Life of Flora Macdonald and her adventures with Prince Charles

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clans and septs that so imprudently espoused his cause.
What could be more hazardous than to rush with precipita-
tion beyond the middle of England, and to traverse a hostile
country to the very confines of the English Capital ? As
the talented Chambers has so well expressed it, " the expe-
dition was done in face of the two armies, each capable of
utterly annihilating it ; and the weather was such as to add
a thousand personal miseries to the general evils of the
campaign. A magnanimity was preserved even in retreat,
beyond that of ordinary soldiers, and instead of flying in
wild disorder, a prey to their pursuers, these desultory bands
had turned against and smitten the superior army of their
enemy with a rigour which effectually checked it. They
had carried the standard of Glenfinnan a hundred and fifty
miles into a country full of foes, and now they brought it
back unscathed through the accumulated dangers of storm
and war."
While the clans and country gentlemen — chieftains and
their vassals — Dukes and Lords — and all ranks and classes
in the Highlands and Lowlands, and over Scotland at large,
viewed the adventure with the deepest anxiety, Miss Flora
Macdonald experienced her own share of the general
calamity. Personally she adhered to the loyal principles
and feelings of her chief, Sir Alexander Macdonald, as well
as of Old Clanranald and his brother Boisdale. On the
other hand, her amiable disposition in a sense compelled
her to sympathise with the unfortunate Prince under all his
hardships and sufferings. She kept up a close correspond-
ence with old friends and acquaintances in Edinburgh and
elsewhere, and thereby became fully informed as to the
various movements of that distinguished personage, whose
life she was destined afterwards, under Providence, to
preserve.