rstang, half-way between Manchester and Preston. Two troops of
Stanhope's dragoons, formerly quartered at Preston, having retired as
the rebels approached, the spirits of the Jacobite officers and the
ardour of their men were greatly encouraged. On the following day,
Thursday the tenth of November, the Chevalier was proclaimed at Preston,
and here the rebels were joined by many country gentlemen, their tenants
and servants: this was the first accession to the party since their
entrance into Lancashire. The new allies were chiefly Roman Catholics, a
circumstance which aroused the instinctive dread of the Scottish
volunteers to persons of that persuasion. The High Church party hung
back from joining the cause. The Roman Catholics began, according to
the historian of the Rebellion of 1715, "to show their blind side,"
being never right hearty for their cause until they are "mellow," as
they call it "over a bottle or two."[199]

The town of Preston seated on the river Ribble, was a place from which
an enemy might, in the year 1715, have been easily repulsed. About a
mile and a half from the town, a bridge over the river offered an
admirable stand for a besieged garrison; it might have been so easily
barricadoed, that it would have been impracticable to pass that way if
the commonest precautions had been adopted. The river in this part was
not fordable for a considerable distance on either side of the bridge,
and it could have been easily rendered impassable. From the Ribble
bridge to the town, the road ran between two steep banks; and this way,
or lane, was then so narrow, that in several places two men could not
ride abreast. It was here that Oliver Cromwell had met with a famous
resistance from the King's forces in 1648, large mill-stones having been
rolled down upon him from the rising grounds, so that the republican
general was in considerable danger, and he only escaped with life by
making his horse plunge into a quicksand.

This lane formed a curious natural outwork; and might easily have been
barricadoed, but the deficiencies of Mr. Forster's generalship were
fatal to so simple and obvious a plan of defence. He confined his
exertions to the town, barricadoed the streets, and posted men in the
bye-lanes and houses. The Jacobite troops formed four main barriers: one
in the churchyard, commanded by Brigadier Mackintosh. This barrier was
to be supported by four noblemen, who, at the head of the volunteer
horse, (as in ma