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UiniDHAVUEABHARSO 

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Presented  to  the 

LIBRARY  of  the 

UNIVERSITY  OF  TORONTO 

by 

JOSEPH  BDIST 


JS.F.Bvrn^y  del* 


>•  - 


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7.t<ntit'n.n,bKj?ir<l  bi  •  PgJe.  Tkmean  t:  C?Jan."i  f 


LETTERS 

FROM   A 

GENTLEMAN  IN  THE  NORTH  OF  SCOTLAND 

TO 

HIS  FRIEND  IN  LONDON; 

CONTAINING  THE  DESCRIPTION  OF  A  CAPITAL  TOWN  IN  THAT  NORTHERK 

COUNTRY,  WITH  AN   ACCOUNT  OF  SOME  UNCOMMON 

CUSTOMS  OF  THE  INHABITANTS; 


AN  ACCOUNT  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS, 

WITH 

Customs  an*  planners  of  tfje  3^t<$lanters. 

TO  WHICH   13  ADDED, 

A    LETTER,    RELATING    TO    THE    MILITARY    WAYS    AMONG    THE 
MOUNTAINS,  BEGUN    IN  THE    YEAR  1726. 


THE  FIFTH  EDITION, 

WITH         .      . 

lEngrafnngs,. 

AND 

A   LARGE  APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING  VARIOUS  IMPORTANT  HISTORICAL  DOCUMENTS,  HITHERTO 
UNPUBLISHED;  WITH  AN 

INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES, 

BY  THE   EDITOR, 

R.  JAMIESON,  F.A.S.  LOND.  8c  EDIN. 

Corresponding  Member  of  the  Scandinavian  Literary  Society  of  Copenhagen,  <|-c. 

AND 

THE  HISTORY  OF  DONALD  THE  HAMMERER, 

From  an  Authentic  Account  of  the  Family  of  Invernahyle;  a  MS.  communicated  by 

SIR  WALTER  SCOTT,  BART. 


IN  TWO  VOLUMES. 
VOL.   II. 

LONDON: 

PRINTED  FOR  OGLE,  DUNCAN,  AND  CO.  37,  PATERNOSTER  ROW,  AND 

295,  HOLBORN;   OLIVER,  AND  BOYD,  EDINBURGH;    M.  OGLE, 

GLASGOW;   AND  M.  KEENE,  DUBLIN. 

1822. 


CONTENTS 


OF 


THE  SECOND  VOLUME. 


LETTER  XIX. 

HIGHLANDS — Distinction  between  Chief  and  Chieftain 
— Love  of  chief — Love  of  clan — Friendship — Plun- 
der—An instance  of— Authority  of  Chiefs— Their 
taxes — Hereditary  power — Protect  their  followers, 
and  lead  in  battle — Condescension — Arcadian  offer- 
ing— Highland  gentleman — His  dwelling — Dress — 
Conversation — English  complaisance — Ladies — Per- 
sonal dislikes  and  hereditary  feuds — Their  extent — 
Reproach — Monuments  of  battles — They  cause 
others — Chief  answerable  for  his  clan — Letters  of 
fire  and  sword — Battle  of  Glenshiels — Heroic  at- 
tachment— Compared  with  the  slave  of  Caius 
Gracchus — A  romantic  story — Natives  sleep  in  wet 
plaid — A  custom  from  infancy — Distinctions  of  name 
— How  regulated — Patronymicat  names — High- 
landers not  generally  indolent — Complaint  of  a  chief 
— Genealogy — Soldiers — Military  pride , , .  1 — 25 

VOL.   II.  b 


VI  CONTEXTS. 

* 

LETTER  XX. 

Gentry — Disposition  of  natives — Highland  town— 
Manner  of  life — A  singular  practice — Fish — Dis- 
tresses of  the  poor — Sufferings  of  cattle — Pasturage 
— Butter  and  cheese — Poverty — Miserable  appear- 
ance of  cattle — Drovers — Mode  of  crossing  rivers — 
Misery  of  natives  in  winter — Drifts  of  snow — Method 
of  penetrating — Ruin  of  Swedish  army — Horses 
wild — Mode  of  catching — Small,  and  mostly  white 
— Diverting  method  of  taming— Corn  lands — Imple- 
ments of  husbandry — Articles  in  wood — Ploughing 
—Inquiries — A  barbarous  custom — Creels — Harvest 
late — Poor  grain — Women's  labour — Ridiculous 
pride — Anecdote — Odd  notion  respecting  the  moon 
— Singing — Boast  of  country — Manners — Singular 
mowing — Hay — Enclosures — Rent  paid  in  kind — 
Mode  of  tenure — Sheriff's  rate — King's  tax. ..26 — 54 

LETTER  XXI. 

Income — Species  of  rent — A  curious  rent-roll — Right 
of  landlords — Poverty  of  tenants — Laird's  income 
— Fosterage — Description  of — Hanchman — Alarm- 
ing incident — List  of  a  chief's  officers — Pride  of 
chiefs — A  pompous  declaration — Customs — The 
bard — Entertainment  of — A  song  of — Extravagant 
admiration — The  piper — His  service — Stately  step 
— His  gilly,  or  servant— Question  of  precedence  be- 
tween a  drummer  and  a  piper — Roes — Red  deer — 
Hounds — Solemn  hunting — Description — Different 
in  different  hills — Game-keeper — Foxes — Wild  cats 
— Birds  of  the  mountains — Jealousy  of  clans — In- 
stances of  -  The  dirk—  Evils  of — Cruelty — Conduct 
of  chiefs  towards  each  other...  ...55 — 80 


CONTEXTS.  yil 

LETTER  XXII. 

Military  —  Cruelty  towards — Highland  language — 
Fondness  for — Called  Erst — Alphabet — Defective 
orthography — Highland  dress— Full-dress  graceful 
— Common  not  so — Quarrants — The  quelt — Clothing 
offensive — Advantages  and  disadvantages  of — 
Highlanders  dislike  change — Their  indignation  at — 
Laird's  lady  travels  barefooted — Shyness  before  the 
English — Curious  hut — Stockings — A  singular  va- 
nity— A  baronet — Highland  inn — Complaisance — 
Unwelcome  visitors — Poor  children- — Those  of  a 
chief — Author's  mode  of  illustration — Living  of 
chiefs — Anecdote — Affectation  of  cleanliness — Evil 
of  this  vanity — Hospitality — A  particular  instance — 
Houses  of  chiefs — A  burlesque  story — Winding 
hollows  » 81—105 

LETTER  XXIII. 

Marriage — Winding  sheet — Setting  up  in  life — Customs 
at  a  death — Dancing — Hired  mourners — Funeral 
piles — Veneration  of— Second  sight — An  instance  of 
— Witches  and  goblins — A  commercial  prophecy — 
Curious  superstition — Notion  on  removing  dead 
bodies — Marriage  confined  to  natives — Inconveni- 
ences of  this — Inquiry  answered — Irregular  marriage 
of  a  Highland  chief — Its  consequences — Reproach 
of  clan  -Binding  a  bargain — Highland  arms  -  Pledge 
of  peace — Highland  firing — Choice  of  ground  in 
battle — Battle  of  Killicranky — Fiery  cross — Black 
mail — Uplifting — Lifting  cattle — Mode  of — Michael- 
mas moon — Robbers  exchange  booty — A  Highland 
woman's  notion  of  honour — Recovery  of  stolen  cat- 


Vlll  CONTENTS. 

tie — Robbers  seldom  prosecuted — Chiefs  prefer  com 
pounding — This  crime  considered  a  trifling  offence 
— No  reflection  on  the  country  at  large — Gross  igno- 
rance of  a  criminal — Personal  robberies  rare — Tri 
fling  robberies  more  frequent — A  laird's  dishonesty 
— Unwelcome   travelling    companion — Good   effect 
of  personal  courage 106 — 141 

LETTER  XXIV. 

Tascal  money — Oath  taken  on  a  drawn  dirk — Varieties 
of— Specimens  of  Highland  oaths — Clans  which 
were  notorious  for  robbers — Gypsies — Their  unwel- 
come visits — Intrusions — Highlanders  think  little  of 
some  oaths — Remarkable  instances — Pride  of  power 
— Example — Pit  and  gallows — Baily  of  regality — 
Gross  instance  of  judicial  prejudice — Danger  of 
lawless  power — Homage — Despotic  power  of  chiefs 
— Curious  instances — Hired  murderers — Horrid  oc- 
currences— Revenge  taken  on  cattle — Execution  of 
criminals— Hire  of  an  assassin — Inclination  of  re- 
venge— A  dispute  decided — Revenge  of  a  chieftain 
— The  criminal  secured — Attempts  at  bribery — An 
offer  of  assassination — Highlander's  excessive  drink- 
•  ing — Their  excuse  —  Dangers  from  —  Quantity  of 
spirits  consumed — Air  salubrious — Honey. ..141-  -166 

LETTER  XXV. 

Mankind  alike — English  fox-hunter  and  Highland  laird 
— Their  conversation — Western  islands — Drying 
oats — Grinding — The  quarn — Customs  in  Argyle- 
shire — Meat  boiled  in  the  hide,  &c. — The  guidwife 
and  her  cookery— Anecdote — A  laird  in  the  western 
isles — Honours  of  a  musician — Punishment  of  pre- 


CONTENTS.  IX 

sumption — '  Martin's  Western  Islands' — His  account 
of  second  sight — Remarks  on  that  work — A  motive 
explained — Conclusion  of  this  part  of  the  corre- 
spondence— Genius  of  a  people — Pleasure  of  national 
speculations ,. 166 — 182 

LETTER  XXVI. 

Concerning  the  New  Roads,  ffc, 

M.  Fontenelle — Apology — New  roads  begun  1726 — 
Situation  on  the  map — Roman  works — Glen  Almond 
— Ancient  funeral  pile — Urn  claimed  by  the  High- 
landers— Superstition  respecting  a  dead  body — Num- 
ber of  soldiers  employed — Their  wages — Officers—^ 
Breadth  of  roads — Their  singular  appearance — Stony 
moors — Repetitions  excused — Large  stones  are  set 
up — Excellence  of  the  roads — Bogs — An  adventure 
in  passing  —  Mosses  —  Fords  —  Declivities — Their 
roughness — Woods — Steep  ascents — Coriarack  moun- 
tain— Road  over — Precipices — Frequency  of  snow — 
Murray  Frith — A  comparison — Loch  Ness — Rocks 
— Highland  galley — Loch  Oich — Loch  Lochy — 
Proposed  communication — Garrisons — Breaking  up 
rocks — Anecdote — New  houses  erected  on  roads — 
Pillars  —  Bridges  —  Inscription  —  Objection  to  the 
roads — By  the  chiefs — By  the  middling  order — Of 
the  lowest  class — Lochart's  accusation — Fort  Augus- 
tus— A  proposal — Its  origin — Injustice — Highlands 
not  suited  for  manufactories — Not  inviting — Healthy 
air — Its  effects  on  an  officer — Mountebank — Rain 
nine  or  ten  weeks — Troublesome  kind  of  small  fly — 
Retrospect — Comparisons  —  Apology  for  Latin  — 
Conclusion  ..183 — 234 


X  CONTENTS. 


APPENDIX. 


No.  I. 

State  of  the  Highlands  in  the  beginning  of  the  seven- 
teenth century 237—247 

Instructions  for  the  commissioners  for  settling  the 
peace  of  the  West  and  North  Isles 248—253 

No.  II. 

Memorial,  addressed  to  his  Majesty  George  I.  con- 
cerning the  state  of  the  Highlands,  by  Simon  Lord 
Lovat,  in  1724 ., 254—267 

No.  III. 

An  authentic  narrative  of  Marshal  Wade's  proceedings 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland.  [M.S.  communicated 
by  George  Chalmers,  Esq.  author  of  "  Caledonia," 
&c.]  268—284 

Clans  who  were  engaged  in  the  late  rebellion,  forming 
part  of  the  same  communication 285—289 

Report  to  his  Majesty  concerning  the  Highlands  of 
Scotland,  in  1725;  also  forming  part  of  the  same 
communication  289 — 316 

Instructions  to  the  officers  commanding  the  Highland 
companies  ;  likewise  forming  part  of  same  commu- 
nication  , 317—321 

The  form  of  a  summons,  as  prefixed  to  the  several 
parish  churches  and  head-boroughs 322 — 323 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Form  of  a  licence  for  carrying  arms,  by  G.  Wade, 
Esq.  &c 323 

Letters  of  submission  to  his  Majesty,  from  persons 
attainted  of  high  treason,  directed  to  Major  General 
Wade  323—337 

TNTO.  IV. 

Extracts  from  "  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  which 
facilitate  the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Rebellions  and 
Insurrections  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  &c." 
written  in  1747.  [From  a  MS.  in  the  possession  of 
the  Gartmore  Family,  communicated  by  Walter 
Scott,  Esq.]., 338—370 

Introduction    33-8—347 

Rob  Roy,  Barasdale,    &c.   [From  the  same  MS.] 

347—355 

Causes  of  the  present  disorderly  state  of  the  Highlands 
of  Scotland.  [From  the  same  MS.] 355—370. 


BETTERS, 


LETTER  XIX. 

THE  Highlanders  are  divided  into  tribes,  or 
clans,  under  chiefs,*  or  chieftains,  as  they  are 
called  in  the  laws  of  Scotland ;  and  each  clan 
again  divided  into  branches  from  the  main 
stock,  who  have  chieftains  over  them.  These 

*  Long  after  the  art  of  government  had  been  so  far  improved, 
that  tranquillity  was  maintained  and  justice  administered  over  all 
England  and  the  Low-country  of  Scotland,  the  Highlands  continued 
to  afford  a  lively  representation  of  the  state  of  England  before 
the  Norman  Conquest,  and  of  all  Europe  at  the  date  of  the 
Crusades.  As  to  this  day  the  effects  remain  of  that  state  of  society 
out  of  which  the  Highlands  have  so  recently  emerged,  or  rather 
as  they  are  at  present  only  in  a  state  of  transition,  or  passage  into 
that  situation  in  which  the  rest  of  the  island  has  so  long  been 
placed,  it  becomes  a  subject  of  rational  curiosity  to  attend  cor- 
rectly to  the  past  and  present  state  of  that  portion  of  territory. — 
Beauties  of  Scotland,  vol.  v.  181. 

VOL.    II.  13 


2  LETTER  XIX. 

are  subdivided  into  smaller  branches  of  fifty  or 
sixty  men,  who  deduce  their  original  from  their 
particular  chieftains,  and  rely  upon  them  as 
their  more  immediate  protectors  and  defenders. 
But  for  better  distinction  I  shall  use  the  word 
chief  for  the  head  of  a  whole  clan,  and  the 
principal  of  a  tribe  derived  from  him  I  shall 
call  a  chieftain. 

The  ordinary  Highlanders  esteem  it  the  most 
sublime  degree  of  virtue  to  love  their  chief,* 
and  pay  him  a  blind  obedience,  although  it  be 
in  opposition  to  the  government,  the  laws  of 

*  The  laird  is  the  original  owner  of  the  land,  whose  natural 
power  must  be  very  great,  where  no  man  lives  but  by  agriculture, 
and  where  the  produce  of  the  land  is  not  conveyed  through  the 
labyrinths  of  traffic,  but  passes  directly  from  the  hand  that  gathers 
to  the  mouth  that  eats  it.  The  laird  has  all  those  in  his  power 
that  live  upon  his  farms.  Kings  can,  for  the  most  part,  only  exalt 
or  degrade — the  laird,  at  pleasure,  can  feed  or  starve,  can  give 
bread  or  withhold  it.  This  inherent  power  was  yet  strengthened 
by  the  kindness  of  consanguinity  and  the  reverence  of  patriarchal 
authority.  The  laird  was  the  father  of  the  clan,  and  his  tenants 
commonly  bore  his  name ;  and  to  these  principles  of  original 
command  was  added,  for  many  ages,  an  exclusive  right  of  legal 
jurisdiction.  This  multifarious  and  extensive  obligation  operated 
with  a  force  scarcely  credible  :  every  duty,  moral  or  political,  was 
absorbed  in  affection  and  adherence  to  the  chief.  Not  many 
years  have  passed  since  the  clans  knew  no  law  but  the  laird's 
will;  he  told  them  to  whom  they  should  be  friends  or  enemies: 
what  kings  they  should  obey,  and  what  religion  they  should  pro- 
fess.— Johnsons  Journey ^  Works,  vol.  viii.  310. 


LETTER    XIX.  3 

the  kingdom,  or  even  to  the  law  of  God.  He 
is  their  idol ;  and  as  they  profess  to  know  no 
king  but  him  (I  was  going  further),  so  will  they 
say  they  ought  to  do  whatever  he  commands 
without  inquiry, 

Next  to  this  love  of  their  chief  is  that  of  the 
particular  branch  from  whence  they  sprang ; 
and,  in  a  third  degree,  to  those  of  the  whole 
clan  or  name,  whom  they  will  assist,  right  or 
wrong,  against  those  of  any  other  tribe  with 
which  they  are  at  variance,  to  whom  their 
enmity,  like  that  of  exasperated  brothers,  is 
most  outrageous. 

They  likewise  owe  good  will  to  such  clans  as 
they  esteem  to  be  their  particular  well-wishers  ; 
and  lastly,  they  have  an  adherence  one  to 
another  as  Highlanders,  in  opposition  to  the 
people  of  the  Low-country,  whom  they  despise 
as  inferior  to  them  in  courage,  and  believe  they 
have  a  right  to  plunder  them  whenever  it  is  in 
their  power.  This  last  arises  from  a  tradition, 
that  the  Lowlands,  in  old  times,  were  the  pos- 
session of  their  ancestors. 

If  the  truth  of  this  opinion  of  theirs  stood  in 
need  of  any  evidence,  it  might,  in  good  mea- 
sure, be  confirmed  by  what  I  had  from  a  High- 
land gentleman  of  my  acquaintance.  He  told 
me  that  a  certain  chief  of  a  considerable  clan, 
in  rummaging  lately  an  old  charter-chest,  found 

B  2 


4  LETTER  XIX. 

a  letter  directed  by  another  chief  to  his  grand- 
father, who  is  therein  assured  of  the  immediate 
restitution  of  his  lifted, — that  is,  stolen,  cows  ; 
for  that  he  (the  writer  of  the  letter)  had  thought 
they  belonged  to  the  Lowland  lairds  of  Murray, 
whose  goods  and  effects  ought  to  be  a  prey  to 
them  all. 

When  I  mentioned  this  tradition,  I  had  only 
in  view  the  middling  and  ordinary  Highlanders, 
who  are  very  tenacious  of  old  customs  and 
opinions  ;  and,  by  the  example  I  have  given  of 
a  fact  that  happened  almost  a  century  ago,  I 
would  be  understood  that  it  is  very  probable 
such  a  notion  was  formerly  entertained  by 
some,  at  least,  among  those  of  the  highest 
rank. 

The  chief*  exercises  an  arbitrary  authority 
over  his  vassals,  determines  all  differences  and 
disputes  that  happen  among  them,  and  levies 
taxes  upon  extraordinary  occasions,  such  as  the 
marriage  of  a  daughter,  building  a  house,  or 
some  pretence  for  his  support  and  the  honour 
of  the  name.  And  if  any  one  should  refuse  to 
contribute  to  the  best  of  his  ability  he  is  sure 

*  The  chief  usually  attempted  to  divide  his  lands  in  such  a 
way  as  to  accommodate  all  his  followers ;  at  the  same  time,  by  the 
power  which  he  possessed  of  expelling  a  refractory  individual, 
his  authority  over  them  was  complete-. — Beauties  of  Scotland, 
vol.  v.  182. 


LETTER    XIX.  5 

of  severe  treatment,  and  if  he  persisted  in  his 
obstinacy  he  would  be  cast  out  of  his  tribe  by 
general  consent ;  but  instances  of  this  kind 
have  very  rarely  happened. 

This  power  of  the  chiefs  is  not  supported  by 
interest,  as  they  are  landlords,  but  as  lineally 
descended  from  the  old  patriarchs,  or  fathers 
of  the  families ;  for  they  hold  the  same  autho- 
rity when  they  have  lost  their  estates,  as  may 
appear  from  several,  and  particularly  one  who 
commands  in  his  clan,  though,  a.t  the  same 
time,  they  maintain  him,  having  nothing  left 
of  his  own. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  chief,*  even  against 
the  laws,  is  to  protect  his  followers,  as  they 
are  sometimes  called,  be  they  never  so  criminal. 
He  is  their  leader  in  clan  quarrels,  must  free 
the  necessitous  from  their  arrears  of  rent,  and 
maintain  such  who,  by  accidents,  are  fallen  to 
total  decay.  \ 

If,  by  increase  of  the  tribe,  any  small  farms 
are  wanting  for  the  support  of  such  addition, 

*  Formerly  the  chieftain  of  a  clan  was  an  officer  of  the  first 
importance  ;  before  he  entered  on  his  patriarchal  government,  and 
ere  his  followers  owned  him  as  fit  for  enterprize,  proofs  of  his 
valour  were  required,  to  satisfy  them  of  his  prowess  in  the  field  • 
and,  as  he  likewise  was  sole  umpire  in  all  domestic  disputes,  it 
seldom  happened  that  an  opportunity  was  wanting  for  the  display 
of  his  judicial  talents. — Campbell's  -Journey,  vol.  i.  184. 


6  LETTER    XIX. 

he  splits  others  into  lesser  portions,  because  all 
must  be  somehow  provided  for ;  and  as  the 
meanest  among  them  pretend  to  be  his  retor- 
tions* by  consanguinity,  they  insist  upon  the 
privilege  of  taking  him  by  the  hand  wherever 
they  meet  him, 

Concerning  this  last,  I  once  saw  a  number  of 
very  discontented  countenances  when  a  certain 
lord,  one  of  the  chiefs,  endeavoured  to  evade 
this  ceremony.  It  was  in  presence  of  an  Eng- 
lish gentleman  in  high  station,  from  whom  he 
would  willingly  have  concealed  the  knowledge 
of  such  seeming  familiarity  with  slaves  of  so 
wretched  appearance,  and  thinking  it,  I  sup- 
pose, as  a  kind  of  contradiction  to  what  he  had 
often  boasted  at  other  times,  viz.  his  despotic 
power  in  his  clan. 

The  unlimited  love  and  obedience  of  the 
Highlanders  to  their  chiefs  are  not  confined  to 
the  lower  order  of  their  followers,  but  are  the 
same  with  those  who  are  near  them  in  rank. 

*  The  chiefs  had  it  not  in  their  power  to  act  as  despots,  or 
with  barbarity  towards  their  own  people ;  on  the  contrary,  the 
connection  was  maintained  by  mutual  benefits  and  kind  offices :  the 
most  condescending  manners  were  employed;  his  house  was  the 
general  resort  of  his  clan,  and  his  revenue  was  spent  in  entertain- 
ing them.  The  highest  and  the  lowest  were  the  companions  in 
arms,  and  even  the  kindred  of  each  other,  who  depended  for  theiv 
safety  upon  their  mutual  fidelity  and  courage. — Beauties  of  Scott 
land,  vol.  v.  184. 


LETTER   XIX.  7 

As  for  instance : — As  I  was  travelling  in  a  very 
wild  part  of  the  country,  and  approaching  the 
house  of  one  of  those  gentlemen,  who  had  notice 
of  my  coming,  he  met  me  at  some  distance  from 
his  dwelling,  with  his  Arcadian  offering  of  milk 
and  cream,  as  usual,  carried  before  him  by  his 
servants.  He  afterwards  invited  me  to  his  hut, 
which  was  built  like  the  others,  only  very  long, 
but  without  any  partition,  where  the  family  was 
at  one  end,  and  some  cattle  at  the  other.  By 
the  way  (although  the  weather  was  not  warm), 
he  was  without  shoes,  stockings,  or  breeches,  in 
a  short  coat,  with  a  shirt  not  much  longer, 
which  hung  between  his  thighs,  and  just  hid  his 
nakedness  from  two  daughters,  about  seventeen 
or  eighteen  years  old,  who  sat  over  against  him. 
After  some  compliments  on  either  side,  and  his 
wishing  me  good  weather,  we  entered  into  con- 
versation, in  which  he  seemed  to  be  a  man  of 
as  good  sense  as  he  was  well-proportioned.  In 
speaking  of  the  country,  he  told  me  he  knew  I 
wondered  how  any  body  would  undergo  the 
inconveniences  of  a  Highland  life. 

You  may  be  sure  I  was  not  wanting  in  an 
agreeable  contradiction,  by  saying  I  doubted 
not  they  had  their  satisfactions  and  pleasures 
to  countervail  any  inconveniences  they  might 
sustain,  though,  perhaps,  those  advantages  could 
not  be  well  known  to  such  as  are  en  passant. 


8  LETTER 

But  he  very  modestly  interrupted  me  as  I  was 
going  on,  and  said  he  knew  that  what  I  said 
was  the  effect  of  complaisance,  and  could  not 
be  the  real  sentiment  of  one  who  knew  a  good 
deal  of  the  country :  "  But,"  says  he,  "  the 
truth  is,  we  are  insensibly  inured  to  it  by  de- 
grees ;  for,  when  very  young,  we  know  no 
better;  being  grown  up,  we  are  inclined,  or 
persuaded  by  our  near  relations,  to  marry — 
thence  come  children,  and  fondness  for  them : 
but  above  all,"  says  he,  "  is  the  love  oj  our  chief, 
so  strongly  is  it  inculcated  to  us  in  our  infancy ; 
and,  if  it  were  not  for  that,  I  think  the  Highlands 
would  be  much  thinner  of  people  than  they  now 
are."  By  this,  and  many  other  instances,  I  am 
fully  persuaded,  that  the  Highlanders  are  at 
least  as  fond  of  the  race  of  their  chiefs  as  a 
Frenchman  is  of  the  house  of  Bourbon. 

Several  reasons  have  just  now  offered  them- 
selves to  me,  in  persuasion  to  conceal  one  cir- 
cumstance of  this  visit,  but  your  interest  with 
me  has  prevailed  against  them  all. 

The  two  young  ladies,  in  my  saluting  them 
at  parting,  did  me  a  favour  which  with  you 
would  be  thought  the  utmost  invitation ;  but  it 
is  purely  innocent  with  them,  and  a  mark  of  the 
highest  esteem  for  their  guesf.  This  was  no 
great  surprise  to  me,  having  received  the  same 
compliment  several  times  before  in  the  High- 


LETTER  XIX.  9 

lands,  and  even  from  married  women,  who  I 
may  be  sure  had  no  further  design  in  it;  and, 
like  the  two  above-mentioned  young  women, 
could  never  expect  to  see  me  again  ;  but  t  am 
not  singular,  for  several  officers  in  the  army 
have  told  me  they  had  received  the  same  cour- 
tesy from  other  females  in  the  hills. 

Some  of  the  chiefs  have  not  only  personal 
dislikes  and  enmity  to  each  other,  but  there  are 
also  hereditary  feuds  between  clan  and  clan, 
which  have  been  handed  down  from  one  genera- 
tion to  another  for  several  ages. 

These  quarrels  descend  to  the  meanest  vassal; 
and  thus,  sometimes,  an  innocent  person  suffers 
for  crimes  committed  by  his  tribe  at  a  vast  dis- 
tance of  time  before  his  being  began. 

When  a  quarrel  begins  in  words  between  two 
Highlanders  of  different  clans,  it  is  esteemed  the 
very  height  of  malice  and  rancour,  and  the 
greatest  of  all  provocations,  to  reproach  one 
another  with  the  vices  or  personal  defects  of 
their  chief,  which,  for  the  most  part,  ends  in 
wounds  or  death. 

Often  the  monuments  of  a  clan  battle,  or  some 
particular  murder,  are  the  incitements  to  great 
mischiefs.  The  first-mentioned  are  small  heaps 
of  stones,  thrown  together  on  the  place  where 
every  particular  man  fell  in  battle  ;  the  other  is 
from  such  a  heap  first  cast  upon  the  spot  where 


10  LETTER    XIX. 

the  fact  was  committed,  and  afterwards  by  de- 
grees increased  to  a  high  pyramid,  by  those  of 
the  clan  that  was  wronged,  in  still  throwing 
more  stones  upon  it  as  they  pass  by.     The  for- 
mer I  have   seen  overgrown  with  moss,  upon 
wide  moors,  which  showed  the  number  of  men 
that  were  killed  in  the  action.     And  several  of 
the  latter  I  have  observed  in  my  journeys,  that 
could   not  be  less  than  fourteen  or  fifteen  feet 
high,  with  a  base  proportionable.     Thus,  if  seve- 
ral men  of  ckns  at  variance,  happen  to  meet  in 
view  of  one  of  these  memorials,  'tis  odds  but 
one  party  reproaches  the  other  with  all  the  aggra- 
vating   circumstances  that  tradition  (which  is 
mostly  a  liar,  either  in  the  whole  or  a  part)  has 
added  to  the  original  truth ;  and  then  some  great 
mischief  ensues.     But  if  a  single  Highlander  of 
the  clan  that  offended,  should  be  met  by  two 
or  three  more  of  the  others,  he  is  sure  to  be  in- 
sulted, and  receive  some  cruel  treatment  from 
them.* 

*  Here  the  author  has  certainly  been  misinformed, — at  least  it 
is  inconsistent  with  what  we  know  to  be  the  general  character  of 
the  Highlanders.  Nearly  thirty  years  ago  (while  the  present 
writer,  then  a  lad,  was  living  in  the  neighbourhood),  at  the  annual 
fair,  held  at  Portnacraish,  in  Appin,  a  Low-country  shepherd,  in 
the  service  of  a  gentleman  near  Glenco,  was  drinking  whiskey 
with  four  or  five  Highland  shepherds  in  the  inn.  Getting  intoxi- 
cated, he  had  been  very  abusive,  and  struck  several  of  the  party. 
A  tall  handsome  manly-looking  Highlander,  with  black  curly 


LETTER    XIX.  11 

Thus  these  heaps  of  stones,  as  I  have  heard 
an  old  Highlander  complain,  continue  to  occasion 
the  revival  of  animosities  that  had  their  begin- 
ning perhaps  hundreds  of  years  before  any  of 
the  parties  accused  were  born:  and  therefore  I 
think  they  ought,  by  authority,  to  be  scattered, 
and  effectually  defaced.  But  some  of  these 
monuments  have  been  raised  in  memory  of  such 
as  have  lost  their  lives  in  a  journey,  by  snow, 
rivers,  or  other  accidents;  as  was  the  practice 
of  the  eastern  nations. 

By  an  old  Scotish  law,  the  chief  was  made 

hair,  took  him  by  the  shoulders,  and  turned  him  out  of  the  house. 
The  moment  he  was  at  liberty,  he  turned  round,  and  struck  the 
Highlander  violently  with  his  long  hazel  staff.  The  Highlander 
took  it  from  him,  snapped  it,  and  threw  it  away. — At  that  instant, 
a  pitiful-looking  little  fellow,  rushed  out  of  the  house  wit!  a  great 
deal  of  clamorous  swagge.  ing,  to  beat  the  Lowlander,  who,  he  said, 
had  struck  him. — "  Be  gone,  beggar!"  said  the  tall  young  man, 
pushing  him  back  ;  "  he  struck  me  too,  and  I  think  /  could  beat 
him  as  well  as  you.  He  has  behaved  ill,  and  I  turned  him  out ; 
he  made  a  bad  use  of  his  staff,  and  I  broke  it ;  but  no  man  shall 
beat  him  here,  and  he  that  lifts  h  s  hand  to  him  had  as  well  lift 
it  to  me ;  HE  is  A  STRANGER,  AND  HAS  NONE  TO  TAKE  HIS 
PART."  The  only  stranger  that  was  present,  could  have  almost 
worshipped  the  young  man ;  but  nobody  else  took  the  least  notice 
of  a  circumstance  so  natural  and  comm  n  among  them.  Yet, 
had  a  Stewart  or  a  M'Coll  quarrelled  with  a  Campbell  over 
his  whiskey,  and  a  general  row  taken  place,  as  was  liKely  to  hap- 
pen, this  very  young  man  would  have  been  the  most  forward  in 
jhe  fray,  and  played  one  of  the  best  cudgels  in  the  fair. 


12  LETTER    XIX. 

accountable  for  any  depredations  or  other  vio- 
lences committed  by  his  clan  upon  the  borders 
of  the  Lowlands;  and  in  extraordinary  cases  he 
was  obliged  to  give  up  his  son,  or  some  other 
nearest  relation,  as  a  hostage,  for  the  peaceable 
behaviour  of  his  followers  in  that  respect. 

By  this  law  (for  I  never  saw  the  act),  he  must 
surely  have  had  an  entire  command  over  them, 
at  least  tacitly,  or  by  inference  understood.*  For 
how  unreasonable,  not  to  say  unjust,  must  such 
a  restriction  have  been  to  him,  if  by  sanction  of 
the  same  law  he  had  cot  had  a  coercive  and 
judicial  authority  over  those,  in  whose  choice 
and  power  it  always  lay  to  bring  punishment 
upon  him?  And  if  he  had  such  an  absolute 
command  over  them,  was  it  not  to  make  of  every 
chief  a  petty  prince  in  his  own  territory,  and 
his  followers  a  people  distinct  and  separate  from 
all  others  ? 

For  atrocious  crimes, — such  as  rebellion, 
murder,  rapes,  or  opposing  the  execution  of  the 
laws,  which  is  also  called  rebellion,  when,  by  pro- 
cess, the  chief  or  laird  was  condemned  in  ab- 
sence, and  inter  communed,  as  they  call  it,  or 
outlawed, — the  civil  power,  by  law  and  custom, 
gave  letters  of  fire  and  sword  against  him;  and 
the  officer  of  justice  might  call  for  military 

*  See  the  extracts  from  the  Records  of  the  Privy  Council  in  the 
Appendix. 


LETTER    XIX.  13 

force  to  assist  in  the  execution.  But,  it  is  cer- 
tain, some  few  of  the  chiefs  in  former  times, 
were,  upon  occasions,  too  powerful  to  be  brought 
to  account  by  the  government. 

I  have  heard  many  instances  of  the  faithful- 
ness of  particular  Highlanders  to  their  masters, 
but  shall  relate  only  one,  which  is  to  me  very 
well  known. 

At  the  battle  of  Glenshiels,*  in  the  rebellion 
of  the  year  1719,  a  gentleman  (George  Munro 
of  Culcairne),  for  whom  1  have  a  great  esteem, 
commanded  a  company  of  Highlandmen,  raised 
out  of  his  father's  clan,  and  entertained  at  his 
own  expence.  There  he  was  dangerously 
wounded  in  the  thigh,  from  a  party  of  the  rebel 
Highlanders  posted  upon  the  declivity  of  a 
mountain,  who  kept  on  firing  at  him  after  he  was 
down,  according  to  their  want  of  discipline,  in 

*  The  battle  of  Glenshiels,  which  took  place  on  the  10th  of 
June,  1719.  was  occasioned  by  a  petty  rebellion  projected  by 
cardinal  Alberoni,  and  which  was  to  have  been  supported  by  the 
Spaniards.  A  tempest  dispersed  the  hostile  squadron,  and  only 
about  three  hundred  forces  arrived.  The  Highlanders  made  a 
poor  stand  at  Strachell ;  but  were  quickly  put  to  flight,  when 
they  had  opportunity  of  destroying  the  king's  forces,  by  rolling 
down  stones  from  the  heights.  Among  the  clans  that  appeared 
in  arms,  was  a  large  body  lent  by  a  neighbouring  chieftain,  mere- 
ly for  the  battle  of  that  one  day,  and,  win  or  lose,  was  to  return 
home  at  night. — Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  389. 

See  note  on  Graham  of  Gartmores  M.S.  in  the  Appendix. 


14  LETTER    XIX. 

spending  much  fire  upon  one  single  officer,  which, 
distributed  among  the  body,  might  thin  the  ranks 
of  their  enemy. 

When,  after  he  fell,  and  found  by  their  be- 
haviour they  were  resolved  to  dispatch  him 
outright,  he  bid  his  servant,  who  was  by,  get  out 
of  the  danger,  for  he  might  lose  his  life,  but  could 
be  of  no  manner  of  succour  or  service  to  him ; 
and  only  desired  him,  that  when  he  returned 
home,  he  would  let  his  father  and  his  family 
,  know  that  he  had  not  misbehaved.  Hereupon 
the  Highlander  burst  out  into  tears ;  and  asking 
him  how  he  thought  he  could  leave  him  in  that 
condition,  and  what  they  would  think  of  him  at 
home,  set  himself  down  on  his  hands  and  knees 
over  his  master,  and  received  several  wounds 
to  shield  him  from  further  hurt ;  till  one  of  the 
clan,  who  acted  as  a  serjeant,  with  a  small  party, 
dislodged  the  enemy,  after  having  taken  an  oath 
upon  his  dirk  that  he  would  do  it.  For  my  own 
part,  I  do  not  see  how  this  act  of  fidelity  is  in 
any  way  inferior  to  the  so-celebrated  one  of 
Philocratus,  slave  to  Caius  Gracchus,  who  like- 
wise covered  his  master  with  his  body,  when 
he  was  found  by  his  enemies  in  a  wood,  in 
such  manner  that  Caius  could  not  be  killed 
by  them,  till  they  had  first  dispatched  bis 
domestic. 

This  man  has  often  waited  at  table  when. 


LETTER    XIX.  15 

his   master   and  I   dined  together,  but  other-  fj 
wise  is  treated  more  like  a  friend  than  a  ser- 
vant. 

The  Highlanders,  in  order  to  persuade  a  belief 
of  their  hardiness,  have  several  rhodomontades 
on  that  head ;  for,  as  the  French  proverb  says, 
Tons  ks  Gascons  ne  sont  pas  en  France — "  There 
are  vain  boasters  in  other  countries  besides  Gas- 
cony."  It  is  true,  they  are  liable  to  great  hard- 
ships, and  they  often  suffer  by  them  in  their 
health  and  limbs,  as  I  have  often  observed  in  a 
former  letter. 

One  of  these  gasconades  is,  that  the  laird  of 
Keppoch,  chieftain  of  a  branch  of  the  M'Donalds, 
in  a  winter  campaign  against  a  neighbouring 
laird,  with  whom  he  was  at  war  about  a  pos- 
session, gave  orders  for  rolling  a  snow-ball  to 
lay  under  his  head  in  the  night;  whereupon  his 
followers  murmured,  saying,  "  Now  we  despair 
of  victory,  since  our  leader  is  become  so  effemi- 
nate he  can't  sleep  without  a  pillow."*  This 
and  many  other  like  stories  are  romantic ;  but 
there  is  one  thing  that  at  first  thought  might 

*  This  story  is  told  of  twenty  lairds  and  others,  and  almost  every 
glen  has  its  hard-headed  old  hero,  who  upbraided  his  own  son 
with  this  alarming  symptom  of  degeneracy.'  Our  campaigns  in 
Spain,  and  particularly  among  the  Pyrenees,  showed  that  the 
English  also  could  bear  this  kind  of  bivouacking  much  better 
than  their  friends  at  home  could  have  expected. 


16  LETTER    XIX. 

eem  very  extraordinary,  of  which  I  have  been 
credibly  assured,  that  when  the  Highlanders  are 
constrained  to  lie  among  the  hills  in  cold,  dry, 
windy  weather,  they  sometimes  soak  the  plaid 
in  some  river  or  bourn ;  and  then  holding  up  a 
corner  of  it  a  little  above  their  heads,  they  turn 
themselves  round  and  round,  till  they  are  en- 
veloped by  the  whole  mantle.  Then  they  lay 
themselves  down  on  the  heath, -upon  "the  leeward 
side  of  some  hill,  where  the  wet  and  the  warmth 
of  their  bodies  make  a  steam  like  that  of  a  boil- 
ing kettle.  The  wet,  they  say,  keeps  them  warm 
by  thickening  the  stuff,  and  keeping  the  wind 
from  penetrating.  I  must  confess  I  should  my- 
self have  been  apt  to  question  this  fact,  had  I 
not  frequently  seen  them  wet  from  morning  to 
night ;  and  even  at  the  beginning  of  the  rain,  not 
so  much  as  stir  a  few  yards  to  shelter,  but  con- 
tinue in  it,  without  necessity,  till  they  were,  as 
we  say,  wet  through  and  through.  And  that  is 
soon  effected  by  the  looseness  and  sponginess 
of  the  plaiding;  but  the  bonnet  is  frequently 
taken  off,  and  wrung  like  a  dish-clout,  and  then 
put  on  again.  They  have  been  accustomed  from 
their  infancy  to  be  often  wet,  and  to  take  the 
water  like  spaniels ;  and  this  is  become  a  second 
nature,  and  can  scarcely  be  called  a  hardship  to 
them,  insomuch  that  I  used  to  say,  they  seemed 
to  be  of  the  duck  kind,  and  to  love  the  water  as 


LETTER    XIX.  17 

well.*  Though  I  never  saw  this  preparation  for 
sleep  in  windy  weather,  yet,  setting  out  early 
in  a  morning  from  one  of  the  huts,  I  have  seen 
the  marks  of  their  lodging,  where  the  ground 
has  been  free  from  rime  or  snow,  which  remained 
all  round  the  spots  where  they  had  lain. 

The  different  surnames  of  the  Highlanders  in 
general  are  but  few,  in  regard  they  are  divided 
into  large  families,  and  hardly  any  male  strangers 
have  intermarried  with  or  settled  among  them ; 
and  with  respect  to  particular  tribes,  they  com- 
monly make  that  alliance  among  themselves,  who 
are  all  of  one  name,  except  some  few,  who 
may  have  affected  to  annex  themselves  to  the 

*  About  twenty-five  years  ago,  a  worthy  old  friend  of  ours,  A 
true  Highlander  of  the  old  school  (Lieut.  Patrick  Campbell),  in- 
dignant at  the  raanHer  in  which  he  saw  the  peasantry  around  him 
treated  by  their  landlords,  took  a  voyage  to  North  America,  with 
the  patriotic  view  of  ascertaining,  upon  the  spot,  what  was  the 
actual  situation  of  those  who  had  emigrated  to  that  quarter.  His 
journal  was  printed,  and  contains  much  good  sense  and  pertinent 
remark;  but  it  was  not  sold,  and  is  not  new  to  be  had.  Among 
other  old  acquaintance  whom  he  met  with  in  Canada,  was  one 
Cameron,  who,  some  thirty  years  before,  had  been  his  servant  and 
fellow  deer-stalker,  when  he  was  ranger  of  the  forest  of  Mam 
More ;  consequently  they  had  spent  many  an  hour  together,  wet 
and  dry,  by  night  and  by  day,  on  the  bare  hill-sides.  Cameron, 
notwithstanding  his  early  habits,  was  now  become  an  industrious, 
well-doing,  respectable  planter,  and  possessed  of  considerable 
property.  When  he  was  out  of  the  way,  Mr.  Campbell  asked 
his  wife  and  daughters  whether  he  ever  talked  of  the  Highlands, 
VOL.  II.  C 


18  LETTER    XIX. 

clan,  and  those,  for  the  most  part,  assume  the 
name  [without  giving  up  their  oum.~\ 

Thus  the  surnames,  being  useless  for  distinc- 
tion of  persons,  are  suppressed,  and  there  remain 
only  the  Christian  names ;  of  which  there  are 
everywhere  a  great  number  of  Duncans,  Do- 
nalds, Alexanders,  Patricks,  £c.  who,  therefore, 
must  be  some  other  way  distinguished  one  from 
another.  This  is  done  by  some  additional 
names  and  descriptions  taken  from  their  fore- 
fathers; for  when  their  own  Christian  name, 
with  their  father's  name  and  description  (which 
is  for  the  most  part  the  colour  of  the  hair),  is  not 

and  how  far  he  was  contented  in  his  present  situation?  They  said 
he  frequently  talked  of  the  Highlands,  but  seemed,  upon  the 
whole,  contented  enough  where  he  was,  only  he  often  complained 
that  there  VMS  not  rain  enough  ;  and  when  a  good,  plump,  sousing 
shower  came,  he  would  go  out  and  stand  in  it  till  he  was  quite 
drenched ;  then  come,  all  dripping,  into  the  house,  and,  with  an 
expression  of  uncommon  satisfaction,  observe,  "  what  a  comfort- 
able thing  rain  is  ! "  Had  this  man  become  sultan  of  Egypt* 
how  unhappy,  beyond  the  common  misery  of  princes,  must  he 
have  been.!  On  taking  leave  of  a  woman  whom  he  had  known 
in  the  Highlands,  Mr.  Campbell  asked  her  what  he  could  do  to 
oblige  her?  "  Nothing,"  she  said,  "that  she  could  at  present 
think  of,  unless  he  could  send  her  a  few  stalks  of  heather,  which 
she  longed  exceedingly  for — it  would  do  her  heart  so  much  good 
to  see  it  once  more !  There  was  a  bit  of  poor  ground  behind  her 
house,  where  she  had  always  thought  it  would  grow,  if  properly 
taken  care  of;  and  she  had  often  heard  that  there  was  some  to  be 
luund  on  aa  island  which  he  intended  to  visit." 


LETTER    XIX.  19 

sufficient,  they  add  the  grandfather's,  and  so 
upwards,  till  they  are  perfectly  distinguished 
from  all  others  of  the  same  clan-name.  As,  for 
example,  a  man  whose  name  is  Donald  Grant, 
has  for  patronymic  (as  they  call  it)  the  name 
following,  viz. 

Donald  Bane,  i.  e.  White-haired  Donald. 
Mac  oil  Vane,         Son  of  Grey-haired  Donald. 
Vic  oil  roi,  Grandson  of  red-haired  Donald. 

Vic  ean,  Great-grandson  to  John. 

Thus,  you  see,  the  name  of  Grant  is  not  used, 
because  all  of  that  clan  are  either  so  called,  or 
assume  that  name. 

Another  thingis,  that  if  this  man  had  descended 
in  a  direct  line,  as  eldest,  from  John,  the  remotest 
ancestor,  and  John  had  been  a  chief,  he  would 
only  be  called  Mac  Ean,  leaving  out  all  the  in- 
termediate successions  by  way  of  eminence. 

These  pytronymical  names,  at  length,  are 
made  use  of  chiefly  in  writings,  receipts,  rentals, 
&c.  and,  in  ordinary  matters,  the  Highlanders 
have  sometimes  other  distinctions,  which  also 
to  some  are  pretty  long. 

When  numbers  of  them,  composed  from  dif- 
ferent tribes,  have  been  jointly  employed  in  a 
work,  they  have  had  arbitrary  and  temporary 
denominations  added  to  their  Christian  names 
by  their  overseers,  for  the  more  ready  distinc- 
tion ;  such  as  the  place  they  came  from,  the 

c  2 


20  LETTER    XIX. 

person  who  recommended  them,  some  particular 
vice,  or  from  something  remarkable  in  their 
persons,  &c.  by  which  fictitious  names  they 
have  also  been  set  down  in  the  books  of  their 
employers. 

It  is  a  received  notion  (but  nothing  can  be 
more  unjust)  that  the  ordinary  Highlanders  are 
an  indolent,  lazy  people :  I  know  the  contrary  by 
troublesome  experience ; — I  say  troublesome',  be- 
cause in  a  certain  affair  wherein  I  had  occasion 
to  employ  great  numbers  of  them,  and  gave  them 
good  wages,  the  solicitations  of  others  for  em- 
ployment were  very  earnest,  and  would  hardly 
admit  of  a  denial :  they  are  as  willing  as  other 
people  to  mend  their  way  of  living ;  and,  when 
they  have  gained  strength  from  substantial  food,* 
they  work  as  well  as  others ;  but  why  should  a 
people  be  branded  with  the  name  of  idlers,  in  a 
country  where  there  is  generally  no  profitable 
business  for  them  to  do  ? 

*  The  common  people  in  Scotland,  who  are  fed  with  oatmeal, 
are,  in  general,  neither  so  strong  nor  so  handsome  as  the  same  rank 
of  people  in  England  who  are  fed  with  wheaten  bread.  They 
neither  work  so  well,  nor  look  so  well ;  and  as  there  is  not  the 
same  difference  between  the  people  of  fashion  in  the  two  coun- 
tries, experience  would  seein  to  show  that  the  food  of  the  com- 
mon people  in  Scotland  is  not  so  suitable  to  the  human  constitu- 
tion, as  that  of  their  neighbours  of  the  same  rank  in  England.  But 
it  seems  to  be  otherwise  with  potatoes.  The  chairmen,  porters, 
and  coal-heavers  in  London,  and  those  unfortunate  women  who 


LETTER    XIX.  21 

Hence  I  have  concluded,  that  if  any  expedient 
could  be  found  for  their  employment,  to  their 
reasonable  advantage,  there  would  be  little  else 
wanting  to  reform  the  minds  of  the  most  savage 
amongst  them.  For  my  own  part,  I  do  assure 
you,  that  I  never  had  the  least  reason  to  com- 
plain of  the  behaviour  towards  me  of  any  of  the 
ordinary  Highlanders,  or  the  Irish ;  but  it  wants 
a  great  deal  that  I  could  truly  say  as  much  of 
the  Englishmen  and  Lowland  Scots  that  were 
employed  in  the  same  business. 

One  of  the  chiefs,  at  his  own  house,  com- 
plained to  me,  but  in  a  friendly  manner,  as 
though  I  had  seduced  some  of  his  subjects  from 
their  allegiance :  he  had  occasion  for  three  or  four 
of  those  of  his  clan,  whom  I  employed  about  a 
piece  of  work  at  home,  which  they  only  could  do; 
and,  when  he  was  about  to  pay  them  for  their 
labour,  he  offered  them  six-pence  a-day  each 
(being  great  wages,  even  if  they  had  not  been 
his  vassals),  in  consideration  he  had  taken  them 
from  other  employment ;  upon  which  they  re- 
live by  prostitution  (the  strongest  men  and  the  most  beautiful 
women  perhaps  in  the  British  dominions),  are  said  to  be  the 
greater  part  of  them  from  the  lowest  rank  of  people  in  Ireland, 
who  are  generally  fed  with  this  root.  No  food  can  afford  a  more 
decisive  proof  of  its  nourishing  quality,  or  of  its  being  peculiarly 
suitable  to  the  health  of  the  human  constitution. — Smith's 
,</  Nations,  vol.  i,  25  J. 


22  LETTER    XIX. 

monstrated,  and  said  he  injured  them,  in  calling 
them  from  sixteen-pence  a-day  to  six-pence ; 
and  I  very  well  remember  he  then  told  me  that 
if  any  of  those  people  had  formerly  said  as 
much  to  their  chief,  they  would  have  been  car- 
ried to  the  next  rock  and  precipitated. 

The  Highlanders  walk  nimbly  and  upright, 
so  that  you  will  never  see,  among  the  meanest 
of  them,  in  the  most  remote  parts,  the  clumsy, 
stooping  gait  of  the  French  paisans,  or  our  own 
country- fellows,  but,  on  the  contrary,  a  kind  of 
stateliness  in  the  midst  of  their  poverty :  and 
this  I  think  may  be  accounted  for  without  much 
difficulty.* 

They  have  a  pride  in  their  family,  f  as  almost 

*  All  savages,  and  men  who  are  not  accustomed  to  stoop  to 
labour,  shepherds,  herdsmen,  hunters,  &c.  are,  cceteris  paribust 
straight  in  the  shoulders,  and  free  and  graceful  in  their  motions : 
the  light  dress  of  the  Highlander  also  is  in  his  favour,  and  the 
keen,  elastic  mountain-air  gives  a  vivacity  and  vigour  to  all  his 
motions;  and,  above  all,  he  was  then  a  bold,  high-spirited,  and 
independent  character. 

t  The  members  of  every  tribe  were  tied  one  to  another,  not 
only  by  the  feudal,  but  by  the  patriarchal  bond ;  for  while  the 
individuals  which  composed  it  were  vassals,  or  tenants  of  their 
own  hereditary  chieftain,  they  were  also  descended  from  his  family, 
and  could  count  exactly  the  degree  of  their  descent;  and  the 
right  of  promigeniture,  together  with  the  weakness  of  the  laws 
to  reach  inaccessible  countries  and  more  inaccessible  men,  had,  in 
the  revolution  of  centuries,  converted  these  natural  principles  of 
connection  between  tne  chieftain  and  his  people,  into  the  most 


LETTER  XIX.  23 

every  one  is  a  genealogist:  they  wear  light 
brogues,  or  pumps,  and  are  accustomed  to  skip 
over  rocks  and  bogs :  whereas  our  country  la- 
bourers have  no  such  pride,  wear  heavy,  clouted 
shoes,  and  are  continually  dragging  their  feet 
out  of  ploughed  land  or  clays ;  but  those  very 
men,  in  a  short  time  after  they  are  enlisted  into 
the  army,  erect  their  bodies,  change  their  clown- 
ish gait,  and  become  smart  fellows ;  and,  indeed, 
the  soldiers  in  general,  after  being  a  little  ac- 
customed to  the  toils  and  difficulties  of  the 
country,  can,  and  do,  to  my  knowledge,  acquit 
themselves,  in  their  winter-marches  and  other 
hardships,  as  well  as  the  Highlanders.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  observed  that  the  private  men 
of  the  independent  Highland  companies  are  be- 
come less  hardy  than  others,  from  their  great 
pay  (as  it  is  to  them),  the  best  lodging  the 
country  affords,  and  warm  clothing.* 

sacred  ties  of  human  life.  The  castle  of  the  chieftain  was  a 
kind  of  palace,  to  which  every  man  of  his  tribe  was  made  wel- 
come, and  where  he  was  entertained,  according  to  his  station,  in 
time  of  peace,  and  to  which  all  flocked  at  the  sound  of  war.  Thus 
the  meanest  of  the  clan,  believing  himself  to  be  as  well-born  as 
the  head  of  it,  revered  his  chieftain  and  respected  himself. — 
Dalrymple's  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain. 

*  This  offers  a  practical  justification  of  the  aversion  of  the 
Highland  chiefs  to  the  introduction  of  many  improvements  of 
convenience  into  their  country.  Perpetual  wants,  that  can  seldom 
be  gratified,  are  very  inconvenient  and  uncomfortable. 


24  LETTER    XIX. 

I  cannot  forbear  to  tell  you,  before  I  con- 
clude, that  many  of  those  private  gentlemen  have 
gillysy  or  servants  to  attend  them  in  quarters, 
and  upon  a  march  to  carry  their  provisions  and 
firelocks;*  but,  as  I  have  happened  to  touch 
upon  those  companies,  it  may  not  be  amiss  to 
go  a  little  further,  for  I  think  I  have  just  room 
enough  for  it  in  this  sheet. 

There  are  six  of  them,  viz.  three  of  one  hun- 
dred men,  and  three  of  sixty  each,  in  all,  four 
hundred  and  eighty  men.  These  are  chiefly 
tenants  to  the  captains ;  and  one  of  the  cen- 
turions, or  captains  of  a  hundred,  is  said  to 
strip  his  other  tenants  of  their  best  plaids 
wherewith  to  clothe  his  soldiers  against  a  re- 
view, and  to  commit  many  other  abuses  of  his 
trust.  These  captains  are  all  of  them  vying 
with  each  other  whose  company  shall  best 
perform  the  manual  exercise ;  so  that  four 
hundred  and  eighty  men,  besides  the  changes 
made  among  them,  are  sufficient  to  teach  that 
part  of  the  military  discipline  throughout  the 
whole  Highlands. 

I  am  not  a  prophet,  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet, 
or  even  second-sighted,  yet  I  forsee  that  a  time 
may  come  when  the  institution  of  these  corps 

*  It  was  not  pride,  but  kindness,  that  led  these  poor  fellows 
to  share  their  pittance  with  such  of  their  clansmen  as  had  no  other 
honest  means  of  subsistence. 


LETTER    XIX.  25 

may  be  thought  not  to  have  been  the  best  of 
policy.  I  am  not  unaware  it  may  be  said,  they 
are  raised  in  order  to  facilitate  the  disarming, 
and  they  are  useful  to  prevent  the  stealing  of 
cattle  ;  but  both  those  reasons  are  not  sufficient 
to  alter  my  opinion  of  their  continuance. 


LETTER    XX. 

THE  gentry  may  be  said  to  be  a  handsome  peo- 
ple, but  the  commonalty  much  otherwise ;  one 
would  hardly  think,  by  their  faces,  they  were  of 
the  same  species,  at  least  of  the  same  country, 
which  plainly  proceeds  from  their  bad  food, 
smoke  at  home,  and  sun,  wind,  and  rain  abroad; 
because  the  young  children  have  as  good  fea- 
tures as  any  I  have  seen  in  other  parts  of  the 
island. 

I  have  mentioned  the  sun  in  this  northern 
climate  as  partly  the  cause  of  their  disguise, 
for  that,  as  I  said  before,  in  summer,  the  heat, 
by  reflection  from  the  rocks,  is  excessive ;  at 
the  same  time,  the  cold  on  the  tops  of  the  hills 
is  so  vast  an  extreme  as  cannot  be  conceived 
by  any  but  those  who  have  felt  the  difference, 
and  know  the  danger  of  so  sudden  a  tradition 
from  one  to  the  other ;  and  this  likewise  has  its 
effect  upon  them. 

The  ordinary  natives  are,  for  the  most  part, 
civil  when  they  are  kindly  used,  but  most  mis- 
chievous when  much  offended,  and  will  hardly 


LETTER     XX.  27 

ever  forgive  a  provocation,  but  seek  some  open 
or  secret  revenge,  and,  generally  speaking,  the 
latter  of  the  two. 

A  Highland  town,  as  before  mentioned,  is 
composed  of  a  few  huts*  for  dwellings,  with 
barns  and  stables,  and  both  the  latter  are  of  a 
more  diminutive  size  than  the  former,  all  irre- 
gularly placed,  some  one  way,  some  another, 
and,  at  any  distance,  look  like  so  many  heaps  of 
dirt;  these  are  built  in  glens  and  straths,  which 
are  the  corn-countries,  near  rivers  and  rivulets, 
and  also  on  the  sides  of  lakes,  where  there  is 
some  arable  land  for  the  support  of  the  inhabit- 
ants :  but  I  am  now  to  speak  of  the  manner  in 

*  Their  cottages  are  in  general  miserable  habitations;  they 
are  built  of  round  stones  without  any  cement,  thatched  with  sods, 
and  sometimes  heath ;  they  are  generally,  though  not  always, 
divided  by  a  wicker  partition  into  two  apartments,  in  the  larger 
of  which  the  family  reside :  it  serves  likewise  as  a  sleeping- 
room  for  them  all.  In  the  middle  of  this  rcom  is  the  fire, 
made  of  peat  placed  on  the  floor,  and  over  it,  by  means  of  a 
hook,  hangs  the  pot  for  dressing  the  victuals.  There  is  fre- 
quently a  hole  in  the  roof  to  allow  exit  to  the  smoke  ;  but  this  is 
not  directly  over  the  fire,  on  account  of  the  rain ;  and  very  little 
of  the  smoke  finds  its  way  out  of  it,  the  greatest  part,  after  hav- 
ing filled  every  corner  of  the  room,  coming  out  of  the  door,  so 
that  it  is  almost  impossible  for  any  one  unaccustomed  to  it  to 
breathe  in  the  hut.  The  other  apartment,  to  which  you  enter  by 
the  same  door,  is  reserved  for  cattle  and  poultry,  when  these  do 
not  choose  to  mess  and  lodge  with  the  family. — Garnetfs  Tour, 
vol.  i.  121. 


28  LETTER    XX. 

which  the  lower  order  of  the  Highlanders  live, 
and  shall  begin  with  the  spring  of  the  year. 

This  is  a  bad  season  with  them,  for  then  their 
provision  of  oatmeal  begins  to  fail,  and,  for  a 
supply,  they  bleed  their  cattle,*  and  boil  the 
blood  into  cakes,  which,  together  with  a  little 
milk  and  a  short  allowance  of  oatmeal,  is  their 
food.  It  is  true,  there  are  small  trouts,  or  some- 
thing like  them,  in  some  of  the  little  rivers, 
which  continue  in  holes  among  the  rocks,  which 
are  always  full  of  water,  when  the  stream  has 
quite  ceased  for  want  of  rain ;  these  might  be 
a  help  to  them  in  this  starving f  season;  but  I 

*  In  winter,  when  the  grounds  are  covered  with  snow,  and 
when  the  naked  wilds  afford  them  neither  shelter  nor  subsistence, 
the  few  cows,  small,  lean,  and  ready  to  drop  down  through  want 
of  pasture,  are  brought  into  the  hut  where  the  family  resides,  and 
frequently  share  with  them  their  little  stock  of  meal,  which  had 
been  purchased  or  raised  for  the  family  only,  while  the  cattle  thus 
sustained  are  bled  occasionally  to  afford  nourishment  for  the  chil- 
dren, after  it  has  been  boiled  or  made  into  cakes.  —  Knox's  View 
of  the  British  Empire,  vol.  i.  124. 

f  To  the  distressing  circumstances  at  home,  new  difficulties 
and  toils  await  the  devoted  farmer  when  abroad.  In  hopes  of 
gaining  a  little  money  to  pay  his  rent,  or  a  little  fish  to  support  his 
family,  he  leaves  his  wife  and  infants,  at  the  commencement  of 
the  fishery,  in  October,  accompanied  by  his  sons,  brothers,  and 
frequently  an  aged  parent,  and  embarks  in  a  small,  open  boat,  in 
quest  of  herrings,  with  no  other  provisions  than  oatmeal,  pota- 
toes, and  fresh  water — no  other  bedding  than  heath  or  brushwood, 
one  end  of  the  boat  being  covered  with  an  old  sail,  to  defend 


LETTER    XX.  29 

have  had  so  little  notion  in  all  my  journeys  that 
they  made  those  fish  a  part  of  their  diet,  that  I 
never  once  thought  of  them  as  such  till  this 
moment.  It  is  likely  they  cannot  catch  them 
for  want  of  proper  tackle,  but  I  am  sure  they 
cannot  be  without  them  for  want  of  leisure. 
What  may  seem  strange  is,  that  they  do  not  in- 
troduce roots  among  them  (as  potatoes,*  for  the 

them  from  the  inclemencies  of  the  seas  and  skies.  Thus  provided, 
he  searches,  from  bay  to  bay,  through  turbulent  seas,  frequently 
for  several  weeks  together,  before  the  shoals  of  herrings  are  dis- 
covered. The  glad  tidings  seem  to  vary,  but  not  to  diminish,  his 
fatigues  ;  unremitting  nightly  labour,  pinching  cold  winds,  heavy 
seas,  uninhabited  shores,  covered  with  snow,  or  deluged  with 
rain,  contribute  towards  filling  up  the  measure  of  his  distresses, 
while,  to  men  of  such  exquisite  feelings  as  the  Highlanders  gene- 
rally possess, -the  scene  which  awaits  him  at  home  does  it  most 
effectually. — Knot's  View  of  the  British  Empire,  vol.  i.  126. 

*  In  many  parts  of  the  Highlands,  at  present,  the  poor  op- 
pressed and  rack-rented  peasants  live  for  nine  months  of  the  year 
upon  potatoes  and  salt,  and  upon  meal  of  oats  and  barley  during 
the  other  three.  Those  who  live  in  the  inland  glens  cannot  pro- 
cure fish :  milk  and  butter  also  are  seldom  within  their  reach, 
and  there  is  no  beer  in  the  country.  Butcher's  meat  they  never 
taste,  except  at  Christmas,  when  a  sheep,  perhaps,  is  killed,  and, 
while  the  other  parts  are  eaten  fresh  to  celebrate  that  season  of 
festivity,  the  legs  are  cured  and  made  into  hams,  to  entertain  any 
more  respected  friend  who  may  pay  them  a  visit;  yet,  under 
these  circumstances,  when  the-  small  collections  made  in  the 
churches,  &c.  for  the  poor  (and  to  which  these  very  people  have 
been  the  principal  contributors),  are  to  be  distributed,  such  is  their 
spirit  of  independence,  and  abhorrence  of  pauperism,  that  the 


30  LETTER    XX. 

purpose);  but  the  land  they  occupy  is  so  very 
little,  they  think  they  cannot  spare  any  part  of 
it  from  their  corn,  and  the  landlord's  demand  ot 
rent  in  kind  is  another  objection.  You  will  per- 
ceive I  am  speaking  only  of  the  poor  people  in 
the  interior  parts  of  the  mountains;  for  near 
the  coast,  all  around  them,  there  are  few  con- 
fined to  such  diminutive  farms,  and  the  most 
necessitous  of  all  may  share,  upon  occasion,  the 
benefit  of  various  kinds  of  shell-fish,  only  for 
seeking  and  fetching. 

Their  cattle  are  much  weakened  by  want  of 
sufficient  food  in  the  preceding  winter,  and  this 
immoderate  bleeding  reduces  them  to  so  low  a 
plight  that  in  the  morning  they  cannot  rise  from 

' 

clergymen  and  elders  are  often  obliged  to  employ  as  much  ad- 
dress in  discovering  objects  of  charity,  as  is  required  in  England, 
on  similar  occasions,  to  avoid  imposition,  and  get  rid  of  unworthy 
and  insolent  claimants.  It  is  also  not  uncommon  for  several  such 
poor  families,  who  themselves  know  the  advantages  of  education 
only  by  the  want  of  them,  to  unite  in  procuring  some  poor  lad,  who 
can  read  and  write,  to  teach  their  children,  with  whom  he  re- 
moves by  turns  from  one  cottage  to  another.  It  is  painful  to  us 
to  add,  that  this  is  not  done  in  the  cheering  hope  of  seeing  their 
offspring  grow  up  to  be  the  support,  blessing,  and  ornament,  of 
their  declining  years — with  the  bitter  certainty  of  seeing  them 
driven  into  perpetual  exile  (the  punishment  of  felons!)  by  their 
landlords  and  tacksmen,  they  subject  themselves  to  every  possible 
privation,  in  order  that,  when  forced  to  quit  all  that  is  dearest  to 
them,  and  seek  for  shelter  among  strangers,  they  may  be  upon 


LETTER  XX.  31 

the  ground,  and  several  of  the  inhabitants  join 
together  to  help  up  each  other's  cows,  &c. 

In  summer  the  people  remove  to  the  hills, 
and  dwell  in  much  worse  huts  than  those  they 
leave  below;  these  are  near  the  spots  of  grazing, 
and  are  called  shealings,  scattered  from  one 
another  as  occasion  requires.  Every  one  has 
his  particular  space  of  pasture,  for  which,  if  it 
be  not  a  part  of  his  farm,  he  pays,  as  I  shall 
mention  hereafter.  Here  they  make  their  but- 
ter and  cheese.  By  the  way,  I  have  seen  some 
of  the  former  with  blueish  veins,  made,  as  I 
thought,  by  the  mixture  of  smoke,  not  much 
unlike  to  Castile  soap ;  but  some  have  said  it 
was  a  mixture  of  sheep's  milk  which  gave  a 
part  of  it  that  tincture  of  blue. 

some  footing  of  equality  with  those  among  whom  it  may  be  their 
fate  to  live :  their  infatuated  landlords  will  soon  find  in  the  waste 
wildernesses,  which  their  injddicious  and  unfeeling  policy  is  spread- 
ing around  them,  how  miserably  they  have  miscalculated  as  to 
their  own  profit  as  well  as  honour.  But  they  are  become  stran- 
gers to  their  tenants,  and  no  wonder  if  their  tenants  are  estranged 
from  them.  What  is  most  distressing  to  the  more  wise  and  hu- 
mane landlords  is,  that  smuggling  is  everywhere  practised  from 
necessity,  by  the  oppressed  people  who  have  no  other  means  of 
paying  their  rents ;  and  the  vices  and  deterioration  of  character, 
which  always  accompany  illicit  practices  and  exasperated  feelings, 
are  spreading  rapidly,  by  the  contagion  of  intercourse  and  ex- 
ample, from  them  to  those,  who,  being  more  kindly  and  ra- 
tionally treated,  might  otherwise  retain  such  virtues  as  they  once 
had,  and  acquire  others  which  belong  to  a  more  cultivated  age. 


32  LETTER    XX. 

When  the  grazing  fails,  the  Highlanders  re- 
turn to  their  former  habitations,  and  the  cattle 
to  pick  up  their  sustenance  among  the  heath,* 
as  before. 

At  other  times  the  children  share  the  milk 
with  the  calves,  lambs,  and  kids;  for  they 
milk  the  dams  of  them  all,  which  keeps  their 
young  so  lean  that  when  sold  in  the  Low-country 
they  are  chiefly  used,  as  they  tell  me,  to  make 
soups  withal ;  and  when  a  side  of  any  one  of 
these  kinds  hangs  up  in  our  market  the  least  dis- 
agreeable part  of  the  sight  is  the  transparency 
of  the  ribs. 

About  the  latter  end  of  August,  or  the  be- 
ginning of  September,  the  cattle  are  brought 
into  good  order  by  their  summer  feed,  and  the 
beef  is  extremely  sweet  and  succulent,  which, 
I  suppose,  is  owing,  in  good  part,  to  their  being 

*  There  is  a  vegetable  common  in  Britain,  that  grows  in 
very  great  abundance  among  the  heaths  and  woods  of  the  High- 
lands, which  formerly  was  much  esteemed,  and  is  still  resorted 
to  occasionally  by  the  inhabitants  ;  it  is  the  orobus  tuberosus,  or 
heath-peasling ;  it  has  purple  papilionaceous  flowers,  succeeded 
by  a  pod  containing  about  twelve  dark-coloured  seeds  resembling 
small  shot.  The  roots  of  this  plant,  when  boiled,  are  very  sa- 
voury and  nutritious,  and,  when  dried  and  ground  into  powder, 
may  be  made  into  bread.  A  great  quantity  of  this  plant  grows 
among  the  woods  of  Glenmore,  and  the  Highlanders  frequently 
chew  the  root  like  tobacco,  asserting  that  a  small  quantity  pre- 
vents the  uneasy  sensation  of  hunger. — Garnctfs  Tour,  vol.  i.  337, 
~ 


LETTER    XX.  33 

reduced  to  such  poverty  in  the  spring,  and 
made  up  again  with  new  flesh. 

Now,  the  drovers  collect  their  herds,  and 
drive  them  to  fairs  and  markets  on  the  borders 
of  the  Lowlands,  and  sometimes  to  the  north  of 
England  ;  and  in  their  passage  they  pay  a  cer- 
tain tribute,  proportionable  to  the  number  of 
cattle,  to  the  owner  of  the  territory  they  pass 
through,  which  is  in  lieu  of  all  reckonings  for 
grazing. 

I  have  several  times  seen  them  driving  great 
numbers  of  cattle  along  the  sides  of  the  moun- 
tains at  a  great  distance,  but  never,  except 
once,  was  near  them.  This  was  in  a  time  of 
rain,  by  a  wide  river,  where  there  was  a  boat 
to  ferry  over  the  drovers.*  The  cows  were 
about  fifty  in  number,  and  took  the  water  like 

*  Vast  numbers  of  cattle  are  supplied  annually  from  the  Isle  of 
Skye ;  they  pass  from  that  island  to  the  main-land  by  the  ferry  of 
Caol-rea :  they  are  made  to  swim  across  this  rapid  current :  for 
this  purpose  the  drovers  purchase  ropes,  which  are  cut  at  the 
length  of  three  feet,  having  a  noose  at  one  end ;  this  noose  is  put 
round  the  under-jaw  of  every  cow,  taking  care  to  leave  the  tongue 
free,  that  the  animal  may  be  able  to  keep  the  salt  water  from 
going  down  its  throat ;  they  are  then  led  into  the  water  until  they 
are  afloat,  which  puts  an  end  to  their  resistance.  One  cow  is 
then  tied  to  the  tail  of  another,  and  a  man  in  the  stern  of  the  boat 
having  hold  of  the  foremost,  the  boat  is  rowed  over.  From  this 
constant  practice  the  ferrymen  are  so  dexterous  that  very  few 
beasts  are  lost. — Robertson's  Inverness,  xxxviii. 
VOL.  II.  D 


34  LETTER    XX. 

spaniels  ;  and  when  they  were  in,  their  drivers 
made  a  hideous  cry  to  urge  them  forwards : 
this,  they  told  me,  they  did  to  keep  the  fore- 
most of  them  from  turning  about ;  for,  in  that 
case,  the  rest  would  do  the  like,  and  then  they 
would  be  in  danger,  especially  the  weakest  of 
them,  to  be  driven  away  and  drowned  by  the 
torrent.  I  thought  it  a  very  odd  sight  to  see 
so  many  noses  and  eyes  just  above  water,  and 
nothing  of  them  more  to  be  seen,  for  they  had 
no  horns,  and  upon  the  land  they  appeared  like 
so  many  large  Lincolnshire  calves. 

I  shall  speak  of  the  Highland  harvest, — that 
is,  the  autumn,  when  I  come  to  the  article  of 
their  husbandry.  But  nothing  is  more  de- 
plorable than  the  state  of  these  people  in  time 
of  winter.  They  are  in  that  season  often  con- 
fined to  their  glens  by  swollen  rivers,  snow,  or 
ice  in  the  paths  on  the  sides  of  the  hills,  which 
is  accumulated  by  drippings  from  the  springs 
above,  and  so,  byjittle  and  little,  formed  into 
knobs  like  a  stick  of  sugar-candy,  only  the 
parts  are  not  angular  like  those,  but  so  uneven 
and  slippery  no  foot  can  pass. 

They  have  no  diversions  to  amuse  them,  but 
sit  brooding  in  the  smoke  over  the  fire  till  their 
legs  and  thighs  are  scorched  to  an  extraordinary 
degree,  and  many  have  sore  eyes,  and  some 
are  quite  blind.  This  long  continuance  in  the 


LETTER    XX.  35 

smoke  makes  them  almost  as  black  as  chimney- 
sweepers ;  and  when  the  huts  are  not  water- 
tight, which  is  often  the  case,  the  rain  that 
comes  through  the  roof  and  mixes  with  the 
sootiness  of  the  inside,  where  all  the  sticks 
look  like  charcoal,  falls  in  drops  like  ink.  But, 
in  this  circumstance,  the  Highlanders  are  not 
very  solicitous  about  their  outward  appearance. 

To  supply  the  want  of  candles,  when  they 
have  occasion  for  more  light  than  is  given  by 
the  fire,  they  provide  themselves  with  a  quan- 
tity of  sticks  of  fir,  the  most  resinous  that  can 
be  procured :  some  of  these  are  lighted  and 
laid  upon  a  stone ;  and  as  the  light  decays  they 
revive  it  with  fresh  fuel.*  But  when  they  hap- 
pen to  be  destitute  of  fire,  and  none  is  to  be 
got  in  the  neighbourhood,  they  produce  it  by 
rubbing  sticks  together ;  but  I  do  not  recollect 
what  kind  of  wood  is  fittest  for  that  purpose. 

If  a  drift  of  snow  from  the  mountains  hap- 
pens, and  the  same  should  be  of  any  continu- 
ance, they  are  thereby  rendered  completely 
prisoners.  In  this  case,  the  snow,  being  whirled 

*  Resinous  splinters  of  fir,  dug  out  of  bogs,  are  used  as  can- 
dles by  very  poor  people  in  the  north  of  Europe,  and  indeed  in 
most  countries  where  such  things  are  found.  In  England,  where 
the  lower  classes  are  not  remarkable  for  economical  ingenuity, 
this  is  seldom  met  with,  although  we  have  seen  it  both  in  Cheshire 
and  Lancashire. 

D  2 


36  LETTER    XX. 

from  the  mountains  and  hills,  lodges  in  the 
plains  below,  till  sometimes  it  increases  to  a 
height  almost  equal  with  the  tops  of  their  huts  ; 
but  then  it  is  soon  dissolved  for  a  little  space 
round  them,  which  is  caused  by  the  warmth  of 
the  fire,  smoke,  family,  and  cattle  within. 

Thus  are  they  confined  to  a  very  narrow 
compass ;  and,  in  the  mean  time,  if  they  have 
any  out-lying  cattle  in  the  hills,  they  are  leav- 
ing the  heights  and  returning  home ;  for  by  the 
same  means  that  the  snow  is  accumulated  in 
the  glen,  the  hills  are  cleared  of  the  incum- 
brance,  but  the  cattle  are  sometimes  intercepted 
by  the  depth  of  snow  in  the  plain,  or  deep 
hollows,  in  their  way.  In  such  case,  when  the 
wind's  drift  begins  to  cease,  from  the  wind 
having  a  little  spent  its  fury,  the  people  take  the 
following  method  to  open  a  communication : — 
if  the  huts  are  at  any  distance  asunder,  one  of 
them  begins  at  the  edge  of  the  snow  next  to 
his  dwelling,  and,  waving  his  body  from  side  to 
side,  presses  forward  and  squeezes  it  from  him 
on  either  hand ;  and  if  it  be  higher  than  his 
head  he  breaks  down  that  part  with  his  hands. 
Thus  he  proceeds  till  he  comes  to  another  hut, 
and  when  some  of  them  are  got  together  they 
go  on  in  the  same  manner  to  open  a  way  for  the 
cattle ;  and  in  thus  doing  they  relieve  one 
another,  when  too  wet  and  weary  to  proceed 


LETTER    XX.  37 

further,  till  the  whole  is  completed.  Yet,  not- 
withstanding all  their  endeavours,  their  cattle 
ore  sometimes  lost. 

As  this  may  seem  to  you  a  little  too  extra- 
ordinary, and  you  will  believe  I  never  saw  it,  I 
shall  assure  you  I  had  it  from  a  gentleman, 
who,  being  nearly  related  to  a  chief,  has  there- 
fore a  considerable  farm  in  the  inner  Highlands, 
and  would  not  deceive  me  in  a  fact  that  does 
not  recommend  his  country,  of  which  he  is 
as  jealous  as  any  one  I  have  known  on  this  side 
the  Tweed. 

A  drift  of  snow,  like  that  above  described, 
was  said  to  have  been  the  ruin  of  the  Swedish 
army,  in  the  last  expedition  of  Charles  XII. 

Before  I  proceed  to  their  husbandry,  I  shall 
give  you  some  account  of  an  animal  necessary 
to  it ;  that  is,  their  horses,  or  rather  (as  they 
are  called)  garrons.  These  horses  in  miniature 
run  wild  among  the  mountains;  some  of  them 
till  they  are  eight  or  ten  years  old,  which  ren- 
ders them  exceedingly  restive  and  stubborn. 
There  are  various  ways  of  catching  them,  ac- 
cording to  the  nature  of  the  spot  of  country 
where  they  chiefly  keep  their  haunts.  Some- 
times they  are  hunted  by  numbers  of  Highland- 
men  into  a  bog ;  in  other  places  they  are  driven 
up  a  steep  hill,  where  the  nearest  of  the  pur- 
suers endeavours  to  catch  them  by  the  hind- 


38  LETTER    XX. 

leg ;  and  I  have  been  told,  that  sometimes  both 
horse  and  man  have  come  tumbling  down  toge- 
ther. In  another  place  they  have  been  hunted 
from  one  to  another,  among  the  heath  and  rocks, 
till  they  have  laid  themselves  down  through 
weariness  and  want  of  breath. 

They  are  so  small  that  a  middle-sized  man 
must  keep  his  legs  almost  in  lines  parallel  to  their 
sides  when  carried  over  the  stony  ways;  and  it  is 
almost  incredible  to  those  who  have  not  seen  it, 
how  nimbly  they  skip  with  a  heavy  rider  among 
the  rocks  and  large  moor-stones,  turning  zig- 
zag to  such  places  as  are  passable.     I  think 
verily  they  all  follow  one  another  in  the  same 
irregular  steps,  because   in  those  ways  there 
appears  some  little  smoothness,  worn  by  their 
naked  hoofs,  which  is  not  anywhere  else  to  be 
seen.     When    I  have    been    riding,    or   rather 
creeping  along  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  I  have 
discovered  them  by  their  colour,  which  is  mostly 
white,    and,    by  their    motion,  which   readily 
catches  the  eye,  when,  at  the  same  time,  they 
were  so  high  above  me,  they  seemed  to  be  no 
bigger  than  a  lap-dog,  and  almost  hanging  over 
my  head.     But  what  has  appeared  to  me  very 
extraordinary  is,  that  when,  at  other  times,  I  have 
passed  near  to  them,  I  have  perceived  them  to 
be  (like  some  of  our  common  beggars  in  Lon- 
don) in  ragged  and  tattered  coats,  but  full  in 


LETTER   XX.  39 

flesh;  and  that,  even  toward  the  latter  end  of 
winter,  when  I  think  they  could  have  nothing 
to  feed  upon  but  heath  and  rotten  leaves  of 
trees,  if  any  of  the  latter  were  to  be  found. 
The  Highlanders  have  a  tradition  that  they 
came  originally  from  Spain,  by  breeders  left 
there  by  the  Spaniards  in  former  times;  and 
they  say,  they  have  been  a  great  number  of 
years  dwindling  to  their  present  diminutive  size. 
I  was  one  day  greatly  diverted  with  the  method 
of  taming  these  wild  hobbies. 

In  passing  along  a  narrow  path,  on  the  side 
of  a  high  hill  among  the  mountains,  at  length  it 
brought  me  to  a  part  looking  down  into  a  little 
plain,  there  I  was  at  once  presented  with  the 
scene  of  a  Highlandman  beating  one  of  these 
garrons,  most  unmercifully,  with  a  great  stick.; 
and,  upon  a  stricter  view,  I  perceived  the  man 
had  tied  a  rope,  or  something  like  it,  about  one 
of  his  hind-legs,  as  you  may  have  seen  a  single 
hog  driven  in  England ;  and,  indeed,  in  my  si- 
tuation, he  did  not  seem  so  big.  At  the  same 
time  the  horse  was  kicking  and  violently  strug- 
gling, and  sometimes  the  garron  was  down  and 
sometimes  the  Highlander,  and  not  seldom 
both  of  them  together,  but  still  the  man  kept 
his  hold. 

After  waiting  a  considerable  time  to  see  the 
event,  though  not  so  well  pleased  with  the  pre- 


40  LETTER    XX. 

cipice  I  stood  upon,  I  found  the  garron  gave  it 
up ;  and,  being  perfectly  conquered  for  that 
time,  patiently  suffered  himself  to  be  driven  to 
a  hut  not  far  from  the  field  of  battle. 

I  was  desirous  to  ask  the  Highlander  a 
question  or  two  by  the  help  of  my  guide,  but 
there  were  no  means  for  me  to  get  down  but  by 
falling ;  and  when  I  came  to  a  part  of  the  hill 
where  I  could  descend  to  the  glen,  I  had  but 
little  inclination  to  go  back  again,  for  I  never, 
by  choice,  made  one  retrograde  step  when  I 
was  leaving  the  mountains  :  but  what  is  pretty 
strange,  though  very  true  (by  what  charm  I 
know  not),  I  have  been  well  enough  pleased  to 
see  them  again,  at  my  first  entrance  to  them  in 
my  returns  from  England ;  and  this  has  made 
my  wonder  cease  that  a  native  should  be  so 
fond  of  such  a  country. 

The  soil  of  the  corn-lands  is,  in  some  places, 
so  shallow,  with  rocky  ground  beneath  it,  that 
a  plough  is  of  no  manner  of  use.*  This  they 

*  The  corn-grounds  often  lie  in  such  intricacies  among  the 
crags,  that  there  is  no  room  for  the  action  of  a  team  and  plough. 
The  soil  is  then  turned  up  by  manual  labour,  with  an  instrument 
called  a  crooked  spade,  of  a  form  and  weight  which  to  me  ap- 
peared very  incommodious,  and  would  perhaps  be  soon  improved 
in  a  country  where  workmen  could  be  easily  found  and  easily 
paid :  it  has  a  narrow  blade  of  iron  fixed  to  a  long  and  heavy 
piece  of  wood,  which  must  have,  about  a  foot  and  a  half  above 
the  iron,  a  knee,  or  flexure,  with  the  angle  downwards.  When 


LETTER    XX.  41 

. 

dig  up  with  a  wooden  spade ;  for  almost  all 
their  implements  for  husbandry,  which  in  other 
countries  are  made  of  iron,  or  partly  of  that 
metal,  are,  in  some  parts  of  the  Highlands, 
entirely  made  of  wood, — such  as  the  spade, 
plough-share,  harrow,  harness,  and  bolts ;  and 
even  locks  for  doors  are  made  of  wood.  By 
the  way,  these  locks  are  contrived  so  artfully, 
by  notches  made  at  unequal  distances  within- 
side,  that  it  is  impossible  to  open  them  with 
any  thing  but  the  wooden  keys  that  belong  to 
them.  But  there  would  be  no  great  difficulty 
in  opening  the  wall  of  the  hut,  as  the  High- 
lander did  by  the  portmanteau  that  he  saw 
lying  upon  a  table,  and  nobody  near  it  but  his 
companion.  "Out!"  says  he;  "  what  fool  was 
this  that  put  a  lock  upon  leather?"*  and  imme- 
diately ripped  it  open  with  his  dirk. 

Where  the  soil  is  deeper  they  plough  with 
four  of  their  little  horses  abreast. f  The  man- 

the  farmer  encounters  a  stone,  which  is  the  great  impediment  of 
his  operations,  he  drives  the  blade  under  it,  and,  bringing  the 
knee,  or  angle,  to  the  ground,  has,  in  the  long  handle,  a  very 
forcible  lever. — Johnsons  Journey,  Works,  vol.  viii.  301. 

*  In  England,  this  story  is  told  of  an  Irishman :  and  in  every 
nation  in  Europe  of  those  of  whom  they  are  accustomed  to  tell 
such  stories. 

t  In  the  north  of  Europe  (Russia)  it  is  not  unusual  to  sec 
four  horses  a-breast  even  in  a  gentleman's  travelling-carriage. 
Men  of  rank,  among  the  ancient  Persians,  drove  e'ght  a-breast 
in  their  scythed  war-chariots. 


42  LETTER   XX. 

ner  this : — Being  thus  ranked  they  are  divided 
by  a  small  space  into  pairs,  and  the  driver, 
or  rather  leader,  of  the  plough  having  placed 
himself  before  them,  holding  the  two  inner- 
most by  their  heads  to  keep  the  couples 
asunder,  he  with  his  face  toward  the  plough, 
goes  backward,  observing,  through  the  space 
between  the  horses,  the  way  of  the  plough- 
share. 

