Life of Flora Macdonald and her adventures with Prince Charles

of Charles I. then succeeded to the throne. After them,
Queen Anne, another daughter of James II. began to reign.
She died without issue in the year 17 14, leaving behind her
a brother named James. This James, being of course the
son of James II. is well known in our national history as
the pretender, or the Chevalier St. George. He had
naturally a keen eye to the kingdom, and was strongly
supported in his views to this end by several powerful
friends. Among those most devoted to his cause was the
Earl of Mar, who had forces of considerable strength in
readiness for action. Possessed himself of no small number
of willing retainers, he had the benefit of numerous allies
from France. James, with no doubt of success, unfurled
his banner at Braemar, in the Highlands of Aberdeenshire,
in 17 1 5, but notwithstanding all his careful preparations, he
was defeated soon after at Sheriffmuir. Like his father,
James II., he was banished from the kingdom, and his
various schemes fell to the ground. Amid all these bloody
insurrections, the Parliament of the nation bestowed the
crown on the nearest Protestant heir, George, Elector of
Hanover, and great-grandson of James I. This monarch,
styled George I. died in 1727, and was succeeded by his
son, George II. In the meantime James, the Chevalier St.
George, had married Clementina, granddaughter of John
Sobieski, the heroic King of Poland, by whom he had a son,
Charles Edward, born in 1720, who eventually became the
hero of the Rebellion of 1745. The Chevalier had also
another son, known in history as the Cardinal de York.
The Chevalier St. George is said to have been a man of
little judgment, and of weak and vacillating character, to
which may be attributed the failure of his attempt to regain
the throne of his ancestors in 17 15. But, on the other
hand, the blood of Sobieski seems to have invigorated his