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The Eighteenth Century -- Scotland
The Jacobite Rebellion of 1745
Available over the internet from http://www.amazon.com
PrestonSpeed is republishing all the books of G.A. Henty. And not abridged editions either. The original versions. This book was first published in 1887.
After the Rebellion of 1715 many of the Jacobites managed to escape to France where they served the French King in the Scots regiment. One of these Scots was Colonel Leslie. He fell in love with the daughter of a powerful aristocratic family. They married secretly and a son was born. Because of this Colonel Leslie had incurred the wrath of two noble families -- the family of his wife and the family of the nobleman she was intended to marry.
Colonel Leslie was arrested and his wife was sent to a convent.
But before he was arrested Colonel Leslie managed to get a message to his oldest friend, Malcolm Anderson. He told him to take his son to Scotland. Malcolm does so and this is where the story begins.
Malcolm takes the infant Ronald Leslie to his brother, a Glasgow baillie, who brings the child up as his son. Malcolm finds work as a cattle drover. He visits his brother and family from time to time and sees that the boy learns fencing.
Then, when Ronald is a young man, he hears of a plan to arrest a Jacobite agent. Ronald makes a wild attempt to warn the agent. The agent escapes but Ronald is arrested and is taken by ship to London for trial.
From this point on the pace is fast and furious. Malcolm rescues Ronald and smuggles him aboard a ship for France -- a ship which is soon to be wrecked. Once in France Malcolm seeks out his old regiment. Ronald serves with it at the Battle of Fontenoy.
Now they are in France Ronald is determined to find where his parents are being imprisoned and rescue them. They find out the name of the convent where his mother is being kept and manage to make contact with her. After many adventures and much excitement both his parents are set free.
Then Ronald kills the King's favourite in a duel. This is at the time when Bonnie Prince Charlie is setting out to sail to Scotland. Ronald and Malcolm make their way to him and embark with him. From then on we follow their fortunes, and those of the Prince, up to the Battle of Culloden. Their final escape provides more excitement.
This is an exciting, fast paced story but there is more to it than that. The historical background is detailed and accurate. I found the details of the exiled Scots living in France especially interesting. This is something which tends to be glossed over in Scottish history. G.A. Henty used to be a war correspondent and, as such, he was able to give a particularly accurate account of the campaigns of the '45.
To return to the French section: Henty shows a France in which the seeds of the Revolution have already taken root. Colonel Leslie has been imprisoned under one of the hated lettres de cachet which made their own contribution to the events of the Reign of Terror and, later, Ronald comes to realise that he could never live in a country in which the King is all powerful.
This novel was first published in 1887 and ideas have changed since then. Particularly in the way in which wars are written about. Henty is very accurate in describing the campaigns but he does tend to skate over the misery and suffering caused by war. In fact, in the early stages, Ronald tends to treat it as a game, although we are given some idea of the carnage after the Battle of Culloden. But that was the style at the time and, as the background history is so good, I think it would be a pity if Henty were to be rejected on this account. Instead I would point this out to children and encourage them to read -- in addition -- some of the many modern books which show the cruelty, devastation and futility of war.
There is also the fact that writing such as Henty's is a kind of historical source in itself -- a source which helps to explain the frenzy which swept Britain at the beginning of the First World War.
I have said that Henty is very accurate. But there is one point where this accuracy slips. At the Battle of Culloden he keeps referring to the Scots and English -- even although he has previously gone to a great deal of trouble to show that Bonnie Prince Charlie had the support of only a small section of the Highlands.
I read a lot of Henty between the ages of ten and twelve and I am really excited that PrestonSpeed is now republishing all his books. And because of Amazon it is now easy obtaining a copy of an American-published book. I find that Henty's books mean far more to me now than they did when I was twelve.
This book is well worth reading. Henty gives a different perspective to the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745.
11 to adult
This is one of Scholastic's
fictional diary series, My Story.
Fifteen-year-old Euphemia Grant is the daughter of a merchant in Inverness. She goes to spend some time with her uncle and aunt in Edinburgh and she is there when Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Highlanders occupy the city. Phemie attends the various balls and parties and is thrilled when Prince Charles dances with her. But although Phemie may have her head in the clouds she still manages to keep her feet on the ground and she is worried about the effect the Jacobites are having on her cousin Alan. Her fears are proved correct when Alan enlists in the Jacobite Army and marches away with them. But he writes to Phemie and, through his letters we can follow the course of the Jacobite campaign.