When  I  first  saw  this  awkward  method, 
as  I  then  thought  it,  I  rode  up  to  the  person  who 
guided  the  machine,  to  ask  him  some  questions 
concerning  it :  he  spoke  pretty  good  English, 
which  made  me  conclude  he  was  a  gentleman ; 
and  yet,  in  quality  of  a  proprietor  and  conductor, 
might,  without  dishonour,  employ  himself  in 
such  a  work.  My  first  question  was,  whether 
that  method  was  common  to  the  Highlands,  or 
peculiar  to  that  part  of  the  country?  and,  by 
way  of  answer,  he  asked  me,  if  they  ploughed 
otherwise  anywhere  else?  Upon  my  further 
inquiry  why  the  man  went  backwards  ?  he 
stopped,  and  very  civilly  informed  me  that 
there  were  several  small  rocks,  which  I  did  not 
see,  that  had  a  little  part  of  them  just  peeping 
on  the  surface,  and  therefore  it  was  necessary 
his  servant  should  see  and  avoid  them,  by 
guiding  the  horses  accordingly,  or  otherwise 
his  plough  might  be  spoiled  by  the  shock.  The 
answer  was  satisfactory  and  convincing,  and 


LETTER   XX.  43 

I  must  here  take  notice  that  many  other  of  their 
methods  are  too  well  suited  to  their  own  cir- 
cumstances, and  those  of  the  country,  to  be 
easily  amended  by  such  as  undertake  to  deride 
them. 

In  the  western  Highlands  they  still  retain 
that  barbarous  custom  (which  I  have  not  seen 
anywhere  else)  of  drawing  the  harrow  by  the 
horse's  dock,  without  any  manner  of  harness 
whatever.  And  when  the  tail  becomes  too 
short  for  the  purpose,  they  lengthen  it  out  with 
twisted  sticks.  This  unnatural  practice  was 
formerly  forbidden  in  Ireland  by  act  of  par- 
liament, as  my  memory  informs  me,  from 
accounts  I  have  formerly  read  of  that  country ; 
for  being  almost  without  books  I  can  have  little 
other  help  wherefrom  to  make  quotations. 

When  a  burden  is  to  be  carried  on  horse- 
back they  use  two  baskets,  called  creels,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  horse;  and  if  the  load  be  such  as 
cannot  be  divided,  they  put  it  into  one  of  them, 
and  counterbalance  it  with  stones  in  the  other, 
so  that  one  half  of  the  horse's  burden  is — I 
cannot  say  unnecessary,  because  I  do  not  see 
how  they  could  do  otherwise  in  the  mountains. 

Their  harvest  is  late  in  the  year,  and  therefore 
seldom  got  in  dry,  as  the  great  rains*  usually 

*  The  latter  part  of  the  season  is  often  very  wet ;  and  the  corn, 
particularly  oats,  suffer  very  much.  June  and  August  are  the 


44  LETTER   XX. 

come  ou  about  the  latter  end  of  August:  nor  is 
the  corn  well  preserved  afterwards  in  those 
miserable  hovels  they  call  barns,  which  are 
mostly  not  fit  to  keep  out  the  bad  weather  from 
above  ;  and  were  it  not  for  the  high  winds  that 
pass  through  the  openings  of  the  sides  in  dry 
weather,  it  would  of  necessity  be  quite  spoiled. 
But  as  it  is,  the  grain  is  often  grown  in  the 
sheaves,  as  I  have  observed  in  a  former  letter. 

To  the  lightness  of  the  oats,  one  might  think 
they  contributed  themselves  ;  for  if  there  be  one 
part  of  their  ground  that  produces  worse  grain 
than  another,  they  reserve  that,  or  part  of  it,  for 
seed,  believing  it  will  produce  again  as  well,  in 
quantity  and  quality,  as  the  best ;  but,  whether 
in  this  they  are  right  or  wrong,  I  cannot  deter- 
mine. 

Another  thing,  besides  the  bad  weather,  that 
retards  their  harvest,  is,  they  make  it  chiefly  the 
work  of  the  women  of  the  family.  Near  the 
Lowlands  I  have  known  a  field  of  corn  to  employ 
a  woman  and  a  girl  for  a  fortnight,  which,  with 

months  which  have  least  rain  :  September  and  October  are  fre- 
quently very  wet:  during  these  months,  not  only  a  greater  quan- 
tity of  rain  falls,  but  it  is  more  constant,  accompanied  by  a  cold 
and  cloudy  atmosphere,  which  is  very  unfavourable  either  to  the 
ripening  of  grain,  Or  drying  it  after  it  is  cut.  In  July  and  August 
a  good  deal  of  rain  falls ;  but  it  is  in  heavy  showers,  and  the  in- 
tervals are  fine,  the  sun  shining  clear  and  bright  often  for  several 
days  together. — GarnetCs  Tour,  vol.  i.  24, 


LETTER    XX.  45 

proper  help,  might  have  been  done  in  two  days. 
And,  although  the  owner  might  not  well  afford 
to  employ  many  hands,  yet  his  own  labour* 
would  have  prevented  half  the  risk  of  bad  wea- 
ther at  that  uncertain  season. 

An  English  lady,  who  found  herself  something 
decaying  in  her  health,  and  was  advised  to  go 
among  the  Hills,  and  drink  goat's  milk  or  whey, 
told  me  lately,  that  seeing  a  Highlander  bask- 
ing at  the  foot  of  a  hill  in  his  full  dress,  while  his 
wife  and  her  mother  were  hard  at  work  in  reap- 
ing the  oats,  she  asked  the  old  woman  how  she 
could  be  contented  to  see  her  daughter  labour 
in  that  manner,  while  her  husband  was  only  an 
idle  spectator?  And  to  this  the  woman  answer- 
ed, that  her  son-in-law  was  a  gentleman,  and  it 
would  be  a  disparagement  to  him  to  do  any  such 
work ;  and  that  both  she  and  her  daughter  too 
were  sufficiently  honoured  by  the  alliance. 

This  instance,  I  own,  has  something  particular 
in  it,  as  such;  but  the  thing  is  very  common,  a 
la  Palatine,  among  the  middling  sort  of  people. 

*  The  Highlander  at  home  is  indolent.  It  is  with  impatience 
that  he  allows  himself  to  be  diverted  from  his  favourite  occupa- 
tion of  traversing  the  mountains  and  moors  in  looking  after  his 
flocks,  a  few  days  in  spring  and  autumn,  for  the  purposes  of  his 
narrow  scheme  of  agriculture.  It  is  remarked,  however,  that  the 
Highlander,  when  removed  beyond  his  native  bounds,  is  found 
capable  of  abundant  exertion  and  industry. — Graham's  Perth- 
shire. 235. 


46  LETTER    XX. 

Not  long  ago,  a  French  officer,  who  was  coming 
hither  the  Hill  way,  to  raise  some  recruits  for 
the  Dutch  service,  met  a  Highlandman  with  a 
good  pair  of  brogues  on  his  feet,  and  his  wife 
inarching  bare-foot  after  him.  This  indignity 
to  the  sex  raised  the  Frenchman's  anger  to  such 
a  degree,  that  he  leaped  from  his  horse,  and 
obliged  the  fellow  to  take  off  the  shoes,  and  the 
woman  to  put  them  on.* 

By  this  last  instance  (not  to  trouble  you  with 
others)  you  may  see  it  is  not  in  their  harvest^ 
work  alone  they  are  something  in  the  Palatine 
way  with  respect  to  their  women. 

The  Highlanders  have  a  notion  that  the  moon, 
in  a  clear  night,  ripens  their  corn  much  more 
than  a  sun-shiny  day :  for  this  they  plead  ex- 

*  This  Frenchman  was  certainly  a  Gascon.  Had  he  dared  to 
attempt  such  an  extraordinary  insolence,  and  had  a  Highlander 
been  found  who  was  base  enough  to  submit  to  be  so  cowed  in  the 
presence  of  his  wife,  the  good  dame  would  assuredly  have  resented 
and  resisted  such  an  indignity  offered  to  her  husband  and  herself, 
and  put  the  Frenchman's  gallantry  to  a  severe  test.  The  real 
state  of  the  sex  in  France  and  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  is  as 
opposite  to  what  it  appears  to  be,  as  these  people  are  to  each 
other,  or  as  any  two  extremes  can  well  be.  There  is  no  country  in 
Europe  where  women  are  less  esteemed  than  in  France,  or  more 
than  in  the  Highlands.  In  France,  they  are  adored  and  despised, 
as  relics  are  by  the  priest  who  has  manufactured  them  to  impose 
upon  others ;  in  the  Highlands,  an  unfaithful,  unkind,  or  even 
careless  husband,  is  so  rare  as  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  monster. 


LETTER    XX.  47 

perience ;  yet  they  cannot  say  by  what  rule  they 
make  the  comparison.  But,  by  this  opinion  of 
theirs,  I  think  they  have  little  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  those  two  planets.* 

In  larger  farms,  belonging  to  gentlemen  of 
the  clan,  where  there  are  any  number  of  women 
employed  in  harvest-work,  they  all  keep  time 
together,  by  several  barbarous  tones  of  the  voice; 

The  present  writer  has  seen  a  stout  old  fellow,  of  the  very  low- 
est class,  in  Ardgour,  take  his  wife  and  daughter,  with  wicker 
baskets  on  their  backs,  to  a  dunghill,  fill  their  baskets  with  ma- 
nure, and  send  them  to  spread  it  with  their  hands  on  the  croft; 
then,  with  his  great  coat  on,  lay  himself  down  on  the  lee  side  of 
the  heap,  to  bask  and  chew  tobacco  till  they  returned  for  another 
load !  A  stranger,  who  merely  looked  at  the  outside  of  things, 
would  hardly  believe  that  this  man  was  a  kind  and  tender  husband 
and  father,  as  he  really  was.  Tire  maxim  that  such  work  (which 
must  be  done  by  some  one)  spoils  the  men,  has  been  so  long  re- 
ceived as  unquestionable  by  the  women,  that  it  makes  a  part  of 
their  nature ;  and  a  wife  would  despise  her  husband,  and  expect 
the  contempt  of  her  neighbours  on  her  husband's  account,  if  he 
were  so  forgetful  of  himself,  as  to  attempt  to  do  such  a  thing, 
unless  her  situation  at  the  time  did  not  admit  of  her  doing  it. 

*  This  vulgar  error  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Highlands.  The 
reasoning  upon  the  subject  seems  to  be  pretty  much  of  a  piece 
with  that  of  the  old  man  in  Latimer's  sermons,  who  imputed  the 
accumulation  of  Godwin  Sands  to  the  building  of  Salisbury  steeple, 
"  because  there  were  no  sands  there  till  after  the  steeple  wai 
built."  The  state  of  the  atmosphere,  that  shows  a  broad,  bright 
harvest-moon  to  advantage,  is  always  favourable  to  the  ripening 
of  corn ;  and  the  Moon,  like  many  other  beauties,  is,  perhaps, 
admired  for  a  virtue  she  has  little  claim  to. 


48  LETTER    XX. 

and  stoop  and  rise  together  as  regularly  as  a 
rank  of  soldiers  when  they  ground  their  arms. 
Sometimes  they  are  incited  to  their  work  by  the 
sound  of  a  bagpipe ;  and  by  either  of  these  they 
proceed  with  great  alacrity,  it  being  disgraceful 
for  any  one  to  be  out  of  time  with  the  sickle. 
They  use  the  same  tone,  or  a  piper,  when  they 
thicken  the  newly-woven  plaiding,  instead  of  a 
fulling-mill. 

This  is  done  by  six  or  eight  women  sitting' 
upon  the  ground,  near  some  river  or  rivulet,  in 
two  opposite  ranks,  with  the  wet  cloth  between 
them ;  their  coats  are  tucked  up,  and  with  their 
naked  feet  they  strike  one  against  another's, 
keeping  exact  time  as  above-mentioned.  And 
among  numbers  of  men,  employed  in  any  work 
that  requires  strength  and  joint  labour  (as  the 
launching  a  large  boat,  or  the  like),  they  must 
have  the  piper  to  regulate  their  time,  as  well  as 
usky  to  keep  up  their  spirits  in  the  performance; 
for  pay  they  often  have  little,  or  none  at  all. 

Nothing  is  more  common  than  to  hear  the 
Highlanders  boast  how  much  their  country 
might  be  improved,  and  that  it  would  produce 
double  what  it  does  at  present  if  better  hus- 
bandry were  introduced  among  them.  For  my 
own  part,  it  was  always  the  only  amusement  1 
had  in  the  hills,  to  observe  every  minute  thing 
in  my  way;  and  I  do  assure  you,  I  do  not  re- 


LETTER    XX.  49 

member  to  have  seen  the  least  spot  that  would 
bear  corn  uncultivated,  not  even  upon  the  sides 
of  the  hills,  where  it  could  be  no  otherwise  broke 
up  than  with  a  spade.  And  as  for  manure  to 
supply  the  salts  and  enrich  the  grpund  they 
have  hardly  any.  In  summer  their  cattle  are 
dispersed  about  the  sheetings,  and  almost  all  the 
rest  of  the  year  in  other  parts  of  the  hills ;  and, 
therefore,  all  the  dung  they  can  have  must  be  from 
the  trifling  quantity  made  by  the  cattle  while 
they  are  in  the  house.  I  never  knew  or  heard 
of  any  limestone,^  chalk,  or  marl,  they  have  in 
the  country ;  and,  if  some  of  their  rocks  might 
serve  for  limestone,  in  that  case  their  kilns,  car- 
riage, and  fuel  would  render  it  so  expensive,  it 
would  be  the  same  thing  to  them  as  if  there  were 
none.  Their  great  dependence  is  upon  the  nitre 
of  the  snow ;  and  they  lament  the  disappoint- 
ment if  it  does  not  fall  early  in  the  season.  Yet 
I  have  known,  in  some,  a  great  inclination  to 
improvement ;  and  shall  only  instance  a  very 
small  matter,  which,  perhaps,  may  be  thought 
too  inconsiderable  to  mention. 

Not  far  from  Fort  William,  I  have  seen  women 
with  a   little   horse-dung   brought   upon   their 

*  In  many  parts  they  have  hardly  any  thing  else.     The  whole 
islands  of  Lismore,  Shuna,  &c.  are  lime-stone  rock,  covered  with 
a  very  thin  surface  of  earth.     Chalk  they  have  none,  and  no  marl 
worth  speaking  of,  so  far  as  we  know. 
VOL.   II.  E 

• 


50  LETTER  XX. 

backs,  in  creels,  or  baskets,  from  that  garrison ; 
and,  on  their  knees,  spreading  it  with  their  hands 
upon  the  land,  and  even  breaking  the  balls,  that 
every  part  of  the  little  spot  might  have  its  due 
proportion. 

These  women  have  several  times  brought  me 
hay  to  the  fort,  which  was  made  from  grass  cut 
with  a  knife  by  the  way-side ;  and  from  one  I 
have  bought  two  or  three  pennyworth ;  from 
another,  the  purchase  has  been  a  groat ;  but  six- 
pennyworth  was  a  most  considerable  bargain. 

At  their  return  from  the  hay-market,  they  car- 
ried away  the  dung  of  my  stable  (which  was 
one  end  of  a  dwelling-hut)  in  the  manner  above- 
mentioned. 

Speaking  of  grass  and  hay,  it  comes  to  my 
remembrance,  that,  in  passing  through  a  space 
between  the  mountains,  not  far  from  Keppoch, 
in  Lochaber,  I  observed,  in  the  hollow,  though 
too  narrow  to  admit  much  of  the  sun,  a  greater 
quantity  of  grass  than  I  remembered  to  have 
seen  in  any  such  spot  in  the  inner  parts  of  the 
Highlands ;  it  was  in  the  month  of  August,  when 
it  was  grown  rank,  and  flagged  pretty  much, 
and  therefore  I  was  induced  to  ask  why  the 
owner  did  not  cut  it.  To  this  I  was  answered, 
it  never  had  been  mowed,  but  was  left  every 
year  as  natural  hay  for  the  cattle  in  winter, — that 
is,  to  lie  upon  the  ground  like  litter,  and,  ac- 


LETTER    XX.  51 

cording  to  their  description,  the  cows  routed  for 
it  in  the  snow,  like  hogs  in  a  dunghill.  But  the 
people  have  no  barns  fit  to  contain  a  quantity 
of  hay,  and  it  would  be  impossible  to  secure  it 
in  mows  from  the  tempestuous  eddy-winds, 
which  would  soon  carry  it  over  the  mountains  : 
besides,  it  could  not  well  be  made,  by  reason  of 
rains  and  want  of  sun,  and  therefore  they  think 
it  best  to  let  it  lie  as  it  does,  with  the  roots  in 
the  ground. 

The  advantage  of  enclosures  is  a  mighty  topic 
with  the  Highlanders,  though  they  cannot  spare 
for  grass  one  inch  of  land  that  will  bear  corn ; 
if  they  could,  it  would  be  a  much  more  expen- 
sive way  of  grazing  their  cattle  than  letting 
them  run  as  they  do  in  the  hills;  but  enclosures, 
simply  as  such,  do  not  better  the  soil,  or,  if  they 
might  be  supposed  to  be  an  advantage  to  it, 
where  is  the  Highland  tenant  that  can  lay  out  ten 
shillings  for  that  purpose?  and  what  would  he 
be  the  gainer  by  it  in  the  end,  but  to  have  his 
rent  raised,  or  his  farm  divided  with  some 
other?  or,  lastly,  where  are  the  number  of  High- 
landers that  would  patiently  suffer  such  an  in- 
convenient innovation  ?  For  my  part,  I  think 
nature  has  sufficiently  inclosed  their  lands  by 
the  feet  of  the  surrounding  mountains.  Now, 
after  what  has  been  said,  where  can  this  im- 
provement be  ?  Yet,  it  seems,  they  had  rather 

E2 


52  LETTER    XX. 

you  should  think  them  ignorant,  lazy,  or  anything 
else,  than  entertain  a  bad  opinion  of  their  coun- 
try. But  I  have  dwelt  too  long  upon  this  head. 

Their  rent  is  chiefly  paid  in  kind, — that  is  to 
say,  great  part  of  it  in  several  species  arising 
from  the  product  of  the  farm ;  such  as  barley, 
oatmeal,  and  what  they  call  customs,  as  sheep, 
lambs,  poultry,  butter,  &c*  and  the  remainder, 
if  any,  is  paid  in  money,  or  an  addition  of  some 
one  of  the  before-mentioned  species,  if  money  be 
wanting. 

The  gentlemen,  who  are  near  relations  of  the 
chief,  hold  pretty  large  farms,  if  the  estate  will 
allow  it, — perhaps  twenty  or  thirty  pounds 
a-year,  and  they  again,  generally,  parcel  them 
out  to  under-tenants  in  small  portions :  hence  it 
comes,  that,  by  such  a  division  of  an  old  farm 
(part  of  an  upper-tenant's  holding),  suppose 
among  eight  persons,  each  of  them  pays  an 
eighth  part  of  every  thing,  even  to  the  fraction 
of  a  capon,  which  cannot  in  the  nature  of  it  be 
paid  in  kind,  but  the  value  of  it  is  cast  in  with 
the  rest  of  the  rent,  and,  notwithstanding  the 
above-mentioned  customs  are  placed  in  an  up- 
per-tenant's rental,  yet  they  properly  belong  to 
the  chief,  for  the  maintenance  of  the  family  in 
provisions.* 

*  A  large  taker,  or  leaseholder,  of  land  is  denominated  a  tacks- 
man  ;  he  keeps  part  of  the  land  in  his  own  hand,  and  lets  part  to 


LETTER   XX-  53 

Every  year,  after  the  harvest,  the  sheriff  of 
the  county,  or  his  deputy,  together  with  a  jury 
of  landed  men,  set  a  rate  upon  corn-provisions, 
and  the  custom  of  the  country  regulates  the 
rest.  The  sheriff's  regulation  for  the  year  is 
called  the  feers-price,  and  serves  for  a  stand- 
ard whereby  to  determine  everything  relating 
to  rents  and  bargains ;  so  that  if  the  tenant  is 
not  provided  with  all  the  species  he  is  to  pay, 
then  that  which  is  wanting  may  be  converted 
into  money,  or  something  else  with  certainty. 

Before  I  conclude  this  letter,  I  shall  take  no- 
tice of  one  thing,  which,  at  first,  I  thought  pretty 

•under-tenants.  The  tacksman  is  necessarily  a  person  capable  of 
securing  to  the  laird  the  whole  rent,  and  is  commonly  a  collateral 
relation.  These  tacks,  or  subordinate  possessions,  were  long  con- 
sidered as  hereditary,  and  the  occupant  was  distinguished  by  the 
name  of  the  place  at  which  he  resided :  he  held  a  middle  station, 
by  which  the  highest  and  the  lowest  orders  were  connected:  he 
paid  rent  and  reverence  to  the  laird,  and  received  them  from  the 
tenants.  This  tenure  still  subsists  with  its  original  operation,  but 
not  with  the  primitive  stability;  since  the  islanders,  no  longer 
content  to  live,  have  learned  the  desire  of  growing  rich,  an  an- 
cient dependent  is  in  danger  of  giving  way  to  a  higher  bidder,  at 
the  expence  of  domestic  dignity  and  hereditary  power.  The 
stranger,  whose  money  buys  him  preference,  considers  himself  as 
paying  for  all  that  he  has,  and  is  indifferent  about  the  laird's  honour 
or  safety.  Tha  commodiousness  of  money  is,  indeed,  great ;  but 
there  are  some  advantage  which  money  cannot  buy,  and  which 
therefore  no  wise  man  will,  by  the  love  of  money,  be  tempted  to 
forego. — Johnsons  Journey,  Works,  vol.  viii.  3J1.. 


54  LETTER   XX. 

extraordinary,  and  that  is,  if  any  landed  man 
refuses,  or  fails  to  pay  the  king's  tax,  then,  by 
a  warrant  from  the  civil  magistrate,  a  propor- 
tionable number  of  soldiers  are  quartered  upon 
him,  with  sometimes  a  commissioned  officer  to 
command  them,  all  of  whom  he  must  maintain 
till  the  cess  is  fully  discharged.*  This  is  a 
penalty  for  his  default,  even  though  he  had  not 
the  means  to  raise  money  in  all  that  time ;  and, 
let  it  be  ever  so  long,  the  tax  in  the  end  is  still 
the  same.  You  will  not  doubt  that  the  men, 
thus  living  upon  free-quarters,  use  the  best  in- 
terests with  their  officers  to  be  sent  on  such 
parties. 

*  This  oppressive  measure  was  first  adopted  during  the  trou- 
bles and  miseries  of  Scotland  in  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of 
Charles  I.,  and  afterwards  continued  as  an  engine  to  be  employed 
against  Malignants  and  disaffected  persons. 


LETTER  XXI. 

You  will,  it  is  likely,  think  it  strange  that  many 
of  the  Highland  tenants  are  to  maintain  a  fa- 
mily upon  a  farm  of  twelve  merks  Scots  per 
annum,  which  is  thirteen  shillings  and  four- 
pence  sterling,  with  perhaps  a  cow  or  two,  or  a 
very  few  sheep  or  goats ;  but  often  the  rent  is 
less,  and  the  cattle  are  wanting. 

In  some  rentals  you  may  see  seven  or  eight 
columns  of  various  species  of  rent,  or  more, 
viz.  money,  barley,  oatmeal,  sheep,  lambs,  but- 
ter, cheese,  capons,  &c. ;  but  every  tenant  does 
not  pay  all  these  kinds,  though  many  of  them 
the  greatest  part.  What  follows  is  a  specimen 
taken  out  of  a  Highland  rent-roll,  and  I  do 
assure  you  it  is  genuine,  and  not  the  least  by 
many : — 


LETTER   XXI. 


a-          •-*=    -'~ 

3-a-o 


!  CO     CO  O 
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CO  O 


O   . 


g(J*  •«•  00 

fc   . 

5  s  co  co  t* 

«|o  o  o 


# 


0    0    O 


„— 

800 


O 


<u 

<D 

^3 


O 


QQ 
0> 

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CO 

CD 


d    d 
o    i> 


s    s 

s"  s 

o    £ 
^     j 

ill 


bO 


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p  o  o  o 

i 

I 

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S   co 

A,    1 


a   -_3     33 

o  co  •£• 

P      -  -Ss 


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p ,    o> 

«  s  -s 

<u    -S    ^_ 


• 
I    S   -d T    ° 


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6 


LETTER    XXI.  57 

The  landlord  has,  by  law,  an  hypothic,  or  right 
of  pledge,  with  respect  to  the  corn,  for  so  much 
as  the  current  year's  rent,  and  may,  and  often 
does,  by  himself  or  his  bailiff,  see  it  reaped  to  his 
own  use ;  or,  if  that  is  not  done,  he  may  seize 
it  in  the  marketer  anywhere  else  :  but  this  last 
privilege  of  the  landlord  does  not  extend  to  the 
crop  or  rent  of  any  former  year. 

The  poverty  of  the  tenants  has  rendered  it 
customary  for  the  chief,  or  laird,  to  free  some 
of  them,  every  year,  from  all  arrears  of  rent ; 
this  is  supposed,  upon  an  average,  to  be  about 
one  year  in  five  of  the  whole  estate. 

If  the  tenant  is  to  hire  his  grazing  in  the  hills, 
he  takes  it  by  soumes ; — a  soume  is  as  much  grass 
as  will  maintain  four  sheep;  eight  sheep  are 
equal  to  a  cow  and  a  calf,  or  forty  goats ;  but  I 
do  not  remember  how  much  is  paid  for  every 
soume.  The  reason  of  this  disproportion  be- 
tween the  goats  and  sheep  is,  that,  after  the 
sheep  have  eaten  the  pasture  bare,  the  herbs, 
as  thyme,  &c.  that  are  left  behind,  are  of  little 
or  no  value,  except  for  the  browsing  of  goats. 

The  laird's  income  is  computed  by  chalders  of 
victuals,  as  they  are  called  ; — achalderis  sixteen 
bolls  of  corn,  each  boll  containing  about  six  of 
our  bushels,  and  therefore,  when  any  one  speaks 
of  the  yearly  value  of  such  a  laird's  estate,  he 
tells  you  it  is  so  many  chalders ;  but  the  mea- 


58  LETTER   XXI. 

sure  varies  something  in  different  parts  of  the 
country. 

When  a  son  is  born  to  the  chief  of  a  family, 
there  generally  arises  a  contention  among  the 
vassals  which  of  them  shall  have  the  fostering* 
of  the  child  when  it  is  taken  from  the  nurse ; 
and  by  this  means  such  differences  are  some- 

*  By  this  singular  custom,  which  equally  prevailed  among  the 
Scoto-Irish,  till  recent  times,  children  were  mutually  given  from 
different  families  to  be,  by  strangers,  nursed  and  bred.  The 
lower  orders  considered  this  trust  as  an  honour  rather  than  a  ser- 
vice, for  which  an  adequate  reward  was  either  given  or  expected. 
The  attachment  of  those  who  were  thus  educated  is  said  to  have 
been  indissoluble,  "  for  there  is  no  love  in  the  world  comparable," 
saith  Camden,  "  by  many  degrees  to  that  of  foster-brethren  m 
Ireland."  From  this  practice  arose  connection  of  family  and 
union  of  tribes,  which  often  prompted  and  sometimes  prevented 
civil  feuds. — Chalmers's  Caledonia,  vol.  i.  311. 

The  terms  of  fosterage  vary  in  different  islands:  in  Mull,  the 
lather  sends  with  his  child  a  certain  number  of  cows,  to  which  the 
same  number  is  added  by  the  fosterer ;  the  father  appropriates  a 
proportionate  extent  of  country,  without  rent,  for  their  pasturage. 
If  every  cow  bring  a  calf,  half  belongs  to  the  fosterer  and  half  to 
the  child ;  but,  if  there  be  only  one  calf  between  two  cows,  it  is 
the  child's ;  and,  when  the  child  returns  to  the  parents,  it  is  ac- 
companied by  all  the  cows  given  both  by  the  father  and  by  the  fos- 
terer, with  half  of  the  increase  of  the  stock  by  propagation.  These 
beasts  are  considered  as  a  portion,  and  called  Macalive  cattle,  of 
which  the  father  has  the  produce,  but  is  supposed  not  to  have  the 
full  property,  but  to  owe  the  same  number  to  the  child,  as  a  por- 
tion to  the  daughter  or  a  stock  for  the  son. — Johnson's  Journey^ 
Works,  vol.  viii.  374. 


LETTER   XXI.  59 

times  fomented  as  are  hardly  ever  after  tho- 
roughly reconciled .  The  happy  man  who  succeeds 
in  his  suit  is  ever  after  called  the  foster-father, 
and  his  children  the  foster-brothers  and  sisters, 
of  the  young  laird.  This,  they  reckon,  not  only  en- 
dears them  to  their  chief,  and  greatly  strengthens 
their  interest  with  him,  but  gives  them  a  great 
deal  of  consideration  among  their  fellow- vassals; 
and  the  foster-brother,  having  the  same  educa- 
tion as  the  young  chief,*  may,  besides  that,  in 
time  become  his  hanchman,  or  perhaps  be  pro- 
moted to  that  office  under  the  old  patriarch 
himself,  if  a  vacancy  should  happen ;  or  other- 
wise, by  their  interest,  obtain  orders  and  a 

*  The  first  specimen  of  manhood  expected  in  a  young  chieftain 
was  dexterity  in  hunting :  the  next  was,  to  make  an  incursion,  at- 
tended with  extreme  hazard,  on  some  neighbour,  with  whom  he 
was  at  open  variance,  and  to  carry  off,  by  force  of  arms,  whatever 
cattle  he  and  his  followers  fell  in  with.  In  this  manner  conflicts 
and  feuds  were  nourished,  and  kept  constantly  in  existence,  among 
our  Scotish  Highlanders;  but  these  conflicts  ceased  almost  en- 
tirely about  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  and  heredi- 
tary jurisdiction  was  abolished,  in  1748.  by  an  act  of  i  he  British 
legislature,  when  Highland  emancipation  was  in  part  accom- 
plished. The  solemnities  at  the  inautrurat'on  of  a  chief  are  na 
more !  The  voice  of  the  bard  is  silent  in  the  hall !  The  deeds  of 
other  times  are  no  longer  recounted  as  incentives  to  emulate  their 
forefathers !  The  system  is  altogether  changed,  and  the  manners 
of  civilized  Europe  are  rapidly  prevailing  in  the  remotest  corners 
of  the  Highlands  and  Western  Isles. — Campbell's  Journey,  vol.  i. 
185. 


60  LETTER    XXT. 

benefice.  This  officer  is  a  sort  of  secretary, 
and  is  to  be  ready,  upon  all  occasions,  to  ven- 
ture his  life  in  defence  of  his  master;  and  at 
drinking-bouts  he  stands  behind  his  seat,  at 
his  haunch  (from  whence  his  title  is  derived), 
and  watches  the  conversation,  to  see  if  any  one 
offend  his  patron. 

An  English  officer,  being  in  company  with  a 
certain  chieftain  and  several  other  Highland 
gentlemen,  near  Killichumen,  had  an  argument 
with  the  great  man;  and,  both  being  well 
warmed  with  usky,  at  last  the  dispute  grew 
very  hot.  A  youth,  who  was  kanchman,  not 
understanding  a  word  of  English,  imagined  his 
chief  was  insulted,  and  thereupon  drew  his 
pistol  from  his  side,  and  snapped  it  at  the 
officer's  head ;  but  the  pistol  missed  fire,  other- 
wise it  is  more  than  probable  he  might  have 
suffered  death  from  the  hand  of  that  little 
vermin.*  But  it  is  very  disagreeable  to  an  Eng- 
lishman, over  a  bottle  with  the  Highlanders, 
to  see  every  one  of  them  have  his  gilly, — that  is, 
his  servant,  standing  behind  him  all  the  while, 
let  what  will  be  the  subject  of  conversation. 

When  a  chief  goes  a  journey  in  the  Hills,  or 

*  This  duty  of  a  hanchman,  at  a  drinking-bout,  is  altogether 
imaginary,  and  the  youth  here  mentioned  certainly  went  beyond 
his  orders.  The  chief  always  took  the  liberty  of  judging  for  him- 
self in  such  cases. 


LETTER    XXI.  61 

makes  a  formal  visit  to  an  equal,  he  is  said  to 
be  attended  by  all,  or  most  part  of  the  officers 
following,  viz.  — 

The  Hanchmcm,  Before  described. 

Bare?,  His  poet. 

Bladier,  His  spokesman. 

Gilli-more,  Carries  his  broad-sword. 

(  Carries  him,  when  on  footr 
GiUi-casflue-,  I 

I      over  the  fords. 
Leads  his  horse  in  rough 


Gilly-constraine, 

and  dangerous  ways. 


Gilly-trushanarnishj  The  baggage-man. 

f  Who,  being  a  gentleman, 
The  Piper,  <       I  should  have   named 

v-      sooner. 

And  lastly, 

The  Piper's  Gilly,  Who  carries  the  bagpipe. 

There  are  likewise  some  gentlemen  near  of 
kin  who  bear  him  company;  and  besides  a 
number  of  the  common  sort,  who  have  no  par- 
ticular employment,  but  follow  him  only  to 
partake  of  the  cheer. 

I  must  own  that  all  these  attendants,  and  the 
profound  respect  they  pay,  must  be  flattering 
enough,  though  the  equipage  has  none  of  the 
best  appearance.  But  this  state  may  appear  to 
soothe  the  pride  of  the  chief  to  a  vast  degree, 
if  the  declaration  of  one  of  them  was  sincere, 
who,  at  dinner,  before  a  good  deal  of  company, 
English  as  well  as  Scots,  myself  being  one  of 
the  number,  affirmed  that  if  his  estate  was  free 


62  LETTER   XXI. 

from  incumbrances,  and  was  none  of  his  own, 
and  he  was  then  put  to  choose  between  that 
and  the  estate  of  the  duke  of  Newcastle,  sup- 
posing it  to  be  thirty  thousand  pounds  a-year 
(as  somebody  said  it  was),  he  would  make 
choice  of  the  former,  with  the  following  belong- 
ing to  it  before  the  other  without  it.  Now  his 
estate  might  be  about  five  hundred  pounds 
a-year.  But  this  pride  is  pretty  costly ;  for  as 
his  friend  is  to  feed  all  these  attendants,  so  it 
comes  to  his  own  turn  to  be  at  a  like,  or, 
perhaps,  greater  expence  when  the  visit  is  re- 
paid ;  for  they  are  generally  attended  in  pro- 
portion to  the  strength  of  the  clan ;  and  by  this 
intercourse  they  very  much  hurt  one  another 
in  their  circumstances. 

By  what  has  been  said,  you  may  know,  in 
part,  how  necessary  the  rent  called  customs  is  to 
the  family  of  a  Highland  chief. 

Here  I  must  ask  a  space  for  those  two  sons  of 
Apollo,  the  bard  and  the  piper. 

The  bard  is  skilled  in  the  genealogy  of  all  the 
Highland  families ;  sometimes  preceptor  to  the 
young  laird;  celebrates,  in  Irish  verse,  the  ori- 
ginal* of  the  tribe,  the  famous  warlike  ac- 

*  Dr.  Johnson  observes : — "  As  there  subsists  no  longer  in  the 
Islands  much  of  that  peculiar  and  discriminative  form  of  life,  of 
which  the  idea  had  delighted  our  imagination,  we  were  willing  to 
liaten  to  such  accounts  of  past  times  as  would  be  given  us ;  but 


LETTER  XXI.  G3 

tions  of  the  successive  heads,  and  sings  his 
own  lyrics  as  an  opiate  to  the  chief  when  in- 
disposed for  sleep ; — but  poets  are  not  equally 
esteemed  and  honoured  in  all  countries.  I 
happened  to  be  a  witness  of  the  dishonour  done 
to  the  muse  at  the  house  of  one  of  the  chiefs, 
where  two  of  these  bards  were  set  at  a  good 
distance,  at  the  lower  end  of  a  long  table, 
with  a  parcel  of  Highlanders  of  no  extraor- 
dinary appearance,  over  a  cup  of  ale.  Poor 
inspiration!  They  were  not  asked  to  drink  a- 
glass  of  wine  at  our  table,  though  the  whole 
company  at  it  consisted  only  of  the  great  man, 
one  of  his  near  relations,  and  myself. 

After  some  little  time,  the  chief  ordered  one 
of  them  to  sing  me  a  Highland  song.     The  bard* 

we  soon  found  what  memorials  were  to  be  expected  from  an  illi- 
terate people,  whose  whole  time  is  a  series  of  distress,  where 
every  morning  is  labouring  with  expedients  for  the  evening;  and 
where  all  mental  pains  or  pleasure  arose  from  the  dread  of  winter, 
the  expectation  of  spring,  the  caprices  of  their  chiefs,  and  the  mo- 
tion of  the  neighbouring  clans;  where  there  was  neither  shame 
from  ignorance,  nor  pride  in  knowledge ;  neither  curiosity  to  in- 
quire, nor  vanity  to  communicate.  The  chiefs,  indeed,  were  ex- 
.empt  from  urgent  penury  and  daily  difficulties,  and  in  their  houses 
were  preserved  what  accounts  remained  of  past  ages.  But  the 
chiefs  were  sometimes  ignorant  and  careless,  and  sometimes  kept 
busy  by  turbulence  and  contention,  and  one  generation  of  igno- 
rance effaces  the  whole  series  of  unwritten  history. — Johnsons 
Journey,  Works,  vol.  viii.  344. 

*  That  the  bards  could  not  read  more  than  the  rest  of  their 


64  LETTER    XXI. 

readily  obeyed ;  and  with  a  hoarse  voice,  and  in 
a  tune  of  few  various  notes,  began,  as  I  was 
told,  one  of  his  own  lyrics ;  and  when  he  had 
proceeded  to  the  fourth  or  fifth  stanza,  I  per- 
ceived, by  the  names  of  several  persons,  glens, 
and  mountains,  which  I  had  known  or  heard  of 
before,  that  it  was  an  account  of  some  clan  bat- 
tle. But,  in  his  going  on,  the  chief  (who  piques 
himself  upon  his  school-learning),  at  some  par- 
ticular passage,  bid  him  cease,  and  cried  out  to 
me — "  There's  nothing  like  that  in  Virgil  or 
Homer !"  I  bowed,  and  told  him  I  believed  so. 
This,  you  may  believe,  was  very  edifying  and 
delightful. 

I  have  had  occasion  before  to  say  something 

countrymen,  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  ;  because  if  they  had  read, 
they  could  probably  have  written  ;  and  how  high  their  composi- 
tions may  reasonably  be  rated,  an  inquirer  may  best  judge  by 
considering  what  stores  of  imagery,  what  principles  of  ratioci- 
nation, what  comprehension  of  knowledge,  and  what  delicacy  of 
elocution,  he  has  known  any  man  attain  who  cannot  read.  The 
state  of  the  Bards  was  yet  more  hopeless.  He  that  cannot  read 
may  now  converse  with  those  that  can  ;  but  the  bard  was  a  bar- 
barian among  barbarians,  who,  knowing  nothing  himself,  lived 
with  others  that  knew  no  more. — Johnson's  Journey,  Works, 
vol.  viii.  350. 

This  is  the  theory  of  a  learned  academic,  writing  about  a  thing 
entirely  out  of  his  way.  and  with  which  he  had  no  means  of  be- 
coming acquainted,  because  he  neither  had  the  language  nor  the 
confidence  of  the  lower  class  of  Highlanders ;  and,  without  these, 
their  mental  character  can  neither  be  known  nor  appreciated. 


LETTER   XXI.  65 

of  the  piper,  but  not  as  an  officer  of  the  house- 
hold. 

In  a  morning,  while  the  chief  is  dressing, 
he  walks  backward  and  forward,  close  under  the 
window,  without  doors,  playing  on  his  bagpipe,* 
with  a  most  upright  attitude  and  majestic  stride. 

It  is  a  proverb  in  Scotland,  viz.  The  stately 
step  of  a  piper.  When  required,  he  plays  at 
meals,  and  in  an  evening  is  to  divert  the  guests 
with  his  music,  when  the  chief  has  company 
with  him :  his  attendance  in  a  journey,  or  at  a 
visit,  1  have  mentioned  before. 

His  gilly  holds  the  pipe  till  he  begins ;  and  the 

*  The  solace  which  the  bagpipe  can  give,  they  have  long  en- 
joyed ;  but,  among  other  changes  which  the  last  revolution  intro- 
duced, the  use  of  the  bagpipe  begins  to  be  forgotten.  Some  of  the 
chief  families  still  entertain  a  piper,  whose  office  was  anciently 
hereditary.  Macrimmon  was  piper  to  Macleod,  and  Rankin  to 
Maclean  of  Col.  The  tunes  of  the  bagpipe  are  traditional.  There 
has  been  in  Skye,  beyond  all  time  of  memory,  a  college  of  pipers, 
under  the  direction  of  Macrimmon,  which  is  not  quite  extinct. 
There  was  another  in  Mull,  superintended  by  Rankin,  which  ex- 
pired about  sixteen  years  ago.  To' these  colleges,  while  the  pipe 
retained  its  honour,  the  students  of  music  repaired  for  education. 
I  have  had  my  dinner  exhilirated  by  the  bagpipe  at  Armidale,  at 
Dunvegan,  and  in  Col. — Johnsons  Journey  ,  Works,  vol.  iii.  333. 

Till  within  the  memory  of  persons  still  living,  the  school  for 
Highland  poetry  and  music  was  Ireland,  and  thither  professional 
men  were  sent  to  be  accomplished  in  these  arts.  The  emit, 
clarsach,  or  harp,  was  the  proper  instrument  of  the  Celts. — The 
bagpipe  was  introduced  by  the  Goths,  from  Scandinavia. 

VOL.    II.  F 


66  LETTER   XXI. 

moment  he  has  done  with  the  instrument,  he 
disdainfully  throws  it  down  upon  the  ground,  as 
being  only  the  passive  means  of  conveying  his 
skill  to  the  ear,  and  not  a  proper  weight  for  him 
to  carry  or  bear  at  other  times.  But,  for  a  con- 
trary reason,  his  gilly  snatches  it  up — which  is, 
that  the  pipe  may  not  suffer  indignity  from  its 
neglect. 

The  captain  of  one  of  the  Highland  compa- 
nies entertained  me  some  time  ago  at  Stirling, 
with  an  account  of  a  dispute  that  happened  in 
his  corps  about  precedency.  This  officer,  among 
the  rest,  had  received  orders  to  add  a  drum  to 
his  bagpipe,  as  a  more  military  instrument ;  for 
the  pipe  was  to  be  retained,  because  the  High- 
landmen  could  hardly  be  brought  to  march 
without  it.  Now,  the  contest  between  the 
drummer  and  the  piper  arose  about  the  post  of 
honour,  and  at  length  the  contention  grew  ex- 
ceedingly hot,  which  the  captain  having  notice 
of,  he  called  them  both  before  him,  and,  in  the 
end,  decided  the  matter  in  favour  of  the  drum ; 
whereupon  the  piper  remonstrated  very  warmly. 
"  Ads  wuds,  sir,"  says  he  "  and  shall  a  little 
rascal  that  beats  upon  a  sheep-skin,  tak  the 
right  haund  of  me,  that  am  a  musician  ?  " 

There  are  in  the  mountains  both  red-deer  and 
roes,  but  neither  of  them  in  very  great  numbers, 
that  ever  I  could  find.  The  red-deer  are  large, 


LETTER    XXI.  67 

and  keep  their  haunts  in  the  highest  mountains ; 
but  the  roe  is  less  than  our  fallow-deer,  and  par- 
takes, in  some  measure,  of  the  nature  of  the 
hare,  having  no  fat  about  the  flesh,  and  hiding 
in  the  clefts  of  rocks,  and  other  hollows,  from 
the  sight  of  pursuers.  These  keep  chiefly  in 
the  woods. 

A  pack  of  hounds,  like  that  of  Actseon,  in  the 
same  metaphorical  sense,  would  soon  devour 
their  master.  But,  supposing  they  could  easily 
be  maintained,  they  would  be  of  no  use,  it  being 
impossible  for  them  to  hunt  over  such  rocks  and 
rugged  steep  declivities ;  or  if  they  could  do 
this,  their  cry  in  those  open  hills  would  soon 
fright  all  the  deer  out  of  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try. This  was  the  effect  of  one  single  hound, 
whose  voice  I  have  often  heard  in  the  dead  of 
the  night  (as  I  lay  in  bed)  echoing  among  the 
mountains ;  he  was  kept  by  an  English  gentle- 
man at  one  of  the  barracks,  and  it  was  loudly 
complained  of  by  some  of  the  lairds,  as  being 
prejudicial  to  their  estates. 

When  a  solemn  hunting  *  is  resolved  on,  for 

*  Mr.  Pennant  gives  the  following  interesting  account  of  a 
royal  hunt,  from  William  Barclay's  Contra  Monarchomackos. — 
"  I  once  had  a  sight  of  a  very  extraordinary  sort.  In  the  year 
1 563,  the  earl  of  Athol,  a  prince  of  the  blood  royal,  had  with 
much  trouble  and  vast  expense  a  hunting-match,  for  the  enter- 
tainment of  our  most  illustrious  and  most  gracious  queen.  Our 

F2 


68  LETTER  XXI. 

the  entertainment  of  relations  and  friends,  the 
haunt  of  the  deer  being  known,  a  number  of  the 
vassals  are  summoned,  who  readily  obey  by 
inclination;  and  are,  besides,  obliged  by  the 
tenure  of  their  lands,  of  which  one  article  is, 
that  they  shall  attend  the  master  &i  his  huntings. 
This,  I  think,  was  part  of  the  ancient  vassalage 
in  England. 

The  chief  convenes  what  numbers  he  thinks 
fit,  according  to  the  strength  of  his  clan :  per- 
haps three  or  four  hundred.  With  these  he 
surrounds  the  hill,  and  as  they  advance  up  wards, 
the  deer  flies  at  the  sight  of  them,  first  of  one 

people  call  this  a  royal  hunting.  I  was  then  a  young  man,  and 
was  present  on  that  occasion :  two  thousand  Highlanders  (or  wild 
Scotch  as  you  call  them  here)  were  employed  to  drive  to  the 
hunting-ground  all  the  deer  from  the  woods  and  hills  of  Atholl, 
Badenoch,  Marr,  Murray,  and  the  countries  abou^  As  these 
Highlanders  use  a  light  dress,  and  are  very  swift  of  foot,  they 
went  up  and  down  so  nimbly,  that  in  less  than  two  months  time 
they  brought  together  two  thousand  red-deer,  besides  roes  and 
fallow-deer.  The  queen,  the  great  men,  and  a  number  of  others, 
were  in  a  glen  when  all  these  deer  were  brought  before  them. 
Believe  me,  the  whole  body  of  them  moved  forward  in  something 
like  battle  order.  This  sight  still  strikes  me,  and  ever  will,  for 
they  had  a  leader  whom  they  followed  close  wherever  he  moved. 
This  leader  was  a  very  fine  stag,  with  a  very  high  head.  The 
sight  delighted  the  queen  very  much  ;  but  she  soon  had  cause  for 
fear ;  upon  the  earl's  (who  had  been  accustomed  to  such  sights) 
addressing  her  thus :  '  Do  you  observe  that  stag,  who  is  foremost 
of  the  herd?  There  is  danger  from  that  stag;  for  if  either  fear  or 


LETTER    XXI.  69 

side,  then  of  another;  and  they  still,  as  they 
mount,  get  into  closer  order,  till,  in  the  end,  he 
is  enclosed  by  them  in  a  small  circle,  and  there 
they  hack  him  down  with  their  broad-swords. 
And  they  generally  do  it  so  dexterously,  as  to 
preserve  the  hide  entire. 

If  the  chace  be  in  a  wood,  which  is  mostly  upon 
the  declivity  of  a  rocky  hill,  the  tenants  spread 
themselves  as  much  as  they  can,  in  a  rank  ex- 
tending upwards ;  and  march,  or  rather  crawl 
forward,  with  a  hideous  yell.  Thus  they  drive 
every  thing  before  them,  while  the  laird  and  his 

rage  should  force  him  from  the  ridge  of  that  hill,  let  every  one  look 
to  himself,  for  none  of  us  will  be  out  of  the  way  of  harm  ;  for  the 
rest  will  follow  this  one,  and  having  thrown  us  under  foot,  they 
will  open  a  passage  to  this  hill  behind  us.'  What  happened  a 
moment  after  confirmed  this  opinion:  for  the  queen  ordered  one 
of  the  best  dogs  to  be  let  loose  on  one  of  the  deer :  this  the  dog 
pursues,  the  leading  stag  was  frighted,  he  flies  by  the  same  way 
he  had  come  there,  the  rest  rush  after  him,  and  break  out  where 
the  thickest  body  of  the  Highlanders  was.  They  had  nothing  for 
it  but  to  throw  themselves  flat  on  the  heath,  and  to  allow  the  deer 
to  pass  over  them.  It  was  told  the  queen  that  several  of  the 
Highlanders  had  been  wounded,  and  that  two  or  three  had  been 
killed  outright ;  and  the  whole  body  had  got  off,  had  not  the 
Highlanders  by  their  skill  in  hunting  fallen  upon  a  strata- 
gem to  cut  off  the  rear  from  the  main  body.  It  was  of  those 
that  had  been  separated  that  the  queen's  dogs  and  those  of  the 
nobility  made  slaughter.  There  were  killed  that  day  360 
deer,  with  5  wolves,  and  some  roes.1' — Pennant's  Scotland, 
vol.  iii.  64.  65. 


70  LETTER    XXI. 

friends  are  waiting  at  the  farther  end  with  their 
guns  to  shoot  the  deer.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
force  the  roes  out  of  their  cover ;  insomuch  that 
when  they  come  into  the  open  light,  they  some- 
times turn  back  upon  the  huntsmen,  and  are 
taken  alive. 

What  I  have  been  saying  on  this  head  is  only 
to  give  you  some  taste  of  the  Highland  hunting ; 
for  the  hills,  as  they  are  various  in  their  form, 
require  different  dispositions  of  the  men  that 
compose  the  pack.  The  first  of  the  two  para- 
graphs next  above,  relates  only  to  such  a  hill  as 
rises  something  in  the  figure  of  a  cone ;  and  the 
other,you  see,  is  the  side  of  a  hill  which  is  clothed 
with  a  wood ;  and  this  last  is  more  particularly 
the  shelter  of  the  roe.  A  further  detail  I  think 
would  become  tedious. 

When  the  chief  would  have  a  deer  only  for 
his  household,  the  game-keeper  and  one  or  two 
more  are  sent  into  the  hills  with  guns,  and  oat- 
meal for  their  provision,  where  they  often  lie, 
night  after  night,  to  wait  an  opportunity  of  pro- 
viding venison  for  the  family.  This  has  been 
done  several  times  for  me,  but  always  without 
effect. 

The  foxes  and  wild  cats  (or  cat-o'-mountain) 
are  both  very  large  in  their  kind,  and  always 
appear  to  have  fed  plentifully;  they  do  the 
Highlanders  much  more  hurt  in  their  poultry, 


LETTER  XXT.  71 

&c.  than  they  yield  them  profit  by  their  furs ; 
and  the  eagles  do  them  more  mischief  than  both 
the  others  together.  It  was  one  of  their  chief 
complaints,  when  they  were  disarmed,  in  the 
year  1725,  that  they  were  deprived  of  the 
means  to  destroy  those  noxious  animals,  and 
that  a  great  increase  of  them  must  necessarily 
follow  the  want  of  their  fire-arms. 

Of  the*  eatable  part  of  the  feathered  kind 
peculiar  to  the  mountains  is,  first,  the  cobber- 
kdy*  which  is  sometimes  called  a  wild  turkey, 
but  not  like  it,  otherwise  than  in  size.  This  is 
very  seldom  to  be  met  with,  being  an  inhabit- 
ant of  very  high  and  unfrequented  hills,  and  is 

*  The  capercaillie,  capulcoillie,  avercailye,  or  great  cock  of  the 
wood,  became  extinct  in  Great  Britain  about  this  time,  or  shortly 
after ;  but  the  inhabitants,  for  a  time,  believed  them  still  to  exist  in 
unfrequented  places  which  they  had  not  explored.  This  valuable 
bird  (the  largest  of  the  grouse  kind,  properly  so  called),  it  is  hoped, 
will  once  more  be  introduced  into  the  Highlands  by  some  land- 
proprietor,  who  has  sufficient  range  of  forest  and  copse-wood  such 
as  they  delight  in,  and  sufficient  influence  to  protect  the  breed 
during  the  first  ten  years,  which  will  be  impossible  without  the 
love  and  esteem  of  his  tenants.  The  capercaillie  is  not  "  an 
inhabitant  of  very  high  hills,  but  of  any  place  where  he  finds 
proper  food  and  shelter,  being  common  in  Russia,  Poland,  Livo- 
nia, Courland,  Esthonia,  &c.  where  there  are  no  high  hills." — 
Being  a  very  lascivious  bird,  like  the  turkey,  during  the  breeding 
season,  he  is  so  regardless  of  his  own  safety  as  to  be  an  easy 
prey  to  the  sportsman.  They  are  becoming  scarcer  in  the  North 
than  they  once  were,  and  no  wonder ;  for  we  have  eaten  them  there 
before  they  arrived  at  the  size  of  a  partridge. 


72  LETTER    XXI. 

therefore  esteemed  a  great  rarity  for  the  table. 
Next  is  the  black  cock*  which   resembles,  in 
size  and  shape,   a  pheasant,  but  is  black  and 
shining,  like  a  raven;  but  the  hen  is  not,  in 
shape  or  colour,  much  unlike  to  a  hen-pheasant: 
and,  lastly,  the  tormican,  near  about  the  size 
of  the  moor-fowl  (or  grouse),  but  of  a  lighter 
colour,    which  turns  almost  white  in  winter. 
These,  I  am  told,  feed  chiefly  upon  the  tender 
tops  of  the  fir-branches,  which  I  am  apt  to  be- 
lieve, because  the  taste  of  them  has  something 
tending  to  turpentine,  though  not  disagreeable. 
It  is  said,  if  you  throw  a  stone  so  as  to  fall  beyond 
it,*  the   bird    is   thereby  so  much  amused  or 
daunted,  that  it  will  not  rise  till  you  are  very 
near;  but  I  have  suspected  this  to  be  a  sort  of 
conundrum,  signifying  they  are  too  shy  to  suffer 
an  approach  near  enough  for  that  purpose,  like 
what  they  tell  the  children  about  the  salt  and 
the  bird. 

The  tribes  will  not  suffer  strangers  to  settle 
within  their  precinct,  f  or  even  those  of  another 
clan  to  «njoy  any  possession  among  them ;  but 
will  soon  constrain  them  to  quit  their  preten- 
sions, by  cruelty  to  their  persons,  or  mischief 

*  The  black  cock  is  still  found  in  parts  of  Derbyshire,  Cheshire, 
Lancashire,  and  other  parts  of  England.  Our  author  has  forgot 
the  common  grouse. 

t  Their  precinct  was  always  too  narrow  for  themselves,  and 
strangers  have  uniformly  brought  them  ultimate  evil. 


LETTER  XXI.  73 

to  their  cattle  or  other  property.  Of  this  there 
happened  two  flagrant  instances,  within  a  few 
years  past. 

The  first  was  as  follows : — Gordon  laird  of 
Glenbucket,  had  been  invested  by  the  D.  of  G. 
in  some  lands  in  Badenoch,  by  virtue,  I  think, 
of  a  wadset,  or  mortgage.  These  lands  lay 
among  the  Macphersons;  but  the  tenants  of 
that  name  refused  to  pay  the  rent  to  the  new 
landlord,  or  to  acknowledge  him  as  such. 

This  refusal  put  him  upon  the  means  to  eject 
them  by  law ;  whereupon  the  tenants  came  to  a 
resolution  to  put  an  end  to  his  suit  and  new 
settlement  in  the  manner  following : — Five  or 
six  of  them,  young  fellows,  the  sons  of  gentle- 
men, entered  'the  door  of  his  hut,  and,  in 
fawning  words,  told  him  they  were  sorry  any 
dispute  had  happened  ;  that  they  were  then 
resolved  to  acknowledge  him  as  their  immediate 
landlord,  and  would  regularly  pay  him  their 
rent ;  at  the  same  time  they  begged  he  would 
withdraw  his  process,  and  they  hoped  they 
should  be  agreeable  to  him  for  the  future.  All  this 
while  they  were  almost  imperceptibly  drawing 
nearer  and  nearer  to  his  bed-side,  on  which  he 
was  sitting,  in  order  to  prevent  his  defending 
himself  (as  they  knew  him  to  be  a  man  of  dis- 
tinguished courage),  and  then  fell  suddenly  on 
him,  some  cutting  him  with  their  dirks,  and 


74  LETTER    XXI. 

others  plunging  them  into  his  body.  This  was 
perpetrated  within  sight  of  the  banack  of 
Ruthven. 

I  cannot  forbear  to  tell  you  how  this  butchery 
ended,  with  respect  both  to  him  and  those 
treacherous  villains.  He,  with  a  multitude  of 
wounds  upon  him,  made  a  shift,  in  the  bustle, 
to  reach  down  his  broad-sword  from  the  tester 
of  his  bed,  which  was  very  low,  and  with  it  he 
drove  all  the  assassins  before  him ;  and  after- 
wards, from  the  duke's  abhorrence  of  so  vile  a 
fact,  and  with  the  assistance  of  the  troops, 
they  were  driven  out  of  the  country,  and  forced 
to  fly  to  foreign  parts.* 

By  the  way,  the  duke  claims  the  right  of 
chief  to  the  Macphersons,  as  he  is,  in  fact,  of 
the  Gordons. 

*  Till  the  Highlanders  lost  their  ferocity  with  their  arms,  they 
suffered  from  each  other  all  that  malignity  could  dictate  or  preci- 
pitance could  act ;  every  provocation  was  revenged  with  blood, 
and  no  man,  that  ventured  into  a  numerous  company,  by  whatever 
occasion  brought  together,  was  sure  of  returning  without  a 
wound.  If  they  are  now  exposed  to  foreign  hostilities,  they  may 
talk  of  the  danger,  but  can  seldom  feel  it ;  if  they  are  no  longer 
martial,  they  are  no  longer  quarrelsome.  Misery  is  caused,  for 
the  most  part,  not  by  a  heavy  crush  of  disaster,  but  by  the  corrosion 
of  less  visible  evils,  which  canker  enjoyment  and  undermine  se- 
curity. The  visit  of  an  invader  is  necessarily  rare,  but  domestic 
animosities  allow  no  cessation. — Johnson's  Journey,  Works, 
vol.  viii.  319. 


LETTER    XXT.  75 

The  other  example  is  of  a  minister,  who  had 
a  small  farm  assigned  him; and,  upon  his  en- 
trance to  it,  some  of  the  clan,  in  the  dead  of 
the  night,  fired  five  balls  through  his  hut,  which 
all  lodged  in  his  bed ;  but  he,  happening  to  be 
absent  that  night,  escaped  their  barbarity,  but 
was  forced  to  quit  the  country.  Of  this  he 
made  to  me  an  affecting  complaint. 

This  kind  of  cruelty,  I  think,  arises  from 
their  dread  of  innovations,  and  the  notion  they 
entertain,  that  they  have  a  kind  of  hereditary 
right  to  their  farms ;  and  that  none  of  them  are 
to  be  dispossessed,  unless  for  some  great  trans- 
gression against  their  chief,  in  which  case  every 
individual  would  consent  to  their  expulsion.* 

*  The  history  of  trials  for  houghing  of  cattle  and  wilful  fire- 
raising,  in  England,  will  show  that  the  Highlands  is  not  the  only 
country  where  ejected  or  discontented  tenants  know  how  to  re- 
venge themselves  on  those  against  whom  they  have  conceived  a 
grudge.  In  the  records  of  their  criminal  courts,  there  will  not  be 
found  one  such  instance  for  a  hundred  that  have  occurred  among 
their  neighbours.  In  the  Highlands,  the  tenants  do  not  burn  the 
houses  of  their  landlords  and  tacksmen,  although  many  shocking 
instances  have  occurred,  within  these  few  years,  of  the  landlords 
setting  fire  to  the  cottages  of  their  tenants,  in  order  to  drive 
them  out,  when  they  had  nowhere  else  to  go  for  shelter.  This 
is  a  species  of  arson  against  which  our  legislature  has  provided 
no  remedy ;  but  the  crime  will  soon  bring  its  own  punishmermt, 
for — 

a  bold  peasantry,  their  country's  pride, 

When  once  destroyed,  can  never  be  supplied, — Goldsmith. 


76  LETTER    XXI. 

Having  lately  mentioned  the  dirk,*  I  think  it 
may  not  be  unseasonable  here  to  give  you  a 
short  description  of  that  dangerous  weapon; 
and  the  rather,  as  I  may  have  occasion  to  speak 
of  it  hereafter.  The  blade  is  straight,  and  ge- 
nerally above  a  foot  long ;  the  back  near  [one- 
eighth  of]  an  inch  thick ;  the  point  goes  off  like 
a  tuck,  and  the  handle  is  something  like  that  of 
a  sickle.  They  pretend  they  cannot  do  well 
without  it,  as  being  useful  to  them  in  cutting 
wood,  and  upon  many  other  occasions ;  but  it 
is  a  concealed  mischief,  hid  under  the  plaid, 
ready  for  secret  stabbing ;  and,  in  a  close  en- 
counter, there  is  no  defence  against  it. 

I  am  far  from  thinking  there  is  anything  in 
the  nature  of  a  Highlander,  as  such,  that  should 
make  him  cruel  and  remorseless ;  on  the  con- 
trary, I  cannot  but  be  of  opinion  that  nature 
in  general  is  originally  the  same  in  all  mankind, 
and  that  the  difference  between  country  and 

*  The  dirk  was  a  sort  of  dagger,  stuck  in  the  belt.  I  fre- 
quently saw  this  weapon,  in  the  shambles  of  Inverness,  converted 
iato  a  butcher's  knife,  being,  like  Hudibras's  dagger, 

a  serviceable  dudgeon, 


Either  for  fighting  or  for  drudging. 

The  dirk  was  a  weapon  used  by  the  ancient  Caledonians:  for 
Dio  Cassius,  in  his  account  of  the  expedition  of  Severus,  men- 
tions it  under  the  name  of  Ej/xept&oi',  pugio,  or  little  dagger. — 
Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  i.  212. 


LETTER  XXI.  77 

country  arises  from  education  and  example. 
And  from  this  principle  I  conclude,  that  even  a 
Hottentot  child,  being  brought  into  England 
before  he  had  any  knowledge,  might,  by  a 
virtuous  education  and  generous  example,  be- 
come as  much  an  Englishman  in  his  heart  as 
any  native  whatever.  But  that  the  Highlanders, 
for  the  most  part,  are  cruel,  is  beyond  dispute, 
though  all  clans  are  not  alike  merciless.  In 
general  they  have  not  generosity  enough  to  give 
quarter  to  an  enemy  that  falls  in  their  power ; 
nor  do  they  seem  to  have  any  remorse  at  shed- 
ding blood  without  necessity. 

This  appeared  a  few  years  ago,  with  respect 
to  a  party  of  soldiers,  consisting  of  a  serjeant 
and  twelve  men,  who  were  sent  into  Lochaber 
after  some  cows  that  were  said  to  be  stolen. 
The  soldiers,  with  their  arms  slung,  were  care- 
lessly marching  along  by  the  side  of  a  lake, 
where  only  one  man  could  pass  in  front;  and, 
in  this  circumstance,  fell  into  an  ambuscade  of 
a  great  number  of  Highlandmen,  vassals  of  an 
attainted  chief,  who  was  in  exile  when  his 
clan  was  accused  of  the  theft. 

These  were  lodged  in  a  hollow  on  the  side  of 
a  rocky  hill;  and  though  they  were  themselves 
out  of  all  danger,  or  might  have  descended  and 
disarmed  so  small  a  party,  yet  they  chose  ra- 
ther, with  their  fire-arms,  as  it  were  wantonly 


78  LETTER    XXI. 

to  pick  them  off,  almost  one  by  one,  till  they 
had  destroyed  them  all,  except  two,  who  took 
to  their  heels,  and  waded  a  small  river  into  the 
territory  of  another  chief,  where  they  were  safe 
from  further  pursuit ;  for  the  chiefs,  like  princes 
upon  the  continent  whose  dominions  lie  conti- 
guous, do  not  invade  each  other's  boundaries 
while  they  are  in  peace  and  friendship  with  one 
another,  but  demand  redress  of  wrongs ;  and 
whosoever  should  do  otherwise,  would  commit 
an  offence  in  which  every  tribe  is  interested, 
besides  the  lasting  feud  it  might  create  between 
the  two  neighbouring  clans. 

P.  S.  One  of  these  soldiers,  who,  in  his  flight, 
had  fixed  his  bayonet,  turned  about  at  the  edge 
of  the  water  upon  a  Highlandman,  who,  for 
greater  speed,  had  no  other  arms  than  his  broad- 
sword, and,  at  the  same  time,  it  is  said,  the 
soldier  at  once  sent  his  bayonet  and  a  ball 
through  his  body.* 

*  The  general  and  heavy  accusations,  with  which  this  story  is 
prefaced,  are  utterly  unwarranted,  even  by  the  partial  instance 
here  given.  These  very  Highlanders  had  been  pursued  by  the 
soldiers  with  fire  and  sword — plundered  and  ruined — and  their 
chief  was  then  stripped  of  everything  and  banished,  a  martyr  to 
political  opinion,  and  what  he  conceived  to  be  patriotism  and 
loyalty.  Stealing  or  starving  was  their  only  alternative.  Under 
such  circumstances,  we  cannot  see  the  cowardice  of  firing  upon  re- 
gular soldiers,  their  enemies,  who  were  armed  with  loaded  muskets 
and  bayonets  for  their  destruction.  The  two  soldiers,  who  runaway, 


LETTER    XXI.  79 

naturally  accused  them  of  cowardice ;  and  he  who  sent  a  ball  through 
a  Highlander,  who  had  no  fire-arms,  was  accounted  a  gallant  fel- 
low— as  all  his  companions  would  have  been,  had  they  acted  as 
the  Highlanders  did.  To  have  disarmed  them  would  have  been 
cruelty  to  themselves,  as  they  had  learned,  from  harsh  experience, 
as  their  persons  must  have  been  recognized,  and  every  man  of 
them,  upon  the  evidence  of  those  very  soldiers,  hunted  out,  and 
hanged  for  felony  and  rebellion,  in  resisting  the  king's  troops. 

Perhaps  it  was  well  for  the  soldier  who  shot  the  Highlander 
that  his  musket  was  loaded,  otherwise  he  might  have  come  off  no 
better  than  the  Frenchman  did  at  Quebec : — A  Highlander, 
whose  regiment,  having  been  surrounded,  had  cut  their  way  out 
with  the  broad-sword,  with  the  loss  of  half  their  number,  being 
the  last  in  retreating,  and  highly  chafed,  was  stopped  by  a  forward 
Frenchman  returning  from  the  pursuit,  who  charged  him  with  his 
bayonet,  but  soon  finding  the  disadvantage  of  his  weapon,  cried 
out  "  quarter!" — "  Quarter  ye,"  said  Donald,  "  te  muckle 
teefil  may  quarter  ye  for  me !  Py  my  soul,  I'fe  nae  time  to 
quarter  ye  ;  ye  maun  e'en  pe  contentit  to  pe  cuttit  in — twa .'" 
making  his  head  fly  from  his  shoulders. 


LETTER  XXII. 

BUT  the  rancour  of  some  of  those  people,  in 
another  case,  was  yet  more  extraordinary  than 
the  instance  in  my  last  letter,  as  the  objects  of 
their  malice  could  not  seem,  even  to  the  utmost 
cowardice,  to  be  in  any  manner  of  condition  to 
annoy  them.  This  was  after  the  battle  of  Glen- 
shiels,  in  the  rebellion  of  1719,  before-men- 
tioned. As  the  troops  were  marching  from  the 
field  of  action  to  a  place  of  encampment,  some 
of  the  men  who  were  dangerously  wounded, 
after  their  being  carried  some  little  way  on 
horseback,  complained  they  could  no  longer 
bear  that  uneasy  carriage,  and  begged  they 
might  be  left  behind  till  some  more  gentle  con- 
veyance could  be  provided. 

In  about  three  or  four  hours  (the  little  army 
being  encamped)  parties  were  sent  to  them  with 
hurdles,  that  had  been  made  to  serve  as  a  kind 
of  litters;  but,  when  they  arrived,  they  found 
to  their  astonishment  that  those  poor,  miserable 
creatures  had  been  stabbed  with  dirks  in  twenty 
places  of  their  legs  and  arms,  as  well  as  their 


LETTER  XXII.  8J 

bodies,  and  even  those  that  were  dead  had  been 
used  in  the  same  savage  manner.  This  I  have 
been  assured  of  by  several  officers  who  were  in 
the  battle,  Scots  as  well  as  English. 

I  make  no  manner  of  doubt  you  will  take 
what  is  to  follow  to  be  an  odd  transition,  i.  e. 
from  the  cruelty  of  the  ordinary  Highlanders, 
to  dialect  and  orthography, — although  you  have 
met  with  some  others  not  more  consistent;  but 
then  you  will  recollect  what  I  said  in  my  first 
epistle,  that  I  should  not  confine  myself  to  me- 
thod, but  give  you  my  account  just  as  the  se- 
veral parts  of  the  subject  should  occur  from  my 
memorandums  and  memory. 

Strange  encomiums  I  have  heard  from  the 
natives  upon  the  language  of  their  country, 
although  it  be  but  a  corruption  of  the  Irish 
tongue;*  and,  if  you  could  believe  some  of  them, 
it  is  so  expressive,  that  it  wants  only  to  be 
better  known  to  become  universal.  But  as  for 
myself,  who  can  only  judge  of  it  by  the  ear,  it 
seems  to  me  to  be  very  harsh  in  sound,  like 
the  Welsh,  and  altogether  as  gutteral,  which 
last,  you  know,  is  a  quality  long  since  banished 
all  the  polite  languages  in  Europe. 

It  likewise  seems  to  me,  as  if  the  natives 

*  The  Irish  is  as  corrupted  as  the  Gaelic,  but  neither  of  them 
has  corrupted  the  other,  as  botli  have  been  equally  affected  hy  the 
settlement  of  Nor-men  and  Saxons  among  them. 

VOL.  II.  G 


82  LETTER   XXII. 

affected  to  call  it  Erst,*  as  tttough  it  were  a 
language  peculiar  to  their  country ;  but  an  Irish 
gentleman  who  never  before  was  in  Scotland, 
and  made  with  me  a  Highland  tour,  was  per- 
fectly understood  even  by  the  common  people ; 
and  several  of  the  lairds  took  me  aside  to  ask 
me  who  he  was,  for  that  they  never  heard  their 
language  spoken  in  such  purity  before.  This 
gentleman  told  me  that  he  found  the  dialect  to 
vary  as  much  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
as  in  any  two  counties  of  England.  There  are 
very  few  who  can  write  the  character,  of  which 
the  alphabet  is  as  follows : — 

*  The  natives  call  it  Gaelic  (the  language  of  the  white  men), 
and  the  Lowlanders  call  it  Erse^  which  is  only  their  manner  of 
pronouncing  Irish. 


LETTER    XXTI.  83 


Pronounced 

a 

71 

&           Ailim. 

b 

b 

&            Beith. 

c 

C 

c            Coll. 

d- 

b 

b            Duir. 

e 

c 

G            Eadha. 

f 

f 

jfi            Fearn. 

g 

5 

5            Gort. 

h 

H 

ly           Uath. 

j  i 

Tf 

j   i         Jogha. 

1 

I 

1            Luis. 

m 

:$ 

^           Muin. 

n 

N 

/M            Nuin. 

0 

o 

o            Oun. 

P 

P 

P           Peithboc. 

r 

R 

f*            Rui's.' 

s 

S 

^*           S'uil. 

t 

C 

t            Thine. 

u 

u 

U            Uir.* 

*  There  is  no  Irish  character  ;  but  the  Irish  and  Highlanders 
retained  the  bastard  Roman  character  (which  was  in  use  all  over 
the  west  of  Europe  six  or  seven  centuries  ago)  longer  than  any 
of  the  other  nations,  except  the  Icelanders. 


G  2 


84  LETTER   XXI I. 

In  writing  English,  they  seem  to  have  no  rule 
of  orthography,  and  they  profess  they  think 
good  spelling  of  no  great  use  ;  but  if  they  read 
English  authors,  I  wonder  their  memory  does 
not  retain  the  figures,  or  forms  of  common 
words,  especially  monosyllables  ;  but  it  may, 
for  aught  I  know,  be  affectation. 

I  have  frequently  received  letters  from  mi- 
nisters and  lay  gentlemen,  both  esteemed  for 
their  learning  in  dead  languages,  that  have 
been  so  ill  spelt,  I  thought  I  might  have  ex- 
pected better  from  an  ordinary  woman  in  Eng- 
land. As  for  one  single  example, — for  heirs 
(of  Latin  derivation),  airs  repeated  several 
times  in  the  same  letter ;  and,  further,  one  word 
was  often  variously  spelt  in  the  same  page.* 

The  Highland  dress  consists  of  a  bonnet 
made  of  thrum  without  a  brim,  a  short  coat, 
a  waistcoat,  longer  by  five  or  six  inches,  short 
stockings,  and  brogues,  or  pumps  without  heels. 
By  the  way,  they  cut  holes  in  their  brogues, 
though  new  made,  to  let  out  the  water,  when 
they  have  far  to  go  and  rivers  to  pass:  this 
they  do  to  preserve  their  feet  from  galling. 

Fewbesides  gentlemen  wear  the  trowze, — that 
is,  the  breeches  and  stockings  all  of  one  piece,, 
and  drawn  on  together ;  over  this  habit  they 

*  Shakespeare  spelt  his  own  name  three  different  ways  in  his 
last  will. 


LETTER    XXII.  85 

wear  a  plaid,  which  is  usually  three  yards  long 
and  two  breadths  wide,  and  the  whole  garb  is 
made  of  chequered  tartan,  or  plaiding :  this, 
with  the  sword  and  pistol,  is  called  a  full  dress, 
and,  to  a  well-proportioned  man,  with  any  to- 
lerable air,  it  makes  an  agreeable  figure ;  but 
this  you  have  seen  in  London,  and  it  is  chiefly 
their  mode  of  dressing  when  they  are  in  the 
Lowlands,  or  when  they  make  a  neighbouring 
visit,  or  go  anywhere  on  horseback ;  but  when 
those  among  them  who  travel  on  foot,  and  have 
not  attendants  to  carry  them  over  the  waters, 
they  vary  it  into  the  quelt,  which  is  a  manner  I 
am  about  to  describe. 

The  common  habit  of  the  ordinary  High- 
landers is  far  from  being  acceptable  to  the  eye : 
with  them  a  small  part  of  the  plaid,  which  is 
not  so  large  as  the  former,  is  set  in  folds  and 
girt  round  the  waist,  to  make  of  it  a  short 
petticoat  that  reaches  half  way  down  the  thigh, 
and  the  rest  is  brought  over  the  shoulders,  and 
then  fastened  before,  below  the  neck,  often 
with  a  fork,  and  sometimes  with  a  bodkin  or 
sharpened  piece  of  stick,  so  that  they  make 
pretty  nearly  the  appearance  of  the  poor  women 
in  London  when  they  bring  their  gowns  over 
their  heads  to  shelter  them  from  the  rain.  In 
this  way  of  wearing  the  plaid,  they  have  some- 
times nothing  else  to  cover  them,  and  are  often 


86  LETTER    XXII. 

barefoot ;  but  some  I  have  seen  shod  with  a 
kind  of  pumps,  made  out  of  a  raw  cow-hide, 
with  the  hair  turned  outward,  which  being  ill 
made,  the  wearer's  foot  looked  something  like 
those  of  a  rough-footed  hen  or  pigeon :  these 
are  called  quarrants,  and  are  not  only  offensive 
to  the  sight,  but  intolerable  to  the  smell  of 
those  who  are  near  them.  The  stocking  rises 
no  higher  than  the  thick  of  the  calf,  and  from 
the  middle  of  the  thigh  to  the  middle  of  the 
leg  is  a  naked  space,  which,  being  exposed  to 
all  weathers,  becomes  tanned  and  freckled, 
and  the  joint  being  mostly  infected  with  the 
country  distemper,  the  whole  is  very  disagree- 
able to  the  eye.  This  dress  is  called  the  quelt ; 
and,  for  the  most  part,  they  wear  the  petticoat 
so  very  short,  that  in  a  windy  day,  going  up  a 
hill,  or  stooping,  the  indecency  of  it  is  plainly 
discovered. 

A  Highland  gentleman  told  me  one  day  mer- 
rily, as  we  were  speaking  of  a  dangerous  pre- 
cipice we  had  passed  over  together,  that  a 
lady  of  a  noble  family  had  complained  to  him 
very  seriously,  that  as  she  was  going  over  the 
same  place  with  &gilly,  who  was  upon  an  upper 
path,  leading  her  horse  with  a  long  string,  she 
was  so  terrified  with  the  sight  of  the  abyss, 
that,  to  avoid  it,  she  was  forced  to  look  up 
towards  the  bare  Highlander  all  the  way  long. 


LETTER    XXII.  87 

I  have  observed  before,  that  the  plaid  serves 
the  ordinary  people  for  a  cloak  by  day  and 
and  bedding  at  night :  by  the  latter  it  imbibes 
so  much  perspiration,  that  no  one  day  can  free 
it  from  the  filthy  smell;  and  even  some  of  bet- 
ter than  ordinary  appearance,  when  the  plaid 
falls  from  the  shoulder,  or  otherwise  requires 
to  be  re-adjusted,  while  you  are  talking  with 
them,  toss  it  over  again,  as  some  people  do  the 
knots  of  their  wigs,  which  conveys  the  offence 
in  whiffs  that  are  intolerable; — of  this  they 
seem  not  to  be  sensible,  for  it  is  often  done 
only  to  give  themselves  airs. 

Various  reasons  are  given  both  for  and  against 
the  Highland  dress.*  It  is  urged  against  it, 
that  it  distinguishes  the  natives  as  a  body  of 
people  distinct  and  separate  from  the  rest  of 
the  subjects  of  Great  Britain,  and  thereby  is 

*  Dr.  Johnson  remarks — "  There  was,  perhaps,  never  any 
change  of  national  manners  so  quick,  so  great,  and  so  general,  as 
that  which  has  operated  in  the  Highlands,  by  the  last  conquest 
and  the  subsequent  laws.  We  came  hither  too  late  to  see  what 
we  expected — a  people  of  peculiar  appearance,  and  a  system  of 
antiquated  life.  The  clans  retain  little  now  of  their  original  cha- 
racter ;  their  ferocity  of  temper  is  softened,  their  military  ardour 
is  extinguished  ['?],  their  dignity  of  independence  is  depressed, 
their  contempt  of  government  subdued,  and  their  reverence  for 
their  chiefs  abated.  Of  what  they  had  before  the  late  conquest 
of  their  country,  there  remain  only  their  language  and  their  po- 
verty.— Johnson's  Journey ',  Works,  vol.  viii.  334. 


ft 

85  LETTER    XXII. 

one  cause  of  their  narrow  adherence  among 
themselves,  to  the  exclusion  of  all  the  rest  of 
the  kingdom ;  but  the  part  of  the  habit  chiefly 
objected  to  is  the  plaid*  (or  mantle),  which, 
they  say,  is  calculated  for  the  encouragement  of 
an  idle  life,  in  lying  about  upon  the  heath,  in 
the  day-time,  instead  of  following  some  lawful 
employment ;  that  it  serves  to  cover  them  in 
the  night  when  they  lie  in  wait  amo'ng  the 
mountains,  to  commit  their  robberies  and  de- 
predations ;  and  is  composed  of  such  colours 
as  altogether,  in  the  mass,  so  nearly  resemble 
the  heath  on  which  they  lie,  that  it  is  hardly  to 
be  distinguished  from  it  until  one  is  so  near 
them  as  to  be  within  their  power,  if  they  have 
any  evil  intention;  that  it  renders  them  ready, 
at  a  moment's  warning,  to  join  in  any  rebellion, 
as  they  carry  continually  their  tents  about  them : 
and,  lastly,  it  was  thought  necessary,  in  Ire- 
land, to  suppress  that  habit  by  act  of  parliament, 
for  the  above  reasons,  and  no  complaint  for  the 

*  Their  predecessors  used  short  mantles,  or  playds,  of  divers 
colours,  sundry  ways  divided :  and,  amongst  some,  the  same  cus- 
tome  is  observed  to  this  day ;  but,  for  the  most  part,  they  are 
browne  now,  most  near  to  the  colour  of  the  hadder,  to  the  effect 
when  they  lie  amongst  the  hadder,  the  bright  colour  of  their 
playds  shall  not  bewray  them,  with  the  which,  rather  coloured 
than  clad,  they  suffer  the  most  cruell  tempests  that  blowe  in  the 
open  field,  in  such  sort  that  under  a  wrythe  of  snow  they  sleepe 
sound. — Lord  Somers's  Tracts,  vol.  iii.  388. 


LETTER    XXII.  89 

want  of  it  now  remains  among  the  mountaineers 
of  that  country. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  alleged,  the  dress  is 
most  convenient  to  those  who,  with  no  ill  de- 
sign,   are  obliged  to  travel  from  one  part  to 
another  upon  their  lawful  occasions,  viz. — That 
they  would  not  be  so  free  to  skip  over  the  rocks 
and  bogs  with  breeches  as  they  are  in  the  short 
petticoat ;  that  it  would  be  greatly  incommodious 
to  those  who  are  frequently  to  wade  through 
waters,  to  wear  breeches,  which  must  be  taken 
off  upon  every  such  occurrence,  or  would  not 
only  gall  the  we'arer,  but  render  it  very  un- 
healthful  and  dangerous  to  their  limbs,  to  be 
constantly  wet  in  that  part  of  the  body,  espe- 
cially in  winter-time,  when  they  might  be  fro- 
zen :  and  with  respect  to  the  plaid  in  particular, 
the  distance  between  one  place  of  shelter  and 
another,  is  often  too  great  to  be  reached  before 
night  comes  on  ;  and,  being  intercepted  by  sud- 
den floods,  or  hindered  by  other  impediments, 
they   are  frequently   obliged  to    lie    all   night 
in  the  hills,  in  which  case  they  must  perish, 
were  it  not  for  the  covering  they  carry  with 
them.    That  even  if  they  should  be  so  fortunate 
as  to  reach    some  hospitable  hut,  they  must 
lie  upon  the  ground*  uncovered,  there   being 

*  When  they  were  obliged  to  lie  abroad  in  the  hills,  in  their 
hunting-parties,  or  tending  their  cattle,  or  in  war,  the  plaid  served 


90  LETTER    XXII. 

nothing  to  be  spared  from  the  family  for  that 
purpose. 

And  to  conclude,  a  few  shillings  will  buy  this 
dress  for  an  ordinary  Highlander,  who,  very 
probably,  might  hardly  ever  be  in  condition  to 
purchase  a  Lowland  suit,  though  of  the  coarsest 
cloth  or  stuff,  fit  to  keep  him  warm  in  that  cold 
climate. 

I  shall  determine  nothing  in  this  dispute,  but 
leave  you  to  judge  which  of  these  two  reason- 
ings is  the  most  cogent. 

The  whole  people*  are  fond  and  tenacious  of 

them  both  for  bed  and  for  covering :  for  when  three  men  slept 
together,  they  could  spread  three  folds  of  cloth  below  and  six 
above  them.  The  garters  of  their  stockings  were  tied  under 
their  knees,  with  a  view  to  give  more  freedom  to  the  limb,  and 
climb  the  mountains  with  greater  ease.  The  lightness  and  loose- 
ness of  their  dress;  the  custom  they  had  of  going  always  on  foot, 
never  on  horseback  ;  their  love  of  long  journeys ;  but,  above  all, 
that  patience  of  hunger  and  every  kind  of  hardship,  which  car- 
ried their  bodies  forward,  even  after  their  spirits  were  exhausted, — 
made  them  exceed  all  other  European  nations  in  speed  and  per- 
severance of  march.  Montrose's  marches  were  sometimes  sixty 
miles  in  a  day — Dalrymples  Memoirs  of  Great  Britain. 

*•  In  contrasting  the  former  customs,  occupations,  and  manners 
of  the  Highlanders,  we  are  struck  with  a  wide  difference  in  mo*-? 
respects.  We  no  longer  behold  them  that  high  independent  race 
of  people  which  they  were  even  a  century  ago,  Much  more, 
then,  must  the  inhabitants  of  these  mountains,  two  or  more  cen- 
turies since,  have  differed  from  the  present  race,  their  descen- 
dants.— Campbell's  Journey. 


LETTER    XXTT.  91 

the  Highland  clothing-,  as  you  may  believe  by 
what  is  here  to  follow. 

Being,  in  a  wet  season,  upon  one  of  my  pere- 
grinations, accompanied  by  a  Highland  gentle- 
man, who  was  one  of  the  clan  through  which  I 
was  passing,  I  observed  the  women  to  be  in 
great  anger  with  him  about  something  that  I  did 
not  understand  :  at  length,  I  asked  him  wherein 
he  had  offended  them  ?  Upon  this  question  he 
laughed,  and  told  me  his  great-coat  was  the 
cause  of  their  wrath ;  and  that  their  reproach 
was,  that  he  could  not  be  contented  with  the 
garb  of  his  ancestors,  but  was  degenerated  into 
a  Lowlander,  and  condescended  to  follow  their 
unmanly  fashions.* 

The  wretched  appearance  of  the  poor  High- 
land women  that  come  to  this  town,  has  been 
mentioned;  and  here  I  shall  step  out  of  the  way 
to  give  you  a  notable  instance  of  frugality  in 
one  of  a  higher  rank. 

There  is  a  laird's  lady,  about  a  mile  from  one 
of  the  Highland  garrisons,  who  is  often  seen 
from  the  ramparts,  on  Sunday  mornings,  coming 
barefoot  to  the  kirk,  with  her  maid  carrying  the 
stockings  and  shoes  after  her.  She  stops  at  the 
foot  of  a  certain  rock,  that  serves  her  for  a  seat, 
not  far  from  the  hovel  they  call  a  church,  and 
there  she  puts  them  on ;  and,  in  her  return  to 
*  See  at  the  end  of  this  letter. 


92  LETTER    XXII. 

the  same  place,  she  prepares  to  go  home  bare- 
foot as  she  came ;  thus,  reversing  the  old  Mosaic 
precept.  What  English  squire  was  ever  blessed 
with  such  a  housewife ! 

