CHAPTER XVIII

.[465]

Highland Manners, Customs, &c.--Character of ancient Highlanders --Highland Dress--Superstitions--Kelpies--Urisks--Daoine Shith --Practices in the Western Islands--_Deis-iuil_--Second-sight --Weddings--Social duties--Courage--Love of Country--Bards --Highlanders’ feeling with regard to death--Hospitality--Clans --Creachs--Cearnachs or Catherans--Chiefs--Relation of the Clans to their Chiefs--Appendix on Highland Dress.

We shall take advantage of the breathing-space afforded us here, before entering upon the stirring events of the next century, in which the Highlanders played a most important part, to notice such objects connected with the ancient state of the Highlands, and the character and condition of the inhabitants in former times, as may be considered interesting either in a local or national point of view. It will be seen that our observations do not apply to the Highlanders of the present day, as these have lost many of the peculiarities of manners, speech, dress, &c., which characterized their ancestors. The Highlands have undergone considerable change during the last century and a half, and the alteration, in a social point of view, has been on the whole for the better. The Highlands now are generally as accessible as the lowlands; the manners, speech, and occupations of the inhabitants are becoming more and more assimilated to those of their lowland neighbours, and to all appearance, in a very short time, there will remain little or nothing to distinguish the Scottish Celt from the Saxon. Although this change has by no means been altogether to the advantage of the Highlander,--although many of the vices as well as the virtues of civilization have been forced upon him, still, for the sake of the community at large, the change cannot be regretted, and it is only to be desired that the lowlanders in turn may be brought to admire and imitate the noble virtues of their northern neighbours, their courage, fidelity, reverence, self-respect, and love of independence.

The early history of the Highlanders presents us with a bold and hardy race of men, filled with a romantic attachment to their native mountains and glens, cherishing an exalted spirit of independence, and firmly bound together in septs or clans by the ties of kindred. Having little intercourse with the rest of the world, and pent up for many centuries within the Grampian range, the Highlanders acquired a peculiar character, and retained or adopted habits and manners differing widely from those of their lowland neighbours. “The ideas and employments, which their seclusion from the world rendered habitual,--the familiar contemplation of the most sublime objects of nature,--the habit of concentrating their affections within the narrow precincts of their own glens, or the limited circle of their own kinsmen,--and the necessity of union and self-dependence in all difficulties and dangers, combined to form a peculiar and original character. A certain romantic sentiment, the offspring of deep and cherished feeling, strong attachment to their country and kindred, and a consequent disdain of submission to strangers, formed the character of independence; while an habitual contempt of danger was nourished by their solitary musings, of which the honour of their clan, and a long descent from brave and warlike ancestors, formed the frequent theme. Thus, their exercises, their amusements, their modes of subsistence, their motives of action, their prejudices and their superstitions, became characteristic, permanent, and peculiar.

“Firmness and decision, fertility in resources, ardour in friendship, and a generous enthusiasm, were the result of such a situation, such modes of life, and such habits of thought. Feeling themselves separated by Nature from the rest of mankind, and distinguished by their language, their habits, their manners, and their dress, they considered themselves the original possessors of the country, and regarded the Saxons of the Lowlands as strangers and intruders.”[466]

Like their Celtic ancestors, the Highlanders were tall, robust, and well formed. Early marriages were unknown among them, and it was rare for a female who was of a puny stature and delicate constitution to be honoured with a husband. The following observations of Martin on the inhabitants of some of the western islands may be generally applied to the Highlanders:--“They are not obliged to art in forming their bodies, for Nature never fails to act her part bountifully to them; perhaps there is no part of the habitable globe where so few bodily imperfections are to be seen, nor any children that go more early. I have observed several of them walk alone before they were ten months old: they are bathed all over every morning and evening, some in cold, some in warm water; but the latter is most commonly used, and they wear nothing strait about them. The mother generally suckles the child, failing of which, a nurse is provided, for they seldom bring up any by hand: they give new born infants fresh butter to take away the _meconium_, and this they do for several days; they taste neither sugar, nor cinnamon, nor have they any daily allowance of sack bestowed on them, as the custom is elsewhere, nor is the nurse allowed to taste ale. The generality wear neither shoes nor stockings before they are seven, eight, or ten years old; and many among them wear no night-caps before they are sixteen years old, and upwards; some use none all their life-time, and these are not so liable to headaches as others who keep their heads warm.”[467]

As a proof of the indifference of the Highlanders to cold, reference has been made to their often sleeping in the open air during the severity of winter. Burt, who resided among them and wrote in the year 1725, relates that he has seen the places which they occupied, and which were known by being free from the snow that deeply covered the ground, except where the heat of their bodies had melted it. The same writer represents a chief as giving offence to his clan by his degeneracy in forming the snow into a pillow before he lay down. “The Highlanders were so accustomed to sleep in the open air, that the want of shelter was of little consequence to them. It was usual before they lay down to dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was less pervious to the wind, and the heat of their bodies produced a warmth, which the woollen, if dry, could not afford. An old man informed me, that a favourite place of repose was under a cover of thick overhanging heath. The Highlanders, in 1745, could scarcely be prevailed on to use tents. It is not long since those who frequented Lawrence fair, St. Sair’s, and other markets in the Garioch of Aberdeenshire, gave up the practice of sleeping in the open fields. The horses being on these occasions left to shift for themselves, the inhabitants no longer have their crop spoiled, by their ‘upthrough neighbours,’ with whom they had often bloody contentions, in consequence of these unceremonious visits.”[468]

As to the antiquity of the picturesque Highland costume, there has been considerable discussion. Till of late years the general opinion was that the plaid, philibeg, and bonnet, formed the ancient garb of the Highlanders, but some writers have maintained that the philibeg is of modern invention, and that the truis, which consisted of breeches and stockings in one piece, and made to fit close to the limbs, was the old costume. That the truis is very ancient in the Highlands is probable, but it was chiefly confined to the higher classes, who always used it when travelling on horseback. At p. 4 of this volume, fig. 2 shows a very early form of Highland costume; and although rude, it bears a strong resemblance to the more modern belted plaid. In an appendix to this chapter will be found a collection of extracts from various writers, reaching back to a very early period, and containing allusions to the peculiar form and pattern of the Highland dress, proving that, in its simple form, it lays claim to considerable antiquity. For these extracts we are indebted to the admirable publication of the Iona club, entitled _Collectanea de rebus Albanicis_.

The following is a description of the various parts of the Highland costume:--The Breacan-feile, literally, the variegated or chequered covering, is the original garb of the Highlanders, and forms the chief part of the costume; but it is now almost laid aside in its simple form. It consisted of a plain piece of tartan from four to six yards in length, and two yards broad. The plaid was adjusted with much nicety, and made to surround the waist in great plaits or folds, and was firmly bound round the loins with a leathern belt in such a manner that the lower side fell down to the middle of the knee joint, and then, while there were the foldings behind, the cloth was double before. The upper part was then fastened on the left shoulder with a large brooch or pin, so as to display to the most advantage the tastefulness of the arrangement, the two ends being sometimes suffered to hang down; but that on the right side, which was necessarily the longest, was more usually tucked under the belt. In battle, in travelling, and on other occasions, this added much to the commodiousness and grace of the costume. By this arrangement, the right arm of the wearer was left uncovered and at full liberty; but in wet or very cold weather the plaid was thrown loose, by which both body and shoulders were covered. To give free exercise for both arms in case of need, the plaid was fastened across the breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often enriched with precious stones, or imitations of them, having mottos engraved, consisting of allegorical and figurative sentences.[469] Macculloch, we think, in his jaunty off-hand way, has very happily conjectured what is likely to have been the origin of this part of Highland dress. “It does not seem very difficult,” he says,[470] “to trace the origin of the belted plaid; the true and characteristic dress from which the other modifications have been derived. It is precisely, as has been often said, the expedient of a savage, unable or unwilling to convert the web of cloth which he had procured, into a more convenient shape. Rolling one extremity round his body, the remainder was thrown over his shoulder, to be used as occasion should require, in covering the rest of his person.” It indeed appears to be a well authenticated fact that the _kilt_ or _philibeg_, as distinct from the belted plaid, is a comparatively modern article of dress in the Highlands, having been the invention of an Englishman who, while superintending some works in Lochaber about 1728, induced his workmen to separate that part of the ancient garment which came over the shoulder, and which encumbered their movements, from the part which surrounded the loins, retaining only the latter.

As the _breacan_ was without pockets, a purse, called _sporan_ by the Highlanders, was fastened or tied in front, and was made of goats’ or badgers’ skin, sometimes of leather, and was neither so large nor so gaudy as that now in use. People of rank or condition ornamented their purses sometimes with a silver mouthpiece, and fixed the tassels and other appendages with silver fastenings; but in general the mouthpieces were of brass, and the cords employed were of leather neatly interwoven. The sporan was divided into several compartments. One of these was used for holding a watch, another money, &c. The Highlanders even carried their shot in the sporan occasionally, but for this purpose they commonly carried a wallet at the right side, in which they also stowed when travelling, a quantity of meal and other provisions. This military knapsack was called _dorlach_ by the Highlanders.

The use of stockings and shoes is comparatively of recent date among the Highlanders. Originally they encased their feet in a piece of untanned hide, cut to the shape and size of the foot, and drawn close together with leather thongs, a practice which is observed even at the present day by the descendants of the Scandinavian settlers in the Shetland islands, where they are called _rivelins_; but this mode of covering the feet was far from being general, as the greater part of the population went barefooted. Such was the state of the Highlanders who fought at Killiecrankie; and Burt, who wrote in the early part of the 18th century, says that he visited a well-educated and polite Laird, in the north, who wore neither shoes nor stockings, nor had any covering for his feet. A modern writer observes, that when the Highland regiments were embodied during the French and American wars, hundreds of the men were brought down without either stockings or shoes.

