Miss Bailly
: Presence Of Mind.A few days before the battle of Falkirk, so disastrous to the
English army, Lord Loudon made a bold attempt to seize the Pretender at
Moy, a castle belonging to the chief of the clan of Mackintosh, about six
miles from Inverness, where he was then staying, and where he conceived
himself in perfect security. His lordship would probably have succeeded in
this design, but for the singular courage and presence of mind of a young
Bailly, an innkeeper in Inverness, and passing the time till the hour of
setting out for the intended capture, her daughter, a girl of about
thirteen or fourteen years of age, who happened to wait on them, paid great
attention to their conversation, and from certain expressions which they
dropped she discovered their design. As soon as she could do so unobserved,
she left the house, escaped from the town, notwithstanding the vigilance of
the sentinels, and took the road to Moy, running as fast as she was able,
without shoes or stockings, which to accelerate her progress she had taken
off, in order to inform the Prince of the danger which menaced him. She
reached Moy, quite out of breath, before Lord Loudon and his troops; and
the Prince had just time to escape, in his robe-de-chambre, nightcap, and
slippers, to the neighbouring mountains, where he passed the night in
concealment. This girl, to whom the Prince owed his life, was in great
danger of losing her own, from the excessive fatigue and excitement; but by
care and attention she eventually recovered.
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