But  this  instance,  though  true  to  my  know- 
ledge, I  have  thought  something  extraordinary, 
because  the  Highlanders  are  shy  of  exposing 
their  condition  to  strangers,  especially  the  Eng- 
lish, and  more  particularly  to  a  number  of 
officers,  to  whom  they  are  generally  desirous  to 
make  their  best  appearance.  But,  in  my  jour- 
neys, when  they  did  not  expect  to  be  observed 
by  any  but  their  own  country  people,  I  have 
twice  surprised  the  laird  and  his  lady  without 
shoes  or  stockings,  a  good  way  from  home,  in 
cold  weather.  The  kirk  above-mentioned  brings 
to  my  memory  a  curiosity  of  the  same  kind. 

At  a  place  in  Badenoch,  called  Ilan  Don,  as  I 
passed  by  a  hut  of  turf  something  larger  than 
ordinary,  but  taking  little  notice  of  it,  I  was 
called  upon  by  one  of  the  company  to  stop  and 
observe  its  figure,  which  proved  to  be  the  form 
of  a  cross  :  this  occasioned  several  jokes  from  a 
libertine  and  a  presbyterian  upon  the  Highland 
cathedral  and  the  non-jurors,  in  all  which  they 
perfectly  agreed. 

The  ordinary  girls  wear  nothing  upon  their 
heads  until  they  are  married  or  have  a  child, 
except  sometimes  a  fillet  of  red  or  blue  coarse 


LETTER    XXII.  93 

cloth,  of  which  they  are  very  proud ;  but  often 
their  hair  hangs  down  overthe  forehead  like  that 
of  a  wild  colt. 

If  they  wear  stockings,  which  is, very  rare, 
they  lay  them  in  plaits  one  above  another,  from 
the  ancle  up  to  the  calf,  to  make  their  legs  ap- 
pear as  near  as  they  can  in  the  form  of  a  cylin- 
der; *  but  I  think  I  have  seen  something  like  this 
among  the  poor  German  refugee  women  and  the 
Moorish  men  in  London.  By  the  way,  these 
girls,  if  they  have  no  pretensions  to  family  (as 
many  of  them  have,  though  in  rags),  they  are 
vain  of  being  with  child  by  a  gentleman ;  and 
when  he  makes  love  to  one  of  them,  she  will 
plead  her  excuse,  in  saying  he  undervalues  him- 
self, and  that  she  is  a  poor  girl  not  worth  his 
trouble,  or  something  to  that  purpose. 

This  easy  compliance  proceeds  chiefly  from  a 
kind  of  ambition  established  by  opinion  and  cus- 
tom ;  for  as  gentility  is  of  all  things  esteemed 
the  most  valuable  in  the  notion  of  those  people, 
so  this  kind  of  commerce  renders  the,  poor 
plebeian  girl,  in  some  measure,  superior  to  her 
former  equals. 

From  thenceforward  she  becomes  proud,  and 
they  grow  envious  of  her  being  singled  out  from 
among  them,  to  receive  the  honour  of  a  gentle- 

*  They  wore  wrappers  (as  is  still  the  case  in  many  parts  of  the 
continent),  before  knit  stockings  were  in  general  use. 


94  LETTER   XXII. 

man's  particular  notice :  *  but  otherwise  they 
are  generally  far  from  being  immodest ;  and  as 
modesty  is  the  capital  feminine  virtue,  in  that 
they  may  be  a  reproach  to  some  in  higher  cir- 
cumstances, who  have  lost  that  decent  and 
endearing  quality. 

You  know  I  should  not  venture  to  talk  in 

this  manner  at ,  where  modesty  would  be 

decried  as  impolite  and  troublesome,  and  I  and 
my  slender  party  ridiculed  and  borne  down  by 
avast  majority.  I  shall  here  give  you  a  sample 
of  the  wretchedness  of  some  of  them. 

In  one  of  my  northern  journeys,  where  I 
travelled  in  a  good  deal  of  company,  there  was, 
among  the  rest,  a  Scots  baronet,  who  is  a  cap- 
tain in  the  army,  and  does  not  seem  (at  least  to 
me)  to  affect  concealment  of  his  country's  dis- 
advantage. This  gentleman,  at  our  inn,  when 
none  but  he  and  1  were  together,  examined  the 
maid-servant  about  her  way  of  living ;  and  she 
told  him  (as  he  interpreted  it  to  me)  that  she 
never  was  in  a  bed  in  her  life,  or  ever  took  off 
her  clothes  while  they  would  hang  together: 
but  in  this  last,  I  think,  she  was  too  general;  for 
I  am  pretty  sure  she  was  forced  to  pull  them  off 
now  and  then  for  her  own  quiet.  But  I  must 
go  a  little  further. 

*  This  applies  to  all  the  countries  of  which  \\c  have  any 
knowledge. 


LETTER   XXIT.  95 

One  half  of  the  hut,  by  partition,  was  taken 
up  with  the  field-bed  of  the  principal  person 
amonsf  us,  and  therefore  the  man  and  his  wife 

O      .       * 

very  courteously  offere'd  to  sit  up  and  leave 
their  bed  to  the  baronet  and  me  (for  the  rest  of 
the  company  were  dispersed  about  in  barns); 
but  we  could  not  resolve  to  accept  the  favour, 
for  certain  reasons,  but  chose  rather  to  lie  upon 
the  benches  with  our  saddles  for  pillows. 

Being  in  a  high  part  of  the  country,  the  night 
was  excessive  cold,  with  some  snow  upon  the 
mountains,  though  in  August,  and  the  next  day 
was  the  hottest  that  I  think  I  ever  felt  in  my 
life. 

The  violent  heat  of  the  sun  among  the  rocks, 
made  my  new  companions  (natives  of  the  hovel) 
such  voracious  cannibals  that  I  was  obliged  to 
lag  behind,  and  set  my  servant  to  take  vengeance 
on  them  for  the  plentiful  repast  they  were 
making  at  my  expence,  and  without  my  consent, 
and  by  which  I  was  told  they  were  become  as 
red  as  blood.  But  I  should  have  let  you  know, 
that  when  the  table  over-night  was  spread  with 
such  provisions  as  were  carried  with  us,  our 
chief  man  would  needs  have  the  lady  of  the 
house  to  grace  the  board ;  and  it  fell  to  my  lot 
to  sit  next  to  her  till  I  had  loaded  her  plate,  and 
bid  her  go  and  sup  with  her  husband,  for  I  fore- 
saw the  consequence  of  our  conjunction. 


96  LETTER    XXII. 

The  young  children  of  the  ordinary  High- 
landers are  miserable  objects  indeed,  and  are 
mostly  over-run  with  that  distemper  which  some 
of  the  old  men  are  hardly  ever  freed  of  from 
their  infancy.  I  have  often  seen  them  come  out 
from  the  huts  early  in  a  cold  morning  stark 
naked,  and  squat  themselves  down  (if  I  might 
decently  use  the  comparison)  like  dogs  on  a 
dunghill,  upon  a  certain  occasion  after  confine- 
ment. And  at  other  times  they  have  but  little 
to  defend  them  from  the  inclemencies  of  the 
weather  in  so  cold  a  climate :  nor  are  the  chil- 
dren of  some  gentlemen  in  much  better  con-4 
dition,  being  strangely  neglected  till  they  are 
six  or  seven  years  old :  this  one  might  know 
by  a  saying  I  have  often  heard,  viz. — "  That  a 
gentleman's  beams,  are  to  be  distinguished  by 
their  speaking-English." 

I  was  invited  one  day  to  dine  with  a  laird,  not 
very  far  within  the  hills ;  and,  observing  about  the 
house,  an  English  soldier,  whom  I  had  often  seen 
before  in  this  town,  I  took  an  opportunity  to  ask 
him  several  questions.  This  man  was  a  bird- 
catcher,  and  employed  by  the  laird  to  provide 
him  with  small  birds,  for  the  exercise  of  his 
hawks.  Among  other  things,  he  told  me  that 
for  three  or  four  days  after  his  first  coming,  he 
had  observed  in  the  kitchen  (an  out-house  hovel) 
a  parcel  of  dirty  children  half  naked,  whom  he 


LETTER    XXII.  97 

took  to  belong  to  some  poor  tenant,  till  at  last 
he  found  they  were  a  part  of  the  family ;  but, 
although  these  were  so  little  regarded,  the  young 
laird,  about  the  age  of  fourteen,  was  going  to 
the  university;  and  the  eldest  daughter,  about 
sixteen,  sat  with  us  at  table,  clean  and  genteely 
dressed. 

But,  perhaps,  it  may  seem,  that  in  this  and 
other  observations  of  the  like  kind,  whenever  I 
have  met  with  one  particular  fact,  I  would  make 
it  thought  to  be  general.  I  do  assure  you  it  is 
not  so:  but  when  I  have  known  any  thing  to  be 
common,  I  have  endeavoured  to  illustrate  it  by 
some  particular  example.  Indeed,  there  is 
hardly  any  thing  of  this  sort  that  I  have  men- 
tioned, can  be  so  general  as  to  be  free  from  all 
exception ;  it  is  justification  enough  to  me  if  the 
matter  be  generally  known  to  answer  my  de- 
scription, or  what  I  have  related  of  it.  But  I 
think  an  apology  of  this  nature  to  you  is  need- 
less. It  is  impossible  for  me,  from  my  own, 
knowledge,  to  give  you  an  account  of  the  ordi- 
nary way  of  living  of  those  gentlemen ;  because, 
when  any  of  us  (the  English)  are  invited  to  their 
houses,  there  is  always  an  appearance  of  plenty 
to  excess ;  and  it  has  been  often  said  they  will 
ransack  all  their  tenants  rather  than  we  should 
think  meanly  of  their  housekeeping:  but  I  have 
heard  it  from  many  whom  they  have  employed, 

VOL.  II.  H 


98  LETTER   XXII. 

and  perhaps  had  little  regard  to  their  observa- 
tions as  inferior  people,  that,  although  they  have 
been  attended  at  dinner  by  five  or  six  servants, 
yet,\vith  all  that  state,  they  have  often  dined  upon 
oatmeal  varied  several  ways,  pickled  herrings, 
or  other  such  cheap  and  indifferent  diet :  but 
though  I  could  not  personally  know  their  ordi- 
nary bill  of  fare,  yet  I  have  had  occasion  to  ob- 
serve they  do  not  live  in  the  cleanest  manner, 
though  some  of  them,  when  in  England,  affect 
the  utmost  nicety  in  that  particular. 

A  friend  of  mine  told  me,  some  time  ago, 
that,  in  his  journey  hither,  he  stopped  to  bait 
at  the  Bull  inn,  at  Stamford,  which,  I  think, 
is  one  among  the  best  in  England.  He  soon 
received  a  message  by  the  landlord,  from  two 
gentlemen  in  the  next  room,  who  were  going 
from  these  parts  to  London,  proposing  they 
might  all  dine  together:  this  he  readily  con- 
sented to,  as  being  more  agreeable  to  him  than 
dining  alone. 

As  they  sat  at  table,  waiting  for  dinner,  one 
of  them  found  fault  with  the  table-cloth,  and  said 
it  was  not  clean ;  there  was,  it  seems,  a  spot 
or  two  upon  it,  which  he  told  them  was  only 
the  stain  of  claret,  that  could  not  at  once  be 
perfectly  washed  out ;  then  they  wiped  their 
knives,  forks,  and  plates  with  the  napkins ;  and, 
in  short,  nothing  was  clean  enough  for  them  ; 


LETTER    XXII.  99 

— and  this  to  a  gentleman  who  is  himself  ex- 
tremely nice  in  every  thing  of  that  nature.  At 
last,  says  my  friend,  vexed  at  the  impertinent 
farce,  as  he  called  it,  "  Gentlemen,  I  am  vastly 
pleased  at  your  dislikes,  as  I  am  now  upon  my 
journey  to  Scotland  (where  I  have  never  yet 
been),  because  I  must  infer  I  shall  there  find 
these  things  in  better  condition."  "  Troth," 
says  one  of  them,  "  ye  canno  want  it."* 

I  am  sorry  for  such  instances,  whereby  a  fop, 
conscious  of  the  fallacy,  exposes  his  country, 
and  brings  a  ridicule  upon  other  gentlemen  of 
modesty  and  good  sense,  to  serve  a  momentary 
vanity,  if  not  to  give  affronts  by  such  gross 
impositions. 

I  know  very  well  what  my  friend  thinks  of 
them  now,  and,  perhaps,  by  their  means,  of 
many  others  who  do  not  deserve  it. 

There  is  one  gasconade  of  the  people  here- 
abouts, which  is  extraordinary :  they  are  often 
boasting  of  the  great  hospitality  of  the  High- 
landers to  strangers ;  for  my  own  part,  I  do  not 
remember  to  have  received  one  invitation  from 
them,  but  when  it  was  with  an  apparent  view 
to  their  own  interest :  on  the  contrary,  I  have 
several  times  been  unasked  to  eat,  though  there 

*  He  must  have  said,  "  You  canno  miss  it." 
H  2 


100  LETTER    XXil. 

was  nothing  to  be  purchased  within  many  miles 
of  the  place.*  But  one  particular  instance  was 
most  inhospitable.  Being  benighted,  soon  after 
it  was  dark,  1  made  up  to  the  house  of  one  to 
whom  I  was  well  known;  and,  though  I  had 
five  01*  six  miles  to  travel  over  a  dangerous 
rugged  way,  wherein  there  was  no  other  shel- 
ter to  be  expected  ;  yet,  upon  the  trampling  of 
my  horses  before  the  house,  the  lights  went  out 
in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  and  deafness  at 
once  seized  the  whole  family. 

The  latter  part  of  what  I  have  written  of  this 
letter  relates  chiefly  to  gentlemen  who  inha- 
bit the  Hills  not  far  from  the  borders  of  the 
Lowlands,  or  not  very  far  from  the  sea,  or 
communication  with  it  by  lakes ;  as,  indeed, 
most  part  of  the  houses  of  the  chiefs  of  clans 
are  in  one  or  other  of  these  situations.  These 
are  sometimes  built  with  stone  and  lime,  and 
though  not  large,  except  some  few,  are  pretty 
commodious,  at  least  with  comparison  to  these 

*  The.  hospitality  of  the  Highlanders  is  too  well  known  to  re- 
quire any  encomium  here;  and  those  who  read  M.  Wade's  Re- 
port, in  the  Appendix,  will  be  satisfied,  that  the  relative  situations 
of  English  military  men,  and  commissioners  of  all  sorts,  and  the 
gentry  of  the  greater  part  of  Inverness-shire,  were  then  such, 
that  particular  instances  of  cold  distrust,  and  even  rudeness,  are  not 
much  to  be  wondered  at. 


LETTER    XXII.  101 

that  are  built  in  the  manner  of  the  huts,  of 
which,  if  any  one  has  a  room  above,  it  is,  by 
way  of  eminence,  called  a  lofted  house  ;*  but 
in  the  inner  part  of  the  mountains  there  are  no 
stone  buildings  that  I  know  of,  except  the  bar- 
racks ;  and  one  may  go  a  hundred  miles  an- 
end  without  seeing  any  other  dwellings  than 
the  common  huts  of  turf. 

I  have,  indeed,  heard  of  one  that  was  in- 
tended to  be  built  with  stone  in  a  remote  part 
of  the  Highlands,  from  whence  the  laird  sent  a 
number  of  Highlanders,  with  horses,  to  fetch  a 
quantity  of  lime  from  the  borders ;  but,  in  their 
way  home,  there  happened  to  fall  a  good  deal 
of  rain,  and  the  lime  began  to  crackle  and 
smoke.  The  Highlanders  not  thinking,  of  all 
things,  water  would  occasion  fire,  threw  it  all 
into  a  shallow  rivulet,  in  order  to  quench  it, 
before  they  proceeded  further  homeward  ;  and 
this,  they  say,  put  an  end  to  the  project.  But 
I  take  this  to  be  a  Lowland  sneer  upon  the. 
Highlanders,  though  not  improbable. 

I  have  mentioned  above,  among  other  situa- 
tions of  stone-built  houses,  some  that  are  near 
to  lakes  which  have  a  communication  with  the 
sea. 

There  are,  in  several  parts  of  the  Highlands, 

*  The  term  loft  is  of  general  application  in  Scotland;  in 
England  it  is  confined  to  a  hay -loft,  organ-loft,  &c. 


102  LETTER   XXII. 

winding  hollows  between  the  feet  of  the  moun- 
tains whereinto  the  sea  flows,  of  which  hollows 
some  are  navigable  for  ships  of  burden,  for  ten 
or  twenty  miles  together  inland :  those  the  natives 
call  lochs,  or  lakes,  although  they  are  salt,  and 
have  a  flux  and  reflux,  and  therefore,  more  pro- 
perly, should  be  called  arms  of  the  sea.  I 
could  not  but  think  this  explanation  necessary, 
to  distinguish  those  waters  from  the  standing 
fresh-water  lakes,  which  I  have  endeavoured 
to  describe  in  a  former  letter. 


HIGHLAND  DRESS. 

ON  this  subject  we  shall  neither  tire  the  reader  with  our  own 
learning,  nor  put  that  which  others  have  wasted  upon  it  in  requi- 
sition. The  chequered  stuff,  commonly  worn  by  the  Highlanders, 
by  them  called  breacan  (particoloured),  and  by  the  Lowlanders 
tartan  (Fr.  tiretaine),  is  neither  peculiar  to  Celts  nor  Goths,  and 
is  to  be  found,  at  this  day,  although  not  in  such  general  use,  among 
many  of  the  Sclavonic  tribes,  who  have  no  connection  with  either. 
The  wife  of  every  Russian  boor,  in  the  north-western  provinces 
at  least,  who  can  make  her  such  a  present  at  her  marriage  (and 
it  is  often  a  sine  qua  non),  has  a  tartan  plaid,  which  she  wears 
just  as  the  Scotish  women,  in  our  author's  time,  did  theirs :  it  is 
of  massy  silk,  richly  varied,  with  broad  cross-bars  of  gold  and 
silver  tissue,  and  makes  a  very  splendid  appearance. 

That  the  Lowlanders  had  their  tartan  from  the  French,  at  a 
time  when  it  was  fashionable  in  other  countries,  may  be  pre- 


- 

LETTER    XXII. 

sumed  from  the  name;  and  to  imagine  that  the  manufacture 
began  amnog  the  Highlanders  would  be  ridiculous. 

The  Highland  field-dress  of  the  men  was  of  a  coarser  texture, 
and  thickened  by  fulling ;  it  was  called  cadda  (catk  da\  the  war 
colour),  and  was  a  tartan  of  such  colours  as  were  least  likely  to 
betray  the  wearer,  among  the  woods  and  heaths,  either  to  the 
game  he  was  in  quest  of,  or  to  his  enemies.  The  dyes  were  mostly 
extracted  from  woad,  when  it  could  be  got,  and  from  heath-tops, 
the  bark  and  tender  twigs  of  the  alder,  and  other  vegetable  sub- 
stances. As  to  the  ancient  form  of  the  dress,  nothing  could  be 
more  simple :  the  gentlemen,  having  less  frequent  occasion  to  use 
their  full  suit  as  a  blanket,  wore  a  yellow  shirt,  a  vest,  trowsers, 
and  mantle,  of  the  same  fashion  as  their  neighbours.  In  Ireland, 
a  few  centuries  ago,  the  lower  class  seldom  encumbered  them- 
selves with  dress  of  any  kind  within  doors ;  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  suppose  that  this  was  also  the  case  among  their  bre- 
thren in  Scotland.  When  they  went  out,  they  threw  a  light 
blanket  round  their  shoulders,  the  upper  part  made  tight  with 
skewers,  and  the  lower  gathered  up  into  folds,  which  they  se- 
cured under  the  girdle,  from  which  the  sword,  dagger,  purse,  «fec. 
were  suspended ;  this  they  called  feile,  a  word  of  the  same  origin 
with  the  Scotishfell;  English,  peel ;  Old  English,  pilche  ;  Ger- 
man and  northern,  peltz,  pels,  &c. ;  and  the  Latin,  pellis ;  all 
which  signified  an  external  surface,  skin,  or  covering  of  any 
kind.  Skins,  in  the  modern  acceptation  of  the  term,  were,  no 
doubt,  the  first  covering;  and  the  name  was  afterwards  properly 
enough  applied  to  a  covering  of  cloth.  At  night  they  took  out 
the  skewers,  unbuckled  the  girdle,  and  reduced  the  feile  to  its 
primary  form  of  a  blanket,  to  sleep  in.  The  women  wore  a 
petticoat,  or  trowsers,  of  skin,  cloth,  or  what  they  could  get,  and 
a  cloth  thrown  round  their  bodies  when  they  went  out.  As  civi- 
lization advanced,  a  shirt,  with  a  tunic,  or  short  jacket,  was  in- 
troduced ;  the  plaits  of  the  feile  were  rendered  permanent  by 
sewing,  and  the  plaid,  to  be  used  either  as  a  mantle  or  blanket, 


l/\/«  ' 

LETTER    XXII. 

was  added.  The  kilt,  feile-beg  (little  feile),  or  petticoat,  now 
worn,  has  succeeded  to  the  folded-up  ends  of  the  original  blanket; 
it  is  all  that  remains  of  the  ancient  costume,  and  was  reduced 
to  its  present  form  some  time  in  the  beginning  of  the  last  century. 
The  bonnet,  or  flat,  blue  thrum  cap,  is  of  a  very  modern  date, 
and  was  introduced  from  the  Lowlands.  The  gentlemen  of 
the  Highlands  wore  such  hats  and  caps  as  were  worn  by  gen- 
tlemen of  their  times  in  neighbouring  countries ;  and,  in  the  days 
of  our  grandfathers,  the  lower  class  of  Highlanders  were,  by  their 
Lowland  neighbours  (in  the  north-east  Lowlands,  at  least),  deno- 
minated families,  from  their  wearing  no  covering  on  their  head 
but  their  hair,  which,  at  a  more  early  period,  they  probably 
matted  and  felted,  for  horror  and  defence,  as  the  Irish  did  in 
Queen  Elizabeth's  time.  The  helmet-looking  bonnet,  now  worn, 
was  introduced  within  the  memory  of  persons  still  living. 

From  this  simple  account  of  the  Highland  dress,  it  will  be  seen 
that  it  has  in  itself  nothing  peculiar  to  one  country  more  than  ano- 
ther ;  as  the  different  improvements  upon  the  manner  of  girding 
the  loins,  and  trussing  up  a  blanket,  can  hardly  be  called  a  national 
costume.  The  dress  of  the  Romans  began  in  the  same  manner, 
and  went  through  nearly  the  same  varieties  of  form  ;  but,  for  a 
long  time  after  the  Romans  left  Britain,  it  can  hardly  be  imagined, 
that  the  inhabitants  of  the  more  remote  Highlands  had  either 
wool  or  cloth  of  their  own  produce.  Scattered  as  their  sheep,  if 
they  had  any,  must  have  been  upon  the  mountains,  they  had  no 
means  of  protecting  them  from  the  wolves;  and  they  had  not 
then  patient  industry  enough  to  look  after  tame  animals  that  could 
not  take  care  of  themselves. 

The  names  oi  the  different  parts  of  this  dress  are  all  conform- 
able to.what  has  been  said  above.  Thefeile-beg  is,  by  the  Low- 
ianders,  called  a  kilt,  from  its  having  been  kilted,  quilted,  or 
trussed  up  under  the  girdle.  The  meaning  of  the  Latin  toga  is 
found  in  the  Gaelic  toga1 ,•  in  English,  to  tuck  up,  from  the 
i*ame  circumstance ;  and  a  square  body-cloth,  still  worn  round  the 


LETTER    XXII.  105 

shoulders  by  the  Highland  women,  is  called  a  tunic,  or  tonnac. 
Plaid  (which  is  always  misapplied  in  England),  in  its  primary 
sense,  means  simply  any  thing  broad  and  flat,  and  thence,  a  broad, 
unformed  piece  of  cloth  ;  and,  in  its  its  secondary  and  modern  ac- 
ceptation, a  blanket ;  in  which  last  import  alone  it  is  now  used 
by  the  Highlanders.  The  trews,  or  trowsers,  formerly  worn  only 
by  the  gentry,  and  by  the  lower  classes,  after  the  philibeg  was 
proscribed  by  act  of  parliament,  are  so  denominated,  from  the 
Gaelic  trusa,  to  truss  up,  as  they  supplied  the  place  of  the  end 
of  thefeile  which  was  trussed  under  the  girdle. 


LETTER  XXIII. 

WHEN  a  young  couple  are  married,  for  the  first 
night  the  company  keep  possession  of  the  dwell- 
ing-house or  hut,  and  send  the  bridegroom  and 
bride  to  a  barn  or  out-house,  giving  them  straw, 
heath,  or  fern,  for  a  bed,  with  blankets  for  their 
covering ;  and  then  they  make  merry,  and  dance 
to  the  piper  all  the  night  long. 

Soon  after  the  wedding-day,  the  new-married 
woman  sets  herself  about  spinning  her  winding- 
sheet,  and  a  husband  that  should  sell  or  pawn 
it,  is  esteemed,  among  all  men,  one  of  the  most 
profligate.* 

At  a  young  Highlander's  first  setting  up  for 
himself,  if  he  be  of  any  consideration,  he  goes 
about  among  his  near  relations  and  friends ;  and 
from  one  he  begs  a  cow,  from  another  a  sheep ;  a 

*  When  a  woman  of  the  lower  class  in  Scotland,  however 
poor,  and  whether  married  or  single,  commences  housekeeping, 
her  first  care,  after  what  is  absolutely  necessary  for  the  time,  is 
to  provide  death-linen  for  herself,  and  those  who  look  to  her  for 
that  office;  and  her  next,  to  earn,  save,  and  lay  tip  (not  put  out 
to  interest),  as  much  money  as  may  decently  serve  for  funeral  ex- 
pences;  and  many  keep  sacred  those  honourable  deposits  and 


LETTER    XX1IJ.  107 

third  gives  him  seed  to  sow  his  land,  and  so  on, 
till  he  has  procured  for  himself  a  tolerable  stock 
for  a  beginner.  This  they  call  thigging. 

After  the  death  of  any  one,  not  in  the  lowest 
circumstances,  the  friends  and  acquaintance  of 
the  deceased  assemble  to  keep  the  near  rela- 
tions company  the  first  night ;  and  they  dance,* 
as  if  it  were  at  a  wedding,  till  the  next  morning, 
though  all  the  time  the  corpse  lies  before  them 
in  the  same  room.  If  the  deceased  be  a  woman, 
the  widower  leads  up  the  first  dance;  if  a  man, 
the  widow.  But  this  Highland  custom  I  knew, 
to  my  disturbance,  within  less  than  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  of  Edinburgh,  before  I  had  been  among 

salutary  mementos  for  two  or  three  score  years,  or  longer. 
This  gives  a  very  favourable  and  edifying  picture  of  the  state  of 
mind  and  sentiment  among  the  Scotish  peasantry,  on  which  many 
excellent  remarks  will  be  found  in  Mrs.  Grant's  Essays  on  the 
superstitions  of  the  Highlanders. — Strangers  have  suspected 
that  lady  of  partiality ;  but  it  is  a  partiality  very  honourably 
earned  by  those  who  are  the  objects  of  it. 

*  In  some  parts  of  the  country  the  funeral  dances  are  still  kept 
up.  They  commence  on  the  evening  of  the  death;  all  the 
neighbours  attend  the  summons ;  and  the  dance,  accompanied  by 
a  solemn,  melancholy  strain  called  a  lament,  is  begun  by  the 
nearest  relatives,  who  are  joined  by  most  of  those  present ;  and 
this  is  repeated  every  evening  until  the  interment.  These  dances 
may,  perhaps,  be  intended  as  an  expression  of  joy  that  their  friend 
is  removed  from  this  vale  of  tears  to  a  better  state  of  existence : 
and  though  the  practice  does  not  commend  itself  to  the  refined 
mind,  yet  it  conveys  no  absolute  impropriety.  I  cannot  say  so 


108  LETTER  XXIir. 

the  Mountains.  It  was  upon  the  death  of  a 
smith,  next  door  to  my  lodgings,  who  was  a 
Highlander. 

The  upper  class  hire  women  to  moan  and  la- 
ment at  the  funeral  of  their  nearest  relations. 
These  women  cover  their  heads  with  a  small 
piece  of  cloth,  mostly  green,  and  every  now  and 
then  break  out  into  a  hideous  howl  and  Ho-bo- 
bo-bo-boo,  as  I  have  often  heard  is  done  in 
some  parts  of  Ireland. 

This  part  of  the  ceremony  is  called  a  coronoch, 
and,  generally  speaking,  is  the  cause  of  much 
drunkenness,  attended  with  its  concomitants, 
mischievous  rencounters  and  bloody  broils ;  for 

much  with  respect  to  another  prevailing  custom  in  the  High- 
lands. I  allude  to  their  habit  of  drinking  at  funerals.  A  neigh- 
bourhood scarcely  ever,  I  believe,  assemble  upon  these  occasions 
without  raising  their  drooping  spirits  above  the  ordinary  pitch 
by  whiskey,  the  favourite  liquor  of  the  country.  The  following 
circumstance  was  related  to  us  by  an  eye-witness.  A  person, 
originally  from  Oban,  had  spent  some  time  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Inverary  in  the  exercise  of  some  mechanic  art,  and  dying 
there,  his  corpse,  at  his  own  request,  was  carried  by  his  friends 
towards  Oban  for  interment.  On  a  hill  between  Inverary  and 
Loch  Awe,  just  above  Port  Sonachan,  they  were  met  by  the 
relations  of  the  deceased  from  Oban,  who  came  to  convey  the 
corpse  the  remainder  of  the  way.  The  parting  could  not  take 
place  without  a  glass  of  spirits,  that  had  been  plentifully  provided 
by  the  Oban  party.  The  drinking  commenced,  and  continued 
until  upwards  of  forty  persons  were  rendered  incapable  of  motion 
from  its  disgusting  effects. — Garnet £s  Tour,  vol.  i.  119, 120, 


LETTER    XXIIT.  109 

all  that  have  arms  in  their  possession,  accoutre 
themselves  with  them  upon  those  occasions. 

I  have  made  mention  of  their  funeral  piles  in 
a  former  letter ;  but  I  had  once  occasion  to  take 
particular  notice  of  a  heap  of  stones,  near 
the  middle  of  a  small  piece  of  arable  land. 
The  plough  was  carefully  guided  as  near  to  it 
as  possible;  and  the  pile,  being  "like  others  I 
had  seen  upon  the  moors,  I  asked,  by  an  inter- 
preter, whether  there  was  a  rock  beneath  it; 
but,  being  answered  in  the  negative,  I  further 
inquired  the  reasons  why  they  .lost  so  much 
ground,  and  did  not  remove  the  heap.  To  this 
I  had  for  answer,  it  was  a  burial  place,  and  they 
deemed  it  a  kind  of  sacrilege  to  remove  a  sin- 
gle stone ;  and  that  the  children,  from  their  in- 
fancy, were  taught  the  same  veneration  for  it. 
Thus  a  parcel  of  loose  stones  are  more  reli- 
giously preserved  among  them  than,  with  us, 
the  costly  monuments  in  Westminster- Abbey ; 
and  thence  I  could  not  but  conclude  that  the 
inclination  to  preserve  the  remains  and  memory 
of  the  dead  is  greater  with  those  people  than 
it  is  among  us.  The  Highlanders,  even  here  in 
this  town,  cannot  forego  the  practice  of  the 
Hills,  in  raising  heaps  of  stones  over  such  as 
have  lost  their  lives  by  some  misfortune ;  for, 
in  Oliver's  Fort,  no  sooner  was  the  body  of  an 
officer  removed  from  the  place  where  he  fell  in 
a  duel,  than  they  set  about  the  raising  such  a 


110  LETTER  XXIII. 

heap  of  stones  upon  the   spot  where  he  had 
lain.     So  much  for  mountain-monuments. 
Those  who  are  said  to  have  the  second  sight* 

o 

deal  chiefly  in  deaths,  and  it  is  often  said  to  be 

*  Of  an  opinion  received  for  centuries  by  a  whole  nation,  and 
supposed  to  be  confirmed,  through  its  whole  descent,  by  a  series 
of  successive  facts,  it  is  desirable  that  the  truth  should  be  esta- 
blished or  the  fallacy  detected.  The  second  sight  is  an  impres- 
sion made  either  by  the  mind  upon  the  eye,  or  by  the  eye  upon 
the  mind ;  by  which  things  distant  or  future  are  perceived,  and 
seen  as  if  they  were  present.  A  man,  on  a  journey  far  from 
home,  falls  from  his  horse ;  another,  who  is  perhaps  at  work  about 
the  house,  sees  him  bleeding  on  the  ground,  commonly  with  a 
landscape  of  the  place  where  the  accident  befals  him ;  another 
seer,  driving  home  his  cattle,  or  wandering  in  idleness,  or  musing 
in  the  sunshine,  is  suddenly  surprised  by  the  appearance  of  a 
bridal  ceremony,  or  funeral  procession,  and  counts  the  mourners 
or  attendants,  of  whom,  if  he  knows  them,  he  relates  the  names; 
if  he  knows  them  not,  he  can  describe  their  dresses.  Things 
distant  are  seen  at  the  instant  when  they  happen :  of  things  future, 
I  know  not  that  there  is  any  rule  for  determining  the  time  be- 
tween the  sight  and  the  event.  The  receptive  faculty,  for  power 
it  cannot  be  called,  is  neither  voluntary  nor  constant.  The  ap- 
pearances have  no  dependence  upon  choice ;  they  cannot  be 
summoned,  detained,  or  recalled — the  impression  is  sudden,  and 
the  effect  often  painful. 

To  collect  sufficient  testimonies,  for  the  satisfaction  of  the  pub- 
lic, or  of  ourselves,  would  have  required  more  time  than  we 
could  bestow.  There  is  against  it,  the  seeming  analogy  of  things 
confusedly  seen  and  little  understood ;  and  for  it,  the  indistinct 
cry  of  national  persuasion,  which  may  be,  perhaps,  at  last  resolved 
into  prejudice  and  tradition.  I  never  could  advance  my  curiosiiy 
to  conviction,  but  came  away  at  last  only  wHling  to  believe. — 
Johnsons  Journey,  Works,  vol.  viii.  343. 


LETTER    XXIII.  Ill 

a  gift  peculiar  to  some  families ; — that  is,  the 
cheat  has,  with  some,  been  handed  down  from 
father  to  son  :*  yet  I  must  confess  they  seldom 
fail  to  be  right  when  they  reveal  their  pre- 
dictions, for  they  take  the  surest  method 
to  prophetise,  which  is  to  divulge  the  oracle 
after  the  fact.  Of  this  I  had  once  an  opportu- 
nity to  convince  a  Highland  gentleman,  from 
whom  I  thought  might  have  been  expected 
more  reason  and  less  prejudice,  than  to  be 
gulled  by  such  impostors. 

The  matter  was  this : — A  poor  Highlander 
was  drowned  in  wading  a  ford,  and  his  body 
afterwards  put  into  a  small  barn ;  not  many 
days  after,  the  laird,  endeavouring  to  pass  the 
same  water,  which  was  hard  by  his  own  house, 

*  In  mountainous  regions,  deceptions  of  sight,  fata  morgana, 
&c.  are  more  common  ;  and  these,  with  the  effects  of  dreary  so- 
litude and  awful  vastness  upon  the  imagination,  give  rise  to  super- 
stitions to  which  the  enthusiasm  of  the  Highlanders,  and  the 
warmth  of  affection  with  which  they  cherish  the  living  and  the 
dead,  has  given  some  peculiar  features.  Their  superstitions  are, 
in  general,  vecy  poetical,  reduced  to  a  more  regular  system  than 
elsewhere,  and  all  of  a  moral  tendency,  as  well  as  favourable  to 
religion.  An  illiterate  Highlander  loses  much  more  than  he 
gains  by  getting  rid  of  them.  But  this  subject  has  fallen  into 
much  better  hands ;  and  Mrs.  Grant's  admirable  Essays  on  the 
Superstitions  of  the  Highlanders  are,  or  ought  to  be,  read  by  all 
who  are  curious  in  the  history  of  the  human  mind  in  general,  or 
of  the  Highlanders  in  particular. 


112  LETTER   XX11I. 

his  horse  gave  way,  and  he  was  likewise  drowned, 
and  carried  into  the  same  hut.  Soon  after,  a 
story  began  to  pass  for  current,  that  such-a-one, 
the  second-sighted,  foretold,  when  the  body  of 
the  poor  man  lay  exposed  to  view,  that  it  would 
not  be  long  before  a  greater  man  than  he  should 
lie  in  the  same  place.  This  was  all  that  was 
pretended,  and  that  too  was  afterwards  found 
to  be  an  invention,  arising  from  the  circumstance 
of  two  persons,  at  a  little  distance  of  time,  be- 
ing drowned  in  the  same  ford,  and  both  their 
bodies  carried  to  one  hovel,  which,  indeed, 
stood  singly,  near  the  place  where  they  were 
both  stopped  by  the  rocks. 

Witches  and  goblins  are  likewise  pretty  com- 
mon among  the  Highlanders,  and  they  have 
several  old  prophecies  handed  down  to  them 
by  tradition  ;  among  which,  this  is  one, — That 
the  time  shall  come  when  they  shall  measure 
out  the  cloth  of  London  with  a  long  pole.* 

As  the  little  manufacture  they  had  was  cloth, 
so,  at  the  time  when  this  pretended  prophecy 
was  broached,  they  esteemed  that  the  only 
riches,  and  did  not  know  of  the  treasure  of 
Lombard-Street ;  like  the  country  boy,  that  fed 

*  This  had  some  sense  it,  as  well  as  the  following : — "  The 
time  shall  come  when  every  river  shall  have  a  bridge  where  it 
has  a  boat,  and  a  white  cairn  (stone  and-Iime  edifice)  on  every 
green  slope  on  its  banks." 


LETTER    XXIII.  ]  13 

poorly  and  worked  hard,  who  said,  if  he  were  a 
gentleman,  he  would  eat  fat  bacon,  and  swing 
all  day  long  upon  Gaffer  such-a-one's  yate. 

A  certain  laird,  whom  I  have  mentioned  se- 
veral times  before,  though  not  by  name,  is  fre- 
quently heard  to  affirm,  that,  at  the  instant  he 
was  born,  a  number  of  swords,  that  hung  up  in 
the  hall  of  the  mansion-house,  leaped  of  them- 
selves out  of  the  scabbards,  in  token,  I  suppose, 
that  he  was  to  be  a  mighty  man  in  arms ;  and 
this  vain  romance  seems  to  be  believed  by  the 
lower  order  of  his  followers ;  and  I  believe 
there  are  many  that  laugh  at  it  in  secret,  who 
dare  not  publicly  declare  their  disbelief.  But, 
because  the  miracle  has  hitherto  only  por- 
tended the  command  of  his  clan  and  an  inde- 
pendent company,  he  has  endeavoured  to  supply 
the  defeat  of  the  presage  by  his  own  epitaph, 
altogether  as  romantic,  in  his  own  kirk,  which 
he  still  lives  to  read,  whenever  he  pleases  to 
gratify  his  vanity  with  the  sight  of  it. 

They  have  an  odd  notion  relating  to  dead 
bodies  that  are  to  be  transported  over  rivers, 
lakes,  or  arms  of  the  sea :  before  it  is  put  on 
board  they  appraise  and  ascertain  the  value  of 
the  boat  or  vessel,  believing,  if  that  be  neg- 
lected, some  accident  will  happen  to  endanger 
the  lives  of  those  who  are  embarked  in  it ;  but, 
upon  recollection,  I  think  some  of  our  seamen 

VOL.  ir.  i 


114  LETTER  XXIII. 

entertain  this  idle  fancy  in  some  measure  ;  for, 
I  have  heard,  they  do  not  care  for  a  voyage 
with  a  corpse  on  board,  as  though  it  would  be 
the  occasion  of  tempestuous  weather :  and, 
lastly  (for  I  shall  not  trouble  you  longer  with 
things  of  this  kind,  which  are  without  number), 
the  Highlanders  are  of  opinion,  that  it  is  in  the 
power  of  certain  enchantresses  to  prevent  the 
act  of  procreation;  but  I  am  rather  inclined  to 
believe  it  was  originally  a  male  artifice  among 
them  to  serve  as  an  excuse  in  case  of  imbe- 
cility.* 

The  marriages  of  the  chiefs  and  chieftains 
are,  for  the  most  part,  confined  to  the  circuit  of 
the  Highlands ;  and  they  generally  endeavour  to 
strengthen  their  clan  by  what  they  call  power- 
ful alliances :  but  I  must  not  be  understood  to 
include  any  of  the  prime  nobility  of  Scotland, 
of  whom  there  are  some  chiefs  of  clans :  their 
dignity  places  them  quite  out  of  the  reach  of 
any  thing  I  have  said,  or  have  to  say,  in  rela- 
tion to  the  heads  of  Highland  families,  who  re- 
side constantly  with  them,  and  govern  them  in 
person.  As  to  the  lower  class  of  gentry  and 
the  ordinary  people,  they  generally  marry  in 
the  clan  whereto  they  appertain. 

All  this  may  be  political  enough,   i.  e.    the 
chief  to  have  regard  to  the  Highlands  in  gene- 
*  See  Burns'*  "  Address  to  the  Deil." , 


LETTER    XXIIT.  115 

ral,  and  his  followers  to  their  own  particular 
tribe  or  family,  in  order  to  preserve  themselves 
a  distinct  people  ;  but  this  continues  them  in  a 
narrow  way  of  thinking  with  respect  to  the  rest 
of  mankind,  and  also  prevents  that  addition  to 
the  circumstances  of  the  whole,  or  part  of  the 
Highlands,  which  might  be  made  by  marriages 
of  women  of  fortune  in  the  Lowlands.  This, 
in  time,  might  have  a  good  effect,  by  producing 
an  union,  instead  of  that  coldness,  to  say  -no 
more,  which  subsists,  at  present,  between  the 
natives  of  those  two  parts  of  Scotland,  as  if 
they  bore  no  relation  one  to  another,  considered 
as  men  and  subjects  of  the  same  kingdom,  and 
even  the  same  part  of  it.  Yet  I  must  here 
(and  by  the  bye)  take  notice  of  one  thing, 
wherein  they  perfectly  agree,  which  experience 
has  taught  me  to  know  perfectly  well ;  and  that 
is,  to  grudge  and  envy  those  of  the  south  part 
of  the  island  any  profitable  employment  among 
them,  although  they  themselves  are  well  re- 
ceived and  equally  encouraged  and  employed 
with  the  natives  in  that  part  of  the  king- 
dom ;  and  I  think  further,  they  have  sometimes 
more  than  their  share,  if  they  must  needs 
keep  up  such  a  partial  and  invidious  distinc- 
tion. 

But  to  return  to  the  marriages  of  the  High- 
landers.— Perhaps,  after  what  has  been  said  of 

i  2 


116  LETTER    XXIII. 

the  country,  it  may  be  asked,  what  Lowland 
woman  would  care  to  lead  a  life  attended  with 
so  many  inconveniencies  ?  Doubtless  there  are 
those  who  would  be  as  fond  of  sharing  the  clan- 
nish state  and  power  with  a  husband,  as  some 
others  are  of  a  name,  when  they  sell  themselves 
for  a  title  ;  for  each  of  these  kinds  of  vanity  is 
very  flattering :  besides,  there  are  many  of  the 
Lowland  women  who  seem  to  have  a  great 
liking  to  the  Highlandmen,  which  they  cannot 
forbear  to  insinuate  in  their  ordinary  conversa- 
tion. But  such  marriages  are  very  rare ;  and  I 
know  but  one  instance  of  them,  which,  I  must 
confess,  will  not  much  recommend  the  union  of 
which  I  have  been  speaking ;  but  then  it  is  but 
one,  and  cannot  be  the  cause  of  any  general  in- 
ference. 

A  certain  chieftain  took  to  wife  the  daughter 
of  an  Edinburgh  goldsmith;  but  this  Lowland 
match  was  the  cause  of  much  discontent  in  the 
tribe,  as  being  not  only  a  diminution  of  the  ho- 
nour of  the  house,  but,  in  their  opinion,  an  ill 
precedent  besides ;  and  nothing  was  more  com- 
mon among  the  people  of  that  branch  of  the 
clan,  than  to  ask  among  themselves — "  Were 
there  not  smiths  enough  in  the  clan  that  had 
daughters  ?  How  comes  our  chief  then  to  have 
married  the  daughter  of  a  Lowland  smith?" 
Making  no  distinction  between  an  Edinburgh 


LETTER  XXIII.  11? 

goldsmith  and  a  Highland  blacksmith.  They 
thought  it  was  a  disgrace,  of  which  every  one 
partook,  that  he  should  match  himself  with  a 
tradesman's  daughter,  a  Lowland  woman,  and 
no  way  derived  from  the  tribe. 

This  proved  in  the  end  to  be  a  fatal  mar- 
riage ;  but  as  it  is  uncertain,  and  therefore 
would  be  unjust  for  me  to  determine,  in  a  matter 
whereof  I  have  not  a  perfect  knowledge,  I  can- 
not conclude  which  of  the  two,  the  husband  or 
the  wife,  was  the  occasion  of  the  sad  catas- 
trophe. I  shall  only  say  what  I  know,  viz.  that 
an  old  rough  Highlander,  of  sixty  at  least,  was 
imprisoned  at  one  of  the  barracks,  while  I  was 
there,  for  accepting  favours  from  the  lady.  She 
was  to  be  sent  to  Edinburgh  to  answer  the  ac- 
cusation ;  and,  while  she  was  preparing  to  go, 
and  the  messenger  waiting  without  doors,  to 
conduct  her  thither — she  died. 

The  clan  whereto  the  above-mentioned  tribe 
belongs,  is  the  only  one  I  have  heard  of  which 
is  without  a  chief; — that  is,  being  divided  into 
families  under  several  chieftains,  without  any 
particular  patriarch  of  the  whole  name :  and 
this  is  a  great  reproach,  as  may  appear  from  an 
affair  that  fell  out  at  my  table  in  the  Highlands, 
between  one  of  that  name  and  a  Cameron. 
The  provocation  given  by  the  latter  was  Name 
your  chief. — The  return  to  it  at  once  was,  You 


118  LETTER   XXlll. 

are  a  fool.  They  went  out  the  next  morning ; 
but,  having  early  notice  of  it,  I  sent  a  small 
party  of  soldiers  after  them,  which,  in  all  pro- 
bability, prevented  some  barbarous  mischief 
that  might  have  ensued ;  for  the  chiefless  High- 
lander, who  is  himself  a  petty  chieftain,  was 
going  to  the  place  appointed  with  a  small-sword 
and  pistol  ;*  whereas  the  Cameron  (an  old  man) 
took  with  him  only  his  broad-sword,  according 
to  agreement. 

When  all  was  over,  and  I  had  at  least  seem- 
ingly reconciled  them,  I  was  told  the  words  (of 
which  I  seemed  to  think  but  slightly),  were  to 
one  of  that  clan  the  greatest  of  all  provocations. 

In  a  bargain  between  two  Highlanders,  each 
of  them  wets  the  ball  of  his  thumb  with  his 
mouth,  and,  then  joining  them  together,  it  is 
esteemed  a  very  binding  act;t  but,  in  more 
solemn  engagements,  they  take  an  oath  in  a 
manner  which  I  shall  describe  in  some  succeed- 
ing letter. 

When  any  one  of  them  is  armed  at  all  points, 

*  The  Highlanders  had  just  been  disarmed,  otherwise  no 
Highlander  would  have  carried  a  small  sword  that  could  have 
procured  a  broad  one ;  and  the  pistol  was  as  much  a  part  of 
dress  as  the  philibeg,  and  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  duel.  He 
that  took  unfair  advantages  in  single  combat  was  renounced  by  his 
own  clan,  and  no  other  would  receive  or  protect  him. 

t  This,  in  the  Lowlands,  is  called  palming  thumbs,  and  is 
still  in  use,  but  chiefly  among  children. 


LETTER  XXIII.  119 

he  is  loaded  with  a  target,  a  firelock,  a  heavy 
broad-sword,  a  pistol,  stock  and  lock  of  iron,  a 
dirk  ;  and,  besides  all  these,  some  of  them  carry 
a  sort  of  knife,  which  they  call  a  skeen-ockles, 
from  its  being  concealed  in  the  sleeve  near  the 
arm-pit. 

This  last  is  more  peculiar  to  the  robbers,  who 
have  done  mischief  with  it,  when  they  were 
thought  to  have  been  effectually  disarmed. 

To  see  a  Highlander  thus  furnished  out  might 
put  one  in  mind  of  Merry  Andrew,  when  he 
comes  from  behind  the  curtain,  in  a  warlike 
manner,  to  dispute  the  doctor's  right  to  his 
stage.  He  is  then,  in  his  own  individual  person, 
a  whole  company  of  foot,  being  loaded  with 
one  of  every  species  of  the  arms  and  trophies 
of  a  regiment,  viz.  a  pike,  halbert,  firelock, 
sword,  bayonet,  colours,  and  drum. 

Sometimes,  when  a  company  of  them  have 
previously  resolved  and  agreed  to  be  peaceable 
and  friendly  over  their  usky,  they  have  drawn 
their  dirks  and  stuck  them  all  into  the  [cheese] 
table  before  them,  as  who  should  say,  "  No- 
thing but  peace  at  this  meeting — no  private 
stabbing  to-night."  But,  in  promiscuous  com- 
panies, at  great  assemblies,  such  as  fairs,  bu- 
rials, &c.  where  much  drunkenness  prevails, 
there  scarcely  ever  fails  to  be  great  riots  and 
much  mischief  done  among  them. 


120  LETTER    XXIII. 

To  shoot  at  a  mark,  they  lay  themselves  all 
along  behind  some  stone  or  hillock,  on  which 
they  rest  their  piece,  and  are  along  while  taking 
their  aim;  by  which  means  they  can  destroy 
any  one  unseen,  on  whom  they  would  wreak 
their  malice  or  revenge. 

When  in  sight  of  the  enemy,  they  endeavour 
to  possess  themselves  of  the  higher  ground,  as 
knowing  they  give  their  fire  more  effectually  by 
their  situation  one  above  another,  being  without 
discipline;  and  also  that  they  afterwards  de- 
scend on  the  enemy  with  greater  force,  having, 
in  some  measure,  put  it  out  of  their  power  to 
recede  in  the  first  onset. 

After  their  first  fire  (I  need  not  have  said  their 
first,  for  they  rarely  stand  a  second),  they  throw 
away  their  fire-arms  and  plaids,  which  encumber 
them,  and  make  their  attack  with  their  swords ; 
but  if  repulsed,  they  seldom  or  never  rally,  but 
return  to  their  habitations.  If  they  happen  to 
engage  in  a  plain,  when  they  expect  the  enemy's 
fire,  they  throw  themselves  down  on  the  ground. 
They  had  ever  a  dread  of  the  cavalry,  and  did 
not  care  to  engage  them,  though  but  few  in 
number.* 

*  At  Killicrankie  they  certainly  showed  no  such  fear;  but,  in 
general,  the  author's  remark  is  just;  and  it  was  not  easy  to  per- 
suade many  of  them,  who  had  never  encountered  cavalry,  that  the 
horses  were  not  trained  to  bite,  and  strike  with  their  fore-feet. 


LETTER    XXIIT.  121 

I  chanced  to  be  in  company  one  time  with  an 
old  Highlander,  as  I  passed  over  the  plain  of 
Killicranky,  where  the  battle  was  fought  be- 
tween king  William's  troops,  commanded  by 
general  Mackay,  and  the  rebel  Highlanders 
under  the  earl  [viscount]  of  Dundee. 

When  he  came  to  the  great  stone  that  is  raised 
about  the  middle  of  the  flat,  upon  the  spot  where 
Dundee  fell,  we  stopped;  and  there  he  de- 
scribed to  me,  in  his  manner,  the  order  and  end 
of  the  battle,  of  which  I  shall  now  give  you  the 
substance  only,  for  he  was  long  in  telling  his 
story. 

He  told  me  that  Mackay  extended  his  line, 
which  was  only  two  deep,  the  whole  length  of 
the  plain;  designing,  as  he  supposed,  to  sur- 
round the  Highlanders,  if  they  should  descend 
from  the  side  of  an  opposite  hill,  where  they 
were  posted.  That  after  the  first  firing,  the 
rebels  came  down,  six  or  seven  deep,  to  attack 
the  king's  troops;  and,  their  rear  pushing  on 
their  front,  they  by  their  weight  charged  through 
and  through  those  feeble  files;  and,  having 
broke  them,  made  with  their  broad-swords  a 
most  cruel  carnage ;  and  many  others  who  ex- 
pected no  quarter,  in  order  to  escape  the  High- 
land fury,  threw  themselves  into  that  rapid 
river  (the  Tay),  and  were  drowned.  But  he 
said  there  was  an  English  regiment  who  kept 


122  LETTER  XXIII. 

themselves  entire  (the  only  one  that  was  there), 
whom  the  Highlanders  did  not  care  to  attack; 
and,  after  the  slaughter  was  over  and  the  enemy 
retired,  that  single  corps  marched  from  the  field 
in  good  order.  He  further  told  me,  there  were 
some  few  horse  badly  mounted,  who,  by  the 
strength  and  weight  of  the  Highland  files  were 
pushed  into  the  river,  which  was  close  in  their 
rear.* 

On  any  sudden  alarm  and  danger  of  distress 
to  the  chief,  he  gives  notice  of  it  throughout  his 
own  clan,  and  to  such  others  as  are  in  alliance 
with  him.  This  is  done  by  sending  a  signal, 
which  they  call  t\\z  fiery-cross, -\  being  two  sticks 
tied  together  transversely,  and  burnt  at  the 
ends;  with  this,  he  sends  directions  in  writing, 
to  signify  the  place  of  rendezvous.  And,  when 
the  principal  person  of  any  place  has  received 
this  token,  he  dismisses  the  messenger,  and 
sends  it  forward  to  another;  and  so  on,  till  all 
have  received  the  intelligence.  Upon  the  re- 

*  See  note  at  the  end  of  this  letter. 

t  Mr.  Pennant  thus  describes  the  sending  of  t\\c  fiery-cross. — 
"  In  every  clan  there  is  a  known  place  of  rendezvous,  styled 
Carn-a-whin,  to  which  they  must  resort  on  this  signal.  A  person 
is  sent  out  full-speed  with  a  pole  burnt  at  one  end  and  bloody  at 
the  othor,  and  with  a  cross  at  the  top,  which  is  called  crosh-tarie 
(the  cross  of  shame,  or  the  fiery-cross):  the  first,  from  the  disgrace 
they  would  undergo  if  they  declined  appearing;  the  second,  from 
the  penalty  of  having  fire  and  sword  carried  through  their  country 


LETTER    XXIII.  123 

ceipt  of  this  signal,  all  that  are  near  immediately 
leave  their  habitations,  and  repair  to  the  place 
appointed,  with  their  arms,  and  oatmeal  for  their 
provision.  This  they  mingle  with  the  water  of 
the  next  river  or  bourn  they  come  to,  when  hun- 
ger calls  for  a  supply;  and  often,  for  want  of  a 
proper  vessel,  sup  the  raw  mixture  out  of  the 
palms  of  their  hands. 

They  have  been  used  to  impose  a  tax  upon 
the  inhabitants  of  the  Low-country,  near  the 
borders  of  the  Highlands,  called  black  mail*  (or 

in  case  of  refusal.  The  first  bearer  delivers  it  to  the  next  person 
he  meets,  he  running  full-speed  to  the  third,  and  so  on.  In  every 
clan  the  bearer  had  a  peculiar  cry  of  war:  that  of  the  Macdonalds 
was  Freich,  or  heath;  that  of  the  Grants,  Craig-elachie ;  of  the 
Mackenzies,  Tulliekard.  In  the  late  rebellion,  it  was  sent  by 
some  unknown,  disaffected  hand  through  the  country  of  Breadal- 
bane,  and  passed  through  a  tract  of  thirty-two  miles  in  three  ho,urs, 
but  without  effect." — Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  i.  212,  213. 

The  cran-tarra  was  used  among  the  ancient  Scandinavians, 
who,  it  is  probable,  introduced  it  into  the  Highlands. 

•*  The  celebrated  Barisdale  carried  the  art  of  plunder  to  the 
highest  pitch  of  perfection.  Besides  exerting  all  the  common 
practices,  he  imposed  that  article  of  commerce  called  the  black- 
meal  to  a  degree  beyond  what  was  ever  known  to  his  prede- 
cessors. This  was  a  forced  levy,  so  called  from  its  being  com- 
monly paid  in  meal,  which  was  raised  far  and  wide  on  the  estate 
of  every  nobleman  and  gentleman,  in  order  that  their  cattle 
might  be  secured  from  the  lesser  thieves,  over  whom  he  secretly 
presided,  and  whom  he  protected.  He  raised  an  income  of  five 
hundred  a-year  by  these  taxes,  and  behaved  with  genuine  honour 
in  restoring,  on  proper  consideration,  the  stolen  cattle  of  his 


124  LETTER    XXIIf. 

rent),  and  levy  it  upon  them  by  force;  and 
sometimes  upon  the  weaker  clans  among  them- 
selves. But  as  it  was  made  equally  criminal, 
by  several  acts  of  parliament,  to  comply  with 
this  exaction  and  to  extort  it,  the  people,  to 
avoid  the  penalty,  came  to  agreement  with  the 
robbers,  or  some  of  their  correspondents  in  the 
Lowlands,  to  protect  their  houses  and  cattle. 
And,  as  long  as  this  payment  was  punctually 
made,  the  depredations  ceased,  or  otherwise  the 
collector  of  this  imposition  was  by  contract 

friends.  He  observed  a  strict  fidelity  towards  his  own  gang,  and 
yet  was  indefatigible  in  bringing  to  justice  any  rogues  that  inter- 
fered with  his  own.  He  was  a  man  of  a  polished  behaviour,  fine 
address,  and  fine  person.  He  considered  himself  in  a  very  high 
b'ght,  as  a  benefactor  to  the  public,  and  preserver  of  general  tran- 
quillity ;  for  on  the  silver  plates,  the  ornaments  of  his  baldrick,  he 
thus  addresses  his  broad-sword — 

Hae  tibi  erunt  artes,  pacis  componere  mores ; 

Parcere  subjectis  et  debellare  superbos. 

Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  405. 

Barisdale,  as  described  here  and  elsewhere,  is  presumed  to  have 
furnished  the  original  for  the  character  of  M'lver,  in"  Waverly.'' 
Mr.  Pemiant  is  wrong  in  his  derivation  of  black-mail,  of  which  a 
good  account  will  be  found  in  the  Glossaries  of  Schilter  and 
Wachter.  It  is  compounded  of  black,  from  blacken,  to  plunder, 
and  mal,  a  mark;  land-mark;  term;  tribute,  the  payment  of 
which  marked  a  certain  term  ;  rent. — When  a  Scotsman  says  he 
has  paid  his  mail,  (i.  e.  rent),  it  is  as  if  he  said  "  he  has  paid  his 
term,"  which  is  commonly  martinmas.  The  word  mail  has  crept 
into  the  Gaelic  from  the  Saxon. 


LETTER    XXIIT.  125 

obliged  to  make  good  the  loss,  which  he  seldom 
failed  to  do. 

These  collectors  gave  regular  receipts,  as  for 
safeguard  money ;  and  those  who  refused  to  pay 
it,  were  sure  to  be  plundered,  except  they  kept 
a  continual  guard  of  their  own,  well  armed,  which 
would  have  been  a  yet  more  expensive  way  of 
securing  their  property.  And,  notwithstanding 
the  guard  of  the  independant  Highland  compa- 
nies, which  were  raised  chiefly  to  prevent  thefts 
and  impositions  of  this  nature,  yet  I  have  been 
certainly  informed,  that  this  black  mail,  or  eva- 
sive safeguard-money,  has  been  very  lately  paid 
in  a  disarmed  part  of  the  northern  Highlands; 
and,  I  make  no  doubt,  in  other  places  besides, 
though  it  has  not  yet  come  to  my  knowledge.* 

The  gathering-in  of  rents  is  called  uplifting 

*  In  1341,  a  Monroe  of  Foulis  having  met  with  some  affront 
from  the  inhabitants  of  Strathardalc,  between  Perth  and  Athol, 
determined  on  revenge,  collected  his  clan,  made  his  inroad,  and 
returned  with  a  large  booty  of  cattle.  As  he  passed  by  Moy-hall, 
this  threshold  of  the  Highlands,  the  Macintosh  of  1454  sent  to 
demand  the  strike  creich,  or  road  collop,  being  a  certain  part  of 
the  booty,  challenged  according  to  an  ancient  custom  by  the  chief- 
tains, for  liberty  of  passing  with  it  through  their  territories.  Mon- 
roe acquiesced  in  the  demand,  and  offered  a  reasonable  share :  but 
not  less  than  half  would  content  the  chieftain  of  Clan  Chatten. 
This  was  refused,  and  a  battle  ensued,  'in  which  Macintosh 
was  killed,  and  Munroe  lost  his  hand.-— Pennant's  Scotland^ 
vol.  i.  209. 


126  LETTER   XXIII. 

them,  and  the  stealing  of  cows  they  call  lifting,  a 
softening  word  for  theft ;  as  if  it  were  only  col- 
lecting their  dues.  This  I  have  often  heard ; 
but  it  has  so  often  occurred  to  me,  that  we  have 
the  word  shop-lifting,  in  the  sense  of  stealing, 
which  I  take  to  be  an  old  English  compound 
word.  But,  as  to  the  etymology  of  it,  I  leave 
that  to  those  who  are  fond  of  such  unprofitable 
disquisitions,  though  I  think  this  is  pretty  evi- 
dent. 

When  a  design  is  formed  for  this  purpose,  they 
go  out  in  parties  from  ten  to  thirty  men,  and 
traverse  large  tracts  of  mountains,  till  they  ar- 
rive at  the  place  where  they  intend  to  commit 
their  depredations ;  and  that  they  choose  to  do 
as  distant  as  they  can  from  their  own  dwellings. 
The  principal  time  for  this  wicked  practice  is 
the  Michaelmas  moon,*  when  the  cattle  are  in 
condition  fit  for  markets,  held  on  the  borders  of 
the  Lowlands.  They  drive  the  stolen  cows  in 

*  Theft  and  plundering,  instead  of  being  infamous,  were 
reckoned  the  most  wholesome  exercises  of  youth,  when  they  were 
without  the  limits  of  their  own  community,  and  were  not  taken 
in  the  fact.  From  this  source  the  chiefs  derived  rewards  for  their 
numerous  followers,  and  dowries  sometimes  for  their  daughters. 
It  is  known  that  one  of  them  engaged,  in  a  contract  of  marriage, 
to  give  his  son-in-law  the  purchase  of  three  Michaelmas  moons, 
at  a  season  of  the  year  when  the  nights  were  long,  and  the  cattle 
strong  eaough  to  bear  hard  driving.  This  transaction  happened 


LETTER    XXIII.  127 

the  night-time,  and  by  day  they  lie  concealed 
with  them  in  bye-places  among  the  mountains, 
where  hardly  any  others  come ;  or  in  woods,  if 
any  such  are  to  be  found  in  their  way. 

I  must  here  ask  leave  to  digress  a  little,  and 
take  notice,  that  I  have  several  times  used  the 
word  cows  for  a  drove  of  cattle.  This  is  accord- 
ing to  the  Highland  style  ;*  for  they  say  A  drove 
of  cows,  when  there  are  bulls  and  oxen  among 
them,  as  we  say  A  flock  of  geese,  though  there 
be  in  it  many  ganders.  And  having  just  now 
mentioned  the  time  of  lifting,  it  revived  in  my 
memory  a  malicious  saying  of  the  Lowlanders, 
viz.  that  the  Highland  lairds  tell  out  their  daugh- 
ters' tochers  by  the  light  of  the  Michaelmas 
moon.f  But  to  return  : 

on  the  main  land,  where  dark  woods,  extensive  wastes,  high 
forked  mountains,  and  a  coast  indented  with  long  winding  branches 
of  the  sea,  favoured  the  trade.  Those  were  strong  holds,  little 
frequented  by  strangers,  where  the  ancient  practices  and  preju- 
dices might  be  preserved  to  the  last  period  of  time,  without  some 
such  violent  shock  as  that  of  the  year  1745.— -Pennant's  Scotland, 
vol.  iii.  427. 

*  He  should  have  said  "  the  Lowland  style.'1'' 

f  These  peculiarities  of  speech,  &c.  belong  to  the  Scotish  and 
English  borderers,  by  whom,  in  speaking  English  to  the  author, 
they  have  been  appropriated  to  the  Highlanders.  Lifting  means 
raising  ;  and  they  talk  of  lifting  cattle,  as  an  Englishman  does 
of  raising  rents,  taxes,  contributions,  &c. 


128  LETTER    XXI 1 1. 

Sometimes  one  band  of  these  robbers*  has 
agreed  with  another  to  exchange  the  stolen  cat- 
tle; and,  in  this  case,  they  used  to  commit  their 
robberies  nearer  home;  and  by  appointing  a 
place  of  rendezvous,  those  that  lifted  in  the  north- 
east (for  the  purpose)  have  exchanged  with 
others  toward  the  west,  and  each  have  sold  them 
not  many  miles  from  home,  which  was  com- 
monly at  a  very  great  distance  from  the  place 
where  they  were  stolen.  Nay,  further,  as  I 
have  been  well  informed,  in  making  this  con- 
tract of  exchange,  they  have,  by  correspon- 
dence, long  before  they  went  out,  described  to 
each  other  the  colour  and  marks  of  the  cows 
destined  to  be  stolen  and  exchanged. 

I  remember  a  story  concerning  a  Highland- 

*  The  greatest  robbers  were  used  to  preserve  hospitality  to 
those  that  come  to  their  houses;  and,  like  the  wild  Arabs,  ob- 
served the  strictest  honour  towards  their  guests,  or  those  that  put 
implicit  confidence  in  them.  The  Kennedies,  two  common 
thieves,  took  the  young  pretender  under  protection,  and  kept  him 
with  faith  inviolate,  notwithstanding  they  knew  an  immense  re- 
ward was  offered  for  his  head.  They  often  robbed  for  his  support ; 
and,  to  supply  him  with  linen,  they  once  surprised  the  baggage- 
horses  of  one  of  our  general  officers.  They  often  went  in  disgusc 
to  Inverness,  to  buy  provisions  for  him.  At  length,  a  very  con- 
siderable time  after,  one  of  these  poor  fellows,  who  had  virtue 
sufficient  to  resist  the  temptation  of  thirty  thousand  pounds,  was 
hanged  for  stealing  a  cow,  value  thirty  shillings. — Penna/it's 
Scotland,  vol.  ii.  401. 


LETTER    XXiri.  129 

woman,  who,  begging  a  charity  of  a  Lowland 
laird's  lady,  was  asked  several  questions ;  and, 
among  the  rest,  how  many  husbands  she  had 
had?  To  which  she  answered,  three.  And 
being  further  questioned,  if  her  husbands  had 
been  kind  to  her,  she  said  the  two  .first  were 
honest  men,  and  very  careful  of  their  family,  for 
they  both  died  for  the  law, — that  is,  were  hanged 
for  theft .  "  Well,  but  as  to  the  last  ? "  "  Hout ! " 
says  she,  "  a  fulthy  peast !  he  dy'd  at  hame,  lik 
an  auld  dug,  on  a  pucklc  o'  strae."* 

Those  that  have  lost  their  cattle  sometimes 
pursue  them  by  the  tract,  and  recover  them  from 
the  thieves.  Or  if  in  the  pursuit  they  are 
hounded  (as  they  phrase  it)  into  the  bounds  of 
any  other  chief,  whose  followers  were  not  con- 
cerned in  the  robbery,  and  the  track  is  there  lost, 
he  is  obliged  by  law  to  trace  them  out  of  his 
territory,  or  make  them  good  to  the  owner. 

By  the  way,  the  heath,  or  heather,  being 
pressed  by  the  foot,  retains  the  impression,  or 
at  least  some  remains  of  it,  for  a  long  while, 
before  it  rises  again  effectually;  and  besides, 
you  know,  there  are  other  visible  marks  left 
behind  by  the  cattle.  But  even  a  single  High- 

*  This  woman  was  a  worthless  vagrant,  such  as  may  be  found 
in  any  country,  and  had  naturally  connected  herself  with  persons 
of  her  own  sort ;  but  neither  she  nor  they  were  fair  specimens  of 
Highland  character. 

VOL.  II.  K 


130  LETTER    XXIII. 

lander  has  been  found  by  the  track  of  his  foot, 
when  he  took  to  hills  out  of  the  common  ways, 
for  his  greater  safety  in  his  flight,  as  thinking 
he  could  not  so  well  be  discovered  from  hill  to 
hill,  every  now  and  then,  as  he  often  might  be 
in  the  road  (as  they  call  it)  between  the  moun- 
tains. 

If  the  pursuers  overtake  the  robbers,  and  find 
them  inferior  in  number,  and  happen  to  seize 
any  of  them,  they  are  seldom  prosecuted,*  there 
being  but  few  who  are  in  circumstances  fit  to 
support  the  expence  of  a  prosecution ;  or,  if 
they  were,  they  would  be  liable  to  have  their 
houses  burnt,  their  cattle  hocked,  and  their 
lives  put  in  danger,  from  some  of  the  clan  to 
which  the  banditti  belonged. 

But,  with  the  richer  sort,  the  chief,  or  chief- 
tain, generally  makes  a  composition,  when  it 
comes  to  be  well  known  the  thieves  belonged  to 
his  tribe,  which  he  willingly  pays,  to  save  the 

*  And  it  ought  to  be  added  here,  for  the  consideration  of  our 
legislature,  that  this  forbearance  tended  to  diminish,  instead  of 
increasing  the  number  of  offenders  and  offences.  We  know  no 
people  who  are  so  averse  to  taking  away  life,  except  in  fair  fight- 
ing in  the  field,  as  the  Highlanders  :  even  their  most  adventurous 
and  irreclaimable  freebooters  contemplated  with  horror  the  mis- 
fortune (regarded  as  fatal)  of  having  the  curse  of  blood  upon  their 
heads.  It  would  ruin  ROB  ROY,  as  a  fashionable  hero,  to  in- 
sinuate that  he  never  committed  a  murder  in  his  life ;  and  yet  we 
think  it  most  probable  that  he  never  did ! 

il  .11  .J07 


LETTER    XXIII.  131 

lives  of  some  of  his  clan ;  and  this  is  repaid  him 
by  a  contribution  among  the  robbers,  who  never 
refuse  to  do  their  utmost  to  save  those  of  their 
fraternity.  But  it  has  been  said  this  payment 
has  been  sometimes  made  in  cows,  stolen  from 
the  opposite  side  of  the  country,  or  paid  out  of 
the  produce  of  them  when  sold  at  the  market. 

It  is  certain  some  of  the  Highlanders*  think 
of  this  kind  of  depredation  as  our  deer-stealers 
do  of  their  park  and  forest  enterprizes; — 
that  is,  to  be  a  small  crime,  or  none  at  all. 
And,  as  the  latter  would  think  it  a  scandalous 
reproach  to  be  charged  with  robbing  a  hen- 
roost, so  the  Highlander  thinks  it  less  shameful 
to  steal  a  hundred  cows  than  one  single  sheep ; 
for  a  sheep-stealer  is  infamous  even  among 
them. 

If  I  am  mistaken  in  that  part  of  my  account 

*  There  is  not  an  instance  of  any  country  having  made  so  sud- 
den a  change  in  its  morals  as  that  of  the  Highlands :  security  and 
civilization  now  possess  every  part;  yet  thirty  years  have  not 
elapsed  since  the  whole  was  a  den  of  thieves  of  the  most  extraor- 
dinary kind.  They  conducted  their  plundering  excursions  with 
the  utmost  policy,  and  reduced  the  whole  art  of  theft  into  a  re- 
gular system.  From  habit  it  lost  all  appearance  of  criminality  : 
they  considered  it  as  labouring  in  their  vocation ;  and,  when  a 
party  was  formed  for  an  expedition  against  another's  property, 
they  and  their  friends  prayed  as  earnestly  for  success,  as  if  they 
were  engaged  in  the  most  laudable  design. — Pennant's  Scotland, 
vol.  ii.  400. 

K  2 


132  LETTER  XXIII. 

of  the  lifting  of  cattle,  which  is  beyond  my  own 
knowledge,  you  may  lay  the  blame  to  those 
gentlemen  who  gave  me  the  information. 

But  there  is  no  more  wonder  that  men  of  ho- 
nesty and  probity  should  disclose,  with  abhor- 
rence, the  evil  practices  of  the  vile  part  of  their 
countrymen,  than  that  I  should  confess  to  them 
we  have,  among  us,  a  number  of  villains  that 
cannot  plead  the  least  shadow  of  an  excuse  for 
their  thievings  and  highway-robberies,  unless 
they  could  make  a  pretence  of  their  idleness  and 
luxury. 

When  I  first  came  into  these  parts,  a  High- 
land gentleman,  in  order  to  give  me  a  notion  of 
the  ignorance  of  some  of  the  ordinary  High- 
landers, and  their  contempt  of  the  Lowland 
laws  (as  they  call  them),  gave  me  an  account, 
as  we  were  walking  together,  of  the  behaviour 
of  a  common  Highlandman  at  his  trial  before 
the  lords  of  justiciary  in  the  Low-country.  By 
the  way,  the  appearance  of  those  gentlemen 
upon  the  bench  is  not  unlike  that  of  our  judges 
in  England. 

I  shall  repeat  the  fellow's  words,  as  near  as  I 
can,  by  writing  in  the  same  broken  accent  as 
my  Highland  friend  used  in  mimicking  the  cri- 
minal. 

This  man  was  accused  of  stealing,  with  others, 
his  accomplices,  a  good  number  of  cattle  ;  and, 


LETTER    XXIII.  133 

while  his  indictment  was  in  reading,  setting 
forth  that  he,  as  a  common  thief,  had  lain  in  wait, 
&c.  the  Highlander  lost  all  patience,  and,  inter- 
rupting, cried  out,  "  Common  tief !  common 
tief !  steal  ane  cow,  twa  cow,  dat  be  common 
tief:  lift  hundred  cow,  dat  be  shentilman's  tro- 
vers." After  the  court  was  again  silent,  and 
some  little  progress  had  been  made  in  the  par- 
ticulars of  the  accusation,  he  again  cried  out, 
"  Ah,  hone !  dat  such  fine  shentilmans  should 
sit  dere  wid  der  fine  cowns  on,  te  mak  a  parshel 
o'  lees  on  a  peur  honesht  mon." 

But,  in  conclusion,  when  he  was  told  what 
was  to  be  his  fate,  he  roared  out  most  outra- 
geously, and,  fiercely  pointing  at  the  judges, 
he  cried  out,  "  Ah,  for  a  proad- sword  an  a  tirk, 
to  rid  de  hoose  o'  tose  foul  peastes !" 

Personal  robberies  are  seldom  heard  of 
among  them :  for  my  own  part,  I  have  several 
times,  with  a  single  servant,  passed  the  moun- 
tain-way from  hence  to  Edinburgh,  with  four  or 
five  hundred  guineas  in  my  portmanteau,  with- 
out any  apprehension  of  robbers  by  the  way,  or 
danger  in  my  lodgings  by  night ;  though,  in  my 
sleep,  any  one,  with  ease,  might  have  thrust  a 
sword,  from  the  outside,  through  the  wall  of  the 
hut  and  my  body  together.  I  wish  we  could 
say  as  much  of  our  own  country,  civilized  as  it 


134  LETTER   XXIII. 

is  said  to  be,  though  one  cannot  be  safe  in  going 
from  London  to  Highgate. 

Indeed,  in  trifling  matters,  as  a  knife,  or  some 
such  thing,  which  they  have  occasion  for,  and 
think  it  will  cause  no  very  strict  inquiry,  they 
are,  some  of  them,  apt  to  pilfer ;  while  a  silver 
spoon,  or  a  watch,  might  lie  in  safety,  because 
they  have  no  means  to  dispose  of  either,  and  to 
make  use  of  them  would  soon  discover  their 
theft.  But  I  cannot  approve  the  Lowland  say- 
ing, viz.  "  Show  me  a  Highlander,  and  I  will 
show  you  a  thief." 

Yet,  after  all,  I  cannot  forbear  doing  justice 
upon  a  certain  laird,  whose  lady  keeps  a  change 
far  in  the  Highlands,  west  of  this  town. 

This  gentleman,  one  day,  opportunity  tempt- 
ing, took  a  fancy  to  the  lock  of  an  officer's 
pistol ;  another  time  he  fell  in  love  (like  many 
other  men)  with  a  fair  but  deceitful  outside,  in 
taking  the  boss  of  a  bridle,  silvered  over,  to  be 
all  of  that  valuable  metal.*  It  is  true,  I  never 
lost  any  thing  at  his  hut ;  but  the  proverb  made 
me  watchful — I  need  not  repeat  it. 

*  Such  things  might  have  been  injured,  and  afterwards  put 
out  of  the  way,  by  some  over-curious  and  mischievous  boy,  but 
certainly  never  were  stolen  by  a  man.  The  accusation  was  pro- 
bably an  invention  of  the  officer's  servant  to  save  himself  from 
blame. 


LETTER  XXIII.  135 

But  let  this  account  of  him  be  of  no  conse- 
quence ;  for,  I  do  assure  you,  I  never  knew  any 
one  of  his  rank  do  any  thing  like  it  in  all  the 
Highlands. 

And,  for  my  own  part,  I  do  not  remember 
that  ever  I  lost  any  thing  among  them  but  a  pair 
of  new  doe-skin  gloves;  and,  at  another  time, 
a  horse-cloth,  made  of  plaiding,  which  was 
taken  away  while  my  horses  were  swimming 
across  a  river ;  and  that  was  sent  me  the  next 
day  to  Fort  William,  to  which  place  I  was 
going  when  it  was  taken  from  the  rest  of  my 
baggage,  as  it  lay  upon  the  ground.  I  say  no- 
thing in  this  place  of  another  robbery,  because 
I  know  the  motive  to  it  was  purely  revenge. 

I  thought  I  had  done  with  this  part  of  my 
subject;  but  there  is  just  now  come  to  my 
remembrance  a  passage  between  an  ordinary 
Highlandman  and  an  officer  on  half-pay,  who 
lives  in  this  town,  and  is  himself  of  Highland 
extraction. 

He  told  me,  a  long  while  ago,  that,  on  a  cer- 
tain time,  he  was  going  on  foot,  and  unattended, 
upon  a  visit  to  a  laird,  about  seven  or  eight 
miles  among  the  Hills;  and,  being  clad  in  a 
new  glossy  summer-suit  (instead  of  his  High- 
land dress,  which  he  usually  wore  upon  such 
occasions),  there  overtook  him  in  his  way  an 


136  LETTER  XXIII. 

ordinary  fellow,  who  forced  himself  upon  him 
as  a  companion. 

When  they  had  gone  together  about  a  mile, 
his  new  fellow-traveller  said  to  him — "  Troth, 
ye  ha  getten  bra  clais;"  of  which  the  officer 
took  little  notice ;  but,  some  time  after,  the  fel- 
low began  to  look  sour,  and  to  snort,  as  they 
do  when  they  are  angry :  "  Ah,  'tis  ponny  geer  I 
what  an  I  sho'd  tak  'em  frae  ye  noo?"  Upon 
this,  the  officer  drew  a  pistol  from  his  breast, 
and  said,  "  What  do  you  think  of  this  ?" 

But,  at  sight  of  the  pistol,  the  fellow  fell  on 
his  knees,  and  squalled  out,  "  Ah,  hone !  ah, 
hone!  she  was  but  shokin." 

It  is  true,  this  dialogue  passed  in  Irish,  but  this 
is  the  language  in  which  I  was  told  the  story. 

But  I  have  known  several  instances  of  com- 
mon Highlanders,  who,  finding  themselves  like 
to  be  worsted,  have  crouched  and  howled  like  a 
beaten  spaniel,  so  suddenly  has  their  insolence 
been  turned  into  fawning.  But,  you  know, 
we  have  both  of  us  seen,  in  our  own  country,  a 
change  in  higher  life  not  less  unmanly. 

You  may  see,  by  this  additional  article,  that 
I  can  conceal  nothing  from  you,  even  though  it 
may  seem,  in  some  measure,  to  call  in  question 
what  I  had  been  saying  before. 


LETTER    XXIII.  137 

THE 

VISCOUNT  DUNDEE, 

AND 

MAJOR-GENERAL  MACK  AY. 

THE  favourable  light  in  which  the  VISCOUNT  DUNDEE  appears  in 
the  admirable  "  TALES  OF  MY  LANDLORD,"  having  lately  occa- 
sioned a  good  deal  of  discussion  in  England,  and  more  particularly 
in  Scotland ;  and  the  supposed  partiality  of  the  author  to  this 
hero,  having  given  rise  to  much  heavy  complaint,  and  many 
severe  animadversions  from  the  more  rigid  Presbyterians  of  the 
old  school ;  we  have  thought  proper  to  subjoin  here,  characters  of 
him  and  his  rival,  as  they  are  drawn  by  a  cool,  sensible,  impar- 
tial and  conscientious  man,  who  had  the  advantage  of  easy  and 
confidential  intercourse  with  the  best-informed  people  of  his  time, 
who  were  able  to  speak  from  their  own  personal  knowledge. 
They  are  taken  from  "  A  short  Account  of  Scotland;  being  a 
Description  of  the  Nature  of  that  Kingdom,  and  what  the  Con- 
stitution of  it  is  in  Church  and  State,  fyc.  written  by  the  late 
Reverend  Mr.  Thomas  Morer,  Minister  of  St.  Anns,  within 
Aldersgate,  when  he  was  Chaplain  to  a  Scotch  Regiment."  This 
tract  was  first  published,  as  we  have  been  informed,  about  the 
beginning  of  last  century ;  and  the  edition  now  before  us  is  dated 
1715.  It  is  extremely  rare ;  and  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  the  wonderful  author  of  the  "  Tales"  knew  of  its  existence, 
till  after  the  publication  of  that  popular  work. 

"  DUNDEE  was  by  name  Graham,  and  by  title  Clavers,  edu- 
cated at  St.  Andrew's  ;  where,  in  his  minority,  he  was  admired 
for  his  parts,  and  respects  to  Church-men,  which  made  him  dear  to 
the  Arch-Bishop,  of  that  See,  who  ever  after  honour'd  and  lov'd 
him.  Grown  to  maturity,  he  goes  to  Holland,  where  he  was  in  the 


138  LETTER   XX III. 

service  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  but  continued  in  it  not  very  long, 
upon  some  disgust  there  given  him.  At  his  return,  however,  the 
Prince  gave  him  a  letter  of  recommendation,  directed  to  the 
Duke  of  York,  with  a  request  to  provide  for  him ;  which  accord- 
ingly the  Duke  did,  by  interceding  with  his  brother  King  Charles 
the  Second,  for  an  Horse-Captain 's  Commission  in  Scotland,  where 
forces  were  then  raising  :  and  'twas  a  particular  testimony  of  the 
King's  favour ;  for  though  he  allowed  Duke  Lauderdale  to  dispose 
of  the  other  commissions  as  he  thought  good,  yet  he  excepted  Mr. 
Grahams,  and  'twas  the  only  exception  on  that  occasion.  He 
behaved  himself  so  well  in  this  post,  that  afterwards  some  scatter'd 
1  and  independent  troops  being  formed  into  a  regiment,  Capt.  Gra- 
hame  was  made  their  Colonel,  and,  in  progress  of  time,  Major- 
General  of  all  the  Scotch  forces,  with  which  character  he  came  to 
England,  at  the  landing  of  the  Prince  1 688.  Being  found  very 
capable  to  serve  the  crown,  he  was  admitted  into  the  Privy  Coun- 
ct7,  who  inlarged  his  commission,  and  gave  him  power  to  reduce 
the  West,  and  make  the  Dissenters  comply  with  the  constitution  of 
the  Church  as  it  then  was ;  which  he  happily  then  compassed  by 
many  struggles,  and  by  laying  great  fines  on  'em,  but  seldom  ex- 
acting 'em  with  rigour.  By  King  James  the  7th.  he  was  made 
discount  of  Dundee,  his  seat  being  near  that  Burrough.  And 
upon  the  news  of  the  Prince's  coming,  he  was  order'd  to  march 
with  his  regiment  into  England;  where  he  was  like  to  have 
commanded  as  eldest  Major-General,  but  the  English  officers  with 
the  same  commissions  would  not  bear  it.  He  advised  K.  James 
to  three  things ;  One,  to  fight  the  Prince  of  Orange ;  Ano- 
ther, to  go  personally  td  the  Prince,  aad  demand  his  business ;  the 
Last,  to  make  his  way  into  Scotland,  upon  the  coldness,  he  ob- 
served, in  the  English  army  and  nation.  This  advice  the  King 
was  inclined  to  take,  but  that  the  news  of  some  Scotch  Peers  and 
Gentlemen's  hastening  to  London,  dishearten'd  him,  who  were  sus- 
pected to  favour  the  Prince's  design.  On  the  King's  departure, 
he  apply'd  himself  to  the  Prince,  with  whom  he  was  too  free  iu 


LETTER  XXIII.  139 

declaring  his  thoughts,  and  therefore  could  expect  no  kind  recep- 
tion. Upon  this  he  retired ;  and  hearing  of  the  Scotch  Convention, 
he  began  his  journey  to  Edinburgh,  to  be  present  at  it.  A  while 
he  sat  at  this  Convention,  but  discovering  a  design  in  hand  to 
assassinate  him,  he  first  complain'd;  and  the  complaint  not 
taking  effect,  he  absented  from  that  meeting  ;  and,  at  last,  with 
40  Horse  (which  a  little  before  he  commanded,  and  were  resolved 
to  run  his  fortune)  rid  home,  having  had  first  some  communica- 
tion with  the  Duke  of  Gourdon,  who,  in  behalf  of  King  James, 
commanded  the  Castle,  and  would  not  deliver  it  up  for  any  pro- 
posals made  by  the  Convention.  This  treating  with  the  Duke  of 
Gourdon,  gave  his  enemies  advantage,  who  thereupon  obtain'd 
a  vote  to  make  him  an  intercommond  Person,  and  sent  an  officer 
to  require  him  to  appear  before  'em  at  Edinburgh.  But  he  ex- 
cused himself  by  two  reasons;  1st,  his  own  danger;  2dly,  the  in- 
disposition of  his  Lady,  who  lay  in,  and  was  also  in  some  danger  on 
account  of  labour.  Whereupon  the  Convention  proceeds,  orders 
him  to  be  apprehended,  and  by  that  means  forces  him  with  his 
little  guard  into  the  Mountains ;  where  the  Highlanders  flocked 
to  him  in  such  numbers,  that  at  last  they  became  a  formidable 
army :  with  these  he  came  to  Gilli-cranky  ;  and  had  he  not  been 
there  killed,  he  had  been  at  Edinburgh  a  few  days  after. 