The stockings, which were originally of the same pattern with the plaid, were not knitted, but were cut out of the web, as is still done in the case of those worn by the common soldiers in the Highland regiments; but a great variety of fancy patterns are now in use. The garters were of rich colours, and broad, and were wrought in a small loom, which is now almost laid aside. Their texture was very close, which prevented them from wrinkling, and displayed the pattern to its full extent. On the occasion of an anniversary cavalcade, on Michaelmas day, by the inhabitants of the island of North Uist, when persons of all ranks and of both sexes appeared on horseback, the women, in return for presents of knives and purses given them by the men, presented the latter “with a pair of fine garters of divers colours.”[471]

The bonnet, of which there were various patterns, completed the national garb, and those who could afford had also, as essential accompaniments, a dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of the sheath, and sometimes a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols.

The garb, however, differed materially in quality and in ornamental display, according to the rank or ability of the wearer. The short coat and waistcoat worn by the wealthy, were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the taste of the wearer or fashion of the times, and even “among the better and more provident of the lower ranks,” as General Stewart remarks, silver buttons were frequently found, which had come down to them as an inheritance of long descent. The same author observes, that the reason for wearing these buttons, which were of a large size and of solid silver, was, that their value might defray the expense of a decent funeral in the event of the wearer falling in battle, or dying in a strange country and at a distance from his friends. The officers of Mackay’s and Munroe’s Highland regiments, who served under Gustavus Adolphus in the wars of 1626 and 1638, in addition to rich buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck, to secure the owner, in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or as payment for future ransom.[472]

Although shoe buckles now form a part of the Highland costume, they were unknown in the Highlands 150 years ago. The ancient Highlanders did not wear neckcloths. Their shirts were of woollen cloth, and as linen was long expensive, a considerable time elapsed before linen shirts came into general use. We have heard an old and intelligent Highlander remark, that rheumatism was almost, if not wholly, unknown in the Highlands until the introduction of linen shirts.

It is observed by General Stewart, that “among the circumstances which influenced the military character of the Highlanders, their peculiar garb was conspicuous, which, by its freedom and lightness, enabled them to use their limbs, and to handle their arms with ease and celerity, and to move with great speed when employed with either cavalry or light infantry. In the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, in the civil wars of Charles I., and on various other occasions, they were often mixed with the cavalry, affording to detached squadrons the incalculable advantage of support from infantry, even in their most rapid movements.” “I observed,” says the author of ‘Memoirs of a Cavalier,’ speaking of the Scots army in 1640, “I observed that these parties had always some foot with them, and yet if the horses galloped or pushed on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as they, which was an extraordinary advantage. These were those they call Highlanders; they would run on foot with all their arms, and all their accoutrements, and kept very good order too, and kept pace with the horses, let them go at what rate they would.”

The dress of the women seems to require some little notice. Till marriage, or till they arrived at a certain age, they went with the head bare, the hair being tied with bandages or some slight ornament, after which they wore a head-dress, called the curch, made of linen, which was tied under the chin; but when a young woman lost her virtue and character she was obliged to wear a cap, and never afterwards to appear bare-headed. Martin’s observations on the dress of the females of the western islands may be taken as giving a pretty correct idea of that worn by those of the Highlands. “The women wore sleeves of scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men’s vests, with gold lace round them, having plate buttons set with fine stones. The head-dress was a fine kerchief of linen, strait about the head. The plaid was tied before on the breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of one hundred merks value; the whole curiously engraved with various animals. There was a lesser buckle which was worn in the middle of the larger. It had in the centre a large piece of crystal, or some finer stone, of a lesser size.” The plaid, which, with the exception of a few stripes of red, black, or blue, was white, reached from the neck almost to the feet; it was plaited, and was tied round the waist by a belt of leather, studded with small pieces of silver.

The antiquity of the tartan has been called in question by several writers, who have maintained that it is of modern invention; but they have given no proofs in support of their assertion. In the appendix to this chapter it will be seen that, as far back as the years 1538 and 1597, mention is made of this species of cloth; and in the account of charge and discharge of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer to King James III. in 1471, the following entries occur:--

“An elne and ane halve of blue tartane to lyne his gowne of cloth of gold, £1 10 6

“Four elne and ane halve of tartane for a sparwurt abun his credill, price ane elne, 10s., 2 5 0

“Halve ane elne of duble tartane to lyne collars to her lady the Quene, price 8 shillings.”

It is not at all improbable that Joseph’s well-known “coat of many colours” may have been somewhat of the same nature as tartan; and the writer of the article TARTAN in _Chambers’s Encyclopædia_ says, “this is probably the oldest pattern ever woven; at all events the so-called shepherd’s plaid of Scotland is known to have a very remote antiquity amongst the eastern nations of the world.” It has been proved by Logan, from Diodorus, Pliny, and other ancient writers, that variegated cloth was in common use for purposes of dress among the continental Celts.

When the great improvements in the process of dyeing by means of chemistry are considered, it will appear surprising, that without any knowledge of this art, and without the substances now employed, the Highlanders should have been able, from the scanty materials which their country afforded, to produce the beautiful and lasting colours which distinguish the old Highland tartan, some specimens of which are understood still to exist, and which retain much of their original brilliancy of colouring. “In dyeing and arranging the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families, and districts. Thus, a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, &c., was known by his plaid; and, in like manner, the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colours of different districts, were easily distinguishable. Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of cloth, or brightness and variety of the colours. In those times, when mutual attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprietors and occupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred; and, consequently, it was easy to preserve and perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even among the lower orders.”[473]

The Highlanders, in common with most other nations, were much addicted to superstition. The peculiar aspect of their country, in which nature appears in its wildest and most romantic features, exhibiting at a glance sharp and rugged mountains, with dreary wastes--wide-stretched lakes, and rapid torrents, over which the thunders and lightnings, and tempests, and rains, of heaven, exhaust their terrific rage, wrought upon the creative powers of the imagination, and from these appearances, the Highlanders “were naturally led to ascribe every disaster to the influence of superior powers, in whose character the predominating feature necessarily was malignity towards the human race.”[474]

The most dangerous and most malignant creature was the _kelpie_, or water-horse, which was supposed to allure women and children to his subaqueous haunts, and there devour them. Sometimes he would swell the lake or torrent beyond its usual limits, and overwhelm the unguarded traveller in the flood. The shepherd, as he sat upon the brow of a rock in a summer’s evening, often fancied he saw this animal dashing along the surface of the lake, or browsing on the pasture-ground upon its verge.

The _urisks_, who were supposed to be of a condition somewhat intermediate between that of mortal men and spirits, “were a sort of _lubbary_ supernaturals, who, like the _brownies_ of England, could be gained over by kind attentions to perform the drudgery of the farm; and it was believed that many families in the Highlands had one of the order attached to it.”[475] The urisks were supposed to live dispersed over the Highlands, each having his own wild recess; but they were said to hold stated assemblies in the celebrated cave called _Coire-nan-Uriskin_, situated near the base of Ben-Venue, in Aberfoyle, on its northern shoulder. It overhangs Loch Katrine “in solemn grandeur,” and is beautifully and faithfully described by Sir Walter Scott.[476]

The _urisks_, though generally inclined to mischief, were supposed to relax in their propensity, if kindly treated by the families which they haunted. They were even serviceable in some instances, and in this point of view were often considered an acquisition. Each family regularly set down a bowl of cream for its urisk, and even clothes were sometimes added. The urisk resented any omission or want of attention on the part of the family; and tradition says, that the urisk of _Glaschoil_, a small farm about a mile to the west of Ben-Venue, having been disappointed one night of his bowl of cream, after performing the task allotted him, took his departure about day-break, uttering a horrible shriek, and never again returned.

The _Daoine Shith_, or _Shi’_ (_men of peace_), or as they are sometimes called, _Daoine matha_ (good men), come next to be noticed. Dr. Graham considers the part of the popular superstitions of the Highlands which relates to these imaginary persons, and which is to this day retained, as he observes, in some degree of purity, as “the most beautiful and perfect branch of Highland mythology.”

Although it has been generally supposed that the mythology of the Daoine Shi’ is the same as that respecting the fairies of England, as portrayed by Shakspeare, in the Midsummer Night’s Dream, and perhaps, too, of the Orientals, they differ essentially in many important points.

The Daoine Shi’, or men of peace, who are the _fairies_ of the Highlanders, “though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and substantial enjoyments. They are supposed to enjoy, in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel grandeur, which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortals.”[477] Green was the colour of the dress which these men of peace always wore, and they were supposed to take offence when any of the mortal race presumed to wear their favourite colour. The Highlanders ascribe the disastrous result of the battle of Killiecrankie to the circumstance of Viscount Dundee having been dressed in green on that ill-fated day. This colour is even yet considered ominous to those of his name who assume it.

The abodes of the Daoine Shi’ are supposed to be below grassy eminences or knolls, where, during the night, they celebrate their festivities by the light of the moon, and dance to notes of the softest music.[478] Tradition reports that they have often allured some of the human race into their subterraneous retreats, consisting of gorgeous apartments, and that they have been regaled with the most sumptuous banquets and delicious wines. Their females far exceed the daughters of men in beauty. If any mortal shall be tempted to partake of their repast, or join in their pleasures, he at once forfeits the society of his fellow-men, and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of a Shi’ich, or man of peace.

“A woman,” says a Highland tradition, “was conveyed, in days of yore, into the secret recesses of the men of peace. There she was recognised by one who had formerly been an ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become associated with the Shi’ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human benevolence, warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she valued her liberty, to abstain from eating or drinking with them for a certain space of time. She complied with the counsel of her friend; and when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she had examined the viands which had been presented to her, and which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, now that the enchantment had been removed, to consist only of the refuse of the earth.”

Some mortals, however, who had been so unhappy as to fall into the snares of the Shi’ichs, are generally believed to have obtained a release from Fairyland, and to have been restored to the society of their friends. Ethert Brand, according to the legend, was released by the intrepidity of his sister, as related by Sir Walter Scott in the fourth Canto of the Lady of the Lake:--

“She crossed him thrice that lady bold: He rose beneath her hand, The fairest knight on Scottish mould, Her brother, Ethert Brand!”

A recent tradition gives a similar story, except in its unfortunate catastrophe, and is thus related by Dr. Patrick Graham in his “Sketches of Perthshire.”

