PRIZE ESSAY ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, PARTICULARLY IN THE NORTHERN COUNTIES, PERIOD OF THE REBELLION IN 174-5, THEIR PROGRESS UP TO THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NORTHERN INSTITUTION FOR THE PROMOTION OF SCIENCE AND LITERATURE, IN 1825. BY JOHN ANDERSON, WHITER TO THE SIGNET, SECRETARY TO THE SOCIETY OF SCOTTISH .ANTIQUARIES. EDINBURGH : PRINTED FOR WILLIAM TAIT, 78, PRINCE'S STREET; AND CHARLES TAIT, 63, FLEET STREET, LONDON. M.DCCC.XXVII. PRINTED BV A BALFOUR AND CO. S) 80 INTRODUCTION. THE NORTHERN INSTITUTION was esta- blished at Inverness in the month of March 1825, for the promotion of Science and Literature in general, and more par- ticularly with the view of investigating the Antiquities, and Civil and Natural History of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Q To aid the researches of the members, cr> and to afford to Society at large, through- out the northern districts of the country, facilities for study which did not previous- ly exist, a Museum has been opened by the Institution, for the collection and pre- ^3 servation of objects of Natural History, 41G686 VI INTRODUCTION. Antiquities, and Works of Art, as well as a Library for scarce and valuable Books and Manuscripts. The central situation and importance of Inverness, and the connexion which subsists between its inhabitants and those of various parts of the united kingdom and the colonies, pointed it out as the most suitable place in which to com- mence the establishment. From the en- couragement which it has received, ex- ceeding the most sanguine expectations of those with whom the measure originated, they have the satisfaction of believing that their anticipations of the benefits likely to result from it, and of the feelings with which it would be regarded by their coun- trymen, were well founded. As it is hoped that all interested in the advance- ment of knowledge, and the improve- ment of the Highlands, will now be dis- posed to give their support to the Insti- tution, a list of its members, with a short notice of its proceedings, and of the dona- tions already received, are subjoined in the Appendix to this volume, from an ex- amination of which, its character and re- spectability, and the extent of the Mu- seum, may be justly appreciated. INTRODUCTION. Vll Circular Letters have been distributed over the country, explaining the inten- tions of the Society, and enumerating a long series of topics connected with the Natural History and Antiquities of the Highlands and Isles, regarding which cor- rect information was yet awanting. An Address, framed for the purpose of solicit- ing contributions from abroad, accompa- nied by an account of the Society's tran- sactions, has also been printed, and is now on its way to all parts of the world. The addresses of several Clergymen, and mer- cantile Gentlemen, who will receive and transmit communications and donations intended for the Institution, are likewise inserted in the Appendix. At the first General Meeting held on the 23d of March 1825, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie, of Coul, Bart, offered for competition among the members, a Gold Medal of the value of L.10, for the best account of the State of Society and of Knowledge in the Highlands of Scot- land, particularly in the Northern Coun- ties at the period of the Rebellion in the year 1745, and of their progress up to the Establishment of the Institution. The Vin INTRODUCTION. Essay now published is the one to which the Prize has been awarded ; and on pre- senting it to the successful Author, at the Anniversary Meeting, on the 27th Octo- ber 1826, Sir George delivered the fol- lowing ADDRESS : " GENTLEMEN, " WHOEVER looks back on the dark ages, and traces the progress of learn- ing from its dawning upon Europe, until it reached its meridian effulgence in the present age, will find that the institution of literary and scientific societies mainly contributed to the brilliant illumination of the human mind, which now sheds its radiance equally over the palace and the cottage. By means of such societies, an impulse was given to experimental science, from which the most important distinc- tions have arisen ; and men are now more desirous to have their names enrolled among those who have contributed to the INTRODUCTION. IX sum of human knowledge and happiness, than among the heroes of the battle and the conquest. " Without in the least detracting from the great services rendered to mankind by similar institutions in other parts of Europe, the establishment of the Royal Society of London may be reckoned among the most important events in the history of science. Much as the early supporters of that institution were ridiculed, and rail- ed at by ignorant superstition, the edifice they began to rear was laid on a founda- tion fixed in the understandings of gifted and enlightened men, so as not to be mov- ed by such puny, but too often effective assailants. The human mind had begun to discover means to loosen the fetters by which it had been degraded, and of soar- ing towards its proper sphere. Before the establishment of the London Society, class- ical learning, mathematical science, and the fine arts, were in a flourishing condi- tion. But they were so far out of reach, that only a few shared in the riches of the inexhaustible mines. We do not find that, before the institution of the Royal Society, the physical sciences, and especially their application to the arts and comforts of life, INTRODUCTION. had gained a single step in Great Britain, nor anywhere else previous to associations of learned men having been formed. Every thing seemed to have adopted a regular, settled pace, beyond the rate of which no effort to move seemed possible. To be as wise as their fathers, was all that men aimed at. It is not therefore surprising that, during such a state of immobility, the most absurd philosophy should have be- come paramount to truth ; and that it was considered almost impious to challenge the dogmas of the schools. No sooner, however, was the challenge sounded, than distinction was sought in the attack and defence of long-cherished systems. By degrees literature and philosophy stole from their concealment, and introduced themselves into private society ; a spirit of inquiry was excited ; new objects of pur- suit were found for the mental powers ; and every branch of knowledge was occu- pied by aspirants to the fame of discovery. " The first association in Scotland for the advancement of knowledge, was the Phi- losophical Society instituted in Edinburgh about fifty years ago. About the year 1780, the Society of Scottish Antiquaries was established by royal charter. Three INTRODUCTION. XI years afterwards the Royal Society of Edinburgh was incorporated also by royal charter, the original members being those of the Philosophical Society. Although Scotland was then distinguished for meta- physical acumen, and by the plodding ac- tivity of her sons, she had not yet imbibed that desire for discovery which obtained in the sister kingdom. The great impulse has been given to the exertion of talent within the last thirty years, during which period we have seen literary and scientific establishments rising up everywhere ; and at length one has, I trust, taken firm root in the Northern Capital. The literary man and the philosopher are no longer consi- dered as useless members of society ; they are everywhere looked up to as the pio- neers to comfort, happiness, and wealth ; as the benefactors of their country. " One great feature in the revolution that has of late taken place in science is, that theory is now little attended to, except as a guide, and a stimulus to research. No theory is relied upon ; every mind pro- ceeds to investigate its foundation, and to prove the stability of the superstructure ; and nothing will satisfy but the discovery of facts, and the results of experiment. Xll INTRODUCTION. The consequence of this agitation and ex- citement of mental energy is, that talents of the first order will no longer be wasted in undermining old systems, in order out of the materials to build up others equally, if not more, absurd. Our senses and our reason have taken place of imagination. -T O This important revolution is to be attri- buted exclusively to the energy that has been infused into our learned societies. To be admitted into them, it is not now required that a man should be a universal genius, or that he should have given some signal .proof of transcendent ability in some department or other. It has become of importance to encourage mere observation. Observers communicate facts to those who can speculate upon them, and ascertain their importance. Then all classes are brought together ; every one communicat- ing his acquirements, however small they may be ; every one can add, as we say in the north, a stone to the cairn ; and thus the mass of knowledge, as well as the number of those capable of making use of it, is continually and every moment in- creasing in extent and variety of materials. Each mind has now a field properly suit- ed to the range of its own special powers. INTRODUCTION. Xlll Timidity is banished ; the faculties expand themselves ; and the empire of liberty, founded on the basis of knowledge and truth, is spreading with incalculable rapi- dity. Selfishness disappears ; and though some generations must pass, before such a consummation can take place, the time certainly approaches when the chief aim of individuals will be to promote general hap- piness. Many prejudices remain to be overcome ; but it is not likely that the progress of discovery, physical and mental, will be retarded. The prospect is cheer- ing, as it is honourable to human nature. "Philosophers have been often accused of aiming at the subversion of religion ; and metaphysicians have openly attempted it. But truth, discovered by the sure tests of inductive science, can never affect true re- ligion, natural or revealed, otherwise than to confirm it. Pure and undefiled Chris- tianity will stand pre-eminent to the end of time ; true philosophy unfolding its beauties, and conducting us to its divine origin. The reign of priestcraft over the mind is almost at an end in our happy land, and it must soon cease altogether. The veil of superstition will soon be en- tirely removed from the purity of Chris- XIV INTRODUCTION. tian doctrine. Christian ministers, becom- ing daily more enlightened, will wipe off the remnant of Paganism that has been al- lowed to adhere to it. The object of cre- ation was, that its creatures should be hap- py here and hereafter; and the world must soon become convinced, that to at- tain this is possible only by obeying the will of the Creator, as unfolded by the Master of our religious system, at once the best, the purest, the most sublime, the most perfectly adapted to human nature and human wants, that the mind can con- ceive. Mankind, however, even where Christianity has been established, are not yet in a condition to submit themselves to the means so clearly pointed out for the attainment of happiness. They have yet to learn the value and importance of lov- ing their neighbours as themselves. Ge- nuine philosophy will in due time exhibit the vast intrinsic value of that precept ; and the best Christian teachers will be found to merit the appellation of philoso- phers. Let us, then, cherish the hope, that prejudice will not be suffered to deem the objects for which the Northern Insti- tution has been established, incompatible with the objects of religion. The farther INTRODUCTION. its members search into the wonders of creation, the more evidence will they pro- duce of the immensity of the wisdom, power, and goodness of the Author of na- ture. The more closely they investigate the constitution of man, the more clearly will be seen the wonderful adaptation of Christianity to human wants. In the words of Lord Bacon, we may * admonish ' men to continue in a sense of duty as to * divine matters ; for the senses are like the i sun which displays the face of the earth, ' but shuts up that of the heavens. And * again, that they run not into the contrary ' extreme ; which they certainly will do, if * they think an inquiry into nature any way ' forbid them by religion. It was not that * pure and unspotted natural knowledge * whereby Adam gave names to things ' agreeable to their natures, which caused ' his fall ; it is an ambitious and authorita- ' tive desire of moral knowledge, to judge of ' good and evil, that makes men revolt from ' God, and obey no laws but those of their * own will. But for the sciences which con- ' template nature, the sacred philosopher ' declares, ' It is the glory of God to con- " ceal a thing, but the glory of the king to " find it out.' As if the Divine Being thus XVL INTRODUCTION. 