"He  was  a  gentleman  fix'dinhis/Ze/igion,  so  that  King  James 
could  not  charm  him  into  any  dislike  of  it;  but  the  more  he  found  it 
opposed,  the  more  he  loved  it.  He  was  a  great  admirer  of  the 
Church-of -England-Worship;  and  often  wished  Scotland  so  happy, 
that  where  God  is  served,  the  service  might  be  done  in  some  happy, 
visible  instances  of  Reverence,  such  as  are  Order  and  Decency. 
He  was  of  deep  thought  and  indefatigable  industry,  ready  to  exe- 
cute what  he  design'd,  and  quick  in  the  contrivance,  as  well  as 
the  execution  of  it.  He  was  a  man  of  bravery  and  courage,  and 
therefore  led  up  all  his  regiments,  which  indeed  were  unwilling 
to  advance  without  him  ;  yet  used  the  care  of  a  General,  to  ex- 
pose himself  no  farther  than  necessity  requires,  as  being  the  guide 
and  head  of  his  army.  And  because  he  was  forced  to  appear 


140  LETTER    XX I II. 

often  at  the  head  of  each  regiment,  to  advice  and  inspirit  'era, 
just  before  the  battel,  he  put  on  a  sad-colour'd  coat  over  his 
armour,  tho'  he  appeared  in  Red  all  the  morning  before.  He  seem'd 
to  have  no  base  ends  in  resisting  the  present  government,  but  (as 
he  said),  for  Conscience  and  Loyalty-sake.  And  by  virtue  of  this 
principle  it  was,  that  when  he  surprised  Perth,  he  suffered  not 
the  least  violence  or  damage  to  be  done  the  Town;  and  finding 
500 /.  in  the  Collector  of  the  Revenue 's  Room,  besides  what  be- 
longed to  the  King,  he  did  not  touch  it,  but  said,  he  intended  to 
rob  no  man ;  tho'  what  was  the  Crown's,  he  thought  he  might  make 
bold  with,  seeing  what  he  was  then  doing  was  purely  to  serve  his 
Master.  He  was  so  great  a  patron  to  the  Clergy,  that  they  could 
hardly  mention  him  without  a  tear.  His  death  he  took  with 
patience,  and  had  at  it  a  sufficient  confidence  of  the  Divine  Favour. 
For  when  his  favourite  Pitcor  asked  him  how  he  did?  and  told 
him  withal  how  things  went,  and  that  all  was  well  if  he  were  so: 
Then  /  am  well,  said  he ;  and  so  immediately  died.  What  they 
thought  of  him  in  Scotland  is  partly  seen  by  several  copies  of 
Verses  upon  his  death.  This  was  one  of  them : 

"  Ultime  Scotorum,  potuit,  quo  sospite  solo, 
Libertas  Patriae  salva  fuisse  tuae, 

Te  moriente,  novos  accepit  Scotia  cives, 
Accepitque  novos,  te  moriente,  Deos. 

Ilia  nequit  superesse  tibi,  Tu  non  potes  illi ; 
Ergo,  Caledonia?  nomen  inane,  vale ! 

Tuque  vale,  Gentis  prisca?  fortissime  Ductor 
Ultime  Scotorum,  ac  ultime  Grame,  vale!" 

"  MACKAY  was  a  High-Lander,  tho'  Commander  in  Chief 
against  'em.  Arrived  at  Manhood,  he  sails  for  Holland,  to  make 
his  fortune ;  where,  gradually  rising,  he  was  at  last  made  a  Colonel, 
and  with  that  commis-ion  returns  into  Scotland,  when  the  three 
Regiments  were  recalled  upon  Argyle's  attempt  in  that  kingdom. 
But  Colonel  Douglass  being  a  Brigadier  at  that  time,  and  some 
feuds  depending  between  the  two  families  of  Melfort  and  Doug- 


LETTER    XXIII.  141 

lass,  Melfort  (who  by  religion  and  zeal  for  the  Popish  Interest, 
had  the  ascendant  over  King  James),  to  spight  the  other  family, 
obtains  a  commission  from  the  King  to  make  Col.  Mackay  a 
Major-General,  that  so  he  might  command  Brigadier  Douglass, 
who  was  certainly  the  better  officer,  as  well  as  the  better  gentle- 
man. And  this  is  the  reason  he  was  chief  Commander  when 
Sir  John  Lanier  was  in  Scotland :  because  Sir  John  was  not  a 
Major-General  till  the  landing  of  the  Prince  of  Orange,  whereas 
Mackay  had  his  commission  when  Monmouth  appeared  in  the 
West  some  years  before. 

"  He  was  certainly  an  Honest  Gentleman,  a  zealous  Presby- 
terian, and  brave  enough,  as  appear'd  at  Gilli-cranky,  where, 
tho'  his  conduct  was  blamed,  his  courage  was  not,  tho'  the  flight 
of  his  men  forc'd  him  to  give  way.  He  was  a  good  soldier, 
with  sufficient  qualifications  for  a  Colonel ;  but  for  a  General 
office,  it  seem'd  to  be  a  preferment  above  his  capacity.  His  ill 
conduct  show'd  itself  divers  ways ;  First,  his  neglect  of  ammu- 
nition when  he  marched  in  the  Blair  of  Athol,  the  soldiers  having 
a  very  slender  provision  of  powder  and  ball.  Then,  his  going 
with  so  weak  a  force  against  a  formidable  enemy,  who  had  many 
advantages  in  that  place,  and  not  only  the  mountains,  but  the 
people  to  favour  'em.  His  often  marching  the  Horse  till  it  was 
dark  night,  when  they  were  to  incamp  and  forage,  appeared  very 
strange,  when  no  reason  could  be  offer'd  for  it :  but,  on  the  con- 
trary, 'twas  extremely  dangerous  as  well  as  inconvenient,  to  be 
moving  at  such  an  hour.  His  travelling  up  and  down  the  country 
with  great  bodies  of  Horse  without  doing  any  thing,  and  for  ought 
we  could  discover,  without  design  to  do;  this  look'd  as  if  he  af- 
fected a  Cavalcade,  or  Progress,  more  than  a  War,  and  had  a 
mind  to  ruine  the  troops,  instead  of  subduing  the  country.  Which, 
and  the  like  instances,  tho'  frequently  remonstrated  by  the  English 
officers,  yet  made  no  impression;  but  he  went  on  in  his  way, 
that  it  might  not  be  said  he  wanted  those  helps  in  the  Art  of  War, 
or  that  they  knew  'em  better  than  he." 


LETTER  XXLV. 

BESIDES  tracking  the  cows,  as  mentioned  in  my 
last  letter,  there  was  another  means  whereby 
to  recover  them ;  which  was  by  sending  persons 
into  the  country  suspected,  and  by  them  offer- 
ing a  reward  (which  they  call  tascal-money )  to 
any  who  should  discover  the  cattle  and  those 
who  stole  them.  This,  you  may  be  sure,  was 
done  as  secretly  as  possible.  The  temptation 
sometimes,  though  seldom,  proved  too  strong 
to  be  resisted ;  and  the  cattle  being  thereby 
discovered,  a  restitution,  or  other  satisfaction, 
was  obtained.  But,  to  put  a  stop  to  a  practice 
so  detrimental  to  their  interest  and  dangerous 
to  their  persons,  the  thievish  part  of  the  Ca- 
merons,  and  others  afterwards,  by  their  exam- 
ple, bound  themselves  by  oath  never  to  receive 
any  such  reward,  or  inform  one  against  ano- 
ther. 

This  oath  they  take  upon  a  drawn  dirk,  which 
they  kiss  in  a  solemn  manner,  consenting,  if 
ever  they  prove  perjured,  to  be  stabbed  with 
the  same  weapon,  or  any  other  of  the  like  sort. 


LETTER  XXIV.  143 

Hence  they  think  no  wickedness  so  great  as 
the  breach  of  this  oath,  since  they  hope  for  im- 
punity in  committing  almost  every  other  crime, 
and  are  so  certainly  and  severely  punished  for 
this  transgression. 

An  instance  of  their  severity  in  this  point 
happened  in  December,  1723,  when  one  of  the 
said  Camerons,  suspected  of  having  taken  tas- 
calrmoney,  was,  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  called 
out  of  his  hut  from  his  wife  and  children,  and, 
under  pretence  of  some  new  enterprize,  allured 
to  some  distance,  out  of  hearing,  and  there 
murdered :  and  another,  for  the  same  crime,  as 
they  call  it,  was  either  thrown  down  some  pre- 
cipice, or  otherwise  made  away  with,  for  he 
was  never  heard  of  afterwards. 

Having  mentioned  above  the  manner  of  ta- 
king their  oath,  relating  to  tascal-money,  \ 
shall  here  give  you  a  specimen  of  a  Highland 
oath  upon  other  occasions ;  in  taking  whereof 
they  do  not  kiss  the  book,  as  in  England,  but 
hold  up  their  right  hand,  saying  thus,  or  to  this 
purpose : — 

"  By  God  himself,  and  as  I  shall  answer  to 
God  at  the  great  day,  I  shall  speak  the  truth : 
if  I  do  not,  may  I  never  thrive  while  I  live ; 
may  I  go  to  hell  and  be  damned  when  I  die. 
May  my  land  bear  neither  grass  nor  corn  : 
may  my  wife  and  bairns  never  prosper ;  may 


144  LETTER  XXIV. 

my  cows,  calves,  sheep,  and  lambs,  all  perish,'" 
&c. 

I  say  to  this  purpose,  for  I  never  heard  they 
had  any  established  form  of  an  oath*  among 
them.  Besides,  you  perceive  it  must  necessa- 
rily be  varied  according  to  the  circumstances  of 
the  person  who  swears,  at  the  discretion  of 
him  who  administers  the  oath. 

When  the  chief  was  an  encourager  of  this 
kind  of  theft,  which  I  have  the  charity  to  be- 
lieve was  uncommon,  and  the  robbers  suc- 
ceeded in  their  attempt,  he  received  two-thirds 
of  the  spoil,  or  the  produce  of  it ;  and  the 
remaining  third  part  was  divided  among  the 
thieves. 

The  clans  that  had  among  them  the  most  of 
villains  addicted  to  these  robberies  are  said,  by 
the  people  bordering  on  the  Highlands,  to  be 

*  They  paid  a  sacred  regard  to  their  oath ;  but,  as  superstition 
must,  among  a  set  of  banditti,  infallibly  supersede  piety,  each,  like 
the  distinct  casts  of  Indians,  had  his  particular  object  of  venera- 
tion: one  would  swear  upon  his  dirk,  and  dread  the  penalty  of 
perjury,  yet  make  no  scruple  of  forswearing  himself  upon  the  Bi- 
ble ;  a  second  would  pay  the  same  respect  to  the  name  of  his 
chieftain  ;  a  third  again  would  be  most  religiously  bound  by  the 
sacred  book ;  and  a  fourth  regard  none  of  the  three,  and  be  cre- 
dited only  if  he  swore  by  his  crucifix.  It  was  always  necessarj 
to  discover  the  inclination  of  the  person  before  you  put  him  to  the 
test;  if  the  object  of  his  veneration  was  mistaken,  the  oath  was  of 
no  avail. — Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  ii.  401.  / 


LETTER    XXIV.  145 

the  Gamerons,  Mackenzies,  the  Broadalbin- 
men,  the  M'Gregors,  and  the  M'Donalds  of 
Keppoch  and  Glenco.*  The  chieftain  of  these 
last  is  said,  by  his  near  neighbours,  to  have 
little  besides  those  depredations  for  his  sup- 
port; and  the  chief  of  the  first,  whose  clan  has 
been  particularly  stigmatized  for  those  vio- 
lences, has,  as  I  am  very  well  informed,  strictly 
forbidden  any  such  vile  practices,  which  has 
not  at  all  recommended  him  to  some  of  his  fol- 
lowers. 

Besides  these  ill-minded  people  among  the 
clans,  there  are  some  stragglers  in  the  Hills, 
who,  like  our  gypsies,  have  no  certain  habita- 
tion, only  they  do  not  stroll  about  in  numbers 
like  them.  These  go  singly,  and,  though  per- 
fectly unknown,  do  not  beg  at  the  door,  but, 
without  invitation  or  formal  leave,  go  into  a 
hut,  and  sit  themselves  down  by  the  fire,  ex- 
pecting to  be  supplied  with  oatmeal  for  their 
present  food.  When  bed-time  comes,  they  wrap 
themselves  up  in  their  plaids,  or  beg  the  use  of 
a  blanket,  if  any  to  be  spared,  for  their  cover- 

*  These  had  the  misfortune  to  be  all  Jacobites,  and  our  au- 
thor associated  only  with  the  favourers  of  the  house  of  Hanover, 
from  whom  he  obtained  his  information,  which  sufficiently  accounts 
for  so  injurious  a  distinction.  If,  when  outlawed,  they  took  some- 
thing from  those  who  had  taken  every  thing  from  them,  they 
deemed  it  no  robbery. 

VOL.    II.  L 


• 

146  LETTER    XXIV. 

ing,  and  then  lay  themselves  down  upon  the 
ground  in  some  corner  of  the  hut.  Thus  the 
man  and  his  wife  are  often  deprived  of  the  free- 
dom of  their  own  habitation,  and  cannot  be 
alone  together.  But  the  inhabitants  are  in  little 
danger  of  being  pilfered  by  these  guests — nor, 
indeed,  do  they  seem  to  be  apprehensive  of  it ; 
for  not  only  there  is  generally  little  to  be  stolen, 
but,  if  they  took  some  small  matter,  it  would  be 
of  no  use  to  the  thief  for  want  of  a  receiver ; 
and,  besides,  they  would  be  pursued  and  easily 
taken.  The  people  say  themselves,  if  it  were 
not  for  this  connivance  of  theirs,  by  a  kind  of 
customary  hospitality,  these  wanderers  would 
soon  be  starved,  having  no  money  wherewith  to 
purchase  sustenance.* 

But  I  have  heard  great  ccmplaint  of  this 
custom  from  a  Highland  farmer  of  more  than 
ordinary  substance,  at  whose  dwelling  I  hap- 
pened to  see  an  instance  of  this  intrusion,  it 
being  very  near  to  the  place  where  I  resided 
for  a  time ;  and  he  told  me  he  should  think  him- 
self happy  if  he  was  taxed  at  any  kind  of  rea- 
sonable rate,  to  be  freed  from  this  great  incon- 
venience. 

Above  I  have  given  you  a  sketch  of  the 
Highland  oath,  and  here  I  shall  observe  to  you 

*  See  the  extracts  from  the  Gartmore  MS.  in  the  Appendix. 


LETTER    XXIV.  147 

•. 

how  slightly  a  certain  Highlander  thought  of 
the  Lowland  form. 

This  man  was  brought  as  a  witness  against 
another  in  a  supposed  criminal  case :  the  ma- 
gistrate tendered  him  the  Low-country  oath, 
and,  seeing  the  fellow  addressing  himself  confi- 
dently to  take  it,  though  he  greatly  suspected, 
by  several  circumstances,  the  man  was  su- 
borned, changed  his  method,  and  offered  him 
the  Highland  oath — "  No,"  says  the  Highlander, 
"  I  cannot  do  that,  for  I  will  not  forswear  my- 
self to  please  anybody !" 

This  single  example  might  be  sufficient  to 
show  how  necessary  it  is  to  swear  the  common 
people  in  the  method  of  their  own  country;  yet, 
by  way  of  chat,  I  shall  give  you  another,  though 
it  be  less  different  in  the  fact  than  in  the  ex- 
pression. 

At  Carlisle  assizes,  a  Highlandman,  who  had 
meditated  the  ruin  of  another,  prosecuted  him 
for  horse-stealing,  and  swore  positively  to  the 
fact. 

This  being  done,  the  supposed  criminal  de- 
sired his  prosecutor  might  be  sworn  in  the 
Highland  manner;  and,  the  oath  being  tendered 
him  accordingly,  he  refused  it,  saying,  "  Thar 
is  a  hantle  o'  difference  betwixt  blawing  on  a 
buke  and  dam'ing  one's  saul." 

L2 


148  LETTER    XXIV. 

But  I  have  heard  of  several  other  examples 
of  the  same  kind,  notwithstanding  the  oath 
taken  in  the  Low-country  has  the  same  intro- 
duction, viz.  "  By  God,  and  as  I  shall  answer, 
&c."  but  then  the  land,  wife,  children  and  cat- 
tle, are  not  concerned  ;  for  there  is  no  impre- 
cation in  it  either  upon  them  or  him  that  takes 
the  oath. 

As  most  people,  when  they  begin  to  grow  in 
years,  are  unwilling  to  think  themselves  inca- 
pable of  their  former  pleasures,  so  some  of  the 
Highland  gentlemen  seem  to  imagine  they  still 
retain  that  exorbitant  power*  which  they  for- 
merly exercised  over  the  lives  of  their  vassals 
and  followers,  even  without  legal  trial  and  exa- 
mination. Of  this  power  I  have  heard  several 

*  The  chiefs  being  now  deprived  of  their  jurisdiction,  have  al- 
ready lost  much  of  their  influence;  and  as  they  gradually  dege- 
nerate from  patriarchal  rulers  to  rapacious  landlords,  they  will 
divest  themselves  of  the  little  that  remains.  That  dignity  which 
they  derived  from  an  opinion  of  their  military  importance,  the 
law  which  disarmed  them  has  abated.  An  old  gentleman,  that 
delighted  himself  with  the  recollection  of  better  days,  related  that, 
forty  years  ago,  a  chieftain  walked  out  attended  by  ten  or  twelve, 
followers,  with  their  arms  rattling.  That  animating  rabble  has 
now  ceased.  The  chief  has  lost  his  formidable  retinue,  and  the 
Highlander  walks  his  heath,  unarmed  and  defenceless,  with  the 
peaceable  submission  of  a  French  peasant  or  an  English  cottager. 
— Johnsons  Journey,  Works,  vol.  viii.  315. 


LETTER    XXIV.  149 

of  them  vaunt ;  but  it  might   be   ostentation : 
— however,  1  shall  mention  one  in  particular. 

1  happened  to  be  at  the  house  of  a  certain 
chief,  when  the  chieftain  of  a  tribe  belonging  to 
another  clan  came  to  make  a  visit ;  after  talk- 
ing of  indifferent  matters,  I  told  him  I  thought 
some  of  his  people  had  not  behaved  toward  me, 
in  a  particular  affair,  with  that  civility  I  might 
have  expected  from  the  clan.  He  started  ;  and 
immediately,  with  an  air  of  fierceness,  clapped 
his  hand  on  his  broad-sword,  and  told  me,  if  I 
required  it,  he  would  send  me  two  or  three  of 
their  heads. 

But  I,  really  thinking  he  had  been  in  jest,  and 
had  acted  it  well  (as  jesting  is  not  their  talent), 
laughed  out,  by  way  of  approbation  of  his  capa- 
city for  a  joke ;  upon  which  he  assumed,  if 
possible,  a  yet  more  serious  look,  and  told  me 
peremptorily  he  was  a  man  of  his  word;  and  the 
chief  who  sat  by  made  no  manner  of  objec* 
tion  to  what  he  said. 

The  heritable  power  of  pit  and  gallows,  as 
they  call  it,  which  still  is  exercised  by  some 
within  their  proper  districts,  is,  I  think,  too 
much  for  any  particular  subject  to  be  entrusted 
withal.  But  it  is  said  that  any  partiality  or 
revenge  of  the  chief,  in  his  own  cause,  is  ob- 
viated by  the  law,  which  does  not  allow  himself 
to  sit  judicially,  but  obliges  him  to  appoint  a 


150  LE'lTER  XXIV. 

substitute  as  judge  in  his  courts,  who  is  called 
the  bally  of  regality.* 

I  fear  this  is  but  a  shadow  of  safety  to  the 
accused,  if  it  may  not  appear  to  increase  the 
danger  of  injustice  and  oppression  ;  for  to  the 
orders  and  instructions  of  the  chief  may  be 
added  the  private  resentment  of  the  baily,  which 
may  make  up  a  double  weight  against  the  sup- 
posed criminal. 

I  have  not,  I  must  own,  been  accustomed  to 
hear  trials  in  these  courts,  but  have  been  often* 
told,  that  one  of  these  bailies,  in  particular, 
seldom  examines  any  but  with  raging  words  and 
rancour;  and,  if  the  answers  made  are  not  to 
his  mind,  he  contradicts  them  by  blows ;  and, 
one  time,  even  to  the  knocking  down  of  the 
poor  wretch  who  was  examined.  Nay,  further, 
I  have  heard  say  of  him,  by  a  very  credible  per- 
son, that  a  Highlander  of  a  neighbouring  clan, 
with  whom  his  own  had  been  long  at  variance, 
being  to  be  brought  before  him,  he  declared 
upon  the  accusation,  before  he  had  seen  the 

*  There  were  formerly  courts  of  regality,  where,  by  virtue  of 
a  royal  jurisdiction  invested  in  the  lord  of  the  regality,  they  had 
many  immunities  and  privileges  :  these  anciently  belonged  to  the 
ecclesiastics,  and  were  appropriated  to  such  lands  as  they  were 
possessed  of  in  property  and  superiority.  But,  by  a  late  art  of 
parliament,  all  such  regalities  are  abrogated,  taken  away,  and  to- 
tally dissolved  and  extinguished, —  Ckamberlayne'ls  History,  1755. 
108 


LETTER    XXIV.  151 

party  accused,  that  the  very  name  should  hang 
him. 

I  have  not  mentioned  this  violent  and  arbi- 
trary proceeding  as  though  I  knew  or  thought 
it  usual  in  those  courts,  but  to  show  how  little 
mankind  in  general  are  to  be  trusted  with  a 
lawless  power,  to  which  there  is  no  other  check 
or  control  but  good  sense  and  humanity,  which 
are  not  common  enough  to  restrain  every  one 
who  is  invested  with  such  power,  as  appears  by 
this  example. 

The  baily  of  regality,  in  many  cases,  takes 
upon  him  the  same  state  as  the  chief  himself 
would  do; — as  for  one  single  instance : 

When  he  travels,  in  time  of  snow,  the  inha- 
bitants of  one  village  must  walk  before  him  to 
make  a  path  to  the  next ;  and  so  on  to  the  end 
of  his  progress  :  and,  in  a  dark  night,  they 
light  him  from  one  inhabited  place  to  another, 
which  are  mostly  far  distant,  by  carrying  blaz- 
ing sticks  of  fir. 

Formerly  the  power  assumed  by  the  chief  in 
remote  parts  was  perfectly  despotic,  of  which  I 
shall  only  mention  what  was  told  me  by  a  near 
relation  of  a  certain  attainted  lord,  whose  estate 
(that  was)  lies  in  the  northern  Highlands :  but 
hold — this  moment,  upon  recollection,  I  have 
resolved  to  add  to  it  an  example  of  the  arbi- 
trary proceeding  of  one  much  less  powerful 


152  LETTER    XXIV. 

than  the  chief,  who   nevertheless   thought  he 
might  dispose  of  the  lives  of  foreigners  at  his 
pleasure.  As  to  the  first, — the  father  of  the  late 
earl  above  mentioned  having  a  great  desire  to 
get  a  fellow  apprehended,  who  was  said  to  have 
been  guilty  of  many  atrocious  crimes,  set  a  price 
upon  his   head    of  one   hundred    and   twenty 
crowns  (a  species  of  Scot's  coin  in  those  days), 
—I  suppose  about  five-pence  or  six-pence,  and, 
of  his  own  authority,  gave  orders  for  taking  him 
alive  or  dead ;  that   the  pursuers,  thinking   it 
dangerous  to  themselves  to  attempt  the  securing 
him  alive,  shot  him,  and  brought  his  head  and 
one  of  his  hands  to  the  chief,  and  immediately 
received  the  promised  reward.    The  other  is 
as  follows : — 

I  remember  to  have  heard,  a  good  while  ago, 
that  in  the  time  when  Prince  George  of  Den- 
mark was  lord-high-admiral  of  England,  some 
Scots  gentlemen  represented  to  him,  that  Scot- 
land could  furnish  the  navy  with  as  good  timber 
for  masts  and  other  uses  as  either  Sweden  or 
Norway  could  do,  and  at  a  much  more  reason- 
able rate. 

This  succeeded  so  far  that  two  surveyors 
were  sent  to  examine  into  the  allegations  of 
their  memorial. 

Those  gentlemen  came  first  to  Edinburgh, 
where  they  staid  some  time  to  concert  the  rest 


LETTER  XXIV.  153 

of  their  journey,  and  to  learn  from  the  inhabi- 
tants their  opinion  concerning  the  execution  of 
their  commission,  among  whom  there  was  one 
gentleman  that  had  some  acquaintance  with  a 
certain  chieftain  in  a  very  remote  part  of  the 
Highlands,  and  he  gave  them  a  letter  to  him. 

They  arrived  at  the  laird's  house,  declared 
the  cause  of  their  coming,  and  produced  their 
credentials,  which  were  a  warrant  and  instruc- 
tions from  the  prince ;  but  the  chieftain,  after 
perusing  them,  told  them  he  knew  nothing 
of  any  such  person.  They  then  told  him  he 
was  husband  to  Queen  Anne ;  and  he  an- 
swered, he  knew  nothing  of  either  of  them: 
"  But,"  says  he,  "  there  came  hither,  some 
time  ago,  such  as  you  from  Ireland,  as  spies 
upon  the  country,  and  we  hear  they  have  made 
their  jests  upon  us  among  the  Irish. 

te  Now,"  says  he,  "  you  shall  have  one  hour ; 
and  if  in  that  time  you  can  give  me  no  better 
account  of  yourselves  than  you  have  hitherto 
done,  I'll  hang  you  both  upon  that  tree."  Upon 
which  his  attendants  showed  great  readiness  to 
execute  his  orders:  and,  in  this  perplexity,  he 
abruptly  left  them,  without  seeing  the  Edin- 
burgh letter;  for  of  that  they  made  but  little 
account,  since  the  authority  of  the  prince,  and 
even  the  queen,  were  to  him  of  no  consequence : 
but  afterwards,  as  they  were  walking  backwards 


154  LETTER  XXIV. 

and  forwards  in  the  garden  counting  the  minutes, 
one  of  them  resolved  to  try  what  the  letter  might 
do :  this  was  agreed  to  by  the  other,  as  the  last 
resort ;  but,  in  the  hurry  and  confusion  they 
were  in,  it  was  not  for  some  time  to  be  found, 
being  worked  into  a  corner  of  the  bearer's 
usual  pocket,  and  so  he  passed  to  another,  &c. 

Now  the  hour  is  expired,  and  the  haughty 
chieftain  enters  the  garden;  and  one  of  them 
gave  him  the  letter:  this  he  read,  and  then  turn- 
ing to  them,  said,  "  Why  did  not  you  produce 
this  at  first  ?  If  you  had  not  had  it,  I  should 
most  certainly  have  hanged  you  both  imme- 
diately." 

The  scene  being  thus  changed,  he  took  them 
into  his  house,  gave  them  refreshment,  and  told 
them  they  might  take  a  survey  of  his  woods  the 
next  morning,  or  when  they  thought  fit. 

There  is  one  chief  who  sticks  at  nothing  to 
gratify  his  avarice  or  revenge. 

This  oppressor,  upon  the  least  offence  or  pro- 
vocation, makes  no  conscience  of  hiring  villains 
out  of  another  clan,  as  he  has  done  several  times, 
to  execute  his  diabolical  purposes  by  hocking  of 
cattle,  burning  of  houses,  and  even  to  commit 
murder  itself.  Out  of  many  enormities,  I  shall 
only  mention  two. 

The  first  was, — that  being  offended,  though 
very  unreasonably,  with  a  gentleman,  even  of 


LETTER    XXIV.  155 

his  own  name  and  clan,  he,  by  horrid  commerce 
with  one  who  governed  another  tribe  in  the  ab- 
sence of  his  chief,  agreed  with  him  for  a  parcel 
of  assassins  to  murder  his  vassal,  and  bring  him, 
his  head,  I  suppose,  as  a  voucher.  The  person 
devoted  to  death,  happened  to  be  absent  the 
night  the  murderers  came  to  his  house,  and 
therefore  the  villains  resolved  not  to  go  away 
empty-handed,  but  to  take  his  daugher's  head 
in  lieu  of  his  own ;  which  the  poor  creature  per- 
ceiving, was  frighted  to  such  a  degree,  that  she 
has  not  recovered  her  understanding  to  this 
day. 

The  servant-maid  they  abused  with  a  dirk  in 
a  butcherly  manner,  too  shameful  to  be  de- 
scribed :  to  be  short,  the  neighbours,  though  at 
some  distance,  hearing  the  cries  and  shrieks  of 
the  females,  took  the  alarm,  and  the  inhuman 
monsters  made  their  escape. 

The  other  violence  related  to  a  gentleman  who 
lives  near  this  town,  and  was  appointed  umpire 
in  a  litigated  affair  by  the  chief  and.  the  other 
party  ;  and,  because  this  laird  thought  he  could 
not,  with  any  colour  of  justice,  decide  in  favour 
of  the  chief,  his  cattle,  that  were  not  far  from 
his  house,  were  some  hocked  and  the  rest  of 
them  killed;  but  the  owner  of  them,  as  the  other, 
was  absent  that  night,  in  all  probability  sus- 
pecting (or  have  some  private  intelligence  of)  his 


15G  LETTER    XXIV. 

danger;  and,  when  this  horrid  butchery  was 
finished,  the  ruffians  went  to  his  house,  and 
wantonly  diverted  themselves  in  telling  the  ser- 
vants they  had  done  their  master  a  good  piece 
of  service,  for  they  had  saved  him  the  expence 
of  a  butcher  to  kill  his  cattle:  and  I  have  been 
told,  that  the  next  morning  there  were  seen  a 
number  of  calves  sucking  at  the  dugs  of  the 
dead  cows.  But  two  of  them  were  afterwards 
apprehended  and  executed. 

These  men  (as  is  said  of  Coleman)  were  al- 
lured to  secrecy  while  under  condemnation, 
though  sometimes  inclined  to  confess  their  em- 
ployer; and  thus  they  continued  to  depend  upon 
promises  till  the  knot  was  tied;  and  then  it  was 
too  late:  but  all  manner  of  circumstances  were 
too  flagrant  to  admit  a  doubt  concerning  the  first 
instigator  of  their  wickedness ;  yet  few  of  the 
neighbouring  inhabitants  dare  to  trust  one  ano- 
ther with  their  sentiments  of  it. 

But  here  comes  the  finishing  stroke  to  the 
first  of  these  execrable  pieces  of  workmanship. 

Not  long  after  the  vile  attempt,  he  who  had 
furnished  the  murderers  made  a  demand  on  the 
chief  of  a  certain  quantity  of  oatmeal,  which 
was  to  be  the  price  of  the  assassination ;  but,  in 
answer,  he  was  told,  if  he  would  send  money, 
it  might  be  had  of  a  merchant  with  whom  he 
(the  chief)  had  frequent  dealings;  and  as  for 


LETTER   XXTV.  157 

himself,  he  had  but  just  enough  for  his  own 
family  till  the  next  crop. 

This  shuffling  refusal  occasioned  the  threats 
of  a  law-suit;  but  the  demander  was  told,  the 
business  had  not  been  effectually  performed; 
and  besides,  as  he  knew  the  consideration,  he 
might  commence  his  process,  and  declare  it  in  a 
court  as  soon  as  ever  he  thought  fit. 

This  last  circumstance  I  did  not,  or  perhaps 
could  not,  know  till  lately,  when  I  was  in  that 
part  of  the  Highlands  from  whence  the  villains 
were  hired.* 

I  must  again  apologize,  and  say,  I  make  no 
doubt  you  will  take  this  account  (as  it  is  in- 
tended) to  be  a  piece  of  historical  justice  done 
upon  one  who  is  lawless,  and  deserves  much 
more,  and  not  as  a  sample  of  a  Highland  chief, 
or  the  least  imputation  on  any  other  of  those 
gentlemen. 

Yet  truth  obliges  me  to  confess,  that  in  some 
parts  there  remains  among  the  natives  a  kind 
of  Spanish  or  Italian  inclination  to  revenge  them- 
selves, as  it  were,  by  proxy,  of  those  who  they 
think  have  injured  them,  or  interfered  with  their 
interest.  This  I  could  not  but  infer,  soon  after 
my  ^coming  to  the  western  parts  of  the  High- 

*  These  two  stories  seem  but  indifferently  supported  by  evi- 
dence. Had  they  been  true,  how  could  the  truth  have  been 
known? — who  would  have  told  it  ? 


158  LETTER    XXIV. 

lands,  from  the  saying  of  a  youth,  son  of  a  laird 
in  the  neighbourhood.  Uij 

He  was  telling  me  his  father's  estate  had  been 
much  embarrassed,  but,  by  a  lucky  hit,  a  part 
of  it  was  redeemed.     I  was  desirous  to  know  by 
what  means,  and  he  proceeded  to  tell  me  there 
were  two  wadsets  upon  it,  and   both  of  the 
mortgagees  had  been  in  possession,  each  claim- 
ing a  right  to  about  half;  but  one  of  them  being 
a  native,  and  the  other  a  stranger, — that  is,  not 
of  the  clan,  the  former  had  taken  the  latter  aside, 
and  told  him  if  he  did  not  immediately  quit  the 
country,  he  would  hang  him  upon  the  next  tree. 
"What!"  says  a  Highlander  who  was  born  in 
the  east,  and  went  with  me  into  those  parts, 
"  that  would  be  the  way  to  be  hanged  himself." 
"  Out!"  says  the  youth,  "  you  talk  as  if  you  did 
not  know  your  own  country: — that  would  have 
been  done,  and  nobody  knew  who  did  it."    This 
he  spoke  with  an  air  as  if  he  had  been  talking  of 
ordinary  business,  and  was  angry  with  the  other 
for  being  ignorant  of  it,  who  afterwards  owned 
that  my  presence  was  the  cause  of  his  objection. 
Besides  what  I  have  recounted  in  this  letter, 
which  might  serve  as  an  indication  that  some, 
at  least,  of  the  ordinary  Highlanders  are  not 
averse  to  the  price  of  blood,  I  shall  here  take 
notice  of  a  proposal  of  that  kind  which  was  made 
to  myself. 


LETTER    XXIV.  159 

Having  given  the  preference  to  a  certain  clan 
in  a  profitable  business,  it  brought  upon  me  the 
resentment  of  the  chieftain  of  a  small  neigh- 
bouring tribe,  part  of  a  clan  at  enmity  with  the 
former. 

This  gentleman  thought  his  people  had  as 
much  right  to  my  favour  in  that  particular  as  the 
others:  the  first  instance  of  his  revenge  was 
a  robbery  committed  by  one  of  his  tribe,  whom 
I  ordered  to  be  hounded  out,  and  he  was  taken. 
This  fellow  I  resolved  to  prosecute  to  the  ut- 
most, which  brought  the  chieftain  to  solicit  me 
in  his  behalf. 

He  told  me,  for  introduction,  that  it  was  not 
usual  in  the  Hills  for  gentlemen  to  carry  such 
matters  to  extremity,  but  rather  to  accept  of  a 
composition:  and,  finding  their  custom  of  com- 
pounding had  no  weight  with  me,  he  offered  a 
restitution ;  but  I  was  firmly  resolved,  in  terro- 
rem,  to  punish  the  thief.*  Seeing  this  proposal 
was  likewise  ineffectual,  he  told  me  the  man's 
wife  was  one  of  the  prettiest  young  women  in 
the  Highlands,  and  if  I  would  pardon  the  hus- 
band I  should  have  her. 

*  In  a  simple  state  of  society,  a  compo  ition  for  theft,  and  even 
murder,  has  generally  been  thought  sufficient  satisfaction;  an  eye 
for  an  eye — a  tooth  for  a  tooth — life  for  life — but  not  the  life 
of  a  man  for  that  of  a  sheep  or  a  hen.  To  hang  a  man  for  steal- 
ing a  pewter  pot  worth  eight-pence,  from  the  door  of  a  pot-house, 


160  LETTER    XXIV. 

I  told  him  that  was  an  agreeable  bribe,  yet  it 
could  not  prevail  over  the  reasons  I  had  to  refer 
the  affair  to  justice. 

Some  time  after,  a  Highlander  came  privately 
to  me,  and,  by  my  own  interpreter,  told  me  he 

heard  1  had  a  quarrel  with  the  laird  of , 

and  if  ihat  was  true,  he  thought  he  had  lived  long 
enough;  but  not  readily  apprehending  his  in- 
tention, I  asked  the  meaning  of  that  dubious 
expression,  and  was  answered,  he  would  kill 
him  for  me  if  I  would  encourage  it.  The  pro- 
posal really  surprised  me;  but  soon  recovering 
myself,  I  ordered  him  to  be  told,  that  I  believed 
he  was  a  trusty  honest  man,  and  if  I  had  occasion 
for  such  service,  I  should  employ  him  before 
any  other,  but  it  was  the  custom  in  my  country, 
when  two  gentlemen  had  a  quarrel,  to  go  into 
the  field  and  decide  it  between  themselves. 

At  the  interpretation  of  this  last  part  of  my 
speech,  he  shook  his  head  and  said,  "  What  a 
foolish  custom  is  that !  "* 

is  what  could  never  enter  into  the  calculations  of  a  Highlander, 
nor  would  he  wonder  that  crimes  abounded  where  such  laws  ex- 
isted. The  clan,  whose  honour  was  concerned  in  their  relative 
not  being  hanged,  paid  the  composition ;  but  the  offender  was 
under  their  surveillance,  and  the  fear  of  again  dishonouring  or 
offending  them,  was  sure  to  prevent  him  from  transgressing  in  the 
same  way  a  second  time. 

*  Foolish  as  the  custom  was,  it  was  but  too  common  among 
the  Highlanders.     Whether  the  drift  of  this  wretch  was  to  lay  a 


LETTER    XXIV.  ]G1 

Perhaps  this  narration,  as  well  as  some  others 
that  have  preceded,  may  be  thought  to  consist 
of  too  many  circumstances,  and,  consequently 
to  be  of  an  unnecessary  length;  but  I  hope  there 
are  none  that  do  not,  by  that  means,  convey  the 
knowledge  of  some  custom  or  inclination  of  the 
people,  which  otherwise  might  have  been  omit- 
ted ;  besides,  I  am  myself,  as  you  know  very 
well,  an  enemy  to  long  stories. 

Some  of  the  Highland  gentlemen  are  immode- 
rate drinkers  of  usky, — even  three  orfour  quarts 
at  a  sitting;  and,  in  general,  the  people  that  can 
pay  the  purchase,  drink  it  without  moderation. 

Not  long  ago,  four  English  officers  took  a 
fancy  to  try  their  strength  in  this  bow  of  Ulysses, 
against  the  like  number  of  the  country  cham- 
pions, but  the  enemy  came  off  victorious;  and 
one  of  the  officers  was  thrown  into  a  fit  of  the 
gout,  without  hopes;  another  had  a  most  dan- 
gerous fever,  a  third  lost  his  skin  and  hair  by 
the  surfeit ;  and  the  last  confessed  to  me,  that 
when  drunkenness  and  debate  ran  high,  he  took 
several  opportunities  to  sham  it. 

They  say,  for  excuse,  the  country  requires  a 
great  deal;  but  I  think  they  mistake  a  habit  and 

trap  for  our  author,  it  is  not  easy  to  say:  the  only  thing  to  be 
gathered  from  the  story  with  any  certainty  is,  that  if  he  had  not 
considered  an  Englishman  as  necessarily  a  very  great  miscreant, 
he  never  would  have  made  such  an  overture  to  one. 
VOL.   II.  M 


162  LETTER    XXIV. 

custom  for  necessity.  They  likewise  pretend 
it  does  not  intoxicate  in  the  Hills  as  it  would 
do  in  the  Low-country;  but  this  I  also  doubt, 
by  their  own  practice ;  for  those  among  them 
who  have  any  consideration,  will  hardly  care  so 
much  as  to  refresh  themselves  with  it,  when  they 
pass  near  the  tops  of  the  mountains ;  for,  in  that 
circumstance,  they  say  it  renders  them  careless, 
listless  of  the  fatigue,  and  inclined  to  sit  down, 
which  might  invite  to  sleep,  and  then  they  would 
be  in  danger  to  perish  with  the  cold.  I  have 
been  tempted  to  think  this  spirit  has  in  it,  by 
infusion,  tne  seeds  of  anger,  revenge,  and  mur- 
der (this  I  confess  is  a  little  too  poetical);  but 
those  who  drink  of  it  to  any  degree  of  excess 
behave,  for  the  most  part,  like  true  barbarians, 
I  think  much  beyond  the  effect  of  other  liquors. 
The  collector  of  the  customs  at  Stornway,  in  the 
isle  of  Lewis,  told  me,  that  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  families  drink  yearly  four  thousand 
English  gallons  of  this  spirit  and  brandy  together, 
although  many  of  them  are  so  poor  they  cannot 
afford  to  pay  for  much  of  either,  which,  you 
know,  must  increase  the  quantity  drank  by  the 
rest;  and  that  they  frequently  give  to  children 
of  six  or  seven  years  old  as  much  at  a  time  as 
an  ordinary  wine  glass  would  hold. 

When  they  choose  to  qualify  it  for  punch,  they 
sometimes  mix  it  with  water  and  honey,  or  with 


LETTER    XXIV.  163 

milk  and  honey;  at  other  times  the  mixture 
is  only  the  aqua  vitcs,  sugar,  and  butter ;  this 
they  burn  till  the  butter  and  sugar  are  dis- 
solved.* 

The  air  of  the  Highlands  is  pure,  and  conse- 
quently healthy  ;  insomuch  that  I  have  known 
such  cures  done  by  it  as  might  be  thought  next 
to  miracles ; — I  mean  in  distempers  of  the  lungs, 
as  coughs,  consumptions,  &c. 

And  as  I  have  mentioned  the  honey  above,  I 
shall  here  give  that  its  due  commendation:  I 
think,  then,  it  is  in  every  respect  as  good  as 
that  of  Minorca  so  much  esteemed,  and  both,  I 
suppose,  are  in  a  great  measure  produced  from 
the  bloom  of  the  heath;  for  which  reason,  too, 
our  Hampshire  honey  is  more  valued  than  any 
from  other  parts  near  London,  because  that 
county  is  mostly  covered  with  heath.f 

*  See  at  the  end  of  this  letter. 

f  Welsh  honey  is,  for  the  same  reason,  held  in  great  estimation 
in  England;  but  what  is  here  said  of  Scotish  honey,  can  hardly 
be  applied  to  the  Highlands,  which  are  wet  and  stormy,  and 
therefore  unfavourable  to  the  bee,  who  cannot  venture  out  to 
forage,  without  the  danger  of  being  overtaken  by  such  sudden 
gusts  of  wind,  accompanied  with  heavy  rain,  as  it  can  neither 
foresee  nor  withstand.  It  is  not  known  how  far  the  bee  will  go 
to  find  its  favourite  pasture,  the  heath  blossom;  but  a  gentleman 
in  Aberdeenshire  laid  a  wager  that  the  bees  of  one  of  his  neigh- 
bours, who  lived  nearly  four  miles  off,  came  (as  he  knew  by  the 

M  2 


164  LETTER    XXIV. 

As  the  Lowlanders  call  their  part  of  the  coun- 
try the  land  of  cakes,  so  the  natives  of  the  Hills 
say  they  inhabit  a  laud  of  milk  and  honey. 

P.  S.  In  the  Low-country  the  cakes  are 
called  cookies ;  and  the  several  species  of  them, 
of  which  there  are  many,  though  not  much 
differing  in  quality  one  from  another,  are  digni- 
fied and  distinguished  by  the  names  of  the 
reigning  toasts,  or  the  good  housewife  who  was 
the  inventor, — as  for  example,  Lady  CulleiVs 
cookies,  &c. 

flavour  of  the  honey)  to  feed  on  his  moors,  there  being  none 
nearer.  To  ascertain  this,  on  a  certain  dry  sunny  day,  he  sent 
one  to  watch  the  hives,  while  he  went  to  the  heath  with  an  elastic 
bellows  puff-full  of  very  fine  hair-powder,  with  which  he  as- 
sailed every  bee  he  saw  feeding,  and  in  the  evening  they  re- 
turned white  and  mealy  to  the  hive. 


WHAT  opinion  their  friends  in  the  south  had  of  their  drinking, 
two  hundred  years  ago,  will  appear  from  the  following  curious 
document,  which  will  somewhat  surprise  our  lovers  of  claret  of 
the  present  day,  and  dispose  them  to  think  that  the  old  times  were 
not  so  bad  as  they  are  called : — 

26  July,  1616. 

4i  Forsamekle  as  the  grite  and  extraordinar  excesse  in  drinking 
of  wyne  commonlie  vsit  amangis  the  commonis  and  tennantis  of 
the  yllis  is  not  onlie  occasioun  of  the  beastlie  and  barbarous  cru- 


LETTER    XXIV.  •       ]  65 

elteis  ami  inhumanitcis  that  fallis  oute  amangis  thame  to  the 
offens  and  displesour  of  God,  and  contempt  of  law  and  justice ; 
bot  with  that  it  drawis  nomberis  of  thame  to  miserable  necessitie 
and  powertie,  sua  that  thay  ar  constraynit  quhen  thay  want  of 
thair  awne,  to  tak  from  thair  nichtbouris ;  For  remeid  quhairof, 
the  Lordis  of  Secreite  Counsell  Statutis  and  ordanis,  That  nane  of 
the  tennentis  and  commonis  of  the  Yllis  sail  at  ony  tyme  heirefter 
buy  or  drink  ony  wynes  in  the  Ylles  or  continent  nixt  adjacent 
vnder  the  pane  of  tuenty  pundis  to  be  incurrit  be  every  contra- 
venare,  toties  quoties,  <fec." 

The  privy  council,  however,  in  their  great  wisdom,  at  last  dis- 
covered, that  it  was  of  little  use  to  command  those  descendants  of 
Odin  to  refrain  from  drinking  wine,  as  long-  as  they  could  get 
any  wine  to  drink;  and,  accordingly,  on  the  23d  of  July,  1622, 
they  enacted  as  follows : — 

"  Forsamekle  as  it  is  vnderstand  to  the  Lordis  of  Secreit 
Counsell,  That  one  the  cheif  causis  whilk  procuris  the  conti- 
newance  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  His  in  thair  barbarous  and 
incivile  forme  of  living,  Is  the  grite  quantitie  of  wynes  yeirlie 
caryed  to  the  Isles,  with  the  vnsatiable  desire  quhairof  the  saidis 
inhabitantis  ar  sofer  possesst,  That  quhen  thair  arryvis  ony  ship 
or  other  veshell  thair  with  wynes,  thay  spend  bothe  dayis  and 
nightis  in  thair  excesse  of  drinking,  and  seldome  do  thay  leave 
thair  drinking  so  lang  as  thair  is  ony  of  the  wyne  restande;  sua 
that,  being  overcome  with  drink,  Thair  fallis  oute  mony  inconve- 
nientis  amangis  thame,  to  the  brek  of  his  Majesties  peace ;  And 
quhairas  the  Chiftanes  and  principals  of  the  clannis  in  the  His 
are  actit  to  tak  suche  ordour  with  thair  tennentis,  as  nane  of 
thame  be  sufFerrit  to  drink  wynes;  yitt  so  lang  as  thair  is  ony 
wynes  caryed  to  the  His,  thay  will  hardlie  be  withdrawne  from 
thair  evill  custome  of  drinking,  bot  will  follow  the  same  and  con- 
tinew  thairin,  whensoevir  they  may  find  the  occasioun ; — For  re- 
meid quhairof  in  tyme  comeing,  The  Lordis  of  Secreit  Counsell 
Ordanis  letters  to  be  direct  to  command  charge  and  inhibite  all 


166  LETTER    XXIV. 

and  sundrie  mercheantis,  skipparis  and  awnaris  of  shinpis  and 
veshellis  be  oppin  proclamatioun  at  all  places  neidfull;  That 
nane  of  thame  presoome  nor  tak  vpoun  hand  to  carrye  and  trans- 
porte  ony  wynes  to  the  His,  nor  to  sell  the  same  to  the  inhabit- 
antis  of  the  His,  except  somekle  as  is  allowed  to  the  principall 
chiftanes  and  gentlemen  of  the  lies,  vnder  the  pane  of  confisca- 
tioun  of  the  whole  wynes  so  tobe  caryed  and  sauld  in  the  His, 
aganis  the  tenour  of  this  proclamatioun ;  or  els  of  the  availl  and 
pryceis  of  the  same  to  His  Majesties  vse." 


LETTER  XXV. 

IN  a  former  letter,  I  ventured  to  give  it  you  as 
my  opinion,  that  mankind  in  different  countries 
are  naturally  the  same.  I  shall  now  send  you 
a  short  sketch  of  what  I  have  observed  in  the 
conversation  of  an  English  fox-hunter  and  that 
of  a  Highland  laird,  supposing  neither  of  them 
to  have  had  a  liberal  and  polite  education,  or  to 
have  been  far  out  of  their  own  countries. 

The  first  of  these  characters  is,  I  own,  too 
trite  to  be  given  you — but  this  by  way  of  com- 
parison : 

The  squire  is  proud  of  his  estate  and  afflu- 
ence of  fortune,  loud  and  positive  over  his  Oc- 
tober, impatient  of  contradiction,  or  rather  will 
give  no  opportunity  for  it,  but  whoops  and 
halloos  at  every  interval  of  his  own  talk,  as  if 
the  company  were  to  supply  the  absence  of  his 
hounds. 

The  particular  characters  of  the  pack,  the 
various  occurrences  in  a  chase,  where  Jowler  is 
the  eternal  hero,  make  the  constant  topic  of  his 
discourse,  though,  perhaps,  none  others  are  in- 


168  LETTER  XXV. 

terested  in  it ;  and  his  favourites,  the  trencher- 
hounds,  if  they  please,  may  lie  undisturbed 
upon  chairs  and  counterpanes  of  silk;  and, 
upon  the  least  cry,  though  not  hurt,  his  pity  is 
excited  more  for  them  than  if  one  of  his  chil- 
dren had  broken  a  limb ;  and  to  that  pity  his 
anger  succeeds,  to  the  terror  of  the  whole 
family. 

The  laird  is  national,  vain  of  the  number  of 
his  followers  and  his  absolute  command  over 
them.  In  case  of  contradiction,  he  is  loud  and 
imperious,  and  even  dangerous,  being  always 
attended  by  those  who  are  bound  to  support 
his  arbitrary  sentiments. 

The  great  antiquity  of  his  family,  and  the 
heroic  actions  of  his  ancestors,  in  their  con- 
quest of  enemy  clans,  is  the  inexhaustible 
theme  of  his  conversation ;  and,  being  accus- 
tomed to  dominion,  he  imagines  himself,  in  his 
usky,  to  be  a  sovereign  prince ;  and,  as  I  said 
before,  fancies  he  may  dispose  of  heads  at  his 
pleasure. 

Thus  one  of  them  places  his  vanity  in  his 
fortune,  and  his  pleasure  in  his  hounds;  the 
other's  pride  is  in  his  lineage,  and  his  delight  is 
command — both  arbitrary  in  their  way  ;  and 
this  the  excess  of  liquor  discovers  in  both ;  so 
that  what  little  difference  there  is  between 
them  seems  to  arise  from  the  accident  of  their 


LETTER    XXV.  169 

birth;  and,  if  the  exchange  of  countries  had 
been  made  in  their  infancy,  I  make  no  doubt 
but  each  might  have  had  the  other's  place,  as 
they  stand  separately  described  in  this  letter. 

On  the  contrary,  in  like  manner,  as  we  have 
many  country  gentlemen,  merely  such,  of  great 
humanity  and  agreeable  (if  not  general)  conver- 
sation; so  in  the  Highlands  I  have  met  with 
some  lairds,  who  surprised  me  with  their  good 
sense  and  polite  behaviour,  being  so  far  removed 
from  the  more  civilized  part  of  the  world,  and 
considering  the  wildness  of  the  country,  which 
one  would  think  was  sufficient  of  itself  to  give  a 
savage  turn  to  a  mind  the  most  humane. 

The  isles  to  the  north-west  and  to  the  north  of 
the  main  land  (if  I  may  so  speak  of  this  our 
island)  may  not  improperly  be  called  Highlands; 
for  they  are  mountainous,  and  the  natives  speak 
the  language,  follow  the  customs,  and  wear  the 
habit  of  the  Highlanders. 

In  some  of  the  Western  Islands  (as  well  as  in 
part  of  the  Highlands),  the  people  never  rub  out 
a  greater  quantity  of  oats  than  what  is  just 
necessary  for  seed  against  the  following  year; 
the  rest  they  reserve  in  the  sheaves,  for  their 
food;  and,  as  they  have  occasion,  set  fire  to 
some  of  them,  not  only  to  dry  the  oats,  which, 
for  the  most  part,  are  wet,  but  to  burn  off  the 
husk.  Then,  by  winnowing,  they  separate,  as 


170  LETTER   XXV. 

well  as  they  can,  the  sooty  part  from  the  grain ; 
but  as  this  cannot  be  done  effectually,  the  ban- 
nack,  or  cake  they  make  of  it,  is  very  black. 
Thus  they  deprive  themselves  of  the  use  of 
straw,  leaving  none  to  thatch  their  huts,  make 
their  beds,  or  feed  their  cattle  in  the  winter 
season. 

They  seldom  burn  and  grind  a  greater  quan- 
tity of  these  oats  than  serves  for  a  day,  except 
on  a  Saturday;  when  some  will  prepare  a  double 
portion,  that  they  may  have  nothing  to  do  on 
the  Sunday  following.  This  oatmeal  is  called 
graydon  meal. 

For  grinding  the  oats,  they  have  a  machine 
they  call  a  quarn*  This  is  composed  of  two 

*  This  simple  mill  seems  to  have  been  used  by  many  rude  na- 
tions. Some  of  them  have  been  found  in  Yorkshire ;  and  in  the 
course  of  the  southern  Roman  wall,  between  Solway  Frith  and 
the  eastern  sea,  several  have  been  dug  up.  The  quarn  is  com- 
posed generally  of  grit,  or  granite,  about  twenty  inches  diameter. 
In  the  lower  stone  is  a  wooden  peg,  rounded  at  the  top :  on  this 
the  upper  stone  is  so  nicely  balanced,  that,  though  there  is  some 
friction  from  the  contact  of  the  two  stones,  yet  a  very  small  mo- 
mentum will  make  it  revolve  several  times  when  it  has  no  corn  in 
it.  The  corn  being  dried,  two  women  sit  down  on  the  ground, 
having  the  quarn  between  them ;  the  one  feeds  it,  while  the 
other  turns  it  round,  singing  some  Celtic  song  all  the  time.  It 
would  seem  that  the  prophecy  of  Christ  concerning  the  fate  of 
two  women  grinding  at  a  mill,  refers  to  the  quarn,  which,  it  is 
probable,  was  the  mill  then  in  use. — Garnetfs  Towr,  vol.  i.  1 55. 

This  method  of  grinding  is  very  tedious;  for  it  employs  two 


LETTER  XXV.  171 

stones;  the  undermost  is  about  a  foot  and  a  half 
or  two  feet  diameter.  It  is  round,  and  five  or 
six  inches  deep  in  the  hollow,  like  an  earthen 
pan.  Within  this  they  place  another  stone, 
pretty  equal  at  the  edge  to  that  hollow.  This 
last  is  flat,  like  a  wooden  pot-lid,  about  three  or 
four  inches  thick,  and  in  the  centre  of  it  is  a 
pretty  large  round  hole,  which  goes  quite 

pair  of  hands  four  hours,  to  grind  only  a  single  bushel  of  corn. — 
Pennant's  Scotland,  vol.  iii.  324. 

The  quern  is  still  used  all  over  the  north  of  Europe,  where  the 
women  "  sing  as  they  grind  their  parched  corn."  just  as  they  for- 
merly did  in  Greece,  and,  indeed,  every  where  else;  and  as  they 
did  in  Rome  in  the  days  of  Virgil, — if  Virgil  was  the  author  of 
the  "Moretum." 

Fusus  erat  terra  frumenti  pauper  acervus : 
Hinc  sibi  depromit  quantum  mensura  petebat, 
Quae  bis  in  octonas  excurrit  pondere  libras. 
Inde  abit,  assistitque  molae,  parvaque  tabella, 
Quam  fixam  paries  illos  servabat  in  usus, 
Lumina  fida  locat :  geminos  tune  veste  acertos 
Liberat,  etcinctus  villosae  tergore  caprae, 
Percurrit  cauda  silices,  gremiumque  molarum. 
Admovet  inde  manus  operi,  partitus  utramque: 

Laeva  ministerio,  dextra  est  intenta  labori. 

. 
Haec  rotat  assiduis  gyris,  et  concitat  orbem. 

Tunsa  Ceres  silicum  rapido  decurrit  ab  ictu. 
Interdum  fessae  succeedit  laava  sorori, 
Alternatque  vices :  modo  rustica  carmina  cantat, 
Agrestique  suum  solatur  voce  laborem. 

Virg.  Moretum. 
Were  the  above  lines  a  description  of  what  the  author  had  seen 


172  LETTER   XXV. 

through,  whereby  to  convey  the  oats  between 
the  stones:  there  are  also  two  or  three  holes  in 
different  places,  near  the  extreme  part  of  the 
surface,  that  go  about  half-way  through  the 
thickness,  which  is  just  deep  enough  to  keep  a 
stick  in  its  place,  by  which,  with  the  hand,  they 
turn  it  round  and  round,  till  they  have  finished 
the  operation.  But  in  a  wild  part  of  Argyle- 
shire,  there  was  no  bread  of  any  kind  till  the 
discovery  of  some  lead-mines,  which  brought 
strangers  among  the  inhabitants;  who  before 
fed  upon  the  milk  of  their  cows,  goats,  and 
sheep.  In  summer  they  used  to  shake  their 
milk  in  a  vessel,  till  it  was  very  frothy,  which 
puffed  them  up,  and  satisfied  them  for  the  pre- 
sent ;  and  their  cheese  served  them  instead  of 
bread.  The  reason  why  they  had  no  bread 
was,  that  there  is  hardly  any  arable  land  for  a 
great  space,  all  round  about  that  part  of  the 
country. 

I  have  been  assured,    that  in  some  of  the 
islands  the  meaner  sort  of  people  still  retain 

in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  it  could  not  be  more  exact.  The 
term  graddan,  (pronounced  grattan),  as  well  as  the  art  of  grind- 
ing, probably  came  to  the  Highlands  from  the  north,  at  a  very 
early  period.  In  old  Norse,  a  quern  was  called  gratti^  from  the 
grey  gritstone  of  which  it  was  made;  hence  the  Scotish  grouts  ; 
Eng  grits;  Germ,  grout;  Dan.  grytte,  to  grind;  and  the 
Swedish  grout ,  in  Seotish,  crowdy. 


LETTER    XXV.  173 

the  custom  of  boiling  their  beef  in  the  hide  ;* 
or  otherwise  (being  destitute  of  vessels  of  metal 
or  earth)  they  put  water  into  a  block  of  wood, 
made  hollow  by  the  help  of  the  dirk  and  burning; 
and  then  with  pretty  large  stones  heated  red- 
hot,  and  successively  quenched  in  that  vessel, 
they  keep  the  water  boiling  till  they  have 
dressed  their  food.  It  is  said,  likewise,  that 
they  roast  a  fowl  in  the  embers,  with  the  guts 
and  feathers;  and  when  they  think  it  done 
enough,  they  strip  off  the  skin,  and  then  think 
it  fit  for  the  table. 

A  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance  told  me, 
that,  in  coming  from  Ireland  to  the  Western 

*  In  Monnipenny's  Chronicle,   1 597,  we  have  the  following 

passage : — "  Their  bankets  are  hunting  and  fishing.     They  seethe 

their  flesh  in  the  tripe,  or  else  in  the  skin  of  the  beast,  filling  the 

same  full  of  water.     Now  and  then,  in  hunting,  they  strayne  out 

the  blood,  and  eate  the  flesh  raw.  ,  Their  drinke  is  the  broth  of 

sodden  flesh.     They  love   very  well  the  drinke  made  of  whey, 

and  kept  certayne  yeares,  drinking  the  same  at  feasts:  it  is  named 

by  them  blaudium  \blathach\.     The  most  part  of  them  drinke 

water.     Their  custome  is  to  make  their  bread  of  oates  and  barly 

(which  are  the  onely  kindes  of  grayne  that  grow  in  those  parts) : 

experience  (with  time)  hath  taught  them  to  make  it  in  such  sort 

that  it  is  not  unpleasant  to  eate      They  take  a  little  of  it  in  the 

morning  ;-  and  so,  passing  to  the  hunting  or  any  other  businesse,' 

content  themselves  therewith,  without  any  other  kind  of  meat, 

till  even. — Lord  Somers's  Tracts,  vol.  iii.  388. 

They  made  only  two  meals  in  the  day. — the  little  meal  about 
noon,  and  the  great  meal  towards  evening. 


174  LETTER    XXV. 

Highlands,  he  was  reduced,  by  an  ague,  to  the 
necessity  of  landing  upon  the  island  Macor- 
mach ;  and,  arriving  at  the  public  change,  he 
observed  three  quarters  of  a  cow  to  lie  in  a 
shallow  part  of  the  salt  water,  and  the  other 
quarter  hanging  up  against  the  end  of  the  hut ; 
that,  asking  the  reason  of  it,  he  was  told 
they  had  no  salt ;  and  it  was  their  way  of  pre- 
serving their  beef.* 

Some  time  after,  the  woman  of  the  hut  (or 
the  guid  wife)  took  a  side  of  a  calf  that  had 
been  taken  out  of  the  cow,  and,  holding  it  by  the 
legs,  waved  it  backward  and  forward  over  the 
fire  till  part  of  it  was  roasted,  as  she  thought, 
and  then  tore  off  one  of  the  limbs,  and  offered 
it  to  him  to  eat.  A  tempting  dish !  especially 
for  a  sick  stomach ! 

It  is  often  said,  that  some  of  the  lairds  of 
those  islands  take  upon  them  the  state  of  mo- 
narchs ;  and  thence  their  vassals  have  a  great 
opinion  of  their  power. 

Among  other  stories  told  of  them,  there  is 
one  pretty  well  known  in  the  north  of  Scotland, 
but  whether  true,  or  feigned  as  a  ridicule  upon 
them,  I  do  not  know.  For,  notwithstanding 
the  Lowland  Scots  complain  of  the  English  for 
ridiculing  other  nations,  yet  they  themselves 

*  We  have  seen  the  same  thing  done  at  sea,  for  preserving 
fresh  meat. 


LETTER  XXV.  175 

have  a  great  number  of  standing  jokes  upon  the 
Highlanders. 

They  say  a  Spanish  ship  being  stranded  upon 
the  coast  of  Barra  (a  very  small  island  to  the 
south  of  Lewes),  the  chief  (M'Neil)  called  a 
council  of  his  followers,  which,  I  think,  they  say 
were  about  fifty  in  number,  in  order  to  deter- 
mine what  was  to  be  done  with  her ;  that,  in 
the  course  of  the  consultation,  one  of  the 
members  proposed,  "  If  she  was  laden  with 
wine  and  brandy,  she  should  be  confiscated  as 
an  illicit  trader  upon  the  coast,  but  if  she  was 
freighted  with  other  merchandise,  they  should 
plunder  her  as  a  wreck." 

Upon  this,  one  of  the  council,  more  cautious 
than  the  rest,  objected  that  the  king  of  Spain 
might  resent  such  treatment  of  his  subjects ; 
but  the  other  replied,  "  We  have  nothing  to  do 
with  that  ;  M'Neil  and  the  king  of  Spain  will 
adjust  that  matter  between  themselves."* 

As  this  is  a  cold  country,  the  people  endea- 
vour to  avail  themselves  of  the  condition  of 
those  who  live  in  a  more  northern  climate. 

They  tell  you  that  some  of  the  lairds  in  the 
islands  of  Shetland,  which  are  far  north  of 

*  The  M'Niels  are  from  Norway,  and  their  affectation  of 
state  lias  been  a  common  subject  of  ridicule  in  the  Highlands  for 
some  centuries  back.  All  we  have  seen  of  th'-m  were  remark- 
ably well-grown,  handsome-looking  men. 


I7G  LETTER    XXV. 

the  Orkneys,  hire  a  domestic  by  the  half-year, 
or  by  the  quarter,  just  as  they  can  agree,  whose 
business  it  is  to  put  an  instrument  in  order 
when  the  laird  has  an  inclination  to  play  upon 
it ;  but  if  he  attempts  to  play  a  time  himself,  he 
is  sure  to  be  discarded. 

Of  this  they  give  you  an  instance  in  a  certain 
laird,  who,  observing  his  servant  went  farther 
toward  an  air  than  he  ought  to  have  done  by 
agreement  (perhaps  vainly  imagining  he  could 
play  better  than  his  master),  he  had  warning 
to  provide  himself  with  another  service  against 
the  next  Martinmas,  which  was  then  about  two 
months  to  come.  And,  although  the  man  was  not 
suspended,  in  the  mean  time,  from  the  exercise 
of  his  function  (because  he  was  to  be  paid  for  the 
whole  time),  yet  in  all  that  interval  no  manner 
of  intercession  could  prevail  with  the  laird  to 
continue  him  in  his  service  beyond  that  quarter : 
— no,  notwithstanding  his  own  lady  strongly 
solicited  him  in  behalf  of  the  poor  unhappy 
offender;  nor  could  she  obtain  so  much  as  a 
certificate  in  his  favour.* 

Here  you  will  say,  all  this  must  be  a  riddle ; 

*  We  do  not  think  it  probable,  that  ever  there  was  a  Celtic 
race  of  men  settled  in  these  islands.  The  inhabitants  of  Shet- 
land and  Orkney  came,  at  different  periods,  from  Norway.  As 
in  Iceland,  each  seized  as  mucli  territory  as  he  could  stock  and 
defend;  but  as  these  tenements  were  equally  divided  among  the 


LETTER    XXV.  177 

and,  indeed,  so  it  is.  But  your  friend  Sir 
Alexander,  or  any  other  of  your  Scots  ac- 
quaintance, can  explain  it  to  you  much  better 
over  a  bottle,  or  walking  in  St.  James's  Park, 
than  I  can  do  upon  paper.  They  can  likewise 
give  you  the  title  of  the  Hireling,  which  I  have 
forgot;  and,  when  all  that  is  done,  I  dare 
venture  to  say,  you  will  conclude  there 
is  no  occasion  for  such  an  officer  in  any  English 
family.  And,  for  my  own  part,  I  really  think 
there  is  as  little  need  of  him  anywhere  on  this 
side  the  Tweed  within  the  compass  of  the  ocean. 

We  had  the  other  day,  in  our  coffee-room, 
an  auction  of  books,  if  such  trash,  and  so  small 
a  number  of  them,  may  go  by  that  name. 

One  of  them  I  purchased,  which  I  do  not 
remember  to  have  ever  heard  of  before,  al- 
though it  was  published  so  long  ago  as  the  year 
1703. 

It  is  a  description  of  the  Western  Islands  of 
Scotland,  and  came  extremely  a  propos,  to  pre- 
vent my  saying  any  thing  further  concerning 
them. 

I  have  nothing  to  object  against  the  author's 
(Mr.  Martin's)  account  of  those  isles,  with 

children  of  each  possessor,  from  generation  to  generation,  they 
at  last  became  very  insignificant,  and  were  gradually  bought   up 
by  settlers  from  the  mainland  of  Scotland ;  so  that  there  are  now 
hardly  any  proprietors  of  land  of  the  old  stock  to  be  found, 
VOL.  II.  N 


178  LETTER    XXV. 

respect  to  their  situation,  mountains,  lakes, 
rivers,  caves,  &c.  For  I  confess  I  never  was 
in  any  one  of  them,  though  I  have  seen  several 
of  them  from  the  main  land.  But  I  must  ob- 
serve, that  to  furnish  out  his  book  with  much 
of  the  wonderful  (a  quality  necessary  to  all 
books  of  travels,  and  it  would  be  happy  if 
history  were  less  tainted  with  it),  he  recounts 
a  great  variety  of  strange  customs  used  by  the 
natives  (if  ever  in  use)  in  days  of  yore,  with 
many  other  wonders ;  among  all  which  the 
second  sight  is  the  superlative. 

This,  he  says,  is  a  faculty,  gift,  or  misfor- 
tune (for  he  mentions  it  under  those  three  pre- 
dicaments), whereby  all  those  who  are  pos- 
sessed of  it,  or  by  it,  see  the  perfect  images  of 
absent  objects,  either  human,  brute,  vegetable, 
artificial,  &c.  And  if  there  be  fifty  other  per- 
sons in  the  same  place,  those  sights  are  invisible 
to  them  all:  nor  even  are  they  seen  by  any 
one  who  has  himself,  at  other  times,  the  second 
sight,  unless  the  person  who  has  the  faculty,  at 
that  instant,  should  touch  him  with  design  to 
communicate  it  to  him. 

It  is  not  peculiar  to  adult  persons,  but  is 
sometimes  given  to  young  children.  Women 
have  this  supernatural  sight,  and  even  horses 
and  cows.  It  is  pity  he  does  not  tell  us  how 
those  two  kinds  of  cattle  distinguish  between 


LETTER    XXV.  179 

natural  and  preternatural  appearances,  so  as  to 
be  fearless  of  the  one  and  affrighted  at  the 
other,  though  seemingly  the  same  ;  and  how 
all  this  came  to  be  known. 

Upon  this  subject  he  employs  six  and  thirty 
pages,  L  e.  a  small  part  of  them  in  recounting 
what  kind  of  appearances  forebode  death, 
which  of  them  are  presages  of  marriage,  &c. 
as  though  it  were  a  settled  system. 

The  remaining  leaves  are  taken  up  in  ex- 
amples of  such  prophetic  apparitions  and  the 
certainty  of  their  events. 

But  I  shall  trouble  you  no  further  with  so 
contemptible  a  subject,  or  myself  with  point- 
ing out  the  marks  of  imposture,  except  to  add 
one  remark,  which  is,  that  this  ridiculous  no- 
tion has  almost  excluded  another,  altogether  as 
weak  and  frivolous ;  for  he  mentions  only  two 
or  three  slight  suspicions  of  witchcraft,  but  not 
one  fact  of  that  nature  throughout  his  whole 
book.  Yet  both  this  and  second  sight  are 
sprung  from  one  and  the  same  stock,  which  I 
suppose  to  be  very  ancient,  as  they  are  chil- 
dren of  credulity,  who  was  begotten  by  su- 
perstition, who  was  the  offspring  of  craft ; — but 
you  must  make  out  the  next  ancestor  yourself, 
for  his  name  is  torn  off  from  the  pedigree,  but 
I  believe  he  was  the  founder  of  the  family. 

N  2 


180  LETTER  XXV. 

In  looking  upwards  to  what  I  have  been 
writing,  I  have  paused  awhile  to  consider  what 
it  was  that  could  induce  me  to  detain  you  so 
long  about  this  trifling  matter ;  and  at  last  I 
have  resolved  it  into  a  love  of  truth,  which  is 
naturally  communicative,  and  makes  it  painful 
to  conceal  the  impositions  of  falsehood.  But 
these  islands  are  so  remote  and  unfrequented, 
they  are  a  very  proper  subject  for  invention ; 
and  few,  I  think,  would  have  the  curiosity  to 
visit  them,  in  order  to  disprove  any  account  of 
them,  however  romantic. 

I  can  make  no  other  apology  for  the  length 
of  this  detail,  because  I  might  have  gone  a 
much  shorter  way,  by  only  mentioning  the 
book,  and  hinting  its  character ;  and  so  leaving 
it  to  your  choice,  whether  to  take  notice  of  it 
or  reject  it. 

This  letter  will  bring  you  the  conclusion  of 
our  correspondence,  so  far  as  it  relates  to  this 
part  of  our  island ;  yet  if  any  thing  should  hap- 
pen hereafter  that  may  be  thought  qualified  to 
go  upon  its  travels  five  hundred  miles  south- 
ward, it  will  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  give  it  the 
necessary  dispatch. 

I  have  called  it  correspondence,  from  the  re- 
marks I  have  received  from  you  upon  such 
passages  in  my  letters  as  gave  you  the  occa- 


LETTER    XXV.  181 

sion :  and  I  wish  my  subject  would  have  ena- 
bled me  to  give  you  opportunities  to  increase 
their  number. 

Writers,  you  know,  for  the  most  part,  have 
not  been  contented  with  any  thing  less  than  the 
characters  and  actions  of  those  whom  birth  or 
fortune  had  set  up  to  public  view,  or  the  policy 
or  weakness  of  public  councils ;  the  order  and 
event  of  battles,  sieges,  and  such  like,  in  great 
measure  dressed  up  in  habits  cut  out  by  them- 
selves; but  the  genius  of  a  people  has  been 
thought  beneath  their  notice. 

This,  forsooth,  is  called  supporting  the  dig- 
nity of  history.  Now,  in  this  case,  who  shall 
condescend  to  give  a  detail  of  circumstances 
generally  esteemed  to  be  low,  and  therefore  of 
little  consequence,  and  at  the  same  time  escape 
the  character  of  a  trifler  ? 

But  I  am  unwarily  fallen  into  an  apology  to 
you,  and  not  as  if  I  was  writing  en  confidence 
to  a  friend,  but  openly  to  the  whole  kingdom. 

For  my  own  part  (who  have  already  lived  too 
long  to  be  dazzled  with  glittering  appearances), 
I  should  be  as  well  pleased  to  see  a  shepherd  of 
Arcadia,  free  from  poetical  fiction,  in  his  rustic 
behaviour  and  little  economy,  or  a  burgher  of 
ancient  Rome  in  his  shop,  as  to  know  the  cha- 
racter of  a  consul ;  for,  in  either  case,  it  is  the 
comparison  of  past  ages,  and  foreign  countries 


182  LETTER  XXV. 

opposed  to  our  own,  that  excites  my  curiosity 
and  gives  me  satisfaction. 

As  we  are  now  about  to  settle  our  accounts 
to  this  time,  I  shall  acknowledge  (as  every 
honest  man  would  do)  the  value  of  an  article 
-which,  it  is  likely,  you  make  little  account  of,  as 
the  Indians  are  said  to  have  done  of  their  gold 
when  they  gave  it  away  for  baubles, — and  that 
is,  the  agreeable  amusement  you  have  furnished 
me  with,  from  time  to  time,  concerning  such 
passages  as  could  not,  for  good  reasons,  be 
admitted  to  the  public  papers.  This  to  one 
almost  excluded  the  world  may,  in  some  mea- 
sure, be  said  to  restore  him  to  his  native  home. 

Upon  the  whole,  when  all  the  articles  in 
your  favour  are  brought  to  account,  I  think  the 
balance  will  be  on  your  side ;  and  yet  I  make 
no  doubt  you  would  cheerfully  go  on  to  in- 
crease the  debt,  though  I  should  become  a 
bankrupt,  and  there  did  not  remain  to  you  the 
least  expectation  of  payment  from,  &c. 


. 
J0iiC[  lo  ffogrjr! 


LETTER    XXVI. 

Concerning  the  New  Roads,  8$c.  173 — 

IT  is  now  about  eight  years  since  I  sent  you  the 
conclusion  of  my  rambling  account  of  the 
Highlands ;  and,  perhaps,  you  would  not  have 
complained  if,  in  this  long  interval,  you  had 
been  perfectly  free  of  so  barren  a  subject. 

Monsieur  Fontenelle,  I  remember,  in  one  of 
his  pastoral  dialogues,  makes  a  shepherd  object 
to  another — Quoi !  toujours  de  t  amour  ?  And  I 
think  you  may  as  well  ask — What!  always 
Highlands  ?  But,  in  my  situation,  without  them, 
I  should  be  in  the  sorrowful  condition  of  an  old 

V 

woman  in  her  country  cottage,  by  a  winter 
fire,  and  nobody  would  hearken  to  her  tales  of 
witches  and  spirits; — that  is,  to  have  little  or 
nothing  to  say.  But  now  I  am  a  perfect  volun- 
teer, and  cannot  plead  my  former  excuses,  and 
really  am  without  any  apprehensions  of  being 
thought  officious  in  giving  you  some  account 
of  the  roads,  which,  within  these  few  weeks, 
have  been  completely  finished. 


184  LETTER   XXVJ. 

These  new  roads  were  begun  in  the  year 
1726,  and  have  continued  about  eleven  years  in 
the  prosecution ;  yet,  long  as  it  may  be  thought, 
if  you  were  to  pass  over  the  whole  work  (for 
the  borders  of  it  would  show  you  what  it  was), 
I  make  no  doubt  but  that  number  of  years 
would  dimmish  in  your  imagination  to  a  much 
shorter  tract  of  time,  by  comparison  with  the 
difficulties  that  attended  the  execution. 

But,  before  I  proceed  to  any  particular  de- 
scriptions of  them,  I  shall  inform  you  how  they  lie, 
to  the  end  that  you  may  trace  them  out  upon  a 
map  of  Scotland ;  and  first  I  shall  take  them  as 
they  are  made,  to  enter  the  mountains,  viz. 

One  of  them  begins  from  Grief,  which  is 
about  fourteen  miles  from  Stirling :  here  the 
Romans  left  off  their  works,  of  which  some 
parts  are  visible  to  this  day,  particularly  the 
camp  at  Ardoch,  where  the  vestiges  of  the 
fortifications  are  on  a  moor  so  barren,  that  its 
whole  form  has  been  safe  from  culture,  or  other 
alteration  besides  weather  and  time. 

The  other  road  enters  the  hills  at  Dimheld, 
in  Athol,  which  is  about  ten  miles  from  Perth. 

The  first  of  them,  according  to  my  account, 
though  the  last  in  execution,  proceeds  through 
Glenalmond  (which,  for  its  narrowness,  and  the 
height  of  the  mountains,  I  remember  to  have 
mentioned  formerly),  and  thence  it  goes  to 


LETTER    XXVI.  185 

Aberfaldy;  there  it  crosses  the  river  Tay  by  a 
bridge  of  free-stone,  consisting  of  five  spacious 
arches  (by  the  way,  this  military  bridge  is  the 
only  passage  over  that  wild  and  dangerous 
river),  and  from  thence  the  road  goes  on  to 
Dalnachardoch. 

The  other  road  from  Dunkeld  proceeds  by 
the  Blair  of  Athol  to  the  said  Dalnachardoch. 

Here  the  two  roads  join  in  one,  and,  as  a 
single  road,  it  leads  on  to  Dalwhinny,  where  it 
branches  out  again  into  two ;  of  which  one 
proceeds  toward  the  north-west,  through  Garva- 
Moor,  and  over  the  Coriarach  mountain  to  Fort 
Augustus,  at  Killichumen,  and  the  other  branch 
goes  due-north  to  the  barrack  of  Ruthven,  in 
Badenoch,  and  thence,  by  Delmagary,  to  In- 
verness. From  thence  it  proceeds  something  to 
the  southward  of  the  west,  across  the  island,  to 
the  aforesaid  Fort- Augustus,  and  so  on  to  Fort- 
William,  in  Lochaber. 

The  length  of  all  these  roads  put  together  is 
about  two  hundred  and  fifty  miles. 

1  have  so  lately  mentioned  Glenalmond,  in 
the  road  from  Grief,  northward,  that  I  cannot 
forbear  a  digression,  though  at  my  first  setting 
ort,  in  relation  to  a  piece  of  antiquity  which 
happened  to  be  discovered  in  that  vale  not 
many  hours  before  I  passed  through  it  in  one 
of  my  journeys  southward. 


186  LETTER    XXVI. 

A  small  part  of  the  way  through  this  glen 
having  been  marked  out  by  two  rows  of  camp- 
colours,  placed  at  a  good  distance  one  from 
another,  whereby  to  describe  the  line  of  the  in- 
tended breadth  and  regularity  of  the  road  by 
the  eye,  there  happened  to  lie  directly  in  the  way 
an  exceedingly  large  stone,  and,  as  it  had  been 
made  a  rule  from  the  beginning,  to  carry  on  the 
roads  in  straight  lines,  as  far  as  the  way  would 
permit,  not  only  to  give  them  a  better  air,  but 
to  shorten  the  passenger's  journey,  it  was  re- 
solved the  stone  should  be  removed,  if  possible, 
though  otherwise  the  work  might  have  been 
carried  along  on  either  side  of  it. 

The  soldiers,  by  vast  labour,  with  their  levers 
and  jacks,  or  hand-screws,  tumbled  it  over  and 
over  till  they  got  it  quite  out  of  the  way, 
although  it  was  of  such  an  enormous  size  that 
it  might  be  matter  of  great  wonder  how  it 
could  ever  be  removed  by  human  strength  and 
art,  especially  to  such  who  had  never  seen 
an  operation  of  that  kind  :  and,  upon  their  dig- 
ing  a  little  way  into  that  part  of  the  ground 
where  the  centre  of  the  base  had  stood,  there 
was  found  a  small  cavity,  about  two  feet  square, 
which  was  guarded  from  the  outward  earth  at 
the  bottom,  top,  and  sides,  by  square  flat  stones. 

This  hollow  contained  some  ashes,  scraps  of 
bones,  and  half-burnt  ends  of  stalks  of  heath ; 


LETTER   XXVI.  187 

which  last  we  concluded  to  be  a  small  remnant 
of  a  funeral  pile.  Upon  the  whole,  I  think 
there  is  no  room  to  doubt  but  it  was  the  urn  of 
some  considerable  Roman  officer,  and  the  best 
of  the  kind  that  could  be  provided  in  their  mili- 
tary circumstances ;  and  that  it  was  so  seems 
plainly  to  appear  from  its  vicinity  to  the  Roman 
camp,  the  engines  that  must  have  been  employed 
to  remove  that  vast  piece  of  a  rock,  and  the  un- 
likeliness it  should,  or  could,  have  ever  been 
done  by  the  natives  of  the  country.  But  cer- 
tainly the  design  was,  to  preserve  those  remains 
from  the  injuries  of  rains  and  melting  snows,  and 
to  prevent  their  being  profaned  by  the  sacri- 
legious hands  of  those  they  call  Barbarians,  for 
that  reproachful  name,  you  know,  they  gave  to 
the  people  of  almost  all  nations  but  their  own. 

Give  me  leave  to  finish  this  digression,  which 
is  grown  already  longer  than  I  foresaw  or  in- 
tended. 

As  I  returned  the  same  way  from  the  Low- 
lands, I  found  the  officer,  with  his  party  of  work- 
ing soldiers,  not  far  from  the  stone,  and  asked 
him  what  was  become  of  the  urn?* 

*  Many  burying  places,  so  designated  and  protected,  have  been 
discovered  in  other  parts  of  Scotland,  particularly  one  near  Mort- 
lach.  There  was  here  no  urn,  nor  any  thing  else  characteristic 
of  Roman  sepulture.  When  Stonehenge  (the  hanging  stones), 
was  raised  in  England,  and  the  other  stupendous  stones  and  cir- 


188  LETTER   XXVI. 

To  this  he  answered,  that  he  had  intended  to 
preserve  it  in  the  condition  I  left  it,  till  the  com- 
mander-in-chief  had  seen  it,  as  a  curiosity,  but 
that  it  was  not  in  his  power  so  to  do ;  for  soon 
after  the  discovery  was  known  to  the  High- 
landers, they  assembled  from  distant  parts,  and 
having  formed  themselves  into  a  body,  they 
carefully  gathered  up  the  relics,  and  marched 
with  them,  in  solemn  procession,  to  a  new  place 
of  burial,  and  there  discharged  their  fire-arms 
over  the  grave,  as  supposing  the  deceased  had 
been  a  military  officer. 

You  will  believe  the  recital  of  all  this  cere- 
mony led  me  to  ask  the  reason  of  such  homage 
done  to  the  ashes  of  a  person  supposed  to  have 
been  dead  almost  two  thousand  years.  I  did 

*/ 

so;  and  the  officer,  who  was  himself  a  native  of 
the  Hills,  told  me  that  they  (the  Highlanders) 
firmly  believe  that  if  a  dead  body  should  be 
known  to  lie  above  ground,  or  be  disinterred  by 
malice,  or  the  accidents  of  torrents  of  water,  &c. 
and  care  was  not  immediately  taken  to  perform 
to  it  the  proper  rites,  then  there  would  arise  such 
storms  and  tempests  as  would  destroy  their  corn, 

clea  in  Wiltshire,  &c.  set  up,  one  great  stone  might  have  been 
turned  over  by  Highlanders.  In  a  church-yard  in  Scotland, 
human  bonrs  are  never  seen  thrown  about,  all  are  carefully  buried, 
not  from  any  superstitious  impression,  but,  from  a  general  senti- 
ment, highly  creditable  to  a  serious,  rational,  and  thinking  people. 


LETTER    XXVI.  189 

blow  away  their  huts,  and  all  sorts  of  other  mis- 
fortunes would  follow  till  that  duty  was  per- 
formed. You  may  here  recollect  what  I  told 
you  so  long  ago,  of  the  great  regard  the  High- 
landers have  for  the  remains  of  their  dead;  but 
this  notion  is  entirely  Roman. 

But  to  return  to  my  main  purpose. — In  the 
summer  seasons,  five  hundred  of  the  soldiers  from 
the  barracks,  and  other  quarters  about  the  High- 
lands, were  employed  in  those  works  in  different 
stations,  by  detachments  from  the  regiments 
and  Highland  companies. 

The  private  men  were  allowed  sixpence  a  day, 
over  and  above  their  pay  as  soldiers :  a  corporal 
had  eight-pence,  and  a  serjeant  a  shilling;  but 
this  extra  pay  was  only  for  working-days,  which 
were  often  interrupted  by  violent  storms  of 
wind  and  rain,  from  the  heights  and  hollows  of 
the  mountains. 

