that,
among the higher orders, the brief appearance of the young and
unfortunate adventurer was long remembered with interest, and his fate
recalled with regret. The ladies of Derby vied with each other in making
white cockades, of delicate and costly workmanship, to present to the
hero of the day. To some of these admiring votaries he presented his
picture, a dangerous gift in after-times, when a strict system of
scrutiny prevailed; and when even to be suspected of Jacobite principles
was an effectual barrier to all promotion in offices, and a severe
injury to those in trade. One of these Jacobite ladies[142] is known by
her family to have kept the portrait of the Prince behind the door of
her bedchamber, carefully veiled from any but friendly inspection.

Early on the morning of Friday, the sixth of December, the drums beat to
arms, and the bagpipes were heard playing in different parts of the
town: the forces, it was expected by the townsmen, were thus summoned to
continue their march to Loughborough, a town full of Jacobites, who were
known to have been pledging the young adventurer's health on their bare
and bended knees.[143] The retreat was begun in such haste, and attended
with such confusion, that many of the Highlanders left their arms behind
them, where they were quartered.

At nine o'clock, Prince Charles, in deep dejection, was seen mounted on
a black horse, which had belonged to the brave Colonel Gardiner;--to
quit Exeter-house, and, crossing the market-place, to proceed to
Broken-row; he then turned through Sadler Gate, towards Ashbourn; he was
followed by the main body of his army. Before eleven o'clock, Derby, so
lately resembling, in its busy streets, the animated scene of a Highland
fair, was totally cleared of all the Highland troops. But the
consternation of the inhabitants paralyzed them. On that day no market
was held, as usual; nor did the bells toll to church on the next Sunday;
nor was divine service performed in any of the numerous and fine
churches which grace the town.[144]

The retreat, thus begun under such inauspicious circumstances, was left
solely to the guidance of the General who had so earnestly recommended
it; and Lord George Murray took the sole management of it. In the dawn
of the morning, when some of the troops had begun their march, the
Highlanders did not perceive in which direction they were marching; they
believed that they were going to give the Duke of Cumberland battle