CHARLES. 



159 



knight- errant, June 27, 1745, on the north-western 

 coast of Scotland, from a ship of eighteen guns, 

 v/hich contained arms for 1500 men. The at- 

 tempt succeeded, and lie found so many adherents 

 among the discontented Scottish nobles, who went 

 over to his party, together with the Highlanders un- 

 ier them, that he was soon at the head of a little 

 army. With this he marched forward, conquered 

 the British troops, which advanced to meet him 

 from Edinburgh, captured Perth, and caused himself 

 to be proclaimed regent of England, Scotland, and 

 Ireland. He also took Edinburgh, Sept. 19, 1745, 

 where he was once more proclaimed regent, and sur- 

 rounded with his ministers and generals. September 

 21, 1745, he defeated at Prestonpans an army of 

 4000 British. He set the prisoners at liberty. His 

 force was now 7000 strong. With this he advanced, 

 and laid siege to Carlisle, Nov. 26, which, after three 

 days, surrendered, and supplied him with a great 

 number of arms. He now caused his father to be 

 proclaimed king, and himself regent of England, re- 

 moved his head-quarters to Manchester, and soon 

 found himself within 100 miles of London, where 

 many of his friends awaited his arrival. The rapid 

 successes of the adventurer made the British govern- 

 ment tremble; and a part of the British forces in 

 Gennany was recalled. Want of support, disunion, 

 and jealousy among the adherents of the house of 

 Stuart, some errors, and the superior force opposed 

 to him, compelled prince Edward to retire in the be- 

 ginning of 1746. The victory at Falkirk (January 

 23, 1746) was his last. As a final attempt, he risked 

 the battle of Culloden, against the duke of Cumber- 

 land, April 27, 1746, in which his army was defeated, 

 and entirely dispersed. The prince now wandered 

 about for a long time through the wilds of Scotland, 

 often without food, and the price of 30,000 sterling 

 was set upon his head. He was at last discovered 

 by his most faithful friend O'Neil, a Scottish noble- 

 man : they escaped detection by sailing, in a misera- 

 ble skiff, from island to island, and wandering from 

 valley to valley, pursued by a thousand dangers ; for 

 constant search was made for Charles in every direc- 

 tion. At Lochnanach, he was fortunate enough to 

 meet one of the French frigates, which had been sent 

 for his rescue. September 29, 1746, five months 

 after the defeat of Culloden, he sailed from Scotland, 

 and arrived in France, destitute of every thing. By 

 the interest of madame de Pompadour, prince Edward 

 now received an annual pension of 200,000 livres for 

 life ; he had also 12,000 doubloons yearly from Spain. 

 The peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748) deprived him 

 of all prospect of recovering the throne of Britain 

 and when he heard that his own removal from France 

 was stipulated in the articles of peace, his anger 

 knew no bounds. It became necessary to carry him, 

 under a guard, to the frontiers of Italy. He went to 

 Rome, the residence of his father, James III. ; but 

 his relations to the Roman court were changed after 

 his father's death, January 1, 1766. His often ridi- 

 culous requests in regard to the etiquette to be ob- 

 served towards him, which he made under the name of 

 count of Albany, rendered his presence troublesome. 

 He went to Florence, till Pius VI. recalled him to 

 Rome, by withdrawing his pension. That his family 

 might not become extinct, he married in the fifty-se- 

 cond year of his age, April 17, 1772, a princess of 

 Stolberg-Gedem. But his violence led to a separa- 

 tion, in 1780. (See Albany.) Edward now became 

 addicted to intoxication. He died January 31, 1788, 

 in the sixty-eighth year of his life. Three years be- 

 fore, he sent for his natural daughter from France, 

 1 egitimated her, and declared her, on his royal autho- 

 rity, his lawful heiress, under the title of countess of 

 Albany. His body was earned to Frascati, and en- 



tombed in a style worthy of a king. A sceptre, 

 crown, sword, and the escutcheons of England and 

 Scotland, adorned his coffin, and his only brother 

 then living, the cardinal of York, performed the 

 funeral service for " dead king Charles." The car- 

 dinal of York received from Britain an annual pen- 

 sion of 4000 sterling, from the year 1799, and died 

 at Frascati, July. 13, 1807. The Stuarts ruled in 

 Scotland 400 years, and in England eighty-five years. 



CHARLES XII., king of Sweden, bora at Stock- 

 holm, June 27, 1682, was well instructed in the lan- 

 guages, history, geography, and mathematics. He 

 understood German, Latin, and French. Curtius' 

 history of Alexander was his favourite book. On the 

 deatli of his father, in 1697, when he was but fif- 

 teen years old, he was declared of age by the estates. 

 Meanwhile, the young king showed but little in- 

 clination for business : he loved violent bodily exer, 

 cises, and especially the chase of the bear. To his 

 jealous neighbours, this seemed a favourable time to 

 humble the pride of Sweden in the north. Frederic 

 IV. of Denmark, Augustus II. of Poland, and the 

 czar Peter I. of Russia, concluded an alliance which 

 resulted in the northern war, so called. The Danish 

 troops first invaded the territory of the duke of HoU 

 stein-Gottorp. This prince, who had married the 

 eldest sister of the king of Sweden, repaired to Stock- 

 holm, and asked for assistance. Charles had a par- 

 ticular attachment for him, and proposed, in the 

 council of state, the most energetic measures against 

 Denmark. After making some arrangements re- 

 specting the internal administration, he embarked at 

 Carlscrona in May, 1700. Thirty ships of the line, 

 and a great number of small transports, strengthened 

 by an English and Dutch squadron, appeared before 

 Copenhagen. Arrangements were making for the 

 disembarkation, when Charles, full of impatience, 

 plunged from his boat into the water, and was the 

 first who reached land. The Danes retired before 

 the superior power of the enemy. Copenhagen was 

 on the point of being besieged, when the peace ne- 

 gotiated at Travendal was signed (Aug. 8, 1700), by 

 which the duke of Holstein was confirmed in all the 

 rights of which it had been attempted to deprive 

 him. Thus ended the first enterprise of Charles XII., 

 in which he exhibited as much intelligence and courage 

 as disinterestedness. He adopted, at this time, that 

 severe and temperate mode of life, to which he ever 

 remained true, avoiding relaxation and useless amuse- 

 ments ; wine was banished from his table ; at times 

 coarse bread was his only food ; he often slept in his 

 cloak on the ground ; a blue coat, with copper but- 

 tons, was his whole wardrobe ; he wore large boots, 

 reaching above his knees, and gloves of buffalo skin. 

 With respect to the female sex, he manifested the 

 greatest indifference, and no woman ever had any in- 

 fluence over him. 



After thus checking Denmark, the attacks of 

 Augustus and Peter were to be repelled. The for- 

 mer was besieging Riga, the latter menaced Narva 

 and the country situated about the gulf of Finland. 

 Without returning to his capital, which, in fact, he 

 never revisited, Charles caused 20,000 men to be 

 transported to Livonia, and went to meet the Rus- 

 sians, whom he found, 80,000 strong, in a fortified 

 camp, under the walls of Narva. On the 30th No- 

 vember, 1700, between eight and ten thousand Swedes 

 placed themselves in order of battle, under the fire 

 of the Russians, and the engagement began. On 

 the previous evening, Peter naa left his camp .on 

 pretence of bringing up reinforcements. In less 

 than a quarter of an hour, the Russian camp was 

 taken by storm. Thirty thousand Russians perished 

 on the field or threw themselves into the Narva ; the 

 rest were taken prisoners or dispersed. After this 



