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Presented to the
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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CONTAINING VARIOUS IMPORTANT HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, HITHERTO
UNPUBLISHED; WITH AN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
1
* r—t CO 05
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>
O ^
CO
CD
d d
o i>
s s
s" s
o £
^ j
ill
bO
*O F^ vW Q
p o o o
i
I
•d
S co
A, 1
a -_3 33
o co •£•
P - -Ss
1 r 1
o rt .3
p , o>
« s -s
<u -S ^_
•
I S -d T °
•o
ce
(M
O
H
5 •! S
0 OS «
il i
*« o S
•3 -9 S
^ a .s
"^ d CU
"
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.
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