These  parties  of  men  were  under  the  com- 
mand and  direction  of  proper  officers,  who  were 
all  subalterns,  and  received  two  shillings  and 
sixpence  per  diem,  to  defray  their  extraordi- 
nary expence  in  building  huts;  making  ne- 
cessary provision  for  their  tables  from  distant 
parts;  unavoidable  though  unwelcome  visits, 
and  other  incidents  arising  from  their  wild  situ- 
ation. 

I  should  have  told  vou  before,  that  the  non- 


190  LETTER    XXVI. 

commissioned  officers  were  constant  and  im- 
mediate overseers  of  the  works. 

The  standard  breadth  of  these  roads,  as  laid 
down  at  the  first  projection, is  sixteen  feet;  but 
in  some  parts,  where  there  were  no  very  ex- 
pensive difficulties,  they  are  wider. 

In  those  places  (as  I  have  said  before),  they 
are  carried  on  in  straight  lines  till  some  great 
necessity  has  turned  them  out  of  the  way ;  the 
rest,  which  run  along  upon  the  declivities  of 
hills,  you  know,  must  have  their  circuits,  risings, 
and  descents  accordingly. 

To  stop  and  take  a  general  view  of  the  hills 
before  you  from  an  eminence,  in  some  part  where 
the  eye  penetrates  far  within  the  void  spaces, 
the  roads  would  appear  to  you  in  a  kind  of 
whimsical  disorder;  and  as  those  parts  of  them 
that  appear  to  you  are  of  a  very  different  colour 
from  the  heath  that  chiefly  clothes  the  country, 
they  may,  by  that  contrast,  be  traced  out  to  a 
considerable  distance. 

Now,  let  us  suppose  that  where  you  are,  the 
road  is  visible  to  you  for  a  short  space,  and  is  then 
broken  off  to  the  sight  by  a  hollow  or  winding 
among  the  hills;  beyond  that  interruption,  the 
eye  catches  a  small  part  on  the  side  of  another 
hill,  and  some  again  on  the  ridge  of  it ;  in  another 
place,  further  off,  the  road  appears  to  run  zigzag, 
in  angles,  up  a  steep  declivity  ;  in  one  place,  a 


LETTER   XXVT.  191 

short  horizontal  line  shows  itself  below,  in  ano- 
ther, the  marks  of  the  road  seem  to  be  almost 
even  with  the  clouds,  &c. 

It  may  here  be  objected,  How  can  you  see 
any  part  of  the  flat  roof  of  a  building^  when  you 
are  below  ?  The  question  would  be  just ;  but 
the  edges  of  the  roads  on  a  precipice,  and  the 
broken  parts  of  the  face  of  the  mountain  behind, 
that  has  been  wrought  into  to  make  room  for 
the  road, — these  appear,  and  discover  to  them 
who  are  below  the  line  of  which  I  have  been 
speaking. 

Thus  the  eye  catches  one  part  of  the  road 
here,  another  there,  in  different  lengths  and 
positions ;  and,  according  to  their  distance,  they 
are  diminished  and  rendered  fainter  and  fainter, 
by  the  lineal  and  aerial  perspective,  till  they  are 
entirely  lost  to  sight.  And  I  need  not  tell  you, 
that,  as  you  pursue  your  progress,  the  scene 
changes  to  new  appearances. 

The  old  ways  (for  roads  I  shall  not  call  them) 
consisted  chiefly  of  stony  moors,  bogs,  rugged, 
rapid  fords,  declivities  of  hills,  entangling  woods, 
and  giddy  precipices.  You  will  say  this  is  a 
dreadful  catalogue  to  be  read  to  him  that  is 
about  to  take  a  Highland  journey. 

I  have  not  mentioned  the  valleys,  for  they  are 
few  in  number,  far  divided  asunder,  and  gene- 
rally the  roads  through  them  were  easily  made. 


192  LITTER    XXVI. 

My  purpose  now  is  to  give  you  some  account 
of  the  nature  of  the  particular  parts  above-men- 
tioned, and  the  manner  how  this  extraordinary 
\vork  has  been  executed;  and  this  I  shall  do  in 
the  order  I  have  ranged  them  as  above. 

And  first,  the  stony  moors.  These  are  mostly 
tracts  of  ground  of  several  miles  in  length,  and 
often  very  high,  with  frequent  lesser  risings  and. 
descents,  and  having  for  surface  a  mixture  of 
stones  and  heath.  The  stones  are  fixed  in  the 
earth,  being  very  large  and  unequal,  and  gene- 
rally are  as  deep  in  the  ground  as  they  appear 
above  it;  and  where  there  are  any  spaces  be- 
tween the  stones,  there  is  a  loose  spongy  sward, 
perhaps  not  above  five  or  six  inches  deep,  and 
incapable  to  produce  any  thing  but  heath,  and 
all  beneath  it  is  hard  gravel  or  rock. 

I  now  begin  to  be  apprehensive  of  your  me- 
mory, lest  it  should  point  out  some  repetitions 
of  descriptions  contained  in  my  former  letters; 
but  I  have  been  thus  particular,  because  I  know 
the  extent  of  your  journeys,  and  that  with  you 
a  morass  is  called  a  moor ;  yet  hills  that  are 
something  of  this  nature  are  called  moors  in  the 
north  of  England. 

Here  the  workmen  first  made  room  to  fix 
their  instruments,  and  then,  by  strength,  and  the 
help  of  those  two  mechanic  powers,  the  screw 
and  the  lever,  they  raised  out  of  their  ancient 


LETTER    XXVI.  193 

beds  those  massive  bodies,  and  then  filling  up 
the  cavities  with  gravel,  set  them  up,  mostly 
end-ways,  along  the  sides  of  the  road,  as  direc- 
tions in  time  of  deep  snows,  being  some  of  them, 
as  they  now  stand,  eight  or  nine  feet  high.  They 
serve,  likewise,  as  memorials  of  the  skill  and 
labour  requisite  to  the  performance  of  so  diffi- 
cult a  work, 

In  some  particular  spots,  where  there  was  a 
proper  space  beside  the  stones,  the  workmen 
dug  hollows,  and,  by  undermining,  dropped  them 
in,  where  they  lie  buried  so  securely,  as  never 
more  to  retard  the  traveller's  journey ;  but  it 
was  thought  a  moot  point,  even  where  it  was 
successful,  whether  any  time  or  labour  was 
saved  by  this  practice;  for  those  pits,  for  the 
most  part,  required  to  be  made  very  deep  and 
wide,  and  it  could  not  be  foreseen,  without  con- 
tinual boring,  whether  there  might  not  be  rock 
above  the  necessary  depth,  which  might  be  a 
disappointment  after  great  labour. 

The  roads  on  these  moors  are  now  as  smooth 
as  Constitution-Hill,  and  I  have  gallopped  on 
some  of  them  for  miles  together  in  great  tran- 
quility;  which  was  heightened  by  reflection  on 
my  former  fatigue,  when,  for  a  great  part  of  the 
way,  I  had  been  obliged  to  quit  my  horse,  it  being 
too  dangerous  or  impracticable  to  ride,  and  even 
hazardous  to  pass  on  foot. 

VOL.    II.  O 


LETTER  XXVI. 
THE  BOGS. 

There  are  two  species  of  them,  viz.  bogs,  and 
those  the  natives  call  peat-mosses,  which  yield 
them  their  firing ;  many  of  the  former  are  very 
large,  and  sometimes  fill  up  the  whole  space 
between  the  feet  of  the  mountains.  They  are 
.  mostly  not  much,  if  any  thing,  above  the  level 
of  the  sea;  but  I  do  not  know  that  any  part  of 
the  road  is  carried  through  them,  or  think  it 
practicable;  yet,  as  any  description  of  them  may 
be  new  to  you,  I  shall  stop  awhile  to  give  you 
some  account  of  my  trotting  one  of  them,  which 
is  reckoned  about  a  mile  over. 

My  affairs  engaging  me  to  reside  for  some 
time  among  the  hills,  I  resolved,  and  was  pre- 
paring to  make  a  distant  visit;  but  was  told  that 
a  hill,  at  the  foot  of  which  I  lived,  was,  in  the 
descent  from  it,  exceeding  steep  and  stony ;  I 
was  therefore  prevailed  with  to  have  my  horses 
led  a  round-about  way,  and  to  meet  me  on  the 
other  side. 

In  lieu  of  that  difficult  way,  1  was  to  be  fer- 
ried over  a  lake,  and  to  traverse  the  bog  above- 
mentioned,  over  which  a  Highlander  undertook 
to  conduct  me;  him  I  followed  close  at  the 
heels,  because  I  soon  observed  he  used  a  step 
unlike  to  what  he  did  upon  firm  ground,  and 
which  I  could  not  presently  imitate ;  and  also 


LETTER    XXVI.  195 

that  he  chose  his  way,  here  and  there,  as  if  he 
knew  where  was  the  least  danger,  although, 
at  the  same  time,  the  surface  of  the  part  we 
were  going  over,  seemed  to  me  to  be  equal- 
ly indifferent  in  respect  to  safety  and  dan- 
ger. 

Our  weight  and  the  spring  of  motion,  in  many 
parts,  caused  a  shaking  all  round  about  us,  and 
the  compression  made  the  water  rise  through 
the  sward,  which  was,  in  some  parts,  a  kind 
of  short  flaggy  grass,  and  in  others  a  sort  of 
mossy  heath ;  but  wherever  any  rushes  grew,  I 
knew,  by  experience  of  the  peat-mosses  I  had 
gone  over  before,  that  it  was  not  far  to  the 
bottom. 

This  rising  of  water  made  me  conclude  (for 
my  guide  was  not  intelligible  to  me)  that  we  had 
nothing  but  a  liquid  under  us  or,  at  most,  some- 
thing like  a  quicksand,  and  that  the  sward  was 
only  a  little  toughened  by  the  entwining  of  the 
roots,  and  was  supported,  like  ice,  only  by 
water,  or  something  nearly  as  fluid. 

I  shall  give  you  no  particulars  of  my  visit, 
further  than  that  the  laird  treated  me  in  a  very 
handsome  and  plentiful  manner,  and,  indeed,  it 
was  his  interest  so  to  do ;  but  poor  poke-pudding 
was  so  fatigued,  and  so  apprehensive  of  danger 
on  the  bog,  that  he  could  not  be  persuaded  to 
go  back  again  the  same  way. 

o  2 


196  LETTER    XXVI. 

THE   MOSSES. 

Of  these  I  formerly  gave  you  some  superfi 
cial  account ;  but  now  that  I  am  about  to  let 
you  know  how  the  roads  were  made  through 
them,  I  shall  examine  them  to  the  bottom. 
When  I  first  saw  them,  I  imagined  they  were 
formerly  made  when  woods  were  common  in 
the  Hills ;  but,  since,  by  several  repeated  laws, 
destroyed,  to  take  away  that  shelter  which  as- 
sisted the  Highlanders  in  their  depredations ; — I 
say,  I  have  supposed  the  leaves  of  trees  were 
driven  by  winds  and  lodged  in  their  passage, 
from  time  to  time,  in  those  cavities  till  they 
were  filled  up.  One  thing,  among  others,  that 
induced  me  to  this  belief  is,  that  the  muddy 
substance  of  them  is  much  like  the  rotted 
leaves  in  our  woods;  but,  since  that  time,  I 
have  been  told,  that,  when  one  of  them  has  been 
quite  exhausted  for  fuel,  it  has  grown  again, 
and,  in  the  course  of  twenty  years,  has  been 
as  fit  to  be  dug  for  firing  as  before.  This 
I  can  believe,  because  T  have  seen  many  small 
ones,  far  from  any  inhabitants,  swelled  above 
the  surface  of  the  ground  that  lies  all  round 
about  them,  and  chiefly  in  the  middle,  so  as  to 
become  a  protuberance,  and  therefore  by  stran- 
gers the  less  suspected,  though  the  deeper  and 
more  dangerous. 


LETTER    XXVI.  197 

All  beneath  the  turf  is  a  spongy  earth  inter- 
woven with  a  slender,  fibrous  vegetable,  some- 
thing like  the  smallest  roots  of  a  shrub,  and 
these  a  little  toughen  it,  and  contribute  to  the 
making  it  good  fuel ;  but,  when  they  are  quite, 
or  near  dug  out,  the  pit  is  generally  almost  filled 
with -water.  This,  I  suppose,  arises  from 
springs,  which  may,  for  aught  I  know,  have 
been  the  first  occasion  of  these  mosses,  which 
are  very  deceitful,  especially  to  those  who  are 
not  accustomed  to  them,  being  mostly  covered 
with  heath,  like  the  the  rest  of  the  country, 
and,  in  time  of  rains,  become  soft,  and  some- 
times impassable  on  foot. 

Now  that  I  have  no  further  occasion  for  any 
distinction,  I  shall  call  every  soft  place  a  bog, 
except  there  be  occasion  sometimes  to  vary  the 
phrase. 

When  one  of  these  bogs  has  crossed  the  way 
on  a  stony  moor,  there  the  loose  ground  has 
been  dug  out  down  to  the  gravel,  or  rock,  and 
the  hollow  filled  up  in  the  manner  following,  viz. 

First  with  a  layer  of  large  stones,  then  a 
smaller  size,  to  fill  up  the  gaps  and  raise  the 
causeway  higher;  and,  lastly,  two,  three,  or 
more  feet  of  gravel,  to  fill  up  the  interstices  of 
the  small  stones,  and  form  a  smooth  and  binding 
surface.  This  part  of  the  road  has  a  bank  on 
each  side,  to  separate  it  from  a  ditch,  which  is 


198  LETTER    XXVI. 

made  withoutside  to  receive  the  water  from  the 
bog,  and,  if  the  ground  will  allow  it,  to  convey 
it  by  a  trench  to  a  slope,  and  thereby  in  some 
measure  drain  it. 

In  a  rocky  way,  where  no  loose  stones  were 
to  be  found,  if  a  bog  intervened,  and  trees  could 
be  had  at  any  portable  distance,  the  road  has 
been  made  solid  by  timber  and  fascines,  crowned 
with  gravel,  dug  out  of  the  side  of  some  hill. 

This  is  durable ;  for  the  faggots  and  trees, 
lying  continually  in  the  moisture  of  the  bog,  will, 
instead  of  decaying,  become  extremely  hard, 
as  has  been  observed  of  trees  that  have  been 
plunged  into  those  sloughs,  and  lain  there,  in  all 
probability,  for  many  ages.  This  causeway 
has  likewise  a  bank  and  a  ditch  for  the  purpose 
above-mentioned. 

There  is  one  bog  I  passed  through  (literally 
speaking),  which  is  upon  the  declivity  of  a  hill; 
there  the  mud  has  been  dug  away  for  a  proper 
space,  and  thrown  upon  the  bog  on  either  side, 
and  a  passage  made  at  the  foot  of  a  hill  for  the 
water  to  run  down  into  a  large  cavity,  insomuch, 
that,  by  continual  draining,  I  rode,  as  it  were,  in  a 
very  shallow  rivulet  running  down  the  hill  upon 
a  rock  (which  was  made  smooth  by  the  work- 
men), with  the  sides  of  the  bog  high  above  me 
on  both  sides,  like  one  of  the  hollow  ways  in 
England. 


LETTER    XXVI.  199 

I  must  desire  you  will  consider,  that  the  fore- 
going descriptions,  as  well  as  these  that  are  to 
follow,  are,  and  will  be,  only  specimens  of  the 
work ;  for  it  would  be  almost  without  end  to 
give  you  all  the  particulars  of  so  various  and 
extensive  a  performance. 

FORDS. 

No  remedy  but  bridges  has  been  found  for 
the  inconveniencies  and  hazards  of  these  rugged 
and  rapid  passages ;  for,  when  some  of  them,  in 
the  beginning,  were  cleared  from  the  large,  loose 
stones,  the  next  inundation  brought  down  others 
in  their  room,  which  else  would  have  been 
stopped  by  the  way,  and  some  of  those  were 
of  a  much  larger  size  than  the  stones  that  had 
been  removed. 

This  was  the  case  (among  others)  of  a  small 
river,  which,  however,  was  exceedingly  dan- 
gerous to  ford,  and  for  that  reason  the  first 
bridge  was  ordered  to  be  built  over  it ;  but  it 
gave  me  a  lively  idea  how  short  is  human  fore- 
sight, especially  in  new  projects  and  untried 
undertakings. 

The  spring  of  the  arch  was  founded  upon 
rocks,  and  it  was  elevated  much  above  the 
highest  water  that  had  ever  been  known  by  the 
country-people;  yet,  some  time  after  it  was 
finished,  there  happened  a  sudden  torrent  from 


200  LETTER   XXVI. 

the  mountains,  which  brought  down  trees  and 
pieces  of  rocks ;  and,  by  its  being  placed  too 
near  the  issue  of  water  from  between  two  hills, 
though  firmly  built  with  stone,  it  was  cropt  off, 
not  far  beneath  the  crown  of  the  arch,  as  if  it 
had  neither  weight  nor  solidity. 

DECLIVITIES. 

By  these  I  mean  the  sloping  sides  of  the 
hills  whereon  the  new  roads  are  made. 

The  former  ways  along  those  slopes  were 
only  paths  worn  by  the  feet  of  the  Highlanders 
and  their  little  garrons.  They  ran  along  up- 
wards and  downwards,  one  above  another,  in 
such  a  manner  as  was  found  most  convenient 
at  the  first  tracing  them  out :  this,  I  think,  I 
have  observed  to  you  formerly. 

To  these  narrow  paths  the  passenger  was 
confined  (for  there  is  seldom  any  choice  of  the 
way  you  would  take  in  the  Highlands)  by  the 
impassability  of  the  hollows  at  the  feet  of  the 
mountains;  because  those  spaces,  in  some 
parts,  are  filled  up  with  deep  bogs,  or  fallen 
rocks,  of  which  last  I  have  seen  many  as  big 
as  a  middling-house;  and,  looking  up,  have 
observed  others,  at  an  exceeding  height,  in 
some  measure  parted  from  the  main  rock,  and 
threatening  the  crush  of  some  of  those  below. 
In  other  parts  there  are  lakes  beneath,  ancj 


LETTER    XXVI.  201 

sometimes,  where  there  are  none,  it  was  only 
by  these  paths  you  could  ascend  the  hills,  still 
proceeding  round  the  sides  of  them  from  one 
to  another. 

There  the  new  roads  have  been  carried  on  in 
more  regular  curves  than  the  old  paths,  and 
are  dug  into  the  hills,  which  are  sloped  away 
above  them ;  and  where  any  rocks  have  oc- 
curred in  the  performance,  they  have  been 
bored  and  blown  away  with  gunpowder. 

Above  the  road  are  trenches  made  to  receive 
rains,  melting  snows,  and  springs,  which  last 
are  in  many  places  continually  issuing  out  of 
the  sides  of  the  hills,  being  drained  away 
from  large  waters  collected  in  lakes,  and  other 
cavities,  above  in  the  mountains. 

From  the  above-mentioned  trenches  are  pro- 
per channels  made  to  convey  the  water  down 
the  hills ;  these  are  secured,  by  firm  pave- 
ment, from  being  gulled  by  the  stream :  and  in 
places  that  required  it,  there  are  stone  walls 
built  behind  the  road,  to  prevent  the  fall  of  earth 
or  stones  from  the  broken  part  of  the  declivity. 

AVOODS. 

These  are  not  only  rare  in  the  way  of  the 
new  roads,  but  I  have  formerly  given  you  some 
description  of  the  inconvenience  and  danger  of 
one  of  them,  and  therefore  I  shall  only  add,  in 


202  LETTER  XXVI. 

this  place,  that  the  trees,  for  the  necessary 
space,  have  been  cut  down  and  grubbed  up ; 
their  fibrous  roots,  that  ran  about  upon  the  sur- 
face, destroyed  ;  the  boggy  part  removed  ;  the 
rock  smoothed,  and  the  crannies  firmly  filled 
up ;  and  all  this  in  such  a  manner  as  to  make  of 
it  a  very  commodious  road. 

STEEP    ASCENTS. 

As  the  heights,  for  the  most  part,  are  attained, 
as  I  have  been  saying,  by  going  round  the  sides 
of  the  hills  from  one  to  another,  the  exceeding 
steep  ascents  are  not  very  common  in  the 
ordinary  passages;  but  where  they  are,  the 
inconvenience  and  difficulties  of  them  have 
been  removed. 

I  shall  only  instance  in  one,  which,  indeed, 
is  confessed  to  be  the  worst  of  them  all.  This 
is  the  Coriarack  Mountain,  before  mentioned, 
which  rises  in  the  way  that  leads  from  Dai- 
whinny  to  Fort-Augustus.  It  is  above  a  quar- 
ter of  a  mile  of  perpendicular  height,  and  was 
passed  by  few  besides  the  soldiery  when  the 
garrisons  were  changed,  as  being  the  nearest 
way  from  one  of  the  barracks  to  another ;  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  conveniency  of  that  com- 
munication, this  part  of  the  new  roads  had 
never  been  thought  of. 

This  mountain  is  so  near  the  perpendicular 


LETTER    XXVI.  203 

iii  some  parts,  that  it  was  doubtful  whether  the 
passenger,  after  great  labour,  should  get  up- 
wards, or  return  much  quicker  than  he  ad- 
vanced. 

The  road  over  it,  not  to  mention  much  rough- 
ness (which,  I  believe,  you  have  had  enough  of 
by  this  time,  and  are  likely  to  have  more),  is 
carried  on  upon  the  south  declivity  of  the  hill, 
by  seventeen  traverses,  like  the  course  of  a 
ship  when  she  is  turning  to  windward,  by  an- 
gles still  advancing  higher  and  higher ;  yet 
little  of  it  is  to  be  seen  below,  by  reason  of 
flats,  hollows,  and  windings  that  intercept  the 
sight;  and  nothing  could  give  you  a  general 
view  of  it,  unless  one  could  be  supposed  to  be 
placed  high  above  the  mountain  in  the  air. 
This  is  much  unlike  your  hills  in  the  south,  that, 
in  some  convenient  situation  of  the  eye,  are 
seen  in  one  continued  smooth  slope  from  the  bot- 
tom to  the  top.  ' 

Each  of  the  above-mentioned  angles  is  about 
seventy  or  eighty  yards  in  length,  except  in  a 
few  places  where  the  hill  would  not  admit  of  all 
that  extent. 

These  traverses  upward,  and  the  turnings  of 
their  extremities,  are  supported  on  the  outside 
of  the  road  by  stone  walls,  from  ten  to  fifteen 
feet  in  height. 

Thus  that  steep  ascent,  which  was  so  diffi- 


204  LETTER  XXVI. 

cult  to  be  attained,  even  by  the  foot-passenger, 
is  rendered  everywhere  more  easy  for  wheel- 
carriages  than  Highgate-Hill. 

On  the  north  side  of  this  mountain,  at  a  place 
named  Snugburgh  from  its  situation,  there  is  a 
narrow  pass  between  two  exceeding  high  and 
steep  hills.  These  are  joined  together  by  two 
arches,  supported  by  walls,  to  take  off  the 
sharpness  of  the  short  descent,  which  other- 
wise could  not  have  been  practicable  for  the 
lightest  wheel-carriage  whatever,  for  it  was 
difficult  even  for  horse  or  man. 

• 

PRECIPICES. 

I  shall  say  nothing  in  this  place  of  such  of 
them  as  are  any  thing  tolerable  to  the  mind,  in 
passing  them  over,  though  a  false  step  might 
render  them  fatal,  as  there  would  be  no  stop- 
ping till  dashed  against  the  rocks.  I  shall  only 
mention  two  that  are  the  most  terrible,  which 
I  have  gone  over  several  times,  but  always 
occasionally,  »not  as  the  shortest  way,  or  by 
choice,  but  to  avoid  extensive  bogs,  or  swelling 
waters  in  time  of  rain,  which  I  thought  more 
dangerous  in  the  other  way. 

One  of  these  precipices  is  on  the  north  side 
of  the  Murray  Frith,  where  no  roads  have  been 
made ;  the  other  is  on  a  mountain  southward  of 
this  town. 


LETTER    XXVI.  205 

Both  these,  as  I  have  said  above,  were  use- 
ful upon  occasion ;  but  the  latter  is  now  ren- 
dered unnecessary,  as  the  old  round-about  way 
is  made  smooth,  and  bridges  built  over  the 
dangerous  waters,  and  therefore  nothing  has 
been  done  to  this  precipice ;  nor,  indeed,  was 
it  thought  practicable  to  widen  the  path,  by 
reason  of  the  steepness  of  the  side  of  the  hill 
that  rises  above  it. 

I  think  the  ordinary  proverb  was  never  more 
manifestly  verified  than  it  now  is,  in  these  two 
several  ways :  viz. — "  That  the  farthest  way 
about,"  &c.  Yet,  I  make  no  doubt,  the  gene- 
rality of  the  Highlanders  will  prefer  the  pre- 
cipice to  the  gravel  of  the  road  and  a  greater 
number  of  steps. 

Not  far  from  this  steep  place  I  once  baited 
my  horses  with  oats,  carried  with  me,  and  laid 
upon  the  snow  in  the  month  of  July ;  and,  in- 
deed, it  is  there  (instead  of  rain)  snow  or  sleet 
all  the  year  round. 

Thus  far  I  have,  chiefly  in  general  terms, 
described  the  difficulties  that  attended  the 
making  new  roads,  and  the  methods  taken  to 
surmount  them,  which  was  all  I  at  first  in- 
tended ;  but  as  some  of  the  greatest  obstacles, 
which  yet  remain  imdescribed,  were  met  with 
in  the  way  between  this  town  and  Fort- Wil- 
liam, I  shall,  previous  to  any  account  of  them, 


206  LETTER    XXVI. 

endeavour  to  give  you  some  idea  of  this  pas- 
sage between  the  mountains,  wherein  lies  no 
small  part  of  the  roads ;  and  this  I  shall  the 
rather  do,  because  that  hollow,  for  length  and 
figure,  is  unlike  any  thing  of  the  kind  I  have 
seen  in  other  parts  of  the  Highlands ;  and  I 
hope  to  accomplish  all  I  have  to  say  of  it 
before  I  leave  this  town,  being  very  shortly  to 
make  a  northern  progress  among  the  hills, 
wherein  I  shall  find  none  of  those  conveniences 
we  now  have  on  this  side  the  Murray  Frith. 

This  opening  would  be  a  surprising  prospect 
to  such  as  never  have  seen  a  high  country,  being 
a  mixture  of  mountains,  waters,  heath,  rocks, 
precipices,  and  scattered  trees ;  and  that  for 
so  long  an  extent,  in  which  the  eye  is  confined 
within  the  space ;  and,  therefore,  if  I  should 
pretend  to  give  you  a  full  idea  of  it,  I  should 
put  myself  in  the  place  of  one  that  has  had  a 
strange  preposterous  dream,  and,  because  it 
has  made  a  strong  impression  on  him,  he  fondly 
thinks  he  can  convey  it  to  others  in  the  same 
likeness  as  it  remains  painted  on  his  memory ; 
and,  in  the  end,  wonders  at  the  coldness  with 
which  it  was  received. 

This  chasm  begins  about  four  miles  west  of 
Inverness,  and,  running  across  the  island,  di- 
vides the  northern  from  the  southern  Highlands. 
It  is  chiefly  taken  up  by  lakes,  bounded  on 


LETTER    XXVI.  207 

both  sides  by  high  mountains,  which  almost 
everywhere  (being  very  steep  at  the  feet)  run 
down  exceedingly  deep  into  the  water.  The  first 
of  the  lakes,  beginning  from  the  east,  is  Loch- 
Ness,  which  I  have  formerly  mentioned.  It 
lies  in  a  line  along  the  middle  of  it,  as  direct  as 
an  artificial  canal.  This  I  have  observed  my- 
self, from  a  rising  ground  at  the  east  end,  by 
directing  a  small  telescope  to  Fort-Augustus, 
at  the  other  extreme. 

I  have  said  it  is  straight  by  the  middle  only, 
because  the  sides  are  irregular,  being  so  made 
by  the  jutting  of  the  feet  of  the  hills  into  the 
water  on  either  side,  as  well  as  by  the  spaces 
between  them ;  and  the  various  breadths  of 
different  parts  of  the  lake. 

The  depth,  the  nature  of  the  water,  and  the 
remarkable  cataracts  on  the  south  side,  have 
been  occasionally  mentioned  in  former  letters; 
and  I  think  I  have  told  you,  it  is  one-and-twenty 
Scots  miles  in  length,  and  from  one  to  near 
two  miles  in  breadth. 

It  has  hardly  any  perceptible  current,  not- 
withstanding it  receives  a  vast  conflux  of  waters 
from  the  bordering  mountains,  by  rivers  and 
rivulets  that  discharge  themselves  into  it;  yet 
all  the  water  that  visibly  runs  from  it,  in  the 
greatest  rains,  is  limited  in  its  course  by  the 
river  Ness,  by  which  it  has  its  issue  into  the 


208  LETTER    XXVI. 

sea,  and  that  river  is  not,  in  some  places,  above 
twenty  yards  wide ;  and  therefore  I  think  the 
greatest  part  of  the  superfluity  must  be  drained 
away  by  subterraneous  passages. 

I  have  told  you  long  ago,  that  it  never  freezes 
in  the  calmest  and  severest  frost ;  and  by  its 
depth  (being  in  some  parts  360  yards),  and  by 
its  breadth,  and  the  violent  winds  that  pass 
through  the  opening,  it  often  has  a  swell  not 
much  inferior  to  the  ocean. 

In  several  parts  on  the  sides  of  the  lake,  you 
see  rocks  of  a  kind  of  coarse  black  marble, 
and  1  think  as  hard  as  the  best ;  these  rise  to  a 
considerable  height,  which  never,  till  lately, 
were  trod  by  human  foot ;  for  the  old  way 
made  a  considerable  circuit  from  this  lake,  and 
did  not  come  to  it  but  at  the  west  end.  In 
other  places  are  woods  upon  the  steep  decli- 
vities, which  serve  to  abate  the  deformitiy  of 
those  parts ; — I  say  abate,  Tor  the  trees  being, 
as  I  said  above,  confusedly  scattered  one  above 
another,  they  do  not  hide  them.  All  the  rest  is 
heath  and  rock. 

Some  time  ago  there  was  a  vessel,  of  about 
five-and-twenty  or  thirty  tons  burden,  built  at 
the  east  end  of  this  lake,  and  called  the  High- 
land Galley. 

She  carries  six  or  eight  pattereroes,  and  is 
employed  to  transport  men,  provision,  and 


• 

* 

: 
LETTER    XXVI.  209 

baggage  to  Fort-Augustus,  at  the  other  end  of 
the  lake. 

The  master  has  an  appointment  from  the  go- 
vernment, to  navigate  this  vessel,  and  to  keep 
her  in  repair*  » 

"When  she  made  her  first  trip  she  was  mightily 
adorned  with  colours,  and  fired  her  guns  seve- 
ral times,  which  was  a  strange  sight  to  the 
Highlanders,  who  had  never  seen  the  like  be- 
fore ; — at  least,  on  that  inland  lake. 

For  my  own  part,  I  was  not  less  amused  with 
the  sight  of  a  good  number  of  Highland-men 
and  women  upon  the  highest  part  of  a  mountain 
over-against  us ; — I  mean  the  highest  that  ap- 
peared to  our  view* 

These  people,  I  suppose*  were  brought  t  o 
the  precipice,  from  some  flat  behind,  by  the 
report  of  the  guns  (for  even  a  single  voice  is 
understood  at  an  incredible  height) ;  and,  as 
they  stood,  they  appeared  to  the  naked  eye  not 
to  be  a  foot  high  in  stature;  but,  by  the 
assistance  of  a  pretty  long  glass,  I  could  plainly 
see  their  surprise  and  admiration.  And  I  must 
confess  I  wondered  not  much  less  to  see  so 
many  people  on  such  a  monstrous  height,  who 
could  not  inhabit  there  in  winter,  till  I  reflected 
it  was  the  time  of  the  year  for  them  to  go  up  to 
their  sheelings.  And  I  was  told  that  they,  like 

VOL.  n.  p 


* 

210  LETTER    XXVT. 

us,  were  not  far  from  a  spacious  lake,  though 
in  that  elevated  situation. 

I  need  not  trouble  you  with  a  description  of 
the  other  two  waters  and  their  boundaries, 
there  being  but  Uttle  difference  between  them 
and  the  former ;  only  here  the  old  ways,  such 
as  they  were,  ran  along  upon  the  sides  of  the 
hills,  which  were  in  a  great  measure  rocky 
precipices,  and  that  these  lakes  are  not  quite  so 
wide,  and  incline  a  little  more  to  the  southward 
of  the  west  than  the  other. 

The  next  lake  to  Loch-Ness  (which,  as  I  have 
said,  is  twenty-one  miles  in  length)  is  Loch 
Oich ;  this  is  four  miles  long ;  and  Loch  Lochy, 
the  last  of  the  three,  is  nine,  in  all  thirty-four 
miles,  part  of  the  forty-eight,  which  is  the 
whole  length  of  the  opening,  and  at  the  end 
thereof  is  Fort- William,  on  the  west  coast,  to 
which  the  sea  flows,  as  it  does  likewise  to  In- 
verness on  the  east.  Thus  the  whole  extent  of 
ground,  between  sea  and  sea,  is  fourteen  miles. 

Here  I  must  stop  a  little  to  acquaint  you  with 
a  spot  of  ground  which  I  take  to  be  something 
remarkable.  This  I  had  passed  over  several 
times  without  observing  any  thing  extraordinary 
in  it,  and,  perhaps,  should  never  have  taken  no- 
tice of  it,  if  it  had  not  been  pointed  out  to  me 
by  one  of  the  natives. 


LETTER    XXVT.  211 

About  the  middle  of  the  neck  of  land  that 
divides  the  lakes  Oich  and  Lochy  (which  is  but 
one  mile),  not  far  from  the  centre  of  the  open- 
ing, there  descends  from  the  hills,  on  the  south 
side,  a  bourn,  or  rivulet,  which,  as  it  falls  upon 
the  plain,  divides  into  two  streams  without  any 
visible  ridge  to  part  them  ;  and  one  of  them 
runs  through  the  lakes  Oich  and  Ness  into  the 
east  sea,  and  the  other  takes  the  quite  contrary 
course,  and  passes  through  Loch  Lochy  into  the 
western  ocean. 

This,  and  the  short  space  of  land  above-men- 
tioned, have  given  birth  to  several  projects  for 
making  a  navigable  communication  across  the 
island,  not  only  to  divide  effectually  the  High- 
lands by  the  middle,  but  to  save  the  tedious, 
costly,  and  hazardous  voyages  through  St. 
George's  Channel,  or  otherwise  round  by  the 
Isles  of  Orkney. 

This  spot,  the  projectors  say,  is  a  level  be- 
tween the  two  seas,  pointed  out  as  it  were  by 
the  hand  of  nature,  and  they  pretend  the  space 
of  land  to  be  cut  through  is  practicable. 

But  it  would  be  an  incredible  expence  to  cut 
fourteen  navigable  miles  in  so  rocky  a  country, 
and  there  is  yet  a  stronger  objection,  which  is, 
that  the  whole  opening  lies  in  so  direct  a  line, 
and  the  mountains  that  bound  it  are  so  high,  the 
wind  is  confined  in  its  passage,  as  it  were,  in 

p  2 


212  LETTER    XXVI. 

the  no^le  of  a  pair  of  bellows;  so  that,  let  it  blow 
from  what  quarter  it  will  without  the  opening, 
it  never  varies  much  from  east  or  west  within. 

This  would  render  the  navigation  so  preca- 
rious that  hardly  anybody  would  venture  on  it, 
not  to  mention  the  violent  flurries  of  wind  that 
rush  upon  the  lakes  by  squalls  from  the  spaces 
between  the  hills,  and  also  the  rocky  shores, 
want  of  harbour  .and  anchorage ;  and,  perhaps, 
there  might  appear  other  unforeseen  inconve- 
niencies  and  dangers,  if  it  were  possible  the 
work  could  be  completed.1* 

There  are  three  garrisons  in  this  line,  which 
reaches  from  east  to  west,  viz.  Fort-George,  at 
Inverness,  Fort-Augustus,  at  Killichumen,  and 
Fort-William,  in  Lochaber,  and  every  one  of 
them  pretty  equally  distant  from  one  another ; 
and  the  line  might  be  made  yet  more  effectual 
by  redoubts,  at  proper  distances  between  them, 
to  prevent  the  sudden  joining  of  numbers  ill 
affected  to  the  government. 

Having  given  you  some  account  of  this  chasm, 
I  shall,  in  the  next  place,  say  something  of  the 
road  that  lies  quite  through  it,  together  with 
some  difficulties  that  attended  the  work,  of 
which  all  that  part  which  runs  along  near  the 

*  The  work  will  soon  be  completed,  but  it  is  to  be  feared  that 
our  author's  observations  will  be  found  to  be  too  just,  as  to  the 
precariousness  of  the  navigation. 


LETTER    XXVI.  213 

edges  of  the  lakes  is  on  the  south  side;  but,  as 
I  have  already  bestowed  so  many  words  upon 
subjects  partly  like  this,  I  shall  confine  myself 
to  very  few  particulars ;  and  of  the  rest,  which 
may  come  under  those  former  descriptions,  I 
need  say  no  more,  if  I  have  been  intelligible. 

I  shall  begin  with  that  road  which  goes  along 
above  Loch-Ness. 

This  is  entirely  new,  as  I  have  hinted  before ; 
and,  indeed,  I  might  say  the  same  of  every 
part ;  but  1  mean  there  was  no  way  at  all  along 
the  edge  of  this  lake  till  this  part  of  the  road 
was  made. 

It  is,  good  part  of  it,  made  out  of  rocks;  but, 
among  them  all,  I  shall  mention  but  one,  which 
is  of  a  great  length,  and,  as  I  have  said  before, 
as  hard  as  marble. 

There  the  miners  hung  by  ropes  from  the 
precipice  over  the  water  (like  Shakespear's  ga- 
therers of  samphire  from  Dover  Cliffs)  to  bore 
the  stone,  in  order  to  blow  away  a  necessary 
part  from  the  face  of  it,  and  the  rest  likewise 
was  chiefly  done  by  gunpowder;  but,  when 
any  part  was  fit  to  be  left  as  it  was,  being  flat 
and  smooth,  it  was  brought  to  a  roughness  pro- 
per for  a  stay  to  the  feet;  and,  in  this  part,  and 
all  the  rest  of  the  road,  where  the  precipices 
were  like  to  give  horror  or  uneasiness  to  such 
as  might  pass  over  them  in  carriages,  though  at 


214  LETTER    XX VI. 

a  good  distance  from  them,  they  are  secured  to 
the  lake-side  by  walls,  either  left  in  the  work- 
ing, or  built  up  with  stone,  to  a  height  propor- 
tioned to  the  occasion. 

Now,  for  the  space  of  twelve  miles,  it  is  an 
even  terrace  in  every  part,  from  whence  the 
lake  may  be  seen  from  end  to  end,  and  from 
whence  the  romantic  prospect  of  the  rugged 
mountains  would,  I  dare  say,  for  its  novelty,  be 
more  entertaining  to  you  than  it  is  to  me ; — I 
say,  it  might  be  agreeable  to  you,  who,  not 
having  these  hideous  productions  of  nature  near 
you,  wantonly  procure  even  bad  imitations  of 
them,  in  little  artificial  rocks  and  diminutive 
cataracts  of  water.  But  as  some  painters  tra- 
vel to  Italy,  in  order  to  study  or  copy  the  most 
admirable  performances  of  the  great  masters, 
for  their  own  instruction,  so  I  would  advise 
your  artisans,  in  that  way,  to  visit  this  country 
for  their  better  information. 

The  next  part  of  this  road  which  I  am  about 
to  speak  of,  is  that  which  lies  along  the  side  of 
the  hills,  arising  from  the  edge  of  Loch-Oich. 

The  dangers  of  this  part  of  the  old  way  be- 
gan at  the  top  of  a  steep  ascent,  of  about  fifty 
or  sixty  yards  from  the  little  plain  that  parts 
this  lake  and  Loch-Ness;  and,  not  far  from  the 
summit,  is  a  part  they  call  the  Maidens-Leap,  of 
which  they  tell  a  strange  romantic  story,  not 


LETTER    XXVI.  215 

orth  the  remembrance.  There  the  rocks  pro- 
ject over  the  lake,  and  the  path  was  so  rugged 
and  narrow  that  the  Highlanders  were  obliged, 
for  their  safety,  to  hold  by  the  rocks  and  shrubs 
as  they  passed,  with  the  prospect  of  death  be- 
neath them. 

This  was  not  the  only  dangerous  part;  but 
for  three  miles  together,  part  of  the  four  (which 
I  have  said  is  the  length  of  this  lake),  it  was  no- 
where safe,  and  in  many  places  more  difficult, 
and  as  dangerous,  as  at  the  entrance ;  for  the 
rocks  were  so  steep  and  uneven,  that  the  pas- 
senger was  obliged  to  creep  on  his  hands  and 
knees. 

These  precipices  were  so  formidable  to  some 
that  they  chose  rather  to  cross  the  plain  above- 
mentioned,  and  wade  a  river  on  the  opposite 
side  of  the  opening,  which  by  others  was  thought 
more  hazardous  in  its  kind  than  the  way  which 
their  fear  excited  them  to  avoid ;  and  when  they 
had  passed  that  water,  they  had  a  wide  circuit  to 
make  among  steep  and  rugged  hills,  before  they 
could  get  again  into  the  way  they  were  to  go. 

The  last  part  of  the  road  along  the  lakes  (as 
I  have  divided  it  into  three)  runs  along  on  the 
declivities  of  Loch  Lochy,  and  reaches  the  whole 
length  of  that  lake,  which,  as  I  have  said  before, 
is  nine  miles. 

This  was  much  of  the  same  nature  as  the  last, 


216  LETTER   XXIV. 

exceeding  steep,  with  rocks  in  several  places 
hanging  over  the  water,  and  required  a  great 
quantity  of  gunpowder;  but,  both  this  and  the 
other  two  are  now  as  commodious  as  any  other 
of  the  roads  in  the  Highlands,  which  everywhere 
(bating  ups  and  downs)  are  equal  in  goodness 
to  the  best  in  England. 

I  shall  say  nothing  of  the  way  from  the  end 
of  this  lake  to  Fort- William,  any  more  thun  I 
have  done  of  the  road  from  Inverness  to  Lochr 
Ness,  or  the  spaces  between  the  lakes,  because 
they  may  be  comprehended  in  the  ordinary 
difficulties  already  described. 

But  I  might  acquaint  you  with  many  other 
obstacles  which  were  thought,  at  first,  to  be  in- 
surmountable; such  as  Slock- Moach,  between 
Ruthven  and  Inverness,  the  rocky  pass  of  Killi- 
cranky,  in  Athol,  between  Dunkeld  and  the 
Blair,  &c. 

I  shall  only  say,  that  I  have  formerly  given 
you  some  description  of  the  first,  but  without  a 
name,  in  the  account  of  an  incursion  1  made  to 
the  Hills  from  Inverness;  but,  both  this  and  the 
other,  which  were  very  bad,  are  now  made 
easily  passable. 

The  name  of  Slock-Moach  is  interpreted  by 
the  natives,  a  den  of  hogs,  having  been,  as  they 
say  it  was  formerly,  a  noted  harbour  for  thieves; 
\vho,  in  numbers,  lay  in  wait  within  that  narrow 


LETTER  XXVI.  217 

and  deep  cavity,  to  commit  their  depredations 
upon  cattle  and  passengers.  I  suppose  this 
name  was  given  to  it  when  swine  were  held  in 
abomination  among  the  Highlanders. 

The  first  design  of  removing  a  vast  fallen 
piece  of  a  rock  was  entertained  by  the  country 
people  with  great  derision,  of  which  I  saw  one 
instance  myself. 

A  very  old  wrinkled  Highland  woman,  upon 
such  an  occasion,  standing  over-against  me, 
when  the  soldiers  were  fixing  their  engines, 
seemed  to  sneer  at  it,  and  said  something  to  an 
officer  of  one  of  the  Highland  companies.  I 
imagined  she  was  making  a  jest  of  the  under- 
taking, and  asked  the  officer  what  she  said.  "  I 
will  tell  you  her  words,"  said  he  : 

"  What  are  the  fools  a-doing  ?  That  stone 
will  lie  there  for  ever,  for  all  them."  But  when 
she  saw  that  vast  bulk  begin  to  rise,  though  by 
slow  degrees,  she  set  up  a  hideous  Irish  yell, 
took  to  her  heels,  ran  up  the  side  of  a  hill  just 
by,  like  a  young  girl,  and  never  looked  behind 
her  while  she  was  within  our  sight.  I  make  no 
doubt  she  thought  it  was  magic,  and  the  work- 
men warlocks. 

This,  indeed,  was  the  effect  of  an  old  woman's 
ignorance  and  superstition ;  but  a  gentleman, 
esteemed  for  his  good  understanding,  when  he 


218  LETTER    XXVI. 

had  seen  the  experiment  of  the  first  rock  above 
Loch-Ness,  said  to  the  officer  that  directed  the 
work,  "  When  first  I  heard  of  this  undertaking, 
I  was  strangely  scandalised  to  think  how  shame- 
fully you  would  come  off;  but  now  I  am  con- 
vinced there  is  nothing  can  stand  before  you 
and  gunpowder." 

Notwithstanding  there  may  be  no  remains  of 
my  former  letters,  I  believe  your  memory  may 
help  you  to  reflect  what  wretched  lodging  there 
was  in  the  Highlands  when  those  epistles  were 
written.  This  evil  is  now  remedied,  as  far  as 
could  be  done ;  and  in  that  road,  where  there 
were  none  but  huts  of  turf  for  a  hundred  miles 
together,  there  now  are  houses  with  chimneys, 
built  with  stone  and  lime,  and  ten  or  twelve 
miles  distance  one  from  another;  and  though 
they  are  not  large,  yet  are  they  well  enough 
adapted  to  the  occasion  of  travellers,  who  are 
seldom  many  at  a  time  in  that  country.  But  I 
would  not  be  understood  that  there  is  any  better 
accommodation  than  before,  besides  warm  lodg- 
ing. Another  thing  is,  there  are  pillars  set  up 
at  the  end  of  every  five  miles,  mostly  upon  emi- 
nences, which  may  not  only  amuse  the  passen- 
ger and  lessen  the  tediousness  of  the  way,  but 
prevent  his  being  deceived  in  point  of  time,  in 
rain,  snow,  drift,  or  approaching  night. 


LETTER   XXVI.  219 

But  the  last,  and  I  think  the  greatest  con- 
veniency,  is  the  bridges,  which  prevent  the  dan- 
gers of  the  terrible  fords. 

Of  these  I  shall  say  but  little,  because  to 
you  they  are  no  novelty.  They  are  forty  in 
number;  some  of  them  single  arches,  of  forty 
or  fifty  feet  diameter,  mostly  founded  upon 
rocks ;  others  are  composed  of  two ;  one  of 
three,  and  one  of  five,  arches.  This  last  is 
over  the  Tay,  and  is  the  only  bridge  upon  that 
wild  river,  as  has  been  said  before.  It  is  built 
with  Astler-stone,  and  is  370  feet  in  length. 
The  middle  arch  is  sixty  feet  diameter,  and  it 
bears  the  following  inscription,  made  Latin  from 
English,  as  I  have  been  told,  by  Dr.  Friend, 
master  of  Westminster  school : — 

Mirare 

Fiam  hanc  Militarem 

Ultra  Romanos  Terminos 

M.  Passuum  GCL.  hac  iliac  extensam 

Tesquis  et  Paludibus  insultantem 

Per  Rupes  Montesque  patefactam 

Et  indignanti  Tavo 

Ut  cernis  instratam 

Opus  hoc  arduum  sud  solertid 

Et  decennali  Militum  Operd 

Anno  Mr.  Christa  1733,  perfecit  G.  Wade.* 

Copiarum  in  Scotia  Prtzfectus. 

Ecce  quantum  valeant 
Regia  Georgii  Secundi  Auspicia. 

*  To  perpetuate  the  memory  of  the  Marshal's  chief  exploit, 


220  LETTER    XXVI. 

The  objections  made  to  these  new  roads  and 
bridges,  by  some  in  the  several  degrees  of  con- 
dition among  the  Highlanders,  are  in  part  as 
follow:  viz. — 

I.  Those  chiefs  and  other  gentlemen  com- 
plain, that  thereby  an  easy  passage  is  opened 
into  their  country  for  strangers,  who,  in  time, 
by  their  suggestions  of  liberty,  will  destroy  or 
weaken  that  attachment  of  their  vassals  which 
it  is  so  necessary   for  them  to   support  and 
preserve. 

That  their  fastnesses  being  laid  open,  they  are 
deprived  of  that  security  from  invasion  which 
they  formerly  enjoyed. 

That  the  bridges,  in  particular,  will  render 
the  ordinary  people  effeminate,  and  less  fit  to 
pass  the  waters  in  other  places  where  there  are 
none. 

And  there  is  a  pecuniary  reason  concealed, 
relating  to  some  foreign  courts,  which  to  you  I 
need  not  explain.  • 

II.  The  middling  order  say  the  roads  are  to 
them  an  inconvenience,  instead  of  being  useful, 
as  they  have  turned  them  out  of  their  old  ways ; 

in  making  the  road  from  Inverness  to  Inveraray,  an  obelisk  is 
erected  near  Fort-William,  on  which  the  traveller  is  reminded 
of  his  merits  by  the  following  naive  couplet : — 

"  Had  you  seen  these  roads  before  they  were  mafic. 

"  You  would  hold  up  your  hands,  and  bless  General  Wade !!!" 


LETTER   XXVI.  221 

for  their  horses  being  never  shod,  the  gravel 
would  soon  whet  away  their  hoofs,  so  as  to 
render  them  unserviceable  :  whereas  the  rocks 
and  moor-stones,  though  together  they  make  a 
rough  way,  yet,  considered  separately,  they 
are  generally  pretty  smooth  on  the  surface  where 
t'ley  tread,  and  the  heath  is  always  easy  to 
their  feet.  To  this  I  have  been  inconsiderately 
asked,  "Why  then  do  they  not  shoe  their 
horses  ?" 

This  question  is  easily  put,  and  costs  nothing 
but  a  few  various  sounds.  But  where  is  the 
iron,  the  forge,  the  farrier,  the  people  within 
a  reasonable  distance  to  maintain  him?  And 
lastly,  where  is  the  principal  requisite — 
money  ?  * 

III.  The  lowest  class,  who,  many  of  them, 
at  some  times  cannot  compass  a  pair  of  shoes 
for  themselves,  they  ailed ge,  that  the  gravel  is 
intolerable  to  their  naked  feet ;  and  the  com- 
plaint has  extended  to  their  thin  brogues. 

It  is  true  they  do  sometimes,  for  these  rea- 

*.  The  difficulties  here  enumerated  are  sufficiently  appalling ; 
yet  there  is  still  one  trifling  one  which  has  been  omitted.  Work- 
horses were  only  occasionally  wanted,  and  the  shoes  which  saved 
their  feet  on  the  roads  must  have  been  taken  off  every  night, 
before  they  were  turned  out  to  grass  on  the  mountains,  unless  the 
owners  wished  to  find  them,  in  the  morning,  either  bogged  or 
with  their  bones  broken ! 


222  LETTER   XxVl. 

sons,  go  without  the  road,  and  ride  or  walk  in 
very  incommodious  ways.  This  has  induced 
some  of  our  countrymen,  especially  such  as 
have  been  at  Minorca  (where  roads  of  this  kind 
have  likewise  been  made),  to  accuse  the  High- 
landers of  Spanish  obstinacy,  in  refusing  to 
make  use  of  so  great  a  conveniency,  purely 
because  it  is  a  novelty  introduced  by  the  Eng- 
lish. But  why  do  the  black  cattle  do  the  same 
thing  ?  Certainly  for  the  ease  of  their  feet. 

Nor  can  I  believe  that  either  Highlanders  or 
Spaniards  are  such  fools  as  to  deprive  them- 
selves of  any  considerable  benefit  upon  a  prin- 
ciple so  ridiculous.  But  I  fear  it  is  our  own 
pride  that  suggests  such  contemptuous  thoughts 
of  strangers.  I  have  seen  a  great  deal  of  it, 
and  have  often  thought  of  Lochart's  accusation, 
in  a  book  that  goes  under  the  name  of  his 
Memoirs,  where  he  says — "  The  English  de- 
spise all  nations  but  their  own,  for  which 
all  the  world  hates  them :"  or  to  that  purpose. 
But  whether  his  observation  be  just  or  not,  it 
is  in  the  breast  of  every  one  to  determine  for 
himself.  For  my  own  part,  ever  since  I  have 
known  the  Highlands,  I  never  doubted  but  the 
natives  had  their  share  of  natural  understand- 
ing with  the  rest  of  mankind. 

Notwithstanding  I  have  finished  my  account 
of  the  roads,  which  was  all  I  at  first  intended, 


LETTER    XXVI.  223 

and  although  this  letter  is  almost  grown  into  a 
a  volume,  yet,  like  other  great  talkers,  I  cannot 
conclude  it  with  satisfaction  to  myself  till  I 
have  told  my  tale  quite  out. 

Fort-Augustus,  at  Killichumen,  is  not  only 
near  the  middle  of  the  opening  of  which  I 
have  said  so  much,  but  is  likewise  reckoned  to  be 
the  most  centrical  point  of  the  habitable  part 
of  the  Highlands. 

The  old  barrack  was  built  in  the  year  1716 ; 
I  need  not  tell  you  upon  what  occasion.  It 
stands  upon  a  rising  ground,  at  about  two  or 
three  hundred  yards  distance  from  the  head  of 
Loch-Ness,  and  the  new  fort  is  just  upon  the 
border  of  that  water.  Before  there  was  any 
great  progress  made  in  building  that  fortress^ 
it  was  proposed  to  make  a  covered  way  of  com- 
munication between  both,  and  that  it  should 
be  the  principal  garrison  of  the  Highlands,  and 
the  residence  of  a  governor,  who  was  likewise 
to  command  the  other  two  in  that  line,  viz. 
Fort-George,  at  Inverness,  and  Fort- William, 
in  Lochabar,  which  two  last  were  to  be  under  the 
command  of  lieutenant-governors ;  this  was 
the  military  scheme.  But,  besides,  there  was 
a  civil  project  on  foot,  which  was  to  build  a 
town  after  the  English  manner,  and  procure 
for  it  all  the  privileges  and  immunities  of  a 
royal  borough  in  Scotland. 


224  LETTER    XXVI. 

These  advantages,  it  was  said,  would  invite 
inhabitants  to  settle  there,  not  only  from  the 
Lowlands,  but  even  from  England,  and  make  it 
the  principal  mart  of  the  Highlands,  by  which 
means  the  natives  would  be  drawn  thither  as  to 
the  centre;  and  by  accustoming  themselves  to 
strangers,  grow  desirous  of  a  more  commodious 
way  of  living  than  their  own,  and  be  enabled 
by  traffic  to  maintain  it.  And  thus  (it  was  said) 
they  would  be  weaned  from  their  barbarous  cus- 
toms. But  surely  this  scheme  was  as  wild  as  the 
Highlanders  whom  it  was  proposed  to  tame  by 
it;  yet  it  was  entertained  for  some  months  with 
fondness.  But  anger  blinds  and  deceives  the 
judgment  by  the  promised  sweets  of  revenge,  as 
avarice  does  by  the  pleasing  thoughts  of  gain, 
though  unlawful.  And  I  think  I  may  premise 
to  what  I  am  about  to  say,  that  successful  re- 
venge is  wicked ;  but  an  impotent  desire  of  it  is 
not  only  wicked,  but  ridiculous.  Perhaps  you 
will  say  I  moralize,  and  you  do  not  yet  see  the 
application;  but  you  will  hardly  believe  that 
this  Utopian  town  had  no  other  foundation  than 
a  pique  against  two  or  three  of  the  magistrates 
of  Inverness,  for  whose  transgression  their  town 
was  to  be  humbled  by  this  contrivance. 

I  shall  wave  all  considerations  of  the  intent  to 
punish  a  whole  community  upon  a  prejudice 
taken  against  two  or  three  of  them,  and  only 


LETTER    XXVI.  225 

show  you  how  improbable  the  success  of  such 
an  undertaking  would  have  been :  and  if  it  had 
been  likely,  how  distant  the  prospect  of  the 
pleasure  proposed  by  it. 

A  town  of  any  manner  of  consideration  would 
take  up  all,  or  most  part  of  the  country  (for  so 
the  Highlanders  call  every  little  arable  flat  that 
lies  between  the  mountains);  and  the  place  is 
not  above  five-and-twenty  miles  (including  the 
lake)  from  Inverness,  which  is  a  sea-port  town, 
and  well  situated  for  improvement  of  foreign 
trade  and  home  manufactures.     But  the  inner 
parts  of  the  Highlands  will  not  admit  even  of 
manufactories ;  for  the  inhabitants  are  few  that 
can  be  spared  from  their  farms,  which,  though 
they  are  but  small,  are  absolutely  necessary  to 
life;  and  they  are  scattered  among  the  hills  at 
great  distances,  and  the  habitable  spaces  are 
generally  not  large  enough  to  contain  any  con- 
siderable number  of  people,  or  the  whole  coun- 
try within  reach  all  round  about,  sufficient  to 
furnish  them  with  necessary  provisions.     And 
lastly,  strangers  will  not  be  admitted  among  the 
clans. 

By  the  way,  I  have  been  told  the  Welsh  are 
not  much  less  averse  than  the  Highlanders  to 
any  settlement  of  strangers  among  them,  though 
extremely  hospitable  to  visitants,  and  such 

VOL.  II.  Q 


226  LETTER   XXVI. 

as  have  some  temporary  ^business  to  transact 
in  their  country. — But  to  return  to  my  pur- 
pose. 

As  to  the  corn  received  by  the  lairds  from 
their  tenants,  as  rent  in  kind,  and  the  cattle, 
when  marketable,  the  first  has  always  been  sold 
by  contract  to  Lowland  merchants,  and  the  cattle 
are  driven  to  such  fairs  and  markets  of  the  Low- 
country  as  are  nearest,  or  otherwise  commodious 
or  beneficial  to  the  drovers  and  their  employers. 
And  therefore  there  is  no  manner  of  likelihood 
that  either  the  one  or  the  other  should  be  brought 
to  any  Highland  market. 

I  have  told  you  in  a  former  letter,  what  kinds 
and  quantities  of  merchandise  were  usually 
brought  by  the  Highlanders,  to  the  fairs  at  In- 
verness. 

It  was  a  supposition  very  extraordinary  to 
suppose,  that  any  Lowlanders  who  could  sub- 
sist in  another  place,  would  shut  themselves  up 
in  such  a  prison,  without  any  reasonable  pro- 
spect of  advantage;  and  I  verily  believe  there  is 
not  an  Englishman,  when  he  knew  the  country, 
but  would  think  of  a  settlement  there  with  more 
horror  than  any  Russian  would  do  of  banish- 
ment to  Siberia. 

But  lastly,  if  it  were  possible  to  suppose  there 
were  none  of  these  obstacles,  how  long  a  time 


LETTER    XXVL.  227 

must  have  been  required  to  people  this  new 
colony,  and  to  render  it  capable  to  rival  an  old 
established  town  like  Inverness :  I  need  not  re- 
cite the  proverb  of  the  growing  grass;  it  is  too 
obvious. 

Yet  if  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  settlement 
proposed,  could  have  lived  upon  air,  I  verily  be- 
lieve they  would  have  been  fed  with  better  diet 
than  at  Montpelier. 

Thus  am  I  providing  work  for  myself,  but  am 
not  so  sure  it  will  be  entertainment  to  you;  for 
now  I  have  happened  to  speak  of  the  healthful- 
ness  of  the  spotj  I  must  tell  you  whereupon  1 
found  my  opinion. 

The  officers  and  soldiers  garrisoned  in  that 
barrack,  for  many  successions  have  found  it  to 
be  so;  and  several  of  them  who  were  fallen  into 
a  valetudinary  state  in  other  parts,  have  there 
recovered  their  health  in  a  short  time.  Among 
other  instances,  I  shall  give  you  only  one,  which 
I  thought  almost  a  miracle. 

A  certain  officer  of  the  army,  when  in  London, 
was  advised  by  his  physicians  to  go  into  the 
country  for  better  air,  as  you  know  is  customary 
with  them,  when  mere  shame  deters  them  from 
taking  further  fees;  and  likewise  that  the  patient 
may  be  hid  under  ground,  out  of  the  reach  of 
all  reflecting  observation  within  the  circuit  of 
their  practice.  But  the  corps  he  belonged  to 

Q2 


228  LETTER   XXVI. 

being  then  quartered  in  the  Highlands,  he  re- 
solved, by  gentle  journeys,  to  endeavour  to  reach 
it,  but  expected  (as  he  told  me)  nothing  but 
death  by  the  way;  however  he  came  to  that 
place  one  evening,  unknown  to  me,  though  I  was 
then  in  the  barrack,  and  the  next  morning  early 
I  saw  upon  the  parade,  a  stranger,  which  is  there 
an  unusual  sight.     He  was  in  a  deep  consump- 
tion, sadly  emaciated,  and  with  despair  in  his 
countenance,  surveying  the  tops  of  the  moun- 
tains.    I  went  to  him ;  and  after  a  few  words  of 
welcome,  &c.  his  uppermost  thoughts  became 
audible  in  a  moment.     "  Lord ! "  says  he,  "  to 
what  a  place  am  I  come  ?  There  can  nothing  but 
death  be  expected  here ! "   I  own  I  had  con- 
ceived a  good  opinion  of  that  part  of  the  country, 
and,  therefore,  as  well  as  in  common  complai- 
sance, should  in  course  have  given  him  some 
encouragement :  but  I  do  not  know  how  it  was ; 
I  happened  at  that  instant  to  be,  as  it  were,  in- 
spired with  a  confidence  not  ordinary  with  me, 
and  told  him  peremptorily  and  positively  the 
country  would  cure  him;  and  repeated  it  seve- 
ral times,  as  if  I  knew  it  would  be  so.     How 
ready  is  hope  with  her  asistance!  Immediately 
I  observed  his  features  to  clear  up,  like  the  day, 
when  the  sun  begins  to  peep  over  the  edge  of 
a  cloud. 

To  be  short:  he  mended  daily  in  his  health, 


LETTER    XXVI.  229 

grew  perfectly  well  in  a  little  time,  obtained 
leave  to  return  to  England,  and  soon  after  mar- 
ried a  woman  with  a  considerable  fortune. 

I  know  so  well  your  opinion  of  the  doctor's 
skill,  that,  if  I  should  tell  you  there  was  not  a 
physician  in  the  country,  you  would  say  it  was 
that  very  want  which  made  the  air  so  healthy, 
and  was  the  cause  of  that  wonderful  cure. 

This  poor  but  wholesome  spot  reminds  me  of 
a  quack  that  mounted  a  stage  in  Westminster, 
but  was  there  very  unsuccessful  in  the  sale  of 
his  packets.  At  the  end  of  his  harangue  he  told 
his  mob-audience  (among  whom,  being  but  a 
boy,  myself  was  one),  that  he  should  immedi- 
ately truss  up  his  baggage  and  be  gone,  because 
he  found  they  had  no  occasion  for  physic; 
"  For,"  says  he,  you  live  in  an  air  so  healthy, 
that  where  one  of  you  dies,  there  are  twenty 
that  run  away." 

But  to  proceed  to  a  conclusion,  which  I  fore- 
see is  not  far  off. 

At  Fort- William,  which  is  not  above  three  or 
four  and  twenty  miles  westward  of  Fort-Au- 
gustus, I  have  heard  the  people  talk  as  fami- 
liarly of  a  shower  (as  they  call  it)  of  nine  or 
ten  weeks,  as  they  would  do  of  any  thing  else 
that  was  not  out  of  the  ordinary  course ;  but 
the  clouds  that  are  brought  over-sea  by  the 
westerly  winds  are  there  attracted  and  broke 


230  LETTER  XXVI. 

by  the  exceedingly  high  mountains,  and  mostly 
exhausted  before  they  reach  the  middle  of  the 
Highlands  at  Fort- Augustus ;  and  nothing  has 
been  more  common  with  us  about  Inverness,  on 
the  east  coast,  than  to  ride  or  walk  to  recreate 
ourselves  in  sunshine,  when  we  could  clearly  see 
through  the  opening,  for  weeks  together,  the 
west  side  of  the  island  involved  in  thick  clouds. 
This  was  often  the  occasion  of  a  good-natured  tri- 
umph with  us  to  observe  what  a  pickle  our  op- 
posite neighbours  were  in ;  but  I  am  told  the 
difference  in  that  particular,  between  the  east 
and  western  part  of  England,  near  the  coast,  is 
much  the  same  in  proportion  to  the  height  of 
the  hills. 

I  have  but  one  thing  more  to  take  notice  of 
in  relation  to  the  spot  of  which  I  have  been  so 
long  speaking,  and  that  is,  I  have  been  some- 
times vexed  with  a  little  plague  (if  I  may  use 
the  expression),  but  do  not  you  think  I  am  too 
grave  upon  the  subject;  there  are  great  swarms 
of  little  flies  which  the  natives  call  malhoulaklns : 
houlack,  they  tell  me,  signifies,  in  the  country 
language,  a^j/,  and  houlakin  is  the  diminutive 
of  that  name.*  These  are  so  very  small,  that, 
separately,  they  are  but  just  perceptible  and 
that  is  all ;  and,  being  of  a  blackish  colour, 

*  Ctiileag,  in  Gaelic,  means  a  fly,  and  is  itself  a  diminutive  ; 
cuileagin  is  the  plural  of  cuileag. 


LETTER    XXVI.  231 

when  a  number  of  them  settle  upon  the  skin, 
they  make  it  look  as  if  it  was  dirty ;  there  they 
soon  bore  with  their  little  augers  into  the  pores, 
and  change  the  face  from  black  to  red. 

They  are  only  troublesome  (I  should  say  in- 
tolerable) in  summer,  when  there  is  a  profound 
calm  ;  for  the  least  breath  of  wind  immediately 
disperses  them ;  and  the  only  refuge  from  them 
is  the  house,  into  which  I  never  knew  them  to 
enter.  Sometimes,  when  I  have  been  talking 
to  any  one,  I  have  (though  with  the  utmost  self- 
denial)  endured  their  stings  to  watch  his  face, 
and  see  how  long  they  would  suffer  him  to  be 
quiet;  but,  in  three  or  four  seconds,  he  has 
slapped  his  hand  upon  his  face,  and  in  great 
wrath  cursed  the  little  vermin:  but  I  have 
found  the  same  torment  in  some  other  parts  of 
the  Highlands  where  woods  were  at  no  great 
distance. 

Here  I  might  say,  if  it  did  not  something  sa- 
vour of  a  pun,  that  I  have  related  to  you  the 
most  minute  circumstances  of  this  long  and 
straight  opening  of  the  mountains. 

As  my  former  letters  relating  to  this  country 
were  the  effect  of  your  choice,  I  could  then  apo- 
logize for  them  with  a  tolerable  grace;  but  now 
that  I  have  obtruded  myself  upon  you,  without 
so  much  as  asking  your  consent,  or  giving  you 
the  least  notice,  I  have  divested  myself  of  that 


232  LETTER   XXVI. 

advantage,  and  therefore  I  shall  take  the  quite 
contrary  course,  and  boldly  justify  myself 
in  what  I  have  done.  You  know  there  is  no 
other  rule  to  judge  of  the  quality  of  many 
things  but  by  comparison;  and  this  being  of 
that  nature,  I  do  affirm  with  the  last  confidence 
(for  I  have  not  been  here  so  long  for  nothing), 
that  the  following  subjects  are  inferior  to  mine 
either  for  information  or  entertainment,  viz. 

1st.  The  genealogy  of  a  particular  family,  in 
which  but  very  few  others  are  interested ;  and, 
by  the  bye,  for  you  know  I  am  apt  to  digress,  it 
must  be  great  good-nature  and  Christian  cha- 
rity to  suppose  it  impossible  that  any  one  of  the 
auxiliary  sex  should  step  out  of  the  way  to  the 
aid  of  some  other  in  the  many  successions  of 
five  hundred  years ;  and,  if  that  should  happen, 
I  would  know  what  relation  there  then  is  be- 
tween him  that  boasts  of  his  ancestry  and  the 
founder  of  the  family ;  certainly  none  but  the 
estate ;  and,  if  that  which  is  the  main  prop 
Should  fail,  the  high  family  would  soon  tumble 
from  it  eminence  ;  but  this  is  but  very  little  of 
that  just  ridicule  that  attends  this  kind  of  va- 
nity. 

We  are  told  that  none  are  gentlemen  among 
the  Chinese,  but  such  as  have  rendered  them- 
selves worthy  of  the  title. 

2dly.  Tedious  collections  of  the  sentiments 


LETTER    XXVT.  233 

of  great  numbers  of  authors  upon  subjects  that, 
in  all  likelihood,  had  never  any  being — but  this 
is  a  parade  of  reading. 

3dly.  Trifling  antiquities,  hunted  out  of  their 
mouldy  recesses,  which  serve  to  no  other  pur- 
pose but  to  expose  the  injudicious  searcher. 

4thly.  Tiresome  criticisms  upon  a  single 
word,  when  it  is  not  of  the  least  consequence 
whether  there  is,  or  ever  was,  any  such  sound. 

5thly.  Dissertations  upon  butterflies,  which 
would  take  up  almost  as  much  time  in  the  read- 
ing as  the  whole  life  of  that  insect — cum  multis 
aliis. 

This  small  scrap  of  Latin  has  escaped  me, 
and  I  think  it  is  the  only  air  of  learning,  as 
they  call  it,  that  I  have  given  to  any  of  my 
letters,  from  the  begining  to  this  time,  and  even 
now  I  might  have  expressed  the  sense  of  it 
in  homely  English  with  as  few  words,  and  a 
sound  as  agreeable  to  the  ear :  but  some  are  as 
fond  of  larding  with  Latin  as  a  French  cook  is 
with  bacon,  and  each  of  them  makes  of  his 
performance  a  kind  of  linsey-woolsey  composi- 
tion. 

As  this  letter  is  grown  too  bulky  for  the  post, 
it  will  come  to  your  hands  by  the  favour  of  a 

gentleman,  Major ,  who  is  to  set  out  for 

London  to-morrow  morning  upon  an  affair  that 
requires  his  expedition. 


234  LETTER  XXVI. 

I  can  justly  recommend  him  to  your  ac- 
quaintance, as  I  have  already  referred  him  to 
yours;  and  I  do  assure  you,  that,  by  his  ingenious 
and  cheerful  conversation,  he  has  not  a  little 
contributed,  for  a  twelvemonth  past,  to  render 
my  exile  more  tolerable ;  it  is  true  I  might  have 
sent  the  sheets  in  parcels,  but  I  have  chosen 
rather  to  surprise  you  with  them  all  at  once; 
and  I  dare  say,  bating  accidents,  you  will  have 
the  last  of  them  sooner  by  his  means  than  by 
the  ordinary  conveyance. 


APPENDIX, 


No.  I. 

STATE  OF  THE  HIGHLANDS 

In  the  beginning  of  the  Seventeenth  Century. 

i 

As  the  measures  taken  by  James  the  Sixth,  after  his 
accession  to  the  crown  of  England  (and  somewhat  more 
than  a  century  before  our  author's  visit  to  Scotland), 
for  civilizing  the  Highlanders,  form  the  commence- 
ment of  an  era  the  most  interesting  in  their  history, 
because  we  have  no  authentic  details  of  an  earlier 
period  from  which  any  satisfactory  conclusions  can  be 
drawn  as  to  their  real  character  and  condition,' — and 
as  those  measures,  however  injudiciously  and  ineffec- 
tually executed,  produced,  in  the  end,  an  acquaintance, 
interest,  and  connection,  between  the  house  of  Stuart 
and  the  clans,  which  brought  the  latter  forward  to  the 
notice  of  all  Europe,  and  had  a  material  influence 
upon  their  spirit,  habits,  and  fortunes, — it  is  presumed 
that  the  following  extracts  from  the  records  of  the 
privy  council  of  Scotland,  commencing  with  March 
10th,  1608,  and  ending  with  September,  12th,  1623, 
will  be  read  with  considerable  interest  by  those  who 
have  perused  the  foregoing  work.  In  these  extracts, 
it  will  be  seen  what  the  purpose  of  the  government 
was.  That  every  thing  was  well  meant,  so  far  as 
they  knew,  and  had  the  means  of  effecting,  cannot  be 


238  APPENDIX. 

questioned ;  but  want  of  money  is  want  of  power ;  and 
no  hearty  co-operation  of  the  subjects,  serving  at  their 
own  expence,  was  to  be  expected  where  there  was  no 
immediate  advantage  in  view.  There  was  little  to  be 
admired  in  the  political  state  either  of  England  or  of 
Scotland,  when  the  whole  array  of  the  latter  country, 
from  sixteen  to  sixty,  must  be  called  out  to  raise  the 
king's  dues  in  the  Hebrides.  That  the  service  was  par- 
ticularly disagreeable  to  the  Lowlanders  appears  from 
the  difficulty  of  setting  the  first  expedition  in  motion. 
In  order  to  raise  money,  a  commutation  of  five  per 
cent,  upon  all  rents  was  admitted  in  lieu  of  personal 
service;  the  consequence  of  which  was,  that  few  of 
those  who  were  likely  to  have  been  most  serviceable 
took  the  field :  they  marched  as  far  as  Dunivaig,  every 
man  taking  with  him  forty  days'  provision ;  but  the 
army  was  obliged  to  quit  the  country  for  want  of  food, 
and  the  ships  for  want  of  security.  A  garrison  was 
placed  in  Dunivaig,  and  most  of  the  denounced  chiefs 
brought  to  Edinburgh  ;  but  Dunivaig  was  shortly  after 
surprised  and  furnished  against  the  king. 

Tn  this  whole  expedition,  not  more  than  thirty  or 
forty  lives  were  lost,  except  such  as  died  of  hunger, 
fatigue,  and  the  various  hardships  connected  with  a 
campaign  of  Lowlanders  in  the  Highlands.  In  the 
report  of  his  proceedings,  dated  Edinburgh,  5th  Octo- 
ber, 1608,  Andrew  Lord  Steuart,  of  Uchiltrie,  the 
king's  lieutenant,  declares,  that,  among  other  important 
services,  he  has,  in  pursuance  of  the  orders  he  had  re- 
ceived, "  brokin  and  distroyit  the  haill  (whole)  gallayis, 
lumfaddis  (long  war-barges'),  and  birlingis  that  he 
could  find  in  ony  pairt  of  the  yllis  he  resortit  vnto." 
It  appears  that  at  that  time  these  descendants  of  the 


APPENDIX.  239 

Scandinavian  sea-kings  had  a  very  considerable  naval 
apparatus,  of  pretty  much  the  same  kind  as  were  used 
by  their  adventurous  forefathers ;  and  the  lieutenant 
very  sensibly  represents  to  the  council,  that,  after  hav- 
ing destroyed  all  the  galleys  and  row-boats  in  the  isles, 
which  were  very  numerous,  it  would  be  not  only  fair 
but  necessary,  to  destroy  also  all  that  belonged  to  the 
good  and  loyal  subjects  on  the  mainland,  opposite  to  the 
isles,  in  order,  that  if  the  islanders  were  deprived  of 
the  means  of  defence,  their  good  neighbours  might  be 
deprived,  at  the  same  time,  of  the  means  of  annoying 
them.  The  drift  of  all  this  indiscriminate  destruction 
of  vessels  of  every  description  (except  as  much  as 
might  be  necessary  for  conveying  his  majesty's  rents), 
was  to  encourage  the  "  trade  of  fischeing,  whiche  the 
peaceable  subjects  of  the  incuntrey  wald  interteny  in 
the  saidis  yllis,  to  the  honnour  and  benefeit  of  the  haill 
kingdome !" 

Eight  years  after  these  great  triumphs  and  wise 
precautions,  we  find  the  king  infefting  Rorye  M'Kan- 
yee  of  Coygache,  in  the  lands  and  isles  of  Mull, 
Morverne,  and  Terey,  which  had  formerly  belonged  to 
Hector  M'Clayne  of  Dowart,  whereupon  Rorye  pro- 
fesses himself  heartily  willing,  with  the  assistance  of 
the  king's  troops,  to  reduce  his  new  tenants  to  "  civi- 
litie,  ordour,  and  obedience." 

What  remained,  long  after  this,  to  be  done  in  that, 
way,  may  be  gathered  from  the  following  proclama- 
tion : — 

"  Apud  Edinburgh,  xviij  die  mensis  Junij',  1622. 

"  FORSAMEKLE  as  the  Kingis  Majestic  haveing  be- 
stowit  greit  panes  and  chairges  and  expensis  to  ward  is 


240  APPENDIX. 

the  reducing1  of  the  His  and  heighlandis  of  this  king- 
dome  to  obedience,  whilkis  now  by  the  pouer  and  force 
of  his  Majesteis  auctoritie,   and   by  his  prudent   and 
wyse    governement,  ar  satled  in   quietnes  and  peace, 
and  justice  establisched  within  the  same,  to   the  con- 
forte  of  all  his  Majesteis  good  subiectis  in  the  His  and 
contenent  nixt  adjacent ; — Thair   is  one  Lymmer,  to 
wit,  Allane  Camron  of  Lochyell,  that  lyis  out,  and  re- 
fnisis  to  gif  his   obedience ;  who,  haveing  maid  schip- 
wrak  of  his  faith  and  promeist  obedience,  and  schaking 
of  all  feir  of  god,  reverence  of  law,   and    regaird   of 
Justice,  and  being  diuerse  tyines  denuncit  rebell,  and 
put  to  the  home,  for  cruell  and  detestable  murthouris 
and  otheris  insolenceis  committit  be  him,  he  not  onlie 
continowis  in  his  rebellioun,  as  if  he  war  nather  subiect 
to  king,  law,  nor  justice  ;  bot  hes  associat  to  himselfe 
ane  number  of  otheris  Lymmaris,  by  whome,  and  with 
whose  assistance  he  intendis  so  far  as  in  him  lyis,  to 
intertenye    ane   oppin   rebellioun,  and   to   disturb  the 
pace  and  quiet  of  the  helandis  and  His ;  for  repressing 
of  whose   insolencies,  and  reduceing  of  him  to  obe- 
dience, his  Majestic,  with  advyse  of  the  Lordis  of  his 
Counsaill  hes   past   and   exped   ane   commissioun   to 
Coline  Lord   Kintaill,  Sir  Lauchlane  M'Intosche  of 
Dunnauchtane,   Sir   Rorie   M'Claud    of  Herreis,   Sir 
Donnald  Gorme,"  &c.  See. 

Here  the  whole  array  of  the  Highlands,  with  the  late 
thieves  and  limmers  of  the  isles  at  their  head,  is  called 
forth  to  subdue  "  the  limmer  Lochiel,  with  only  a 
handful  of  limmers  like  himself,  who  issued  from 
their  starting -holes"  &c. 

Allan  Cameron  had  been  for  many  years  denounced, 
as   "  delyting  in  no  thing  els  bot  in  cruell  and  detesta- 


APPENDIX.  241 

ble  murthouris,  fyre-raisings,  SORCERYIS,"  &c.  and 
his  eldest  son,  John,  was  then  in  ward  in  the  tolbuith 
of  Edinburgh,  as  a  hostage  for  his  father's  good  beha- 
viour; but  his  neighbours  were  his  friends;  and  Allan 
was  in  no  great  danger  from  the  king's  wrath  for  the 
loss  of  his  rents.  It  is  impossible  to  judge  of  a  cha- 
racter from  the  terms  in  which  a  denunciation  of  fire 
and  sword  is  couched;  but  we  will  venture  to  say,  that 
had  these  accusations  been  just  to  their  full  extent,  a 
proclamation  of  the  King  against  him  would  not  have 
been  necessary.  Had  he  been  guilty  of  detestable 
murthouris,  his  neighbours  would  of  their  own  accord 
have  punished  him,  in  spite  of  his  sorceryis;  and  both 
charges  rest  upon  the  same  authority. 

*In  the  court 'holden  at  Icolmkill,on  the  23d  of  August, 
1609,  by  Andrew  Bishop  of  the  Isles,  (who  had  the 
king's  commission  for  that  purpose),  at  which  most 
of  the  gentry  of  the  neighbouring  isles  were  present, 
"and  understanding  and  considering  the  great  igno- 
rance, unto  the  which  not  only  they,  for  the  most  part, 
themselves,  but  also  the  whole  commonalty  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Islands  has  been  and  are  subject  to,  which 
is  the  cause  of  the  neglect  of  all  duty  to  God,  and  of 
his  true  worship,  to  the  great  growth  of  all  kind  of 
vice,  proceeding  partly  of  the  lack  of  pastors  planted, 
and  partly  of  the  contempt  of  these  who  are  already 
planted;  For  remead  whereof,  they  have  agreed  in  one 
voice,  like  as  it  is  presently  concluded  and  enacted,  that 
the  ministry,  as  well  planted  as  to  be  planted,  within 
the  parishes  of  the  said  Islands,  shalbe  reverently  obey- 

*  In  this  and  the  following  extracts,  the  language  of  the  Record  has  been 
verbally  adhered  to,  though  the  orthography  is  modernised  for  the  con- 
venience of  English  readers. 

VOL.  II.  R 


242  APPENDIX. 

ed,  their  stipends  dutifully  paid  them,  the  ruinous  kirks 
•with  reasonable  diligence  repaired,  the  sabbath  solemnly 
keeped,  adulteries,  fornications,  incest,  and  such  other 
vile  slanders  severely  punished,  MARRIAGES  CON- 
TRACTED FOR  CERTAIN  YEARS  Simpliciter  DIS- 
CHARGED, and  the  committers  thereof  holden  repute 
and  punished  as  fornicators;  and  that  conform  to  the 
louable  (laudable)  Acts  of  Parliament  of  this  realme, 
and  discipline  of  the  reformed  kirk; — the  which  the 
forenamed  persons  and  every  one  of  them,  within  their 
own  bounds,  faithfully  promises  to  see  put  to  due  exe- 
cution. 

"  The  which  day  the  foresaid  persons,  considering 
and  having  found  by  experience  the  great  burden  and 
charges  that  their  whole  countrymen,  and  specially  their 
tenents  and  labourers  of  the  ground  has  sustained,  by 
furnishing  of  meat,  drink,  and  entertainment  to  stran- 
gers, passengers,  and  others  idle  men,  without  any 
calling  or  vocation  to  win  their  living ;  has,  for  relief 
of  passengers  and  strangers,  ordained  certain  oistlaris 
(inn-keepers)  to  be  sat  down  in  the  most  convenient 
places  within  every  Isle,  and  that  by  every  one  of  the 
forenamed  special  men  within  their  own  bounds,  as  they 
shall  best  devise ;  which  oistlaris  shall  have  furniture 
sufficient  of  meat  and  drink  to  be  sold  for  reasonable 
expences. 

"  And  also  they  consent  and  assent,  for  the  relief  of 
their  said  intolerable  burden,  that  no  man  be  suffered 
to  remain  or  have  residence  within  any  of  their  bounds 
of  the  saids  Isles,  without  a  special  revenue  and  rent 
to  live  upon;  or,  at  the  least,  a  sufficient  calling  and 
craft  whereby  to  be  sustained.  And  to  the  intent  that 
no  man  be  chargeable  to  the  country,  by  holding  in 


APPENDIX.  243 

household  of  more  gentlemen  nor  (than)  his  proper 
rent  may  sustain;  it  is  therefore  decreed  and  enacted 
with  uniform  consent  of  the  foresaid  persons,  barons 
and  gentlemen  within-named,  that  they  and  each  one  of 
them  shall  sustain  and  entertain  the  particular  number 
of  gentlemen  in  household  underwritten,  to  wit,  An- 
gus M'Donald  of  Dunneveg,  six  gentlemen ;  Hector 
M'Cleane  of  Dowart,  eight  gentlemen;  Donald  Gorm 
M 'Donald,  Rorie  M'Cloyde,  and  Donnald  M'Callum 
Vic  Eane,  each  one  of  them,  six  gentlemen;  Lauchlane 
M'Cleane  of  Coill,  and  Rorie  M'Kynnoun,  each  one 
of  them,  three  gentlemen;  Lauchlane  M'Cleane, 
brother  to  the  said  Hector,  three  servants;  and  the  said 
gentlemen  to  be  sustained  and  entertained  by  the  fore- 
named  persons,  each  one  for  their  own  parts,  as  is  above 
rehearsed,  upon  their  own  expences  and  charges,  with- 
out any  supply  of  their  country's. 

"  And  finally,  to  the  intent  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
said  Islands  have  no  cause  to  complain  of  any  oppression; 
or  that  the  fruit  of  the  labours  of  the  poor  tenents  and 
labourers  of  the  ground  within  the  same  (as  they  have 
been  heretofore),  by  eating  up  by  sorners  (sturdy  beg- 
gers)  and  idle  bellies;  they  have  agreed  in  one  voice, 
like  as  it  is  enacted,  that  whatsoever  person  or  persons, 
strangers  or  inborne,  within  the  bounds  of  the  said 
Isles,  shall  happen  to  be  found  sorning,  craving  meat, 
drink,  or  any  other  geir  from  the  tenents  and  inhabit- 
ants thaireof,  by  way  of  congie,  as  they  term  it,  except 
for  reasonable  and  sufficient  payment  from  the  oistlaires 
to  be  appointed  as  is  foresaid,  they  shall  be  repute  and 
holden  as  thieves  and  intolerable  oppressors,  called  and 
pursued  therefore  before  the  Judge  competent  as  for 
thift  and  oppression.  And  to  the  intent  that  they  may 

R  2 


244  APPENDIX. 

be  made  answerable  to  the  laws ;  the  foresaid  gentle- 
men and  barons  binds  and  obleissis  them  with  their 
friends  and  defendars  (till  His  Majesty  take  farther 
order  thereanent)  by  force  to  resist  them,  take  and  ap- 
prehend them,  and  make  them  answer  to  the  laws. 