The Rev. Robert Kirk, the first translator of the Psalms into Gaelic verse, had formerly been minister at Balquidder, and died minister of Aberfoyle, in 1688, at the early age of 42. His gravestone, which may be seen near the east end of the church of Aberfoyle, bears the inscription which is given underneath.[479] He was walking, it is said, one evening in his night-gown, upon the little eminence to the west of the present manse, which is still reckoned a _Dun_-shi’. He fell down dead, as was believed; but this was not his fate:--

“It was between the night and day, When the fairy king has power, That he sunk down (but not) in sinful fray, And, ’twixt life and death, was snatched away, To the joyless Elfin bower.”

Mr. Kirk was the near relation of Mr. Grahame of Duchray. Shortly after his funeral, he appeared in the dress in which he had sunk down, to a mutual relation of his own and of Duchray. “Go,” said he to him, “to my cousin Duchray, and tell him that I am not dead; I fell down in a swoon, and was carried into Fairy-land, where I now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are assembled at the baptism of my child--for he had left his wife pregnant--I will appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds in his hand over my head, I will be released, and restored to human society.” The man, it seems, neglected for some time, to deliver the message. Mr. Kirk appeared to him a second time, threatening to haunt him night and day till he executed his commission, which at length he did. The day of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table. Mr. Kirk entered, but the laird of Duchray, by some unaccountable fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr. Kirk retired by another door, and was seen no more. It is firmly believed that he is, at this day, in Fairy-land.

Another legend in a similar strain is also given as communicated by a very intelligent young lady:--

“A young man roaming one day through the forest, observed a number of persons, all dressed in green, issuing from one of those round eminences which are commonly accounted fairy hills. Each of them, in succession, called upon a person by name, _to fetch his horse_. A caparisoned steed instantly appeared; they all mounted, and sallied forth into the regions of the air. The young man, like Ali Baba in the Arabian Nights, ventured to pronounce the same name, and called for his horse. The steed immediately appeared; he mounted, and was soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained with them for a year, going about with them to fairs and weddings, and feasting, though unseen by mortal eyes, on the victuals that were exhibited on those occasions. They had, one day, gone to a wedding, where the cheer was abundant. During the feast the bridegroom _sneezed_. The young man, according to the usual custom, said, ‘God bless you.’ The fairies were offended at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and assured him, that if he dared to repeat it they would punish him. The bridegroom _sneezed_ a second time. He repeated his _blessing_; they threatened more than tremendous vengeance. He _sneezed_ a third time; he _blessed_ him as before. The fairies were enraged; they tumbled him from a precipice, but he found himself unhurt, and was restored to the society of mortals.”

The Shi’ichs, or men of peace, are supposed to have a design against new-born children, and women in childbed, whom, it is still universally believed, they sometimes carry off into their secret recesses. To prevent this abduction, women in childbed are closely watched, and are not left alone, even for a single moment, till the child is baptized, when the Shi’ichs are supposed to have no more power over them.[480]

The following tradition will illustrate this branch of the popular superstition respecting the Shi’ichs: A woman whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi’ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredients in a boiling cauldron; and as soon as the composition was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi’ returned. But with that eye, she was henceforth enabled to see every thing as it really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as she had hitherto done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy ornaments of the apartment were reduced to the naked walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, however, she retained the faculty of seeing with her medicated eye, every thing that was done, any where in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shi’ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at thus being recognised by one of mortal race, sternly demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrible frown of his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spat into her eye, and extinguished it for ever.

The Shi’ichs, it is still believed, have a great propensity for attending funerals and weddings, and other public entertainments, and even fairs. They have an object in this; for it is believed that, though invisible to mortal eyes, they are busily employed in carrying away the substantial articles and provisions which are exhibited, in place of which they substitute shadowy forms, having the appearance of the things so purloined. And so strong was the belief in this mythology, even till a recent period, that some persons are old enough to remember, that some individuals would not eat any thing presented on the occasions alluded to, because they believed it to be unsubstantial and hurtful.

As the Shi’ichs are supposed to be present on all occasions, though invisible, the Highlanders, whenever they allude to them, do so in terms of respect. This is, however, done as seldom as possible; and when the Shi’ichs are casually mentioned, the Highlanders add some propitiatory expression of praise to avert their displeasure, which they greatly dread. This reserve and dread on the part of the Highlanders, is said to arise from the peevish envy and jealousy which the Shi’ichs are believed to entertain towards the human race. Although believed to be always present, watching the doings of mortals, the Shi’ichs are supposed to be more particular in their attendance on Friday, on which day they are believed to possess very extensive influence. They are believed to be especially jealous of what may be said concerning them; and if they are at all spoken of on that day, which is never done without great reluctance, the Highlanders uniformly style them the _Daoine matha_, or _good men_.

According to the traditionary legends of the Highlanders, the Shi’ichs are believed to be of both sexes; and it is the general opinion among the Highlanders that men have sometimes cohabited with females of the Shi’ich race, who are in consequence called Leannan Shi’. These mistresses are believed to be very kind to their mortal paramours, by revealing to them the knowledge of many things both present and future, which were concealed from the rest of mankind. The knowledge of the medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related, has been obtained in this way from the Leannan Shi’. The Daoine Shi’ of the other sex are said, in their turn, to have sometimes held intercourse with mistresses of mortal race.

This popular superstition relating to the Daoine Shi’, is supposed, with good reason, to have taken its rise in the times of the Druids, or rather to have been invented by them after the overthrow of their hierarchy, for the purpose of preserving the existence of their order, after they had retreated for safety to caves and the deep recesses of the forest. This idea receives some corroboration from the Gaelic term, _Druidheachd_, which the Highlanders apply to the deceptive power by which the men of peace are believed to impose upon the senses of mankind, “founded, probably, on the opinion entertained of old, concerning the magical powers of the Druids. Deeply versed, according to Cæsar’s information, as the Druids were, in the higher departments of philosophy, and probably acquainted with electricity, and various branches of chemistry, they might find it easy to excite the belief of their supernatural powers, in the minds of the uninitiated vulgar.”[481] The influence of this powerful order upon the popular belief was felt long after the supposed era of its extinction; for it was not until Christianity was introduced into the Highlands, that the total suppression of the Druids took place. Adamnan mentions in his life of St. Columba, the _mocidruidi_, (or sons of Druids,) as existing in Scotland in the time of Columba; and he informs us, “that the saint was interrupted at the castle of the king (of the Picts), in the discharge of his religious offices, by certain _magi_;” a term, by the bye, applied by Pliny to the order of the Druids. The following passage from an ancient Gaelic MS.[482] in the possession of the Highland Society of Scotland, supposed to be of the 12th or 13th century, is conjectured to refer to the incident noticed by Adamnan. “After this, St. Columba went upon a time to the king of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi, son of Milchu, and the gate of the castle was shut against him; but the iron locks of the town opened instantly, through the prayers of Columb Cille. Then came the son of the king, to wit, Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue keenly against Columb Cille, in support of paganism.”

Martin relates, that the natives of South-Uist believed that a valley called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side of the island, was haunted by spirits, whom they called the Great Men, and that if any man or woman entered the valley without first making an entire resignation of themselves to the conduct of the great men, they would infallibly grow mad. The words by which they gave themselves up to the guidance of these men are comprehended in three sentences, wherein the glen is twice named. This author remonstrated with the inhabitants upon this “piece of silly credulity,” but they answered that there had been recently an instance of a woman who went into the glen without resigning herself to the guidance of the great men, “and immediately after she became mad; which confirmed them in their unreasonable fancy.” He also observes, that the people who resided in the glen in summer, said, they sometimes heard a loud noise in the air like men speaking.[483]

The same writer mentions a universal custom among the inhabitants of the Western Islands, of pouring a cow’s milk upon a little hill, or big stone, where a spirit they called Brownie, was believed to lodge, which spirit always appeared in the shape of a tall man, with very long brown hair. On inquiring “from several well-meaning women, who, until of late, had practised it,” they told Martin that it had been transmitted to them by their ancestors, who believed it was attended with good fortune, but the most credulous of the vulgar had then laid it aside.

It was also customary among the “over-curious,” in the Western Islands, to consult an invisible oracle, concerning the fate of families, battles, &c. This was done three different ways; the first was by a company of men, one of whom being chosen by lot, was afterwards carried to a river, the boundary between two villages: four of the company seized on him, and having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs and arms, and then tossing him to and fro, struck his posteriors with force against the bank. One of them then cried out, What is it you have got here? Another answered, A log of birch wood. The other cried again, Let his invisible friends appear from all quarters, and let them relieve him, by giving an answer to our present demands; and in a few minutes after, a number of little creatures came from the sea, who answered the question, and disappeared suddenly. The man was then set at liberty, and they all returned home to take their measures according to the prediction of their false prophets. This was always practised at night.

The second way of consulting the oracle was by a party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and then singling out one of their number, wrapt him in a large cow’s hide, which they folded about him, covering all but his head, in which posture they left him all night until his invisible friends relieved him by giving a proper answer to the question put; which answer he received, as he fancied, from several persons he found about him all that time. His companions returned to him at break of day when he communicated his news to them, which it is said “often proved fatal to those concerned in such unlawful inquiries.”[484]

The third way of consulting the oracle, and which consultation was to serve as a confirmation of the second, was this: The same company who put the man into the hide, took a live cat and put him on a spit. One of the company was employed to turn the spit, and when in the act of turning, one of his companions would ask him, what are you doing? He answered, I roast this cat, until his friends answer the question, the same as that proposed to the man inclosed in the hide. Afterwards a very large cat was said to come, attended by a number of lesser cats, desiring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and answered the question. And if the answer turned out to be the same that was given to the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of the other, which in this case was believed infallible.[485]

A singular practice called _Deis-iuil_ existed in the Western Islands, so called from a man going round carrying fire in his right hand, which in the Gaelic is called _Deas_. In the island of Lewis this fiery circuit was made about the houses, corn, cattle, &c., of each particular family, to protect them from the power of evil spirits. The fire was also carried round about women before they were churched after child-bearing, and about children till they were baptized. This ceremony was performed in the morning and at night, and was practised by some of the old midwives in Martin’s time. Some of them told him that ‘the fire-round was an effectual means of preserving both the mother and the infant from the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away the infant; and when they get them once in their possession, return them poor meagre skeletons; and these infants are said to have voracious appetites, constantly craving for meat. In this case it was usual with those who believed that their children were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy skeleton till next morning; at which time the parents went to the place, where they doubted not to find their own child instead of this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of people in these islands long retained a custom of performing rounds sun-wise, about the persons of their benefactors three times, when they blessed them, and wished good success to all their enterprises. Some were very careful, when they set out to sea, that the boat should be first rowed about sun-wise; and if this was neglected, they were afraid their voyage would prove unfortunate.’

