MEMOIRS OF THE CHEVALIER DE JOHNSTONE. IN THREE VOLUMES. TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY CHARLES WINCHESTER, ADVOCATE, ABERDEEN. VOLUME FIRST. ABERDEEN: D. WYLLIE & SON. Booksellers to the Queen. AND H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES PREFACE. THE Chevalier de Johnstone, the author of these Memoirs, was successively aide-de-camp to Lord George Murray, created Lieutenant-General of the Forces by Prince Charles Edward, and to the Prince himself, in his abortive attempt to wrest the British Crown from the House of Hanover; and, likewise, a Captain in the army during the stirring period of the Rebellion in Scotland, and thus had the best opportunities of knowing the events which he describes, and discovering the secret springs of action which actuated the minds of those who took part in that disastrous affair. The Chevalier de Johnstone was the only son of a gentleman of that name in Edinburgh, and his sister, Cecilia Johnstone, was married to John, sixth Lord Rollo, a Scottish Peer of high rank and ancient lineage. His other sister, Jean, was married to John Leslie, Esq., of Crookston, near Dalkeith, the father of Mr. John Leslie, Professor of Greek in King's College, Aberdeen, and the great-grandfather of Hugh Fraser Leslie, Esq., the present respected proprietor of Powis. The Memoirs came into possession of his brother, the late John Leslie of Powis, many years ago, he having acquired them from Messrs. Longman, Rees, & Co., of London. They were originally deposited, it is believed, by the Chevalier himself in the Scots College at Paris, and were seen by the late Sir James Mackintosh, perhaps the best judge then living, and by many other literary men of eminence, who all pronounced them the genuine work of the Chevalier, and to be highly interesting. They came into the hands of Chevalier Watson, who married the widow of John, sixth Lord Rollo, and who, for many years, was an outlaw on the Continent, and from whom they were purchased by Messrs. Longman & Rees; and they have now been kindly placed at the disposal of the Editor by his friend Mr. Hugh Fraser Leslie of Powis. The Translator is sensible how feebly he has performed his task, but it has helped to relieve the tedium of a declining old age, and has afforded him much pleasure and satisfaction in the translation; and he fondly anticipates that his numerous kind friends and subscribers will derive no less pleasure from the perusal. It is a natural wish of everybody who reads the history of any great events to know something of the life and manners of the Historian, and if we have not much to add to the facts in this case, it will be, at least, satisfactory to know that the means of information were open and accessible, to afford a well-grounded hope of their veracity and correctness. Nor is this all, we are delighted to follow the narrator through his trials and difficulties, and see how magnanimously he bore them, and triumphed. The opinions of the writer of the Memoirs are interesting and important; and his philosophical reflections give a value to the work which it would not otherwise possess, however much we may differ from these opinions or the conclusions he draws from them. The style of the original is simple and consecutive, resembling much that of Cæsar's Commentaries. It gives such a full, clear view, paints the scene in such a vivid manner that you might suppose you saw the whole before your eyes, heard the yells of the Highlanders, and witnessed the clashing of their swords cutting down the English. It were in vain now to attempt drawing inferences from the failure of the Rebellion; it is an episode in English history that can never be forgotten: and, therefore, it has an abiding influence. Like the siege of Troy, it only wants the lines of Homer to render it immortal. But, apart from its mere interest as a tale of adventures, it holds out many important lessons which history alone can teach-Sweet are the uses of adversity, and great are the uses of history. Polybius advises his readers to take care to reap profit from its examples, and to apply them to the improvement of life and manners. He says, "There are two sources only "from whence any real benefit can be derived-one, our own "misfortunes, and those which have happened to other men ; "for since the first of those, though generally, perhaps, the "most effectual, is far more dangerous and painful than the other, it will always be the part of prudence to prefer the 66 |