WILLIAM FRANCIS AINSWORTH, ESQ, Ph.D., F.S.A., F.R.G.S., Etc., Etc.
The details of Preston Fight, given in the tale, which I have the gratification of inscribing to your name, may be new to you; inasmuch as you may not have seen DOCTOR Hibbert Ware's very curious historical collections relative to the great Jacobite movement of 1715, published several years ago by the Chetham Society, from which my materials have been derived.
But I am sure you will share my feelings of sympathy with the many gallant Roman Catholic gentlemen, who, from mistaken feelings of loyalty, threw away life and fortune at Preston; and you cannot fail to be struck with admiration at the masterly defence of the town made by Brigadier Mackintosh—the real hero of Preston Fight.
I hope I may have succeeded in giving you some idea of that valorous Highland commander.
Nothing can be better than the description of him given in the old Lancashire ballad:
“Mackintosh is a soldier brave,
And of his friends he took his leave;
Unto Northumberland he drew,
And marched along with a jovial crew.”
What a contrast to the brave brigadier is General Forster, by whose incompetency, or treachery, Preston was lost!—as the same old ballad says:
“'Thou Forster hast brought us from our own home,
Leaving our estates for others to come;
Thou treacherous dog, thou hast us betrayed,'
My Lord Derwentwater thus fiercely said.”
But the hero of my tale is the ill-fated Earl of Derwentwater—by far the most striking figure in the Northumbrian insurrection.
The portrait I have given of him I believe to be in the main correct, though coloured for the purposes of the story. Young, handsome, chivalrous, wealthy, Lord Derwentwater was loyal and devoted to him whom he believed his rightful and lawful sovereign.
His death was consistent with his life. On the scaffold he declared, “I intended wrong to none, but to serve my king and country, and without self-interest, hoping by the example I gave to induce others to do their duty.”
“My Lord Derwentwater he is dead,
And from his body they took his head;
But Mackintosh and the rest are fled
To fit his hat on another man's head.”
Lord Derwentwater was strongly attached to his ancestral mansion, and deeply mourned by his tenants and retainers. In the “Farewell to Dilston,” by Surtees, he is made to say:
“Farewell to pleasant Dilston Hall.
My father's ancient seat;
A stranger now must call thee his,
Which gars my heart to greet.
“Albeit that here in London Tower,
It is my fate to die,
O, carry me to Northumberland,
In my father's grave to lie.”
How few who visit Greenwich Hospital are aware that that noble institution, of which the country is so justly proud, has derived, for upwards of a century and a half, the immense revenue of six thousand a year from the ill-fated earl's forfeited estates!
Has not this effaced the treason?
I commend his story to you.
Your affectionate cousin,
W. Harrison Ainsworth.
Little Rockley, Hurstfierpoint,
May 19, 1875.
CONTENTS
[ BOOK THE FIRST—THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER. ]
[ II.—THE CHEVALIER DE SAINT GEORGE. ]
[ V.—ANNA WEBB AND DOROTHY FORSTER. ]
[ VIII.—COLONEL OXBURGH AND HIS COMPANIONS. ]
[ XI.—A MYSTERIOUS OCCURRENCE IN THE CHAPEL. ]
[ XII.—A LETTER FROM THE EARL OF MAR. ]
[ BOOK THE SECOND BAMBOROUGH CASTLE. ]
[ IV.—DUNSTANBOROUGH CASTLE. ]
[ V.—HOW THE PRINCE WAS LODGED IN THE OLD FORTRESS. ]
[ VI.—ANNA'S ADVENTURE IN THE CAVERN. ]
[ VIII.—HOW THE SHERIFF AND HIS TROOP WERE CARED FOR. ]