A prevailing superstition also existed in the Western Islands, and among the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast, that women, by a certain charm or by some secret influence, could withdraw and appropriate to their own use the increase of their neighbour’s cow’s milk. It was believed, however, that the milk so charmed did not produce the ordinary quantity of butter usually churned from other milk, and that the curds made of such milk were so tough that they could not be made so firm as other cheese, and that it was also much lighter in weight. It was also believed that the butter produced from the charmed milk could be discovered from that yielded from the charmer’s own milk, by a difference in the colour, the former being of a paler hue than the latter. The woman in whose possession butter so distinguished was found, was considered to be guilty. To bring back the increase of milk, it was usual to take a little of the rennet from all the suspected persons, and put it into an egg shell full of milk, and when the rennet taken from the charmer was mingled with it, it was said presently to curdle, but not before. Some women put the root of groundsel among their cream as an amulet against such charms.

In retaliation for washing dishes, wherein milk was kept, in streams or rivulets in which trouts were, it was believed that they prevented or took away an increase of milk, and the damage thus occasioned could only be repaired by taking a live trout and pouring milk into its mouth. If the milk curdled immediately, this was a sure sign of its being taken away by trouts; if not, the inhabitants ascribed the evil to some other cause. Some women, it was affirmed, had the art to take away the milk of nurses.

A similar superstition existed as to malt, the virtues of which were said to be sometimes imperceptibly filched, by some charm, before being used, so that the drink made of this malt had neither strength nor good taste, while, on the contrary, the supposed charmer had very good ale all the time. The following curious story is told by Martin in relation to this subject. “A gentleman of my acquaintance, for the space of a year, could not have a drop of good ale in his house; and having complained of it to all that conversed with him, he was at last advised to get some yeast from every alehouse in the parish; and having got a little from one particular man, he put it among his wort, which became as good ale as could be drank, and so defeated the charm. After which, the gentleman on whose land this man lived, banished him thirty-six miles from thence.”[486]

A singular mode of divination was sometimes practised by the Highlanders with bones. Having picked the flesh clean off a shoulder-blade of mutton, which was supposed to lose its virtue if touched by iron, they turned towards the east, and with looks steadily fixed on the transparent bone they pretended to foretell deaths, burials, &c.

The phases or changes of the moon were closely observed, and it was only at particular periods of her revolution that they would cut turf or fuel, fell wood, or cut thatch for houses, or go upon any important expedition. They expected better crops of grain by sowing their seed in the moon’s increase. “The moon,” as Dr. Johnson observes, “has great influence in vulgar philosophy,” and in his memory it was a precept annually given in one of the English almanacs, “To kill hogs when the moon was increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling.”

The aid of superstition was sometimes resorted to for curing diseases. For hectic and consumptive complaints, the Highlanders used to pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the patient,--put these parings into a bag made from a piece of his clothes,--and after waving their hand with the bag thrice round his head, and crying, _Deis-iuil_, they buried it in some unknown place. Pliny, in his natural history, says that this practice existed among the Magi of his time.

To remove any contagious disease from cattle, they used to extinguish the fires in the surrounding villages, after which they forced fire with a wheel, or by rubbing one piece of dry wood upon another, with which they burned juniper in the stalls of the cattle that the smoke might purify the air about them. When this was performed, the fires in the houses were rekindled from the forced fire. Shaw relates in his history of Moray, that he personally witnessed both the last-mentioned practices.

Akin to some of the superstitions we have noticed, but differing from them in many essential respects, is the belief--for superstition it cannot well be called--in the Second Sight, by which, as Dr. Johnson observes, “seems to be meant a mode of seeing, super-added to that which nature generally bestows,”[487] and consists of “an impression 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.”[488] This “deceptive faculty” is in Gaelic called _Taibhse_, i.e. a spectre, or a vision, and is neither voluntary nor constant, but consists “in seeing an otherwise invisible object, without any previous means used by the person that sees it for that end; the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seer, that they neither see nor think of any thing else, except the vision, as long as it continues: and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the object which was represented to them.”[489]

It has been observed by lookers-on, that those persons who saw, or were supposed to see, a vision, always kept their eye-lids erect, and that they continued to stare until the object vanished. Martin affirms that he and other persons that were with them, observed this more than once, and he mentions an instance of a man in Skye, the inner part of whose eye-lids was turned so far upwards during a vision, that after the object disappeared he found it necessary to draw them down with his fingers, and would sometimes employ others to draw them down, which he indeed, Martin says, “found from experience to be the easier way.”

The visions are said to have taken place either in the morning, at noon, in the evening, or at night. If an object was seen early in the morning, its accomplishment would take place in a few hours thereafter. If at noon, that very day. If in the evening, perhaps that night; if after the candles were lighted, the accomplishment would take place by weeks, months, and sometimes years, according to the time of night the vision was seen.

As the appearances which are said to have been observed in visions and their prognostics may prove curious to the general reader, a few of them shall be here stated, as noted by Martin.

When a shroud was perceived about one, it was a sure prognostic of death. The time was judged according to the height of it about the person. If not seen above the middle, death was not to be expected for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as it was frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death was concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not hours.

If a woman was seen standing at a man’s left hand, it was a presage that she would be his wife, whether they were married to others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition.

If two or three women were seen at once standing near a man’s left hand, she that was next to him would undoubtedly be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man, were single or married at the time of the vision or not.

It was usual for the Seers to see any man that was shortly to arrive at the house. If unknown to the Seer he would give such a description of the person he saw as to make him to be at once recognised upon his arrival. On the other hand, if the Seer knew the person he saw in the vision, he would tell his name, and know by the expression of his countenance whether he came in a good or bad humour.

The Seers often saw houses, gardens, and trees, in places where there were none, but in the course of time these places became covered with them.

To see a spark of fire fall upon one’s arm or breast, was a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons. To see a seat empty when one was sitting on it, was a presage of that person’s immediate death.

There are now few persons, if any, who pretend to this faculty, and the belief in it is almost generally exploded. Yet it cannot be denied that apparent proofs of its existence have been adduced which have staggered minds not prone to superstition. When the connexion between cause and effect can be recognised, things which would otherwise have appeared wonderful and almost incredible, are viewed as ordinary occurrences. The impossibility of accounting for such an extraordinary phenomenon as the alleged faculty, on philosophical principles, or from the laws of nature, must ever leave the matter suspended between rational doubt and confirmed scepticism. The strong-minded but superstitious Dr. Johnson appears, from the following passage, to have been inclined to believe in the genuineness of the faculty. “Strong reasons for incredulity,” says Dr. Johnson, “will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out of sight is local, and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit. It is ascribed only to a people very little enlightened; and among them, for the most part, to the mean and ignorant. To the confidence of these objections it may be replied, that by presuming to determine what is fit, and what is beneficial, they presuppose more knowledge of the universal system than man has attained; and therefore depend upon principles too complicated and extensive for our comprehension; and that there can be no security in the consequence, when the premises are not understood: that the Second Sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular exercises of the cogitative faculty; that a general opinion of communicative impulses, or visionary representations, has prevailed in all ages and all nations; that particular instances have been given, with such evidence as neither Bacon, nor Bayle, has been able to resist; that sudden impressions, which the event has verified, have been felt by more than own or publish them; that the Second Sight of the Hebrides implies only the local frequency of a power which is no where totally unknown; and that where we are unable to decide by antecedent reason, we must be content to yield to the force of testimony.”[490]

Among the various modes of social intercourse which gladdened the minds and dissipated the few worldly cares of the Highlanders, weddings bore a distinguished part, and they were longed for with a peculiar earnestness. Young and old, from the boy and girl of the age of ten to the hoary-headed sire and aged matron, attended them. The marriage invitations were given by the bride and bridegroom, in person, for some weeks previous, and included the friends of the betrothed parties living at the distance of many miles.

When the bride and bridegroom had completed their rounds, the custom was for the matrons of the invited families to return the visit within a few days, carrying along with them large presents of hams, beef, cheese, butter, malt, spirits, and such other articles as they inclined or thought necessary for the approaching feast. To such an extent was this practice carried in some instances in the quantity presented, that, along with what the guests paid (as they commonly did) for their entertainment at the marriage, and the gifts presented on the day after the marriage, the young couple obtained a pretty fair competence, which warded off the shafts of poverty, and even made them comfortable in after-life.

The joyous wedding-morning was ushered in by the notes of the bagpipe. A party of pipers, followed by the bridegroom and some of his friends, commenced at an early hour a round of morning calls to remind the guests of their engagements. These hastened to join the party, and before the circuit, which sometimes occupied several hours, had ended, some hundreds, perhaps, had joined the wedding standard before they reached the bridegroom’s house. The bride made a similar round among her friends. Separate dinners were provided; the bridegroom giving a dinner to his friends, and the bride to hers. The marriage ceremony was seldom performed till after dinner. The clergyman sometimes attended, but the parties preferred waiting on him, as the appearance of a large procession to his house gave additional importance and eclat to the ceremony of the day, which was further heightened by a constant firing by the young men, who supplied themselves with guns and pistols, and which firing was responded to by every hamlet as the party passed along; “so that, with streamers flying, pipers playing, the constant firing from all sides, and the shouts of the young men, the whole had the appearance of a military army passing, with all the noise of warfare, through a hostile country.”

On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom avoided each other till they met before the clergyman. Many ceremonies were performed during the celebration of the marriage rites. These ceremonies were of an amusing and innocent description, and added much to the cheerfulness and happiness of the young people. One of these ceremonies consisted in untying all the bindings and strings about the person of the bridegroom, to denote, that nothing was to be bound on the marriage day but the one indissoluble knot which death only can dissolve. The bride was exempted from this operation from a delicacy of feeling towards her sex, and from a supposition that she was so pure that infidelity on her part could not be contemplated.

