Of your heels, oh! take care, let no one abuse ’em,
For it may be you’ll soon have occasion to use ’em,
For if J—y should land, you’d soon understand
That one pair of heels is worth two pair of hands;
And then the pert whipster will find, I suppose,
Other work for his feet than to tread on folk’s toes.
ROBIN JOHN CLARK.
Ye true bacchanals come to Ned of the Dales,
And there let’s carouse oe’r a butt of strong liquor,
Bring with you no shirkers, nor friends to usurpers,
But souls that will drink till their pulses beat quicker.
May the courtier who snarls at the friend of Prince C—s,
And eke who our houses and windows made dark,
Ne’er pilfer much treasure, nor taste of such pleasure;
Then hark to the chorus of Robin John Clark.
May each bung his eye till the vessel’s quite dry,
And drink to the low’ring extravagant taxes;
For the spirit of Britain, by foreigners spit on,
Quite cold by oppression and tyranny waxes.
Then here’s to the toast, tho’ the battle was lost,
And he who refuses a traytor we’ll mark:
Here’s a health to the prince, not meaning from whence,
For thus sings the chorus of Robin John Clark.
Then fill up another to the good duke his brother,
Not meaning that blood-thirsty cruel assassin;
May the Scotch partisans recollect their stout clans,
Their force, twenty thousand in number surpassing;
May they enter Whitehall, old St. James’s, and all,
While the troops are for safety encamp’d in the park;
May kind heaven inspire each volley and fire,
For thus sings the chorus of Robin John Clark.
Hand in hand let us joyn against such as combine,
And dare to enslave with vile usurpation;
Whenever time offers, we’ll open our coffers,
And fight to retrieve the bad state of the nation.
We’ll not only drink, but we’ll act as we think,
We’ll take the brown musket, the sword, and the dirk,
Thro’ all sorts of weather, we’ll trade it together,
So God bless the chorus of Robin John Clark.
In a note to this tale it is stated that tradition reports that the young Pretender visited the Principality prior to the Rebellion; but this statement is scarcely credible, nor is there any evidence in support of its truth. It is, however, indisputable, that he reckoned the greater number of the wealthy landowners of Wales among his adherents, and one of the original projects of his army, in its advance from Scotland, was that of marching into Wales, where the people, and even the clergy, [14a] were well known to be warmly devoted to the Stuarts, while the character of the country was considered to be favourable to the desultory mode of warfare practised by the Highlanders. Anticipating that such a course would be adopted, several of the leading gentry had prepared themselves to join him, and many of them had left their houses, and were actually on their way to meet him, [14b] when the mortifying intelligence reached them of the retreat from Derby. At that period, the influence of the gentry of Wales over their tenantry, and the peasantry generally, was very great, and it is extremely probable that an advance into Wiles would have secured to the Pretender an immense accession to his forces. The unexpected retreat, however, prevented any rising among the Welsh, and the adherents of the Stuarts were thus saved from the ruin in which most probably they would otherwise have been eventually involved. They were fully prepared to risk both life and estate in the cause of the prince whom they loved, though that prince, like other Stuarts, may, after all, have proved unworthy of their sacrifices and devotion. Tradition states that, for many years subsequent to the memorable Forty-Five, [15a] the Welsh squires, at their convivial meetings, were accustomed to discuss and dispute as to the share which each had taken in the movement, and the respective distances that intervened between them and the prince’s army, when the news of the retreat reached them, and compelled them to return to their homes. In a letter written many months subsequently, [15b] the young Pretender, while referring incidently to Mr. Barry, states that he “arrived at Derby two days after I parted. He had been sent by Sir Watkin Wynn to assure me, in the name of my friends, that they were ready to join me in what manner I pleased.”
The prince himself is said to have been most anxious to proceed into Wales; [15c] for at Derby, when the retreat was under discussion, and all his arguments in favour of an advance to London had proved unavailing, he, at last, “as a middle course, proposed that they should march into Wales, to give their partizans in that country an opportunity of joining.” [15d]
Foremost and boldest among those who contended for a forward movement, and counselled the advance upon Loudon, was David Morgan. He determinedly opposed the retreat, and clearly foresaw its disastrous consequences. W hen he found that the Scottish commanders had actually commenced the retrograde movement, and that the troops were in full retreat for Scotland, it is stated by one of the leading noblemen [16] connected with the Pretender, that “Mr. Morgan, an English gentleman, came up to Mr. Vaughan, who was riding with the Life Guards, and after saluting him, said, ‘D— me, Vaughan, they are going to Scotland!’ Mr. Vaughan replied, ‘wherever they go, I am determined, now I have joined them, to go along with them.’ Upon which Mr. Morgan said, with an oath, ‘I had rather be hanged than go to Scotland to starve.’ Mr. Morgan was hanged in 1746; and Mr. Vaughan is an officer in Spain.”
David Morgan, or, as he is occasionally designated, David Thomas Morgan, was one of the boldest spirits associated with this momentous struggle. He was among the first of the English, or Welsh, Jacobites to join the forces of Charles Edward on his advance into England, and remained by his side until the forward movement had been finally abandoned, and all hope of a successful issue to the enterprize had been lost.