the sympathy of many who, from political motives, abstained from
becoming his adherents. Possibly certain feelings of nationality, which
no deliberate views of civil or religious policy could altogether
extirpate, led such men to regard, with a sensation akin to pride, the
spectacle of a prince descended from the long line of Scottish kings,
again occupying his ancestral seat, and restoring to their country,
which had been utterly neglected by the new dynasty, a portion of its
former state. No doubt a sense of pity for the probable fate of one so
young and chivalrous was often present to their minds, for they had
thorough confidence in the intrepidity of the regular troops, and in the
capacity of their commander; and they never for a moment supposed that
these could be successfully encountered by a raw levy of undisciplined
Highlanders, ill-armed and worse equipped, and without the support of
any artillery.

The issue of the battle of Prestonpans struck Edinburgh with amazement.
In point of numbers the two armies were nearly equal, but in every thing
else, save personal valour, the royal troops had the advantage. And yet,
_in four minutes_--