1 indulgently condescended to exercise the ' human mind by philosophical inquiries. ' In the next place, we advise all mankind ' to think of the true aids of knowledge ; * and that they endeavour not after it for ' curiosity, contention, or the sake of de- * spising others ; nor yet for profit, reputa- ' tion, power, or any such inferior consider- ' ation ; but solely for the occasions and 6 uses of life ; all along conducting and per- ' fecting it in the spirit of benevolence.' " The first duty of a Society like this, was certainly to make an attempt to throw some rays of light on the history of that portion of the empire, in the centre of which it has been established. That history has hither- to been so involved in romance and fiction ; the true character of the inhabitants so obscured by the clashing opinions of vio- lent Highlanders on the one hand, and on the other, of superficial observers equally violent, that all sober thinkers have be- come unable to form a correct and impar- tial judgment. It is remarkable, that the destruction of the feudal system should have been followed by a sudden sweep from the memory of what was the former actual condition of Highland Society. By some, we are led to suppose that it was one INTRODUCTION. XV11 of refinement, by others, one of barbarism. We are now left to conjecture what were the uses of edifices, the ruins of which are scattered around us in plenty. We can- not ascertain at what period the iron found- ery at Poolew in Ross-shire was in opera- tion ; and this is the more remarkable, as it is certain that cannon were cast at that remote place, having found a part of one myself on the spot. Since we have no cer- tain traditions either of manners or occu- pations, we are left in a state of suspense, ready to believe all the good that is writ- ten or spoken of us, and not disposed to repel much of the evil. While Highlanders stand aloof without records to refer to, and tradition having fled from our most in- teresting scenes, there is no lack of vitu- perators, nor of champions. But engaging in a special cause, whether in attack or de- fence, is very apt to lead to misrepresenta- tion and exaggeration in the assailant, and to somewhat of magnifying and high co- louring in the defender or apologist. There need be no hesitation in saying, that all the publications that have appeared of late years, on which ever side, are more or less extravagant. We want something neutral and impartial. We want the result of XV111 INTRODUCTION. patient research, and to see our country weighed in an even balance. We desire not to he set upon the highest pinnacle of her temple, nor to have the loudest blast of Fame's often discordant trumpet. We wish our country to be placed on that solid pyramid which Truth alone can build ; and that we should be considered rather as approaching, with firm and sure steps, towards the chief gate of the temple, than as having got in by a postern, opened by romancers and injudicious friends. " Much has been said on the subject of emigration, and the measures taken by Highland landlords not only to render the soil more productive, but the population of greater value to the commonwealth. Al- though we have recently seen some violent writing on these subjects, the public mind is beginning to shake oif the fetters of pre- judice, and to see the true causes of the late changes ; indeed the inevitable neces- sity that produced them. Had it not been for the overpowering demands for subsist- ence made by the industry of our sister country and the south of Scotland, (which proved at once that our population was unprofitable, and that we were too poor to make it otherwise,) the Highlanders INTRODUCTION. XIX might still have been idly swarming in the glens, of use neither to themselves nor to others ; and none of us should have known, by experience, the truth of the often quot- ed affirmation of Cicero, Nihil est agricul- tura melius, nihll uberius, nihil homine liber o dignius. I believe I am not mistaken when I say, that none of those who have been so ready to espouse the popular side of the question, have ventured to show in what condition the people would now have been, had they not been disturbed from their stationary indolence. This was a specula- tion into which they were unwilling or unable to enter ; or else it escaped them to consider what the consequences would have been had no change been effected. To those possessed of the talent of obser- vation, who are acquainted with the habits of the Highlanders, it is obvious that mi- sery and wretchedness would have result- ed to the population, and beggary to the proprietors, while the country would have continued a wilderness. " The object of this Society, in offering a medal for the best account of the former State of Society and Knowledge in the High- lands, and their progress up to the present time, was to excite, if possible, accurate re- XX INTRODUCTION. search, impartial inquiry ; and to obtain a rational estimate of the causes which have brought the Highlands to their present state. The Society did not wish the in- quiry to be made either in the spirit of ro- mance, or in cold-blooded indifference, but in the spirit of truth It desired that the world should know we were more anxious about future prosperity than the preserva- tion of what is incompatible with our pro- gress towards it, the manners and distinc- tions of feudalism. It desired that it might be known we were neither ashamed to avow error, nor insensible to the meed of deserv- ed praise. . " The establishment of this Society ori- ginated in views of a much higher order than those which suggested many other popular and useful institutions in the north. We look to positive and certain improvement being derived from a stimulus given to re- search and reflection. Nor are our views limited so as to make us forget that " the proper study of mankind is man." We are all ready to acknowledge that unless its nature be understood, nothing can be im- proved. The nature of the mental con- stitution of man is only beginning to be known ; and until it become familiar, the INTRODUCTION. XXI efforts made to educate the people will not be attended by the success which their extent merits. But although our chief views are directed to the future, we have opened up sources of intellectual pleasure, heretofore in a great measure unknown to the people of this remote country, and which are immediately accessible. Among these, the investigation of the history and antiquities of the north stands prominent. The essay to which the medal has been awarded by the unanimous voice of the council, contains evidence of great pains and research. Only two essays have been offered, and the unsuccessful one appears to have been written by a person of much information ; but it touches more on sub- jects unconnected with the object in view, than appears consistent with the advertise- ment ; which circumstance, however meri- torious the performance, places it second to the other. While the small number of competitors proves how much a knowledge of Highland history is wanted among our- selves, it proves likewise the need we had for such a Society as the Northern Insti- tution. The Highlands have as yet fur- nished but few names of eminence in the walks of literature and science ; but the XX11 INTRODUCTION. hope may be entertained that this Society will always be seen to hold up the torch, to aid the advance of unseen and modest merit towards the reward which its exer- tions will assuredly receive. " It is with great pleasure I obey the So- ciety in presenting their medal to Mr. John Anderson, whose name, I find, ap- pears on the sealed note given in along with the successful essay ; and I beg he will accept my best wishes and congratu- lation." By order of the COUNCIL of the NORTHERN INSTITUTION. GEO. ANDERSON, General Secretary. ESSAY STATE OF SOCIETY AND KNOWLEDGE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, IT will readily be admitted, that no branch of enquiry can be more interesting than the study of the revolutions, which have taken place suc- cessively, in the history of mankind. The causes of these various changes, and the con- siderations to which they give rise, open a wide field for reflection ; yet what facts to select as our leading premises, how to dilate upon their consequences, and how to draw thence just and accurate conclusions, is a task of no ordinary difficulty. A glance at the history of any nation will convince the student, that to sketch the state of society at a definite period, he must revert to the earliest annals of that people. 24 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND I presume there is no doubt that the ancient Scots were of Celtic 3 origin. b When we view the first fathers of the western world emerging from the East, " the cradle of mankind," we perceive two great families arise. These distinct races are the Celtae, and the Goths or Scythians, of whom the former were for ages the sole in- habitants, as they had been the original colonists, of Europe. d By confounding the etymology of their names, historians have induced the world to believe that they were one and the same race. The learned Pelloutier 6 and Keysler contributed, not a little, to confirm this mistaken notion \ and the history of Gothic migration is still veiled in darkness. Struck with the obscurity that attends their origin, some writers have assumed the Goths to have been indigenous in Scandinavia.* To support so fanciful a theory, they necessarily re- ject the Mosaic dispersion, and the universal con- currence by the northern scalds in their oriental ancestry. 8 The names of Jornandes, Cassiodo- rus, and Gibbon, are found among the advocates of a Scandinavian origin for the Gothic tribes ; a This word should be pronounced Keltic, although the old spelling has been retained in this treatise. b Blair's Dissertation on Ossian. 