Royal. That he is a _prince_ by
_courtesy_, cannot be denied; because his mother was the daughter of
Sobiesky, king of Poland. I shall, therefore, _on that account alone_,
distinguish him by the name of _Prince Charles Edward_. BOSWELL. To have
called him the _Pretender_ in the presence of Flora Macdonald would have
been hazardous. In her old age, 'such is said to have been the virulence
of the Jacobite spirit in her composition, that she would have struck
any one with her fist who presumed, in her hearing, to call Charles _the
Pretender_.' Chambers's _Rebellion in Scotland_, ii. 330.

[544] This, perhaps, was said in allusion to some lines ascribed to
_Pope_, on his lying, at John Duke of Argyle's, at Adderbury, in the
same bed in which Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, had slept:

'With no poetick ardour fir'd,
I press [press'd] the bed where Wilmot lay;
That here he liv'd [lov'd], or here expir'd,
Begets no numbers, grave or gay.'

BOSWELL.

[545] See _ante_, iv. 60, 187.

[546] See _ante_, iv. 113 and 315.

[547] 'This was written while Mr. Wilkes was Sheriff of London, and when
it was to be feared he would rattle his chain a year longer as Lord
Mayor.' Note to Campbell's _British Poets_, p. 662. By 'here' the poet
means at _Tyburn_.

[548] With virtue weigh'd, what worthless trash is gold! BOSWELL.

[549] Since the first edition of this book, an ingenious friend has
observed to me, that Dr. Johnson had probably been thinking on the
reward which was offered by government for the apprehension of the
grandson of King James II, and that he meant by these words to express
his admiration of the Highlanders, whose fidelity and attachment had
resisted the golden temptation that had been held out to them. BOSWELL.

[550] On the subject of Lady Margaret Macdonald, it is impossible to
omit an anecdote which does much honour to Frederick, Prince of Wales.
By some chance Lady Margaret had been presented to the princess, who,
when she learnt what share she had taken in the Chevalier's escape,
hastened to excuse herself to the prince, and exlain to him that she was
not aware that Lady Margaret was the person who had harboured the
fugitive. The prince's answer was noble: 'And would _you_ not have done
the same, madam, had he come to you, as to her, in distress and danger?
I hope--I am sure you would!' WALTER SCOTT.

[551] This old Scottish _member of parliament_, I am informed, is still
living (178