I hope God will send them salvation in
time." One of his greatest sources of anxiety had been respecting the
movements of the Duke of Ormond, upon whose making a diversion in favour
of James, in England, Mar had counted. The news that Ormond, after
having been seen on the coast of England, had returned, disheartened,
was brought by the Chevalier, who heard of it at St. Maloes. The only
chance of success, the last hope, were centered in this resource. The
failure of this expectation was fatal, as Lord Mar conceived, to the
cause, and on it he grounded his own subsequent withdrawal from England.

The entrance of the Chevalier into Perth, on the ninth of January, was
attended with far less enthusiasm than the previous portion of his
progress. His reception was comparatively cold. On asking to see their
"little kings" (the chieftains) with their armies, the Highlanders,
diminished in numbers by the secession of the Marquis of Huntley and the
absence of Lord Seaforth and others, were marched before him. James
could not help admiring their bearing; but the small amount of troops in
the camp filled him with a dejection which he could not conceal. When, a
few days afterwards, the unfortunate Prince addressed his council for
the first time, he said, with mournful truth, these words. "For me it
will be no new thing if I am unfortunate: my whole life, even from my
cradle, has been a constant series of misfortunes." This sentiment of
ill-presage was re-echoed in the address of the Episcopal clergymen.

"Your Majesty has been trained up," said these divines, at Fetteresso,
"in the School of the Cross, in which the Divine grace inspires the mind
with true wisdom and virtue, and guards it against those false
blandishments by which prosperity corrupts the heart." And as this
school has sent forth the most illustrious princes,--Moses, Joseph, and
David, it was hoped that a similar benefit would accrue to the character
of the Prince whom the Episcopal Clergy thus welcomed to their country.

Meantime the project of crowning the Chevalier at Scone amused the minds
of the people, and continued to be the subject of diligent preparation
by the Earl of Mar. Unhappily a ship laden with money and other aids,
had been lost on its passage from France, close to the Tay, for want of
a pilot.[132] The difficulties which were augmented by this misfortune,
are alluded to in the following extract from one of Lord Mar's letters.