"  The  which  day,  it  being  found  and  tried  by  appear- 
ance, that  one  of  the  special  causes  of  the  great  poverty 
of  the  said  Isles,  and  of  the  great  cruelty  and  inhumane 
barbarity  which  has  been  practised  by  sundry  of  the  in- 
habitants of  the  same  upon  others  their  natural  friends 
and  neighbours  has,  by  their  extraordinar  drinking  of 
strong  wines  and  acquavitie  brought  in  amongst  them, 
partly  by  merchants  of  the  mainland,  and  partly  by  some 
traffiquers  indwellers  amongst  themselves  ;  for  remead 
whereof  it  is  inacted  by  common  consent  of  the  fore- 
named  persons,  that  no  person  nor  persons  indwellers 
within  the  bounds  of  the  said  whole  Isles  bring  in  to 
sell  for  money  either  wine  or  acquavitie  under  the  pain 
of  tinsale  (loss)  of  the  same,  with  power  to  whatsoever 
person  or  persons  may  apprehend  the  said  wine  or  ac- 
quavitie to  be  brought  in  as  said  is,  to  dispone  there- 
upon at  their  pleasure,  without  any  payment  or  satis- 
faction to  be  made  therefore.  And  farther,  if  it  shall 
happen  any  merchant  in  the  mainland  to  bring  either 
wine  or  acquavitie  to  the  said  Isles,  or  any  of  them. 
It  is  likewise  enacted  that  whatsoever  person  or  per- 
sonis  indwellers  thereof,  that  shall  happen  to  buy  any 
of  the  same  from  the  said  merchant,  shall  pay  for  the 
first  fault  forty  pounds  money,  the  second  fault  an 
hundred  pounds ;  and  the  third  fault  the  tinsale  (loss) 
of  his  whole  rooms,  possessions,  and  moveable  goods, 
and  the  same  to  be 

without  prejudice  always  to  any  per- 


APPENDIX.  245 

sou  within  the  said  Isles  to  brew  acquavitie  and  other 
drink  to  serve  their  own  houses ;  and  to  the  said  special 
barons  and  substantious  gentlemen  to  send  to  the  Low- 
land, and  there  to  buy  wine  and  acquavitie  to  serve 
their  own  houses. 

"  The  which  day,  It  being  understand  that  the  igno- 
rance and  incivility  of  the  said  Isles  has  dayly  increased 
by  the  negligence  of  good  education  and  instruction  of 
the  youth  in  the  knowledge  of  God  and  good  letters ; 
for  remead  whereof  it  is  enacted  that  every  gentleman 
or  yeoman  within  the  said  Islands,  or  any  of  them, 
having  children,  male  or  female,  and  being  in  goods 
worth  three  score  ky  (cows),  shall  put  at  the  least  their 
eldest  son,  or,  having  no  children  male,  their  eldest 
daughter,  to  the  schools  in  the  Lowland,  and  entertain 
and  bring  them  up  there  while  (till)  they  mety  be  found 
able  sufficiently  to  speak,  read,  and  write  English. 

"  The  which  day  the  said  reverend  father,  with  the 
foresaid  barons  and  gentlemen,  considering  ane  lauable 
(laudable)  Act  of  Parliament  of  this  realme,  by  the 
which,  for  diverse  good  and  reasonable  causes  contained 
thereintill,  It  is  expressly  inhibite  forbidden  and  dis- 
charged that  any  subject  within  this  his  Majesty's  king- 
dom bear  hagbuts  or  pistollets  out  of  their  own  houses 
and  dwelling-places,  or  shoot  therewith  at  deers,  hares, 
or  fowls,  or  any  other  manner  of  way,  under  certain 
great  pains  therein  specified;  which  Act  of  Parliament, 
in  respect  of  the  monstrous  deadly  feuds  heretofore 
entertained  within  the  said  Isles,  has  noways  been  ob- 
served and  keeped  amongst  them  as  yet,  to  the  great 
hurt  of  the  most  part  of  the  inhabitants  thereof;  for 
remead  whereof,  It  is  enacted  by  common  consent  fore- 
said,  that  no  person  or  persons  within  the  bounds  of 


246  APPENDIX. 

the  said  isles  bear  hagbuts  nor  pistollets  forth  of  their 
own  houses  and  dwelling-places ;  neither  shoot  there- 
with at  deer,  hares,  fowls,  nor  no  other  manner  of  way 
in  time  coming,  under  the  pains  contained  in  the  said 
Act.  And  if  it  shall  happen  any  man  to  contravene 
the  same,  that  the  special  man  under  whom  the  con- 
travener  dwells,  execute  the  said  act  and  pains  con- 
tained thereintill  upon  him,  the  contravention  always 
being  sufficiently  tried,  or  at  the  least  produce  him 
before  the  Judge  Ordinar. 

"  The  which  day,  it  being  considered,  that  amongst 
the  rernanent  abuses  which,  without  reformation,  has 
defiled  the  whole  Isles  has  been  the  entertainment  and 
bearing  with  idle  bellies,  special  vagabonds,  BARDS, 
idle  and  sturdy  beggars,  express  contrare  the  laws  and 
lauable  Acts  of  Parliament ;  for  remead  whereof,  It  is 
likeways  enacted  of  common  consent,  that  no  vaga- 
bond, BARD  nor  profest  pleisant  (fool  by  profession}^ 
pretending  liberty  to  BARD  and  flatter,  be  received 
within  the  bounds  of  the  said  Isles  by  any  of  the  said 
special  barons  and  gentlemen,  or  any  others  inhabitants 
thereof,  or  entertained  by  them,  or  any  of  them,  in  any 
sort :  but,  incace  any  vagabonds,  bards,  juglers,  or  such 
like,  be  apprehended  by  them,  or  any  of  them,  he  to  be 
taken  and  put  in  sure  seizement  and  keeping  in  the 
stocks,  and  thereafter  to  be  debarred  forth  of  the  coun- 
try with  all  goodly  expedition. 

"  And  for  the  better  observeing  keeping  and  fulfill- 
ing of  the  whole  acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  within- 
written,  and  each  one  of  them;  It  is  agreed  unto,  con- 
cluded, and  enacted,  seing  the  principal  of  every  clan 
man  (must)  be  answerable  for  the  remanent  of  the 
samen,  his  kin,  friends,  and  defenders,  That  if  any  per- 


APPENDIX.  247 

son  or  persons,  of  whatsoever  clan,  degree,  or  rank, 
within  the  bounds  of  the  said  isles,  shall  happen  to  con- 
travene the  acts,  laws,  and  constitutions  within-written, 
or  any  of  them,  or  disobey  their  chief  or  superiour  fore- 
said  ;  That  then,  and  in  that  cace,  these  presents  shall 
be  a  sufficient  warrand  to  the  baron  and  special  man 
within  whose  bounds  the  contravener  makes  his  special 
residence,  to  command  him  to  ward ;  and  incace  of  dis- 
obedience, to  take  and  apprehend  the  person  or  per- 
sons disobeyers ;  and  after  due  trial  of  their  contraven- 
tion in  manner  foresaid,  to  seize  upon  their  moveable 
goods  and  geir,  and  to  be  answerable  for  the  samen  to 
be  brought  in  to  his  Majesty's  use;  and  to  produce  like- 
ways  the  malefactors  before  the  Judge  competent, 
while  (till)  his  Majesty  take  farther  order  thereanent, 
like  as  it  is  specially  provided,  that  no  chief  of  any  clan, 
superiour  of  any  lands,  or  principal  of  any  family  recept 
or  maintain  any  malefactour,  fugitive,  or  disobedient 
to  his  own  natural  and  kindly  chief  and  superiour.  In 
witness  whereof  the  foresaids  barons  and  special  gentle- 
men above- written  has  subscry ved  thir  (these)  presents 
with  our  hands  as  follows,  in  token  of  thir  presents 
thereto. 

"  Sic  subscribitur :  Angus  M'Coneill  of  Dwnivaig, 
M'Clane  of  Dowart,  Donald  Gorme  of  Slait,  M'Cleud, 
M'Kynnoun,  M'Clane  of  Coill,  Donald  M'Donald  of 
Hentyram,  M'Clane  of  Lochbuy,  M'Quene. 


248  APPENDIX. 

Instructions  for  the  Commissioners  for  settling  the 
Peace  of  the  West  and  North  Isles. 

The  noblemen  and  landed  gentlemen  on  the  main 
land  adjacent  to  the  Isles,  are  to  give  bond  each  to 
keep  his  own  bounds  quiet,  and  admit  no  fugitives 
from  the  Isles. 

"  And  to  the  effect  none  may  pretend  ignorance  of 
our  aim  and  drift  herein,  you  are  to  consider  the  mo- 
tives induceing  us  to  so  great  a  desire  of  the  obedience 
and  civilitie  of  these  bounds.  First,  in  the  care  we 
have  of  the  planting  of  the  gospel  among  these  rude 
barbarous  and  uncivil  people,  the  want  whereof  these 
years  past  no  doubt  has  been  the  great  hazard  of  many 
poor  souls,  being  ignorant  of  their  own  salvation ; 
next  our  desire  to  remove  all  such  scandalous  re- 
proaches against  that  state  in  suffering  a  part  of  it  to 
be  possessed  with  such  wild  savages,  void  of  God's 
feare  and  our  obedience  ;  and  herewith  the  loss  we 
have  in  not  receiving  the  due  rents  addebted  to  us 
forth  of  those  Isles,  being  of  the  patrimony  of  that  our 
crown. 

"  But  as  the  last  is  the  meanest  of  all  the  motives, 
so  the  naked  assurance  of  that  yearly  rent  wilbe  unto 
us  small  satisfaction,  there  being  just  cause  of  better 
hopes  both  of  gain  and  contentment  for  these  bounds 
being  fertile  for  corns  and  pasturage  of  cattle,  and 
the  seas  very  rich  of  fishing,  if  towns  were  builded  in 
these  bounds,  without  question,  not  only  thereby  civi- 
lity would  be  planted,  but  our  rents  in  the  customes  and 
other  casualities  increased  in  a  great  sort ;  for  which 
cause  we  would  have  it  advised  by  you  in  what  parts 


APPENDIX.  249 

any  good  towns  with  commodities  of  good  harbours  and 
sea-ports  might  be  placed;  that  so  we  might  further 
and  advance  the  peopling  of  the  same,  by  endowing 
them  with  liberties  priviledges  and  immunities,  the 
causes  of  the  increase  of  many  other  great  towns  here- 
tofore. And  we  will  reserve  some  certain  portion  of 
ground  about  the  same  to  be  distributed  amongst  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  thereby  to  encourage  people  to 
dwell  and  make  their  residence  there. 

"  And  as  we  have  ever  wished  from  our  heart  that 
our  good  subjects  of  that  kingdom  (Scotland)  should 
not  hereafter  be  any  farther  troubled  with  taxes,  sub- 
sidies, or  obeying  of  proclamations  made  for  reducing 
of  these  Isles  to  obedience  ;  So  we  will  you  to  consi- 
der, That  seeing  almost  the  chief  and  principal  of  these 
Islesmen  (the  Clandonald  excepted,  for  whose  obe- 
dience and  entry  when  they  shall  be  required,  The  lord 
Uchiltree  our  Lieutenant  in  these  bounds,  and  the 
Bishop  of  the  Isles,  do  freely  undertake)  are  now  en- 
tered there  in  sure  ward,  and  that  there  cannot  be  of- 
fered any  better  occasion  of  capitulation  with  that  sort 
of  people  ;  and  we,  having  considered  their  petition, 
preferred  unto  us,  offering  all  security  possible,  or 
then  (else)  pledges  for  performance  of  their  duty ;  we 
expect,  after  you  have  heard  either  themselves  or  some 
in  their  names  make  offers  both  of  payment  of  our  rent, 
and  for  their  obedience;  to  be  then  by  you  certified, 
what  course  is  fittest  to  be  taken,  and  by  what  means 
this  so  endless  a  work  heretofore  may  be  out  put  to 
that  point  as  both  our  desire  attayned  vnto,  and  our 
good  subjects  there  no  farther  troubled  for  this  cause. 

"  And  herein  we  think  the  present   opportunity  is 
very  remarkable,  That  at  the  same  time  when  we  do 


250  APPENDIX. 

commit  unto  you  the  deliberation  and  execution  of  this 
matter  concerning  our  Isles  and  Highlands  within  our 
continent  in  that  kingdom ;  That  our  Council  here  are 
also  advising  in  like  manner  for  distributing  of  the 
whole  north  part  almost  of  our  kingdom  of  Ireland  to 
such  of  our  good  subjects  as  will  plant  colonies  therein  ; 
and  the  winter  season  being  a  most  proper  fitt  time  for 
deliberating  and  preparing,  we  hope  it  shall  kythe 
(appear}  against  the  spring,  whether  you  be  more  care- 
ful for  recovery  of  one  member  of  your  own  body  al- 
most rotten  and  decayed,  or  they  here  to  restore  a  par- 
cel of  that  which,  however  pertaining  to  this  estate, 
yet  is  no  part  of  this  kingdom. 

*'  We  will  be  sparing  to  dispose  upon  any  part  of 
these  Isles,  and  unwilling  to  extermine,  yea,  scarce 
to  transplant  the  inhabitants  of  the  same,  but  upon  a 
just  cause ;  and  we  think  the  people  remaining  there 
may  be  divided  into  three  sorts :  The  first  is,  these 
chieftains  and  leaders  of  clans,  (men  who  never  re- 
garded what  surety  or  right  they  had  of  any  land,  ac- 
counting their  power  to  oppress  warrand  sufficient  for 
them  to  possess ;  and  using  that  tyrannical  form  over 
ther  tenents  as  it  made  the  country  to  be  almost  un- 
habited ;  at  least,  caused  many  of  them  that  were  wil- 
ling to  have  remained  labourers,  turn  to  idleness,  as 
being  out  of  hope,  (or  at  least  unwilling  to  live  by  the 
sweat  of  their  brows,)  did  thereupon  make  choice  to 
follow  their  chieftanes'  example,  to  live  upon  other 
men's  labour ; — and  of  them  is  the  second  sort  com- 
posed. The  third  is  of  them  who  are,  and  do  still  re- 
main labourers,  which  sort,  without  some  known  cause 
to  the  contrary,  might  be  well  permitted  to  remain. 
The  second  sort  might  be  enforced,  either  to  take  them 


APPENDIX.  251 

selfs  to  industry  or  then  transported  or  else  banished  ; 
and  the  first  sort,  of  which  there  be  some  of  the  prin- 
cipals now  in  ward,  may  be  either  contented  with  a 
reasonable  mean  portion  of  that  same  lands  which  they 
had  before,  or  then  (else)  transported  to  such  a  place 
where  their  far  distance  may  remove  all  fear  of  breach 
on  their  part.  But  we  noway  hold  it  fit  that  any  of 
these  great  chieftains  should  be  continued  in  their  pos- 
sessions in  that  quantity  as  they  have  formerly  ac- 
claymed  them ;  because  it  doeth  nothing  at  all  but 
gives  them  the  greater  scope  to  extend  their  tyranny, 
and  maketh  their  reducing  to  obedience  the  more  diffi- 
cult and  hard. 

"  And  therefore  it  is  to  be  advised  by  you  what  is 
fittest  to  be  done  with  these  in  ward ;  and  what  shall 
be  done  with  any  such  Islesmen  as  lyes  out;  and  how 
that  service  in  any  point  thereof  which  is  yet  unfinished 
may  be  once  ended  ;  and  what  shall  be  the  course 
both  of  planting  of  civility,  obedience,  and  religion 
in  these  parts,  and  for  preserving  of  the  same  here- 
after :  of  all  which,  and  every  point  thereof,  after  the 
same  has  been  reasoned,  debated,  and  consulted  upon 
amongst  you,  we  do  expect  your  advice  and  counsel 
what  shall  be  farther  prosecuted  in  that  matter ;  upon 
return  whereof,  we  will  then  send  unto  you  the  signifi- 
cation of  our  farther  pleasure  and  will." 

The  weakness  and  poverty  of  the  government  obliged 
them  to  play  off  one  clan  against  another,  by  which  the 
tumults  of  the  country  were  increased  instead  of  being 
suppressed  ;  and  rebellions  were  excited  and  fomented 
by  those  guardians  of  the  public  peace,  with  a  view  to 
obtain  the  lands  of  the  insurgents,  as  a  reward  for 
quelling  them. 


252  APPENDIX. 

The  Earl  of  Argyle  was  bound  to  assure  the  whole 
continent  foiranent  (overagainst)  the  West  Isles,  be- 
twixt the  Mull  of  Kintyre  and  Lochaber,  that  none  of 
the  fugitives  and  rebellious  Islesmen  *'  shall  be  ressett 
there ;"  and  Allane  M'Eanduy,  M'Intoshe,  and  M'Ra- 
nald,  were  bound  for  Lochaber,  &c.  yet,  notwithstand- 
ing the  confidence  and  favour  in  which  Argyle  then 
stood,  we  find  the  privy  council  (28th  Sept.  1609)  dis- 
charging an  oppressive  and  insolent  proclamation  of 
his,  "  That  no  merchantis  nor  vtheris  sail  by  (buy) 
ony  mairtis  (black  cattle),  horsis  or  vtheris  goodis 
within  the  boundis  of  Mule,  or  ony  vttheris  of  the 

West   Yllis." "  The  saidis   Yllismen   having   no 

vtheris  meanis  nor  possibilitie  to  pay  his  Majesties 
decotyeis,  bot  by  the  scale  of  thair  mairtis  and  horses, 
and  the  buying  of  such  commodities  being  in  all  tymes 
bigane  a  free  constant  and  peaceable  trade  to  the  mer- 
chantis, alsueill  of  Ergyll,  as  of  the  incuntrey  (mid- 
land country),"  &c. 

Under  what  circumstances  and  auspices  the  fishing 
on  the  west  coast  was  proposed  to  be  carried  on,  will 
appear  from  the  following  document : — 

"  30  July,  1622. 

"  The  quhilk  day,  in  presence  of  the  Lord  is  of  Se- 
creit  Counsell  compeirit  personalie  Sir  Donald  Gorme 
of  Slait,  Sir  Rory  M'Cleud  of  Hereis,  Johnne  M'Do- 
nald  M'Allane  Vic  Eane  of  Ilantyrum,  Capitane  of 
Clanrannald,  Ronnald  M'Allane  Vic  Eane  his  uncle, 
Sir  Lauchlaue  M'Kynnoun  of  Strathurdill,  and  actit, 
band  and  oblist  thame  That  thay,  nor  naue  of  thame, 
nor  nane  of  thair  men  tennentis  and  servandis,  nor  na 
otheris  whome  thay  may  stop  or  latt  (hinder),  sail  on 


, 

APPENDIX.  253 

na  wayes  invade,  molest,  harme,  nor  oppres  his  Majes- 
teis  goode  subjectis  banting  the  trade  of  fisbeing  in  the 
His;  and  that  thay  sail  not  onlie  protect  tbame  fra 
all  violence  within  thair  boundis,  bot  lykewayes  that 
thay  salbe  ansuerable  for  thair  awne  men,  and  for  all 
otheris  personis  quhatsomeuir  quho  salhappin  to  repair 
within  thair  boundis  respective,  and  committ  ony  inso- 
lence oppressioun  vpoun  his  Majesteis  saidis  subjectis  ; 
and  for  the  whole  wrong-is  and  oppressionis  that  salbe 
committit  vpoun  thame  heirefter;  and  that  every  one 
of  thame  within  thair  awne  boundis  sail  appoint  some 
sufficient  honnest  man  to  haif  a  cair,  and  to  attend 
vpoun  the  saidis  fishearis  to  protect  and  manteine 
thame  in  thair  fisheing,  and  to  withstand  all  insolence 
that  salbe  attempted  aganis  thame ;  quhilkis  personis 
sua  to  be  nominat  and  appointit  be  thame  salbe  autho- 
rized with  power  to  apprehend  ony  heyland  men  that 
come  within  thair  boundis  respective,  and  committ 
ony  disordour,  violence  or  insolence  vpoun  the  saidis 
fishearis,  and  to  putt  thame  in  warde,  thair  to  re- 
mayne  quhill  (till)  thay  be  presentit  befoir  the  Justice 
to  thair  tryall. — And  thay  oblist  thame  to  observe  the 
premissis  vnder  the  panes  contenit  in  the  actis  respec- 
tiv%,  whairby  thay  ar  bonnden  to  thair  good  behaviour  to 
His  Majestie  and  his  lawis  to  witt,  Sir  Donald  Gorme, 
and  Sir  Rory  M'Cleud,  ather  of  thame,  under  the  pane 
of  acht  thousand  pundis ;  The  Cap  tan  e  of  Clanran- 
nald,  vnder  the  pane  of  ten  thousand  merkis;  Sir 
Lauchlane  M'Kynnoun  and  Ronnald  M'Eane,  ather  of 
thame,  vnder  the  pane  of  flfyve  thousand  merkis." 


No.  II. 


MEMORIAL 

Addressed  to  Ms  Majesty  George  I.  concerning  the  State  of 
tie  Highlands,  by  Simon  Lord  Lor  at,  1724. 

[This  is  tlie  Memorial  referred  to  as  authority,  by  Marshal  Wade,  in  the 
next  article.] 

"  THE  Highlands  of  Scotland,  being  a  country  very 
mountainous,  and  almost  inaccessible  to  any  but  the 
inhabitants  thereof,  whose  language  and  dress  are  en- 
tirely different  from  those  of  the  Low-country,  do  re- 
main to  this  day  much  less  civilized  than  the  other 
parts  of  Scotland,  from  whence  many  inconveniencies 
arise  to  his  Majesty's  subjects,  and  even  to  the  govern- 
ment itself. 

"  That  part  of  Scotland  is  very  barren  and  unim- 
proven,  has  little  or  no  trade,  and  not  much  intercourse 
with  the  Low-country  ;  the  product  is  almost  confined 
to  the  cattle  which  feed  in  the  mountains.  The  peo- 
ple wear  their  ancient  habit,  convenient  for  their  wan- 
dering up  and  down  and  peculiar  way  of  living,  which 
inures  them  to  all  sorts  of  fatigue.  Their  language, 
being  a  dialect  of  the  Irish,  is  understood  by  none  but 
themselves ;  they  are  very  ignorant,  illiterate,  and  in 
constant  use  of  wearing  arms,  which  are  well  suited  to 
their  method  of  using  them,  and  very  expeditious  in 
marching  from  place  to  place. 

"  These  circumstances  have,  in  all  times,  produced 


APPENDIX.  255 

many  evils,  which  have  been  frequently  considered,  and 
many  remedies  attempted,  as  it  appears  from  the  Scots 
acts  of  parliament.  Their  living  among  themselves, 
unmixt  with  the  other  part  of  the  country,  has  been  one 
of  the  causes  that  many  of  their  families  have  continued 
in  the  same  possessions  during  many  ages,  and  very 
little  alterations  happen  in  the  property  of  land ;  there 
are  few  purchases,  and  securities  for  debts  are  very 
uncertain,  where  power  happens  to  be  wanting  to  sup- 
port the  legal  right. 

"The  names  of  the  inhabitants  are  confined  to  a  small 
number,  partly  from  the  little  intercourse  they  have  had 
with  other  people,  and  partly  from  the  affectation  that 
reigns  among  them,  to  annex  themselves  to  some  tribe 
or  family,  and  thereby  to  put  themselves  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  head  or  chief  thereof. 

"  These  several  names  of  families  are  respectively  as- 
sociated together  in  friendship  and  interest,  each  name 
under  such  person  as  is,  or  is  reputed  to  be,  the  head 
of  the  family,  who  has  very  great  authority  over  them, 
quite  independent  of  any  legal  power,  and  has,  in  seve- 
ral instances,  continued  great  numbers  of  years  after 
that  the  lands  where  they  live  have  been  alienated  from 
the  chiefs  whom  they  serve.  There  happened  two  sur- 
prising instances  of  this  at  the  late  rebellion ;  the  one 
was  concerning  the  Frasers,  who,  upon  the  Lord  Lovat's 
arrival  in  Scotland,  though  he  had  been  ane  exile  for 
many  years,  another  family,  viz.  Alexander  Mackenzie 
of  Fraserdale,  in  possession  of  the  estate,  who  had 
marched  a  number  of  them,  formed  into  a  regiment,  to 
Perth,  where  the  rebel  army  then  lay ; — yet  notwith- 
standing all  this,  the  moment  they  heard  that  their  chief 
was  assembling  the  rest  of  his  friends  and  name  in  the 


256  APPENDIX. 

Highlands,  they  got  together,  and  made  their  retreat 
good,  till  they  joined  Lord  Lovat,  and  others,  who  were 
in  arms  for  his  Majesty. 

"  The  other  example  was  that  of  the  Macleans,  whose 
lands  had  been  vested  for  debt  in  the  family  of  Argyle, 
above  forty  years  before ;  their  chief  had  not  ane  inch 
of  ground ;  bat,  after  living  and  serving  in  France  most 
part  of  his  lifetime,  had  come  over  to  London,  where 
he  had  been  maintained  by  the  charity  of  Queen  Anne. 
Yet,  under  all  these  circumstances,  Sir  John  Maclean 
got  together  400  of  these  men,  out  of  a  remote  island 
in  the  west  seas  of  Scotland,  who  fought  under  him  at 
Dumblain,  against  his  Majesty's  troops,  though  com- 
manded by  their  own  landlord. 

"  This  extraordinary  state  of  the  country  has,  in  all 
times,  produced  many  mutual  quarrels  and  jealousies 
among  the  chiefs,  which  formerly  amounted  to  a  con- 
tinual scene  of  civil  warre;  and  to  this  day  there  re- 
mains both  personal  and  hereditary  feuds  and  animosi- 
ties among  them,  which  have  a  great  influence  over  all 
their  actions.  The  law  has  never  had  its  due  course 
and  authority  in  many  parts  of  the  Highlands,  neither 
in  criminal  nor  civil  matters;  no  remedy  having  proved 
entirely  effectual,  and  one  of  the  most  useful  having 
been  disapproved.  Schemes  of  this  nature  have  been 
often  framed,  but  with  too  little  knowledge  of  the  coun- 
try, or  the  true  rise  of  the  abuses  to  be  reformed,  and 
very  often  with  too  much  partiality,  and  views  of  re- 
sentment or  private  interest ;  all  which  tend  only  to 
create  disorders  and  discontents,  to  exasperate  some, 
and  too  much  encourage  others,  and  to  make  all  more 
proper  and  reasonable  expedients  the  more  difficult  to 
execute. 


APPENDIX.  257 

"  The  families  in  the  Highlands  arc  divided  (besides 
the  disputes  arising  among  themselves)  in  principles 
between  the  Whigs  and  the  Jacobites;  and  that  so  near 
an  equality,  that  the  authority  of  the  government,  by 
giving  countenance  or  discouraging,  and  by  rewards 
and  punishments  properly  applied,  and  all  centering  in 
the  advancement  of  the  Whig  interest,  united  together, 
might  easily  produce  a  vast  superiority  on  the  side  of 
those  who  are  well  affected,  there  being  in  the  country 
a  great  party  who,  ever  since  the  names  of  Whig  and 
Tory  have  been  known,  have  been  always  ready  to  ven- 
ture their  lives  in  the  protestant  cause.  But  such  has 
been  the  melancolly  circumstances  of  affairs  in  Scot- 
land for  some  years  past,  that  allmost  all  the  consider- 
able gentlemen  who  took  up  arms  for  his  Majesty  in  the 
time  of  the  late  unnatural  rebellion,  have  felt  the  dis- 
pleasure of  those  in  power  in  Scotland.  But  as  this 
memorialist  is  humbly  of  opinion,  that  it  is  the  duty  of 
all  good  subjects  to  seal  rather  than  widen  breaches 
among  the  well  affected,  to  contend  only  in  zeal  for  his 
Majesty's  service;  and  in  consequence  thereof,  to  look 
forward  only  in  observations  of  this  nature,  he  will  open 
this  scene  no  farther,  than  with  all  humble  gratitude  to 
acknowledge  the  great  goodness  of  his  Majesty  towards 
him,  in  so  often  protecting  and  preserving  him  from  im- 
pending ruin,  which  the  resentment  of  his  enemies  had 
threatened. 

"  It  would,  without  doubt,  be  very  happy  for  the  go- 
vernment, for  the  inhabitants  of  the  low  country,  and, 
above  all,  for  the  Highlanders  themselves,  that  all  Scot- 
land was  equally  civilized,  and  that  the  Highlanders 
could  be  governed  with  the  same  ease  and  quiet  as  the 
rest  of  Scotland.  But  as  that  must  be  the  work  of 

VOL.  II.  S 


258  APPENDIX. 

great  time,  every  remedy  that  can  be  suggested,  though 
but  particular  and  incomplete,  yet  may  be  worthy  of  the 
consideration  of  those  in  the  administration;  for  what- 
ever tends  in  any  degree  to  the  civilizing  those  people, 
and  enforcing  the  authority  of  the  law  in  those  parts, 
does  in  so  far  really  strengthen  the  present  government. 
The  use  of  arms  in  the  Highlands  will  hardly  ever  be 
laid  aside,  till,  by  degrees,  they  begin  to  find  they  have 
nothing  to  do  with  them.  And  it  is  no  wonder,  that 
the  laws  establishing  the  succession  of  the  crown,  should 
be  too  little  regarded  by  those  who  have  not  hitherto 
been  used  to  a  due  compliance  with  any  law  whatsoever. 

"  One  of  the  evils  which  furnishes  the  most  matter  of 
complaint  at  present  is  the  continual  robberies  and  de- 
predations in. the  Highlands,  and  the  country  adjacent. 
The  great  difficulty  in  this  matter  arises  from  the  moun- 
tainous situation  of  those  parts,  the  remoteness  from 
towns,  and  part  thereof  consisting  of  islands,  dispersed 
up  and  down- In  the  western  seas,  the  criminals  cannot, 
by  any  methods  now  practised,  be  pursued,  much  less 
seized  and  brought  to  justice,  being  able  to  outrun  those 
whom  they  cannot  resist. 

"  The  bad  consequences  of  those  robberies  are  not 
the  only  oppression  which  the  people  suffer  in  the  loss 
of  their  cattle  and  other  goods/ — but  by  the  habitual 
practices  of  violences  and  illegal  exactions.  The  High- 
landers disuse  all  their  country  business,  they  grow 
averse  to  all  notions  of  peace  and  tranquillity, — they 
constantly  practise  their  use  of  arms, — they  increase 
their  numbers,  by  drawing  many  into  their  gang  who 
would  otherwise  be  good  subjects, — and  they  remain 
ready  and  proper  materials  for  disturbing  the  govern- 
ment upon  the  first  occasion. 

.11  .. 


APPENDIX.  259. 

"  These  interruptions  of  the  public  peacein  the  High- 
lands were  frequently  under  the  consideration  of  the 
Parliament  of  Scotland,  who,  out  of  just  resentment  of 
such  intolerable  abuses,  did,  during  the  course  of  seve- 
ral reigns,  pass  many  laws,  but  without  success.  They 
were  very  severe,  drawn  with  more  zeal  than  skill,  and 
almost  impracticable  in  the  execution.  In  some  few 
examples,  these  extraordinary  severities  took  place; 
but  that  tended  more  to  prevent  than  establish  the  quiet 
of  the  country,  being  sufficient  to  provok  and  exas- 
perat,  and  too  little  to  subdue  the  disturbers  of  the 
public  peace. 

"These  evils  thus  remaining  without  a  remedy,  and 
the  protection  of  the  law  being  too  weak  to  defend  the 
people  against  such  powerful  criminals,  those  who  saw 
they  must  inevitably  suffer  by  such  robberies,  found  it 
necessar  to  purchase  their  security  by  paying  ane 
annual  tribute  to  the  chieftains  of  those  who  plundered. 
This  illegal  exaction  was  called  Black  Meall,  and  was 
levied  upon  the  several  parishes  much  in  the  same  man- 
ner as  the  land-tax  now  is. 

"  The  insolence  of  those  lawless  people  became  more 
intolerable  than  ever,  about  the  time  of  the  late  happy 
revolution,  when  many  of  the  chiefs  of  the  same  families 
were  then  in  arms  against  our  deliverer,  King  William, 
who  were  lately  in  rebellion  against  his  Majestic.  Ane 
army  of  regular  troops  marched  into  the  Highlands,  but 
with  little  success,  even  meeting  with  a  defeat  by  my 
Lord  Dundee,  who  commanded  the  rebells.  Other 
methods  were  taken,  which  putt  an  end  to  the  civil 
war.  The  well-affected  Highlanders  were  made  use  of 
to  assist  the  regular  troops.  Some  of  the  rebell  chiefs 
were  privately  gained  over  to  the  Government,  so  that 

s  2 


260  APPENDIX. 

partly  by  force,  and  partly  by  severall  other  artfull 
manadgements,  the  quiet  of  the  country  was  restored, 
excepting  that  many  of  the  rebells  who  had  ceased  to 
oppose  the  government,  began  to  punder  their  neigh- 
bours, and  sometimes  one  another. 

"  The  continual  feuds  and  animosities  that  has  always 
raged  among  the  chiefs  of  many  Highland  families,  are 
skilfully  and  wisely  made  use  of,  both  to  prevent  their 
uniting  in  the  disturbance  of  the  public  peace,  or  their 
taking  any  joint  measures  against  the  government. 
There  is  almost  allways  good  service  to  be  done  this 
way;  and  in  time  of  the  lasj  rebellion,  it  retarded  very 
much  the  proceeding  of  the  rebells,  and  made  their 
army  much  less  than  otherways  it  would  have  been. 

"  The  parliament  of  Scotland  impowered  King  Wil- 
liam to  establish  particular  commissions  to  proceed 
against  criminalls  in  those  parts,  which  were  ishued 
with  very  extraordinary  powers,  and  were  executed  in 
a-ne  unlimited  arbitrary  manner,  without  any  effect  for 
the  purposes  they  were  established,  so  as  to  creat  in  all 
people  ane  aversion  against  such  courts  and  judicature, 
which,  even  in  matters  of  life  and  death,  were  confined 
by  no  rules  of  law  whatsoever — they  made  malcontents 
against  the  government,  and  at  last  were  prudently  laid 
aside. 

"  After  many  fruitless  experiments  for  bringing  the 
Highlands  to  a  state  of  more  quiet,  it  was  at  last  ac- 
complished by  the  establishing  independent  companies, 
composed  of  Highlanders,  and  commanded  by  gentle- 
men of  good  affection  and  of  credit  in  that  county. 
This  took  its  rise  from  ane  address  of  the  Parliament 
to  the  King. 

"  The  advantages  that  arose  from  this  measure  were 


APPENDIX.  261 

many.  These  companies  having  otiicers  at  their  head, 
who  were  gentlemen  of  interest  in  the  Highlands,  and 
well  affected,  were  a  great  countenance  and  support, 
on  all  occasions,  to  the  friends,  and  a  terror  to  the 
enemies,  of  the  government. 

"  The  men  being  Highlanders,  and  well  chosen  for 
the  purpose  intended,  the  whole  difficulties  which 
arose  in  all  former  projects  for  preserving  the  peace  of 
the  Highlands,  became  even  so  many  advantages  and 
inconveniencies  attending  this  measure.  The  men  were 
cloathed  in  the  best  manner,  after  the  fashion  of  the 
Highlanders,  both  for  the  unaccountable  marches  these 
people  perform,  and  for  their  covering  at  night  in  the 
open  air.  They  spoke  the  same  language,  and  got  in- 
telligence of  every  thing  that  was  doing  in  the  country. 
They  carried  the  same  sort  of  arms,  convenient  for 
the  Highlanders  in  their  ways  of  acting.  Being  picked 
out  for  this  service,  they  were  the  most  known,  and 
capable  of  following  criminalls  over  the  wild  moun- 
tains— a  thing  impracticable  but  for  natives  to  perform. 

"  The  captains  procured  their  men,  in  all  their  pro- 
ceedings, the  assistance  of  the  inhabitants  they  had 
under  their  influence,  and  of  all  their  friends  in  the 
country  ;  and  the  inferior  officers,  and  even  the  private 
men,  wherever  they  came,  found  always  some  of  their 
tribe  or  family  who  were  ready  to  assist  them  in 
doeing  their  duty,  when  any  part  of  these  companies 
were  upon  command,  either  upon  pursuit  of  criminalls, 
the  getting  intelligence,  or  otherways  acting  in  the 
service.  It  gave  no  allarm,  nor  discovered  what  they 
were  doeing ;  for  when  it  was  necessary  that  they 
should  not  be  known,  it  was  impossible  to  distinguish 
them  from  other  natives. 


262  APPENDIX. 

"  So  that,  by  this  scheme,  the  very  barbarity,  the  un- 
civilised customs  of  the  Highlanders,  and  all  the  seve- 
rall  causes  of  the  want  of  peace,  came  in  aid  to  pre- 
serve it  till  time  and  more  expedients  should  further 
civilise  the  country. 

"  As  the  private  men  of  the  companies  were  chosen 
from  among  such  of  the  Highlanders  who  were  best 
acquainted  with  all  parts  of  that  country, — who  knew 
those  clans  who  were  most  guilty  of  plunder,  with 
their  manner  of  thieving,  and  with  their  haunts, — it 
was  almost  impossible  for  the  robbers  to  drive  away 
the  cattle,  or  hide  them  any  where,  without  being  dis- 
covered ;  nor  could  they  conceal  themselves  so,  but 
that  they  were  sooner  or  latter  found  out  and  seized  ; 
and  in  a  short  time  there  was  such  ane  end  putt  to 
these  illegal  violences,  that  all  the  gangs  were  taken—1 
the  most  notorious  offenders  were  convicted  and  exe- 
cuted— and  great  nnmbers  of  others,  whose  guilt  was 
less,  were  sent  beyond  sea  into  the  service,  as  recruits 
during  the  war. 

*'  Thus  it  was  that  this  remedy  was  so  successful ; 
in  so  much,  that  about  sixteen  years  agoe  these  dis- 
turbances, even  before  and  at  this  time  so  frequent 
and  grievous  to  the  people,  did  intyrely  cease." 

"  After  the  late  unnatural  rebellion,  the  Highlanders, 
who  had  been  in  arms  against  the  government,  fell 
into  their  old  unsettled  way  of  liveing,  laying  aside 
any  little  industry  they  had  formerly  followed,  and  re- 
turned to  their  usual  violencies  and  robberies. 

"  About  this  time  it  was  thought  expedient  to  pass 
an  act  of  parliament  for  dissarming  the  Highlanders, 
which  was,  without  doubt,  in  theory,  a  measure  very 
useful  and  desireable ;  but  experience  has  shewed  that 


APPENDIX.  263 

it  has  produced  this  bad  consequence,  that  those  who 
had  appeared  in  arms,  and  fought  for  the  government, 
finding-  it  their  duty  to  obey  the  law,  did  accordingly 
deliver  up  their  arms, — but  those  lawless  Highlanders, 
who  had  been  well  provided  with  arms  for  the  service 
of  the  Pretender,  knowing  but  too  well  the  insuperable 
difficulty  for  the  government,  to  putt  that  act  into  exe- 
cution, instead  of  really  complying  with  the  law,  they 
retained  all  their  arms  that  were  useful,  and  delivered 
up  only  such  as  were  spoiled,  and  unfitt  for  service ; 
so  that,  while  his  Majestie's  enemies  remained  as  well 
provided  and  prepared  for  all  sorts  of  mischief  as  they 
were  before  the  rebellion,  his  faithful  subjects,  who 
were  well  affected,  and  ventured  their  lives  in  his  ser- 
vice, by  doing-  their  duty,  and  submitting  to  the  law, 
rendered  themselves  naked  and  defenceless,  and  at  the 
mercy  of  their  own  and  the  government's  avowed 
enemies. 

"  Upon  this  the  plunders  and  robberies  increased  ; 
but,  upon  the  breaking  of  the  independent  companies  in 
the  year  1717,  these  robberies  went  on  without  any 
manner  of  fear  or  restraint,  and  have  ever  since  con- 
tinued to  infest  the  country  in  a  publick  and  open  man- 
ner.* The  regular  troops  not  being  able  to  discover 
or  follow  them,  and  all  the  innocent  people  are  without 
arms  to  defend  themselves.  Thus,  then,  violences  are 
now  more  notorious  and  universal  than  ever,  in  so 
much,  that  a  great  part  of  the  country  lias,  by  neces- 
sity, been  brought  under  the  scandalous  contributions 
before  mentioned ;  and  the  rogues  have  very  near 
undone  many  people,  out  of  mere  resentment,  for  their 
distinguishing  themselves  in  his  Majestie's  service; 

*  Lovut  was  very  sore  for  the  loss  of  hit  company. 


264  APPENDIX. 

and  others  are  ruined  who  dare  refuse  to  comply  with 
such  illegal  insolent  demands. 

"  The  method  by  which  the  country  is  brought  under 
this  tax  is  this :  That  when  the  people  are  almost 
ruined  by  continual  robberies  and  plunders,  the  leader 
of  the  band  of  thieves,  or  some  friend  of  his,  proposes, 
that  for  a  sum  of  money  to  be  annually  paid,  he  will 
press  a  number  of  men  in  arms  to  protect  such  a  tract 
of  ground,  or  as  many  parishes  as  submitt  to  pay  the 
contribution.  When  the  terms  are  agreed  upon,  he 
ceases  to  steal,  and  thereby  the  contributors  are  saffe. 
If  any  refuse  to  pay,  be  is  immediately  plundered. 
To  colour  all  this  villany,  those  concerned  in  the  rob- 
beries pay  the  tax  with  the  rest,  and  all  the  neighbour- 
hood must  comply,  or  be  undone.  This  is  the  case 
(among  others)  of  the  whole  low  country  of  the  shyre 
of  Ross. 

"  After  the  disarming  act  was  passed,  and  those  com- 
panies were  broke,  there  were  some  other  measures 
laid  down  for  preserving  the  peace  of  the  Highlands. 
Barracks  were  built  at  a  very  great  expence,  and  de- 
tachments were  made  from  the  regiments  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood to  garrison  them,  and  to  take  post  in  those 
places  which  were  thought  most  proper  for  the  repress- 
ing these  disorders ;  but  all  this  had  no  effect.  The 
regular  troops  were  never  used  to  such  marches,  with 
their  usual  arms  and  accutrements ;  were  not  able  to 
pursue  the  Highlanders  ;  their  very  dress  was  a  signal 
to  the  robbers  to  avoid  them ;  and  the  troops,  who 
were  strangers  to  the  language,  and  often  relieved  by 
others,  could  never  get  any  useful  intelligence,  nor 
even  be  sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  situation  of 
the  several  parts  of  the  country,  so  as  to  take  the  ne- 


APPENDIX.  265 

cessary  measures  for  pursuing  the  robbers  when  any 
violence  was  committed. 

"  The  effect  of  all  which  has  been,  that  the  govern- 
ment has  been  put  to  a  great  expence,  and  the  troops 
fatigued  to  no  purpose. 

"  The  officers  of  the  law,  for  the  peace,  are  the  She- 
riffs and  Justices  of  the  Peace  ;  and,  in  time  of  com- 
motions, the  Lieutenants  and  their  deputies;  which 
office,  long  disused,  was  revived  and  re-established  at 
the  time  of  the  late  rebellion. 

"  It  would  seem  to  be  highly  necessary  to  the  govern- 
ment, that  the  Sheriffs  and  Lord  Lieutenants  should 
be  persons  having  credit  and  interest  in  the  shyre  they 
are  to  govern, — they  cannot  otherwise  have  the  know- 
ledge necessary,  of  the  gentlemen  and  inhabitants,  for 
performing  the  duty  of  their  office,  and  making  it  use- 
ful for  the  advancing  of  his  Majestie's  interest.  On 
the  contrary,  such  ignorance  creats  many  mistakes  in 
the  execution  of  their  charge,  tending  to  the  interrup- 
tion of  justice,  and  rendering  the  people  under  them 
discontented  and  unwilling  to  act  in  the  service  of  the 
government.  In  these  cases,  it  has  happened  that, 
throw  misrepresentations  of  the  characters  of  the  per- 
sons employed  under  them,  deputy  sheriffs  have  been 
made  every  way  unfit  for  their  office, — ignorant,  of  bad 
reputation,  and  notoriously  ill-affected  to  his  Majesty. 

"  There  are  two  deputies  of  the  shyre  of  Inverness, 
both  of  which  were  actually  in  the  late  rebellion,  Ro- 
bert Gordon  of  Haughs,  and  John  Bailie,  a  late  ser- 
vant to  the  Duke  of  Gordon  during  the  rebellion  ;  and 
both  these  deputies  were  prisoners  in  the  hands  of 
Lord  Lovat  upon  that  account,  who  has  now  the  mor- 


266  APPENDIX. 

tification  to  see  and  feel  them  triumphant  over  him, 
loading  him  with  marks  of  their  displeasure. 

"  In  the  shyre  of  Ross  the  deputy-sheriff  is  Colin 
Mackenzie  of  Kincraig,  who  was  likewise  in  arms 
with  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth  against  the  government. 
The  memorialist  would  not  mention  the  encouragement 
the  gentlemen  of  the  name  of  M'Rewin  met  with  in 
prosecuting  his  Majestie's  faithful  subjects,  least  it 
should  have  the  appearance  of  any  personall  resent- 
ment, were  it  not  the  publick  debate  and  judgement 
of  the  House  of  Lords  this  last  session,  have  pub- 
lished to  the  world,  by  relieving  Mr.  George  Munro 
from  the  oppression  he  lay  under. 

"  It  cannot  but  be  a  very  melancholy  scene  for  all  the 
well-affected  gentlemen  and  inhabitants  in  those  parts, 
to  find  the  very  criminalls  whom,  a  few  years  ago,  they 
saw  in  arms  and  open  rebellion  in  the  Pretender's 
cause,  vested  with  authority  over  them,  and  now 
acting  in  his  Majestie's  name,  whom  they  endeavoured 
to  destroy,  and  to  whom  alone  they  owe  their  lives. 

"  The  constituting  one  person  Sheriff  or  Lord  Lieute- 
nant over  many  shyres,  has  several  bad  consequences 
to  his  Majestie's  service.  There  is  one  instance  where 
eight  lieutenancies  are  all  joined  in  one  person.  The 
memorialist  mentions  this  only  as  ane  observation  in 
general,  without  in  the  least  detracting  from  the  merit 
of  any  person  whatsoever. 

"  From  some  of  those  causes  it  likeways  happens, 
that  when  several  persons  are  recommended  by  the 
Sheriffs  or  Lieutenants,  to  be  made  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  not  at  all  qualified  for  that  office,  without 
knowledge,  mean,  and  of  no  estate  nor  character  in 


APPENDIX.  267 

the  country  j  or  ill-affected  to  government,  and  when 
most  or  all  the  well-affected  gentlemen  are  left  out  of 
the  commission,  it  naturally  produces  such  confusions 
and  discontents  as  to  frustrat  the  institution  and  design 
of  the  office,  to  the  disturbance  of  the  peace  of  the 
country — to  the  lessening  of  his  Majestie's  authority, — 
and  particularly  in  all  matters  of  excise,  and  a  sur- 
cease of  justice,  and  a  vast  detriment  to  the  revenue. 

"  The  revival  of  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  of  Scot- 
land, immediately  after  the  Union,  was  then  esteemed 
a  matter  of  the  greatest  importance  to  the  government, 
and  interest  of  the  protestant  succession.  It  is,  there- 
fore, the  more  to  be  lamented,  that  throwout  the  whole 
north  of  Scotland,  there  is  hardly  any  regular  acting 
Commission  of  the  Justice  of  the  Peace,  whereas,  if 
the  considerable  gentlemen  were  appointed,  who  have 
estates  in  their  own  county,  and  were  all  affected  to 
his  Majesty,  there  is  no  doubt  but  that  office  would  be 
execute  so  as  to  be  very  useful  to  the  government, 
and  possibly  pave  the  way  for  great  improvements  in 
the  political  state  of  the  country;  The  memorialist, 
with  all  humility,  submits  these  observations  to  his 
Majestie's  consideration. 

(Signed)  "  LOVAT." 


NO.  in. 


AN 

AUTHENTIC    NARRATIVE 

OF 

MARSHAL  WADE'S  Proceedings  in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland. 

[MS.  Communicated  by  GEORGE    CHALMERS,  Esq.  Author  of 
Caledonia,  &c.J 

v{  May  it  please  ypur  Majesty, 

"  IN  Obedience  to  your  Majesty's  commands  and  in- 
structions under  your  Royal  Sign  Manual,  bearing  date 
the  third  of  July  1724,  commanding  me  to  go  in  to  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  narrowly  to  inspect  the 
present  situation  of  the  Highlanders,  their  customs, 
manners,  and  the  state  of  the  country,  in  regard  to  the 
depredations  said  to  be  committed  in  that  part  of  your 
Majesty's  dominions ;  as  also  to  make  strict  and  par- 
ticular enquiry  into  the  effect  of  the  last  law  for  dis- 
arming the  Highlanders,  and  for  securing  your  Ma- 
jesty's loyal  and  faithful  subjects,  represented  to  be 
left  naked  and  defenceless,  by  paying  due  obedience 
thereto  ;  and  to  inform  your  Majesty  of  all  other  par- 
ticulars contained  in  the  said  instructions ;  and  how  far 
the  Memorial  delivered  to  your  Majesty  by  Simon  Lord 
Lovat,  and  his  remarks  thereupon  are  founded  on  Facts 
and  the  present  practices  of  those  people,  and  whether 
the  remedies  mentioned  therein  may  properly  be  applyed 


APPENDIX.  269 

for  preventing  the  several  grievances,  abuses,  and  vio- 
lences complained  of  in  the  said  memorial.  Your 
Majesty  has  further  been  pleased  to  command  me  to 
make  such  inquiries,  and  endeavour  to  get  such  infor- 
mations, relating  to  the  several  particulars  above-men- 
tioned, as  may  enable  me  to  suggest  to  your  Majesty 
such  other  remedies  as  may  conduce  to  the  quiet  of 
your  faithful  subjects,  and  the  good  settlement  of  that 
part  of  the  Kingdom. 

"The  day  after  I  received  your  Majesty's  Instructions, 
I  proceeded  on  my  journey,  and  have  travelled  through 
the  greatest  and  most  uncivilized  parts  of  the  High- 
lands of  Scotland,  and  humbly  beg  leave  to  lay  before 
your  Majesty,  the  following  report,  which  I  have  col- 
lected, as  well  from  my  own  observations,  with  all  faith- 
fulness and  impartiality,  as  from  the  best  informations 
I  could  procure  during  my  continuance  in  that  part  of 
the  Country. 

"  The  Highlands  are  the  mountainous  parts  of  Scot- 
land, not  defined  or  described  by  any  precise  limits  or 
boundaries  of  counties  or  shires ;  but  are  tracts  of 
mountains,  in  extent  of  land  more  than  one  half  of  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland,  and  are  for  the  most  part  on  the 
Western  Ocean,  extending  fromDunbarton  to  the  north 
end  of  the  Island  of  Great  Britain,  near  two  hundred 
miles  in  lenth,  and  from  about  forty  to  fourscore  miles 
in  breadth.  All  the  Islands  on  the  West  and  North 
West  Seas,  are  called  Highlands,  as  well  from  their 
mountainous  situation,  as  from  the  habits,  customes, 
manners  and  language  of  their  inhabitants.  The  Low- 
lands, are  all  that  part  of  Scotland  bn  the  south  of  the 
Firth  and  Clyde ;  and  on  the  east  side  of  the  kingdom 
from  the  Firth  of  Edinburgh  to  Caithness  near  the 


270  APPENDIX. 

Orkneys,  is  a  tract  of  low  country,  from  four  to  twenty 
miles  in  breadth. 

"  The  number  of  men  able  to  bear  arms  in  the  High- 
lands (including  the  inhabitants  of  the  Isles)  are  by 
the  nearest  computation  about  22,000  men,  of  which 
number,  about  10,000  are  vassals  to  Superiors,  well- 
affected  to  your  Majesty's  Government;  most  of  the 
remaining  12,000  have  been  engaged  in  rebellions 
against  your  Majesty,  and  are  ready,  when  ever  en- 
couraged by  their  Superiors,  or  Heads  of  Clans,  to 
create  new  troubles,  and  rise  in  arms  to  favour  the 
Pretender. 

"  Their  notions  of  virtue  and  vice,  are  very  different 
from  the  more  civilized  part  of  mankind.  They  think 
it  the  most  sublime  virtue,  to  pay  a  servile  and  abject 
obedience  to  the  commands  of  their  Chieftains,  although 
in  opposition  to  their  Sovereign  and  the  laws  of  the 
Kingdom;  and  to  encourage  this  their  fidelity,  they  are 
treated  by  their  chiefs,  with  great  familiarity:  they 
partake  with  them  in  their  diversions,  and  shake  them 
by  the  hand  wherever  they  meet  them. 

"  The  virtue  next  to  this  in  esteem  amongst  them  is 
the  love  they  bear  to  that  particular  branch  of  which 
they  are  a  part;  and,  in  a  second  degree,  to  the  whole 
Clan  or  name,  by  assisting  each  other  (right  or  wrong) 
against  any  other  Clan  with  whom  they  are  at  variance; 
and  great  barbarities  are  often  committed  by  one,  to 
revenge  the  quarrels  of  others.  They  have  a  still  more 
extensive  adherence  one  to  another  as  Highlanders,  in 
opposition  to  the  people  who  inhabit  the  Low  Countries, 
whom  they  hold  in  the  utmost  contempt,  imagining 
them  inferiour  to  themselves  in  courage,  resolution,  and 
the  use  of  arms  ;  and  accuse  them  of  being  proud,  ava- 


APPENDIX.  271 

litlous,  and  breakers  of  their  word.  They  have  also  a 
tradition  among  them,  that  the  Lowlands  were  in 
ancient  times  the  inheritance  of  their  ancestors,  and 
therefore  believe  they  have  a  right  to  committ  depre- 
dations, whenever  it  is  in  their  power  to  put  them  in 
execution. 

"  The  Highlanders  are  divided  into  tribes  or  clans, 
under  lairds  or  chieftains,  (as  they  are  called  in  the 
laws  of  Scotland  ;)  each  Tribe  or  Clan  is  subdivided 
i'nto  little  branches  springing  from  tlie  main  stock,  who 
have  also  Chieftains  over  them;  and,  from  these  are 
still  smaller  branches  of  50  or  60  men,  who  deduce 
their  original  from  them,  and  on  whom  they  rely  as  their 
protectors  and  defenders. 

"  The  arms  they  make  use  of  in  war  are  a  musket,  a 
broad  sword  and  target,  a  pistol,  and  a  durk  or  dagger 
hangingby  their  side,  with  a  powder  horn,  and  pouch  for 
their  ammunition.  They  form  themselves  into  bodies  of 
unequal  numbers,  according  to  the  strength  of  their 
Clan,  which  is  commanded  by  their  respective  Superior 
or  Chieftain.  AVhen  in  sight  of  the  enemy,  they  en- 
deavour to  possess  themselves  of  the  highest  ground, 
believing  they  descend  on  them  with  greater  force; 
They  generally  give  their  fire  at  a  distance,  then  lay 
down  their  arms  on  the  ground,  and  make  a  vigor- 
ous attack  with  their  broad  swords ;  but  if  repulsed, 
seldom  or  never  rally  again.— They  dread  engaging 
with  the  cavalry,  and  seldom  venture  to  descend  from 
the  mountains,  when  apprehensive  of  being  charged  by 
them. 

"  On  sudden  alarms,  or  when  any  chieftain  is  in  dis- 
tress, they  give  notice  to  their  clans,  or  those  in  alliance 
with  them,  by  sending  a  man  with  what,  they  call  the 


272  APPENDIX. 

fiery  cross,  which  is  a  stick  iii  the  form  a  cross,  burnt 
at  the  end ;  who  send  it  forward  to  the  next  Tribe  or 
Clan.  They  carry  with  it  a  written  paper  directing 
them  where  to  assemble;  upon  sight  of  which  they 
leave  their  habitation,  and  with  great  expedition  re- 
pair to  the  place  of  rendezvous  with  arms,  ammunition, 
and  meal  for  their  provision. 

"I  presume  also  to  represent  to  your  Majesty,  that  the 
manners  and  customs  of  the  Highlanders,  their  way  of 
living,  their  strong  friendship  to  those  of  their  own 
Name,  Tribe,  and  Family,  their  blind  and  servile  sub- 
mission to  the  Commands  of  their  Superiors  and  Chief- 
tains, and  the  little  regard  they  ever  paid  to  the  Laws  of 
the  Kingdom,  both  before  and  since  the  Union,  are 
truly  set  forth  in  the  Lord  Lovat's  Memorial,  and  other 
matters  contained  in  the  said  paper,  which  your  Ma- 
jesty was  pleased  to  direct  should  be  put  in  my  hands 
to  peruse  and  examine. 

"The  Imposition  mentioned  in  that  Memorial,  com- 
monly called  Black  meal,  is  levied  by  the  Highlanders 
on  almost  all  the  Low  Country  bordering  there  on  ;  but 
as  it  is  equally  criminal,  by  the  laws  of  Scotland,  to 
pay  this  exaction,  as  to  extort  it,  the  inhabitants,  to 
avoid  the  penalty  of  the  laws,  agree  with  the  robbers 
or  some  of  their  correspondents  in  the  Low  Lands,  to 
protect  their  houses  and  cattle ;  who  are  in  effect  their 
Stewards  or  Factors  ;  and  as  long  as  this  payment  con- 
tinues, the  depredations  cease  upon  their  lands  ;  other- 
wise the  collector  of  this  illegal  imposition  is  obliged  to 
make  good  the  loss  they  have  sustained.  They  give 
regular  receipts  for  the  same,  as  safeguard  money ;  and 
those  who  refuse  to  submitt  to  this  imposition,  are  sure 
of  being  plundered,  there  being  no  other  way  to  avoid 


* 

APPENDIX.  273 

tt,  but  by  keeping  a  constant  guard  of  armed  men, 
which,  although  it  is  sometimes  done,  is  not  only 
illegal  but  a  more  expensive  way  of  securing  their 
property. 

"  The  clans,  in  the  Highlands,  the  most  addicted  to 
rapine  and  plunder,  are  the  Camerons,  on  the  west  of 
the  shire  of  Inverness ;  the  M'Ken2ies  and  others,  in 
the  shire  of  Ross,  who  were  vassals  to  the  late  Earl  of 
Seaforth ;  the  M'Donalds  of  Keppoch ;  the  Broadal- 
bin  Men  and  the  M'Gregors,  on  the  borders  of  Ar- 
gileshire.  They  go  out  in  parties  from  ten  to  thirty 
men,  traverse  large  tracks  of  mountains,  till  they  arrive 
at  the  Low  Lands,  where  they  design  to  commit  their 
depredations,  which  they  choose  to  do  in  places  distant 
from  the  Glens  which  they  inhabit.  They  drive  the 
stolen  cattle  in  the  night  time,  and  in  the  day  remain 
on  the  tops  of  the  mountains  or  in  the  woods,  (with 
which  the  Highlands  abound),  and  take  the  first  occa- 
sion to  sell  them  at  the  fairs  or  markets,  that  are  an- 
nually held  in  many  parts  of  the  Countr}'. 

"  Those  who  are  robbed  of  their  cattle  (or  persons 
employed  by  them),  follow  them  by  the  tract,  and  often 
recover  them  from  the  robbers,  by  compounding  for  a 
certain  sum  of  money  agreed  on  ;  but  if  the  pursuers 
are  in  numbers  superiour  to  the  thieves,  and  happen  to 
seize  any  of  them,  they  are  seldom  or  never  prosecuted, 
the  poorer  sort  being  unable  to  support  the  charges  of 
a  prosecution*  They  are  likewise  under  the  appre- 
hension of  becoming  the  object  of  their  revenge,  by 
having  their  houses  and  stacks  burnt,  their  cattle  stolen, 
or  hocked,  and  their  lives  at  the  mercy  of  the  Tribe  or 
Clan  to  whom  the  banditti  belongs.  The  richer  sort, 
to  keep,  as  they  call  it,  good  neighbourhood,  generally 
VOL.  II.  T 


274  APPENDIX. 

compound  with  the  chieftain  of  the  Tribe  or  Clan  for 
double  restitution,  which  he  willingly  pays  to  save  one 
of  his  clan  from  prosecution ;  and  this  is  repaid  him 
by  a  contribution  from  the  thieves  of  his  clan,  who 
never  refuse  the  payment  of  their  proportion  to  save 
one  of  their  own  fraternity.  This  composition  is  seldom 
paid  in  money,  but  in  cattle  stolen  from  the  opposite 
side  of  the  Country,  to  make  reparation  to  the  person 
jnjured. 

"  The  Chiefs  of  some  of  these  tribes  never  fail  to 
give  countenance  and  protection  to  those  of  their  own 
clan ;  and  tho'  they  are  taken  and  committed  to  prison, 
by  the  composition  above-named,  the  prosecution  is 
dropped,  and  the  plaintif  better  satisfied  than  if  the 
criminal  was  executed,  since  he  must  be  at  the 
charge  and  trouble  of  a  tedious,  dilatory,  and  expen- 
sive prosecution ;  and  I  was  assured  by  one  who  an- 
nually attended  the  assizes  at  Inverness  for  four  years 
past,  that  there  had  been  in  that  time  but  one  person 
executed  there  by  the  Lords  of  the  Justiciary,  and  that 
(as  I  remember)  for  murder,  tho'  that  place  is  the  Ju- 
dicature in  criminal  cases  for  the  greatest  part  of  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland. 

"  There  is  another  practice  used  in  the  Highlands 
by  which  the  cattle  stolen  are  often  discovered,  which 
is  by  sending  persons  to  that  part  of  the  country  most 
suspected,  and  making  an  offer  of  a  reward  (which  the 
Highlanders  call  Tascall  money)  to  any  who  will  disco- 
ver their  cattle,  and  the  persons  who  stole  them. — By 
the  temptation  of  reward,  and  promise  of  secrecy, 
discoveries  were  often  made,  and  restitution  obtained. 

"  But  to  put  a  stop  to  a  practice  they  thought  an 
injury  to  the  tribe,  the  whole  Clan  of  the  Carnerous 


APPENDIX.  275 

(and  others  since  by  their  example)  bound  themselves 
by  oath  never  to  take  Tascall  money,  nor  to  inform  one 
against  the  other.  This  oath  they  take  upon  a  drawn 
dagger,  which  they  kiss  in  a  solemn  manner,  and  the 
penalty  declared  to  be  due  to  the  breach  of  the  said 
oath  is,  to  be  stabbed  with  the  same  dagger.  This 
manner  of  swearing  is  much  in  practice  on  all  other 
occasions,  to  bind  themselves  one  to  another,  that  they 
may  with  more  seurity  exercise  their  villainies,  which 
they  imagine  less  sinful  than  the  breaking  of  that  oath; 
since  they  commit  all  sorts  of  crimes  with  impunity, 
and  are  so  severely  punished  if  forsworn.  An  in- 
stance of  this  happened  in  December  1723,  when  one 
of  the  Clan  of  the  Camerons,  suspected  to  have  taken 
Tascall  money,  was  in  the  night  time  called  out  of  his 
hut  from  his  wife  and  children,  and  hanged  up  near  his 
own  door.  Another  of  that  tribe  was  for  the  same 
crime  (as  they  term  it)  kept  a  month  in  the  stocks, 
and  afterwards  privately  made  away  with. 

"  The  encouragement  and  protection  given  by  some 
of  the  Chiefs  of  Clans,  is  reciprocally  rewarded,  by 
allowing  them  a  share  in  the  plunder,  which  is  some- 
times one  half,  or  two  thirds  of  what  is  stolen.  They 
exercise  an  arbitrary  and  tyrannical  power  over  them  ; 
they  determine  all  disputes  and  differences  that  happen 
among  their  vassalls ;  and,  on  extraordinary  occasions, 
as  the  marriage  of  a  daughter,  the  building  of  an 
house,  or  any  other  pretence  for  the  support  of  their 
chief,  or  honour  of  the  Name,  he  levies  a  tax  on  the 
tribe ;  to  which  imposition  if  any  refuse  to  contribute, 
he  is  sure  of  the  severest  treatment,  or,  at  best  to  be 
cast  out  of  the  tribe  ;  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at, 
that  those  who  submit  to  this  servile  slavery,  will, 

T  2 


276  APPENDIX. 

when  summoned  by  their  superiors,  follow  them  into 
rebellioun. 

"  To  remedy  these  inconveniences,  there  was  an  act 
of  Parliament  passed  in  the  year  1716,  for  the  more 
effectual  securing  the  peace  of  the  Highlands  in  Scot- 
land, by  disarming  the  Highlanders ;  which  has  been 
so  ill  executed,  that  the  Clans  the  most  disaffected  to 
your  Majesty's  government  remain  better  armed  than 
ever,  and  consequently  more  in  a  capacity,  not  only  of 
committing  robberies  and  depredations,  but  to  be  used 
as  tools  or  instruments  to  any  foreign  power  or  do- 
mestic incendiaries,  who  may  attempt  to  disturb  the 
peace  of  Your  Majesty's  reign. 

"  By  this  Act  the  Collectors  of  Taxes  were  em- 
powered to  pay  for  the  armes  delivered  in,  as  they 
were  valued  by  persons  appointed  for  that  purpose  in 
the  respective  counties ;  but  as  the  Government  was  to 
support  the  charge,  they  did  not  scruple  to  apraise 
them  at  a  much  higher  rate  than  their  real  worth,  few 
or  none  being  delivered  up,  except  such  as  were  broken 
and  unfit  for  service ;  and  I  have  been  informed  that 
from  the  time  of  passing  that  Act,  to  the  time  it  was 
put  in  execution,  great  quantities  of  broken  and  useless 
arms  were  brought  from  Holland  and  other  foreign 
countries,  and  delivered  up  to  the  persons  appointed 
to  receive  the  same  at  exorbitant  prices. 

"  The  Spaniards,  who  landed  near  the  Castle  Don- 
nan  in  the  year  1719,  brought  with  them  a  great  num- 
ber of  arms.  They  delivered  to  the  rebellious  High- 
landers, who  are  still  possessed  of  them ;  many  of  which 
I  have  seen  in  my  passage  thro'  that  country,  and  I 
judge  them  to  be  the  same  from  their  peculiar  make, 
and  the  fashion  of  their  locks.  These,  and  others  now 


APPENDIX.  277 

in  their  possession,  by  a  moderate  computation,  are 
supposed  to  amount  to  five  or  six  thousand,  besides 
those  in  the  possesion  of  the  clans  who  are  in  your 
Majesty's  interest,  provided,  as  they  alledge,  for  their 
own  defence. 

"  The  Legislature  in  Scotland,  before  the  Union  of 
the  Kingdomes,  has  ever  considered  the  Highlands  in 
a  different  state  from  the  rest  of  the  nation,  and  made 
peculiar  laws  for  their  government,  under  the  severest 
penalties.  The  Chieftains  of  Clans  were  obliged  to 
send  their  children  or  nearest  relations,  as  hostages  to 
Edinburgh,  for  the  good  behaviour  of  their  respective 
Clans,  and  in  default,  they  might  be  put  to  death  by  the 
Law.  The  Clans  and  Tribes,  who  lived  in  a  state  of 
anarchy  and  confusion  (as  they  seem  to  be  at  this  time), 
were  by  the  very  words  of  the  Acts  of  Parliament  to 
be  pursued  by  fire  and  sword ;  but,  as  the  execution  of 
the  Laws  relating  to  the  Highlands,  were  under  the 
care  of  the  Privy  Council  of  Scotland  (now  no  longer 
subsisting),  and  by  Act  of  Parliament  were  obliged 
to  sit  the  first  day  in  every  month  for  that  purpose ;  it 
often  happened  that  men  of  great  power  in  the  High- 
lands were  of  the  said  Council,  who  had  no  other  way 
of  rendering  themselves  considerable,  than  from  their 
number  of  armed  men,  and  consequently  were  less 
zealous  in  putting  the  laws  in  execution  against  them. 

"  The  Independent  Companies,  raised  by  King 
"VVilliame  not  long  after  the  Revolution,  reduced  the 
Highlanders  to  better  order  than  at  any  time  they  had 
been  in  since  the  Restoration.  They  were  composed 
of  the  natives  of  the  Country,  inured  to  the  fatigue  of 
travelling  the  mountains,  lying  on  the  Hills,  wore  the 


278  APPENDIX. 

same  habit,  and  spoke  the  same  langaage ;  but  for 
want  of  being  put  under  proper  regulations,  corrup- 
tions were  introduced,  and  some,  who  commanded 
them,  instead  of  bringing  criminals  to  justice,  (as  I 
am  informed)  often  compounded  for  the  theft,  and, 
for  a  sum  of  money  set  them  at  liberty.  They  are  said 
also  to  have  defrauded  the  Government  by  keeping  not 
above  half  their  numbers  in  constant  pay,  which  (as  I 
humbly  conceive)  might  be  the-  reason  your  Majesty 
paused  them  to  be  disbanded. 

"  Four  barracks  were  afterwards  built  in  different 
parts  of  the  Highlands,  and  parties  of  regular  troops, 
under  the  command  of  Highland  officers,  with  a  com- 
pany of  30,  established  to  conduct  them  through 
the  mountains,  was  thought  an  effectual  scheme,  as 
well  to  prevent  the  rising  of  the  Highlanders  dis- 
affected to  Your  Majesty's  Government,  as  to  hinder 
depredations  on  your  faithful  subjects.  It  is  to  be 
wished  that,  during  the  reign  of  your  Majesty  and  your 
successors,  no  insurrection  may  ever  happen  to  expe- 
rience whether  the  barracks  will  effectually  answer  the 
end  proposed  ;  yet  I  am  humbly  of  opinion,  that  if  the 
number  of  troops  they  are  built  to  contain,  were  con- 
stantly quartered  in  them  (whereas  there  is  now  in  some 
but  thirty  men,  and  proper  provisions  laid  in  for  their 
support  during  the  winter  season)  they  might  be  of 
some  use  to  prevent  the  insurrections  of  the  High- 
landers?  tho',  as  I  humbly  conceive  (having  seen 
them  all),  that  two  of  the  four  are  not  built  in  as  proper 
situations  as  they  might  have  been.  As  to  the  High- 
land Parties,  I  have  already  presumed  to  represent  to 
your  Majesty  the  little  use  they  were  of  in  hindering 


APPENDIX.  279 

depredations,  and  the  great  sufferings  of  the  soldiers 
employed  in  that  service,  upon  which  your  Majesty  was 
graciously  pleased  to  countermand  them. 

"  I  must  farther  beg  leave  to  report  to  your  Majesty, 
that  another  great  cause  of  Disorders  in  the  Highlands 
is  the  want  of  proper  persons  to  execute  the  several 
offices  of  civil  Magistrates,  especially  in  the  shires^  of 
Inverness,  Ross,  and  some  other  parts  of  the  High- 
lands. 

"The  party  quarrels  and  violent  animosities  among 
the  Gentlemen  equally  well  affected  to  your  Majesty's 
Government,  I  humbly  conceive  to  be  one  great  cause  of 
this  defect.  Those  here  in  arms  for  your  Majesty,  who 
raised  a  spirit  in  the  shire  of  Inverness,  and  recovered 
the  Town  of  that  name  from  the  rebels  (their  main  body 
being  then  at  Perth),  complain  that  the  persons  em- 
ployed as  magistrates  over  them  have  little  interest  in 
the  country,  and  that  three  of  the  Deputy  Sheriffs  in 
those  parts  were  persons  actually  in  arms  against  your 
Majesty  at  the  time  of  the  Rebellion,  which  (as  I  am 
credibly  informed)  is  true.  They  likewise  complain  that 
many  are  left  out  of  the  commissions  of  Lord  Lieute- 
nents,  Deputy  Lieutenents,  Sheriffs,  &c.  and  I  take  the 
liberty  to  observe,  that  the  want  of  acting  Justices  of  the 
Peace  is  a  great  encouragement  to  the  disorders  so  fre- 
quently committed  in  that  part  of  the  country,  there 
being  but  one  now  residing  as  an  acting  Justice  for  the 
space  of  .;above  an  hundred  miles  in  compass.  Your 
Majesty's  commands,  requiring  me  to  examine  into  the 
state  and  condition  of  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth's 
Estate,  engaged  me  to  go  to  the  castle  of  Brahan,  his 
principal  seat,  and  other  parts  of  the  said  Estate, 
which,  for  the  most  part,  is  Highland  country,  and 


280  APPENDIX. 

extends  from  Brahan  to  Kintail  on  the  yestern  coast, 
being  thirty  six  miles  in  length,  and  the  most  mountain- 
ous and  impassable  part  of  the  Highlands.  The  whole 
Isle  of  Lewis  was  also  a  part  of  the  said  Earl's  Estate. 

"  TheTenents  before  the  late  rebellion  were  reputed 
the  richest  of  any  in  the  Highlands,  but  now  are  be- 
come poor,  by  neglecting  their  business,  and  applying 
themselves  wholly  to  the  use  of  arms.  The  rents  con" 
tinue  to  be  levied  by  one  Donald  Murchieson,  as  ser- 
vant of  the  late  Earl's,  who  annually  remits,  or  car- 
ries, the  same  to  his  master  into  France.  The  tenents, 
when  in  a  condition,  are  also  said  to  have  sent  him  free 
gifts  in  proportion  to  their  several  circumstances,  but 
are  now  a  year  and  a  half  in  arrear  of  rent. 

"  The  receipts  he  gives  to  the  Tenents  are  as  deputy 
Factor  to  the  Commissioners  of  the  forfeited  estates, 
which  pretended  power  in  the  year  1721  he  extorted 
from  the  Factor  (appointed  by  the  said  commissioners 
to  collect  those  rents  for  the  use  of  the  Publick),  wkom 
he  attacked  with  above  four  hundred  armed  men,  as  he 
was  going  to  enter  upon  the  said  Estate,  having  with 
him  a  party  of  thirty  of  your  Majesty's  troops.  The 
last  year  this  Murchieson  marched  in  a  publick  manner 
to  Edinburgh,  to  remit  eight  hundred  pounds  to 
France  for  his  master's  use,  and  remained  there  four- 
teen days  unmolested.  I  cannot  omit  observing  to 
your  Majesty,  that  this  national  tenderness  the  subjects 
of  North  Britain  have  one  for  the  other  is  a  great  en- 
couragement for  rebels  and  attainted  persons  to  return 
home  from  their  banishment. 

"  Before  I  conclude  this  report,  I  presume  to  observe 
to  your  Majesty,  the  great  disadvantages  which  regu- 
lar troops  are  under  when  they  engage  with  those  who 


APPENDIX.  281 

inhabit  mountainous  situations.  The  Savennes  in 
France,  the  Catalans  in  Spain,  have  in  all  times  been 
instances  of  this  truth.  The  Highlands  in  Scotland 
are  still  more  impracticable,  from  the  want  of  Roads 
and  Bridges,  and  from  the  excessive  rains  that  almost 
continually  fall  in  those  parts  ;  which,  by  nature  and 
constant  use,  becomes  habitual  to  the  Natives,  but  very 
difficultly  supported  by  the  regular  troops.  They  are 
unacquainted  with  the  passages  by  which  the  mountains 
are  traversed ;  exposed  to  frequent  ambuscades,  and 
shot  from  the  tops  of  the  hills,  which  they  return  with- 
out effect — as  it  happened  at  the  affair  of  Glensheals, 
where  the  rebels  lost  but  one  man  in  the  action,  tho* 
a  considerable  number  of  your  Majesty's  troops  were 
killed  and  wounded. 

"  I  have  endeavoured  to  report  to  your  Majesty  as 
true  and  impartial  an  account  of  the  several  particulars 
required  by  my  Instructions,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able 
to  collect  them  during  my  short  continuance  in  the 
Highlands,  as  your  Majesty  is  pleased  to  command  me. 
I  presume  to  offer  my  humble  opinion  of  what  I  con- 
ceive necessary  to  be  done  towards  establishing  order 
in  those  parts,  and  reducing  the  Highlands  to  a  more 
due  submission  to  your  Majesty's  Government." 

"  PROPOSAL    FIRST. 

*'  That  companies  of  such  Highlanders  as  are  well 
affected  to  his  Majesty's  Government  be  established 
under  proper  regulations,  and  commanded  by  officers 
speaking  the  Language  of  the  Country,  subject  to  mar- 
tial law,  and  under  the  inspection  and  orders  of  the 
Governors  of  Fort  William,  Inverness,  and  the  officer 
commanding  his  Majesty's  forces  in  those  parts.  The 


282  APPENDIX. 

expence  of  these  companies,  which  may  in  the  whole 
consist  of  two  hundred  and  fifty,  or,  at  mosi,  three 
hundred  men,  may  be  answered  by  reducing  one  man 
per  troop  and  company,  of  the  regular  forces. 

"  2.  That  the  said  companies  be  employed  in  dis- 
arming the  Highlanders,  preventing  depredations, 
bringing  criminals  to  justice  and  to  hinder  rebels  and 
attainted  persons  from  inhabiting  that  part  of  the 
kingdom. 

"  3d.  That  a  redoubt  or  barrack  be  erected  at  In- 
verness, as  well  for  preventing  the  Highlanders  de- 
scending into  the  Low  Country  in  time  of  rebellion,  as 
for  the  better  quartering  his  Majesty's  troops,  and 
keeping  them  in  a  body  sufficient  to  prevent  or  subdue 
Insurrections. 

"  4.  That,  in  order  to  render  the  Barrack  at  Kil- 
lyhuimen  of  more  use  than  I  conceive  it  to  be  at  pre- 
sent (from  its  being  situated  at  too  great  a  distance 
from  the  Lake  Ness)  a  Redoubt  to  be  built  at  the  west 
end  adjoining  to  it,  which,  with  the  said  Barrack,  may 
be  able  to  contain  a  Battalion  of  foot,  and  a  commu- 
nication made  for  their  mutual  support,  the  space  of 
ground  between  the  one  and  the  other  being  less  than 
500  yards.  This  appears  to  be  more  necessary  from 
the  situation  of  the  place,  which  is  the  most  centrical 
part  of  the  Highlands — a  considerable  pass,  equally 
distant  from  Fort  William  and  Inverness,  and  where  a 
body  of  a  thousand  men  may  be  drawn  together  from 
those  garrisons  in  twenty  four  hours,  to  suppress  any 
insurrection  of  the  Highlanders. 

5.  That  a  small  vessel  with  oars  and  sails  be  built 
on  the  Lake  Ness,  sufficient  to  carry  a  party  of  sixty 
or  eighty  soldiers,  and  provisions  for  the  garrison, 


APPENDIX.  283 

which  will  be  a  means  to  keep  the  communication  open 
between  that  place  and  Inverness,  and  be  a  safe  and 
ready  way  of  sending  parties  to  the  country  bordering 
on  the  said  lake,  which  is  navigable  for  the  largest 
vessels.  It  is  twenty  four  miles  in  length,  and  a  mile, 
or  more,  in  breadth,  the  country  being  mountainous 
on  both  sides. 

"  6.  That  the  Governors,  or  such  as  His  Majesty  is 
pleased  to  appoint  to  command  at  Fort  William,  In- 
verness, or  Killyhuimen,  till  the  peace  of  the  High- 
lands is  better  established,  be  required  to  reside  at 
their  respective  stations,  and  to  give  an  account  of 
what  passes  in  that  country  to  the  Commander  in  Chief 
of  the  Forces  in  Scotland,  and  to  such  others,  whom 
His  Majesty  is  pleased  to  appoint. 

"  7.  That  Inspection  be  made  into  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  garrisons  and  castles  in  North  Britain, 
and  necessary  repairs  made  to  secure  them  from  the 
danger  of  a  sudden  surprize,  and  more  especially  the 
Castle  of  Edinburgh,  which  remains  exposed  to  the 
same  attempt  as  was  made  on  it  in  the  year  1715; 
there  being  nothing  effectually  done  since  that  time  for 
the  security  of  that  important  place  on  which  depend 
not  only  the  safety  of  the  city,  but  of  all  that  part  of 
the  Kingdom. 

"  8.  That  a  regiment  of  dragoons  be  ordered  to 
quarter  in  the  Low  Country  between  Perth  and  Inver- 
ness (when  forage  can  be  provided  for  their  support) 
which  will  not  only  hinder  the  Highlanders  from  de- 
scending into  that  part  of  the  Country,  from  the  ap- 
prehensions they  are  under  of  engaging  with  Horse  ; 
but  may  be  a  means  to  prevent  the  landing  of  small 
bodies  of  troops,  that  may  be  sent  from  foreign  parts 


284  APPENDIX. 

to  invade  that  part  of  the  Kingdom,  and  encourage  the 
Highlanders  to  rebellion. 

9.  "  That,  for  the  support  of  the  Civil  Government 
proper  persons  be  nominated  for  Sheriffs  and  Deputy 
Sheriffs  in  the  Highland  Counties,  and  that  Justices  of 
the    Peace   and    Constables  be  established  in  proper 
places  with  small  salaries  allowed  them  for  the  charge 
they  say  they  are  of  necessity  at,  in  seizing  and  send- 
ing criminals    to   distant   prisons;    and  that  Quarter 
Sessions  be  punctually  kept  at  Killyhuimen,  Ruthwen 
in  Badenock,  and    Fort  William,  and  if  occasion  re- 
quire, at  Bernera  near  the  coast  of  the  Isle  of  Skey. 

10.  "That  an  Act  of  Parliament  be  procured  effec- 
tually to  punish  the  Highlanders  inhabiting  the  most 
uncivilized  parts  of  the  country,  who  carry,  or  conceal 
in  their   dwellings,  or  other  places,  arms,  contrary  to 
the  Law;  and  as  the  penalty  of  a  fine  in  the  late  Act 
has  never  been,  or  from  their  poverty  never  can  be, 
levied,  it  is  hoped  the   Parliament  will  not  scruple  to 
make  it  felony,  or  transportation,  for  the  first  offence. 

11.  "  That  an  Act  of  Parliament  be  procured,  em- 
powering the  heretors  and  freeholders  of  every  county 
to  assess  themselves  yearly,  not  exceeding  a  definite 
sum,  to  be  applied  by  the  Commissioners  of  the  Land 
Tax,  and  the  Justices  of  the  Peace,  for  defraying  the 
charges  of  apprehending,  prosecuting  and  maintaining 
criminals  while  in  Jail;  for  as  the  prosecutor  is  now  to 
defray  those   charges,  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  that 
so  few  of  them  have  been  brought  to  Justice,  and  so 
many  malefactors  escaped  with  impunity. 

"All  which  is  most  humbly  represented  and  subr 
mitted  to  your  Majesty's  consideration. 

(Signed)  «  GEORGE 


APPENDIX.  285 

"  The  underwritten  Clans  or  Tribes  were  engaged  in 
the  late  Rebellion : — most  of  them  are  armed,  and 
commit  depredations. 

"The   M'Kenzies,  and  the   small  Clans,  viz.  The 
M'Ra's,  the  M'Lennans,  Murchiesons,  and  the  M'Leods 
of  North  Assint,  and  the  M'Leys  inhabiting  the  Coun- 
tries belonging  to  the  late  Lord  Seaforth;  and  all  the 
Gentlemen  and  others  of  the  name  of  M'Kenzie  in  the 
Main  Land,  and  Isle  of  Lewis,  in  Ross,  and  Suther- 
land,   shires ;    the   M'Leods    and  others    of    Glenelg 
in  the  Isle  of  Skey,  and  the  Harries  in  the   shire  of 
Inverness;  the  M'Donalds  and  others  of  Slate  or  Skey 
and    North    Vist   in    the   shire    of    Inverness.      The 
M' Donalds    and    others    of    Glengary,    Obertaff,    or 
Knoidart,   in    Inverness   shire;    the    M'Donalds   and 
others    of  Muidart,   Arrisack,  Muick,   Canna,  South 
Vist,  in  Inverness  and  Argyle  shires.     The  Camerons 
of  Lochiel  in  Inverness  shire;  the  Camerons  of  Ardna- 
murchan,  Swynard,  and  Morvine,  in  Argyle  shire  ;  and 
the  other  small  -tribes  in  these  countries  ;  the  M'Do- 
nalds of  Keppoch,  and  others  in  that  part  of  Lochaber 
belonging  to  M'Kintosh  of  Borlum  [Mackintosh]  in 
Inverness  shire;  the  Stewarts  of  Appin  and  others  in 
that  Country  in  Argyle   shire;  the  M'Leans  in  Mull, 
Rum,  Coll,  Morvine,  Ardnamurchan  and  Swinard,  in 
Argyle  shire. 

"  The  several  Clans  in  that  part  of  Lochaber  belong- 
ing .  to  the  Duke  of  Gordon  in  Inverness  shire ;  and 
those  in  Murray  and  Bamf  shires. 

"The  M'Neils  of  Barray  in  Argyle  shire;  the 
M'Kintosh es  and  other  tribes  of  that  name  in  Inver- 


286  APPENDIX. 

ness  shire;   the  Robertsons  belonging  to  Strowan  in 
Perthshire.* 

"  The  underwritten  Clans  belong  to  Superiors  well 
affected  to  His  Majesty. 

The  Duke  of  Argyle 4000 

Lord  Sutherland  and  Strathnaver 1000 

Lord  Lovat,  (Erasers) 800 

The  Grants 800 

The  Rosses  and  Monroes 700 

Forbes  of  Cullodin 200 

Rose  of  Kilraick 300 

Sir  Archibald  Campbell  of  Clunes 200 

8000 


"The  two  Clans  underwritten  for  the  most  part  went 
in  the  Rebellion  in  1715,  without  their  Superiors : 

TheAtholMen 2000 

The  Braidalbin  Men...  ..1000 


3000 


"The  Clans  underwritten  were  in  the  late  Rebellion, 
and  supposed  still  to  be  disaffected  to  His  Majesty's 
Government. 

The  Islands  and  Clans  of  the  late  Lord  ) 

c     f  1 3000 

Seaforth ) 


Carried  over         3000 

*  In  the  subsequent  enumeration,  be  seems  to  have  considered  the 
Robertsons  of  Athol  also  as  retainers  of  Robertson  of  Stnwan,  which  they 
wert  not,  although  they  took  the  same  side  in  politics. 


APPENDIX.  287 

Brought  over         3000 

M'Donalds  of  Slate 1000 

M'Donalds  of  Glengary 800 

M'Donalds  of  Moudairt 800 

M'Donalds  of  Keppoch 220 

Locbiel  Camerons 800 

The  M'Leods  in  all 1000 

Duke  of  Gordon's  followers 1000 

Stewarts  of  Appin 400 

Robertsons  of  Strowan 800 

M'Kintoshes  and  Farquharsons 800 

M'Euens  in  the  Isle  of  Skey ,  150 

The  Chisholuis  of  Strathglass 150 

The  M'Farsons...  .  220 


In  all  11140 


"  Roman  Catholicks  in  the  Highlands. 