[ IX.—THE PRINCE'S PARTING INJUNCTIONS TO LORD DERWENTWATER AND ANNA. ]
[ BOOK THE THIRD—THE INSURRECTION IN SCOTLAND. ]
[ I.—THE HUNTING IN BRAEMAR. ]
[ II.—BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH OF BORLUM. ]
[ III.—HOW THE STANDARD WAS SET UP, AND KING JAMES PROCLAIMED AT CASTLETOWN. ]
[ BOOK THE FOURTH—THE RISING IN NORTHUMBERLAND. ]
[ II. A WARRANT ISSUED FOR THE EARL'S ARREST. ]
[ V.—HOW CHARLES RADCLYFFE PROVOKED SIR WILLIAM LORRAINE. ]
[ VI.—HOW CHARLES RADCLYFFE JOINED THE EARL AT THE HUT. ]
[ VII.—HOW THE MAGISTRATES AND THE MILITIAMEN WERE FORCED TO QUIT THE CASTLE ]
[ VIII.—HOW THE EARL TOOK LEAVE OF THE COUNTESS. ]
[ IX.—MAD-JACK HALL OF OTTERBURN. ]
[ XIII.—ORGANISATION OF THE FORCE. ]
[ XIV.—THE EARL'S BRIEF VISIT TO DILSTON. ]
[ BOOK THE FIFTH—THE MARCH FROM HEXHAM TO LONGTOWN. ]
[ I.—THE JUNCTION WITH THE SOUTH COUNTRY SCOTS. ]
[ II.—MACKINTOSH'S ACHIEVEMENTS. ]
[ VI.—THE HIGHLANDERS REFUSE TO CROSS THE BORDER. ]
[ VII.—LORD WIDDRINGTON RETURNS FROM LANCASHIRE. ]
[ BOOK THE SIXTH—THE MARCH FROM PENRITH TO PRESTON. ]
[ I.—THE ROUT ON PENRITH FELL. ]
[ IV.—SIR HENRY HOGHTON AND THE QUAKER. ]
[ V.—HOW THE PRISONERS IN LANCASTER CASTLE WERE RELEASED. ]
[ BOOK THE SEVENTH—THE ATTACK. ]
[ II.—HOW KING JAMES WAS PROCLAIMED FOR THE LAST TIME. ]
[ III.—THE COUNTESS AND DOROTHY ARRIVE AT PRESTON. ]
[ VI.—THE BALL AT THE TOWN-HALL. ]
[ VIII.—APATHY OF GENERAL FORSTER. ]
[ IX.—PARSON WOODS OF CHOWBENT. ]
[ X.—GENERAL WILLS ARRIVES AT PRESTON. ]
[ BOOK THE EIGHTH—THE DEFENCE ]
[ II.—WHAT THE COUNTESS AND DOROTHY BEHELD FROM THE SUMMIT OF THE MANSION. ]
[ III.—THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE ASSAULT. ]
[ IV.—ALTERCATION BETWEEN FORSTER AND MACKINTOSH. ]
[ V.—HOW THE TWO LARGE HOUSES IN CHURCH-STREET WERE TAKEN BY THE ASSAILANTS ]
[ VI.—HOUSES BURNT BY THE ASSAILANTS. ]
[ VII.—THE WINDMILL BARRICADE. ]
[ VIII.—HOW THE TWO LARGE HOUSES WERE ILLUMINATED. ]
[ X.—BY WHOM THE COUNTESS AND DOROTHY WERE LIBERATED. ]
[ I.—HOW A PARTY OF DRAGOONS WAS ROUTED BY CAPTAIN GORDON. ]
[ II. MEETING OF CARPENTER AND WILLS. ]
[ III.—GENERAL FORSTER WISHES TO CAPITULATE. ]
[ IV.—COLONEL OXBURGH PROPOSES TERMS OF SURRENDER TO WILLS. ]
[ V.—CAPTAIN DALZIEL HAS A CONFERENCE WITH WILLS. ]
[ VI.—HOW FORSTER LEARNT THAT HE HAD BEEN BETRAYED. ]
[ IX—IN WHAT MANNER THE HOSTAGES WERE RECEIVED BY GENERAL WILLS. ]
[ X.—BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH DISSUADES THE EARL OF WINTOUN FROM SALLYING FORTH ]
[ XI.—THE TERMS OF THE TREATY ARE ACCEPTED. ]
[ XII.—THE INSURGENT OFFICERS DELIVER UP THEIR SWORDS. ]
[ XIII.—HOW BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH PARTED WITH HIS CLAYMORE. ]
[ XIV.—THE TWO GENERALS ENTER THE TOWN. ]
[ XV.—THE TOWN IS PLUNDERED BY THE SOLDIERY. ]
[ XVI.—CAPTAIN SHAFTOE IS SHOT. ]
[ BOOK THE TENTH—THE DUNGEON. ]
[ I—THE CHIEF INSURGENT PRISONERS ARE TAKEN TO LONDON. ]
[ II.—THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER IS IMPRISONED IN THE DEVEREUX TOWER. ]
[ III.—THE EARL OF NITHSDALE'S ESCAPE. ]
[ IV.—THE EARL OF WINTOUN'S ESCAPE. ]
[ V.—GENERAL FORSTER'S ESCAPE FROM NEWGATE. ]
[ VI. BRIGADIER MACKINTOSH'S ESCAPE ]
[ BOOK THE ELEVENTH—THE SCAFFOLD. ]
[ I.—THE LAST PARTING BETWEEN THE EARL OF DERWENT-WATER AND THE COUNTESS. ]
[ II.—HOW LORD WIDDRINGTON TOOK A LAST LEAVE OF THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER. ]
[ III.—HOW THE EARL OF DERWENTWATER WAS BEHEADED. ]
[ IV.—WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CHAPEL AT DAGENHAM PARK. ]
[ V.—THE JOURNEY TO DILSTON. ]