To discontinue practices in themselves innocent, and which contribute to the social happiness of mankind, must ever be regretted, and it is not therefore to be wondered at, that a generous and open-hearted Highlander, like General Stewart, should have expressed his regret at the partial disuse of these ceremonies, or that he should have preferred a Highland wedding, where he had himself “been so happy, and seen so many blithe countenances, and eyes sparkling with delight, to such weddings as that of the Laird of Drum, ancestor of the Lord Sommerville, when he married a daughter of Sir James Bannatyne of Corehouse.”[491]

The festivities of the wedding-day were generally prolonged to a late hour, and during the whole day the fiddlers and pipers never ceased except at short intervals, to make sweet music. The fiddlers performed in the house, the pipers in the field;[492] so that the company alternately enjoyed the pleasure of dancing within and without the house, as they felt inclined, provided the weather permitted.

No people were more attached to the fulfilment of all the domestic duties, and the sacred obligation of the marriage vow, than the Highlanders. A violation thereof was of course of unfrequent occurrence, and among the common people a separation was almost unknown. Rarely, indeed, did a husband attempt to get rid of his wife, however disagreeable she might be. He would have considered his children dishonoured, if he had driven their mother from the protection of his roof. The punishment inflicted by the ecclesiastical authority for an infringement of the marriage vow was, that “the guilty person, whether male or female, was made to stand in a barrel of cold water at the church door, after which, the delinquent, clad in a wet canvas shirt, was made to stand before the congregation, and at close of service the minister explained the nature of the offence.”[493] Illicit intercourse before marriage between the sexes was also of rare occurrence, and met with condign punishment in the public infamy which attended such breaches against chastity.

This was the more remarkable, as early marriages were discouraged, and the younger sons were not allowed to marry until they obtained sufficient means to keep a house and to rent a small farm, or were otherwise enabled to support a family.

The attachment of the Highlanders to their offspring, and the veneration and filial piety which a reciprocal feeling produced on the part of their children, were leading characteristics in the Highland character, and much as these mountaineers have degenerated in some of the other virtues, these affections still remain almost unimpaired. Children seldom desert their parents in their old age, and when forced to earn a subsistence from home, they always consider themselves bound to share with their parents whatever they can save from their wages. But the parents are never left alone, as one of the family, by turns, remains at home for the purpose of taking care of them in terms of an arrangement. “The sense of duty is not extinguished by absence from the mountains. It accompanies the Highland soldier amid the dissipations of a mode of life to which he has not been accustomed. It prompts him to save a portion of his pay, to enable him to assist his parents, and also to work when he has an opportunity, that he may increase their allowance, at once preserving himself from idle habits, and contributing to the comfort and happiness of those who gave him birth. I have been a frequent witness of these offerings of filial bounty, and the channel through which they were communicated, and I have generally found that a threat of informing their parents of misconduct, has operated as a sufficient check on young soldiers, who always received the intimation with a sort of horror. They knew that the report would not only grieve their relations, but act as a sentence of banishment against themselves, as they could not return home with a bad or blemished character. Generals M’Kenzie, Fraser, and M’Kenzie of Suddie, who successively commanded the 78th Highlanders, seldom had occasion to resort to any other punishment than threats of this kind, for several years after the embodying of that regiment.”[494]

Nor were the Highlanders less alive to the principles of honesty and fair dealing, in their transactions with one another. Disgrace was the usual consequence of insolvency, which was considered _ex facie_ criminal. Bankrupts were compelled to undergo a singular punishment. They “were forced to surrender their all, and were clad in a party-coloured clouted garment, with the hose of different sets, and had their hips dashed against a stone, in presence of the people, by four men, each taking a hold of an arm or a leg. This punishment was called _Toncruaidh_.”[495]

Such was the confidence in their honour and integrity, that in the ordinary transactions of the people, a mere verbal obligation without the intervention of any writing, was held quite sufficient, although contracted in the most private manner,[496] and there were few instances where the obligation was either unfulfilled or denied. Their mode of concluding or confirming their money agreements or other transactions, was by the contracting parties going out into the open air, and with eyes erect, taking Heaven to witness their engagements, after which, each party put a mark on some remarkable stone or other natural object, which their ancestors had been accustomed to notice.

Accustomed, as the Highlanders were, to interminable feuds arising out of the pretensions of rival clans, the native courage which they had inherited from their Celtic progenitors was preserved unimpaired. Instances of cowardice were, therefore, of rare occurrence, and whoever exhibited symptoms of fear before a foe, was considered infamous and put under the ban of his party. The following anecdote, as related by Mrs. Grant, shows, strongly, the detestation which the Highlanders entertained towards those who had disgraced themselves and their clan by an act of poltroonery: “There was a clan, _I must not say what clan it is_, who had been for ages governed by a series of chiefs, singularly estimable, and highly beloved, and who, in one instance, provoked their leader to the extreme of indignation. I should observe, that the transgression was partial, the culprits being the inhabitants of one single parish. These, in a hasty skirmish with a neighbouring clan, thinking discretion the best part of valour, sought safety in retreat. A cruel chief would have inflicted the worst of punishments--banishment from the bounds of his clan,--which, indeed, fell little short of the curse of Kehama. This good laird, however, set bounds to his wrath, yet made their punishment severe and exemplary. He appeared himself with all the population of the three adjacent parishes, at the parish church of the offenders, where they were all by order convened. After divine service, they were marched three times round the church, in presence of their offended leader and his assembled clan. Each individual, on coming out of the church door, was obliged to draw out his tongue with his fingers, and then cry audibly, ‘Shud bleider heich,’ (i.e.) ‘This is the poltroon,’ and to repeat it at every corner of the church. After this procession of ignominy, no other punishment was inflicted, except that of being left to guard the district when the rest were called out to battle.... It is credibly asserted, that no enemy has seen the back of any of that name (Grant) ever since. And it is certain, that, to this day, it is not safe for any person of another name to mention the circumstance in presence of one of the affronted clan.”[497]

The Highlanders, like the inhabitants of other romantic and mountainous regions, always retain an enthusiastic attachment to their country, which neither distance of place nor length of time can efface. This strong feeling has, we think, been attributed erroneously to the powerful and lasting effect which the external objects of nature, seen in their wildest and most fantastic forms and features, are calculated to impress upon the imagination.

No doubt the remembrance of these objects might contribute to endear the scenes of youth to the patriotic Highlander when far removed from his native glens; but it was the recollection of home,--sweet home!--of the domestic circle, and of the many pleasing associations which arise from the contemplation of the days of other years, when mirth and innocence held mutual dalliance, that chiefly impelled him to sigh for the land of his fathers. Mankind have naturally an affection for the country of their birth, and this affection is felt more or less according to the degree of social or commercial intercourse which exists among nations. Confined, like the Swiss, for many ages within their natural boundaries, and having little or no intercourse with the rest of the world, the Highlanders formed those strong local attachments for which they were long remarkably distinguished; but which are now being gradually obliterated by the mighty changes rapidly taking place in the state of society.

Firmly attached as they were to their country, the Highlanders had also a singular predilection for the place of their birth. An amusing instance of this local attachment is mentioned by General Stewart. A tenant of his father’s, at the foot of the mountain Shichallion, having removed and followed his son to a farm which the latter had taken at some distance lower down the country, the old man was missing for a considerable time one morning, and on being asked on his return where he had been, replied, “As I was sitting by the side of the river, a thought came across me, that, perhaps, some of the waters from Shichallion, and the sweet fountains that watered the farm of my forefathers, might now be passing by me, and that if I bathed they might touch my skin. I immediately stripped, and, from the pleasure I felt in being surrounded by the pure waters of Leidna-breilag (the name of the farm) I could not tear myself away sooner.” But this fondness of the Highlander was not confined to the desire of living upon the beloved spot--it extended even to the grave. The idea of dying at a distance from home and among strangers could not be endured, and the aged Highlander, when absent from his native place, felt discomposed lest death should overtake him before his return. To be consigned to the grave among strangers, without the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a distance from their family, was considered a heavy calamity; and even to this day, people make the greatest exertions to carry home the bodies of such relations as happen to die far from the ground hallowed by the ashes of their forefathers.[498] This trait was exemplified in the case of a woman aged ninety-one, who a few years ago went to Perth from her house in Strathbrane in perfect health, and in the possession of all her faculties. A few days after her arrival in Perth, where she had gone to visit a daughter, she had a slight attack of fever. One evening a considerable quantity of snow had fallen, and she expressed great anxiety, particularly when told that a heavier fall was expected. Next morning her bed was found empty, and no trace of her could be discovered, till the second day, when she sent word that she had slipt out of the house at midnight, set off on foot through the snow, and never stopped till she reached home, a distance of twenty miles. When questioned some time afterwards why she went away so abruptly, she answered, “If my sickness had increased, and if I had died, they could not have sent my remains home through the deep snows. If I had told my daughter, perhaps she would have locked the door upon me, and God forbid that my bones should be at such a distance from home, and be buried among _Gall-na-machair_, The strangers of the plain.”[499]

Among the causes which contributed to sustain the warlike character of the Highlanders, the exertions of the bards in stimulating them to deeds of valour in the field of battle, must not be overlooked. One of the most important duties of the bard consisted in attending the clans to the field, and exhorting them before battle to emulate the glories of their ancestors, and to die if necessary in defence of their country. The appeals of the bards, which were delivered and enforced with great vehemence and earnestness, never failed to arouse the feelings; and when amid the din of battle the voices of the bards could no longer be heard, the pipers succeeded them, and cheered on their respective parties with their warlike and inspiring strains. After the termination of the battle, the bard celebrated the praises of the brave warriors who had fallen in battle, and related the heroic actions of the survivors to excite them to similar exertions on future occasions. To impress still more deeply upon the minds of the survivors the honour and heroism of their fallen friends, the piper was employed to perform plaintive dirges for the slain.

