The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-12-14 00:00:00

GHOST IN THE YEAR 1746.

There was not in the army of Prince Charles Edward a
more heroic and brave man than M'Bean, from Strathglass,
the country of the Chisholms; neither was there any one
more zealously attached to the person and interest of the
Chevalier—an attachment based on a community of religious
principle. M'Bean was a powerful, athletic man, above six
feet in height, and thick and well made in proportion. He
distinguished himself both at Prestonpans and Falkirk; and
he fell at Culloden, sword in hand. When the Highlanders
gave way on that never-to-be-forgotten day, M'Bean was
seen rushing from rank to rank, urging his countrymen, in
the most pathetic manner, to return to the charge, but all in
vain. The suspicions of treachery that clung to Lord
George Murray then darted across his mind, and, raving,
raging, and panting for revenge, he sought him out amid
war, wounds, carnage, and death. But, finding his lordship
gallantly defending himself against an English officer—
M`Bean, with awful impetuosity, rushed in bete een them—
cleft the trooper's head in twain—and prayed Lord George
to save himself by flight. At that moment the retreat be-
came general, and M`Bean was borne along, in the confused
evolutions of the day, to an old barn. In that barn several
of his brave, though vanquished countrymen, had sought
shelter from the fury of the victors; and, placing himself
opposite the door, he turned on his pursuers. The Royalists
pressed hard upon him, and in twenty minutes twenty heads
rolled at his feet! But a musket ball came whistling from
the plain—lodged in his breast—and the redoubted hero fell
to rise no more! His bravery as a warrior, and his private
worth and virtues, are commemorated in an elegy of unri-
valled pathos and beauty, composed by his wife. It was a
stretch of leniency above the vindictive Neronian feelings of
the "minister of vengeance" to allow Mrs. 111‘Bean to pour
out her lacerated heart in quiet:—Four of the Argyle Mili-
tia were billeted in her house to amuse her by the narrative
of her husband's death, and, withal, to show her they could
conquer and kill hens as well as Roman Catholics. For
fourteen days did the heartless miscreants remain in Mrs.
M`Bean's, offering her every species of insult and low re-
venge. The license allowed them by Duke William was
broad enough, and their interpretation of it was still broader.
The poor woman was compelled to give them her own bed,
and to wait upon them at table with the greatest submission.
It was in vain that Marion, the faithful servant-maid of the
house, endeavoured to work upon their superstitious feelings,
by declaring that her late lamented master's ghost haunted
the house. " Let him come," they would reply, "we have
conquered the original and we fear not the shade." In
a few nights, however, they- had reason to repent their
gasconade—the ghost did appear! The Campbells were
taking their supper, and widow M'Bean, with a tearful
eye, and a heavy, broken heart, was standing behind them
at the supper table, when a tall figure, wrapped up in
white linen, walked into the room. Mrs. M'Bean shrieked,
but the ghost walked up hastily—pressed her by the hand—
led her out of the room—and said he would do "the honours
of the table." A heavy crash and a low faint groan was now
heard in the kitchen—another crash and anotber groan fol-
lowed—and so on till the fourth royalist lay lifeless on the
floor! " They'll trouble you for no more supper, Mrs.
M'Bean," said the mysterious visiter, as he came butt to the
apartment where the members of the family were all stand-
ing in a group and trembling with consternation. " 0
Heavens!" replied the poor widow, "this will work out my
ruin." " Never fear," said the stranger; "but get me a
rope, that I may carry them to the river, and help them to
digest their supper," While doing so, proud was Marion to
relate how she had sent a trusty messenger to inform John
Roy Stuart of the intolerable circumstances to which the
Campbells were, day after day, subjecting the widow of his
brave friend; and that hero with a promptitude and courage
which never forsook him, hastened to her relief, as I have
related. Roy Stewart was too much an object of pursuit to
accept of Mrs. I\l:Bean's offer of a year's lodgings gratis;
but he remained in the family for two days, and gave, it is
said, the " finishing stroke" to the elegy already atluded to;
and, judging from the march of the verse, the sublimity of
the sentiments, and the neatness of the execution, it is very
probable that there were more hands about it than those of
the bereaved and soul-honoured widow.—Glasgow Consti-
tutional.

WHEELER'S MANCHESTER CHRONICLE has, within the
last few days, changed hands. It is the oldest newspaper in
Manchester, having been established about sixty years ago.
It is understood to have been bought by a few conservatives,
determined on having an organ of their real opinions both in
politics and religion. Mr. Leicester, the present editor, will,
it is said, be its future one.

CH IPPENHAI4I.—It is a lamentable fact that, in consequence
of the extravagant price of wheat, some of the poor in the
vicinity of Chippenhain are compelled to make bread from
barley; and even this cannot be obtained by many, so that
potatoes form their only food.—Wilts Independent.

SHOOTING AT POACHERS.—In the High Court of Jus-
ticiary, Edinburgh, on Tuesday week, James Duncan Ken-
nedy, Esq., was tried on a charge of having wilfully and ma-
liciously discharged one or both barrels of a double-barrelled
gun at the persons of David Fridge and Alexander Fridge,
house carpenters, residing near luin, on the sth September,
at a cottage occupied by Norman Stuart, on or near Wood-
bank, under the said Duncan Kennedy, Esq., and thereby
wounding David and Alexander Fridge, to the serious injury
of their persons. The indictment was laid at common law,
and under the act 10 Geo. IV, c. 48, which constitute such
offences capital. David Fridge said, that he and his cousin,
A. Fridge, went out on the morning in question to see a friend'
taking their guns with them, in order to have a shot; that
each of them fired a shot, not on the property of Bogbain,
but not far distant from it, and the last was -fired between
four and five o'clock. Soon after this, on going towards
Norman Smart's house, witness saw Mr. Kennedy stdodiug
at twenty-three or twenty-six yards distance, having a gun
in his hand; he called out, " Fridge, Fridge, stop !" At
this time they had begun to run, and witness had not time to
stop himself when a shot was fired, which hit him on the back
and arm. Witness made for the wood, and as he entered it
a second shot was fired, while he was getting up a little bank
Witness continued to run till he got to a smith's shop at
Arabella, about two miles off, and was unable from his
wounds to go farther. Twelve pellets hail taken effect; four
of which were in the arm, one in the back of the head, six
in the back, and one in the thigh. A number of witnesses
bore testimony to the high character of Mr. Kennedy as a
respectable, humane, and benevolent man. The jury found
a verdict of guilty against the prisoner, but not with the in-
tention of doing any grievous bodily harm. Sentence was
not passed at the time, but on a subsequent day he was sen-
tenced to eight months' imprisonment.