Alexander Charles Ewald

“ The year 1740 saw England supporting the cause of Maria Theresa and at variance with France. The Jacobites, through their English and Scotch committees, proceeded to put the machinery of conspiracy into motion. Scotland, it was said, could raise twenty thousand men. English Jacobite leaders predicted that Charles had only to appear to make all England embrace his cause. France also was lavish in her offers of assistance. On the faith of these promises the young prince resolved to head an expedition. ”

“ Cope was, however, easily outwitted by the tactics of the rebels, and Charles pressed on to Perth, where he was joined by Lord George Murray. Halting at Perth a week to discipline his forces, the prince marched to Edinburgh, where he was received with the utmost enthusiasm. And now the severe defeat of Cope, who had at last come up with the enemy at Prestonpans, caused matters for the first time to look serious for the government. Their best officer. Marshal Wade, declared that Scotland was lost, and that England would fall a prey to the first comer. ”

“ The duke was outmarched, Wade was outwitted, and Hawley, who had succeeded Wade, was defeated at Falkirk. The clans marched rapidly, but the Duke of Cumberland followed them slowly and surely. At last the rebels were brought to bay on Culloden Moor, 16 April 1746. Charles, though his forces were diminished by desertion and weakened by fatigue, resolved to offer battle. The clans, outnumbered and outgeneralled, suffered a severe and complete defeat, and the cause of the prince lost its last and only hope. ”

“ The pecuniary circumstances of her family were, however, in an inverse ratio to their splendour of descent, and on the death of Prince Stolberg, who held a commission in the Austrian service, at the battle of Leuthen, she and her mother became pensioners of the Empress Maria Theresa. ”

“ He borrowed 180,000 livres, ordered his jewels to be pawned, and, without the knowledge either of his father or the French ministry, embarked at Belleisle in the Doutelle, one of two ships lent to a private individual to cruise on the Scottish coast. ”

“ Through the imperial protection Louisa was appointed at the age of seventeen a canoness of Mons, then the wealthiest and most distinguished chapter in the Austrian Netherlands, and exclusivelv reserved for such high-bred dames as could prove the requisite number of quarterings. ”