DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(a) assumed that bold and romantic character for which it was destined to be so remarkable. Having formed the resolution to descend upon the Lowlands, Charles did so with spirit and rapidity. Nature and educa- tion alike qualified him for his undertaking. Having constantly applied himself to field-sports he had become an excellent walker, and was inured to toil. The Highlanders were astonished to find themselves overmatched at running, wrestling, leaping, and even at their favourite exercise of the broadsword, by the slender stranger from dis- tant lands; but their astonishment gave way to admiration and affection when they discovered that Charles had adopted all their exercises out of com- pliment to them, so that he might some day show himself, as he said, ‘a true Highlander !’ By walking, moreover, every day’s march along- side one or other of their corps, inquiring into their family histories, songs, and legends, he completely won the hearts of these simple people. They could conceive no greater merit on earth than accom- plishment in the use of arms, accompanied by a taste for tales of ancient glory; and half a cen- tury later his sorrowing fellow-adventurers still rarely spoke of him without a sigh or a tear. The Young Chevalier, as Charles was occasionally called, splendidly mounted, and attired in a suit of tartan, trimmed with gold lace, entered Perth,