Meanwhile Phemie returns home to Inverness and arrives just before the Battle of Culloden. Before the Battle the attics of their house shelter loyalist refugees who have had their houses looted. Later the stables are filled with Jacobite prisoners and the kitchens with Redcoat guards. Phemie helps tend the wounded. In the midst of all this her cousin Alan arrives, badly wounded and Phemie is with him when an army surgeon amputates his leg.
As well as the actual rebellion this book also contains several of the minutia of seventeenth century life in Scotland.
The military campaigns apart, there is also a romance worked into the story. Phemie has many suitors but her choice is the ill-fated Alan.
A particularly interesting little snippet
is when Phemie learns the original words of 'God save the King'
with the line 'Rebellious Scots to crush.'
Years after finishing this diary Phemie finds it again when she
is clearing out the attic and she decides to add a footnote where
she tells of the death of the Duke of Cumberland and the life
of dissipation being led by Prince Charlie in Italy. (She had
seen him herself on a visit to Italy the previous year). Thinking
of all the misery and suffering caused by the Rebellion she ends
her diary with the words,
"May God curse both the two of them!"
Comes with historical notes and a section
of contemporary illustrations.
This book forms a good introduction to the Jacobite Rebellion
of 1745 for young people but it must be said that the diary format
has its limitations. For one thing it does not have the plot and
structure of a conventional novel. It also does not have the same
impact as the brevity of Phemie's style means that events do not
stay in the memory as they would if more time was spent on them.
This is more an easy way of learning
history than a story or a novel.
Teenage
This is another in the Forget me Not teenage romance series.
When Jenna Marsden's mother dies she knows that her grasping stepfather means to get his greedy hands on her inheritance. She knows she must escape. She lays her plans carefully and books her passage on a ship sailing from London to Inverness, where she will be met by someone who will take her to her grandfather, a local laird.
The year is 1746 and Jenna arrives at her grandfather's house just before the Battle of Culloden. Her grandfather is for King George but his son, Ewan, is a supporter of the Stewarts. He is wounded at Culloden but his faithful steward, Sandy manages to get him home where Jenna helps to tend his injuries and hide him from the soldiers led by Lieutenant James Farnby. Jenna's situation is further complicated by the fact that both Ewan and James are attracted to her.
The White Cockade has more of a story than many romances. In fact there is so much action that it could almost qualify as mixed genre -- adventure/romance. We are shown Jenna hiding Ewan in the cellar while the Redcoats are just above in the kitchen, Jenna being held a prisoner by the wild highlander Red Rory and his men, and finally Jenna being threatened with a knife by the sinister Bonn-a-se'. But, true to the romance genre, all is resolved in the end.
The fact that the story moves at a fast pace does not stop much information about the Scottish Highlands from being included. Some examples are: the local way of dressing with the men in kilts or trews (narrow tartan trousers) and the poorer people (men and women) going barefoot, the "black houses" made of sods of earth, and the highland ponies known as garrons. These facts are carefully woven into the story as in the case of the detailed description of Ewan's blue bonnet. It probably saves Jenna's life when she stumbles upon some clansmen in the act of hiding guns. When they see Ewan's silver badge on the bonnet they send for him instead of harming her.
There is a historical note about the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745 at the end.
An exciting, enjoyable story with a good background.
11+
When she is ten years old a gipsy tells
Jeannie Main,
"Ye will make a king and break a king, but will ye ride the
kelpie? ... Seek out the kelpie, Jean Main."
There is more but young Jeannie does not understand any of it. To her it seems a lot of rubbish. But later her grandfather explains about the kelpie. The kelpie appears in the form of a large black horse or bull. It may seem to be very quiet and docile but if anyone should try to ride it will carry them off to its home at the foot of the loch and the person on its back will be drowned.
But there is more than this to the legend of the Scottish water horse. If anyone should succeed in riding the kelpie and making it obey them then it would grant them their heart's desire.