From the associations raised in the mind by the great respect thus paid to the dead, and the honours which awaited the survivors who distinguished themselves in the field of battle, by their actions being celebrated by the bards, and transmitted to posterity, originated that magnanimous contempt of death for which the Highlanders are noted. While among some people the idea of death is avoided with studious alarm, the Highlander will speak of it with an easy and unconcerned familiarity, as an event of ordinary occurrence, but in a way “equally remote from dastardly affectation, or fool-hardy presumption, and proportioned solely to the inevitable certainty of the event itself.”[500]

To be interred decently, and in a becoming manner, is a material consideration in the mind of a Highlander, and care is generally taken, even by the poorest, long before the approach of death, to provide sufficient articles to insure a respectable interment. To wish one another an honourable death, _crioch onarach_, is considered friendly by the Highlanders, and even children will sometimes express the same sentiment towards their parents. “A man well known to the writer of these pages was remarkable for his filial affection, even among the sons and daughters of the mountains, so distinguished for that branch of piety. His mother being a widow, and having a numerous family, who had married very early, he continued to live single, that he might the more sedulously attend to her comfort, and watch over her declining years with the tenderest care. On her birth-day, he always collected his brothers and sisters, and all their families, to a sort of kindly feast, and, in conclusion, gave a toast, not easily translated from the emphatic language, without circumlocution,--_An easy and decorous departure to my mother_, comes nearest to it. This toast, which would shake the nerves of fashionable delicacy, was received with great applause, the old woman remarking, that God had been always good to her, and she hoped she would die as decently as she had lived, for it is thought of the utmost consequence to die decently. The ritual of decorous departure, and of behaviour to be observed by the friends of the dying on that solemn occasion, being fully established, nothing is more common than to take a solemn leave of old people, as if they were going on a journey, and pretty much in the same terms. People frequently send conditional messages to the departed. _If you are permitted, tell my dear brother, that I have merely endured the world since he left it, and that I have been very kind to every creature he used to cherish, for his sake._ I have, indeed, heard a person of a very enlightened mind, seriously give a message to an aged person, to deliver to a child he had lost not long before, which she as seriously promised to deliver, with the wonted salvo, if she was permitted.”[501]

In no country was “the savage virtue of hospitality” carried to a greater extent than in the Highlands, and never did stranger receive a heartier welcome than was given to the guest who entered a Highland mansion or cottage. This hospitality was sometimes carried rather too far, particularly in the island of Barra, where, according to Martin, the custom was, that, when strangers from the northern islands went there, “the natives, immediately after their landing, obliged them to eat, even though they should have liberally eat and drank but an hour before their landing there.” This meat they called _Bieyta’v_, i.e. Ocean meat. Sir Robert Gordon informs us that it was a custom among the western islanders, that when one was invited to another’s house, they never separated till the whole provision was finished; and that, when it was done, they went to the next house, and so on from one house to another until they made a complete round, from neighbour to neighbour, always carrying the head of the family in which they had been last entertained to the next house along with them.[502]

The removal of the court by Malcolm Canmore to the Lowlands was an event which was followed by results very disastrous to the future prosperity of the Highlands. The inhabitants soon sunk into a state of poverty, and, as by the transference of the seat of government the administration of the laws became either inoperative or was feebly enforced, the people gave themselves up to violence and turbulence, and revenged in person those injuries which the laws could no longer redress. Released from the salutary control of monarchical government, the Highlanders soon saw the necessity of substituting some other system in its place, to protect themselves against the aggressions to which they were exposed. From this state of things originated the great power of the Chiefs, who attained their ascendancy over the different little communities into which the population of the Highlands was naturally divided, on account of their superior property, courage, or talent. The powers of the chiefs were very great. They acted as judges or arbiters in the quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and as they were backed by resolute supporters of their rights, their property, and their power, they established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost independent of the kingly authority.

From this division of the people into clans and tribes under separate chiefs, arose many of those institutions, feelings, and usages which characterised the Highlanders. “The nature of the country, and the motives which induced the Celts to make it their refuge, almost necessarily prescribed the form of their institutions. Unequal to contend with the overwhelming numbers, who drove them from the plains, and, anxious to preserve their independence, and their blood uncontaminated by a mixture with strangers, they defended themselves in those strongholds which are, in every country, the sanctuaries of national liberty, and the refuge of those who resist the oppressions and the dominion of a more powerful neighbour. Thus, in the absence of their monarchs, and defended by their barrier of rocks, they did not always submit to the authority of a distant government, which could neither enforce obedience nor afford protection.”[503]

The various little societies into which the Highland population was, by the nature of the country, divided, having no desire to change their residence or to keep up a communication with one another, and having all their wants, which were few, supplied within themselves, became individually isolated. Every district became an independent state, and thus the Highland population, though possessing a community of customs and the same characteristics, was divided or broken into separate masses, and placed under different jurisdictions. A patriarchal[504] system of government, “a sort of hereditary monarchy founded on custom, and allowed by general consent, rather than regulated by laws,” was thus established over each community or clan in the persons of the chiefs.

As a consequence of the separation which was preserved by the different clans, matrimonial alliances were rarely made with strangers, and hence the members of the clan were generally related to one another by the ties of consanguinity or affinity. While this double connexion tended to preserve harmony and good will among the members of the same clan, it also tended, on the other hand, to excite a bitter spirit of animosity between rival clans, whenever an affront or injury was offered by one clan to another, or by individuals of different clans.

Although the chief had great power with his clan in the different relations of landlord, leader, and judge, his authority was far from absolute, as he was obliged to consult the leading men of the clan in matters of importance--in things regarding the clan or particular families, in removing differences, punishing or redressing injuries, preventing lawsuits, supporting declining families, and declaring war against, or adjusting terms of peace with other clans.

As the system of clanship was calculated to cherish a warlike spirit, the young chiefs and heads of families were regarded or despised according to their military or peaceable disposition. If they revenged a quarrel with another clan by killing some of the enemy, or carrying off their cattle and laying their lands waste, they were highly esteemed, and great expectations were formed of their future prowess and exploits. But if they failed in their attempts, they were not respected; and if they appeared disinclined to engage in hostile rencontres, they were despised.[505]

The military ranks of the clans were fixed and perpetual. The chief was, of course, the principal commander. The oldest cadet commanded the right wing, and the youngest the rear. Every head of a distinct family was captain of his own tribe. An ensign or standard-bearer was attached to each clan, who generally inherited his office, which had been usually conferred on an ancestor who had distinguished himself. A small salary was attached to this office.

Each clan had a stated place of rendezvous, where they met at the call of their chief. When an emergency arose for an immediate meeting from the incursions of a hostile clan, the cross or tarie, or fiery-cross, was immediately despatched through the territories of the clan. This signal consisted of two pieces of wood placed in the form of a cross. One of the ends of the horizontal piece was either burnt or burning, and a piece of linen or white cloth stained with blood was suspended from the other end. Two men, each with a cross in his hand, were despatched by the chief in different directions, who kept running with great speed, shouting the war-cry of the tribe, and naming the place of rendezvous, if different from the usual place of meeting. The cross was delivered from hand to hand, and as each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the clan assembled with great celerity. General Stewart says, that one of the latest instances of the fiery-cross being used, was in 1745 by Lord Breadalbane, when it went round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours, to raise his people and prevent their joining the rebels, but with less effect than in 1715 when it went the same round, and when 500 men assembled in a few hours, under the command of the Laird of Glenlyon, to join the Earl of Mar.

Every clan had its own war-cry, (called in Scottish _slogan_,) to which every clansman answered. It served as a watch-word in cases of sudden alarm, in the confusion of combat, or in the darkness of the night. The clans were also distinguished by a particular badge, or by the peculiar arrangements or sets of the different colours of the tartan, which will be fully noticed when we come to treat of the history of the clans.

When a clan went upon any expedition they were much influenced by omens. If they met an armed man they believed that good was portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare, or any other four-footed beast of game, and did not succeed in killing it, they prognosticated evil. If a woman barefooted crossed the road before them, they seized her and drew blood from her forehead.

The _Cuid-Oidhche_, or night’s provision, was paid by many tenants to the chief; and in hunting or going on an expedition, the tenant who lived near the hill was bound to furnish the master and his followers a night’s entertainment, with brawn for his dogs.

There are no sufficient data to enable us to estimate correctly the number of fighting men which the clans could bring at any time into the field; but a general idea may be formed of their strength in 1745, from the following statement of the respective forces of the clans as taken from the memorial supposed to be drawn up by the Lord President Forbes of Culloden, for the information of government. It is to be observed, however, that besides the clans here mentioned, there were many independent gentlemen, as General Stewart observes, who had many followers, but being what were called broken names, or small tribes, are omitted.

Argyle, 3000 Breadalbane, 1000 Lochnell and other chieftains of the Campbells, 1000 Macleans, 500 Maclauchlans, 200 Stewart of Appin, 300 Macdougals, 200 Stewart of Grandtully, 300 Clan Gregor, 700 Duke of Athol, 3000 Farquarsons, 500 Duke of Gordon, 300 Grant of Grant, 850 Mackintosh, 800 Macphersons, 400 Frasers, 900 Grant of Glenmorriston, 150 Chisholms, 200 Duke of Perth, 300 Seaforth, 1000 Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other chieftains of the Mackenzies, 1500 Laird of Menzies, 300 Munros, 300 Rosses, 500 Sutherland, 2000 Mackays, 800 Sinclairs, 1100 Macdonald of Slate, 700 Macdonald of Clanronald, 700 Macdonell of Glengary, 500 Macdonell of Keppoch, 300 Macdonald of Glencoe, 130 Robertsons, 200 Camerons, 800 M’Kinnon, 200 Macleod, 700 The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute and Moray, Macfarlanes, M’Neils of Barra, M’Nabs, M’Naughtons, Lamonts, &c. &c. 5600 ----- 31,930

There is nothing so remarkable in the political history of any country as the succession of the Highland chiefs, and the long and uninterrupted sway which they held over their followers. The authority which a chief exercised among his clan was truly paternal, and he might, with great justice, have been called the father of his people. We cannot account for that warm attachment and the incorruptible and unshaken fidelity which the clans uniformly displayed towards their chiefs, on any other ground, than the kind and conciliatory system which they must have adopted towards their people; for, much as the feelings of the latter might have been awakened, by the songs and traditions of the bards, to a respect for the successors of the heroes whose praises they heard celebrated, a sense of wrongs committed, or of oppressions exercised, would have obliterated every feeling of attachment in the minds of the sufferers, and caused them to attempt to get rid of a tyrant who had rendered himself obnoxious by his tyranny.

