refused to admit the cowards within his gate, so
there was nothing for them but to turn their horses' heads again, and
spur off into the west country. As for Cope, he managed to collect some
ragged remnant of his ruined army about him, and to make off with all
speed to Berwick, where he was received by Lord Mark Ker with the
scornful assurance that he was the first commander-in-chief in Europe
who had brought with him the news of his own defeat.

The victorious Highlanders were unable, if they had wished, to follow up
the flight, owing to their lack of cavalry. They remained on the field
to ascertain their own losses and to count their spoil. The losses were
trifling, the gain was great. Only thirty Highlanders were killed, only
seventy wounded, in that astonishing battle. As for the gain, not merely
were the honorable trophies of victory, the colors and the standards,
left in Highland hands, but the artillery and the supplies, with some
two thousand pounds in money, offered the Prince's troops a solid reward
for their daring. It is to the credit of Charles that after the fury of
attack was over he insisted upon the wounded enemy and the prisoners
being treated with all humanity. An incident is told of him which brings
into relief the better qualities of his race. One of his officers,
pointing to the ghastly field all strewn with dead bodies, with severed
limbs and mutilated trunks, said to the Prince, "Sir, behold your
enemies at your feet." The Prince sighed. "They are my father's
subjects," he said sadly, as he turned away.

The battle of Prestonpans is enshrined in Jacobite memories as the
battle of Gladsmuir, for a reason very characteristic of the Stuarts and
their followers. Some queer old book of prophecies had foretold, more
than a century earlier, that there should be a battle at Gladsmuir. The
battle of Prestonpans was not fought really on Gladsmuir at all.
Gladsmuir lies a good mile away from the scene of Charles' easy triumph
and Cope's inglorious rout; but for enthusiastic Jacobite purposes it
was near enough to seem an absolute fulfilment of the venerable
prediction. A battle was to be fought at Gladsmuir; go to, then--a
battle _was_ fought at Gladsmuir, or _near_ Gladsmuir, which is very
much the same thing: anyhow, not very far away from Gladsmuir. And so
the Jacobites were contented, and more than ever convinced of the
advantages of prophecy in the affairs of practical politics.

Some busy days were