regshoe

Epigraph notes: The epigraph to Part III is from The Lyon in Mourning, a collection of contemporary accounts of the '45 made by the Jacobite clergyman Robert Forbes. The quoted passage is from a description of the battle of Culloden Moor written by the Reverend Mr George Innes of Forres, sent to Forbes in March 1748, and can be found here, beginning on p. 268.

Anyway, poor Ewen, things are not going well for him in these chapters!

We've skipped over some time and quite a bit of important history since the end of Part II, and once again Broster opens chapter 1 with a summary of what's been happening. But the tone seems very different from the otherwise similar passage in chapter 2.1, with much less of light-hearted humour and more of solemn foreboding—although there are still humorous touches, like the anecdote about the Rout of Moy. I like the interspersing of historical exposition, Ewen's thoughts on developing events and description of his immediate surroundings, chilly and bleak as it all is—the cold wind on the water, Ewen's 'draggled eagle's feathers and soiled cockade'.

Lady Anne Mackintosh, mentioned in the passage about Moy, was a colourful figure, an ardent Jacobite who raised several hundred men to fight for Charles (while her husband, the Laird of Mackintosh, refused to commit himself to either side) and earned herself the nickname Colonel Anne. Lady Ogilvy, who also appears in chapter 1, is another highly memorable Jacobite: amongst other things, she accompanied her husband on the march into England, and at one point stood by a mercat cross where the Jacobites were declaring James as King with a drawn sword in her hand.

As for the rest of chapter 1, I won't say too much—I don't like (the significance of) Alison ('s role in the book/Ewen's life), and I don't like this. I do feel there were missed opportunities for symbolic significance there—it would have been so easy and, I think, thematically appropriate for things to go the other way in that scene where he's trying to persuade her. Nevertheless.

Chapter 2 always feels to me a bit of a chaotic jumble, which is really very appropriate—I definitely get the sense of things spiralling uncontrollably into doom for the Jacobites. The unsuccessful siege of Fort William, Ewen's injury, Glen Nevis House, the retreat, Ewen's visit to Ardroy and the heron, all feel like images flickering rapidly by until we end up, as if drawn into a whirlpool, in the horrible 'nightmare' of Culloden at the end. But there's a lot going on there! Ewen is still thinking about the heron sufficiently to look for it on the island when he's back at Ardroy, and finally finds out about Lachlan's disobedience in the prologue—and yet he still doesn't expect anything more to happen about Keith or the prophecy, and the image whirls away from us with the rest of the chapter. We shall see... I also love Ewen's indignant reply to the lawyer from Maryburgh that 'I am not in the least killed'.

And then we end up at Culloden, where Broster—typically—focusses not on the battle itself but on the events leading up to it. It's once again very historically detailed, and accurate (listening to the song linked above, I recognise several of the details Broster mentions in there too!), and gives a very vivid picture of how incredibly awful the whole thing was, without needing to get into explicit descriptions of exactly what happened after 'the kettledrums of Cumberland’s advance'. Brrr.

It's in these chapters that Ewen's intense loyalty to Lochiel, which we've already heard a bit about, really comes into view properly. If I wasn't so committed to Ewen/Keith I might almost say there was an opportunity for another slash ship there, what with all the throwing himself into cannon fire without a second thought and 'radiant smiles' and 'more deeply moved than he had ever seen him' and constant reminders throughout the chapter about how incredibly, ardently loyal Ewen is and how affected Lochiel is by it. In any case, I very much enjoy some good loyalty, and this is and will continue to be good stuff. I do love how happy Ewen is at hearing about Lochiel's planned hiding-place on Beinn Bhreac.