"THE  late  Earl  of  Seaforth;  but  none  of  his  fol- 
lowers, except  the  Lairds  of  M'Kenzie  of  Killewn  and 
M'Kenzie  of  Ardloch.  The  first  has  power  over  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Isle  of  Lewis,  and  the  latter  over  those 
who  inhabit  near  Coigbach  and  Loch  Broom,  which  is 
in  the  north  part  of  Seaforth's  Country. 

"  Chisholm  of  Strathglass  and  his  Clan. — Most  of 
Glengary's  Tribe  are  Roman  Cathoiicks;  but  he  him- 
self is  not. 

"  M'Donald  of  Moudairt  and  many  of  his  Clan  are 
Roman  Catholicks.  M'Leod  [M'Niel]  of  Barra  and 
his  Tribe.  The  Duke  of  Gordon*  and  the  most  con- 
siderable of  his  followers  are  Roman  Catholioks. 

*  The  Duke's  family  had  changed  their  religion  before  this  time,  as  well 
a*  the  Laird  of  Clanrannakl. 


288  APPENDIX. 

"  At  present,  the  Earl  of  Sutherland  is  Lord  Lieu- 
tenent  of  the  Counties  of  Murray,  Nairn,  Inverness, 
Ross,  Cromarty,  Sutherland,  Caithnes,  and  Orkney. 

"  In  Inverness-shire,  and  Ross-shire,  the  King  has 
the  nomination  of  the  Sheriffs. 

"  Lord  Sutherland  is  Sheriff  of  Inverness-shire,  and 
Sir  William  Gordon  of  Ross-shire;  having  for  their 
Deputies  Robert  Gordon  of  Haugh,  John  Baillie  of 
Torbreck,  who  were  in  the  Rebellion;  Colin  M'Kenzie 
of  Kincraig,  who  was  in  the  Rebellion,  and  Bain  of 
Knock  Bain. 


"List  of  the  most  considerable  Gentlemen  who  are 
well-affected  to  His  Majesty's  Government,  who  in- 
habit and  have  estates  in  the  Counties  under-men- 
tioned. 


Murray 


Nairn 


'Alexander  Brody,  Member  of  Parliament, 
^Alexander  Rose  of  Kilraick, 
Laird  of  Grant,  Member  of  Parliament 
'Sir  Harry  Inness, 
-Alexander  Duff  of  Brachan, 

Alexander  Ross  Junior, 
Mr  Brody  of  Brody, 

Mr  Forbes  of  Cullodin,  Member  of  Parlia- 
ment. 


fThe  Laird  of  Grant, 
Inverness  <  The  Lord  Lovat, 

(^Mr  Forbes  of  Cullodin. 


Ross 


'Mr  Rose  of  Kilraick, 

I  Col  Monro,  Member  of  Parliament, 

[General  Ross, 

,Mr  Monro  of  Culkarn. 


APPENDIX.  289 

f"Mr  Rose  of  Kilraick, 

Cromarty  <  Sir  William  Gordon,  Member  of  Parlia- 
(.     ment. 

Sutherland,  The  Earl  of  Sutherland. 

_  c  The  Earl  of  Caithness, 

I  Alexander  Sinclair  of  Ulbster. 

[Orkney]     The  Earle  of  Morton. 


"  Gentlemen  inhabiting  the  shire  of  Inverness,  said  to 
be  proper  persons  for  executing  the  Office  of  Jus- 
tices of  the  Peace* 

"  Grant  of  Rothimurchies,  formerly  an  officer  in 

the  Army. 

John  M'Pherson  of  Inverishie. 
Hugh  Frazer  of  Stray, 
James  Frazer  of  Toyer, 
Hugh  Frazer  of  Erragie, 
Donald  M'Leod  of  Talaskef, 
Alexander  M'Leod  of  Drynoch, 
William  M'Leod  of  Hamber, 
Alexander  Frazer  of  Culduthill  is  at  present  in  the 

Commission  for  the  Peace." 


"  Report  to  His  Majesty  concerning  the  Highlands,  of 
Scotland,  in  1725. 

"  May  it  please  your  Majesty, 

"  IN  Obedience  to  your  Majesty's  Commands,  and 
pursuant  to  a  Warrant  under  your  Royal  Sign  Manual, 
bearing  date  the  first  of  June,  1725,  signifying  to  me 
Your  Majesty's  pleasure  that  I  should  return  to  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland,  and  empowering  me  in  piirsu- 
VOL.  II.  U 


290  APPENDIX. 

ance  of  an  act  of  the  last  Session  of  Parliament,  (in- 
tituled "  An  Act  for  more  effectual  disarming  the 
Highlands  in  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called  Scot- 
land)" to  summon  the  several  Clans  and  persons  within 
the  description  of  the  said  Act,  thereby  commanding 
and  requiring  them  in  Your  Majesty's  name  to  deliver 
up  all  and  singular  their  arms  and  warlike  weapons  for 
the  use  of  Your  Majesty,  your  heirs  and  Successors  ; 
and,  in  obedience  to  Your  Majesty's  Instructions  under 
Your  Royal  Sign  Manual  of  the  same  date,  authorizing 
me  to  grant  licences  to  such  of  your  Majesty's  subjects, 
in  that  part  of  Your  Kingdom,  who  might  have  occa- 
sion to  travel  with  Merchandize  to  Markets  or  Fairs, 
and  on  other  their  lawful  occasions,  to  bear  and  carry 
with  them  arms  for  their  security  and  defence ;  and 
also  to  employ  the  companies  of  Highlanders  lately 
raised,  pursuant  to  Your  Majesty's  orders,  for  securing 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  Country,  together  with  the 
Regular  Troops  to  assist  the  civil  magistrate  as  occa- 
sion might  require. 

*'  Your  Majesty  by  the  said  Instructions  was  pleased 
to  command  me,  that  as  soon  as  the  troops  were  as- 
sembled and  encamped  in  the  mountains,  the  first  sum- 
mons should  be  sent  ta  the  several  Clans,  vassals,  and 
tenents  of  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth  who,  since  his  at- 
tainder had  continued  in  a  state  of  disobedience  to 
the  laws  and  government,  and  refused  to  pay  in  their 
rents  for  the  use  of  the  Pnblick  ;  that  I  should  march 
body  of  Your  Majesty's  troops  to  the  Castle  of  Brahan, 
the  principal  seat  of  the  late  Earl ;  and,  in  order  to 
induce  the  said  Clans,  vassals,  and  tenents  to  a  dutiful 
submission  for  the  time  to  come,  Your  Majesty  was 
graciously  pleased  to  empower  me  by  the  said  instruc- 


APPENDIX.  291 

tious  to  give  hopes  to  the  said  teuents,  that  it  they 
peaceably  delivered  up  their  arms,  and  would  tor  the 
future  pay  in  their  rents  for  the  use  of  the  Publick, 
pursuant  to  Your  Majesty's  gracious  intentions,  Your 
Majesty  should  by  such  behaviour  and  submission  T)e 
induced  to  recommend  them  to  your  Parliament,  in 
order  to  procure  them  an  indemnity  for  the  rents  that 
have  been  misapplied  since  the  attainder  of  the  said 
late  Earl. 

"  Your  Majesty  was  likeways  pleased  to  command 
me,  that  when  this  service  was  performed,  I  should  pro- 
ceed to  summon  the  rest  of  the  Highland  Clans  one 
after  another,  who  were  reputed  disaffected  to  Your 
Majesty's  Government,  or  most  addicted  to  commit 
robberies  and  depredations  ;  to  cause  the  Castle  of  In- 
verness to  be  repaired,  and  Barracks  to  be  built  there 
and  at  Killyhtrimen,  for  the  quartering  a  sufficient  num- 
ber of  Your  Majesty's  troops  in  those  places,  in  order 
to  prevent  or  subdue  insurrections,  and  for  hindering 
the  Highlanders  from  passing  into  the  Low  Country, 
in  time  of  rebellion,  as  well  as  to  prevent  for  the  future 
their  returning  to  the  use  of  arms,  or  committing  de- 
predations on  the  adjacent  countries ;  To  cause  a  ves- 
sel with  oars  and  sails  to  be  built  on  the  Lake  Ness, 
sufficient  to  carry  a  party  of  Soldiers  with  provisions 
and  amunitiou  for  the  support  of  the  forces  quartered 
at  Killylmimen ;  and  to  secure  the  communication  be- 
tween that  place  and  Inverness.  Your  Majesty  was 
also  pleased  to  command  me,  not  to  suffer  persons  who 
were  attainted  of  High  Treason  for  the  late  unnatural 
rebellion,  to  presume  any  longer  to  reside  in  the  High- 
lands, unless  it  should  happen  that  any  of  the  Said 
attainted  persons,  by  being  convinced  of  their  past 

u  2 


292  APPENDIX. 

folly  and  rashness,  were  willing  and  desirous  to  submit 
to  your  Majesty,  and  for  the  future  to  live  peaceably 
and  dutifully  under  Your  Government :  Your  Majesty 
in  such  case  was  graciously  pleased  to  empower  me  to 
receive  their  offers  of  submission,  and  to  transmit  the 
same  to  your  Majesty's  principal  Secretary  of  State,  in 
order  to  their  being  laid  before  Your  Majesty  for  your 
Royal  Consideration. 

"  These  and  other  Your  Majestj/%  commands  I  have 
endeavoured  to  the  utmost  of  my  power  to  put  in  exe- 
cution, rather  by  a  mild  and  moderate  treatment  of  your 
Majesty's  misled  subjects,  than  by  acts  of  rigour  and  se- 
verity, as  a  method  of  proceeding  in  my  humble  opinion 
the  most  agreeable  to  Your  Majesty's  gracious  intentions. 
Your  Majesty  was  likewise  pleased  to  command  me 
from  time  to  time  to  correspond  with  his  Grace  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  Your  Majesty's  principal  Secre- 
tary of  State,  to  give  his  Grace  an  account  of  the  pro- 
gress I  should  make,  and  of  any  difficulty  that  might 
arise  in  relation  to  the  same;  and  to  represent  to  Your 
Majesty  at  the  end  of  the  Campaign  how  far  I  had  suc- 
ceeded in  the  performance  of  these  services,  and  others 
Your  Majesty's  commands,  which  is  humbly  set  forth  in 
the  following  Report : 

"  The  Act  of  Parliament  for  disarming  the  High- 
landers being  one  of  the  last  in  the  Session  which  re- 
ceived your  Royal  assent,  and  some  time  being  requisite 
to  prepare  the  proper  powers  conformable  to  the  said 
Act;  it  was  the  middle  of  June  before  I  could  arrive  at 
Edinburgh  to  give  the  necessary  orders  for  assembling 
the  troops,  which  were  to  form  the  camp  at  Inverness 
by  the  first  of  July.  The  six  companies  of  Highlanders 
that  had  been  ordered  to  be  raised,  were  compleat,  in 


APPENDIX.  293 

good  order,  and  in  readiness  to  take  the  field,  with  the 
four  Battalions  of  Foot  appointed  for  that  service.  The 
ship  with  amunition  and  ordinance  stores  was  daily  ex- 
pected from  London;  ovens  were  building  at  Inverness 
to  bake  amunition  bread  for  the  Soldiers ;  and  40,000 
weight  of  biscuit  was  provided  for  the  support  of  the 
troops  in  their  marches  into  the  mountains.  I  presume 
it  was  in  a  great  measure  owing  to  these  preparations, 
that  several  of  the  Chiefs  of  the  Highland  Clans,  sent 
to  me,  even  before  my  departure  from  Edinburgh,  as- 
suring me  they  would  peaceably  surrender  their  arms, 
pay  a  dutiful  obedience  to  your  Majesty's  commands, 
and  a  punctual  compliance  to  the  Disarming  Act. 

"  At  this  time  the  inhabitants  of  Edinburgh,  and  other 
towns  in  the  Low  Country  were  loudly  exclaiming 
against  the  Malt  Tax,  which  was  to  take  place  in  a  few 
days.  Seditious  Pamphlets  were  printed  and  dispersed 
through  the  country,  comparing  their  slavery  to  that  of 
the  Israelites  under  the  Egyptian  Bondage;  that  Eng- 
land had  loaded  them  with  burdens  too  heavy  for  them 
to  bear ;  and  that  they  were  betrayed  by  the  treacherous 
actings  of  their  own  Representatives.  The  Magis- 
trates of  Edinburgh  were  exclaimed  against,  and  in- 
sulted for  the  zeal  they  had  shewn  in  suppressing  and 
discouraging  tumultuous  proceedings,  and  requiring  a 
due  obedience  to  the  law. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  Glasgow  were  still  more  out- 
rageous, declaring  publickly  in  the  streets,  that  they 
would  not  submit  to  a  Malt  Tax,  insulting  the  Officers 
of  Excise,  and  threatening  to  stone  them  if  they  at- 
tempted to  enter  their  Malt  Houses ;  for  which  pur- 
pose they  had  piled  up  heaps  of  stones  at  the  doors,  to 
shew  them  what  they  might  expect  if  they  proceeded 


294  APPENDIX. 

ill  the  execution  of  that  law.  Messengers  and  letters 
were  sent  from  Glasgow  to  most  of  the  considerable 
towns  in  the  Low  Country,  exciting  them  not  to  submit 
to  this  new  imposition ;  but  to  follow  the  example  of 
Glasgow,  who  were  determined  to  suffer  all  extremities 
rather  than  comply  with  the  payment  of  this  insupport- 
able Tax,  as  they  were  pleased  to  term  it ;  and  it  was 
reported  publickly  at  that  time  in  Sterling,  Perth,  and 
Edinburgh,  that  the  house  of  Daniel  Campbell,  Esq. 
Member  of  Parliament  for  Glasgow  (who  was  repre- 
sented to  have  been  one  of  the  Chief  promoters  of  this 
Law)  was  to  be  plundered  on  the  day  the  Malt  Tax 
was  to  take  place. 

"I  was  at  this  time  at  Edinburgh,  preparing  to  set 
out  for  the  Highlands,  to  proceed  in  the  executing  of 
Your  Majesty's  commands,  when  the  Commissioners  of 
Excise  represented  to  me,  that  several  of  their  officers 
had  been  insulted  at  Glasgow,  and  threatened  with  their 
lives,  some  of  them  forced  to  quit  the  town  in  disguise, 
and  others  to  hide  themselves  in  obscure  places,  desir- 
ing I  would  immediately  order  some  of  Your  Majesty's 
troops  to  march  thither  to  protect  them  against  the  rage 
and  fury  of  the  populace. 

"  I  had  the  honour  to  represent  to  your  Majesty, 
before  I  went  to  Scotland  the  necessity  there  was  of 
having  troops  quartered  at  Glasgow,  to  prevent  the 
disorders  that  might  probably  happen  in  that  town  on 
occasion  of  the  malt  duty,  and  your  Majesty  was 
pleased  to  order  that  5  Companies  should  be  sent 
thither  from  Berwick,  as  soon  as  the  Regiment  arrived 
to  relieve  that  garrison  ;  but  they  being  retarded  in 
their  march  by  the  floods,  occasioned  by  great  rains 
that  fell  about  that  time,  I  gave  the  directions  for  the 


APPENDIX.  295 

speedy  march  of  two  of  the  five  companies  of  Dele- 
rain's  Regiment  then  quartered  at  Edinburgh,  with 
orders  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  to  the  Civil  Ma- 
gistrate, and  to  protect  the  officers  of  your  Majesty's 
custom  and  excise,  in  the  execution  of  their  duty. 
These  companies  were  commanded  by  Capt.  Bushell  a 
careful  and  diligent  officer,  who  marched  with  great 
expedition,  and  arrived  at  Glasgow  the  day  following 
at  six  in  the  evening,  being  the  24-th  of  June,  the  day 
in  which,  by  Act  of  Parliament,  the  Malt  Tax  was  to 
take  place  in  Scotland. 

"  At  their  entrance  into  the  town,  the  mo-b  assem-r 
bled  in  the  streets,  throwing  stones  and  dirt  at  the 
soldiers,  giving  them  reproachful  language,  and 
seemed  to  shew  great  contempt  for  the  smallness  of 
their  numbers,  (which  was  oely  an  hundred  and  ten 
men,)  saying  they  were  but  a  breakfast  to  them,  and  that 
they  should  soon  repent  coming  thither.  The  Guard- 
room was  locked  up,  and  the  key  taken  away  by  the 
populace.  The  Captain  bore  these  insults  with  pa- 
tience, and  sent  for  a  Civil  Magistrate;  but  none 
could  be  found  to  assist  in  dispersing  the  rabble,  and 
tho'  the  Provost  had  sent  billets  for  quartering  the 
soldiers,  the  inhabitants  for  the  most  part  refused  to 
receive  them  into  their  houses.  They  increasing  in 
their  number,  went  to  the  house  of  Mr.  Daniel  Camp- 
bell, Member  of  Parliament,  broke  it  open,  and  be- 
gan to  plunder  it  with  great  rage  and  fury.  The  Cap- 
tain, as  soon  as  he  had  notice  of  it,  sent  to  the  chief 
magistrate,  offering  him  his  assistance  in  dispersing 
them.  He  answered,  that  he  thanked  him  for  his 
offer,  but  thought  his  number  insufficient ;  so  that  the 
mob  continued  their  outrages  all  that  night  and  part  of 


296  APPENDIX. 

the  day  following:  plundering  and  destroying  the 
house  and  gardens  without  molestation. 

"  The  next  morning,  the  Provost  ordered  the  guard 
to  be  broke  open,  and  gave  the  Captain  possession  of 
it,  who  posted  a  guard  there  of  an  officer  and  thirty 
men. 

"  About  three  in  the  afternoon,  drums  were  beat 
about  the  streets  by  women,  or  men  in  women's  cloaths, 
as  a  signal  to  assemble  the  mob,  who  got  together  in 
greater  numbers  than  before.  The  Captain,  not 
knowing  what  mischief  they  intended,  ordered  all  his 
men  to  repair  to  the  guard ;  but  the  mob  did  not  long 
keep  their  secret,  for  they  advanced  thro'  the  several 
streets  that  led  to  the  guard-house,  saying,  Their  next 
business  was  the  soldiers,  and  crying :  '  Drive  the 
dogs  out  of  the  town; — we  will  cut  them  to  pieces.' 
The  Captain,  apprehensive  that  their  first  intention 
was  to  disarm  him,  drew  out  his  men,  and  posted 
them  in  four  divisions,  facing  the  streets  thro'  which 
the  mob  advanced ;  who,  as  soon  as  they  approached, 
without  the  least  provocation,  threw  stones  at  the 
soldiers  in  such  quantities,  and  of  so  large  a  size,  that 
they  wounded  and  bruised  several  of  the  men.  The 
Captain  spoke  to  them  very  calmly,  telling  them  he  was 
not  come  there  to  do  them  any  harm,  or  hurt  a  hair  of 
their  heads,  desiring  them  earnestly  to  retire,  lest  it 
should  not  be  in  his  power  to  hinder  the  soldiers  from 
firing  on  them.  To  which  some  of  them  answered, 
*  Return  your  men  to  the  guard,  and  then  we  will 
retire.'  The  Captain  in  hopes  to  appease  them,  or- 
dered his  men  to  face  about,  and  return  to  the  guard 
house.  Their  backs  were  no  sooner  turned,  but  the 
stones  showered  in  upon  them  in  greater  quantities  than 


APPENDIX.  297 

before,  wounded  and  bruised  many  of  them,  broke  seve- 
ral of  their  bayonets  and  locks  of  their  musquets,  and 
put  them  into  such  disorder,  that  they  retired  into  the 
guard-room  for  shelter.  The  Captain,  fearing  they 
would  disarm  him,  ordered  the  soldiers  to  advance  again 
into  the  streets  ;  and  being  attacked  as  they  come  out, 
the  soldiers  then  fired  and  killed  and  wounded  several  of 
them.  They  dispersed  for  some  smalltime,  but  returned 
in  greater  rage  and  fury,  and  brought  with  them  all  the 
fire  arms  they  could  find  in  the  town,  and  distributed  to 
their  men  a  barrel  of  powder  belonging  to  the  two  com- 
panies, which  they  had  seized  on  their  first  coming  to 
attack  the  guard.  The  Provost,  apprehending  the  rage 
the  populace  were  in  might  occasion  greater  mischiefs 
than  what  had  already  happened,  sent  to  Captain 
Bushel,  desiring  him,  for  his  safety,  and  to  avoid  fur- 
ther bloodshed,  to  retire  out  of  the  town ;  otherways,  he 
and  all  his  men  would  probably  be  murdered.  The 
Captain  took  his  advice,  and  retreated  to  Dumbarton 
Castle,  ten  miles  distant,  being  followed  part  of  the 
way  by  some  hundreds  of  the  mob,  which  obliged  him 
to  fire  some  shot  in  the  rear,  to  secure  his  retreat. 
There  were  of  the  town's  people  eight  killed  on  the  spot, 
besides  nineteen  who  were  wounded,  two  or  three  of 
which  are  since  dead. 

"  Of  the  soldiers,  there  were  six  missing,  who,  being 
disabled  by  the  wounds  and  bruises  they  received  in  the 
riot,  could  not  march  with  the  companies  to  Dumbar- 
ton. Two  of  them,  who  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  mob, 
were  inhumanly  treated  and  left  for  dead ;  but,  in  some 
time  after,  they  all  recovered  and  returned  to  the  regi- 
ment. The  shoes,  stockings  and  linnen  belonging  to 
the  two  companies,  which  were  left  in  the  town  when 


298  APPENDIX. 

they  retreated,  were  plundered  by  the  people;  and,  tho' 
application  has  since  been  made  to  the  Magistrates, 
they  never  could  obtain  any  reparation. 

"  As  soon  as  the  account  of  this  riot  came  to  my 
knowledge,  1  held  it  absolutely  necessary  to  take  such 
measures  as  might  hinder  the  infection's  spreading  to 
Edinburgh  and  the  other  towns,  who  had  been  excited 
to  follow  the  example  of  Glasgow.  Orders  were  in> 
mediately  sent  to  the  Earl  of  Stair's  and  Colonell  Camp- 
bell's dragoons,  to  take  up  their  horses  from  grass;  the 
first  to  march  to  the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgow,  and 
the  latter  to  Edinburgh.  I  likewise  took  the  liberty  to 
order  five  companies  of  Colonel  Clayton's  Regiment 
from  the  garrison  of  Berwick,  to  march  and  join  the  five 
companies  of  Delorain's  Regiment,  who  were  then  ad- 
vanced as  far  as  Edinburgh  on  their  way  to  Glasgow, 
pursuant  to  Your  Majesty's  former  orders.  Two  of  the 
four  Regiments  who  had  received  orders  to  march  to 
the  camp  at  Inverness,  were  countermanded,  and 
quartered  at  Aberdeen,  Dundee,  and  other  populous 
towns,  who  had  openly  declared  against  paying  the  Malt 
Duty.  Stabling  was  fitted  up  for  100  dragoons  to 
patrole  in  the  suburbs  of  Edinburgh,  and  forage  was 
with  great  difficulty  provided  for  them,  the  farmers  and 
others  in  that  neighbourhood  (as  it  were  by  a  common 
consent)  refusing  to  sell  their  hay  to  the  officers  of  the 
dragoons.  Several  disorders  were  committed  in  other 
parts  of  the  country;  the  officers  of  Your  Majesty's 
Customs  and  Excise  were  often  insulted  in  the  execu- 
tion of  their  duty ;  confiscated  goods  rescued  out  of 
their  hands;  and  the  soldiers  who  assisted  them,  if  their 
numbers  were  small,  were  overpowered  and  disarmed 
by  the  populace ;  and  it  was  reported  that  the  people 


APPENDIX.  299 

of  Glasgow  threatened  to  oppose  any  troops  that  should 
be  sent  thither  to  reduce  them  to  obedience. 

"  These  disturbances  in  the  Low  Country  deter- 
mined me  to  defer  the  execution  of  Your  Majesty's 
commands  in  the  Highlands,  till  I  should  receive  di- 
rections from  their  Excellencies  the  Lords  Justices,  to 
whom  I  had  transmitted  a  particular  account  of  the 
Glasgow  riot,  and  of  the  disorders  that  were  likely  to 
happen  at  Edinburgh  and  other  towns,  in  opposition  to 
the  Malt  Duty.  The  remissness  of  the  Magistrates  of 
Glasgow  and  other  considerable  towns  (that  of  Edin- 
burgh excepted)  by;  discountenancing  or  endeavouring 
to  suppress  these  tumultuous  proceedings,  gave  too 
much  reason  to  suspect  their  adhering  to  the  sentiments 
of  the  populace ;  and  the  military  had  no  legal  power 
of  acting  but  under  their  authority,  either  for  the  sup- 
port of  the  revenue,  or  to  prevent  a  general  commotion 
which  threatened  that  part  of  Your  Majesty's  do- 
minions. 

"  About  this  time,  I  received  information  from  Briga- 
dier Grove,  who  was  encamped  with  two  Battalions  in 
the  Highlands,  that  three  Russian  Men  of  War,  and 
some  other  ships,  supposed  to  be  transports,  appeared 
on  the  North  West  coast,  between  the  Isle  of  Lewis  and 
the  land,  and  came  to  an  anchor  at  a  port  in  that  island, 
two  leagues  south  of  Stornoway.  Some  of  the  officers 
that  commanded  them  were  of  the  British  or  Irish  Na- 
tion, and  had  formerly  served  in  the  English  Navy; 
but,  by  their  conversation  appeared  to  be  disaffected  to 
Your  Majesty's  Government.  Their  lading  was  naval 
stores,  iron  guns,  and  small  arms:  the  mariners  were 
for  the  most  part  Russians.  They  continued  there  ten 
days;  and,  on  the  twenty  fifth  of  June,  proceeded  on 


300  APPENDIX. 

their  voyage  to  Spain.  I  have  never  heard  that  they 
landed  either  arms  or  amunition,  during  their  continu- 
ance on  that  coast;  tho'  I  have  sent  several  times  to 
procure  information  in  that  particular. 

"  Having  transmitted  to  Your  Majesty's  Principal 
Secretary  of  State  an  account  of  these  transactions, 
their  excellencies  the  Lords  Justices  immediately  order- 
ed the  Lord  Carpenter's  Regiment  to  march  to  Scot- 
land ;  and  highly  resenting  the  riotous  and  tumultuous 
proceedings  at  Glasgow,  sent  me  their  commands  to 
inarch  thither  with  a  body  of  Your  Majesty's  troops 
sufficient  to  assist  the  civil  power  in  bringing  the  rioters 
to  justice.  Your  Majesty's  Advocate  also  received 
their  excellencies  orders  to  go  thither  in  person,  whose 
vigilance  and  activity  might  be  depended  on  to  supply 
the  misbehaviour  or  want  of  resolution  in  the  magis- 
trates of  that  town,  to  enquire  into  their  past  conduct, 
and  the  reason  of  their  absenting  themselves  from  their 
duty,  at  a  time  when  their  presence  was  most  necessary 
to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  city.  The  troops  assem- 
bled for  this  purpose  were  the  Earl  of  Stair's  regiment 
of  dragoons,  four  troops  of  Colonel  Campbell's  dra- 
goons, the  Earl  of  Deloraine's  regiment  of  foot,  and  the 
new-raised  Highland  company  commanded  by  Sir  Dun- 
can Campbell,  with  four  field  pieces,  and  eight  cohorn 
mortars.  Colonel  Clayton  with  five  companies  of  his 
regiment,  two  troops  of  Campbell's  dragoons,  with  two 
of  the  Highland  companies,  remained  at  Edinburgh, 
and  it  was  thought  necessary  for  the  peace  of  the  city, 
that  Your  Majesty's  sollicitor  should  remain  there  dur- 
ing the  absence  of  the  Lord  Advocate.  The  troops, 
being  assembled  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Glasgow, 
marched  into  the  town  on  the  ninth  of  July,  without 


APPENDIX.  301 

the  least  disturbance  or  opposition,  the  soldiers  punc- 
tually observing  the  orders  I  had  given  them,  not  to 
exasperate  the  inhabitants  by  reproaching  them  for 
having  attacked  and  insulted  the  two  companies  who 
remained  still  at  Dunbarton,  lest  their  presence  might 
excite  the  people  to  revenge.  Quarters  were  provided 
by  the  magistrates,  and  the  excise  officers  re-established, 
and  admitted  to  survey  the  malt-houses  without  cla- 
mour or  complaint,  but,  on  the  contrary,  treated  with 
great  civility. 

*'  As  soon  as  the  Advocate  had  procured  information 
of  such  of  the  Rioters  who  had  not  absconded  from  the 
town,  he  issued  out  warrants  for  apprehending  them. 
They  were  seized  by  small  parties  of  the  regular 
troops,  and  committed  prisoners  to  the  town  gaol,  and 
no  disorders  happened  thereupon. 

"  The  Advocate  proceeded  afterwards  to  examine 
into  the  conduct  of  the  magistrates ;  and,  finding  they 
had  notoriously  neglected  their  duty,  thought  fit  like- 
wise to  commilt  them  prisoners,  and  parties  were  or- 
dered to  guard  both  them  and  the  rioters  to  Edin- 
burgh. 

"  The  peace  of  the  town  being  thus  established,  a 
sufficient  garrison  was  left  there  in  order  to  preserve 
it ;  and  the  rest  of  the  troops  sent  to  quarter  in  towns, 
where  there  might  be  occasion  for  their  presence  to 
support  and  protect  the  officers  of  Your  Majesty's 
revenue. 

"  At  my  return  to  Edinburgh  I  found  there  had  been 
a  combination  carried  on  by  the  brewers  and  maltsters 
of  that  town  to  leave  off  brewing,  and  thereby  distress 
and  enrage  the  people,  by  the  scarcity  of  bread  and 
beer,  which  such  a  practice  would  occasion ;  pretend- 


302  APPENDIX. 

ing  that  the  malt  tax  was  so  heavy  on  them,  that  they 
could  not  continue  their  trade,  but  to  their  own  loss 
and  disadvantage ;  and  the  Magistrates  of  Glasgow 
were  admitted  to  bail  soon  after  their  arrival.  At  their 
return  to  that  town,  they  were  met  by  great  numbers 
of  the  Kirk,  riding  on  each  side  their  coach,  and  the 
bells  ringing,  with  other  demonstrations  of  joy. 

"  All  endeavours  were  used  at  Edinburgh  to  spirit 
up  the  people,  by  giving  countenance  to  those  who 
had  opposed  the  Tax.  The  Magistrates  of  Glasgow, 
and  even  the  Rioters,  were  looked  on  as  sufferers  for 
the  liberty  of  their  country ;  but  the  guards  being 
doubled,  and  constant  patroles  of  dragoons  kept  in  the 
streets,  the  populace  thought  it  unsafe  to  have  re- 
course to  their  old  practice  of  riots  and  tumults ;  and 
the  Brewers  and  Maltsters  chose  rather  to  refuse  the 
payment  of  the  Tax,  and  to  commit  the  defence  of 
their  cause  to  Advocates,  who,  they  had  reason  to  be- 
lieve, were  of  their  own  sentiments. 

"  The  troops  being  disposed  of  in  all  the  consider- 
able towns  in  the  Low  Country,  and  the  Justice  Gene- 
ral on  his  way  to  Edinburgh,  to  be  present  to  carry  on 
the  prosecutions  against  those  who  had  acted  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  law,  I  determined  no  longer  to  defer  my 
journey  to  the  Highlands,  but  to  proceed  with  all  pos- 
sible expedition  to  the  camp  at  Inverness,  in  order  to 
execute  Your  Majesty's  commands  in  those  parts. 

"  Colonel  Kirk's  regiment,  and  the  Highland  com- 
panies, were  ordered  to  join  the  camp,  which,  with 
Grove's,  and  Whetham's  regiment,  made  a  body  of 
three  battalions,  six  Highland  companies,  and  fifty 
dragoous. 

"  The  regiment  of  Macartney,  which  was  likewise 


APPENDIX. 

intended  for  the  camp,  remained  in  quarters  at  Aber- 
deen, and  other  considerable  towns  on  the  East  Coast, 
who  had  refused  the  payment  of  the  malt  duty ;  but 
continued  in  a  readiness  to  march  and  join  the  forces,  if 
occasion  required.  The  troops  at  Edinbugh,  and  other 
parts  of  the  Low  Country  being  left  under  the  command 
of  Colonel  Campbell,  I  set  out  from  Edinburgh  the  first 
day  of  August,  and,  for  the  greater  expedition,  em- 
barked on  board  Your  Majesty's  ship  the  Rose,  the 
wind  being  then  favourable ;  but,  soon  after  proving 
contrary,  and  continuing  so  for  four  days,  I  was 
obliged  to  land  on  the  coast  of  Angus,  and  proceed  by 
land  to  the  camp  at  Inverness,  where  I  arrived  the 
tenth  of  August. 

"  I  was  glad  to  find  the  disturbances  in  the  Low 
Country  had  not  influenced  the  Highlanders  to  depart 
from  the  promises  they  had  made  me,  peaceably  to 
surrender  their  arms.  The  Laird  of  the  M'Kenzies, 
and  other  Chiefs  of  the  Clans  and  Tribes,  tenents  to 
the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth,  came  to  me  in  a  body,  to 
the  number  of  about  fifty,  and  assured  me  that  both 
they  and  their  followers  were  ready  to  pay  a  dutiful 
obedience  to  Your  Majesty's  commands,  by  a  peace- 
able surrender  of  their  arms ;  that  if  Your  Majesty 
would  be  graciously  pleased  to  procure  them  an  indem- 
nity for  the  rents  that  had  been  misapplied  for  the  time 
past,  they  would  for  the  future  become  faithful  subjects 
to  Your  Majesty,  and  pay  them  to  Your  Majesty's 
Receiver  for  the  use  of  the  publick.  I  assured  them 
of  Your  Majesty's  gracious  intentions  towards  them, 
and  that  they  might  rely  on  Your  Majesty's  bounty  afffl 
clemency,  provided  they  would  merit  it  by  their  future 
good  conduct  and  peaceable  behaviour ;  that  I  had 


304  APPENDIX, 

Your  Majesty's  commands  to  send  the  first  summons 
to  tbe  country  they  inhabited ;  which  would  soon  give 
them  an  opportunity  of  shewing-  the  sincerity  of  their 
promises,  and  of  having  the  merit  to  set  example  to 
the  rest  of  the  Highlands,  who  in  their  turns  were  to 
be  summoned  to  deliver  up  their  arms,  pursuant  to 
the  Disarming  Act ;  that  they  might  choose  the  place 
they  themselves  thought  most  convenient  to  surrender 
their  arms  ;  and  that  I  would  answer,  that  neither  their 
persons  nor  their  property  should  be  molested  by  Your 
Majesty's  troops. — They  desired  they  might  be  per- 
mitted to  deliver  up  their  arms  at  the  Castle  of  Bra- 
han,  the  principal  seat  of  their  late  Superior,  who, 
they  said,  had  promoted  and  encouraged  them  to  this 
their  submission  ;  but  begged  that  none  of  the  High- 
land Companies  might  be  present;  for,  as  they  had 
always  been  reputed  the  bravest,  as  well  as  the  most 
numerous  of  the  Northern  Clans,  they  thought  it  more 
consistent  with  their  honour  to  resign  their  arms  to 
Your  Majesty's  veteran  troops  ; — to  which  I  readily 
consented. 

"  Summonses  were  accordingly  sent  to  the  several 
Clans  and  Tribes,  the  inhabitants  of  eighteen  parishes, 
who  were  vassals  or  tenents  of  the  late  Earl  of  Sea- 
ibrth,  to  bring  or  send  in  all  their  arms  and  warlike 
weapons  to  the  Castle  of  Brahan,  on  or  before  the 
twenty  eight  of  August. 

"  About  this  time  menacing  letters  were  sent  me 
by  the  post  from  Edinburgh,  to  intimidate  me  from 
proceeding  in  the  execution  of  the  Disarming  Act ; 
papers  were  printed  there  by  the  Jacobites,  and  mes- 
sengers sent  to  disperse  them  through  the  Highlands, 
in  hopes  to  excite  them  to  resistance,  denying  the 


APPENDIX.  305 

power  of  Parliament,  telling  them  the  Act  was  in  its 
own  nature  against  the  laws  of  God  and  Man,  and  not 
fit  to  be  executed  upon  Barbarians  ;  and  that,  when 
they  had  surrendered  their  arms,  they  were  to  be  ex- 
tirpated, or  at  best  be  sent  into  Captivity. 

These  artifices  had  no  influence  on  the  Chiefs  of 
Clans,  who  depended  on  the  assurances  I  had  given 
them,  that  no  severity  should  be  used  in  the  execution, 
of  the  powers  granted  by  the  Disarming  Act ;  that  it 
was  Your  Majesty's  intention  they  should  be  treated 
with  kindness  and  humanity,  provided  the  peace  of  the 
country  was  secured  by  preventing  the  frequent  dis- 
orders occasioned  by  the  practice  of  wearing  arms. 

On  the  twenty  fifth  of  August  I  went  to  the  Castle 
of  Brahan,  with  a  detachment  of  two  hundred  of  th6 
Regular  Troops,  and  was  met  there  by  the  Chiefs  of 
the  several  Clans  and  Tribes,  who  assured  me  they  had 
used  their  utmost  diligence  in  collecting  all  the  arms 
they  were  possessed  of,  which  should  be  brought  thither 
on  the  Saturday  following,  pursuant  to  the  summons 
they  had  received  ;  and  telling  me  they  were  apprehen- 
sive of  insults  or  depredations  from  the  neighbouring 
Clans  of  the  Camerons>  and  others  who  still  continued 
in  possession  of  their  arms.  Parties  of  the  Highland 
Companies  were  ordered  to  guard  the  passes  leading  to 
their  country  ;  which  parties  continued  there  for  their 
protection,  till  the  Clans  in  that  neighbourhood  were 
summoned,  and  had  surrendered  their  arms. 

"  On  the  day  appointed)  the  several  Clans  and  Tribes 
assembled  in  the  adjacent  villages,  and  marched  in  good 
order  through  the  great  avenue  that  leads  to  the  Castle  ; 
and  one  after  another  laid  down  their  arms  in  the 
Court  Yard,  in  great  quiet  and  decency,  amounting  to 

VOL.  II.  X 


306  APPENDIX. 

784  of  the  several   species  mentioned  in  the  Act  of 
Parliament. 

"  The  solemnity  with  which  this  was  performed,  had 
undoubtedly  a  great  influence  over  the  rest  of  the 
Highland  Clans ;  and  disposed  them  to  pay  that  obe- 
dience to  Your  Majesty's  commands,  by  a  peaceable 
surrender  of  their  arms,  which  they  had  never  done  to 
any  of  your  Royal  Predecessors,  or  in  compliance 
with  any  law  either  before  or  since  the  Union. 

"  The  next  summons  were  sent  to  the  Clans  and 
countries  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Killyhuimen  and 
Fort  William.  The  arms  of  the  several  Clans  of  the 
M'Donalds  of  Glengary,  M'Leods  of  Glenelg,  Chis- 
holms  of  Strathglass,  and  Grants  of  Glenmoriston, 
were  surrendered  to  me  at  the  Barrack  of  Killyhuimen, 
the  fifteenth  of  September ;  and  those  of  the  M'Do- 
nalds of  Keppoch,  Moidart,  Aresaig,  and  Glenco ;  as 
also  the  Camerons,  and  Stewarts  of  Appin,  were  de- 
livered to  the  Governor  of  Fort  William.  The  M'ln- 
toshes  were  summoned,  and  brought  in  their  arms  to 
Inverness ;  and  the  followers  of  the  Duke  of  Gordon, 
with  the  Clan  of  M'Phersons,  to  the  Barrack  of  Ruth- 
ven  in  Badenooh. 

"  The  inhabitants  of  the  isles  of  Skye  and  Mull 
were  also  summoned;  the  M'Donalds,  M'Kinnons,  and 
M'Leods  delivered  their  arms  at  the  Barrack  of  Ber- 
nera ;  and  those  of  the  Isle  of  Mull,  to  the  officer 
commanding  at  Castle  Duart,  both  on  the  first  day  of 
October. 

"  The  regiments  remained  till  that  tjme  encamped  at 
Inverness  ;  and  this  service  was  performed  by  sending 
detachments  from  the  Camp  to  the  several  parts  of  the 
Highlands  appointed  for  the  surrender  of  arms.  Amu- 


APPENDIX.  307 

nition  bread  was  regularly  delivered  to  the  soldiers, 
and  biscuits  to  the  detachments  that  were  sent  into  the 
mountains.  The  camp  was  plentifully  supplied  with 
provisions,  and  an  Hospital  in  the  town  provided  for 
the  sick  men.  This  contributed  to  preserve  the  sol- 
diers in  health  ;  so  that  notwithstanding  the  excessive 
bad  weather  and  continued  rains  that  fell  during 
the  campaign,  there  died  of  the  three  regiments  no 
more  than  ten  soldiers  : — but  the  weather  growing  cold, 
and  the  snow  falling  ift  the  mountains,  obliged  me  to 
break  up  the  Camp,  and  send  the  troops  into  winter 
quarters. 

The  new-raised  companies  of  Highlanders  were  for 
some  time  encamped  with  the  Regular  Troops,  per- 
forming the  duty  of  the  camp  with  the  rest  of  the  sol- 
diers. They  mounted  guard,  went  out  upon  parties, 
had  the  Articles  of  War  read  and  explained  to  them, 
and  were  regularly  paid  with  the  rest  of  the  troops. 
When  they  had  made  some  progress  in  their  exercise 
and  discipline,  they  were  sent  to  their  respective  sta- 
tions with  proper  orders ;  as  well  to  prevent  the  High- 
landers from  returning  to  the  use  of  arms,  as  to  hinder 
their  committing  depredations  on  the  Low  Country. 

"  The  Lord  Lovat's  Company  was  posted  to  guard 
all  the  passes  in  the  mountains,  from  the  Isle  of  Skye 
eastward,  as  far  as  Inverness  ;  the  company  of  Colonel 
Grant  in  the  several  passes  from  Inverness  southward 
to  Dunkeld  ;  Sir  Duncan  Campbell's  company,  from 
Dunkeld  westward,  as  far  as  the  Country  of  Lorn. 
The  three  companies  commanded  by  Lieutenants  were 
posted,  the  first  at  Fort  William ;  the  second  at  Killy- 
huimen  ;  and  the  third  at  Ruthven  in  Badenoch  ;  and 


30$  APPENDIX. 

may  in  a  short  time  be  assembled  in  a  body,  to  march 
to  any  part  of  the  Highlands  as  occasion  may  require. 

"  The  orders  given  to  the  officers  commanding  the 
Highland  Companies  relating  to  their  future  conduct, 
Your  Majesty  will  find  annexed  to  this  report. 

"  The  Clans  of  the  Northern  Highlands  having 
peaceably  surrendered  their  arms,  pursuant  to  the 
several  summonses  sent  them  in  Your  Majesty's  name, 
and  consequently  exposed  to  the  inroads  of  their 
neighbours,  to  prevent  this  inconvenience,  (tho'  the 
season  of  the  year  was  far  advanced)  I  thought  it  both 
just  and  necessary  to  proceed  to  disarm  the  Southern 
Clans,  who  had  also  joined  in  the  Rebellion,  and 
thereby  to  finish  the  campaign  by  summoning  all  the 
Clans  and  countries  who  had  taken  up  arms  against 
Your  Majesty  in  the  year  1716. 

"  Summonses  were  accordingly  sent  to  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  Brea  of  Mar,  Perth,  Athol,  Braidalbin, 
Menteith,  and  those  parts  of  the  shire  of  Stirling  and 
Dumbarton  included  in  the  Disarming  Act.  Parties  of 
the  Regular  Troops  were  ordered  to  march  from  the 
nearest  garrisons  to  several  places  appointed  for  the 
surrender  of  their  arms,  and  circular  letters  were  sent 
to  the  principal  gentlemen  in  those  parts,  exciting  them 
to  follow  the  example  of  the  northern  Highlands.  The 
Clans  of  these  countries  brought  in  their  arms  on  the 
days  and  at  the  places  appointed  by  their  respective  sum- 
monses, but  not  in  so  great  a  quantity  as  the  Northern 
Clans  had  done.  The  Gentlemen  assured  me  they  had 
given  strict  orders  to  their  Tenants  to  bring  in  all  the 
arms  they  had  in  their  possession  ;  but  that  many  of 
them,  knowing  they  were  not  to  be  paid  for  them,  as 


APPENDIX.  309 

stipulated  by  the  former  act,  several  had  been  carried 
to  the  forges,  and  turned  into  working  tools  and  other 
peaceable  instruments ;  there  being  no  prohibition  by 
the  Act  of  Parliament  to  hinder  them  from  disposing 
of  them  in  any  manner  they  thought  most  to  their  ad- 
vantage provided  they  •had  no  arms  in  their  possession, 
after  the  day  mentioned  in  the  summons ;  and  if  the 
informations  I  have  received  are  true,  the  same  thing 
has  been  practised,  more  or  less,  by  all  the  Clans  that 
have  been  summoned  pursuant  to  the  present  Act  of 
Parliament,  which  makes  no  allowance  for  arms  deli- 
vered up,  in  order  to  prevent  the  notorious  frauds  and 
abuses  committed  by  those  who  had  the  execution  of 
the  former  act,  whereby  Your  Majesty  paid  near 
1 3,000  /.  for  broken  and  useless  arms,  that  were  hardly 
worth  the  expence  of  carriage. 

"  The  number  of  arms  collected  this  year  in  the 
Highlands,  of  the  several  species  mentioned  in  the 
Disarming  Act,  amount  in  the  whole  to  2685.  The 
greatest  part  of  them  are  deposited  in  the  Castle  of 
Edinburgh,  and  the  rest  at  Fort  William,  and  the  Bar- 
rack of  Bernera.  At  the  time  they  were  brought  in 
by  the  Clans,  there  was  a  mixture  of  good  and  bad ; 
but  the  damage  they  received  in  the  carriage,  and 
growing  rusty  by  being  exposed  to  rain,  they  are  of 
little  more  worth  than  the  value  of  the  iron. 

"  In  the  execution  of  the  power  given  me  by  Your 
Majesty,  to  grant  licences  to  such  persons  whose  busi- 
ness or  occupation  required  the  use  of  arms  for  their 
safety  and  defence,  I  have  given  out  in  the  whole  230 
licences  to  the  Forresters,  Drovers,  and  Dealers  in 
Cattle,  and  other  merchandize,  belonging  to  the  several 
clans  who  have  surrendered  their  arms,  which  are  to 


310  APPENDIX. 

remain  in  force  for  two  years,  provided  they  behave 
themselves  daring  that  time  as  faithful  subjects  to 
Your  Majesty,  and  peaceably  towards  their  neighbours. 
The  names  of  the  persons  empowered  to  wear  arms  by 
these  licences  are  entered  in  a  book,  as  also  the  names 
of  the  Gentlemen  by  whom  they  were  recommended, 
and  who  have  promised  to  be  answerable  for  their 
good  behaviour. 

"  The  several  summonses  for  the  surrender  of  arms 
have  been  affixed  to  the  doors  of  129  parish  churches, 
on  the  market  crosses  of  the  county  towns  ;  and  copies 
of  the  same  regularly  entered  in  the  Sheriff's  books  in 
the  method  prescribed  by  the  Disarming  Act,  by 
which  these  Highlanders  who  shall  presume  to  wear 
arms  without  a  legal  Qualification,  are  subject  to  the 
penalties  of  that  Law  which  has  already  had  so  good 
an  effect,  that,  instead  of  guns,  swords,  durks,  and 
pistols,  they  now  travel  to  their  Churches,  Markets, 
and  Fairs  with  only  a  staff  in  their  hands.  Since  the 
Highland  Companies  have  been  posted  at  their  respec- 
tive stations,  several  of  the  most  notorious  thieves  have 
been  seized  on  and  committed  to  prison,  some  of  which 
are  now  under  prosecution,  but  others,  either  by  the 
corruption  or  negligence  of  the  Jailers,  have  been  set 
at  liberty,  or  suffered  to  make  their  escape. 

"  The  imposition  commonly  called  black-meal  is 
now  no  longer  paid  by  the  inhabitants  bordering  on  the 
Highlands;  and  robberies  and  depredations,  formerly 
complained  of,  are  less  frequently  attempted  than  has 
been  known  for  many  years  past,  there  having  been  but 
one  single  instance  where  cattle  have  been  stolen, 
without  being  recovered  and  returned  to  their  proper 
owners. 


APPENDIX.  311 

"  At  my  first  coming  to  the  Highlands,  I  caused  an 
exact  survey  to  be  taken  of  the  Lakes,  and  that  part  of 
the  country  lying  between  Inverness  and  Fort  William, 
which  extends  from  the  East  to  the  West  Sea,  in  order 
to  render  the  communication  more  practicable ;  and 
materials  were  provided  for  the  vessel  which,  by  Your 
Majesty's  commands  was  to  be  built  on  the  Lake  Ness; 
which  is  now  finished  and  launched  into  the  Lake.  It 
is  made  in  the  form  of  a  Gaily,  either  for  rowing  or 
sailing;  is  capable  of  carrying  a  party  of  50  or  60 
soldiers  to  any  part  of  the  country  bordering  on  the 
said  Lake ;  and  will  be  of  great  use  for  transporting 
provisions  and  ammunition  from  Inverness  to  the  bar- 
rack of  Killyhuimen,  where  four  companies  of  foot  have 
been  quartered  since  the  beginning  of  last  October. 

"  I  presume  also  to  acquaint  Your  Majesty,  that 
parties  of  regular  troops  have  been  constantly  employed 
in  making  the  roads  of  communication  between  Killy- 
huimen and  Fort  William,  who  have  already  made  so 
good  a  progress  in  that  work,  that  I  hope,  before  the 
end  of  next  summer,  they  will  be  rendered  both  prac- 
ticable and  convenient  for  the  march  of  Your  Majesty's 
forces  between  those  garrisons,  and  facilitate  their  as- 
sembling in  one  body,  if  occasion  should  require. 

"  The  fortifications  and  additional  barracks,  which, 
by  Your  Majesty's  commands  were  to  be  erected  at 
Inverness  and  Killyhuimen,  are  the  only  part  of  Your 
Majesty's  Instructions  which  I  have  not  been  able  to 
put  in  execution.  There  were  no  persons  in  that  part 
of  the  Highlands  of  sufficient  credit  or  knowledge  to 
contract  for  a  work  of  so  extensive  a  nature.  The 
stone  must  be  cut  out  of  the  quarries ;  nor  could  the 
timber  be  provided  sooner  than  by  sending  to  Norway 


312  APPENDIX. 

to  purchase  it;  and,  although  the  materials  had  been 
ready  and  at  hand,  the  excessive  rains,  that  fell  during 
the  whole  summer  season,  must  have  rendered  it  im- 
possible to  have  carried  on  the  work.  T  have,  how- 
ever, contracted  for  the  necessary  repairs  of  the  old 
Castle  at  Inverness,  which  I  am  promised  will  be 
finished  before  next  Winter. 

"  I  humbly  beg  leave  to  observe  to  Your  Majesty, 
that  nothing  has  contributed  more  to  the  success  of  my 
endeavours  in  disarming  the  Highlands,  and  in  re- 
ducing the  vassals  of  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth  to  Your 
Obedience,  than  the  pewer  Your  Majesty  was  pleased 
to  grant  me  of  receiving  the  submissions  of  persons; 
attainted  of  High  Treason.  They  were  dispersed  in 
different  part  of  the  Highlands,  without  the  least  ap- 
prehension of  being  betrayed  or  molested  by  their 
countrymen,  and,  for  their  safety  and  protection,  must 
have  contributed  all  they  were  able  to  encourage  the 
use  of  arms,  and  to  infect  the  minds  of  those  people  on 
whose  protection  they  depended.  In  this  situation, 
they  were  proper  instruments,  and  always  ready  to  be 
employed  in  promoting  the  interest  of  the  Pretender, 
or  any  other  foreign  power  they  thought  capable  of 
contributing  to  a  change  in  that  Government  to  which 
they  had  forfeited  their  lives,  and  from  whom  they  exr 
pected  no  favour.  The  greatest  part  of  them  were 
drawn  into  the  rebellion  at  the  instigation  of  their 
Superiors,  end,  in  my  humble  opinion,  have  continued 
their  diaffection,  rather  from  despair  than  any  real  dis- 
like to  Your  Majesty's  Government;  for  it  was  no 
sooner  known,  that  Your  Majesty  had  empowered  me 
to  receive  the  Submissions  of  those  who  repented  of 
their  crimes,  and  were  willing  and  desirous  for  the 


APPENDIX.  313 

future  to  live  peaceably  under  Your  mild  and  moderate 
government,  but  applications  were  to  me  from  seve- 
ral of  them  to  intercede  with  Yotir  Majesty  on  therf 
behalf  declaring  their  readiness  to  abandon  the  Pre- 
tender's party,  and  to  pay  a  dutiful  obedience  to  Your 
Majesty ;  to  which  I  answered,  that  I  should  be  ready 
to  intercede  in  their  favour,  when  I  was  farther  con- 
vinced of  the  sincerity  of  their  promises  ;  that  it  would 
soon  come  to  their  turn  to  be  summoned  to  bring  in 
their  arms ;  and,  when  they  had  paid  that  first  mark  of 
their  obedience,  by  peaceably  surrendering  them,  I 
should  thereby  be  better  justified  in  receiving  their 
submissions,  and  in  recommending  them  to  Your 
Majesty's  mercy  and  clemency. 

"  As  soon  as  their  respective  clans  had  delivered  up 
their  arms,  several  of  these  attainted  persons  came  to 
me  at  different  times  and  places  to  render  their  sub- 
missions to  Your  Majesty.  They  laid  down  their 
swords  on  the  ground,  expressed  their  sorrow  and  con- 
cern for  having  made  use  of  them  in  opposition  to  Your 
Majesty;  and  promised  a  peaceful  and  dutiful  obe- 
dience for  the  remaining  part  of  their  lives.  They 
afterwards  sent  me  their  several  letters  of  submission, 
copies  of  which  I  transmitted  to  Your  Majesty's  Prin- 
cipal Secretary  of  State. 

"  I  made  use  of  the  proper  arguments  to  convince 
them  of  their  past  folly  and  rashness,  and  gave  them 
hopes  of  obtaining  pardon  from  Your  Majesty's  gra- 
cious and  merciful  disposition ;  but,  being  a  stranger 
both  to  their  persons  and  character,  I  required  they 
would  procure  Gentlemen  of  unquestioned  zeal  to 
Your  Majesty's  Government,  who  would  write  to  me  in 


314  APPENDIX. 

their  favour,  and  in  some  measure  be  answerable  for 
their  future  conduct which  was  accordingly  done. 

"  When  the  news  came  that  Your  Majesty  was  gra- 
ciously pleased  to  accept  their  submission,  and  had 
given  the  proper  orders  for  preparing  their  pardons,  it 
was  received  with  great  joy  and  satisfaction  throughout 
the  Highlands,  which  occasioned  the  Jacobites  at 
Edinburgh  to  say,  (by  way  of  reproach),  that  I  had  not 
only  defrauded  the  Highlanders  of  their  arms,  but  had 
also  debauched  them  from  their  loyalty  and  allegiance. 

"  I  humbly  beg  leave  to  assure  Your  Majesty,  that  in 
the  execution  of  these  Your  commands,  I  have  acted 
with  the  utmost  application,  diligence  and  frugality. 
The  extraordinary  expence  of  encamping  the  Troops, 
carriage  of  arms,  ammunition  and  provisions,  building 
the  vessel  on  the  Lake  Ness,  carrying  on  the  road  of 
communication,  sending  148  summonses  to  the  several 
parishes  and  county  towns,  gratuities,  intelligence,  and 
other  contingent  charges,  expended  this  year,  does  not 
exceed  in  the  whole  the  sum  of  20001.  But  as  the 
Highlanders  are  a  people  subject  to  change,  and  return 
to  their  former  practices,  a  further  expence  will  be  re- 
quisite to  retain  them  in  their  duty  and  obedience. 

"  That  a  Barrack  for  five  companies  of  foot  be  built 
at  Inverness  on  the  ground  where  the  old  Castle  now 
stands,  with  convenient  lodgings  for  the  Governour  and 
other  officers ;  and  that  the  fortifications  there  be  put 
in  a  posture  of  defence. 

"  That  a  Fort  be  erected  at  Killyhuimen,  near  the 
End  of  the  Lake  Ness,  and  a  Barrack  built  there  for 
quartering  four  companies,  with  a  line  of  communica- 
tion extending  to  the  Old  Barrack,  which  is  able  to 


APPENDIX.  315 

contain  six  companies  more,  and,  if  it  is  His  Majesty's 
pleasure,  that  the  officer  commanding  the  troops  in  the 
Highlands  should  reside  there  as  Governour,  A  house 
must  be  built  for  his  quarters,  as  also  a  store-room, 
capable  of  holding  provisions  for  a  regiment  of  foott 
and  a  prison  for  securing  malefactors,  or  persons  found 
in  possession  of  arms,  in  contempt  of  the  Act  of  Par- 
liament. 

"  That  small  Towers  of  stone  work,  such  as  are 
usually  built  in  the  middle  of  a  redoubt,  be  erected  at 
each  end  of  the  Lake  Lochie,  capable  of  quartering  an 
officer  and  twenty  soldiers,  and  a  small  boat  for  trans- 
porting provisions  or  ammunition  by  way  of  the  Lake. 

**  That  a  Tower  of  the  same  kind  be  built  at  each  end 
of  the  Lake  Ness  ;  andjhat  a  Kay  or  Harbour  be  built 
at  each  end  of  the  Lake,  for  the  security  of  the  High- 
land Galley. 

"  That  a  salary  be  provided  for  the  subsistance  of  a 
Master  and  two  sailors  to  serve  on  board  the  said 
vessel. 

"  That  a  sum  be  provided  annually  for  making  the 
roads  of  communication ;  and  a  salary  for  the  person 
employed  as  Inspector  for  carrying  on  so  necessary  a 
work. 

"  When  these  works  are  finished,  if  it  is  His  Ma- 
jesty's pleasure  to  create  a  Governor  at  Killyhuimen, 
the  garrisons  of  Fort  William  and  Inverness  might  be 
commanded  by  deputy  Governors  subject  to  his  orders. 

"  For  the  better  quartering  of  His  Majesty's  Infantry 
in  the  Low  Country  of  Scotland,  as  well  as  to  secure 
them  against  the  Insults  of  the  Populace  in  times  of  a 
general  dissatisfaction,  (as  happened  the  last  year,  on 
occasion  of  the  malt  duty),  I  presume  humbly  to  pro- 


316  APPENDIX. 

pose,  that  Barracks  be  provided  for  such  companies 
who  may  be  quartered  in  large  and  populous  towns,  for 
example,  the  Regiment  whose  station  is  in  the  S.  West 
part  of  Scotland,  may  have  their  head  quarters  at  Glas- 
gow, in  a  Barrack  capable  of  containing  five  compa- 
nies; and  the  other  five  may  be  sent  severally  to  Air, 
Irwin,  Hammiltoun,  Dunbarton,  or  any  other  adjacent 
towns,  for  the  protection  and  support  of  the  officers  of 
His  Majesty's  Revenue ;  and  may  be  able  in  a  short 
time,  as  occasion  shall  require,  to  join  the  regiment  at 
the  Head-quarters.  The  same  thing  may  be  done  at 
Edinburgh,  Perth,  and  Dundee.  This  will  secure  them 
against  the  danger,  (which  tho'  very  unlikely  to  happen, 
may  probably  succeed  if  attemptedX  viz.  That  if  the 
matter  is  concerted,  his  Majesty's  troops,  when  scatter- 
ed in  separate  quarters,  are  in  the  power  of  the  People, 
and  liable,  in  times  of  universal  discontent,  to  be  all 
disarmed  by  the  inhabitants  in  one  night's  time. 

"  It  is  likewise  absolutely  necessary  that  a  Frigate, 
or  Sloop  of  some  force,  should  be  ordered  to  cruize  on 
the  North  West  coast,  to  prevent  as  much  as  possible, 
the  correspondence  that  has  been  for  many  years  past 
carried  on  between  the  emissaries  of  the  Pretender  and 
the  Highlanders  ;  to  get  intelligence  of  any  Russian  or 
other  foreign  ships  that  may  appear  on  the  coast,  or 
take  harbour  in  the  Islands;  and  to  procure  informa- 
tion of  arms  or  ammunition  that  may  be  brought  thither 
from  foreign  parts,  to  be  employed  against  the  Govern- 
ment. 

"  All  which  is  most  humbly  represented  and  sub- 
mitted to  Your  Majesty's  Royal  Consideration. 

(Signed)  "GEORGE  WADE.' 

"London,  31  January,  1725." 


APPENDIX.  317 

"  Instructions  to  the  Officers  commanding  the  High- 
land Companies. 

"  George  Wade  Esquire,  Major  General  and  Com- 
mander in  Chief  of  all  His  Majesty's  forces, 
castles,  forts  and  barracks  in  North  Britain, 
&c. 

"  His  Majesty  having  been  graciously  pleased  to  take 
into  his  Royal  Consideration  the  sufferings  of  his  good 
subjects  inhabiting  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  and 
countries  bordering  thereon,  and  to  grant  them  pro- 
tection from  the  too  frequent  oppressions  of  outlaws 
and  robberies,  who,  by  carrying  arms  contrary  to  Law, 
are  enabled  to  commit  robberies  and  depredations,  to 
raise  illegal  exactions,  on  his  people,  and  to  disturb 
the  peace  and  quiet  of  the  country ; — to  put  a  stop  to 
such  disorders  for  the  future,  His  Majesty  has  thought 
fit  to  cause  Companies  of  Highlanders  to  be  established 
for  the  safety  and  protection  of  his  peaceable  and  faith- 
ful subjects  ;  and  as  he  has  been  pleased  to  give  you  the 
command  of  one  of  the  said  Companies,  you  are  care- 
fully to  observe  and  follow  the  Orders  and  Directions 
hereunder  mentioned : 

1st. 

"  You  are  to  march  the  Company  under  your  com- 
mand from  the  camp  at  Inverness,  and  take  under  your 
protection  all  the  country  to  the  North  of  Loehaber 
and  the  Lake  Ness,  taking  care  to  guard  the  passes  of 
of  Strathlony,  Gleniffen,  Gusichan,  Vlenstrath,  Farrar, 
and  the  Brays  of  Urquhart,  and  also  the  Brays  of 


318  APPENDIX. 

Stratherick  and  Strathnairn,  on  the  south  of  Inverness  fr- 
aud you  are  to  keep  a  correspondence  with  any  other 
of  the  Highland  Companies  nearest  to  your  districts, 
in  order  to  assist  each  other  as  occasion  may  require. 

2dly. 

"  You  are  from  time  to  time  to  send  parties  to  such 
places  within  your  District,  as  may  secure  that  part  of 
the  country  which  you  shall  judge  to  be  most  exposed; 
and  in  this  you  are  to  act  impartially,  and  equally  to 
give  assistance  and  protection  to  all  His  Majesty's 
good  and  faithful  subjects,  without  regard  to  private 
animosities  or  party  quarrels. 

3d1y. 

"  You  are  to  use  your  endeavour  to  procure  the 
earliest  information  of  all  robberies  and  depredations 
that  may  be  committed  within  the  District  above-men- 
tioned ;  to  cause  the  cattle  or  other  effects  you  can  re- 
cover to  be  returned  to  their  proper  owners,  and  to 
seize  the  Criminals  in  order  to  their  being  prosecuted 
according  to  Law. 

4thly. 

"  You  are  to  be  careful  in  procuring  informations 
of  the  names,  haunts,  and  retreats  of  all  robbers,  out- 
laws, and  any  who  have  been  accustomed  to  commit 
depredations  in  the  Countries  or  Districts  committed 
to  your  care,  whom  you  are  to  pursue  and  endeavour 
to  seize,  and  cause  them  to  be  brought  before  one  of 
his  Majesty's  Justices  of  the  Peace,  in  order  to  their 
commitment  and  prosecution 


APPENDIX.  319 

» 

Sthly. 

"  You  are  to  endeavour  to  get  information  of  any 
arms  or  warlike  weapons  that  may  have  been  concealed 
by  any  persons  belonging  to  the  Clans  who  have  been 
summoned  to  deliver  up  their  arms  according  to  Law ; 
and  if  any  person  or  persons  shall  be  found  carrying 
arms  who  are  not  qualified^  or  authorized  by  licence  to 
keep  such  arms  in  their  possession ;  you  are  to  proceed 
against  such  person  or  persons  in  the  manner  prescribed 
by  the  Act  of  Parliament  in  thai  behalf  of  the  llth 
year  of  His  Majesty's  reign,  taking  care  to  avoid  par- 
tiality or  acting  with  too  much  rigour  and  severity  ; 
that  way  of  proceeding  being  most  conformable  to  His 
Majesty's  gracious  intentions. 

6thly. 

"  You  are  to  endeavour  to  detect  all  popish  priests 
who  may  have  been  sent  from  foreign  parts,  or  others 
who  are  employed  to  infect  the  minds  of  the  people  with 
the  pernicious  principles  of  Popery  and  Disaffection, 
or  to  seduce  His  Majesty's  subjects  from  their  alle- 
giance ;  and,  when  you  have  found  any  such  danger- 
ous persons,  you  are  to  cause  them  to  be  brought  be- 
fore one  of  His  Majesty's  Justices  of  the  Peace,  in 
order  to  their  being  prosecuted  as  the  Law  directs. 

7thly. 

"  You  are  to  give  strict  orders  to  the  officers  and  sol- 
diers belonging  to  your  company  to  seize  and  appre- 
hend all  deserters  from  any  of  the  Regiments  quartered 
in  or  near  the  Highlands,  or  whom  they  have  just 
reason  to  suspect  to  have  deserted  His  Majesty's  ser- 


320  APPENDIX. 

vice ;  and  the  officer  commanding  such  Regiment  or 
Company  from  whom  such  soldier  or  soldiers  did 
desert,  is  hereby  required  on  delivery  of  such  deserter 
or  deserters,  to  give  two  guineas  per  man  as  a  gratuity 
for  their  trouble  and  charge. 

Sthly. 

"  You  are  to  take  no  soldiers  into  your  Company 
who  are  known  to  have  been  guilty  of  notorious  Crimes, 
or  are  suspected  of  disaffection  to  His  Majesty's  Go- 
vernment. 

9thly. 

"  You  are  to  keep  your  company  compleat,  to  pre- 
serve good  order  and  discipline,  to  make  regular  pay- 
ments to  the  non-commissioned  officers  and  soldiers, 
as  the  Act  of  Parliament  directs ;  and  you  are  to  pro- 
vide them  with  such  clothing,  and  at  such  times,  as  is 
mentioned  in  my  former  orders  of  the  15th  of  May, 
1725. 

lOthly. 

"  You  are  to  send  lists  of  the  Company  every  four 
months  to  the  officer  commanding  the  troops  quartered 
in  the  Highlands,  viz.  on  the  first  of  January,  the  first 
of  May,  and  the  first  of  September,  the  Number  of 
their  Badges  to  be  put  before  each  man's  name  ;  and, 
when  you  have  cause  to  change  any  of  your  Men,  or 
to  fill  up  vacancies,  you  are  to  give  the  badge  to  the 
man  who  succeeds,  and  remark  on  the  back  of  the 
List  the  changes  that  have  been  made  in  your  com* 
pany  since  the  date  of  the  preceding  return,  with  the 
reason  of  such  alteration* 


APPENDIX.  321 

llthly. 

"  Yon  are  to  cause  your  men  punctually  to  pay  their 
quarters,  and  use  your  best  endeavours  to  prevent  their 
committing  disorders,  and  injuring  or  insulting1  the 
people  of  the  country ;  and  to  be  particularly  careful 
in  assisting  such  Who  have  peaceably  delivered  up  their 
arms,  and  are  thereby  intitled  to  protection. 

12thly. 

te  You  are  strictly  to  observe  these,  as  well  as  my 
former  orders  of  the  1 5th  of  May  last ;  and  also  all  such 
orders  and  directions  as  you  shall  from  time  to  time  re- 
ceive from  the  officer  commanding  the  troops  in  the 
Highlands,  or  from  the  Governors  of  Inverness  or 
Fort- William. 

"  And  all  Magistrates,  Justices  of  the  Peace,  Con- 
stables, and  others  whom  they  may  concern,  are  hereby 
required  to  be  aiding  and  assisting  in  providing  quar- 
ters, pressing  of  carriages,  and  otherwise,  as  there 
shall  be  occasion. 

"  Given  in  the  Camp  at  Inverness,  this  22d  of  Sept. 
1725. 

(Signed)        '<  GEORGE  WADE." 
"  To  the  Right  Hon.  the  Lord  Lovat, 
or    the    Officer    commanding   his 
Company  of  Highlanders." 

The  Officers  commanding  the  rest  of  the  Highland 
Companies  have  the  same  instructions,  excepting  that 
the  names  of  their  different  posts  and  stations  are 
therein  specified. 

VOL.  II.  Y 


322  APPENDIX. 

The  Form  of  a  Summons,  as  affixed  to  the  several 
Parish  Churches  and  Head- Boroughs. 

[The  uutler-writtea  was  sent  to  the  Estate  of  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth.] 

"To  all  and  every  the  €lans  of  the  M'Kenzies, 
M'Ras,  Murchiessons,  M'Lays,  M'Lemians,  Ma- 
thewsons,  M'Aulays,  Morrisons,  M'Leods,  and  all 
other  Clans  and  persons  liable  by  Act  of  Parliament  to 
be  disarmed  within  the  limits  of  that  part  of  the  Estate 
formerly  belonging-  to  the  late  Earl  of  Seaforth,  in  the 
parishes  of  Dingwell,  Urquhart,  Collyrndden,  Rose- 
mark}%  Avoch,  Suddy,  Kilmure  Wester,  Killurnon, 
Luggy  Wester,  Urray,  Contan,  Totterery,  Kintail, 
Loch  Caron,  Garloch,  Loch  Breynr  and  Assint,  and  to 
all  other  persons  inhabiting  or  being  within  the  parishes, 
lands,  limits,  and  boundings  above-mentioned  : 

"  By  GEORGE  WADE,  Esq.  &c» 

.-£(5f  In  His  Majesty's  Name,  and  in  pursuance  of  the 
power  and  authority  to  me  given  by  his  Majesty,  under 
his  Royal  Sign  Manual,  by  virtue  of  an  Act  of  Par- 
liament intitled  '  An  Act  for  more  effectually  disarming 
the  Highlanders  in  that  part  of  Great  Britain  called 
Scotland,  and  for  the  better  securing  the  peace  and 
quiet  of  that  part  of  the  Kingdom,'  I  do  hereby  strictly 
require  and  command  you  and  every  of  you,  on  (or 
before)  Saturday  the  28th  day  of  August,  to  bring  or 
send  to  the  Castle  of  Brahan  all  your  Broad  Swords, 
Targets,  Poynards,  Whingars,  or  Durks,  Side-pistol, 
or  Pistols,  Guns,  or  any  other  warlike  weapons,  and 
then  and  there  to  deliver  up  to  me  or  the  officer  com- 
manding at  the  said  castle  of  Brahan,  as  is  above- 
mentioned,  ajl  and  singular  your  arms  and  warlike 

•  .11  .JO  7 


APPENDIX,  323 

Weapons,  for  the  use  of  His  Majesty,  bis  heirs  and 
successors,  and  to  be  disposed  of  in  such  manner  aa 
His  Majesty,  his  heirs  and  successors  shall  appoint ; 
and  by  so  doing,  you  will  avoid  the  pains  and  penal- 
ties by  the  said  act  directed  to  be  inflicted  on  all  per- 
sons who  shall  presume  to  refuse,  or  neglect  to  pay  a 
due  obedience  to  the  same. 

"  Given  under  my  hand   and  seal,  at  Inverness, 
this  16th  day  of  August,  1725. 

(Signed)  "  GEORGE  WADE." 


The  Form  of  a   Licence  for  carrying  Arms,  by 

G.  WADE,  Esq.  $c. 

"  In  virtue  of  the  power  and  authority  to  me  given 
by  His  Majesty,  I  do  hereby  permit  and  authorize  you 
[A.  B.]  Drover,  or  Dealer  in  Cattle,  or  other  Merchan- 
dize, to  keep  wear  and  carry  with  you,  upon  any  your 
lawful  occasions,  from  the  date  hereof,  to  the  first  o'f 
August,  1737,  the  following  weapons:  viz.  a  gun, 
sword,  and  pistol ;  ye  behaving  in  all  that  time  as 
a  faithful  subject  of  his  Majesty,  and  carrying  your- 
self peaceably  and  quietly  towards  the  people  of  the 
country.  Dated  at  Inverness,  18  August,  1725. 

(Signed)  «  GEORGE  WADE." 


Letters  of  Submission  to  his  Majesty,  from  Persons 
attainted  of  High  Treason,  directed  to  Major- 
General  Wade. 

From  Mr.  Alexander  M'Kenzie  of  Datchmaluach. 
"  SIR, 

"  Partly  from  my  own  inclination  at  that  time,,  as 
well  as  by  the  attachment  I  had  to  my  Superior,  I  was 
unfortunately  engaged  in  the  late  unnatural  rebellion, 
for  which  I  now  stand  attainted,  and  my  estate  some 

Y  2 


324  APPENDIX. 

time  ago  confiscated,  and  sold,  according  to  Lav, 
having  nothing  left  but  my  life :  and  as  the  Clan  to 
which  I  belong  has  peaceably  delivered  up  their  arms, 
and,  I  hope,  will  become  as  faithful  subjects  to  His 
Majesty  King  George,  as  they  have  been  faithful  ser- 
vants to  their  late  master  Seaforth,  I  humbly  beg  you 
will  be  so  good  to  lay  this  my  submission  before  His 
Majesty,  and  assure  him  he  shall  not  have  a  more 
faithful  subject  in  all  his  dominions,  if  he  is  graciously 
pleased  to  pardon  me  for  what  is  past. — We  have  all 
sufficiently  seen  through  our  follies;  and  for  my  own 
part,  I  both  heartily  and  willingly  renounce  the  Pre- 
tender's interest. 

*"  Sir,  the  goodness  you  shew  to  all  mankind,  which 
certainly  is  the  best  method  can  be  taken  to  make 
Friends  for  so  good  a  prince  as  you  serve,  has  embolden- 
ed me  to  send  you  this,  and  rely  on  your  easy  censure 
for  begging  this  troublesome  favour  from  you,  and  as- 
suring you,  if  admitted  to  live  the  remaining  part  of  my 
days  in  peace  (which  cannot  be  many,  being  in  ad- 
vanced age),  that  I  will  not  only  be  a  faithful  subject 
to  His  Majesty  King  George,  but  also,  whilst  living, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  faithful 

"  and  obedient  Servant, 

"  ALEX.  M'KENZIE." 

"  Lochcarn, 

"31st  August,  1725." 


From  Mr.  George  M'Kenzie  of  Ballamukie. 
"  SIR, 

"  I  am  so  sensible  of  my  own  error  in  joining  in 
the  late  unnatural  Rebellion  against  our  gracious  Sove- 


APPENDIX.  325 

reign,  that  if  I  did  not  resolve  for  the  future  to  renounce 
such  bad  practices,  I  would  not  presume  to  address  one 
of  your  character  and  merit  to  intercede  for  me,  by 
laying  my  unhappy  state  before  His  Majesty,  in  hopes 
of  sharing  in  that  clemency  and  mercy  so  inherent  to 
him. — Sir,  I  own  there  is  none  less  worthy  of  it;  and 
that  the  Government  acted  very  justly  in  denying  me 
their  protection ;  but,  if  I  may  be  allowed  to  say  (not 
with  any  view  to  lessen  or  extenuate  my  fault)  that  I 
have  undergone  it  patiently,  and  lived  quietly,  tho' 
very  retired  from  the  world  all  this  time,  in  the  country, 
I  hope  it  will  plead  for  some  little  consideration;  and 
as  I  do  with  the  greatest  submission  and  sincerity  ac- 
knowledge my  guilt ;  so  I  pray  leave  to  beg  with  the 
greatest  earnestness,  and  in  the  most  humble  manner, 
that  you  will  be  pleased  to  believe  me  sincere  ;  and  that 
I  heartily  repent  my  behaviour  in  former  times  towards 
His  Majesty  King  George,  whose  gracious  clemency 
in  pardoning  my  life  (the  only  thing  I  have  to  plead 
for),  I  request  in  the  most  earnest  and  submissive  man- 
ner, and  I  do  faithfully  promise,  that  my  conduct  for 
the  future  shall  in  all  respects  be  as  a  loyal  and  dutiful 
subject  to  him,  and  to  you,  as  one  who  owns  himself 
by  the  greatest  ties  of  gratitude  to  be, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  obliged 

"  and  most  obedient 
"  humble  Servant, 

"  GEORGE  M'KENZIE." 
"  Strathpeffer, 
"  31st  August,  1725." 


326  APPENDIX, 

From  Mr.  Roderick  M'Kenzie  of  Fairburn. 

"  SIR, 

"  With  a  true  sense  of  my  past  miscarriages,  I 
pray  leave  to  address  myself  to  you,  and  to  request  your 
favour  towards  me  in  representing  my  unhappy  condi- 
tion to  His  Majesty.  You  know  very  well,  Sir,  by 
my  name,  that  I  have  the  misfortune  to  be  of  the 
number  of  those  persons  who  have  forfeited  their  pro- 
tection of  the  Government,  by  taking  up  arms  against 
the  best  of  Kings.  It  would  be  presumption  in  me, 
rather  than  a  submission,  to  attempt  the  lessening  my 
guilt,  unless  it  be  some  small  extenuation  of  my  crime, 
that  we  who  have  the  unhappiness  to  live  at  so  remote 
a  distance  from  the  Court,  are  most  liable  to  be  se- 
duced by  the  artifices  and  insinuations  of  designing 
men;  therefore  I  shall  pray  leave  to  beg  with  the 
greatest  earnestness,  that  you  would  believe  me  sincere 
in  this,  as  I  truly  am;  that  I  heartily  repent  of  my 
past  behaviour  towards  His  Majesty  King  George ; 
and  most  humbly  and  earnestly  request  to  pardon  my 
life ;  and  I  do  with  the  greatest  sincerity  promise  to 
devote  the  remainder  of  it  to  His  said  Majesty's  ser- 
vice, and  to  endeavour  to  approve  myself  to  the  utmost 
of  my  power,  as  long  as  I  live, 

"  Sir, 

**  Your  most  obliged 
"  and  most  obedient 

"  humble  Servant 

"  ROD:  M'KENZIE." 
"  Monar, 
"  30th  August,  1725." 


APPENDIX.  327 

From  Mr.  Roderick  Chisholm  of  Strathglass. 
"SIR, 

"  The  success  your  undertakings  have  always 
had,  has  been  owing  more  to  your  courteous  and  affable 
behaviour,  than  to  the  terror  of  arms  : — I  presume  to 
throw  myself   under  your  protection,    fully  confident 
that  so  much  goodness  cannot  decline  representing  my 
unhappy  case  to  the  best  of  Kings, — I  mean  Rebellion, 
which  I  now   detest ;    and,   Sir,  I  hope   that  my  re- 
pentance will  be  judged  the  more  solid,  that  I  am  now 
in  a  mature  age  ;  whereas  I   had  not  attained  to  the 
years  of  manhood,  when  unnaturally  I  allowed  myself 
to   be   led   to  bear  arms  against  His   Majesty  King 
George.     I  have  disposed  my  Clan  to  disarm,  and,  for 
myself  and  them,  I  promise  faithfully  henceforward  to 
behave   ourselves  as  becomes  dutiful  subjects   to  His 
Majesty  King  George,  begging  in  the  most  profound 
manner,  his  most  gracious  pardon,  for  my  life,  (my 
estate  having  been  sold),  which  I  dare    assure  myself 
of  from  former  instances  of  His  Majesty's  clemency  to 
those  of  equal  guilt  with  myself,    tho'   of  the  highest 
nature.     Pardon,  Sir,  this   trouble,  which  your  great 
and    universal  good  character  draws  upon  you ;  and 
alter  not  from  yourself  in  neglecting  the  distress  of 
one  who  is  proud  of  being, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  obliged 

"  and  most  obedient,  &c. 

«  ROD:  CHISHOLM." 
"  Strathglass, 
"30th  August,  1725." 


328  APPENDIX. 

From  Mr.  Robert  Stewart  of  Appin. 

"  SIR, 

"  The  repeated  accounts  1  have  had  froms  ome 
of  my  best  friends,  that  the  King  has  been  graciously 
pleased  to  entrust  you  with  powers  of  accepting  the 
Submissions  of  such  of  his  subjects  in  the  Highlands  as 
have  been  attainted  of  High  Treason,  in  consequence 
of  the  late  unnatural  Rebellion,  together  with  the  cha- 
racter you  so  justly  possess,  of  taking  pleasure  in  acts 
of  humanity  to  persons  in  distress,  oblige  and  encou* 
rage  me  to  acquaint  you  that  I  am  one  of  those  unlucky 
Gentlemen  who  stand  so  much  in  need  of  His  Majesty's 
clemency,  and  the  generous  good  offices  of  friends 
towards  sharing  in  it.  And  as  the  offer  of  mercy  now 
made  must  appear  to  every  body,  as  a  most  distinguish-^ 
ing  proof  of  His  Majesty's  Royal  compassion  for  re- 
claiming his  misled  subjects  ;  so  I  beg  leave  to  assure 
your  Excellency,  that  if  1  am  so  happy  as  by  any  means 
to  share  in  it,  I  shall,  from  a  dutiful  sense  of  so  much 
Royal  goodness,  ever  study  the  most  sincere  and 
grateful  acknowledgements.  I  know  not  whether  you 
will  demand  any  additional  security  for  my  peaceable 
and  dutiful  behaviour  in  time  coming  to  the  promise  I 
hereby  make ;  and  indeed  it  may  be  very  difficult  for 
one  in  my  situation  to  give  satisfaction  that  way ; — 
however,  if  His  Majesty's  most  gracious  intentions 
cannot  otherwise  take  effect,  and  that  Your  ExceK 
lency  will  not  upon  other  terms  be  prevailed  upon  to 
grant  protection  ;  I  hope  I  shall  be  able  to  satisfy  you 
even  in  that  point.  The  person  who  does  me  the  ho- 
npur  to  deliver  you  this  will  forward  your  commands 


APPENDIX.  329 

for  me ;  and  if  the  Submission  I  hereby  make  be  not 
in  such  terms  as  may  prove  acceptable,  I  beg  yon  will 
be  so  good  as  give  directions  in  what  manner  I  am  to 
make  it,  consistent  with  my  personal  liberty  ;  and  obe- 
dience shall  be  given  by, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  faithful,  &c. 

«  ROBERT  STEWART.'" 
"  27  August,  1725." 

From  Mr.  Alexander  M'Donald-f-  of  Glenco. 
"  SIR, 

"  Being  one  of  those  unfortunate  Gentlemen 
whom  the  folly  of  youth,  and  ignorance,  seduced  to  carry 
arms  in  the  late  unnatural  Rebellion  against  His  present 
Majesty  King  George ;  I  account  myself  happy  in 
having  the  opportunity  of  begging  your  Excellency's 

*  Stewart  of  Appin  did  not  take  the  field  in  1745  ;  but  the  clan,  who 
could  not  be  kept  at  home,  was  headed  by  Stewart  of  Ardsheill. 

t  The  following  Supplication  of  the  son  of  M'Doiiald  of  Glenco,  who 
escaped  the  massacre  of  his  family  and  kindred,  in  1692,  must  be  interest- 
ing, on  account  of  the  mention  made  of  what  took  place  after  that  horrible 
blood-bath,  which  must  ever  remain  an  indelible  blot  in  the  annals  of  our 
country.  It  was  presented  in  1695,  three  years  after  that  detestable 
transaction : 

•"  Supplication  of  John  Mac  Donald  of  Glencoe,  for  himself,  and  in 
name  of  Alexander  Mac  Donald  of  Achatriechatan,  and  the  poor 
remanent  that  is  left  of  that  family  : — 
"  Sheweth, 

"  That,  it  being  now  evident  to  the  conviction  of  the  nation  how  inhu- 
mainly,  als  weil  as  unchristianly,  the  deceist  Alexander  Macdonald  of 
Glencoe,  the  deceist  John  Macdonald  of  Achatriechatan,  and  too  many 
more  of  the  petitioner's  unfortunat  family  were  murdered  and  butchered  in 
February  1692,  against  the  laws  of  Nature  and  Nations,  the  laws  of  Hospi- 
tality, and  the  publick  faith,  by  a  band  of  men  quartered  amongst  them,  and 


330  APPENDIX. 

compassionate  intercession  for  my  life,  which  I  justly 
forfeit ;  and,  tho'  I  detest  my  former  behaviour,  and 
promise  henceforward  the  strictest  obedience  to  His 
Majesty  in  the  most  profound  and  sincere  manner ;  I 
plead  no  merit,  but  rely  wholely  on  His  Majesty's  most 
gracious  clemency,  which  so  oft  acquitted  others  equally 
guilty  with  myself.  Your  conduct,  Sir,  having  upon  all 
occasions  been  equally  acceptable  to  the  Sovereign, 
and  engaging  to  the  subjects,  I  cannot  mistrust  suc- 
cess when  you  take  my  cause  in  hand.  That  the  best 
of  Kings  may  pardon  a  subject  unworthy  of  his  Royal 
resentment,  is  the  huumble  petition  of, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  faithful,  &c. 

