书城历史英国历史读本:与《英国语文》同步的经典学生历史读本
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第119章 公元1603~1881年的英格兰(27)

betrayed,given up by a false friend.celebrated,held,by having festivities.confused,mixed.

consisted,was made up of.devoted,attached.disaster,defeat.

exposure,openness.

frigates,ships of war with two masts.

galloped,rode swiftly.

gorge,a deep and narrow valley.impetuously,furiously.inactive,idle.

permitting,allowing.revellers,feasters.rumours,reports.

sloops,ships with one mast.

1.After his return from England to Scotland,Prince Charles marched northward and occupied Inverness.His purse ran so low,that he was forced to pay his troops with small supplies of meal;but even these were sometimes not forthcoming,upon which occasions the men were obliged to go and search for food.A little boiled cabbage often served the officers for dinner.

2.The approach of the Duke of Cumberland led Charles out to meet him.Taking up his abode at Culloden House,the Pretender,on hearing that his enemy‘s birthday was being celebrated at Nairn with great feasting,resolved to march thither by night and surprise the revellers.

3.Setting the heather on fire,in order that his troops might be thought to be still lying on the moor,he started,having given as watchword his father’s empty title of “King James the Eighth.”But his men had eaten only a biscuit each that day.The night was dark,the way wild and toilsome;and,after struggling on all night,he was forced to bring them back to their cheerless camp on Culloden Moor.

4.Next day a battle was fought there.It began with cannon.A well-aimed ball killed a groom who held a horse beside the Prince,and covered the latter with clay.Snow then began to fall right in the faces of the Highlanders.Lord George Murray,restless at seeing his men dropping under the fire of the royal cannon,sent to ask the Prince‘s leave to charge with the right and centre.Therequest wa s grant ed;and the H ighlanders,sword in hand,r ushed on so impetuously that they scattered the enemy before them like chaff.

5.Unfortunately for the Highlanders,however,Cumberland,knowing their method of fighting,had drawn up a second line of musketeers behind that which they had broken.From this second line came so close and deadly a fire,that the Highlanders,finding their triumph all at once turned into disaster,were driven back in a confused mass.

6.The Macdonalds stood inactive on the left,because the post of honour on the right,which they claimed as the privilege of their clan,had not been given to them.They saw their chief,who vainly tried to lead them on,shot with many bullets in front of them;but they would not stir,and soon fell back to the second line.The Highland army was then so severely assailed by the royal forces,that it broke into two bands of fugitives;and the Battle of Culloden was over.

7.Prince Charles,who could scarcely believe his eyes,rode off quickly to a house where Lord Lovat was residing;but he found no welcome there.Starting at ten o’clock that night,he galloped through the darkness to InvergarryaCastle,which he reached about two hours before dawn.While he slept for ashort time in his clothes on the floor,two salmon were taken from a pool close by,and his breakfast consisted merely of fish and water.

8.After spending many days in the utmost danger,first in making his way to the western shore,and then in sailing among the Western Islands,Prince Charles at last landed on South Uist,where Clanranald gave him some help.But rumours of his presence in that island reached the royal troops;and a movement was made which was intended to catch him as in a trap.Soldiers to the number of 2,000landed;and frigates and sloops of war surrounded the coast of South Uist.It seemed impossible for him to escape.

9.In this crisis he was saved by the wit and heroism of a lady called Flora Macdonald,whose stepfather was a captain in the royal militia,and who was on a visit to Clanranald.Little and mild as Flora was,she proved herself a real heroine.Going with Lady Clanranald to a hut on the shore,she found thea Invergarry.-At the mouth of the Garry,which flows into Loch Oich,in the middle of Inverness-shire.

Prince roasting a sheep‘s heart on a wooden skewer.With tears of sorrow at his distress,she helped him to dress himself in the gown of a maid-servant,which she had taken to his hiding-place.She had already got a passport from her stepfather,permitting her to go to Skye,and to bring with her a servant-man and a girl called Betty Burke.

10.In the disguise of Betty,Charles went on board a boat that evening,and they rowed away to Skye.Charles hid himself in a cave on the shore,while Flora went to the wife of Sir Alexander Macdonald to beg assistance for the Prince.As he lay there,he was startled by the sound of oars.On looking out he found that Flora was returning to him by sea.She reported that Lady Macdonald could not give him shelter,as her house was filled with soldiers;but that she advised him to go to Macdonald of Kingsburgh,her husband’s factor.

11.Ha ving par ted f rom

a

Flora at Portree,

Charles,

dressed as a man-servant,and now called Lewis Caw,crossedbthe water to Rasay.

A very

miserable picture has been drawn of his appearance at this time.Want of food and sleep,exposure to wind and rain,and the constant biting of gnats,had made him thin,pale,and haggard.

12.When it became known

PRINCE CHARLES IN THE CAVE.

that Flora Macdonald had aided the Prince in his escape,she was taken to London,and put in prison for a year.She was then released;and a number of ladies,favourable to the Stewarts,presented her with the sum of ?1,500.Afterwards,having married the son of Kingsburgh,she emigrated with her husband to North America;but the war there induced them to come home,and they both died in Skye.