manded the militia then occupying the island; and some of Charles's friends, knowing this, came to her, and asked her assistance on his behalf. Flora Macdonald knew that it would be at the risk of her life to attempt his preservation; but she was compassionate and generous, and fearless too, and she determined, at all hazards, to undertake the desperate task. So she first of all procured from her stepfather, the militia captain, a pass for herself, and for a man and female servant, to the neighbouring island of Skye; and then she went with a friend to the retreat of the adventurer to communicate her project to him. They found him in the hut of which I told you, near the sea shore, in a miserable condition, and employed in roasting some meat on a spit. The kind-hearted ladies shed tears when they saw the state of poverty to which he was reduced; but Charles, soon recovering his natural cheerfulness, told them that it was well for kings to pass through such troubles and difficulties as he was now experiencing. Flora Macdonald then began to acquaint him with the plan which she had formed for his escape. She had brought with her a female dress; in this he was to attire himself, and to follow her as her maid, under the name of Betty. Charles readily consented; and that

evening they embarked,- Flora, a faith

ful Highland man-servant, and the so-called Betty. All that night they spent on the sea in an open boat; next morning, the mountains of Skye appeared before them in the distance, and in due time they all landed. But this island was by no means favourable to their cause. Its possessor, Sir Alexander Macdonald, had deserted the Jacobite party, and was now in attendance on the Duke of Cumberland; and hostile soldiers were stationed all round the coast. What then was to be done? The enterprizing Flora, not at all dismayed by these difficulties, went to Sir Alexander's wife, the Lady Margaret, revealed the whole secret, and then cast herself and the poor adventurer upon her kindness and compassion. Lady Margaret did not betray Flora's confidence. She promised to protect Charles, if possible; not indeed in her own house, for that was filled with militia-officers; but she entrusted him to the charge of Macdonald of Kingsbury, a relative of her husband, and gave him strict injunctions to see to his safety.

As Charles walked along in his new dress, he acted his part so awkwardly as to excite observation, and his friends were afraid that he would in consequence be detected. However, he arrived safely at Kingsbury's house, and then, having taken an affectionate leave of his

kind protectress, he passed over next day to another island, under the disguise, this time, of a servant-man. After some other adventures and escapes, he finally left Scotland in the autumn of that eventful year, and embarked from the very spot where, fourteen months before, he had landed full of hope and enterprise. Now his hopes were gone for ever, and the remainder of his life was to be passed in exile and obscurity. Happy would it have been for him, had he spent those years in profitable occupations. He would then have had little cause to regret the loss of a crown which had occasioned so much misery to many of his ancestors,-the unhappy sovereigns of the house of Stuart. But I am sorry to tell you, that he lived during that time in a manner quite unworthy of a great man, and of an immortal being. He died at Rome, in the year 1788.

But you will be anxious to know what became of the generous and kind-hearted Flora Macdonald. She had a penalty to suffer for her disinterested conduct to Charles, and so also had Kingsbury. They were both arrested; Kingsbury was taken to Edinburgh, and Flora to London, where she remained in confinement for twelve months. But it was not likely that such a woman would be suffered to remain long a prisoner, without exciting sym

pathy and compassion. The Prince of Wales himself interceded for her release; and she was at last set free, and presented by the Jacobite ladies of London with the sum of £1500. She afterwards married a son of Kingsbury. Some portion of her future life was spent in America; but she finally returned to Scotland, and died, at an advanced age, in her native Isle of Skye. She had several sons, who all held offices under the sove reigns of England, but she retained to the last her affection for the cause of the Stuarts.

Here then, we must leave the melancholy history of that unhappy family. There is much to pity and something to admire in them and in their adherents, their disinterested and faithful Highland friends ;-and when we read the story of their unsuccessful struggles, though we feel thankful for the good Protestant regulations which excluded them from the throne, because their succession to it would have endanged our civil and religious liberty, we may yet feel compassion too, and not withhold the sympathy which is due to the fallen. family of the House of Stuart.

I have to tell you of some other events which happened in this reign, in places far distant from Scotland. I will however reserve these long journeys for another time, because I wish, before we conclude the present chapter, to re

late to you some particulars in the life of a remarkable man who performed a part in the Scottish struggle of which we have just been reading.

We have seen much of the horrors, and much too of the moral evils connected with war, in our late story;-much of cruelty and revenge, and other bad feelings; and perhaps you have been inclined to think, as you read the account, that no truly good man could be found in such scenes. Now this is a mistake. War is indeed, at best, a dreadful thing; and it is made more dreadful still, when it is commenced with ambition, carried on with cruelty, and ended with revenge. War must always be considered as one of the sad consequences of sin in this our fallen world;--a sore evil indeed, and yet sometimes a necessary one. if rebellions arise, they must be quelled; and if enemies attack and invade us, they must be resisted and fought against. All this is necessary to attain or to preserve the blessings of peace; and so it must be, until happier times arrive. Then indeed,

For