6 Genesis, cap. xi. Bossuet, Univer. Hist. 10. Joseph. Antiq. d Pinkerton's Dissertation on Goths. Plutarch, iii. 126. Ross's Lectures, ii. 29. Strabo, I. ii. Grant on the Gael, 95, 96. Cale- donia, i. 7. e Histoire des Celtes, cap. i. f See Pinkerton's Dissert, on Goths, part i. cap. ii. 6 Mallet's Northern Antiquities, I. viii. M'Pherson's Disser- tation on Caledonians, 18. Universal History, V. vi. p. 10, 13. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 25 and the Baron Montesquieu has not scrupled to sanction by his great authority, the derivation of freedom from the teeming " storehouse'* of the north. 3 Meanwhile, the first Celtic adventurers seized upon Greece and Italy. b A progressive advance led their successors from the Straits of Hercules to the very ultima Thule of the ancient world ; and this whole continent having been explored, a re-action ensued. The tide of human life borne back, discharged its resistless waves over the southern provinces of Europe. Hordes of bar- barians from the upper regions of Asia, the Scan- dinavian wilds, and the plains of Germany, re- coiled with fearful and destructive energy on the Roman empire. A people arose, dissimilar in their manners, their persons, and their language, from the Celtic indigenes ; before whom the lat- ter were destined to sink into decay/ This second race of colonists in Europe were Goths. e As the Scythian bands advanced, they appear to have swept the primitive settlers from the earth ; their warfare being one of extermination/ When Caesar invaded Gaul, he found the Celts confined to an inconsiderable part of that coun- try ; and that in Britain they had been dispos- 3 L'Esprit des Loix, i. 323. b Bryant's Myth. vol. iii. c Livy, lib. v. c. 35. Mallet's Northern Antiq- I. p. xxxvii. Ferguson's Roman Republic, i. 52. d Caesar. Bel. Gal. lib. i. e Caledonia, i. 8, II. Thomson's Etymon of English Words, p. 3, 7. 1 Robertson's State of Society in Europe, p. 1 0. 26 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND sessed by the Belgae, a Germanic tribe, of the southern and fairest districts. Of the Celts, the only monument remaining is their language; 3 and if grammarians may be believed, even that is corrupted by Gothic words. b No circum- stance, however, is more remarkable in the his- tory of the Celtic and Gothic families, than the universal influence which the principles of the latter yet maintain to the total exclusion of those of the former. From the Goths, Europe has derived its physical beauty, its mental energies, and its spirit of freedom/ In the popular policy of the Teutonic tribunals will be found the germs of our trial by jury, 6 the best, the sacred safeguard of freemen. Opposed to this, we dis- cover a disinclination to consolidated govern- ment ; privileges aggrandizing the individual at the expense of the community ; whilst society was broken into clanships, and enfeebled by dis- union, the distinguishing characteristics of the Celtic nations/ Slavery in its most disgusting form was of universal prevalence, 6 the body of the people being miserable dependents on the Druids and the Nobles. The fair sex were de- 3 Dissertation on the Era of Ossian, by M'Pherson. b Pinkerton's Dissert, on Goths, part ii. c. iii. Stewart's View of Society, 22. Northern Antiq. i. 53. Ross's Lect. ii. 24. Kames's Sketches, ii. 69. d M'Culloch's Western Isles, vol. iv. p. 296. e See Watkins's Tenures, Introd. Tacitus, c. 7, 11. Hibbert's Shetland, passim. f Caledonia, i. p. 6, 1 6. M'Pherson's Dissert, p. 7. * Cesar de Bel. Gal. lib. vi. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 27 spised ; a and letters were unknown, except to the priesthood, whatever visionaries may assume or dogmatics assert. b From these details, we are prepared to follow the varying fortunes of the Celts to this island, where they are found established after their ex- pulsion from the continent. That Southern Britain was peopled from Celtic Gaul, c and that Ireland was colonized from Britain, seems now to be conceded by all authorities. d Whether the primitive settlers of North Britain were from the southern tribes, is a question of more dubi- ous import ; but granting that they were not, they must still have been of the same stock. The only country from which Scotland could have been peopled, if we reject a southern origin, must have been the opposite coasts of Jut- land or Germany j and prior to the Gothic conquest, these territories were held by the Cymri or Cimbri, into which nation and the Gauls, properly so .called, the Celtic power was divided. 6 At the period of Agricola's invasion, that part of the island now called Scotland was inhabited 8 Aristotle, Polit. lib. ii. c. 2. b Huddleston's Toland's Hist, of Druids, 396. Mr. Huddle- ston has advanced in sober earnestness, that the Irish alphabet is older than the siege of Troy ! Gibbon's Decline and Fall, iv. 291. d Caledonia, i. 15, 18. M'Pherson's Dissert, on Caledonians, 143. Whitaker's Manchester, i. 68, 433. e Pinker ton's Dissert, on the Early History of Scotland, I. part i. c. ii. 28 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND by twenty-one independent tribes. 3 Until that celebrated campaign, wherein he overcame the Britons under Galgacus when, as the acute General Roy has proved, the Roman eagles flew past our Grampian boundary, their disciplined legions had never penetrated the Highland fast- nesses of the Gael. We are indebted to Tacitus for a faithful description of the hardy moun- taineers scattered throughout this extended chain. b " Ceterum Britanniam qui mortales initio coluerint, indigenae an advecti, ut inter Barbaros, parum compertum, Habitus corporum varii, at- que ex eo argumenta. Namque rutilce Caledo- niam habitantium comes, magni artus, Germa- nicam originem asseverant" The German origin of the Caledonians is here distinctly traced ; the same strength of limb, the same red hair j and the ancient writers who follow Tacitus, denomi- nate this race by the Latinized appellation of Caledonii. Towards the end of the third cen- tury, they were blended with the Picts or Pei-thi, c a term first applied to them by Eume- nius, the Panegyrist; and, before the -conclu- sion of the fourth, this name had superseded every other. Nevertheless, it is universally ad- mitted, d that they remained one and the same nation. Yet the question of the Celtic or Gothic ori- gin of the Pict continues to divide the learned a Caledonia, i. 58, and 113. b Tacitus in Agricola. c Caledonia, i. 201. d Pinkerton's Inquiry, i. p- 105, 107. Innes's Essay, i. 46. 18. Dr. M'Pherson's Dissert. 27. 55. Caledonia, i. 191. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 29 world at this day j and to foment a dispute in no way conducive to the honour of our country. During however the contention of various opi- nions, we may still indulge a hope, that the in- creased zeal of archaiologists, aided by the sur- prising advances made of late years in philologi- cal inquiries, may conduce, together with the scattered rays which ancient chronicles afford, to elucidate, beyond the fondest hope of former times, those distant epochs of our history, which have been too truly described as ages of dark- ness. Of the real history of the Picts, we learn from Beda, that they possessed the northern parts of the island beyond the Firths ; but they ap- pear, in the fifth century, to have broken through the barrier's hitherto opposed to them by the Romans, and to have flowed in an overwhelming- tide to the banks of the Humbert We are now arrived at a very interesting pe- riod of our annals, for the events which crowd upon us are mighty and important. The Pictish kingdom at the height of its power ; the esta- blishment of the Strath Clyde-Britons ; the de- parture of the Romans ; the invasion of the Pro- vincial Britons by the Picts and Scots j the arrival of the Saxons in the Lothians ; the Scot- tish colonization of Argyll ; the invasions of the Norsemen, and the final union of the Picts and Scots ; these are the scenes displayed on the theatre of modern Scotland. It will be enough a Pinkerton, i. 341. 30 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND to single out the Scottish settlement as the most important in its consequences. The preceding observations were intended to conduct the reader to this point, through a progressive acquaintance with the character of the primitive settlers. They have enabled me to show some of the distin- guishing features of the Gothic and Celtic po- licy, and what people from either hive migrated to Britain. Had I commenced my remarks with only the domestic history of our Scottish ances- tors, properly so called, I should have laboured under those disadvantages, which every one must do, who plunges headlong into his subject ; and should have been compelled to diverge from my path by explanatory illustrations of our Celtic characteristics. If I now proceed to enlarge upon these, the difficulties which obstructed our advance have been considerably diminished. The Roman power was never firmly establish- ed in North Britain ; a her rude inhabitants being only curbed, not subdued. The ramparts >f Adrian and Antoninus, and the scattered forts along the Murray Firth, bespeak no less the pro- gress than the terror of the Romans. Between the walls they had succeeded in organizing their province of Valencia ; but the swarms who were to avenge their fallen friends, roamed uncontrolled beyond the Forth. Harassed by the repeated incursions of the natives, the Ro- mans finally quitted the island in the year 446, a Whitaker's Manchester, i. 417. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 31 during the reign of Honorius, ^Etius being con- sul, and left the Britons to their fate. Then a dreadful crowd of Scots and Picts rushed over the frontiers/ and the unhappy provincials, after venting their " groans'* in despair, " that the barbarians drove them to the sea, and the sea back to the barbarians," called to their aid the Saxons, who forthwith came and effected an im- portant change in the liberties and language of their feeble allies. 1 * Learning has hitherto fatigued itself in vain attempts to penetrate the gloom which envelopes the origin of the Scot ; and of the general ten- dency of mankind to cling to the marvellous, the pages of our national writers bear peculiar testimony. Dr. Robertson has well remarked, that we carry our pretensions to antiquity to as high a pitch as any of our neighbours. Ridi- culous prejudices, built on the supposition, that our independence as a people was involved in the question, first gave rise to the puerilities with which our histories are so plentifully garnished ; as if the honour of a nation were to be raised by falsehood or by fable ! Thanks to the en- lightened intelligence of the age, we may hope that the time is at length arrived, when, under the influence of the various associations formed for the patriotic purposes of historical research, our antiquities shall be rescued from the mists a Gildas, cap. xv. See the Gododin of Aneurin in Welsh Archseol. v. i. Whita- ker, ii. 15. and 94. <' Hist, of Scotland, i. p. 1. 32 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND of ignorance ; when the fabrications of monks shall be treated with contempt, and unlettered vanity will no longer warp the national judgment, but truth and sound criticism succeed to both.