The division of the people into small tribes, and the establishment of patriarchal government, were attended with many important consequences affecting the character of the Highlanders. This creation of an _imperium in imperio_ was an anomaly, but it was, nevertheless, rendered necessary from the state of society in the Highlands shortly after the transference of the seat of government from the mountains. The authority of the king, though weak and inefficient, continued, however, to be recognised, nominally at least, except indeed when he interfered in the disputes between the clans. On such occasions his authority was utterly disregarded. “His mandates could neither stop the depredations of one clan against another, nor allay their mutual hostilities. Delinquents could not, with impunity, be pursued into the bosom of a clan which protected them, nor could his judges administer the laws in opposition to their interests or their will. Sometimes he strengthened his arm by fomenting animosities among them, and by entering occasionally into the interest of one, in order to weaken another. Many instances of this species of policy occur in Scottish history, which, for a long period, was unhappily a mere record of internal violence.”[506]

The general laws being thus superseded by the internal feuds of the clans, and the authority of the sovereign being insufficient to repress these disorders, a perpetual system of warfare, aggression, depredation, and contention existed among them, which, during the continuance of clanship, banished peace from the Highlands. The little sovereignties of the clans “touched at so many points, yet were so independent of one another; they approached so nearly, in many respects, yet were, in others, so distant; there were so many opportunities of encroachment, on the one hand, and so little of a disposition to submit to it, on the other; and the quarrel of one individual of the tribe so naturally involved the rest, that there was scarcely ever a profound peace, or perfect cordiality between them. Among their chiefs the most deadly feuds frequently arose from opposing interests, or from wounded pride. These feuds were warmly espoused by the whole clan, and were often transmitted, with aggravated animosity, from generation to generation.”[507]

The disputes between opposing clans were frequently made matters of negotiation, and their differences were often adjusted by treaties. Opposing clans, as a means of strengthening themselves against the attacks of their rivals, or of maintaining the balance of power, also entered into coalitions with friendly neighbours. These bands of amity or _manrent_, as they were called, were of the nature of treaties of offensive and defensive alliance, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to assist each other; and it is remarkable that the duty of allegiance to the king was always acknowledged in these treaties,--“always excepting my duty to our lord the king, and to our kindred and friends,” was a clause which was uniformly inserted in them. In the same manner, when men who were not chiefs of clans, but of subordinate tribes, thus bound themselves, their fidelity to their chiefs was always excepted. The smaller clans who were unable to defend themselves, and such clans or families who had lost their chiefs, were included in these friendly treaties.[508] Under these treaties the smaller clans identified themselves with the greater clans; they engaged in the quarrels, followed the fortunes, and fought under the greater chiefs; but their ranks, as General Stewart observes, were separately marshalled, and led by their own subordinate chieftains and lairds, who owned submission only when necessary, for the success of combined operations. Several instances of this union will be found in the history of the clans.

As the system of clanship, by ignoring the authority of the sovereign and of the laws, prevented the clans from ever coming to any general terms of accommodation for settling their differences, their feuds were interminable, and the Highlands were, therefore, for ages, the theatre of a constant petty warfare destructive of the social virtues. “The spirit of opposition and rivalry between the clans perpetuated a system of hostility, encouraged the cultivation of the military at the expense of the social virtues, and perverted their ideas of both law and morality. Revenge was accounted a duty, the destruction of a neighbour a meritorious exploit, and rapine an honourable occupation. Their love of distinction, and their conscious reliance on their courage, when under the direction of these perverted notions, only tended to make their feuds more implacable, their condition more agitated, and their depredations more rapacious and desolating. Superstition added its influence in exasperating animosities, by teaching the clansmen, that, to revenge the death of a relation or friend, was a sacrifice agreeable to their shades: thus engaging on the side of the most implacable hatred, and the darkest vengeance, the most amiable and domestic of all our feelings,--reverence for the memory of the dead, and affection for the virtues of the living.”[509]

As the causes out of which feuds originated were innumerable, so many of them were trivial and unimportant, but as submission to the most trifling insult was considered disgraceful, and might, if overlooked, lead to fresh aggression, the clan was immediately summoned, and the cry for revenge met with a ready response in every breast. The most glaring insult that could be offered to a clan, was to speak disrespectfully of its chief,[510] an offence which was considered as a personal affront by all his followers, and was resented accordingly.

It often happened that the insulted clan was unable to take the field to repel aggression or to vindicate its honour; but the injury was never forgotten, and the memory of it was treasured up till a fitting opportunity for taking revenge should arrive. The want of strength was sometimes supplied by cunning, and the blackest and deadliest intentions of hatred and revenge were sought to be perpetrated under the mask of conciliation and friendship. This was the natural result of the inefficiency of the laws which could afford no redress for wrongs, and which, therefore, left every individual to vindicate his rights with his own hand. The feeling of revenge, when directed against rival tribes, was cherished and honoured, and to such an extent was it carried, that there are well authenticated instances where one of the adverse parties has been exterminated in the bloody and ferocious conflicts which the feuds occasioned.

As the wealth of the Highlanders consisted chiefly in flocks and herds, “the usual mode of commencing attacks, or of making reprisals, was by an incursion to carry off the cattle of the hostile clan. A predatory expedition was the general declaration of enmity, and a command given by the chief to clear the pastures of the enemy, constituted the usual letters of marque.”[511] These _Creachs_, as such depredations were termed, were carried on with systematic order, and were considered as perfectly justifiable. If lives were lost in these forays, revenge full and ample was taken, but in general personal hostilities were avoided in these incursions either against the Lowlanders or rival tribes. These predatory expeditions were more frequently directed against the Lowlanders, whom the Highlanders considered as aliens, and whose cattle they, therefore, considered as fair spoil at all times. The forays were generally executed with great secrecy, and the cattle were often _lifted_ and secured for a considerable time before they were missed. To trace the cattle which had been thus carried off, the owners endeavoured to discover their foot-marks in the grass, or by the yielding of the heath over which they had passed; and so acute had habit rendered their sight, that they frequently succeeded, in this manner, in discovering their property. The man on whose property the tract of the cattle was lost was held liable if he did not succeed in following out the trace or discovering the cattle; and if he did not make restitution, or offer to compensate the loss, an immediate quarrel was the consequence. A reward, called _Tasgal_ money, was sometimes offered for the recovery of stolen cattle; but as this was considered in the light of a bribe, it was generally discouraged. The Camerons and some other clans, it is said, bound themselves by oath never to accept such a reward, and to put to death all who should receive it.

Besides those who took part in the _Creachs_ there was another and a peculiar class called _Cearnachs_, a term of similar import with the _Catherans_ of the Lowlands, the _Kernes_ of the English, and the _Catervæ_ of the Romans. The Cearnachs were originally a select body of men employed in difficult and dangerous enterprises where more than ordinary honour was to be acquired; but, in process of time, they were employed in the degrading and dishonourable task of levying contributions on their Lowland neighbours, or in forcing them to pay tribute or _black mail_ for protection. Young men of the second order of gentry who were desirous of entering the military profession, frequently joined in these exploits, as they were considered well fitted for accustoming those who engaged in them to the fatigues and exercises incident to a military life. The celebrated Robert Macgregor Campbell, or Rob Roy,[512] was the most noted of these freebooters.

The cearnachs were principally the borderers living close to and within the Grampian range, but cearnachs from the more northerly parts of the Highlands also paid frequent visits to the Lowlands, and carried off large quantities of booty. The border cearnachs judging such irruptions as an invasion of their rights, frequently attacked the northern cearnachs on their return homewards; and if they succeeded in capturing the spoil, they either appropriated it to their own use or restored it to the owners.

It might be supposed that the system of spoliation we have described, would have led these freebooters occasionally to steal from one another. Such, however, was not the case; for they observed the strictest honesty in this respect. No precautions were taken--because unnecessary--to protect property; and the usual securities of locks, bolts, and bars, were never used, nor even thought of. Instances of theft from dwelling-houses were very rare; and, with the exception of one case which happened so late as the year 1770, highway robbery was totally unknown. Yet, notwithstanding the laudable regard thus shown by the freebooters to the property of their own society, they attached no ideas of moral turpitude to the acts of spoliation we have alluded to. Donald Cameron, or Donald Bane Leane, an active leader of a party of banditti who had associated together after the troubles of 1745, tried at Perth for cattle-stealing, and executed at Kinloch Rannoch, in 1752, expressed surprise and indignation at his hard fate, as he considered it, as he had never committed murder nor robbery, or taken any thing but cattle off the grass of those with whom he had quarrelled. The practice of “lifting of cattle” seems to have been viewed as a very venial offence, even by persons holding very different views of morality from the actors, in proof of which, General Stewart refers to a letter of Field-Marshal Wade to Mr. Forbes of Culloden, then Lord Advocate, dated October, 1729, describing an entertainment given him on a visit to a party of cearnachs. “The Knight and I,” says the Marshal, “travelled in my carriage with great ease and pleasure to the feast of oxen which the highwaymen had prepared for us, opposite Lochgarry, where we found four oxen roasting at the same time, in great order and solemnity. We dined in a tent pitched for that purpose. The beef was excellent; and we had plenty of bumpers, not forgetting your Lordship’s and Culloden’s health; and, after three hours’ stay, took leave of our benefactors, the highwaymen,[513] and arrived at the hut at Dalnachardoch, before it was dark.”[514]

Amid the violence and turbulence which existed in the Highlands, no appeal for redress of wrongs committed, or injuries sustained, could be effectually made to the legal tribunals of the country; but to prevent the utter anarchy which would have ensued from such a state of society, voluntary and associated tribunals, composed of the principal men of the tribes, were appointed. A composition in cattle being the mode of compensating injuries, these tribunals generally determined the amount of the compensation according to the nature of the injury, and the wealth and rank of the parties. These compensations were called _Erig_.