"  ALEX.  M'DONALD." 

pretending  peace,  tho'  they  perpetrated  the  grossest  crueltie  under  the 
colour  of  his  Majestie's  authority  ; — And  seing  the  evidence  taken  be  the 
right  honorahle  the  Lords  and  uther  members  of  the  commission,  which  his 
Majestic  was  most  graciouslie  pleased  to  grant  for  inquyreing  into  that  affair, 
hath  cleared  to  the  parliament,  that  after  committing  of  the  forsaid  massacre, 
the  poor  petitioners  were  most  rarenously  plundered  of  all  that  was  necessary 
fbr  the  sustentation  of  their  lives,  and  besydes,  all  ther  cloaths,  money, 
bouses  and  plenishing  (furniture),  all  burned,  destroyed  or  taken  away  -, 
that  the  souldieris  did  drive  no  fewer  than  five  hundred  horses,  fourtein  or 
fyfteiu  hundred  coues  and  many  more  sheep  and  goats  ;  and  that  it  is  a 
proper  occasion  for  his  Majestic  and  the  Estates  assembled  in  Parliament, 
to  give  a  full  vindication  of  there  justice,  and  freeing  the  publick  from  the 
kist  imputatoon  which  may  be  cast  thereon  by  forraigne  enemies  on  the 
account  of  so  unexampled  ane  action  ;  and  that  it  is  worthie  of  that  honour 
and  justice  which  his  Majestic  and  the  Estats  have  been  pleased  to  shew  to 
the  world,  with  relation  to  that  affair,  to  releive  the  necessity  of  the  poor 
petitioners,  and  to  save  them  and  their  exposed  widdous  and  orphans  from 
sterv.ing,  and  all  the  misery  of  the  extreamest  poverty,  to  which  they  are 
inevitably  lyable,  unless  his  Majestic  and  the  Estats  provide  them  a 
remedv  " 


APPENDIX.  331 

: 

From  Mr.  John  Grant,  Laird  of  Glenmorison. 
"  SIR, 

"  The  great  and  good  character  which  your  Ex- 
cellency has  justly  obtained  in  the  world,  makes  me  pre- 
sume to  throw  myself  into  your  arms,  humbly  begging 
a  share  of  that  goodness  towards  me  that  has  publickly 
appeared  in  your  temper,  and  in  all  your  actions,  since 
you  came  into  Scotland;  and  which  has  gained  more 
hearts  to  His  Majesty  of  those  who  were  deluded  into 
the  Rebellion,  than  all  the  force  of  arms  has  done  since 
the  King's  accession  to  the  Throne ;  as  none  of  those 
who  were  unhappily  engaged  in  that  unaccountable 
Rebellion  was  more  innocently  seduced  by  others  to  go 
into  it,  than  myself;  so  I  do  sincerely  assure  Your 
Excellency  that  no  man  is  more  sorry  for  his  foolish 
error  than  I  am:  and  if  His  Majesty  will  be  so  good  as 
to  give  me  his  gracious  pardon,  I  shall,  while  I  live, 
behave  myself  as  a  dutiful  and  grateful  subject  to  His 
Majesty  King  George,  and  his  Royal  Family.  I  do 
therefore  most  humbly  throw  myself  at  His  Majesty's 
feet  imploring  his  mercy ;  and  humbly  intreat  of  your 
Excellency  (who  seem  resolved  to  do  good  to  all  that 
will  serve  the  King  faithfully)  to  obtain  my  pardon  of 
His  Majesty ;  and  I  do  sincerely  promise  to  your  Ex- 
cellency, that  I  shall  pass  the  remainder  of  my  days  in 
peace  and  fidelity  towards  His  Majesty  and  the  Govern- 
ment. And  I  hope  there  are  Gentlemen  in  His  Ma- 
jesty's service  under  your  Excellency's  command,  who 
will  be  bail  for  my  peaceable  behaviour,  if  you  please 
to  desire  it.  I  humbly  ask  your  Excellency's  pardon 
for  this  trouble,  and  beg  the  honour  of  your  good  offices 
with  the  King  and  his  Ministers,  for  my  poor  distressed 


332  APPENDIX. 

person  and  family  ;  and  am  with  great  submission  and 
respect,  Honoured  Sir, 

"  Your  Excellencies  most  humble,  &c. 

"JO.  GRANT." 
"  Glenmorison, 
"24  Septr.  1725." 

,  - 

From  Mr.  John  M'Kinnon,  Laird  of  M'Kinnon. 


"  I  beg  leave  to  approach  your  Excellency  on 
this  occasion,  being  one  of  those  poor  unfortunate  Gen- 
tlemen who  was  in  arms  against  the  Government,  and  am 
now  desirous  to  have  my  peace.  I  must  own  to  your 
Excellency,  I  am  heartily  sorry  for  being  ever  engaged 
in  Rebellion  against  so  good  and  gracious  a  Prince  ; 
and  I  wish  for  nothing  now  more  than  an  opportunity 
to  repair  that  slip  by  a  constant  and  dutiful  behaviour 
towards  His  Majesty  and  the  Government  in  time 
coming;  therefore  humbly  desire  your  Excellency  would 
be  pleased  out  of  your  goodness  and  generosity  to  use 
your  interest  to  procure  my  pardon  ;  and,  on  the  word 
of  a  Gentleman,  I  shall  never  enter  into  any  measures 
that  may  give  offence  to  His  Majesty,  or  tend  in  the 
least  to  disquiet  the  Government  ;  and  as  I  am  resolved, 
as  far  as  I  know,  or  can  ever  learn,  to  act  the  part  of  a 
good  and  dutiful  Subject  to  his  Majesty;  so  I  shall  en- 
deavour in  a  particular  manner,  to  make  the  most 
obliging  returns  to  "your  Excellency,  which  the  favour 
of  getting  life  and  liberty  deserve,  and  my  capacity  can 
give,  while  I  am, 

"  Right  Hon. 

"  Your  Excellency's  most  faithful,  &c. 
«  26  Septr.  1725."  "  JO.  M'KINNON." 


APPENDIX.  333 

From  Mr.  John  M'Dougal  of  Lome. 
"SIR, 

"  Being  one  of  those  unhappy  persons  who  have 
for  want  of  knowing  better,  had  the  misfortune  to  be  led 
into  Rebellion,  against  His  Majesty  King  George, 
whose  goodness  and  clemency  had  long  before  this 
convinced  the  most  obstinate  of  their  mistake  as  well 
as  crime ;  and  having  the  opportunity  of  your  being  in 
the  country,  who  have  shewn  so  great  humanity  in  it; 
I  beg  leave  to  address  myself  to  you,  to  testify  my  re- 
pentance for  having  opposed  so  good  a  king ;  and  to 
promise,  as  I  sincerely  do,  to  direct  the  remainder  of 
my  life  to  His  Majesty's  service,  and  that  I  may  be  in 
a  capacity  to  shew  my  sincerity  in  the  country  where  I 
committed  the  crime,  I  humbly  pray  His  Majesty  will 
be  graciously  pleased  to  pardon  my  life  ;  and  my  words 
and  actions  for  the  future  shall  be  such  as  that  you  will 
have  no  reason  to  repent  of  the  good  office  done  to, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  most  obliged,  &c. 

"  JO.  M'DOUGAL/' 
"  15  Sept.  1725." 

From  Robert   Campbell,  alias  M'Gregor,  commonly 

calledHob  Roy. 
"SIR, 

"  The  great  humanity  with  which  you  have  con- 
stantly acted  in  the  discharge  of  the  trust  reposed  in  you, 
and  your  having  ever  made  use  of  the  great  powers  with 
which  you  are  vested,  as  the  means  of  doing  good  and 
charitable  offices,  to  such  as  ye  found  proper  objects  of 
compassion,  will,  I  hope,  excuse  my  importunity  in  en- 


334  APPENDIX. 

deavouring  to  approve  myself  not  absolutely  unworthy 
of  that  mercy  and  favour  your  Excellency  has  so  gene- 
rously procured  from  His  Majesty  for  others  in  my  un- 
fortunate circumstances.     I  am  very  sensible  nothing- 
can  be  alledged  sufficient  to  excuse  so  great  a  crime  as 
I  have  been  guilty  of,  that  of  Rebellion;  but  I  humbly 
beg  leave  to  lay  before  your  Excellency  some  particu-» 
lars  in  the  circumstances  of  my  guilt,  which  I  hope  will 
extenuate  it  in  some  measure.     It  was  my  misfortune, 
at  the  time  the  Rebellion  broke  out,  to  be  lyable  to 
legal  diligence  and  caption,  at  the  Duke  of  Montrose's 
instance,  for  debt  alledged  due  to  him.     To  avoid  being 
flung  into  prison,  as  I  must   certainly  have  been,  had  I 
followed   my  real  inclinations  in  joining   the   King's 
Troops  at  Stirling,  I  was  forced  to  take  party  with  the 
adherents  of  the  Pretender;  for,  the  country  being  all 
in  arms,  it  was  neither  safe,  nor  indeed  possible,  foi4  me 
to  stand  neuter.     I  should  not,  however,  plead  my  being 
forced  into  that  unnatural  Rebellion  against  His  Ma- 
jesty King  George,  if  I  could  not  at  the  same   time 
assure  your  Excellency,  that  I  not  only  avoided  acting 
offensively  against  his  Majesty's   forces  upon  all  occa- 
sions, but  on  the  contrary,  sent  his  Grace  the  Duke  of 
Argyle  all  the  intelligence  I  could  from  time  to  time,  of 
the  strength  and  situation  of  the  Rebels  ;  which  1  hope 
his  Grace  will  do  me  the  justice    to  acknowledge.* 

*  Tliis  whole  letter  is  a  great  curiosity  ;  but  it  would  have  bee_n  well  for 
Rob's  reputation  that  he  had  left  this  part  of  his  vindication  to  his  Grace  of 
Argyle.  All  the  dements  ascribed  to  him  by  his  enemies,  are  less  to  his  dis- 
credit, than  this  one  merit  which  he  assumes  to  himself.  Rob  had  all  his 
life  been  constrained  to  live  by  his  wits,  and  was  so  used  to  policy  and  strata- 
gem, that  he  could  do  nothing  without  them.  His  situation  in  1715  was  also 
peculiar.  He  was  opposed  to  his  patron  Argyle,  whom  he  liked  ill,  and  to 
Montrose,  whom  he  liked  still  worse;  and  he  followed  the  same  stiwidard 


APP&NDTX.  335 

As  to  the  debt  to  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  I  have  dis- 
charged it  to  the  utmost  farthing.  I  beg  your  Excel- 
lency would  be  pursuaded,  that,  had  it  been  in  ray 
power,  as  it  was  in  my  inclination,  I  should  always  have 
acted  for  the  service  of  His  Majesty  King  George  ;  and 
that  one  reason  of  my  begging  the  favour  of  yoiu  inter- 
cession with  His  Majesty  for  the  pardon  of  my  life  is, 
the  earnest  desire  1  have  to  employ  it  in  his  service, 
whose  goodness,  justice,  and  humanity  are  so  conspicu- 
ous to  all  mankind.  I  am,  with  all  duty  and  respect, 
"  Your  Excellency's  most,  &c. 

"  ROBERT  CAMPBELL." 


From    Mr.  James  Ogilvy,   commonly   called    Lord 

Ogilvy. 
"  SIR, 

"  Tho'  I  have  not  the  honour  to  be  personally  known 
to  your  Excellency,  yet,  having  got  a  favourable  character 
of  your  generosity,  and  inclination  to  mercy  ;  and  hear- 
ing you  have  instructions  from  His  Majesty,  concern- 
ing some  of  those  in  my  circumstances,  I  have  taken 
the  liberty  to  offer  you,  in  a  few  words,  a  just  repre- 
sentation of  my  case  and  resolutions,  hoping  you  will 
be  so  good  ,as  to  set  them  in  a  true  light  before  His 
Majesty  and  the  Go-vernment,  in  order  to  obtain  my 
• 

with  the  Men  of  Athol,  whose  chief  was  his  bitterest  enemy.  A  man  like 
Rob,  so  he*mmed  in  on  all  sides,  had  need  to  look  abort  him.  As  to  the 
cavse  in  which  he  took  arms; — it  was  to  decide  the  claims  of  the  rival 
Houses  of  Stewart  and  Hanover :  and  verily,  Rob  Roy  had  been  so  little 
obliged  to  the  one,  and  had  so  little  to  expect  from  the  other,  that  he 
might  well  have  said  with  Mercutio,  "  a  plague  of  bath  your  Houses!"  One 
cannot  help  smiling  at  the  naicete  with  which  he  speaks  of  it  as  a  thing  of 
course,' that  when  there  was  disturbance  in  the  country,  it  vas  not  to  be  ex- 
pected thaWie  should  remain  <jukt. 


336  APPENDIX. 

pardon.  Be  pleased,  then,  to  know,  that  at  the  age  of 
sixteen,  I  had  the  misfortune  to  be  misled  into  the  late 
Rebellion  by  the  insinuations  of  those  who  began  it,  and 
the  example  of  numbers  of  the  neighbourhood  where  I 
lived;  which  I  only  mention  to  shew  how  difficult  it  was 
for  one  of  little  experience  to  resist  so  strong  an  influ- 
ence as  that  of  almost  all  with  whom  I  had  any  relation. 
How  soon  I  could  form  just  notions  of  things,  I  have 
not  been  wanting  to  shew  my  hearty  sorrow  and  repent- 
ance for  my  former  folly,  by  an  early  application  to  his 
Majesty's  clemency,  which  I  have  long  implored  by  re- 
peated addresses  to  such  of  the  Ministry  as  either  I  or 
my  friends  could  have  access  to;  and  I  hope  many  of 
them,  after  examination,  do  think  my  case  may  deserve 
His  Majesty's  and  the  Government's  compassion.  As 
I  most  earnestly  desire  to  be  reconciled  to  the  King's 
favour,  if  His  Majesty,  out  of  his  bounty,  shall  be 
pleased  to  grant  me  pardon,  I  do  heartily  renounce  and 
abandon  the  Pretender's  party,  and  its  abettors,  and  do 
promise  henceforth  to  live  and  act  as  a  good  and  peace- 
able subject,  giving  all  manner  of  evidence  of  my  firm 
resolutions  of  adhering  to  my  allegiance  to  His  Majesty 
King  George ;  and  upon  inquiry  into  my  conduct,  ever 
since  I  went  out  of  my  country,  it  will  appear  I  have 
avoided  all  correspondence  with  the  enemies  of  the 
Government;  nor  did  I  ever  enter  into  any  of  their 
projects,  since  my  first  misfortune. 

"  Tho'  at  present  I  lye  under  the  just  sentence  and 
attainder  of  Parliament,  I  never  was  in  possession  of 
any  title  to  the  heritage  of  the  family  of  which  I  am 
descended,  my  father  having  conveyed  his  estate  to  a 
second  brother;  so  that  my  forfeiture  is  of  no  advantage 
to  the  Government.  But,  not  to  trouble  you  with  a 


APPENDIX.  337 

tedious  detail  of  the  particulars  of  my  case,  I  intreat 
you  may  be  pleased  to  inform  yourself  of  the  truth  of 
what  I  advance,  and  the  bearer  shall  communicate  to 
you  the  way  to  be  ascertained  of  it ;  so  that,  how  soon 
an  opportunity  shall  offer,  you  may  give  such  a  repre- 
sentation of  it  to  His  Majesty  and  the  Government,  as 
you  think  it  deserves;  and  I  hope,  by  my  future  be- 
haviour, to  testify  the  grateful  sense  I  shall  always  re- 
tain of  my  duty  and  obligations  to  His  Majesty  for  my 
restoration  to  his  gracious  protection;  and  shall  be 
proud  to  owe  my  all  to  the  success  of  your  friendly 
intercession  and  endeavours ;  for  I  am,  with  great 
truth, 

"  Sir, 
"  Your  Excellencies,  &c. 

"JAMES  OGILVY." 
"  Stirling, 
"23  Oct.  1725. 


VOL,  ii. 


No.  IV. 


EXTRACTS 

FROM 

11  An  Inquiry  into  the  Causes  which  facilitate  the 
Rise  and  Progress  of  Rebellions  and  Insurrections 
in  the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  ^c."  written  in 
1747. 

[From  a  MS.  in  the  possession  of  the  GARTMORE  FAMILY,  communicated 
by  WALTER  SCOTT,  ESQ  J 


INTRODUCTION. 

BY  the  HIGHLANDS  OF  SCOTLAND  are  understood,  not 
only  these  mountainous  grounds  which  run  from  both 
sides  of  Lochlomond,  in  Stirling  and  Dumbarton  shires, 
to  the  north  of  Sutherland  ;  but  likeways  the  Western 
Islands,  and  these  grounds  that  lye  upon  the  heads  of 
Angus,  Mearns,  and  Aberdeen  shires,  and  fall  in,  upon 
the  westward,  with  that  other  tract  of  land.  The 
country  is  exceedingly  mountainous,  but  full  of  salt 
water  loches  upon  the  coasts,  and  of  fresh  water  ones 
in  the  heart  of  the  country.  Upon  the  coast,  the  sides 
of  these  loches,  and  of  the  rivulets  that  run  through  the 
valleys,  and  which  separate  the  mountains,  there  are 
great  quantities  of  arrable  land,  cappable  by  right  cul- 
ture to  produce  most  grains.  It  is  in  these  valleys  and 


APPENDIX. 

dens  that  the  people  live  in  little  hutts,  and  the  exten- 
sive moors  and  mountains  about  them  afford  pasture  for 
vast  quantitys  of  cattle.  In  most  places  of  the  coun- 
try there  are  woods  of  oak,  birtch,  firr,  and  a  great 
deal  of  brush  and  long  heath.  There  is  no  easie  com- 
munication from  one  place  to  another,  by  reason  of  the 
ruggedness  of  the  ground,  excepting  by  the  sides  of 
these  rivulets  and  lochs,  which  are  situate  in  valleys 
that  run  from  different  parts  of  the  Low  countrys  for  a 
long  way  in  through  the  mountains  ;  so  that  most  of 
these  valleys  are  in  a  manner  shut  up  from  one  another, 
and  the  rest  of  the  world,  except  by  passages  which 
are  commonly  both  narrow  and  difficult.  The  whole 
is  very  improveable,  and  capable  of  employing  great 
numbers  of  the  people  in  the  ways  of  agriculture, 
breeding  of  cattle,  fisherys,  and  manufactures  of  differ-' 
ent  kinds.  It  consists  of  about  230  paroches,  if  we" 
include  the  Orkneys  ;  and  the  number  of  souls  residing 
within  these  limits  will  amount  to  230,000. 

The  commonalty  are  of  a  smaller  size  than  the  peo- 
ple of  the  low  country ;  and,  as  they  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  any  hard  labour,  and  are  in  the  constant 
nse  of  hunting,  fowling,  and  following  their  cattle 
through  the  mountains,  they  are  of  wonderfull  agility 
of  body,  and  capable  to  travel  with  ease  at  a  great 
rate.  Their  dwellings  and  dress  expose  them  so  much  to 
the  weather,  that  by  custom  they  can  bear  the  severities 
of  it  without  prejudice.  Their  diet  is  neither  delicate 
noroppulent;  nay,  they'll  feast  upon  a  meal  that  would 
starve  most  other  people.  In  some  places,  they  are 
so  extremely  poor,  that  they  frequently  let  blood  of 
their  cattle,  through  the  summer,  to  supply  their  want 
of  bread*  These  lowest  sort  of  people  are  very  ig- 


340  APPENDIX. 

norant;  and,  by  whatever  name  they  distinguish  their 
religion,  their  state  principles  make  a  considerable 
part  of  it,  and  enthusiasm  is  the  principal  ingredient  in 
both.  They  know  no  more  of  the  improvements  in 
common  life  than  the  breeding  of  cattle,  the  making  of 
hay,  butter,  and  cheese.  Notwithstanding  of  this, 
they  are  masters  of  a  wonderful  sagacity  and  cunning, 
and.  which  is  scarcely  to  be  found  in  any  other  com- 
mon sort  of  people.  But  as  the  estate  of  every  con- 
siderable heritor  there  is  look't  upon  as  a  kind  of  prin- 
cipality ;  so  hence  arise  so  many  separate  interests  ;  and 
from  thence,  jealousies,  feuds,  depredations,  and  thefts  ; 
all  which  affect  the  common  sort,  and  in  so  far  open  their 
understandings,  and  sharpen  their  judgements.  The 
tacksmen,  or  good-men,  -as  well  as  the  gentry,  are  gene- 
rally larger  bodied  men  than  the  inferior  sort.  These 
are  a  kind  of  ministry  to  the  first,  and  patrons  or 
councillors  to  the  last ;  and,  as  they  squeeze  from  the 
one  by  address,  and  from  the  other  by  a  kind  of  friendly 
oppression,  so  their  private  interest  requires  a  delicate 
management  in  relation  to  both.  Constant  experience 
in  these  circumstances,  gives  them  judiciousness  and 
subtilty,  much  above  what  could  be  expected  from  any 
in  their  situation.  The  whole  of  the  people  are  capa- 
ble of  any  improvement ;  and  "  to  deny  them  courage 
and  valour,  would  be  doing  them  great  injustice ;  for 
in  that  they  are  inferior  to  none,  and  few  equaH  them." 
Gentlemen  of  estates,  and  the  better  sort,  who  have 
had  the  advantages  of  education,  make  as  good  a 
figure  in  their  station  of  life,  as  any  other  people  who 
move  in  the  same  sphere  ;  only  they  affect  a  statelyness 
much  above  their  rank  in  the  world,  and  much  above 
what  their  small  estates  can  alfoord.  The  great,  nay 


APPENDIX.  341 

•absolute,  submission  paid  them  by  their  dependents, 
the  want  of  the  frequent  society  of  people,  either  of  a 
superior  or  equall  quality  to  themselves,  and  their  re- 
moteness from  places  where  the  authority  and  strength 
of  the  civil  government  is  vigorously  preserved,  by  its 
various  subordinate  powers,  may  occasion  some  singu- 
larities. 

The  property  of  these  Highlands  belongs  to  a  great 
many  different  persons,  who  are  more  or  less  consider- 
able in  proportion  to  the  extent  of  their  estates,  and 
to  the  command  of  men  that  live  upon  them,  or  follow 
them  on  account  of  their  clanship,  out  of  the  estates  of 
others.  These  lands  are  set  by  the  landlord  during 
pleasure,  or  a  short  tack,  to  people  whom  they  call 
good-men,  and  who  are  of  a  superiour  station  to  the 
commonality.  These  are  generally  the  sons,  brothers, 
cousins,  or  nearest  relations  of  the  landlord.  The 
younger  sons  of  famillys  are  not  bred  to  any  business 
or  employments,  but  are  sent  to  the  French  or  Spanish 
armies,  or  marry  as  soon  as  they  are  of  age.  Those  are 
left  to  their  own  good  fortune  and  conduct  abroad,  and 
these  are  preferred  to  some  advantageous  farm  at  home. 
This,  by  the  means  of  a  small  portion,  and  the  libera- 
lity of  their  relations,  they  are  able  to  stock,  and  which 
they,  their  children,  and  grandchildren,  possess  at  an 
easy  rent,  till  a  nearer  descendant  be  again  preferred 
to  it.  As  the  propinquity  removes,  they  become  less 
considered,  till  at  last  they  degenerate  to  be  of  the 
common  people  ;  unless  some  accidental  acquisition  of 
wealth  supports  them  above  their  station.  As  this  hath 
been  an  ancient  custom,  most  of  the  farmers  and  cot- 
tars are  of  the  name  and  clan  of  the  proprietor ;  and, 
if  they  are  not  really  so,  the  proprietor  either  obliges 


342  APPENDIX. 

them  to  assume  it,  or  they  are  glaid  to  do  so,  to  pro- 
pure  his  protection  and  favour. 

Some  of  these  tacksmen  or  good-men  possess  these 
farms  themselves  ;  but  in  that  case  they  keep  in  them  a 
great  number  of  cottars,  to  each  of  whom  they  give  a 
house,  grass  for  a  cow  or  two,  and  as  much  ground  as 
will  sow  about  a  boll  of  oats,  in  places  which  their 
own  plough  cannot  labour,  by  reason  of  brush  or  rock, 
and  which  they  are  obliged  in  many  places  to  delve 
with  spades.  This  is  the  only  visible  subject  which 
Jhese  poor  people  possess  for  supporting  themselves 
and  their  famillys,  and  the  only  wages  of  their  whole 
labour  and  service. 

Others  of  them  lett  out  parts  of  their  farms  to  many 
of  these  cottars  or  subtennants  ;  and  as  they  are  gene- 
rally poor,  and  not  allways  in  a  capacity  to  stock  these 
small  tenements,  the  tacksmen  frequently  enter  them 
on  the  ground  laboured  and  sown,  and  sometimes  too 
stocks  it  with  cattle  ;  all  which  he  is  obliged  to  re-de- 
liver in  the  same  condition  at  his  removal,  Avhich  is  at 
the  goodman's  pleasure,  as  he  is  usually  himself  ten- 
nent  at  pleasure,  and  for  which  during  his  possession 
b.e  pays  an  extravagantly  high  rent  to  the  tacksman.* 

By  this  practice,  farms,  which  one  family  and  four 

*  "  From  these  circumstances,  the  first  (landlords)  do  naturally  affect 
ptate,  and  get  an  itch  to  independency  ;  the  second  (tacksmen,  or  goodmen) 
do  acquire  a  habit  of  chicanery  in  the  transactions  of  common  life,  and  a 
plausible  address  to  collour  them  ;  and  the  common  people  are  abandoned 
to  all  licentiousness.  These  manners  are  destructive  to  Society ;  laws  are 
necessary  to  reform  them ;  and  government  to  execute  these  laws.  But 
people  accustomed  to  this  state  of  life,  think  these  laws,  this  government, 
the  greatest  of  hardships.  It  is  not  then  to  be  wondered  at,  if  they  spurn 
at  those  who  endeavour  to  put  them  under  the  thraldome  of  laws  and 
order." — From  the  same  MS. 


APPENDIX.  343 

horses  are  sufficient  to  labour,  will  have  from  four  to 
sixteen  famillys  living  upon  them.  Nay,  in  the  head 
of  the  paroch  of  Buchanan  in  Stirlingshire,  about  the 
barracks  of  Innersnait,  as  well  as  in  several  other 
places,  there  are  to  be  found  150  familys  living  upon 
grounds  which  do  not  pay  above  90  £.  sterling  of  yearly 
rent ;  that  is,  each  family  at  a  medium  rents  lands  at 
twelve  shillings  of  yearly  rent.* 

As,  by  these  means,  the  greatest  part  of  the  inha- 
bitants have  neither  half  meat  nor  cloaths  ;  they  are 
driven  by  the  necessitys  of  their  circumstances,  and 
induced  by  the  conveniency  of  their  situation  for  con- 
cealments, to  steal  cattle,  both  for  supporting  their 
familys  and  plenishing  (stocking)  their  little  farms; 
and,  as  the  cause  is  general!,  this  practice  is  become 
so  too. — Fewds  and  differences  among  familys  in  that 
country  do  not  a  little  contribute  to  promote  this  mis- 
chief; stealling  and  robbing  by  means  of  villains  kept 
thus  in  dependance,  and  under  absolute  command, 
being  the  common  way  of  resenting  quarrells  against 
one  another.  That  a  gentleman  is  either  affected  to, 
or  in  favour  with,  the  government,  is  ground  of  dis- 
content, and'  his  estate  soon  feels  the  effects  of  the 
malice  that  arises  from  thence.  People  of  station 
above  the  vulgar,  and  even  some  of  the  established 
clergy,  are  so  overawed,  that  they  speak  a  language 
different  from  what  they  think,  and  come  by  degrees 

*  This  requires  explanation. — Twelve  shillings,  at  that  time,  wai  a  fair 
rent  for  three  acres  of  the  best  land,  and  was  equal  to  at  least  15  L  at  the 
present  rate  ;  a  consideration  which  takes  off  mucji  of  the  wonder.  It  is 
also  to  be  observed,  that  he  who  paid  I2t.  in  money,  often  paid  as  much 
more  in  the  form  of  service,  and  various  articles  of  produce,  juch  as 
poultry,  lambs,  kids,  &c. 


344  APPENDIX. 

to  think  in  the  way  that  is  most  convenient  for  people 
that  live  in  their  situation ;  and  as  cattle  is  the  only 
wealth  or  subject  these  inhabitants  do  possess,  all  pro- 
perly in  that  country  is  rendered  precarious.     On  these 
accounts,  there. is  no  culture  of  grounds,  no  improve- 
ment of   pastures,    and,    from  the  same  reasons,    no 
manufactures,  no  trade  ;  in  short,  no  industry.     The 
people  are  extremely  prolific,  and  therefore  so  nume- 
rous, that  there  is  not  busieness  in  that  country,  ac- 
cording to  its  present  order  and  osconomy,  for  above 
the   one  half   of   them.     Every  place  is  full   of   idle 
people,  accustomed  to  arms,  and  lazy  in  every  thing 
but  rapines  and  depredations.     As  Buddelov  Aquivitcs 
houses  are  to  be  found  every  where  through  the  coun- 
try, so  in  these  they  santer  away  their  time,  and  fre- 
quently consume  there  the  returns  of  their  illegal  pur- 
chases.     Here  the  laws  have  never  been  executed, 
nor  the  authority  of  the  magistrate  ever  established. 
Here  the  officer  of  the  law  neither  dare  nor  can  exe- 
cute his  duty,  and  several  places  are  above  thirty  miles 
from  lawfull  persons. — In  short,  here  is  no  order,  no 
authority,  no  government ! 

The  confusions  and  disorders  of  that  country  were 
sa  great,  and  the  government  so  absolutely  neglected 
it,  that  the  sober  people  there  were  obliged  to  purchase 
some  security  to  their  effects  by  shamefull  and  igno- 
minious contracts  of  black  mailL  A  person  who  had 
the  greatest  correspondence  with  the  thieves  was 
agreed  with  to  preserve  the  lands  contracted  for  from 
thefts,  for  certain  sums  to  be  paid  yearly  out  of  these 
lands.  Upon  this  fund  he  employed  one  half  of  the 
thieves  to  recover  stolen  cattle,  and  the  other  half  of 
them  to  steall,  in  order  to  make  this  agreement  and 


APPENDIX.  345 

blackmaill  contract  necessary.  The  estates  of  these 
gentlemen  who  refused  to  contract,  or  give  counte- 
nance to  that  pernicious  practice,  are  plundered  by  the 
thieving  part  of  the  watch,  in  order  to  force  them  to 
purchase  their  protection.  He  calls  himself  the  Cap- 
tain of  the  Watch,  and  his  banditti  go  by  that  name. 
And  as  this  gives  them  a  kind  of  authority  to  traverse 
the  country,  so  it  makes  them  cappable  of  doing 
much  mischief.  These  different  odd  kinds  of  corps 
through  the  Highlands  make  altogether  a  very  consi- 
derable body  of  men  inured  from  their  infancy  to  the 
greatest  fatigues,  and  so  are  capable  to  act  in  a  mili- 
tary way  when  occasion  offers. 

People  who  are  ignorant  and  enthusiastick,  who  are 
in   absolute  dependance  upon  their  Chief  or  landlord, 
who  are  directed  in  their  consciences  by  Roman  Ca- 
tholick  Priests,  or  non-juring  Clergymen,  and  who  are 
not  masters   of  any  property,    may  easily  be  formed 
into  any  mould.     They  fear  no  dangers,  as  they  have 
nothing  to  lose,  and   so  can  with  ease  be  induced  to 
attempt  any  thing. — Nothing  can  make  their  condition 
worse  ;  confusions  and  troubles  do  commonly  indulge 
them  in  such  licentiousnesses  as  by  these  they  better  it. 
It  is  extremely  strange,    that  so  far  down  as  this 
year  1747,  any  part  of  Great  Britain  should  be  found 
"in  this  situation ;  but  the  truth  is,  the  Scots  Govern- 
ment  never  was   able   to    civilize   that  country,    and 
establish  order  in  it;  and  the  new-modelled  British 
Government  hath  continued  matters  as  it  found  them. — 
I  don't  pretend  to  understand  how  this   last  hath  hap- 
pened ;  the  first  can  easily  be  accounted  for. 

As  the  Scottish  Nation  was  allways  jealous  of  the 
designs,  and  had  r.eason  to  dread  the  power  of  Eng- 


346  APPENDIX. 

land;  so  it  all  ways  struck  in  with  France,  which 
courted  its  alliance,  that,  by  means  of  the  Scotts, 
there  might  be  a  diversion  given  to  the  English  arms, 
in  the  wars  betwixt  these  two  nations.  To  counter- 
ballance  this,  the  kings  of  England  keept  up  a  cor- 
respondence and  friendship,  nay,  entered  into  treaties 
with  the  familys  of  greatest  interest  in  the  Highlands, 
in  order  to  give  a  diversion  to  the  arms  of  Scotland, 
when  their  own  kings  made  war  against  England. 
"This  countenance  and  assistance  once  given  by  the 
Kings  of  England  to  these  families  of  the  Highlands, 
their  own  greatness  and  independence,  and  their  aver- 
sion to  be  restrained  by  laws,  or  subjected  to  the  go- 
vernment of  their  own  kings,  engaged  them  in  constant 
rebellions  against  the  government,  not  only  during  the 
reigns  of  the  two  Bruces,  but  likewayes  during  those 
of  the  kings  of  the  House  of  Stewart,  and  of  these 
who  succeeded  them.  Severall  of  the  Princes  of  this 
House  made  steps  to  reduce  these  familys  to  good 
order,  and  civilize  the  country,  particularly  James  3d, 
5th,  and  the  6th ;  but  since  the  time  that  this  last 
prince  came  to  the  crown  of  England,  the  state  of  that 
country  hath  neither  been  much  known,  nor  regarded 
by  those  in  the  administration,  excepting  during  the  go- 
vernment of  Oliver  Cromwell.*  The  state  of  that 
country  daring  that  whole  period  of  time,  near  450 

*  "  Oliver  Cromwell  entrusted  the  government  of  Scotland  to  Generall 
Monk,  who  by  his  authority,  diligence  and  severity,  reduced  the  High- 
lands to  great  peace  and  tranquillity.  Forts  were  built,  and  garrisons 
established  in  all  places  where  disturbance  was  mostly  apprehended  ;  alt 
other  places  of  security  and  strength  were  burnt  down.  All  woods  that  were 
cover  to  those  that  did  not  submit  to  the  government  were  cutt.  Party s  con- 
stantly patrolled  through  the  mountains,  and  became  acquainted  with-eyery 


APPENDIX.  347 

years,  the  steps  taken  to  reduce  it,  and  the  truth  of 
these  facts  *  *  *  will  appear  *  *  *  *  from  the  Scots 
Historys  and  Acts  of  Parliament  *  *  *." 


Rob  Hoy,  Barasdale,  &c. 

[From  the  same  MS.] 

It  is  exceedingly  strange  that  the  rebellion  in  the 
year  1715  did  not  awaken  those  in  the  administration, 
to  make  more  steps  towards  civilizing  the  Highlands, 
for  their  own  future  security.  The  unhappy  state  of 
that  country  from  the  1715,  till  the  1745,  was  the  con- 
sequence of  that  neglect ;  and  the  unhappy  state  of  the 
country  was  productive  of  those  troubles  in  1745. 

The  short  time  that  the  Highlanders  were  in  a  mili- 
tary way  under  the  Lord  Marr,  and  afterwards  at  Glen- 
shiell,  made  the  lower  sort,  after  they  were  dispersed, 
abandon  themselves  to  all  manner  of  licentiousness.* 

retired  den  and  cave.  The  people,  being  thus  deprived  of  every  place  of  se- 
curity, or  retirement,  and  constantly  hunted  by  party  s,  those  who  had  interest 
and  inclination  to  give  disturbance  were  soon  apprehended  and  incarcerate  ; 
and  those  who  lived  by  rapine  and  plunder  were  without  mercy  brought  to 
justice.  But  Monk's  government  was  military  ;  so  its  highly  probable  that 
all  the  delicacy  and  nice  regard  to  the  laws  which  a  free  civil  government 
requires  was  not  observed." — From  the  same  MS. 

*  Their  cattle  had  been  shot  or  carried  off,  their  cottages,  and  every  thing 
they  possessed,  burnt  and  destroyed,  and  they,  if  they  escaped  with  life, 
driven  with  their  wives  and  children  to  seek  refuge,  and  wait  for  a  more 
quiet  death,  from  hunger  and  cold,  in  the  woods  and  holes  of  the  rocks.— 
It  were  injustice  to  the  Clans  to  impute  to  them  the  delinquencies  of  the 
rabble  concerned  in  the  skirmish  at  Glenshiel.  That  rabble  consisted  of  the 
refuse  of  our  population,  highland,  lowland,  and  Irish,  offenders,  who  had 
taken  shelter  from  the  laws  of  their  country  under  the  standard  of  the  earl 
of  Mar,  and  after  his  defeat,  sought  refuge  and  sympathy  among  the  jaco- 
bites  in  the  mountains,  and  had  joined  the  three  hundred  Spaniards  who 
were  landed  among  them  in  1719.— The  story  of  a  Ghief  tending  his  men 
to  them  far  a  day,  deserves  no  credit. 


34S  APPENDIX. 

Thefts,  robbery.*,  rapines  and  depredations  became  so 
common,  that  they  began  to  be  looked  upon  as  neither 
shameful  nor  dishonourable;  and  people  of  a  station 
somewhat  above  the  vulgar,  did  sometimes  countenance, 
encourage,  nay  head  gangs  of  bandittsin  those  detesta- 
ble villanys.  It  now  only  remains  to  fill  up  that  time 
betwixt  these  two  last  grand  rebellions,  with  as  many 
instances  as  will  shew  the  miserable  state  of  that  coun- 
try in  that  interval  which  we  call  peace. 

There  was  in  that  time  one  Robert  M'Greiger,  who 
assumed  the  name  of  Campbell,  but  was  commonly 
known  by  that  of  Rob  Roy,  who  was  descended  of  a 
little  family*  of  that  clan,  which  held  a  small  ferm  of 
and  in  Balquhidder  in  few  of  the  familly  of  Athole, 
and  who  commonly  resided  in  the  parish  of  Buchanan, 
Balquhidder,  or  on  the  confines  of  Argyleshire.  This 
man,  who  was  a  person  of  sagacity,  and  neither 
wanted  stratagem  nor  address,  having  abandoned  him- 
self to  all  licentiousness,  sett  himself  att  the  head 
of  all  the  loose  vagrant  and  desperate  people  of  that 
clan  in  the  west  end  of  Perth  and  Stirling  shires, 
and  infested  those  whole  countrys  with  theifts,  rob- 
Lerys,  and  depredations.f  Very  few  who  lived  within 

*  Of  a  little  family,  in  the  then  state  of  the  Clan  Gregor,he  cannot  be  said 
to  have  been,  as  he  was  the  second  son  of  M'Gregor  of  Glengyle,  who,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  had  been  formally  declared  to  be 
their  chief  by  the  Clan. 

t  "  About  the  year  1603,  there  was  an  insurrection  raised  by  the  M'Gri- 
gors  in  the  west  end  of  the  shires  of  Perth  and  Stirling.  They  did  not  only 
•vex  all  their  neighbours  by  committing  continual  theifts  and  depredations, 
but  were  also  guilty  of  prodigious  crueltys  and  barbaritys.  When  the  Col- 
quhouns  of  Luss  with  their  clan  of  that  name,  endeavoured  to  restrain  their 
plundering  of  their  grounds,  they  had  a  sharp  encounter  at  Glenstroou, 
(Gfen/Vum)  where  the  most  part  of  the  name  of  Colquhoun  were  masacred. 
Sir  Humphrey,  their  Chief,  escaped,  but  was  soon  after  shot  dead  in  his  own 
house  of  Beunachra  by  the  M'Farlands,  who  were  employed,  by  a  neigh- 


APPENDIX.  349 

l»is  reach  (that  is,  within  the  distance  of  a  nocturnal 
expedition),  could  promise  to  themselves  security, 
either  to  their  persons  or  effects,  without  subjecting 
themselves  to  pay  him  both  a  heavy  and  shamefull  tax 
of  blackmaill.  He  at  last  proceeded  to  such  a  degree 
of  audaciousness,  that  he  committed  robberys,  raised 
depredations,  and  resented  quarrels  at  the  head  of  a 
very  considerable  body  of  armed  men,  in  open  day,  and 
iu  the  face  of  the  government. — Mr.  Graham  of  Kil- 
learn  was  then  factor  for  the  Duke  of  Montrose,  and 
was  in  use  to  collect  his  rents  at  a  place  upon  the  bor- 
ders of  those  Highlands  at  Buchanan,  not  above  four 
miles  from  the  house  of  that  name,  and  no  more  from 
the  town  of  Drymond.  Being  there  upon  that  occa- 
sion, Rob  Roy,  with  about  20  of  his  corps,  came  full- 
armed  from  the  hills  of  Buchanan,  apprehended  his 
person  in  that  place,  robbed  him  of  3002.  sterling  of 
that  Duke's  rents,  amidst  his  whole  farmers,  and  car- 
ried that  gentleman  prisoner  up  amongst  the  hills,  where 
he  detained  him  a  considerable  time.  The  Girnels 
where  the  farmers  delivered  their  victuall  rent  are  near 
the  same  place ;  and  whenever  Rob  and  his  followers 
were  pressed  with  want,  a  party  was  detatched  to  exe- 
cute an  order  of  their  commander's,  for  taking  as  mucli 
victualls  out  of  these  Girnells,  as  was  necessary  for  them 
at  the  time. — Disorders  increased  there  to  such  an 

hour  in  fewd  vith  him,  to  committ  that  execrable  murder ! !" — From  the 
same  MS. 

The  M'Gregors  were  no  worse  than  their  neighbours  till  bad  treatment 
made  them  so.  Their  local  situation,  surrounded  by  Campbells,  Grahaanes, 
&c.  was  their  chief  misfortune  ;  and  a  century  and  a  half  of  outlawry  and 
annoyance,  may  easily  account  for  the  character  which  they  at  last  ac- 
quired.—The  tricks  of  a  bear  that  is  constantly  baited,  can  m-ithcr  be  ex- 
pected to  be  innocent  nor  entertaining. 


350  APPENDIX. 

height,  that  some  years,  the  value  of  the  thiefts  and  de- 
predations committed  upon  some  lands  there  were 
equall  to  the  yearly  rents  of  the  lands,  and  the  persons 
of  small  heritors  were  taken,  carried  off,  and  detained 
prisoners  till  they  redeemed  themselves  for  a  sum  of 
money,  especially  if  they  had  at  elections  for  Parlia- 
ment voted  for  the  government  man.  The  then  Duke 
of  Montrose,  in  order  to  secure  his  estate  from  such 
insults,  armed  all  his  farmers  who  had  suffered,  think- 
ing thereby  they  would  be  able  to  protect  themselves ; 
but  Greiger  M'Greiger  of  Glengyle,  who  took  to  him- 
self the  name  of  James  Graham,  a  nephew  of  Robb's, 
eager  to  display  his  military  talents,  did,  with  a  party 
of  these  Buchanan  M'Greigers,  disarm  the  whole,  by 
surprizeing  them  separately,*  and  so  left  them  again 
naked  to  the  rapaciousness  of  their  plunderers.  This 
was  monstrously  ingratefull,  both  in  the  one  and  other; 
as  Rob  Roy,  some  years  before,  had  obtained  from  that 
Duke,  by  his  own  interest  only,  the  farm  of  land  called 
Glengyle,  to  this  same  man,  his  nephew,  in  few,  where 
his  forefathers  had  lived  farmers  to  the  Lairds  of  Bu- 
chanan, for  a  little  sum,  not  one  tenth  of  its  real  value  . 
and  besides,  in  the  year  1745,  he  drew,  or  rather  forced 
his  Grace's  farmers  in  the  neighbourhood  of  that  place, 
into  that  insurrection  which  brought  upon  his  lands  there 
the  resentment  of  the  military.f 

The  lands  in  the  head  of  the  parish  of  Buchanan, 

*  This  was  an  agreeable  surprise  of  their  own  inviting ;  as  they  were  de- 
sirous of  being  relieved  from  the  incumbrance  of  arms  which  they  had  no 
mind  to  make  use  of.  The  understanding  between  the  duke's  farmers  and 
the  M'Gregors  was  too  good  for  them  to  hurt  each  other. 

t  This  is  certainly  not  telling  the  story  in  M'Gregor's  favour.  Those  who 
know  the  history,  politics,  and  spirit  of  the  retainers  of  the  duke  in  that 
quarter,  will  not  suppose  that  any  force,  or  even  much  persuasion,  was 


APPENDIX.  351 

lying  betwixt  Loch  Loinond  and  Loch  Katerin,  are,  o 
all  these  in  that  country,  the  best  adapted  for  conceal- 
ments, and  the  most  conveniently  situate  for  bad  pur- 
poses, and  they  had  formerly  been  possessed  by  those 
of  that  clan.*  Theifts  and  depredations  were  pushed 
successfully  in  these  places,  with  an  intention,  either 
to  turn  these  lands  waste,  or  oblige  that  lord,  the  pro- 
prietor of  them  then,  by  a  purchase  from  the  family  of 
Buchanan,  to  grant  laces  (leases)  to  those  ancient 
possessors.  The  scheme  proported  answered ;  the  sons 
of  Rob  Roy  gott  one  half  of  those  lands  in  lace,  and 
Glengyle,  the  nephew,  the  other  half.  When  those 
people  got  possession  of  these  places  so  well  fitted  for 
their  designs,  they  found  they  were  able  to  carry  mat- 
ters still  one  point  furder ;  in  order  to  which,  it  was 
necessary  that  theifts  and  depredations  should  be  car- 
ried on  incessantly  through  their  whole  neighbourhood. 
Things  being  thus  prepaired,  that  this  M'Gregor  of 
Glengyle  should  keep  a  Highland  Watch  for  protecting 
that  country  from  these  mischiefs,  for  supporting  of 
which  he  demanded  47.  Scots  out  of  each  100/,  Scots 
of  valued  rent.  As  they  had  now  got  possession  of 
these  high  grounds  in  a  legall  way,  from  whence  they 
could  vex  the  whole  neighbourhood,  the  thing  was 
agreed,  and  a  formall  black-maill  contract  entered  into 
betwixt  M'Greiger  and  a  great  many  heretors,  whose 
lands  lay  chiefly  exposed  to  these  depredations,  and 
which  enabled  him,  when  the  troubles  of  1745  began, 
to  raise  about  40  men  for  that  service,  with  which  this 

necessary,  to  induce  them  to  join  the  standard  of  a  spirited  young  prince 
such  as  Charles  Stewart,  when  he  appealed  to  them  in  a  cause  in  which 
the  courage  and  loyalty  of  their  fathers  had  been  so  conspicuous. 

*  This  serves  to  account  for  a  great  deal  of  what  is  here  complained  of. 


362  APPENDIX. 

same  man  put  the  country  upon  the  water  of  Enrick, 
DundafT,  Strabhiin,  and  other  places,  under  contribu- 
tions, and  opened  the  first  scene  in  that  fatall  tragedy, 
by  surprizeing  the  barracks  of  lunersnait,  and  a  part  of 
Generall  Campbell's  regiment,  which  was  working  at 
the  Inverary  roads.* 

The  history  of  Mr.  M'Donald  of  Barasdale  would 
give  a  lively  representation  of  the  disordered  state  of 
the  north  Highlands  ;  but,  as  the  detaill  of  the  conduct, 
stratagems,  and  schemes  followed  by  Mr.  M'Donald,  to 
procure  to  himself  an  extensive  and  profitable  High- 
land Watch,  would  be  too  tedious,  I  shall  only  say, 
that  this  gentleman,  descended  of  the  Glengary  family, 
by  the  indolence  and  negligence  of  the  head  of  that 
tribe,  procured  to  himself  such  advantages  and  such 
interest  with  that  branch  of  that  clan,  that  he  was  able 
to  force  an  extensive  Highland  neighbourhood,  where 
are  people  of  no  small  interest,  to  contribute  to  him  a 
very  considerable  sum  yearly  for  their  protection. 

Sir  Alexander  Murray  of  Stenhope  had  acquired  a 
knowledge  in  mineralls,  and  travelled  all  over  the 
Highlands  in  order  to  make  discoverys  in  that  way. 
Great  appearances  of  lead-mines  cast  up  to  him  in 
severall  places,  but  particularly  in  the  lands  of  Ard- 
namurchan  and  Sweenard,  which  belonged  to  Campbell 
of  Lochneill.  He  made  a  purchase  of  these  lands  from 
that  gentleman,  and  of  some  other  small  interests  in 
that  neighbourhood.  He  laid  open  vastly  rich  lead- 
mines  at  Strontian,  and  made  very  great  improvements 
in  the  land  estate.  The  mines  turned  out  to  very 

*  It  should  have  been  added,  that  the  soldiers  were  snug  in  their  bar- 
racks, and  were  made  prisoners,  to  the  number  (as  ii  said)  of  89,  by  Glen- 
gjje,  with  only  12  M'Gregors. 


APPENDIX.  353 

great  advantage,  and  would  have  increased  to  infinitely 
more,  if  matters  had  not  fallen  into  very  great  disor- 
ders. Sir  Alexander  was  a  stranger  in  the  country, 
the  people  upon  his  estate  were  all  of  them  Camrons 
(Campbells),  or  of  other  clans  in  these  places,  who  had 
a  stronger  attachment  to  their  own  respective  chiefs 
than  to  their  new  landlord,  a  stranger,  and  the  whole  of 
the  neighbourhood  was  possessed  by  these  and  other 
clans.  Sir  Alexander's  cattle  and  effects  were  stollen, 
and  robbed,  his  houses  Were  burnt,  and  kis  own  per- 
son and  family  threatened.  He  attempted  to  prosecute 
the  criminalls  before  the  ordinary  courts  of  Justice  ; 
but  he  complained  loudly,  that  either  justice  was  de- 
layed, or  refused  him,  and  the  criminalls  protected*  It 
must  surely  have  been  the  height  of  oppression  that 
made  the  poor  gentleman  abandon  all  these  promiseing 
prospects,  for  security  to  himself  and  his  family, 
and  complain  of  these  hardships  he  met  with  to  the 
British  Parliament  and  Ministry ;  and  we  must  now 
acknowledge,  by  what  hath  since  happened,  that  his 
complaints  have  not  been  groundless,  nor  he  a  bad 
prophet.  The  Lordship  of  Morvern  lys  in  the  ex- 
tremity of  Argyleshire ;  it  belongs  in  property  to  the 
family  of  Argyle,  and  is  mostly  possessed  by  these  of  the 
Clan  Cameron,*  who  enjoyed  there  very  advantageous 
farms.  Some  years  ago  there  was,  I  believe,  some 
improvement  made  in  the  rents,  and  Mr.  Campbell  of 

*  On  the  attainder  of  Argyle,  a  large  portion  of  his  forfeited  estates  had 
been  given  to  Cameron  of  Lochiel,  but  resumed  and  restored  to  the  family 
of  Argyle,  on  the  accession  of  William  to  the  throne.  It  was  then  thought 
necessary  to  build  Fort-William,  as  a  check  upon  the  Camerons.  These 
circumstances  account  for  the  impatience  of  the  Camerons,  as  well  as  for  the 
threats  which  were  bandied  between  them  and  the  Campbells  of  Argyle, 
in  1745. 

VOL.  II.  2  A 


354  APPENDIX. 

Craignish  was  appointed  a  new  bailly  and  factor  for 
that  place.  Neither  of  these  alterations  were  agree- 
able to  these  people;  a  proper  occasion  was  taken 
to  seize  the  factor  and  rob  him  of  300 /.  sterling  of 
that  lord's  rents.  If  a  thing  so  audacious  was  at- 
tempted against  the  Duke  of  Argyle,  a  man  so  great 
and  powerfull  in  these  parts,  what  could  Sir  Alexander 
Murray  or  any  other  private  gentleman  expect  ? 

Where  there  is  no  government,  no  order,  what  will 
not  people  dare  to  do  ?*  No  farther  back  than  some 
moneths  ago,  as  I  am  informed,  a  Regality  Court  was 
held  by  one  Graham,  successor  in  office  to  that  Gen- 
tleman, who  was  made  prisoner  by  Rob  Roy,  at  that 
very  place  where  he  was  apprehended.  There  hap- 
pened a  controversy  there  betwixt  people  of  the  name 
of  Stewart,  and  others  of  that  of  M*  Parian  d,  about  stollen 
cattlet  The  M'Farlands  were  charged  of  being  guilty,  art 
and  part,  of  stealing  the  Stewarts' cattle ;  and,  for  vouch- 
ing the  truth  of  this  allegation,  hides  of  cattle  were 
produced  in  court,  found  in  the  custody  of  the  M'Far- 
lands which  were  affirmed  to  be  those  of  the  cattle  in 
question,  and  a  proof  thereof  offered.  The  bailly  se- 
cured the  hides  with  the  rest  of  this  process  till  the 
next  diet  of  court,  and  adjourned  in  order  to  take  his 
ordinary  refreshment.  A  few  days  thereafter  a  strong 
party  of  men  in  arms  came  to  the  court-house  and  car- 
ried off  the  whole.  If  these  things  be  permitted,  how 

*  Strange  things,  no  doubt,  as  they  do  every  day  where  these  are  in  full 
vigour  and  activity.  The  heir-apparent  to  the  throne  of  England  has  been 
robbed  in  broad  day-light,  within  a  few  yards  of  his  father's  palace-gate  ^ 
and  it  was  but  a  few  years  ago,  that  an  attempt  was  made  to  rob  liis  Royal 
Highness  the  Prince-Regent  of  the  hilt  of  his  dress-sword  by  wrenching  it 
off,  while  jostling  him  in  the  drawing-room  at  St.  James's  oa  a  birth-day  ! 


APPENDIX.  355 

can  justice  be  administrate?     And,  if  there  is  a  stop  in 
that,  there  is  an  end  of  government. 

It  is  plain,  from  what  is  said,  the  reigns  preceeding 
that  of  King  Charles  the  First  made  a  great  progress 
in  reducing  that  country  into  good  order ;  but  that  the 
politicks  of  the  four  reigns  that  succeeded  Cromwell's 
usurpation  had  a  direct  tendency  to  the  contrary. 


Causes  of  the  present  disorderly  State  of  the 
Highlands  of  Scotland. 

[From  the  same  MS.]  , 

lsu  The  first  and  principal  cause  of  the  many  disor- 
ders in  that  country  is  to  be  imputed  to  the  great  num- 
ber of  poor  people  there.  The  Highlands  comprehends 
about  230  parodies,  including  the  Western  Islands 
and  Orkneys.  There  are  not  fewer  in  every  paroch,  at 
a  medium,  than  800  examinable  persons,  that  is,  per- 
sons above  9  years  of  age.  Those  pf  nine,  and  under 
that  age,  will  amount  to  200,  that  is,  about  £  of  the 
whole  number.  Thus  in  every  paroch,  at  a  medium, 
there  will  be  1,000  souls,  and  in  the  country,  230,000; 
and  the  whole  force  and  power  of  this  country,  was 
every  man  betwixt  the  age  of  18  and  56  to  be  put  under 
arms,  would  be  equal  to  an  army  of  5J,500  men. 

But,  according  to  the  present  ceconomy  of  the  High- 
lauds,  there  is  not  business  for  more  than  one  half  that 
number  of  people ;  that  is,  the  agriculture,  the  pastur- 
age, the  fishery,  and  all  the  manufactures  in  that 
country,  can  be  sufficiently  managed  by  one  half  of  that 
number.  The  other  half,  then,  must  be  idle,  and  beg- 
gars, while  in  tJbe  country ;  that  is,  there  are  in  the 
Highlands  no  fewer  than  115,000  poor  people,  and  of 

2A2 


356  APPENDIX. 

these,  there  are  28,750  able-bodied   men  betwixt  the 
ages  of  18  and  66  fitt  to  bear  arms. 

The  reall  rent  yearly  paid  to  the  landlords  of  each 
paroch,  is  probably,  at  a  medium,  750  pounds  sterling, 
and  each  of  them,  at  a  medium,  comprehends  about 
fifty  ploughs  of  land ;  that  is,  as  much  arrable  as  four 
horses  will  labour ;  and  as  much  pasture  as  will  feed 
these  horses  and  about  40  or  50  cows.  Allowing  25 
famillys  for  25  of  these  farms,  and  two  famillys  for 
each  of  the  other  25,  this  will  be  75  famillys  for  every 
paroch,  at  a  medium  which,  at  six  soulls  in  the  family, 
will  be  450  souls  in  each  parocb.  Fifty  more  persons 
make  one  half  of  the  paroch,  amongst  whom  there  will  be 
J2  able-bodied  men,  who  will  mannage  any  manufac- 
tory, as  they  are  at  present.  And  thus  there  is  no 
busieness  for  the  other  500 ;  and  if  each  of  these 
ploughs  pays  of  yearly  rent  to  the  landlord,  151.  ster- 
ling, each  paroch  at  a  medium  will  be  of  yearly  rent 
1501.  sterling. 

The  expence  of  115,000  souls,  who  at  present  can 
have  no  busieness  or  employment  in  the  country,  can- 
not be  less  than  one  penny  sterling  a  day,  that  is, 
about  1Z.  10s.  sterling  a  year,  each  person:  That  is, 
their  whole  expence  per  annum  will  be  1 72,500 1.  ster- 
ling. A  great  number  of  these  persons  do  probably 
gain  equall  to  their  expence,  in  the  Low-countrys, 
during  the  season  of  herding  [tending  cattle  in  open- 
field  pastures},  of  harvest,  of  hay,  and  by  other 
labbour  during  the  spring  and  summer ;  but  then  the 
rest  of  these  people  must  be  supported  in  the  High- 
lands, where  they  constantly  reside,  as  they  gain 
nothing.  These  we  cannot  suppose  under  one  half  of 
the  whole  number,  so  that  there  are  in  that  country 


APPENDIX.  357 

57,500  souls  who  live,  so  many  of  them  upon  charity, 
and  who  are  vagrant  beggars  through  the  Highlands 
and  the  borders  of  it.  Many  of  them  live  an  idle 
sauntering  life  among  their  acquaintance  and  relations, 
and  are  supported  by  their  bounty ;  others  gette  a  liveli- 
hood by  blackmaill  contracts,  by  which  they  receive 
certain  sums  of  money  from  people  of  substance  in 
the  country,  to  abstain  from  stealing  their  cattle ;  and 
the  last  class  of  them  gain  their  expence  by  stealing, 
robbing,  and  committing  depredations. 

The  poverty  of  these  people  makes  them  intirely 
depend  on  their  landlords,  from  whom  they  have  a 
residence;  and  their  indulging  of  some  in  their  idle- 
ness, and  their  protecting  of  others  in  their  illegal 
practices,  gives  such  an  influence  over  them,  that  with 
ease  they  can  prevail  with  them  to  undertake  any 
thing  ;  besides,  their  condition  may  possibly  be  better, 
but  scarcely  worse. 

2do'  The  poverty  of  the  people  is  occasioned  and 
continued  by  a  custom  that  is  presently  in  use,  and 
hath  long  obtained  in  that  country ;  vizc.  The  practice 
of  letting  of  many  farms  to  one  man,  who,  again, 
subsetts  them  to  a  much  greater  number  than  those  can 
maintain,  and  at  a  much  higher  rent  than  they  can 
afford  to  pay.  This  obliges  these  poor  people  to  pur- 
chase their  rents  and  expences  by  theifts  and  robberys, 
in  which  they  are  indulged  and  protected  by  their 
landlords,  as  these  are  the  principall  means  of  provid- 
ing both.  There  are  many  instances  of  16  familys 
living  upon  one  plough  of  land  ;  and  in  the  head  of 
the  paroch  of  Buchanan,  and  many  other  places,  there 
are  about  150  familys  who  live  upon  lands  that  don't 
pay  of  yearly  rent  above  901.  sterling ;  none  of  them 


35$  APPENDIX. 

have  any  employment ;  most  of  them  possess  a  cott- 
house,  a  little  yeard  [kitchen  garden],  an  acre  or  two 
of  ground  full  of  rocks,  and  a  cow's  grass  or  two.-— 
Thus  the  people  are  allways  poor,  and  allways  de- 
pendants. 

gtio.  The  frequent  depredations,  robberys,  and  theifts 
through  the  Highlands  produce  effects  of  great  conse- 
quence ;  for,  as  a  great  many  persons  are  employed  in 
this  way,  so  a  number  of  people  are  bred  up  and  con- 
stantly accustomed  to  all  the  hardships,  hazards,  and 
fatigues  of  that  busieness ;  by  which  means,  from  the 
time  they  can  drive  cattle,  they  have  a  kind  of  military 
education,  by  their  night  expeditions,  their  fatiguing 
marches,  and  by  their  useing  themselves  to  all  the 
severitys  of  the  weather.  And  thus  we  find,  that 
when  they  are  formed  into  military  bodys,  they  have 
in  this  respect  the  advantage  of  any  regular  troops. 

Although  the  poverty  of  the  people  principally  pro- 
duces these  practices  so  ruinous  to  society  ;  yet  the 
nature  of  the  country,  which  is  thinnely  inhabitate,  by 
reason  of  the  extensive  moors  and  mountains,  and 
which  is  so  well  fitted  for  conceallments  by  the  many 
glens,  dens,  and  cavitys  in  it,  does  not  a  little  contri- 
bute. In  such  a  country  cattle  are  privately  trans- 
ported from  one  place  to  another,  and  securely  hid, 
and  in  such  a  country  it  is  not  easy  to  get  informations, 
nor  to  apprehend  the  crimi nails.  People  lye  so  open 
to  their  resentment,  either  for  giving  intelligence,  or 
prosecuting  them,  that  they  decline  either,  rather  than 
risk  their  cattle  being  stoln,  or  their  houses  burnt. 
And  then,  in  the  pursuit  of  a  rogue,  though  he  was 
almost  in  hands,  the  grounds  are  so  hilly  and  unequal!, 
and  so  much  covered  with  wood  or  brush,  and  so  full 


APPENDIX.  359 

of  dens  and  hollows,  that  the  sight  of  him  is  almost  as 
soon  lost  as  he  is  discovered. 

It  is  not  easy  to  determine  the  number  of  persons 
employed  in  this  way ;  but  it  may  be  safely  affirmed 
that  the  horses,  cows,  sheep,  and  goats  yearly  stoln 
in  that  country  are  in  value  equall  to  5000 1. ;  that  the 
expences  lost  in  the  fruitless  endeavours  to  recover 
them,  will  not  be  less  than  2000 1. ;  that  the  extraor- 
dinary expences  of  keeping1  herds  and  servants  to  look 
more  narrowly  after  cattle  on  account  of  stealling, 
otherways  not  necessary,  is  10,000£.  There  is  paid  in 
blackmaill  or  watch-money,  openly  and  privately, 
5000  £. ;  and  there  is  a  yearly  loss  by  understocking  the 
grounds,  by  reason  of  theifts,  of  at  least  1 5,000  £. ; 
which  is  altogether  a  loss  to  landlords  and  farmers,  in 
the  Highlands  of  37,000  £.  sterling  a  year.  But  be- 
sides, if  we  consider,  that  at  least  one  half  of  these 
stollen  effects  quite  perish,  by  reason  that  a  part  of 
them  is  buried  under,  ground,  the  rest  is  rather  de- 
voured than  eat,  and  so,  what  would  serve  ten  men 
in  the  ordinary  way  of  living,  swallowed  up  by  two  or 
three,  to  put  it  soon  out  of  the  way,  and  that  some 
part  of  it  is  destroyed  in  concealed  parts,  when  a  dis- 
covery is  suspected;  we  must  allow  that  there  is 
2,500 1.  as  the  value  of  the  half  of  the  stollen  cattle, 
and  1 5,000 L  for  the  article  of  understock  quite  lost  of 
the  stock  of  the  kingdom. 

4tot  These  last  mischiefs  occasions  another,  which  i* 
still  worse,  although  intended  as  a  remedy  for  them. 
That  is,  the  engaging  companys  of  men,  and  keeping 
them  in  pay  to  prevent  these  thiefts  and  depredations. 
As  the  government  neglect  the  country,  and  don't  pro- 
tect the  subjects  in  the  possession  of  their  property, 


360  APPENDIX. 

they  have  been  forced  into  this  method  for  their  own 
security,  tho'  at  a  charge  little  less  than  the  land-tax. 
The  person  chosen  to  command  this  watch,  as  it  is 
called,  is  commonly  one  deeply  concerned  in  the  theifts 
himself,  or  at  least  that  hath  been  in  correspondence 
with  the  thieves,  and  frequently  who  hath  occasioned 
thiefts,  in  order  to  make  this  watch,  by  which  he  gains 
considerably,  necessary.     The  people  employed  travell 
through  the  country  armed,  night  and  day,  under  pre- 
tence  of    enquiring   after  stollen  cattle,  .  and  by  this 
means  know  the  situation  and  circumstances  of  the 
whole  country.     And  as  the  people  thus  employed  are 
the  very  rogues  that  do  these  mischiefs  ;  so  one  half  of 
them  are  continued  in  their  former  bussiness  of  stealling 
that  the  busieness  of  the  other  half  may  be  necessary 
in  recovering :   And  thus  these  watches  make   another 
nursery  for  military  men.     This  practice  is  taken  up 
out  of  meer  necessity,  by  the  Government's  neglecting 
the  polity  of   that  country ;    is  of  very  great  conse- 
quence, and  whoever  considers  the  shamefull  way  these 
watches    were   managed,    particularly  by   Barrisdale, 
and  the  M'Greigors,  in  the  west  ends  of  Perth  and 
Stirling  shires,  will  easily  see  into  the  spirit,  nature, 
and  consequences  of  them. 

510'  The  dress  and  habit  of  that  country  is  of  great 
advantage,  wherever  agility  or  expedition  is  necessary. 
By  its  looseness,  the  people  are  allways  exposed  to 
cold  and  weetness,  and  so  by  custom  can  bear  both 
without  any  inconveniency. 

This  habit  conduces,  too,  to  give  them  an  aversion 
for  any  constant  hard  labour ;  for,  as  it  is  slight  and 
thinn,  so  it  is  not  sufficient  to  cover  and  save  the  body 
in  the  pressures  upon  it  necessary  in  hard  work.  It 


APPENDIX.  361 

fitts  them  out  for  activity,  gives  them  an  aversion  to 
labour,  and  by  a  kind  of  uniform  unites  them  in  a  body 
distinguished  from  the  rest  of  their  fellow- subjects. 

6to>  Their  present  way  of  life,  which  mostly  passes 
in  the  moors  and  mountains,  either  in  hunting  after 
game  for  their  support,  or  in  the  defence  or  pursuit  of 
their  cattle,  accustoms  them  from  their  infancy  with 
the  use  of  the  gun,  sword,  pistoll  and  durk,  and  this, 
again,  gives  them  hardieness  and  resolution,  and  like- 
wayes  a  dexterity  in  handling  arms,  much  superiour 
to  these  constantly  employed  in  agriculture  or  ma- 
nufactures. 

7mo-  Their  poor  mean  smoaky  cold  hutts,  without  any 
door  or  window-shutter,  and  without  any  furniture  or 
utenseills,  and  which  a  man  may  build  in  three  or  four 
days,  accustom  the  people  to  bear  any  accommodations 
that  are  sufficient  for  cows  or  hoggs.  They  are  not  of 
such  a  value  as  to  be  a  pledge  for  their  paying  regaird 
to  the  law,  and  are  not  proper,  by  reason  of  their 
dirtyness  and  smoakyness,  for  manufacturing  in  them 
butter  and  cheese,  the  principall  product  of  their 
country ;  to  say  nothing  of  their  unfittness  for  any 
other  kind  of  busieness. 

gvo.  »jine  famjiys  jn  that  country  have  hitherto  had  so 
little  interest  with  those  concerned  in  the  government 
of  publick  affaires,  and  therefore  so  small  encourage- 
ment for  any  employment  under  them,  that  many 
younger  sons  of  small  familys  are  obliged,  either  to 
turn  farmers  at  home  under  their  eldest  brother,  or  to 
go  abroad  to  serve  in  the  French  or  Spanish  armies. 
The  first  tends  exceedingly  to  keep  up  the  clanship, 
and  the  last  produces  still  worse  effects.  These  young 
gentlemen,  when  they  are  preferred  to  commissions, 


APPENDIX. 

come  privately  every  other  year  to  the  country,  and 
contract  with  some  of  the  able-bodied  young  men  of 
their  neighbourhood  or  clann,  with  whom  they  can 
Lave  influence,  for  so  many  years  service ;  and  when 
that  term  expires,  many  of  these  choise  to  return 
Home.  And  thus  new  levys  are  allways  made,  and 
some  of  the  bred  soldiers  are  allways  returning.  By 
this  means,  many  are  to  be  found  amongst  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  country,  that  have  been  disciplined  in 
the  French  and  Spanish  armys.  Many  of  the  masters 
of  little  French  vessells  upon  the  coast  of  Normandy 
know  all  that  highland  coast  fully  as  well  as  any  British 
sailor,  and  some  of  them  speak  the  highland  language 
toller  ably  well. 

9no-  It  hath  been  for  some  time  a  custom  through  the 
Highlands,  amongst  those  who  pretend  to  be  chiefs  or 
leaders  of  clans,  to  oblige  all  the  farmers  or  cottars 
that  gett  possessions  in  their  grounds  to  take  their 
names.  In  a  generation  or  two  it  is  believed  that  they 
really  are  of  that  name  ;  and  this  not  only  holds  to  the 
number  of  the  clan,  and  keeps  it  up,  but  superinduces 
the  tye  of  kindred  to  the  obligation  and  interest  of  the 
former. 

jQth.  ]\jost  of  the  baillies,  factors,  or  Stewarts  upon 
the  considerable  estates  thro'  the  Highlands,  are  dis- 
affected to  this  present  government,  (by  what  accident 
this  happens,  I  know  not) ;  and  whoever  holds  these 
offices,  can  with  ease  influence  the  people  what  way 
they  please.  Every  one  of  them  either  is,  or  may  be, 
so  much  at  their  mercy,  that  they  court  their  favour 
by  takeing  up  their  sentiments.  And  as  several  days 
are  usually  spent  in  holding  courts,  and  levying  the 
master's  rent ;  so  a  good  part  of  that  time  passes  in 


APPENDIX.  363 

jollity  and  carousing;  where  the  tennents  and  sub- 
tennents  are  spirited  up  to  a  distaste  of  the  adminis- 
tration, by  such  conversation  and  news,  as  are  unfa- 
vourable to  it ;  and  where  the  healths  of  persons  are 
warmly  remembered  who  have  made  it  their  busieness 
to  subvert  the  constitution. 

lltht  The  speaking  in  the  Irish  tongue  through  most 
of  the  country,  which  is  a  different  language  from  that 
spoken  by  the  rest  of  the  kingdom,  hath  a  great  ten- 
dency to  unite  them  in  a  body  together  ;  and  separate 
them  from  the  rest  of  the  subjects  by  trifling  animo- 
titys,  ariseing  from  their  different  manners,  the  natu- 
ral consequence  of  their  different  language,  and  their 
want  of  our  language  evidently  prevents  their  making 
improvements  in  the  affairs  of  common  life,  and  in 
other  knowledge,  as  it  is  the  means  to  acquire  them. 

12th-  It  might  be  expected  that  the  schools  established 
by  the  Christian  Society  in  that  country  had  done 
much,  for  introducing  the  language  there  ;*  but  these 
schools  are  not  so  well  conducted  and  overseen  as  ne- 


*  This  insane  policy  of  utterly  denaturalizing  the  Highlanders,  in  order 
to  civilize  them,  has  been  hitherto  pursued  by  all  the  reformers  who  have 
attempted  to  interfere  with  them,  and  has  already  gone  a  great  way  towards 
taking  from  them  all  the  virtues  they  once  had,  and  giving  them  all  the 
vices  they  were  strangers  to.  On  July  12th,  1695,  an  Act  of  Parliament 
was  passed  beginning  thus  :  "  Our  Sovereign  Lord,  considering  that  seve- 
ral of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Highlands  and  Isles  are  very  refractory  in 
paying  to  the  Chamberlands  and  Factors,  the  rents  of  the  Bishoprick  of 
Argyle  and  Isles,  which  now  his  Majesty  has  been  graciously  pleased  to 
bestow  upon  erecting  of  English  schools  for  rooting  out  of  the  Irish  Lan- 
guage, and  other  uses,  &c." — Had  his  Majesty  informed  them  that  the  rents 
were  to  be  applied  for  making  the  word  of  God  accessible  to  them  in  the 
Language  of  their  fathers,  and  other  pious  uses,  the  rents  would  have  been 
cheerfully  paid,  and  the  government  endeared  to  the  people. 


364  APPENDIX. 

cessary.  The  clergy,  who  have  the  charge,  are  too 
negligent,  both  in  visiting  and  making  just  report  of 
them.  There  is  nothing  more  ordinary  in  these 
schools,  than  to  see  the  boys  read  the  English  Bible 
with  distinctness  enough,  and  yet  not  able  to  speak  one 
word  of  English  ;  and  in  this  condition  they  leave  the 
school. 

jgth.  rpjie  Difficulty  of  access  into  most  places  of  that 
country,  and  from  one  place  to  another,  by  reason  of  the 
badness  of  the  roads,  immures  them  up  among  themselves, 
and  prevents  their  having  correspondence  and  commerce 
with  the  civilized  part  of  the  kingdom;  this  keeps  them 
in  a  state  of  ignorance  and  barbarity. 

14th-  As  most  of  these  places  are  at  a  great  distance 
from  trading  towns,  where  the  common  sort  have  no 
correspondence,  small  heretors,  and  some  of  the  sub- 
stantiall  tacksmen  play  the  merchant,  and  supply  the 
common  people  with  such  things  as  are  necessary  to 
them,  either  for  labouring  their  grounds,  supporting 
their  familys,  or  comforting  and  relieving  them  in  sick- 
ness; as  iron,  victuall  [corn],  little  quantitys  of  wine  and 
spirits,  sugar  and  tobaco.  As  the  poor  ignorant  peo- 
ple have  neither  knowledge  of  the  value  of  their  pur- 
chase, nor  money  to  pay  for  it,  they  deliver  to  these 
dealers  cattle  in  the  beginning  of  May  for  the  goods 
they  have  received;  by  which  traffick  the  poor  wretched 
people  are  cheated  out  of  their  effects  for  one  half  of 
their  value;  and  so  are  kept  in  eternal  poverty. 

15*-  It  is  alledged,  that  much  of  the  Highlands  lye 
at  a  great  distance  from  publick  Fairs,  mercates,  and 
places  of  commerce,  and  that  the  access  to  these  places 
is  both  difficult  and  dangerous;  by  reason  of  all  which, 
trading  people  decline  to  go  into  the  country  in  order 


APPENDIX.  365 

to  traffick  and  deal  with  the  people.  It  is  on  this  ac* 
count  that  the  farmers,  having  no  way  to  turn  the  pro-* 
duce  of  their  farms,  which  is  mostly  cattle,  into  money 
are  obliged  to  pay  their  rents  in  cattle,  which  the  land- 
lord takes  at  his  own  price,  in  regaird  that  he  must 
either  grase  them  himself,  send  them  to  distant  mar- 
kets, or  credite  some  person  with  them,  to  be  againe  at 
a  certain  profite  disposed  of  by  him.  This  introduced 
the  busieness  of  that  sort  of  people  commonly  known  by 
the  name  of  Drovers.  These  men  have  little  or  no 
substance,  they  must  know  the  language,  the  different 
places,  and  consequently  be  of  that  country.  The  far- 
mers, then,  do  either  sell  their  cattle  to  these  drovers 
upon  credite,  at  the  drover's  price  (for  ready  money 
they  seldom  have),  or  to  the  landlord  at  his  price,  for 
payment  of  his  rent.  If  this  last  is  the  case,  the  land- 
lord does  again  dispose  of  them  to  the  drover  upon  cre- 
dite, and  these  drovers  make  what  profites  they  can  by 
selling  them  to  grasiers,  or  at  markets.  These  drovers 
make  payments,  and  keep  credite  for  a  few  years,  and 
then  they  either  in  reality  become  bankrupts,  or  pre- 
tend to  be  so.  The  last  is  most  frequently  the  case,  and 
then  the  subject  of  which  they  have  cheated  is  privately 
transferred  to  a  confident  person  in  whose  name,  upon 
that  reall  stock,  a  trade  is  sometimes  carried  on  for  their 
behoof,  till  this  trustee  gett  into  credite,  and  prepaire  his 
affairs  for  a  bankruptcy.  Thus  the  farmers  are  still keept 
poor;  they  first  sell  at  an  under  rate,  and  then  they  often 
loose  altogether.  The  landlords,  too,  must  either  turn 
traders,  and  take  their  cattle  to  markets,  or  give  these 
people  credite,  and  by  the  same  means  suffer. 

16th-  The  buddiell*  or  aquavitce  houses,  that  is,  houses 

*  A  buideul  is  a  small  keg,  or  cask,  in  which  sprrits  arc  conveyed  on  pack- 


366      .  APPENDIX. 

where  they  distill  and  retaill  aquavity,  are  the  bane  and 
mine  of  that  country.  These  house*  are  every  where, 
and  when  the  price  of  barley  is  low,  all  of  them  malt 
and  distill  in  great  quantitys.  As  they  never  pay  malt 
duty  nor  excise,they  can  sell  their  spirits  at  a  small  price. 
It  is  in  these  that  the  farmer  does  slothfully  idle  away 
his  time,  and  consume  his  substance ;  that  the  loose  va- 
grants who  follow  no  business  but  that  of  thieving  and 
committing  depredations,  pass  most  of  the  day  in  spend- 
ing the  price  of  their  plunder,  and  in  making  their  ille- 
gal contracts  ;  and  those  houses  do  commonly  occasion 
the  breach  of  the  publick  peace. 

17thl  The  episcopall  nonjuring  clergy  are  not  nume- 
rous through  the  Highlands  ;  but  are  exceedingly  active. 
They  so  much  blend  the  principles  of  government  with 
those  of  religion,  that  they  don't  think  they  can  make  a 
good  Christian,  without  at  the  same  time  teaching  him 
principles  not  only  inconsistent  with  a  free  and  happy 
constitution  of  Government,  but  subversive  of  the  na- 
tural rights  and  priviledges  of  mankind.  Indefeasable 
hereditary  right,  and  absolute  uncontroulable  power 
in  the  chief  magistrate,  is  looked  upon  allways  as  an 
essential!  article  in  their  creed, 

18th-  There  is  a  considerable  number  of  the  Roman 
Catholick  clergy,  some  of  them  settled,  others  mission- 
arys,  who  intirely  direct  the  consciencies  of  those  of 
that  church,  and  greatly  influence  some  who  profess  to 
be  of  ane  other,  in  matters  relateing  to  government 
affairs.* 

saddles  from  one  place  to  another.  It  is  no  other  than  the  French  bouteiltt, 
which  originally  meant  any  flask  or  keg. 

*  In  one   respect,  the  Highlands  differed  from  every  other  country  in 
Europe.    They  knew  hardly  any  thing  of  the  abuses  of  the  Roman  Catholic 


APPENDIX.  367 

19th'  The  established  clergy  thro'  the  Highlands  and 
borders  of  it  are,  generally  speaking,  exceedingly  neg- 
ligent in  their  duty,  and  persons  of  no  great  reputation 
nor  esteem;  *  many  of  them  are  not  only  frighted, 
from  the  circumstances  of  their  situation,  from  doing 
their  duty  with  resolution ;  but  are  even  ready  to  fall 
in  with  the  sentiments  of  those  they  were  intended  to 
reform,  and  to  cover  from  the  civil  magistrate,  as  muck 
as  they  can,  both  the  crime  and  the  criminal, 

20*'  The  remottness  of  courts  of  justice  from  most 
places  in  that  country  occasions  great  mischiefs  ;  there- 
by the  landlords  or  their  baillies  are  generally  the 
judges  both  in  civill  and  criminall  matters,  by  virtue  of 
their  jurisdictions,  and  on  this  account  are  regairded  by 
the  people  as  the  only  persons  of  power  to  whom  their 
submission  is  due.  And  as  the  landlords  and  chieftains 
ttro'  that  country  are  exceedingly  fond  of  secureing  in 
their  interest,  and  haveing  at  their  command  as  many 
of  the  people,  especially  of  the  loose  vagrants,  as  pos- 
sibly they  can,  people  who  dare  any  thing,  and  have 
nothing  to  loose:  so  these  jurisdictions  are  but  too 

religion,  till  after  the  introduction  of  the  Reformation  among  them.  In 
their  small  communities,  there  was  no  scope  for  two  ruling  powers,  and  the 
clergy  were  kept  in  their  proper  place. 

*  Dr.  Johnson  had  a  dislike  to  Presbyterians  as  such  every  where  ;  yet, 
when  in  the  Highlands,  he  met  with  some  of  the  very  men  here  spoken  of 
who  were  still  alive,  and  found  them  devout,  learned,  manly  and  libera). 
Almost  all  the  Clergy  then,  were  the  sons  of  gentlemen,  and  well  educated  in 
every  sense  of  the  word.  With  respect  to  school  learning,  which  is  of  the 
first  importance,  and  which  they  did  not  receive  in  their  own  country,  they 
had  many  advantages  over  those  who  are  now  bred  up  to  trie  ministry  there. 
What  these  still  are,  however,  appears  much  to  their  honour,  in  their  reports 
in  Sir  John  Sinclair's  "  Satistkal  account  of  Scotland.'' 


.368  APPENDIX* 

frequently  made  use  of  to  protect  these  criminalls,  by 
which  they  gain  their  affection ;  or  to  resent  quarrels, 
by  which  they  make  themselves  formidable. 

21st-  The  great  difficulty  and  expence  of  apprehending 
criminalls  in  that  country,  gives  great  encouragement 
to  rogues  in  their  bad  practices.  Whoever  considers 
the  nature  of  these  grounds,  the  extensive  moors  and 
mountains,  the  woods  and  brush,  with  which  in  most 
places  they  are  covered,  the  sudden  swells  and  hollows 
on  the  surface  of  the  grounds,  and  the  many  dens  and 
glens  thro'  the  whole,  will  easily  perceive  that  two  men 
will  with  more  ease  apprehend  a  rogue  in  a  plain  open 
populous  country,  than  what  twenty  will  do  in  such  a 
one  as  I  have  described.  Besides,  considering  the  ex- 
tent of  ground,  the  inhabitants  are  few,  and  fearing 
mischievous  resentments,  not  only  refuse  informations, 
but  are  fain  to  curry  favour  by  giving  protection.  And 
if  so,  the  difficulty  and  expence  of  apprehending  a 
criminal  is  ten  times  greater  than  that  of  apprehending 
one  in  the  Low  countrys  ;  which  is  what  private  persons 
cannot  affoord. 

22dt  When  criminalls  are  apprehended,  it  is  frequently 
so  great  an  expence  to  take  them  to  a  lawfull  prison, 
that  private  people  have  great  reason  to  grudge  the 
charges.  This  is  occasioned  by  the  distances  of  the 
prisons.  There  are  not  as  many  in  that  country  as  are 
necessary;  in  many  places  it  being  thirty  miles  to  a 
lawfull  gaol. 

23d>  After  a  criminal  is  apprehended  and  incarcerate, 
the  expence  of  the  tryall  or  prosecution  is  so  excessively 
great,  that  most  people  rather  choise  to  suffer,  than 
to  expend  60  or  70 1.  sterling  in  bringing  one  of  these 


APPENDIX.  369 

/ 

rogues  to  justice  before  a  circuit,  sheriff,  or  stewart 
court.  And,  if  the  prosecution  be  before  the  justiciary 
of  Edinburgh,  the  charge  will  be  much  greater. 

24th-  These  hardships  that  the  subjects  lye  under,  in- 
duces them  to  compound  with  the  thieves  for  the  injuries 
done  them.  By  this  composition,  the  person  injured 
does  not  recover  above  one  half  of  his  effects,  which 
comes  out  a  very  heavy  tax  payed  by  the  peaceable 
subjects  to  these  thieves  and  robbers  ;  and  by  this  im~ 
punity  they  are  encouraged  to  continue  in  these  villain- 
ous practices. 

25th<  So  long  as  the  Highlands  continues  in  its  pre- 
sent state,  so  long  will  there  be  insurrections,  thiefts, 
and  depredations,  and  so  long  will  the  people  be  in 
poverty  and  ignorance,  and  tools,  not  only  to  every 
every  foreign  power  at  warr  with  Great  Britain,  but  to 
every  discontented  subject,  who  hath  the  interestt  aud 
address  to  play  them  to  answer  to  his  designs.  If  the 
people  of  estates  and  interest  in  the  Highlands,  who 
are  disaffected  to  the  present  government,  would  allow 
themselves  to  think  impartially,  they  would  soon  ob- 
serve how  inhumanly  they  have  been  used  in  all  these 
state  struggles,  and  that  it  is  their  greatest  interest  to 
have  the  Highlands  civilized,  and  brought  under  a  re_ 
gular  government.  They  would  be  no  longer  the  dupes 
of  designing  people,  nor  undergo  any  longer  the  severitys 
and  hardships  thai  these  intrigues  have  drawn  upon  them 
in  preceding  times  ;  and  their  estates  must  improve  with 
peace  and  tranquillity.  But  it  may  be  a  question  whe- 
ther those  in  that  country  who  are  really  attached,  and 
have  testifyed  their  zeall  and  affection  to  the  govern- 
ment, may  not  justly  think  that  their  greatest  interest 
is  founded  in  the  present  disorderly  state  of  that  coun- 

VOL.  II.  2  B 


370  APPENDIX:. 

try;  for  if  at  present  they  are  necessary  to  the  go- 
vernment on  account  of  the  force  they  can  command, 
and  if  that  makes  them  considerable,  the  civilizing  of 
that  country  not  only  annihilates  that  force,  but  removes 
these  disorders  which  made  them  necessary ;  and,-thus 
they  are  left  of  no  more  consequence  than  any  other 
persons  in  Great  Britain  of  the  same  extent  of  estate  ; 
which  is  another  unhappy  circumstance  that  attends  the 
present  state  of  the  country. 

26th-  It  was  reasonable  to  expect,  after  the  union  of 
the  two  kingdoms,  that  every  step  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  publick  affairs  of  Great  Britain  would  all- 
ways  have  a  tendency  to  render  that  union  more  and 
more  compleat  •  and  that  no  furder  difference  in  the 
management  of  publick  matters  in  the  united  king- 
dom would  ever  afterwards  take  place,  than  in  so 
far  as  was  necessary  by  the  articles  stipulate  in  that 
union  ;  but  in  place  of  one  uniform  administration  over 
the  whole,  there  hath  allways  been  a  separate  appear- 
ance, a  face  of  government  in  Scotland,  from  that  of 
England  ;  which  hath  a.  tendency  to  hinder  the  two 
different  people's  incorporateing  into  one,  and  to  conti- 
nue nationall  differences. 


FINIS. 


S.  Curtis,  CamberweLi  Press. 


/7 
/Cy  L^f 


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