* The relics of Greek and Roman lore are now perhaps the only authentic sources whence we may collect the earlier history of this country. Among the various nations which they enume- rate, the Scots appear for the first time in the end of the third, and in the beginning of the fourth century. Porphyrius the philosopher is the oldest author who treats of them : b Ammi- anus in the year 360 joins them with the Picts, as if they formed one army, although they had no common interest but plunder ; c and in 368, Claudian thus extols the triumphs of Thaodosius over their united arms. Picfos Edomuit, Scotumque vago mucrone secutus. d The Etymon of the term, as well as the descent of the Scot, were for a long time fruitful themes of dispute between the Scottish and Irish histo- rians. Like the mutual animosities of the Scots and English, the temper of the writers became as keen as the swords of their warriors. 6 But the voice of truth has at last prevailed over interested preju- dice, and the Irish origin of our countrymen seems a See the " Summarie of the Scots Chronicles, by John Moni- pennie, 1612. b Lib. xxvi. xxvii. xxviii. c Caledonia, i. 193. Innes, ii. 644. d Claudian de iii. cons. Honorii Aug. Paneg. v. 52. and de iv. cons. Hon. v. 26. e Leyden's Scottish Descriptive Poems, 177. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 33 now to be generally admitted. 3 The recom- mendation of Cambden has not gone by un- heeded. The " Scoticas Gentes" are found in Scotland (as I have said) towards the end of the third, and commencement of the fourth age of the Christian era. We do not read of them, however, as per- manent settlers, but as confederates with the Picts against the Roman power. b And thus they continued to migrate, obliged to retire to their paternal isle before the arms of Rome, or the jealous resentment of the Picts, till A.D. 503, when Loarn, Fergus, and Angus, the three sons of Ere, the descendant of Carbre-Riada, led the Scots back to North Britain, and settled the Dalriadinian dynasty. For a period of nearly 400 years, the most violent contentions raged between these Scoto-Irish colonists and the Pictish inhabitants, engendered by the diversity of tongues and customs/ and the contempt with which the mountaineer looked down upon the more ignoble cultivator of the plain. In the dissensions of a rude age, little can be found to challenge attention or reward inquiry ; and when we even approach that important period, when, by conquest or alliance, the two nations merged a Caledonia, 1.271. 193. Pinkerton's Inquiry, II. p. 59. b A. Marcellinus, lib. 27. c Caledonia, I. 269, NOTE, and 274. Pinkerton's Inquiry, II. 64. 93. d Innes's Essay, II. 689. 694. Thierry, Histoire lie la Couquete bservable in the retours and earlier title deeds of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, where the inquest and witnesses are de Ross, Byset de Loveth, de Cubin, Cuthbert, Vaus, Fentoun dominus de Beauforth, de le Ard, de Chesholme, de Boscho, de Cheyne, de Routh, de Graham, de Lauder,"T " custos castri de Urquhard." In a service/dated llth February, 1431, of John Rose of Kilravock, William Mykle, and Hugh Adamson are two of the persons sworn, persons evidently not of Celtic descent. The following translation of a singular document in the museum of the Northern Institution of Inver- ness, is interesting, as evincing that in the reign of James II. sir- names had not been universally adopted in the Highlands. -Prior * Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. p. 7. Grant on the Gael, 30. t Chart of Moray also. 38 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND sets down the septs Macdonel, and Macdonald, Maclean, Cameron, Mac-Chailean, M'Leod, to that period, in a valuation of the lands of Kilravock and Easter Geddes, made at Inverness, A.D. 1295, the inquest are styled by their peculiar callings, as " Thomam Venatorem, Robertum Falco- narium, Fergusinum Indicem." Others by the simple notice, " Johannem filium Duncaiii, Walterum filium Thoma?," &c. "This inquest was held at the town of the liberty (Immunita- tis) of Tain, on the twentieth day of the month of April, in the year of our Lord, one thousand four hundred and thirty-nine, by the underwritten honourable men, viz. Alexander Sutherland, master of that ilk ; William Leslie, sheriff of Inverness; Hugh Ross of Balnogown, George Munro of Fowlis, Alexander M'Cul- loich, Alexander, son of Henry Sutherland, John Sutherland, William Calder, William Tarale, Hugh, son of Alexander, George M'Culloich, Hugh, yr. of Munro, Donald, son of Symon, Farqu- har Reyid, burgesses of Inverness; John Moir of Caldrosse, John Bayne, Donald M u Tyir, Donald Saskrem, John Spens, Andrew, son of Allan, Andrew Tarrale, John Monylaw, and Alexander Skynnare. Who being sworn by the great oath, being taken by them conjunctly and severally, in the said inquest, found and per- fectly and fully understood, that all the inhabitants within the foresaid liberty of Tain, and all their goods whatsoever, are under the special protection of the apostolical see ; and that the said im- munity was first founded by the deceased most illustrious king of Scots, Malcolm Canmore, of blessed memory ; and that afterwards, the foresaid immunity was confirmed by various kings, and illus- trious princes, viz. David the Bruce, Robert, his grandson, and the last Robert, son of Robert the First ; and that the said inha- bitants, in the town of Tain, have and had full and free power and privilege, to buy and sell all goods whatsoever, within the four angular crosses of the said immunity ; and that they have never paid, neither shall they pay, on any account, any contribution to the kings of Scotland, nor to the earls of Ross, except the custom to our sovereign lord the king ; and lastly, that it is lawful to all the inhabitants within the said immunity, to work and navigate, with all their merchandize, and goods whatsoever, everywhere at their pleasure, without any contradiction or further de- mand, by virtue of the privilege of the often-mentioned immunity, as it shall appear most expedient to them. In faith and testimony whereof, the sealsof some of the foresaid honourable men, (who were KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 39 Macdugal, Macdiarraid, Maclaughlan, (M'Loch- lin) the son of the Dane. " It is not to be borne that such blood should forget itself, (says Dr. M'Cullochj and enlist under banners which it trampled under foot." 3 To the fatal dissensions among the native re- guli, I am inclined to think is the firm establish- ment of these strangers, mainly attributable ; and to their settlement, may also be referred the hereditary rancour long inherent among the Highland clans. These looked upon the Norman barons as intruders ; and the first step to security by the latter was the erection of a strong hold, around which their followers sat down. b As these barons brought with them a knowledge of feudal tenures, they would be anxious to defend their acquisitions against the old inhabitants, by a confederacy of their own retainers ;<= to whom they would parcel out lands, under an obligation to support their mutual in- terests. By the silent operation of circumstances, and the deaths of the primitive settlers and their antagonists, congenial ties would unite the de- scendants of these dissimilar people. The Nor- man heir would be continued in his paternal do- summoned to attend the foresaid inquest, under the impression of the seal of the great and powerful lord, Alexander, earl of Ross, lord of the isles, and supreme justiciary of our sovereign lord the king, on the north side of the Frith of Forth,) are appended to this pre- sent inquest, place, day, and year, foresaid." Letters, IV. 297. b Caledonia, I. 610. c Robertson's State of Society, 14. Hailes's Annals, 30. 40 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND mains, and a system partaking alike of the feu- dal principles of the lord, engrafted on the pa- triarchal ones of the vassal, become tacitly established. In proportion to the separation of the superior, however, from his connections in the southern parts, his attachment to the Celtic usages of his people would be invigorated ; and both he and his national followers, as the smaller body, would imbibe the language of the country. Thus the divided materials of the Celtic tribes were peculiarly fitted to the designs of a bold and ambitious chief ; interested in imparting a more forcible spirit of union to his own people or clan, by the introduction of feudal penalties ; whilst he permitted their ancient spirit of dis- trust to remain, as against other septs, and thereby insured their obedience on all occasions to his commands. 3 But if Mr. Whitaker's position could be re- lied on, we could the more readily see how the Norman and Celtic policies blended so easily together. He found British customs, British institutions everywhere. His very visions were of the Britons ; and to his favourite nation he boldly refers the primary existence of feuds, even, before the Norman conquest. He forgot that the founders of feudality were northerns and freemen j that in their original constitution, and before feus degenerated, the soldier was bound to no servile and indeterminate services. 15 He a History of Manchester, I. 262. b Robertson's State of Society, 13. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 41 was a free agent, who voluntarily followed the chief of his choice, attracted by his benefi- cence, or anxious to partake of the glory of his exploits. 3 But as these conquerors had their acquisitions to maintain against the vanquished natives, as well as fresh invaders, they subjected themselves to a police, under which each war- rior was bound to appear in arms for the de- fence of his allotted portion. Military service was the sole tenure of the synonymous terms of soldier and freeman ; and self-defence, the basis on which feudality was established. It was in after- ages, when by the gross usurpations of the aristocracy, fiefs had been rendered hereditary, and the people had sunk under the thraldom of tyranny, that the principles of feudal policy, never intrinsically sound, lost their original pu- rity ; and those debasing servitudes were intro- duced, which disgust in the investigation of the feudal system. But forgetful that this system had its origin among nations where personal liberty and independence were so highly rated, Mr. Whitaker must refer it to the primitive Bri- tons ! because he finds traces of certain rights of supremacy, exigible by the overlords from their vassals in the laws of Howel-Dha, over- looking entirely the important distinction be- twixt the principle of self-defence, which gave rise to the real feudal establishment, and the menial exactions wrung from a British people, a Caesar, lib. vi. Tacitus, c. 11. 