this airy tribe? But, come, we will talk of this hereafter; for the present, we must deal with flesh and blood."

They were now on the small lawn extending from the house to the lake. Whether out of respect for its inmate, or from whatver cause, the stragglers, whom the two friends had seen, kept at a distance on the heights. A solitary armed highlander was the only being they encountered, and he paced to and fro as centinel. The new visitors approached the door, informing the guard that they had tidings of importance; but being apprised that the entrance had been barred, they with little difficulty raised up a sashed window which looked down upon the water, and were speedily within a moderate-sized dining room. On a table in the centre lay the relics of the previous night's feast. Nearly opposite to the window, a door ajar, afforded the prospect of an inner apartment, wherein, upon a camp-bed, reclined a young man, who appeared to have fallen asleep, partially undressed. He wore tartan trews, of a bright-red pattern, richly laced with silver edging, to which his coat formed an extraordinary contrast, being black, and of very indifferent materials. His stock was off, and at his head lay a silverhilted claymore. A splendidly embossed target, a pair of pistols, and highland purse, loaded a small shelf beside the couch. Whilst Coirshugle and Glentairney scanned these particulars, the youth, rolling on his side in a semidozing attitude, yawned out, "Spence! Spence!" but no one answering, he repeated his commands in a louder tone, upon which, an elderly personage, having the appearance of a gentlemen, till then unobserved, came forward, and asked if his highness called? The visitors immediately perceived that they had intruded on the privacy of Prince Charles himself. As they made a movement to retire, they heard him say, "I wanted Spence; send him hither directly." "Your highness," was the reply, "has surely heard that he, poor fellow, was

"Was killed yesterday; true, I had nearly forgotten, that faithful follower was shot as he held my horse to bear me from the fatal field which made shipwreck of my fortunes. Leave me for a few moments to myself; but ho! what figures are these? Treachery!" and he sprang into the

outer room.

"No traitors are here, my prince," said Glentairney, bending with affected humility, "but devoted adherents to your cause, who come again to proffer their services."

"Ah! Glentairney! right welcome! Glad, indeed, am I to see there still are friends who have not sunk under my evil star. But who is your companion?"

Glentairney mentioned him; and the prince bestowed on him a cold formal bow. He knew Coirshugle had refused to join him when success smiled on his arms; and his visit on the present occasion bore something in it like ungenerous triumph. "Your highness judges me too harshly," said the chieftain, piqued at the uncourteous manner of his reception. "Confidence is not due, sir," was the reply, "where faith has been untried ;" and he turned upon his heel to leave the apartment, when his movement was impeded by the entrance of a fresh visitor.

As to

He was a tall man, in the vale of years; and one who, although evidently suffering under the pangs of bodily pain, retained all the physical energies of mind unimpaired, as might be at once guessed from the brilliant eye, when excited in debate, and the dry sarcastic smile which played around his lips, and partially distended his nostrils, giving evidence of the hollow, artful spirit which beat within. He had a large mouth and short nose; but the general aspect of his features might have been called handsome, had they not been disfigured by the contracted and lynx-like expression of the eyes; the result, partly of short sight, and partly of a habit indicative of mental soliloquy. attire, it partook of nothing highland. On the contrary, it was the ordinary dress costume of an English gentleman of the day: a low-necked blue coat, with broad flaps over the skirts, gold buttons, and immense button-holes; wide cuffs, disclosing handsome ruffled wristbands; figured silk vest and blue breeches, silk stockings, shoes and buckles. His naturally bulky form was greatly increased by a number of under-garments; and he wore a full flaxen wig, disposed a good deal into curl, which nearly covered his very small forehead. As he advanced, with an air strangely partaking of the adulation of the courtier and the solemn dignity of a feudal chief, and mincing an address, in which the French and English languages were equally prominent, from a custom acquired by long foreign residence, Glentairney and Coirshugle recognised the celebrated Simon Lord Lovat.

"Bon jour, mon prince! que le ciel vous garde," were the first words of the old nobleman. "Glentairney too! I am your most devoted servant; beshrew me, but the mountain air is keen, and I quaff my morning' to the health of

our excellent host." He filled out a small glass of bitters, and drank it out. His host, the head of a small tribe under his lordship's sway, made a profound obeisance. "Welcome my lord to Charles Stuart," said the prince, "though he can neither now be grateful to his friends, nor hurtful to his foes."

"Say not so, my prince! while Lovat's arm and Lovat's clan can serve you: 'le beau temps viendra encore.'"

"Jamais, mon ami! the curse of our house is on my head, and the pale star of our line is twinkling its last beams."

"Que le mot est mal-apropos! most royal prince, be of better heart. I protest it was the greatest grief of my life that my many infirmities denied me the satisfaction of following your triumphant progress in the south; but what signifies it that the arm is now withered which wielded the claymore against Mackay? there is my son-the darling of my hopes, and the choicest spirits of my name, shall battle for your rights as faithfully as did Macshimi* for your sire and grandsire."

