miles: all was ruin, silence,
and desolation.

THE PRETENDER ESCAPES TO FRANCE.

The humane reader cannot reflect upon such a scene without grief and
horror; what then must have been the sensation of the fugitive prince,
when he beheld these spectacles of woe, the dismal fruit of his
ambition? He was now surrounded by armed troops, that chased him from
hill to dale, from rock to cavern, and from shore to shore. Sometimes he
lurked in caves and cottages, without attendants, or any other support
but that which the poorest peasant could supply. Sometimes he was rowed
in fisher-boats from isle to isle among the Hebrides, and often in sight
of his pursuers. For some days he appeared in woman's attire, and even
passed through the midst of his enemies unknown. But understanding
his disguise was discovered, he assumed the habit of a travelling
mountaineer, and wandered about among the woods and heaths, with
a matted beard, and squalid looks, exposed to hunger, thirst, and
weariness, and in continual danger of being apprehended. He was obliged
to trust his life to the fidelity of above fifty individuals, and many
of these were in the lowest paths of fortune. They knew that a price
of thirty thousand pounds was set upon his head; and that, by betraying
him, they should enjoy wealth and affluence: but they detested the
thought of obtaining riches on such infamous terms, and ministered to
his necessities with the utmost zeal and fidelity, even at the hazard
of their own destruction. In the course of these peregrinations, he was
more than once hemmed in by his pursuers in such a manner as seemed to
preclude all possibility of escaping; yet he was never abandoned by his
hope and recollection; he still found some expedient that saved him
from captivity and death; and through the whole course of his distresses
maintained the most amazing equanimity and good humour. At length a
privateer of Saint Malo, hired by the young Sheridan and some other
Irish adherents, arrived in Lochnannach; and on the twentieth day of
September, this unfortunate prince embarked in the habit which he wore
for disguise. His eye was hollow, his visage wan, and his constitution
greatly impaired by famine and fatigue. He was accompanied by Cameron
of Lochiel and his brother, with a few other exiles. They set sail for
France, and after having passed unseen, by means of a thick fog, through
a British squadron commanded by admiral Lestock, and been chased by