Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

The war was mostly by sea, and in the course of it the Spaniards were beaten, first by Admiral Vernon, and then by Admirals Hawke, Rowley, Warren, and particularly Anson, though they none of them did all they hoped to do.

Another admiral was very unfortunate. He had to fight a great many ships in the Mediterranean Sea, and because he did not do all that the people of England desired him to do, he was shot when he came to England. His name was Byng. I do not admire this admiral, but I think he was not justly treated.

Besides the Spaniards, George the Second was at war with the French and Bavarians. The Prince of Bavaria had been made Emperor, and tried to make himself King of Bohemia, in the room of the lawful queen, Maria Theresa, and her son, who was an infant. The English and Dutch took Maria Theresa’s part, the French took that of the Prince of Bavaria, and there was a very fierce war on that account, in which the English gained some battles, and lost some others, an account of which would be very tiresome to you, I am sure.

Though upon the whole the French had rather the best of the war in Europe, Lord Clive, who had an army of English in the East Indies, to take care of our merchants and our towns there, beat the French generals, and almost drove the French from India altogether. Some time afterwards the French sent an army under Count Lally to win back their power in India; but Lally was so beaten that the French have never had more than one or two small towns in that part of the world since.

If you look at the map of the world in this place, my dear little Arthur, you will wonder that two countries in Europe, so close together as England and France, should think or sending their soldiers and sailors so far off as India to fight their battles; but you will wonder still more when you learn that, not content with this, they sent other fleets and armies to North America, where they fought till the English conquered the greatest part of all the country that the French ever had in that part of the world. But the greatest victory we gained there was the battle of Quebec, where our brave and good General Wolfe was killed. Some day you will read his life, and then you will wish that all English soldiers could be like him.

We will now think about the civil war in King George the Second’s reign. You remember that in his father’s time the Pretender, whom the Scotch call James the Eighth, came from France to Scotland and thought he could get the kingdom for himself, but he was soon obliged to go back again.

After that he went and lived in Italy, and married a Princess of Poland, and had two sons. The eldest of these was a fine brave young man: the youngest became a clergyman, and the Pope made him a Cardinal; his name was Henry. The eldest, Charles Edward, who was called the Young Chevalier in Scotland and in England the Young Pretender, thought he would try once more to get the kingdom of Great Britain from the Protestant king; so, in spite of the good advice of his true friends, he would go from Italy first to France, and then to Scotland, to make war against King George.

The King of France lent him a ship and a few men and officers, and gave him a little money, for this purpose; and the young prince landed in Scotland, among the highlands, where the people were still fond of his family. In a very short time the highland chiefs, who had a great power over the poor people, gathered a great army, and marched to Edinburgh, which you know is the capital of Scotland.

There he had his father proclaimed King of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and gave titles of dukes and lords to the gentlemen who came to fight for him, and pretended to be the real Prince of Wales. And he lived in the old palace of the Scotch kings, called Holyrood House, and there he gave balls and concerts to the Scotch ladies, and they all fancied themselves sure that Charles Edward would be their king instead of George.

At first he gained two or three victories, the chief of which was at Preston Pans, near Edinburgh; and then he marched into England, where but few English gentlemen joined him; and when he got as far as Derby he found that he had better go back to Scotland, for the English would have nothing to do with him. On his way, the English army, commanded by the Duke of Cumberland, who was King George’s son, caught and beat part of his army, and took many prisoners.