Besides these tribunals, every chief held a court, in which he decided all disputes occurring among his clansmen. He generally resided among them. “His castle was the court where rewards were distributed, and the most enviable distinctions conferred. All disputes were settled by his decision, and the prosperity or poverty of his tenants depended on his proper or improper treatment of them. These tenants followed his standard in war--attended him in his hunting excursions--supplied his table with the produce of their farms--and assembled to reap his corn, and to prepare and bring home his fuel. They looked up to him as their adviser and protector. The cadets of his family, respected in proportion to the proximity of the relation in which they stood to him, became a species of sub-chiefs, scattered over different parts of his domains, holding their lands and properties of him, with a sort of subordinate jurisdiction over a portion of his people, and were ever ready to afford him their counsel or assistance in all emergencies.

“Great part of the rent of land was paid in kind, and generally consumed where it was produced. One chief was distinguished from another, not by any additional splendour of dress or equipage, but by being followed by more dependants, and by entertaining a greater number of guests. What his retainers gave from their individual property was spent amongst them in the kindest and most liberal manner. At the castle every individual was made welcome, and was treated according to his station, with a degree of courtesy and regard to his feelings unknown in any other country.[515] This condescension, while it raised the clansman in his own estimation, and drew closer the ties between him and his superior, seldom tempted him to use any improper familiarities. He believed himself well born, and was taught to respect himself in the respect which he showed to his chief; and thus, instead of complaining of the difference of station and fortune, or considering a ready obedience to his chieftain’s call as a slavish oppression, he felt convinced that he was supporting his own honour in showing his gratitude and duty to the generous head of his family. ‘Hence, the Highlanders, whom more savage nations called savage, carried in the outward expression of their manners the politeness of courts without their vices, and in their bosoms the high point of honour without its follies.’”[516]

It cannot, however, be denied, that the authority of the chief was naturally arbitrary, and was sometimes exercised unduly and with great severity; as a proof of which, there is said to exist among the papers of the Perth family, an application to Lord Drummond from the town of Perth, dated in 1707, requesting an occasional use of his lordship’s executioner, who was considered an expert operator, a request with which his lordship complied, reserving, however, to himself the power of recalling the executioner when he had occasion for his services. Another curious illustration of this exercise of power is given by General Stewart. Sometime before the year 1745, Lord President Forbes dined at Blair castle with the Duke of Athole, on his way from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden. A petition was delivered to his Grace in the course of the evening, on reading which, he thus addressed the President: “My lord, here is a petition from a poor man, whom Commissary Bisset, my baron bailie (an officer to whom the chief occasionally delegated his authority), has condemned to be hanged; and as he is a clever fellow, and is strongly recommended to mercy, I am much inclined to pardon him.” “But your Grace knows,” said the President, “that, after condemnation, no man can pardon but his Majesty.” “As to that,” replied the Duke, “since I have the power of punishing, it is but right that I should have the power to pardon.” Then, calling upon a servant who was in waiting, his Grace said, “Go, send an express to Logierait, and order Donald Stewart, presently under sentence, to be instantly set at liberty.”[517]

The authority which the generality of the chiefs exercised, was acquired from ancient usage and the weakness of the government; but the lords of regality, and the great barons and chiefs, had jurisdiction conferred on them by the Crown, both in civil and criminal cases, which they sometimes exercised in person and sometimes by deputy. The persons to whom they delegated this authority were called _bailies_. In civil matters the baron or chief could judge in questions of debt within his barony, as well as in most of those cases known by the technical term of possessory

## actions. And though it has always been an established rule of law,

that no person can be judge in his own cause, a baron might judge in all actions between himself and his vassals and tenants, necessary for making his rents and feu-duties effectual. Thus, he could ascertain the price of corn due by a tenant, and pronounce sentence against him for arrears of rent; but in all cases where the chief was a party, he could not judge in person. The criminal jurisdiction of a baron, according to the laws ascribed to Malcolm Mackenneth, extended to all crimes except treason, and the four pleas of the Crown, viz., robbery, murder, rape, and fire-raising. Freemen could be tried by none but their peers. Whenever the baron held a court, his vassals were bound to attend and afford such assistance as might be required. On these occasions many useful regulations for the good of the community were often made, and supplies were sometimes voluntarily granted to the chief to support his dignity. The bounty of the vassals was especially and liberally bestowed on the marriage of the chief, and in the portioning of his daughters and younger sons. These donations consisted of cattle, which constituted the principal riches of the country in those patriarchal days. In this way the younger sons of the chief were frequently provided for on their settlement in life.

The reciprocal ties which connected the chief and his clan were almost indissoluble. In return for the kindness and paternal care bestowed by the former on the latter, they yielded a ready submission to his authority, and evinced a rare fidelity to his person, which no adversity could shake. Innumerable instances of this devoted attachment might be given, but two will suffice. In the battle of Inverkeithing, between the royalists and the troops of Oliver Cromwell, 500 of the followers of the Laird of Maclean were left dead on the field. Sir Hector Maclean being hard pressed by the enemy in the heat of the action, was successively covered from their attacks by seven brothers, all of whom sacrificed their lives in his defence; and as one fell another came up in succession to cover him, crying, “Another for Hector.” This phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since a proverb or watchword, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succour. The other instance is that of a servant of the late James Menzies of Culdares, who had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715. Mr. Menzies was taken at Preston in Lancashire, was carried to London, where he was tried and condemned, but afterwards reprieved. This act prevented him from turning out in 1745: but to show his good wishes towards Prince Charles, he sent him a handsome charger as a present, when advancing through England. The servant who led and delivered the horse was taken prisoner and carried to Carlisle, where he was tried and condemned. Every attempt was made, by threats of immediate execution, in case of refusal, and promises of pardon, on giving information, to extort a discovery from him of the person who sent the horse, but in vain. He knew, he said, what would be the consequence of a disclosure, and that his own life was nothing in comparison with that which it would endanger. Being hard pressed at the place of execution to inform on his master, he asked those about him if they were really serious in supposing that he was such a villain as to betray his master. He said, that if he did what they desired, and forgot his master and his trust, he needed not return to his country, for Glenlyon would be no home or country for him, as he would be despised and hunted out of the glen. This trusty servant’s name was John Macnaughton, a native of Glenlyon in Perthshire.[518]

The obedience and attachment of the Highlanders to their chiefs, and the readiness they displayed, on all occasions, to adopt, when called upon, the quarrels of their superiors, did not, however, make them forget their own independence. When a chief was unfit for his situation, or had degraded his name and family, the clan proceeded to depose him, and set up the next in succession, if deserving, to whom they transferred their allegiance, as happened to two chiefs of the families of Macdonald of Clanronald and Macdonell of Keppoch. The head of the family of Stewart of Garth, who, on account of his ferocious disposition, was nick-named the “Fierce Wolf,” was, about the year 1520, not only deposed, but confined for life in a cell in the castle of Garth, which was, therefore, long regarded by the people with a kind of superstitious terror. The clans even sometimes interfered with the choice of the chiefs in changing their places of abode, or in selecting a site for a new residence. The Earl of Seaforth was prevented by his clan (the M’Kenzies) from demolishing Brahan castle, the principal seat of the family. In the same way the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor of the Marquis of Breadalbane, having some time previous to the year 1570, laid the foundation of a castle which he intended to build on a hill on the side of Lochtay, was compelled, or induced, by his people, to change his plan and build the castle of Balloch or Taymouth.

From what has been stated, it will be perceived that the influence of a chief with his clan depended much on his personal qualities, of which kindness and a condescension, which admitted of an easy familiarity, were necessary traits. Captain Burt, the author of ‘Letters from the North,’ thus alludes to the familiarity which existed between a chief and his clan, and the affability and courtesy with which they were accustomed to be treated: “And as the meanest among them pretended to be his relations by consanguinity, they insisted on the privilege of taking him by the hand whenever they met 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 the presence of an English gentleman, of high station, from whom he would willingly have concealed the knowledge of such seeming familiarity with slaves of wretched appearance; and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contradiction to what he had often boasted at other times, viz., his despotic power in his clan.”

From the feeling of self-respect which the urbanity and condescension of the chiefs naturally created in the minds of the people, arose that honourable principle of fidelity to superiors and to their trust, which we have already noticed, “and which,” says General Stewart, “was so generally and so forcibly imbibed, that the man who betrayed his trust was considered unworthy of the name which he bore, or of the kindred to which he belonged.”

From this principle flowed a marked detestation of treachery, a vice of very rare occurrence among the Highlanders; and so tenacious were they on that point, that the slightest suspicion of infidelity on the part of an individual estranged him from the society of his clan, who shunned him as a person with whom it was dangerous any longer to associate. The case of John Du Cameron, better known, from his large size, by the name of Sergeant Mor,[519] affords an example of this. This man had been a sergeant in the French service, and returned to Scotland in the year 1745, when he engaged in the rebellion. Having no fixed abode, and dreading the consequences of having served in the French army, and of being afterwards engaged in the rebellion, he formed a party of freebooters, and took up his residence among the mountains on the borders of the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle, where he carried on a system of spoliation by carrying off the cattle of those he called his enemies, if they did not purchase his forbearance by the payment of _black mail_. Cameron had long been in the habit of sleeping in a barn on the farm of Dunan in Rannoch; but having been betrayed by some person, he was apprehended one night when asleep in the barn, in the year 1753, by a party of Lieutenant (after Sir Hector) Munro’s detachment. He was carried to Perth, and there tried before the court of justiciary for the murder alluded to in the note, and various acts of theft and cattle-stealing. Being found guilty, he was executed at Perth in 1753. It was generally believed in the country that Cameron had been betrayed by the man in whose barn he had taken shelter, and the circumstance of his renting a farm from government, on the forfeited estate of Strowan, on advantageous terms, strengthened the suspicion; but beyond this there was nothing to confirm the imputation. Yet this man was ever after heartily despised, and having by various misfortunes lost all his property, which obliged him to leave the country in great poverty, the people firmly believed that his misfortunes were a just judgment upon him for violating the trust reposed in him by an unsuspecting and unfortunate person.

Such were some of the leading characteristics of this remarkable race of people, who preserved many of their national peculiarities till a comparatively recent period. These, whoever, are now fast disappearing before the march of modern improvement and civilization; and we are sorry to add that the vices which seem almost inseparable from this new state of society have found their way into some parts of the Highlands, and supplanted, to a certain extent, many of those shining virtues which were once the glory of the Gael.

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