Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

But the Pretender and his friends were disappointed. They lost a great many men in battle at the Sheriffmuir, near Dunblane, in Perthshire. Their English army was beaten at Preston in Lancashire, and the Pretender was obliged to get away as fast as he could to France again.

I wish King George had forgiven both the Jacobite officers and men, who thought they were doing right in fighting for the son of their old king: but he would not; and besides putting to death a few common soldiers and gentlemen, he ordered six lords to have their heads cut off. One of them escaped, however, and three were afterwards pardoned. Lord Nithisdale, who escaped, was saved by the devotion and courage of his wife. She had tried by every means to prevail upon the king to pardon him, but he would not; however, she had leave to visit him in prison. She went, you may be sure, often, and she took a friend with her, whom she called her maid, till she had used the jailers to see two people go in and out. Then she made her friend put on double clothes one day, and as soon as she got into Lord Nithisdale’s room half those clothes were taken off, and he was dressed in them, and so they managed that he should go out with one of the ladies, who pretended that her companion had so bad a toothache that she could not speak. Lady Nithisdale had a coach waiting at the prison-door, and they went to a safe place where her husband was hidden till he could get to France. And this was the end of the first civil war begun in Scotland for the sake of the Pretender. Although his friends often tried to begin another, they always failed, while George the First was king.

The King of Spain also tried to assist the Pretender, but he could only make war with England by sea, and his ships were always beaten; and so he made peace.

George the First died while he was visiting his own country of Hanover, after he had been King of England thirteen years. He was a brave and prudent man, but he was too old, when he came to be King of England, to learn English, or to behave quite like an Englishman; however, upon the whole, he was a useful king.

CHAPTER LVI.
GEORGE II.—1727 to 1760.
How George the Second went to war with Spain, and with the French and Bavarians; how the French were beaten by Lord Clive in India, and by General Wolfe in America; how the young Pretender landed in Scotland, and proclaimed his father King; how he was beaten, and after many dangers escaped to France.

The reign of George the Second was disturbed both by foreign and civil war, and by some disputes in his family at home. His eldest son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, married a German princess, and they both lived in London, but they were discontented with the money the king gave them to spend, so they quarrelled with him, and he ordered them to go and live at Kew, and would not do anything kind or good-natured for them. Two children were born to them, one of whom was afterwards King George the Third, but the Prince of Wales died before his father.

I will now tell you about King George’s foreign wars, and keep the story of the civil war to the last for you, because you will like it best, I think.

The Spaniards had built a great many towns in South America; and after they had got possession of the country, and killed many of the people, they took all the gold and silver that was found in the earth there for themselves. They were therefore obliged to have a great many ships to fetch it, and brave soldiers and sailors to guard it as it crossed the seas, and so Spain got more gold and silver than any other country.

But other countries wished for some of the useful things from South America too; and some English merchants wished very much to have several kinds of wood which are useful for dyeing cloth and wool and other things of different colours; but the Spaniards attacked them and ill-used them for trying to cut the wood, and behaved in other respects very ill, so England went to war with Spain.