Jeannie remembers this when her father is injured in an accident and left paralysed. If she could ride a kelpie she would ask that he would be restored to health. And, if she could ever find one, there is a good chance that she would be able to make it obey her. For Jean once hid and spied on a ritual ceremony of the horse masters and she knows the special word which will make any horse obey. But where is she to find a kelpie?
To this background of traditional Scottish legend and folklore is grafted a story set in the harsh reality of history. Jeannie belongs to a fishing family in Nairn, in the north east of Scotland. But she has red hair and the other fishers say she is unlucky and she is forbidden to go near the boats. So, instead, Jeannie goes into service in Nairn in the town house of Patrick Clark, the surgeon. She soon settles down in her new life. She is clever and she learns quickly and does well. And she becomes very friendly with the younger daughter, Celia.
Two years pass and then there is the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. The town house is occupied first, by Highlanders, and later by soldiers from Cumberland's Army. And Jeannie plays her own part in the events of the Rebellion.
Jeannie's new master is also a Depute Sheriff. This leads into examples of the harsh and summary justice of the time.
As well as the story element this book
gives a good picture of life at the time. The story is told in
the first person by Jeannie and this is used very effectively
to describe social conditions. Jeannie moves between her own home
among the fishers, to her grandfather's croft, and the Nairn town
house. She describes them all by contrasting them with her own
house. For example, in her grandfather's little house "There
wasn't a chimney like ours" and later she goes on to say
that in her own home there was a separate door for the animals,
"but not here." In other words, it is quite natural
for the animals to be kept in the house. And when she goes to
Nairn Jeannie stares in wonderment at the fine house and comments
"There was a floor of smooth stones, not like ours of dried
blood and burnt shell. And there was oiled linen in the window
behind the shutters."
A very skilful use of the first person.
An exciting story, a detailed and authentic
historical background, and even a touch of traditional legend.
What more could anyone ask for?
10+
With his foster father slain at the Battle
of Culloden, fifteen-year-old Robbie McLeod is hiding in the hills.
He is fleeing from a band of Butcher Cumberland's Redcoats and
is about to be caught when the soldiers suddenly break off the
chase in search of a different quarry. They kill a wolf and Robbie
later sees, painted on a rock, "Near this rock was killed
the last wolf in Scotland 24th April, 1746."
But it was not the last wolf because Robbie finds its cub. Convinced
that its mother had saved his life, Robbie cares for the tiny
creature. Later he takes it to Edinburgh -- after first disguising
its now familiar wolf shape with sheep shears. He is found by
a ship's captain whose own son was also killed at Culloden. This
captain is smuggling Jacobite refugees over to America and Robbie
and the now young wolf go with them.
This rather unusual story of the savage aftermath of the Jacobite
Rebellion of 1745 is given a modern framework. A twenty-first
century descendant of Robbie Mcleod is bored while convalescing
from a bout of pneumonia. His granddaughter lends him her computer
and her grandfather starts to research his family history. He
makes contact with a distant cousin in America who has recently
found the will of Robbie McLeod. And as well as his possessions
Robbie also left an account of his life.
An interesting story of the Jacobite Rebellion which is given
an extra dimension by the relationship between the boy and the
wolf. Should appeal to animal lovers as well as budding historians.
Simply told for age eight upwards but the content should appeal
to animal lovers of all ages.
8-12
This book was first published in hardback in 1997. It is one of the Sparks series for children of seven upwards. It is about 5,000 words long.
Maggie is the daughter of the chief of the McDonnell clan. Her father has always supported the Jacobite cause but he says that Charlie's army should have stopped in Edinburgh and should never have invaded England and he orders his own men to return home. Maggie's two young brothers are excited about the Rebellion and play at fighting but Maggie tells them that "Nothing's right about war. No good ever comes from killing people."
Then Charlie is defeated at Drummosie, or Culloden and the McDonnell castle is surrounded by Redcoats searching for Charlie and anyone else who has survived Culloden. Maggie goes for a ride and comes across Prince Charlie hiding in the hills with a few of his loyal followers. They ask Maggie for help. How can Maggie help the Prince and what part does her wily old Uncle Lachlan play?
A lightly told story with a humourous touch which explains simply the main points of the Jacobite Rebellion of 1745. It comes with some very useful notes on Bonnie Prince Charlie, the Jacobites, Flora MacDonald, and highland dress.
7-11