"The proposal had been better timed," interrupted Glentairney, "if made earlier, my lord."

"And have not my clansmen," quickly retorted his lordship, turning on the speaker, "been foremost in the melée for their most glorious king? Who dares question Macshimi's zeal in the right cause?"

Aye, my lord; the good master did lead some few hundreds on to Stirling: but why lagged the voice which could at the outset have called a myriad into war?"

"I am not aware that it is to you I am to render an account of my actions, Glentairney," replied he in a fierce tone, which, modulating as he turned to the chief personage, sunk into a low whine, "I never would have believed, mon adorable prince, that Lovat's allegiance could have been called in question, even if all the devils in hell had risen to make the charge. On scait partout, with what singular devotedness I have linked myself to your fortunes, and equipped a regiment of my tribe; and I must be bold to aver that prettier men never trod on heather.”

"For shame, gentlemen," said Charles, "give up this taunting; to you both am I much beholden, and we must

* Son of Simon, the patronymic of Fraser of Lovat.

not give our enemies the additional triumph of knowing we have internal dissensions. Reach me the shell; I will at least have the satisfaction of drinking to your better temper, and a deoch-an-dorus, early though it be, to our happy parting, perhaps for ever."

He sighed, as a large and variegated coloured shell, bound with silver and filled with brandy, was presented to the master of the house; for whisky was rarely touched at this period by people of quality. "I drink to the memory of the departed; and that our living friends, when next they meet, may do so under happier destinies."

All present bowed their heads, and for an instant kept a mournful silence. It was broken in upon by their host; "and wherefore, my liege, thus despond? Must one reverse unsettle nerves which dared a kingdom, with but seven followers?"

"He speaks truly," exclaimed the whole party, struck by the force of the remark.

"Alas, my friends, hope was then young: I threw myself on the loyalty of a generous race, and was not mistaken; but the same tide which rose me on its swell to victory, but bears me the more rapidly on its ebb to disgrace."

"Too quickly judged, please your highness," said Glentairney; "resources still are yours; retire to the interior, and the German is but a nominal victor."

"And, might Lovat counsel," interrupted the old chief, "his glens and hills may, sans gasconade, laugh the sidier roy to scorn, et son veritable chevalier will then see with what pleasure old Macshimi will venture his bones in his service, albeit depressed by pains and woes unspeakable.”

"Whilst he swears to Loudon, and the President, he is the most outrageous of whigs, and the most unhappy parent of a disloyal, disobedient son," whispered Glentairney to Coirshugle; "but may the saddle ever light on the right horse, win who may."

"And on what resources am I again to enter the lists ?" said the prince; "Is not our army dispersed and scattered, wandering in petty hordes without a leader; useless to themselves, and harmless to the enemy?"

"Reverse the case, my prince: once more be their head;

Saighdeur ruadh, red soldiers :—the king's troops,

and these scattered hordes will become a formidable host," said Fraser, their landlord.

"But who will answer for their will to do so? Have I not seen matchless advantages escape my grasp ere now, by that roving spirit which induces desertion at the brush of action, and thereby renders victory itself little better than defeat?"

"Call it not desertion, your highness; but attribute this retirement of your men to the strong yearning for their rude homes, and a blameless pride of there exhibiting such plunder as their valour had secured."

"Be it so! the die seems cast."

"Cast!" uttered Lovat and Glentairney alike; the one stung by the reflection that his all depended upon a desperate hazard in the part he had, at such a late period, had forced upon him by the confused jugglery of his politics, and the other maddened by the prospect of repose, which barred his eager visions of revenge on Ross.

"Cast!" Are not Lochiel, Barisdale, Cluny, Glenbuckett, Clanranald, and other chieftains, yet in arms?"

"Hemmed in by Cumberland's victorious troops, what can their desultory warfare avail?" said Charles.

"Much," replied Lovat; "and, since he has ventured into our rude land, tant puis pour lui, it will go hard, if we, who have bearded the whole array of England, in their own plains, cannot easily keep our ground, when the strife is on our native heath; and the alternative freedom, or a scaffold."

"But where is Murray ?" inquired Charles.

"Where, in all likelihood, his Atholian counsels have all along tended-with Cumberland, I dare be bound," replied Lovat.

"Fie, my lord! you do him wrong; Murray may have erred in judgment, but he is no traitor.'

May the event prove so! but the family of Athol cannot behold with indifference that Macshimi's counsels should reach his prince's ear."

Charles had unwittingly struck a chord which recalled to Lovat's memory a deep-dyed passage of his early career; but he quickly regained his wonted composure, as he said, "Forth then, mon prince, encore au combat! and we shall