regshoe | Flight of the Heron read-along: Part III chapters 1-2

Charlie chose the place himsel', the graveyard of Culloden...

Well, it looks like Keith's prophecies about the fate of the Jacobites, at least, weren't too inaccurate...

Next week we'll read chapters 3 and 4 of part III.

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From:

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.

From:

osprey_archer

Laird and Lady Mackintosh must have had some EXTREMELY chilly dinners together. I'm just imagining the two of them glaring daggers at each other down a long table.

I LOVE the part where Ewen flings himself in front of a projectile that isn't even close to hitting Lochiel. The loyalty is SO extra, and the bit where he's just lying on the ground in so much pain that it hurts to breathe, but content because he's been assured that Lochiel isn't hurt... EWEN. EWEN. And poor Lochiel is like "Oh my god if he had died when I WASN'T EVEN IN DANGER how could I ever live with myself."

In general I just love the really intense loyalty that swirls all around Ewen: if he's not flinging himself into danger to protect someone (the Prince, Lochiel), someone else is going above and beyond out of loyalty to Ewen (Lachlan usually).

From:

regshoe

I have to quote this account, from Maggie Craig in Damn' Rebel Bitches: The Women of the '45, telling how the Laird of Mackintosh was captured by the Jacobites shortly after the Rout of Moy:

The Prince released him into Anne's custody, saying that he was sure he would receive the most honourable treatment in his wife's care. When he was brought to her Anne greeted him with formal politeness.

'Your servant, Captain,' she said.

Her husband was just as polite and just as brief. 'Your servant, Colonel,' he replied.

Although Craig also claims that Anne was said to be passionately in love with her husband! Hey, two people on opposite sides of the '45 nevertheless passionately in love and treating each other honourably as prisoners, it can happen. :P

The loyalty is SO extra, and the bit where he's just lying on the ground in so much pain that it hurts to breathe, but content because he's been assured that Lochiel isn't hurt... EWEN. EWEN.

:D It's great, isn't it! As Broster points out, Ewen's attitude to Lochiel is much like Lachlan's attitude to Ewen, the chain of feudal loyalty and intense emotions continuing up the social hierarchy. Nf sbe Rjra vafcvevat vagrafr yblnygl va trareny, jr ner tbvat gb frr n ovg zber bs gung sebz fbzrbar ryfr fbba rabhtu... :Q

From:

hyarrowen

Hey, two people on opposite sides of the '45 nevertheless passionately in love and treating each other honourably as prisoners, it can happen. :P

LOL!

It was quite common for members of the same family to be on opposing sides, or so I understand. That way the family holdings would remain in the family. It also ensured that the Highlands, or Scotland as a whole, didn't rise as one man to throw out the invader. I think I saw a scene in one of Neil Oliver's (?) programmes on Scotland which showed the Mackintoshes in that light.

From:

luzula

It was quite common for members of the same family to be on opposing sides, or so I understand.

Yes, totally. Partly from genuine conflict, such as in the Murrays of Atholl, where the first son was a Jacobite, who was dispossessed by the government in favor of the second who was a Hanoverian, and then the first one returned with BPC to take back his heritage. And then there's the third son who became one of BPC:s military commanders.

But often it was absolutely an insurance strategy. It's unclear to me whether John Cameron of Fassefern stays out of the '45 because he genuinely is against it, or whether it was one of these agreed-upon strategies.

From:

hyarrowen

A Cameron of Fassefern ended up getting killed at Quatre-Bras, at Waterloo - dying for a Hanoverian king. But that's what happens when Napoleon comes along.

From:

regshoe

Huh! There was a Cameron of Fassefern fighting in the War of American Independence, earlier than that—and he was standing in for a Lochiel who couldn't go due to illness, so I think everyone's loyalties looked a bit different by then.

As for the original John Cameron of Fassefern, I can understand either caution or an insurance strategy for him, seeing what happened to so many of his Jacobite brothers.

From:

cahn

I didn't like these chapters as much as I've been enjoying the other ones -- it's still good, but there's no Keith, lol -- but also I feel like Broster does like her tropes, and there's all kinds of tropes spelling impending doom about the whole Alison and Ewen thing, which worries me. (Don't spoil me :) ) As opposed to Culloden, which I do know is impending doom and which I enjoyed more, in a sense, because I do know what's coming. (The kettledrums of Cumberland's advance, as you say! And "the young man for whom the flower of the North stood here to be slain," :(((((( )

I would love to hear more about your issues regarding the significance of Alison's role in the book and in Ewen's life, but... later :)

Ewen and Lochiel is of course lovely, and I'm looking forward to seeing that hiding place :P (With all the caring description given to that cave ~~on the mantel~~...)

Edited Date: Nov. 10th, 2021 05:25 am (UTC)

From:

regshoe

I agree on the disappointment of the lack of Keith in these chapters!

Agh, yes, Broster has such a lovely way of writing impending doom, with those little phrases at the end of chapter 2.

but... later :)

When we read the Epilogue!

Never fear, that hiding place will return... :D