Among the former may be stated-1st, The Prince's arrival in Scotland; 2d, His meeting with Lochiel; 3d, The Battle of Prestonpans; 4th, The March into England and subsequent Retreat; 5th, The Battle of Falkirk; 6th, The Defeat at Culloden; 7th, Escape of Charles and dispersion of the Highlanders; 8th, Cruelties and character of the Duke of Cumberland; 9th, Trials and Executions in England; 10th, Expatriation of the survivors; 11th, Fate of the Prince; 12th, Return of the Exiles. These are the principal acts in the political drama of 1745, and, though forming the subject of numerous pieces in the collection, they are more particularly illustrated by those which thus follow in similar order of enumeration:- Welcome Charlie o'er the Main, Lochiel's Warning, Johnnie Cope, Mayor of Carlisle, Battle of Falkirk Muir, Culloden Day, Lochiel's Farewell, and Waes me for Prince Charlie, The Tears of Scotland, and Cumberland and Murray's descent into Hell, Ode on Prince Charles's Birth-Day, The Exile to his Country, When Royal Charles by Heaven's command, Restoration of Forfeited Estates in 1784.

In these more prominent pieces the events are regularly commemorated as they successively arose, and though truth, satire, and romance are necessarily intermingled, they constitute, nevertheless, a speaking and accurate picture of the times. In fact, so minute, lively, and interesting are the details, so graphically are the incidents and characters pourtrayed, that this series may be said to exhibit in its principal features, if not the art and contrivance, at

least, all the charm that belongs to some of the finest Epic Poems.

In selecting the materials which compose the historical illustrations of this volume, it was found difficult to avoid the contagion of party spirit; few of the authorities, which it was necessary to consult, being exempt from a strong political bias towards either the one side or the other. Yet, upon the whole, it will perhaps be admitted, that no undue partiality is displayed. The account given of Prince Charles will doubtless be taken as a test in this respect, and by that test the publishers are willing that the integrity of their work should be tried. The facts in the memorable expedition of 1745, have been taken indiscriminately from the friends and foes of the Stuarts; but it has not been thought necessary to adopt, at random, all that has been written against the disposition and character of the Prince. Without meaning to be partial, it was deemed in better taste, to be indulgent to the memory of the unfortunate. Rash, impatient, and indiscreet, he undoubtedly was, but it is impossible to believe that he showed neither courage nor skill in his own person, or to imagine him so divested of great qualities, as his enemies assert. His expedition was wild and hazardous in the extreme; but, to have undertaken and all but succeeded in it, betokened no ordinary powers of the mind. As justly remarked by the author of Waverley, without courage he had never made the attempt, without address and military talent he had never kept together his own desultory bands, or discomfited the more experienced soldiers of his enemy; and finally, without

b

patience, resolution, and fortitude, he could never have supported his cause so long under successive disappointments, or fallen at last with honour, by an accumulated and overwhelming pressure.

ROYAL GENEALOGY,

ILLUSTRATIVE OF THE

JACOBITE MINSTRELSY.

As some of the allusions to the royal characters occasionally noticed in this volume would be obscure without explanation of their connection with the Stuart family, the following genealogical introduction will be found useful for the sake of reference:

JAMES, Sixth of Scotland, and First of England, was the common progenitor of the two families, whose contentions for the throne of Great Britain gave birth to what is called "Jacobite Song." He was succeeded, in 1625, by his son, Charles.

CHARLES I, after a contentious reign of twenty-three years, perished on the scaffold in 1649.

CHARLES II., eldest son of Charles I., lived in exile for eleven years after the death of his father; but was restored to the throne, May 1660; an event which is commonly called, "The Restoration." Charles died, without legiti mate issue, in 1685, and was succeeded by his brother, James, who had previously borne the title of the Duke of York.

JAMES II. was fifty-three years of age when he mounted the throne. In his youth he had, as Admiral of England, shown a talent for business, and great skill in naval affairs; but his character was now marked by symptoms of premature dotage. A devoted and bigoted Catholic, he attempted to establish as a maxim, that he could do whatever he pleased by a proclamation of his own, without the consent of Parliament. His obstinacy and infatuation in this pur pose, rendered it necessary for all parties of the State to seek his deposition. By a coalition of Whigs and Tories, it was resolved to call in the assistance of William, Prince of Orange, his nephew and son-in-law. William accordingly landed upon the Southern coast of England, with an army of sixteen thousand men, partly his own native sub

jects, and partly English refugees, November 5, 1688. As he proceeded to London, James was deserted by his army, by his friends, and even by his own children; and in a confusion of mind, the result of fear and offended feelings, he retired to France. A Convention Parliament then declared that James had abdicated, and resolved to offer the crown to William and his consort Mary. This event is usually termed "The Revolution of 1688."

WILLIAM III., son of Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I., and who had married his cousin Mary, eldest daughter of James II., thus assumed the crown, in company with his consort; while King James remained in exile in France. Mary died in 1695, and King William then became sole monarch. In consequence of a fall from his horse, he died in 1701, leaving no issue.

ANNE, second daughter of King James II., was then placed upon the throne. James, meanwhile, died in France, leaving a son, James, born in England, June 10, 1688, the heir of his unhappy fortunes. This personage, known in history by the epithet of the Pretender, and more popularly by his incognito title, the Chevalier de St. George, continued an exile in France, supported by his cousin, Louis XIV., and by the subsidies of his English adherents. Anne, after a reign of thirteen years, distinguished by excessive military and literary glory, died without issue, August 1, 1714. During the life of this sovereign, the crown had been destined, by Act of Parlia ment, to the nearest Protestant heir, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, daughter of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, the daughter of King James VI. Sophia having predeceased Queen Anne, it descended of course to her son, George, Elector of Hanover, who accordingly came over to England and assumed the sovereignty, to the exclusion of his cousin, the Chevalier.

GEORGE 1. was scarcely seated on the throne, when an insurrection was raised against him by the friends of his rival. It was suppressed, however; and he continued to reign, almost without further disturbance, till his death in 1727.

GEORGE II. succeeded to the crown on the death of his father. Meanwhile, the Chevalier de St. George had married Clementina, grand-daughter of John Sobieski, the heroic King of Poland, by whom he had a son, Charles Edward Lewis Cassimir, born December 31, 1720, the hero of the civil war of 1745, and another son, Henry Benedict, born 1725, afterwards well known by the name of Cardinal de York. James was himself a man of weak character; but the courage and enterprise of Sobieski was conspicuous for a season at least, in his eldest son, whose romantic intrepidity, displayed in 1745-6, did every thing but retrieve the fortunes of his family.