42 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND to whom two ranks, the nobles and the villains, (as he himself admits,) were alone known ; a the latter " bound to services the most servile, dis- poseable at will, and saleable as a part of the estate." The ingraftment of the feudal system on pa- triarchal attachments in the Highlands, must, as I have hinted, have been progressive. I say patriarchal ; for in the infancy of communities, much as the question has been agitated, whe- ther monarchy or democracy be the most an- cient form of government? there seems just reason to believe, that society is but the picture of each individual family. As the father is re- garded as the head by his children, so the quali- ties of bravery or wisdom gain for their posses- sor the applause of the multitude. By insen- sible means, these secure permanent control ; and the merit of the ancestor leads to a hope of finding it in his progeny. Hence the formation of small societies in which a leader is chosen ; and hence also the growth of these into clans. In the infancy of their existence, these associa- tions excite emotions of pleasure and regard. They were directed by a chief elevated by the public voice ; or permitted to command from re- spect to his sires. He was their leader in war, and their judge in peace. He fixed his habita- tion in the midst of those whom he looked upon as his children, whilst they regarded him as their a History of Manchester, I. 259, 261. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 43 parent. His table was open to all his people ; and he dispensed a generous and primitive hos- pitality/ It would indicate too slight a know- ledge of human nature to suppose that such a state of society could be of long duration. It is clear, that that control which became the birth- right of the chief, would beget tyranny and ca- price. With no check upon his passions, with no laws to limit his prerogative, his power and his pride would rise, in the exact proportion that the spirit and demeanour of his vassals fell. And as each chieftain possessed the right of mak- ing war and peace, avarice would tempt him to extend his territories at the expense of another sept. Hence, among other causes, sprung those deadly feuds which have desolated every valley of the north. With an extraordinary attach- ment to their own clan, the tribes both of Ire- land and Scotland have ever evinced a singular antipathy to all beyond that narrowed pale. It was customary, when any rancorous enmity sub- sisted, to leave the right hand of male children unchristened, " to the end it might give a more ungracious and deadly blow." b Symbolical insig- nia were borne by each sept to distinguish their kinsmen, or to descry their enemies. Thus the M'Leods wore the juniper j the Frasers the yew ; the M 'In toshes the box ; the M'Donalds the crim- son heath ; and each clan also dressed in a peculiar a Tacitus de Mor. Ger. c. 21. Dalryniple's Memoirs of Great Britain. b Campian's History of Ireland, p. 15. 44 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND set or pattern of tartan. 3 At the sound of the "slughorn," these hardy mountaineers rushed to the fray, heedless of every thing but the " character of the chief and the rights of the tribe." Oft have the recesses of Strathspey re- echoed the Grant war-cry of " Craigelachie ;" the wilds of Ross the " Tullichard " of the M'Kenzies ; and other districts the peculiar gathering of their respective inmates. To these marshallings, the " honour of the chief" seems to have been as strong an incentive as any other. To swear by his " chieftain's hand" was a com- mon oath ; b and there is no people whose his- tory more clearly evinces the dependence of the subordinate on the higher ranks, than the Cel- tic colonists of the Highlands. It was a polity wafted from their native isle ; a policy which, in common with the pentarchy introduced into Scotland from the same quarter, was the source of misery, anarchy, and bloodshed. From Ire- land also, our ancestors derived the law of Ta- a Mrs. Grant's Essays, II. 207. This has however been doubted, distinctive shades of costume being of questionable antiquity. In remote times, the Highland gentleman was apparalled in much the same garb as his southern equals ; that is to say, his coat was of cloth embroidered with lace or other ornament, and when he went to war he wore armour. In more recent days of which we have memorials, his dress was tartan, or cloth, whilst his followers were too poor to afford minute attention to the shade of the die : so that they were clothed it was enough. (See M'Culloch's Letters, i. 194, 185, 186; and Scots Chronicles by Monipennie.) b Lady of the Lake, canto iii. st. xxxiv. and notes, 354. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 45 nistry ; a an elective franchise, where the pas- sions of a rude people must have been often aroused to the destruction of settled govern- ment. If it be asked, why the Saxon laws and customs have effected so little, or rather no in- fluence on the inhabitants of the Highlands, till modern times ; an answer will be found, in the inaccessible nature of the country, destitute of approaches, and presenting little to the cupi- dity of settlement. Another and more forcible reply, may be had in the policy of the Norman barons, who having wrought just so much of a change in the national manners, as suited the firm consolidation of their own authority, were solicitous to lose their appropriate characteristics in those of their adopted countrymen. Jealous of the Saxon power, though of the same generic root, it was their interest to repress the advance of these into the Highlands, by exciting a spirit of animosity against them, as foreigners and invaders. How dire the hate of Saxon and Gael, let history tell ! and the hostility thus awakened, deprived the Highlanders for a series of ages, of the blessings of civilized life. A mi- litary people, they despised every occupation but war ; and held literature and commerce in equal contempt. The martial bias thus aroused, had ample room for display. To the north, were those colonies a See on the Law of Tanistry, Spencer's View of the State of Ireland, apud Works, Lond. 1805, 8vo. viii. 306. 46 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND from Denmark and Scandinavia, whose de- scendants still people the Orkneys and Caith- ness. 3 To the east lay the Flemish inhabitants of Murray. b The Saxons had established a footing in the south ; whilst on the west, the in- cessant incursions of the Vikingr, and islemen, called for vigilance and resistance. Among these dissimilar people the sword seldom slept ; and the last remnants of the Celtic race, pressed on all sides by the descendants of the Gothic family, had to contend, not for conquest, but ex- istence. A double effect was produced by this baneful enmity engendered by the Normans among their Celtic followers, towards the Saxons. Indepen- dent of a hatred to the persons, it contributed to withhold from the highlands the usages of this nation. Hence the almost total absence of villages and towns. These were erected by the Saxons; and wherever they extended themselves, were the happy consequences of their settlement. To the Saxon Edwin, Scotland owes her capital ; and it was under the protection of strengths si- milarly situated as is the Castle of Edinburgh, that " towns arose, and industry began her ca- reer." The sturdy burghers learned to cope with the petty despots around ; and the disse- mination of intelligence and capital (the results of public spirit and union) gradually lessened Torfaeus, Oreades. b Chart. Moray, Shaw's Moray, App. XIV. c Caledonia, I. 610. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 4fJ the power of the aristocracy, and placed the freedom of the subject on a rational basis. It was in the opposition of the cities of Italy and their dependancies to the tyranny of the Barons, who held them as feudatories of the state under the German Emperors, that the liberty of the re- publics of the middle ages originated. 3 But the genius of the Celtic policy was averse to these associations : the public safety or utility was never looked to. They viewed with indignation the erection of townships," and repeatedly rose upon the inhabitants ; as the history of Moray- shire, or Inverness itself amply attests ; and hence also, the feudal notions of obedience and attachment to the chief, gained additional strength by contrast : For as the leader affected to look down upon the more ignoble burgher, his people in imitation would do the same. From habit, and from the nature of their insti- tutions, these followers were the implicit bonds- men of their Lord. They were villains chained to the soil. The introduction of feudal notions a Sismondi. b Caledonia. c Fragments of Scottish History, 26. M'Culloch, iv. p. 444. Whitaker, I. 259. The author of fragments of Scottish History gives innumerable instances of the slavery entailed upon our ancestors. In the mu- seum of the antiquaries of Scotland is a brass collar, hearing this inscription : " Alex. Steuart found guilty of death for theft at " Perth, the 5th of December 1701, and Gifted lay y*.Justi- " ciars as a perpetual servent to S r - Jo. Areskin of Alva." Is any one ignorant that colliers and sailers were in a state of thraldom in Scotland, till the stat. 39th Geo. III. c. 56. (June 13, 1799) put them upon a footing with other labourers ? Yet the author 48 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND rivetted their fetters : Thus the Highlanders be- came dependant on arbitrary power, exposed to its caprices, destitute of redress, and depriv- ed of the means of self-advancement or im- provement. Hence further, from the strong line of distinction drawn by the Celtic tribes, and from the inclination which man in a rude state ever has, to despise the means of existence which are not gained by force of arms, 3 a senti- ment of pride took root. A hardy and enter- prising warrior deemed the exploits of his ances- tors more worthy of admiration, than the hum- bler pursuits of the Saxon : His people boasted an alliance with the chief, the bards were ever ready to swell the asserted title by the li- cense of verse ; and thus a fancied superiority over all other people, an attachment to the pomp of ancestry, b and a contempt for its want, have descended, in the Highlands, every way baneful ; for, while pride among the better sort has been found the attendant on poverty, we discern, amid the lower ranks, tame and unre- sisting submission to their superiors, a disincli- nation to labour, and a proneness to court men in power. The respectful and cautious defe- of Caledonia seems not to have been aware of the necessity of legislative interference in regard to this unhappy class, when he asserts that long before the days of Craig the feudist, who died in 1 608, bondage had become obsolete in this country. a See Birt, I. 93, for the aversion of the Highlanders to any pro- fession. b Birt, I. 93. c Birt, I. 105, and Johnson's Journey, Works, viii. 319. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 49 rence of our countrymen at large, to the great, may, I have little doubt, be safely attributed to that absence of individual independence observ- able among our Celtic progenitors. Let no man, however, imagine, that I state these deductions with the view of indulging personal pique, or wounding private feelings. I can myself feel as a Scotsman upon the subject ; but he is un- worthy of attempting any portrait of his own people, who can allow national bias to warp his judgment, or distract his narrative. The failings which our forefathers are reproached with, must attach to all who own a similar origin j but if truth be the object, it is our sacred duty, not to hide, but to expose those failings, in the hope that we may avoid the rocks on which they have struck. But it may be said, that my conclusions are built on the premises that none but Normans emigrated to the Highlands. The observation would be just ; but I conceive the answer to be easy. So far as history guides us, we have no evidence that the Saxons penetrated into our mountains : If they did, their numbers were too feeble to make much impression. The re- markable introduction of feus was owing to the Normans : their final establishment and perfection over the kingdom, to the gradual subversion of ancient customs ; and the former were adopted by the heads of Highland Tribes as a powerful addition to their primitive authority, since by fines, reliefs, the services of tenants and the like, their revenue was augmented, and the union of D 50 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND their people more securely fixed : and in truth, to my mind at least, there has always appeared a wide distinction between the Norman and Saxon usages. The feudal law of England was the child of the Norman invasion, 3 yet the Saxons stoutly resisted its enforcement, and not till 1085, did William the Conqueror obtain the consent of his great council to its legal es- tablishment. To the common law of the land, the Saxons pertinaciously adhered ; b and this fa- voured system has triumphantly weathered the Norman settlement. Society among the Saxons, is one of the most remarkable pictures of his- tory. The partition of their kingdoms into ty things, hundreds, and counties, has been justly denominated " the most accurate model of do- mestic economy reduced to practice by a mili- tary nation." The Saxons' policy certainly par- took of a feudal character ; but being formed on the model of their German fathers, (who were the founders of the system) it provided for the security of individual liberty, whilst it pre- served the public power, more amply than the military tenures of the Normans, burdened with vexatious penalties, derogatory of the simplicity of the institution. A very striking proof of the diversity of races, and of the fact, that Norman invaders acquired a Caledonia, I. 738. b Hailes's History of Common Law, p. 60. Robertson's State of Society, Note IV. sect. I. p. 12. * Whitaker's Manch. II. p. 114, 148. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 51 an ascendency over the native tribes, is found in the distinctions of form and feature among our Highlanders : a the Gothic blood predomi- nating among the Magnates, or Duine- Wasseh, who are taller and stouter than their inferiors, of Celtic parentage. Doubtless, there are exceptions ; but the words of a well-known writer may not be deemed too theoretical : " That throughout the country, superiority of wealth or stature belongs to the Gothic race ; whilst the Celts are everywhere the lower caste of society." b I have already attempted to show some of the effects of the union which took place between these Gothic intruders, and the natives who became their vassals. An important one remains. We have spoken of the diversity of Celtic tribes, but the "Highland Clan" proper- ly so called, must have been a formation of more recent date. The author of " A Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian," c with a self-sufficiency not a little amusing, boldly lays it down, " that it was after the accession of territory which the Scots received on the retreat of the Romans from Britain, that the inhabitants of the High- lands were divided into clans" A more erro- neous assertion was never made : For it is ma- nifest to common sense, that as these tribes were severally, and peculiarly distinguished, their establishment cannot mount up to an era a Gartmore MS. b M'Culloch's Western Isles, IV. p. 255. * P. 349. 52 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND beyond the introduction of sirnames. These are generally attributed to Malcolm Cean-mor ; but it is very questionable if they existed before the reign of David I. It was in this reign that Gothic colonists poured into Scotland ; and the gradual assumption of their new leaders' name by the native septs, was doubtless the origin of these imaginary families. But their general an- tiquity must rest on the probable settlement of each chief in his Highland domains ; and as our national records cannot supply the answer, we are left to conjecture the growth of new Clans from the reign of David I. till perhaps long after the accession of Robert Bruce, in whose time it is well known many Lowland Barons received grants in the north. 3 In what way the rude tribes of early Celtic ages w r ere distinguished, we have no evidence ; but we can easily dis- cern how in after periods, a body considering themselves as one family, distinguished by one common name, and concentrating their affec- tions and feelings in a narrowed compass, would prove formidable amidst such distracted politics as those of Scotland. Some writers have drawn a view of the clan policy, as representing, in every particular, a coin- cidence with the feudal one, but as existing here long anterior to the Norman invasion. Their con- clusions are built on premises taken from a period after the Normans penetrated into Scotland, and a Robertson's Index to Charters. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 53 therefore manifestly derived from wrong data. Nor is the distinction which has been attempted to be made between the western clans and their brethren on the mainland better founded. It is clear from history, that the western isles were inhabited during the early ages of the Scottish dynasty, partly by a Gaelic partly by a Scandi- navian race, the doubtful tributaries of the Nor- wegian monarchs. Orkney and Shetland also owned the Norman's sway, as did the nearest shores of Caithness and Sutherland.* A Celtic people held the mainland of northern Scotland j and as a nation of dissimilar origin were the invaders of her domains at all these different points, they must have brought with them dissi- milar ideas of government. These ideas were feudal, and their dissemination would have had a tendency to assimilate, rather than diversify the features of the respective tribes. Had Scot- land, properly so called, been free from foreign aggression, there might have been cause for vary- ing characteristics among the clans of the main- land and those of the isles. In considering their internal aspect, I have assumed the power of the chief to be absolute, and his followers divested of all control. It may be expected I should go more fully into the causes of this dependence ; for I am not ignorant that it may be said, the authority of the feudal sovereign was originally extremely a Torfseus, Orcades. 54 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND limited ; that beyond the services expressly sti- pulated on the investiture of the feu, none were exigible from the vassal without his consent,* whilst the lord was bound to hold a court for the government of his seigneurie, at which his te- nants assisted with their advice. b But it must be remembered, that the exercise of such a pre- rogative implied the co-existence of a civil and criminal judicature. In the settlements effect- ed by the Teutonic Barons in the Highlands, such powers would in all likelihood have been forcibly assumed, or conferred upon them by the gift of the sovereign, as the only means of esta- blishing a dubious supremacy. Extensive tracts of country thus subjected to the control of a particular chief, became the property of his issue 5 and heritable jurisdictions* continued to distract the course of justice till a comparatively recent period. Such a policy, by submitting every thing to the sway of one man, left nothing as a counterpoise for the unfortunate people. The tendency of the Feudal Institutions, though founded on subordination, verged to indepen- dence ; e and the usurpations of the nobility over Europe, whilst they dissolved the bonds which connected them with the Crown, reduced the commons to a state of slavery. In Scotland, and a Cruise on Dignities, 9. "> Craig, Lib. ii. Tit. ii. cap. 10. Whitaker's Manchester, II. 170. c Glanv. Lib. viii. c. 10. d Pinker ton, I. 366. e Robertson's Charles V. vol. IV. p. 16. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 55 especially in the Highlands, these powers took a deeper and more vigorous root from accidental circumstances : the mountainous nature of the country, the want of towns, their distance from the seat of government, and their leagues for mutual confederacy, 3 being all causes which 8 Acts of Scottish Parliament, fo. ix. app. 60. The following instances will exemplify the nature of these as- sociations : (From M'Farlane's MS. Genealogical Collections, vol. i. p. 227, in the Advocates Library, Edinburgh.) " This indenture made at Forbes, the ninth day of August, the year of God one thousand four hundred threescore and seven years, Betwixt an Honourable Lord William, Lord Forbes, Sir Alexan- der Forbes of Pitsligo, Alexander Forbes of Toquhan, Arthur of Forbes and John of Forbes of Brouchous, on one part, and honour- able men, Duncan Macintosh, chief and captain of Clanchattan, Hutcheon Ross, Baron of Kilravock, Lauchlan and Allan Mac- intosh, brother to the said Duncan, on the other part, proposts and bears witness, That it is fully appointed and accorded be- twixt the said parties, in manner and form as after follows : that is to say, the foresaid Lord Forbes, and his party before written, binds and obliges them (baith for themselves, and all arid sindry their kin men, party and inheritance that will adhere to them, to keep hairtie friendship, kinrent, love, and tenderness, and to take oppen upright pairts in all and sundry their causes and quarrels with the foresaid Duncan, Hutcheon, Lauchlan and Allan, and till all their kin, men, pairty and inheridence ; and if any manner of man scaps or would scap for their deeds, disherisone, banishing or undoeing, the said Lord Forbes, and bis party, shall defend them at all their goodly power, baith be slight and might, and doe for them as for their awin person, kin or men, keiphand his allegiance and service to our sovereign Lord our King : And in like manner the foresaid Duncan, and his party before written, binds and obliges them, baith for themselves and all and sindrie their kin, men, party, and inheridance, that will inherite to them, to keep hairty friendship, kinrent, love, and tenderness, and to tak oppin upright pairt in their cause and quarrel to the said William Lord Forbes, Alexander, Alexander, Arthur and John, and all their kin, men, pairty, and inheridance ; and if any manner of men scaps 56 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND augmented the authority of the aristocracy." Add to these, the servile condition of the lower class among the Celtic tribes, and the conse* or would scape for their deeds, disherison, banishing or undoeing, the said Duncan, Hutcheon, Lauchlan, and Allan, and their men, pairty had inheridence, sail defend them at all their goodly powers, baith be might and slight, defend them, and do for them as for their own persons, men or kin, keepand their allegiance ever to our sovereign Lord the King, and the said Duncan and Hutcheon keep- and their allegiance to the Earl of Ross and Mair, attour ilk ane of the said pairties are obliged to others, That they shall never ane of the na of ther men for ony manner of mcid, na or reward to come, na gang to make hership, slaughter or disturblance on the tother in time to come, and that all and sindrie their accord and point- nent shall be leill and truely keepit without fraud or guile to the langest livand of them twa, and their bairn es gotten of them, and all that comes of them, and this bond perpetually to endure for evermore, and to the security of this either of the pairties has made till uther their great bodily aithes, the haly Evengell tucked, and whoever brakes in ony of their conditions sail be hauldin infamous, men sworn to renounce their faith of Christ, and never to be heard in proof na witness, na ly in kirk, nor Christian burial. In witness hereof the said pairties to thir indentures interchangablie had af- fixed their scales for the langer livand of either pairties." *The Lairds of M'lntosh, Calder, Fowles, Slait and Kilravock, entered into a friendly bond and treaty to have the same friends and foes in common with M'Intosh, not to make war or alliances without his concurrence, and to send assistance when required to do so. Letters of Association, dated at Inverness, 30th April, 1527. tRonald, the son of Ronald M'Donald, Glaish a Gargochia, granted an hereditary bond of obligation of suit and servitude for himself, posterity, relations and clients ! with warrandice by oath against all mortals, (the Earl of Athole alone excepted) to M'In- tosh and his posterity, on 12th June, 1572. The deed is dated at the Isle of Moy, before James M'Intosh a Cask, John Forbes a Jolly, William Cuthbert, and John Ker, citizens of Inverness, Nigel Mack-comil, vie niel, servant of the said Ronald, Donald * Same MS. Collection of M'Farlane, i. p. 236. f Ibid - ' P- 2 ** > Robertson's Scotland, I. p. 15, 17. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 57 quences of a partition of the vanquished terri- tory. When the northern chief portioned out his new acquisitions, he would naturally bestow them in the first instance on such of his follow- ers as were allied to him by blood ; and the sub- divisions by these again, to their children and cadets, would in time beget the idea of universal consanguinity. The Aborigines becoming in- corporated with the new settlers, transferred to their ruler the attachment formerly paid to their own, whilst they assumed his name ; a and thus " regarded as the superior of their lands, and the chief of their blood," the mandates of the leader were the sole rule of governance for the entire sept ; whose sublimest degree of virtue it was, to love their lord, and pay him a blind obe- dience. 11 No insult was so poignant to a clans- man as to bid him name his chief; a defiance amounting to insinuated ignorance of his autho- rity. That this is a true picture of clan policy, Dumak hamish vie Alister of Badenoch, and John Gibson, notary public. * On 19th November, 1597, MMntosh and Kenneth M'Kenzie of Kintail associated themselves, by a strict league, followed by oath, for themselves and their posterity, against all mortals the Queen's Majesty excepted. An alliance has subsisted for some hundred years between Mac- leod of Rasaay and M'Donald of Sky, in consequence of which the survivor always inherits the arms of the deceased. The author has been informed, that on the death of the late Lord M 'Donald, his brother and successor presented a superb sword to the present Ra- saay, an officer in the 78th Highlanders. Same MS. Collection of M'Farlane, i. p. 252. a Gartmore MS. Birt's Letters, II. p. 363. b Birt, 11.29. c Ibid. II. 117. .58 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND has been admitted by every writer ; a and the sta- tute 1587 b which compelled the heads of tribes to find security for the outrages of their adher- ents, virtually legalized the authority of the chiefs by acknowledging their supreme control. Thus the members of every clan were united by a double bond of feudal superiority and patriar- chal attachment/ They were the vassals of the chief; but he was also their father j and the in- dissolubility of the connection was in no small degree aided by the custom of fosterage* By this singular rite, children were mutually gi- ven from one class to another, to be nursed and reared by strangers ; and the young noble ever after looked upon the peasant sons of his foster- mother with the affection of a beloved relative. 6 It became also a leading maxim, that the clan, from the highest to the lowest, composed but one family, bearing the same name, and sprung from one common ancestor/ These notions were countenanced by the patronymic of that ancestor, being adopted as the distinguishing appellation of the sept ; g and the state of England on the Nor- a Johnson's Journey, Works, VIII. 314. Dalrymple's Memoirs of Great Britain. b Statute llth, Par!. Ja. VI. c Grant's Essays, I. 17. d On this subject see Johnson's Works, VIII. 378. Mrs. Grant's Essays, II. p. 193. e Cambden. f Quarterly Review, XIV. p. 300. z The patronymic, or " epithet expressive of the chief's patriar- chal dignity as head of the clan," was derived from the founder of his race, from armorial distinctions, or the memory of some great feat. The custom seems another evidence of Teutonic ascendency KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 59 man conquest, bears no inapt comparison to that presented by the Highlands but a century ago. " The realm of England," says Maddox, a " was deemed one great seignory or domain, of which the King was Sovereign Lord, having under him many barons or great lords, and many knights and military tenents, besides socagers, burgesses, and others. In order to survey the court of this chief lord, we may consider him as residing in his palace, and surrounded by his barons and of- ficers of state. The baronage attending on his person made a considerable part of his court : they held their baronies of him : he was their sovereign ; and they were his men as to life, limb, and earthly honour." So the Highland chief, as he was the original proprietor of the land, b had paramount authority over the whole clan, which again was split into branches from the main stock, htiving their own chieftains ; whilst these were subdivided into smaller rami- fications, who deduced their original from their in our mountains. In Iceland (I have been assured) it has always been, and is yet, the practice to adopt the Christian name of the father, as the sir-name of the son ; so the Duke of Argyle was call- ed in the Highlands, Mac-Callanmor, or the son of Colin the Great. The progenitor of the Campbells, it is well known, was an Anglo-Norman, who married the Celtic heiress of Argyll. (Cale- donia, I. 597.) Besides his patronymic, the leader had also an inferior title, characteristic of his stature, complexion, habit, or the like; as (see Notes to the Lady of the Lake, Canto II. p. 322) thus : Rob Roy, Red Robert ; Roderigh vich Alpine Dhu, Black Roderick the descendant of Alpine. a Exch. Hist. c. 1. sect. 2. b Johnson's Works, VIII. 314. c Birt's Letters, II. p. 2. Wade's Memorial, Appendix to ditto, 271. 60 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND particular leaders, and relied on them for protec- tion and defence. The notion of a body-politic, with an acknow- ledged authority over every individual of the state, was little recognised among the Gaelic people. 8 The situation of each tribe in a rude and inaccessible country, nursed this principle of disunion into a high and daring spirit of in- dependent sovereignty. It may not be uninter- esting to view the social system displayed in the internal government of a clan. It exhibits a total absence of any democratic influence, to di- minish the sway of the chief j and represents him as sole lord and governor of his people." In- numerable authorities establish this position ; which is strongly illustrated by an anecdote of a Highland laird, who remarked, upon one of his vassals complaining of some slight injury/ " that had any of those people formerly said as much to their chief, they would have been car- ried to the next rock and precipitated." We need add little to the picture of the blood-thirsty cruelties of the noted Lord Lovat. e In addition to the published atrocities of which this man was guilty, he, on one occasion, sent a party of his clan to murder Fraser of Struy. The a Caledonia, I. 454. b " Kings can for the most part only exalt or degrade. The Laird can at pleasure feed or starve, can give bread or withhold it." Johnson's Works, VIII. 314. c Quarterly Review, XIV. 292. Dirt's Letters, II. 3, 4, 152. * Ibid. II. 22. e Historical Account of Erasers, 4to. p. 157. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 61 villains encountered him in the mountains ; but being a person of address, he persuaded them to accompany him to his house, where he contrived to intoxicate them, and escaped. On another occasion, some of his emissaries received orders to set fire during the night to a gentleman's house in Ross. They, more compassionate than their leader, apprized the destined victim ; and loss of life was not added to their guilt. Chisholm of Chisholm possessed qualities little inferior to Lord Lovat himself. A man of strict integrity, he thwarted many of his Lordship's schemes j and, being at the head of a powerful tribe, was safe from any open violence. Chisholm having on one occasion to go to Inverness, and Lovat knowing that the evening would be far advanced before his return, had a deep trench cut in the highway, in the hope his detested rival would fall into it j but Chisholm being an expert rider, and well mounted, his horse cleared the ditch, and saved him from the bloodhounds who were lying in wait for him. The instances of houghing cattle, and burning barn yards by Lovat's ban- ditti, are too well known to require any mention. And who, in reading these details, can co- incide in opinion with a late writer, that a High- land chief was not despotic ? a Even the elec- tive franchise of tanistry was but the momentary ebullition of clan passions aroused by circum- a Jameson's Introd. to Birt's Letters, I. Ivii, (52 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND stances ! The most passive will at times rebel j and this law provoked revolution and civil war by its very principle. 8 But whatever change was effected in the condition of the governor, there was none in that of the governed. They merely substituted one master for another, with- out counterbalancing the evils of the ancient misrule. They remained divested of a voice in the chiefs councils as before, and sought to veil all remembrance of their disloyalty by transfer- ring their affections and allegiance to the newly elected superior, whom they held up as the lineal representative of an hereditary authority. 11 In a Highland clan, society partook of a three-fold division, into chief, tacksmen, and people. The first was the supreme dispenser of all power. He made war or peace, conclud- ed alliances, and entered into treaties with other tribes. His collateral relations, or those nearly allied to them, formed the second class. These held considerable farms from their superior in tack, or wadset, and received the name of tacks- men. For many ages such possessions were hereditary, and the rentaller was distinguished by the name of the place where he resided. To support his rank, the tacksman parcelled out his peculiar district into small portions, which he a Ware's Antiq. and Hist, of Ireland, c. 8. Dr. M'Pherson's Dissertation on Caledonians, p. 166. b Quarterly Review, No. XIV. p. 300. c Johnson's Journey, Works, VIII. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 63 let to the commoners of the clan. a Thus tiie tacksmen held an intermediate station, and might be deemed the aristocracy, the relations of the a Minorities being of frequent occurrence from long continued feuds, the education of the young chief, and the direction of his affairs, fell to his Tuit-fhear, or guardian uncle. Such an event added to the dignity of this kinsman ; for without derogating from the eulogiums which have been bestowed on these persons in Highland history for their blameless integrity, the gift of the ward and non-entry duties due to the crown, which they generally contrived to acquire, gave them the means of increasing their state. By a circumspect alienation of these till the laird's majo- rity, they swelled the list of their retainers, and even enrolled rival lairds or tacksmen in their train. Thus, in a contract and bond of manrent between Thomas Fraser of Knockie, wardator of the Lordship of Lovat, and James Fraser in Belladrum, brother ger- man to Hutcheon Fraser of Guisachan, dated 2d December, 1578, James Fraser, * in consideration of a grant of the ward, and non- entry duties of Belladrum, pays down " ane grait sum of money extending to the sum of L.50, Gs. 8d. usual monie of this realme," " and binds and oblidges him, his heirs, &c. leally and truely be ye faith and truth of his bodie, till tak trew effald and plain part wi ye said Thomas and his Airs, and till assist, serve, fortify, maintain, and defend wi the said James' haill tenants of the haill forsaid lands the said Thomas in all his just, leisome, and honest actions, causes, adoes, and effeiris at his charges, thairof both in hosting and hunting, and in the King's wars, and in the brogh (borough ?) of Inverness, and in the hielands, upon their ain ex- pences, and also in sick friendis actionis as ye said Thomas sail be requiret and desired till, ye said James and his servands with him being upon the said Thomas' expences only gif they pass furder nar ye bounds at Aldearn, or thairubouts, and sicklike in all uther places, as the said James sail be requirit be the said Thomas upon his expences against all deadly, ye autority and ye Lord Lovat in all his knawn, just, honest, and leasing actions, adoes, and affairs only excepted ; and till cum himself and his tenantis of the said landis to the said Thomas' Court or Courts at sick tyme and place within the bounds of the Barony of Lovatt as they sail be requirit * Penes Mr. Fraser of Belladrum. 64 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND regal and plebeian orders being connected through them ; and whilst they owed suit and service to their superior, they, as chieftains of inferior authority, exacted similar tribute from their respective dependants. The principle of subordination was in this way universal ; but the idea of a common affinity tempered in some degree the errors of such a system by a mutual exchange of benefits and affectionate returns. 8 It was a solitary check, it is true, but perhaps a very forcible one, at a period when the relations of domestic life were of stronger hold than at present ; and not without reason may we partly ascribe to this belief of gentle birth, that polish in address and sentiment, which every one, who knows them, will admit the Highland peasantry to be possessed of. For indisputably many of the lower orders do at this moment reckon among them the descendants of the sons of tacksmen who had fallen into the common herd, either by their portion having been reassumed by the laird into his own hands, or by those de- scendants sinking into poverty, brought about by an excessive population, and consequent dis- thairto, for haning and sparing and keeping of woods, and deer, and staying of slaying of salmonds and black fishes, and for follow- ing furth of guid order, punishing of thieves and trespassers, and maintaining of quietness within the said Lordship." In the event of delinquency, James agrees to be tried for his offences before his Judge Ordinary, or a jury of Erasers there named, ( ff as the said Thomas sail please best,") provided always, " that against them the said Thomas sail not have action at the time of that trial ! !" a Mrs. Grant's Essays, II. 116, 167. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 65 inclination to labour. 9 And as others of those tacksmen's sons found an outlet in the French and Spanish armies, where they perhaps rose to distinction, those at home, however much low- ered in circumstances, deemed it incumbent on them to remember their own high descent, and that they also were Gentlemen ! Where is the proprietor in the Highlands who has not num- bers of these poor cousins ? But no inconsider- able degree of that refinement, which distin- guishes the conversation of these mountaineers, may be attributed to the influence of poetry so ancient and so universal ; to the little courtesies which necessity compelled them to pay each other when they removed in the summer months to their distant shealings ; or when in winter they crowded around the blazing hearth, to join in the dance, or listen to the song. b The rustic of the south repairs, when his labour is done, to the alehouse, there to drown his cares in low debauchery ; but the Highland peasant could betake himself to no such rendezvous. Beyond his glen and mountain side, the world had for him no charms. Cattle constituted all his wealth : in driving these from place to place, or bringing them down from the heights, numerous oppor- tunities were afforded to neighbours of confer- ring acts of kindness. Destitute of books, un- visited by strangers, the resources against ennui a Appendix to Birt's Letters, II. 340, 341. b Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. 20, 198. II. p. 7. E 66 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND Jay among themselves ; and the belief of a com- mon ancestry gave rise to a warmth of feeling, which can exist only in a domestic circle. To other septs the Highlander was rude and law- less ; but gentle and affectionate to his own. " Every man was a soldier who partook of na- tional confidence, and interested himself in na- tional honour." 3 Last not least effectual, in pro- ducing civility of speech, was the character of the government ; which being regal, diffused politeness from the laird throughout the clan. b I have thus endeavoured to pourtray some of * the results attending the amalgamation of the feudal and patriarchal systems. It were a trite observation at this day, to remark that any such union, was fit only for a rude state of society, and had a tendency to repress every attempt at liberty. Let any one, who has considered the nature of the mercheta mulierum, the avail of marriage, and the wardship of heirs, say what the condition of the lower ranks could have been, but that of a degraded and enthralled people ? As the land was, in almost every instance, the chief's, the barbarous nature of the feudal cus- toms considered the possession of the vassal or tenant as that of the landlord, and authorized the seisure of his goods for his superior's debt/ a Johnson's Works, VIII. 322. 240. b L'Esprit des Loix, liv. iv. c. 2. c See L'Esprit des Loix throughout. Robertson's State of So- ciety, p. 21. d Erskine's Institute, b. iii. tit. vi. sect. 22. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 67 Indefeisible hereditary right, and absolute un- controllable sovereignty in the chief magistrate, 3 those monstrous absurdities, were taught as essential. The mischief of such maxims, the crimes they gave rise to, by the power which they threw into the hands of the chief, contin- ued to agitate the Highlands for a long series of ages. Add to these, the almost universal ignorance which prevailed ; the absurdity of their superstitions, b and the harsh and unchris- tian feelings with which the natives pursued the gratification of private pique, or public hate ; and we have a picture which we almost shudder to contemplate. That picture glows in full force even when we turn to the days of our James I. In the stormy era which preceded that reign, we can- not suppose its shadows were less prominent j unless, indeed, we could imagine with Dr. Mac- Culloch, that the condition of the lords of the west and their retainers during their subjection to the Norwegian rule, was ameliorated by the wholesome laws which this people everywhere established ; and that the dismemberment of the western coast from the Norsemen, was the signal for the dispersion of lawless troops of marauders j who then, uniting under different leaders, gave a Gartraore MS. App. Birt's Letters, 366. MacCulloch, 451. b Moral Statistics of the Highlands, by the Inverness Education Society, 1826, p. 8, 9. c Letters on Western Isles, IV. p. 434. 400. I 68 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND rise to fresh clans, and laid the foundation of new families. As in order fully to comprehend the aspect, under which a nation appears at a distinct period of their history, it is necessary to have a know- ledge of the events by which society was con- ducted to that point, I shall perhaps best attain the object of this essay by throwing the scatter- ed notices of my subject into one general view, comprehending the prominent features of the Highland character preceding the year 1745. As connected with the power of the magis- trate, of which I have treated, the administra- tion of justice is of primary importance. In this particular, our Irish progenitors were remark- ably deficient. The chief who governed them was also their judge ; his will, or that of his Brehon's, the only rule of law j a and the office of the Brehon was hereditary. He held his Courts on a motehill, or mound of earth ; a form of judicature, in which we discern a re- markable similarity between the Celtic and nor- thern nations : from the Brehon to the Baron Bailie of more modern times, the transition was easy. As robbery was attended with no degree of infamy among the ancient Germans, if exer- cised beyond the limits of their own commu- nity, 1 ' neither was it among the Highlanders. a Caledonia, I. 308. b Caesar. c Graham's Sketches of Perthshire, p. 97. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 69 It seems to have been considered a laudable custom, and one wherein the youth, (sworn up- on their dirks to be true and loyal to their commander, 3 ) were trained to hardihood and military exercises. b But it was (if we may use the expression) on a nobler scale than the de- predations of our days : private theft, in fact, was hardly known ; and a sheepstealer was look- ed upon with contempt. Their creaghs, or forays, were headed by the younger sons of the tacksmen, and often by the chief himself: al- ways, indeed, when for the first time he assumed command of his clan ; and from the spoils of such incursions into the Lowlands, not inaptly styled " Michaelmas moons," the chief's daugh- ters were portioned off, or his followers soothed for occasional acts of despotism : d money he had not to give them, and a batch of cows was the substitute. A rich maiden had from ten to forty ; two cows were however a decent por- tion. 6 If in these raids the injured party dis- a " Captain Fraser took the oaths of fidelity of such gentlemen of his name as he suspected, and they and the men were sworn upon their dirks never to desert him.* b Pennant, 3d vol. c Birt, II. 131. Lady of the Lake, notes, p. 400. d Quarterly Review, XIV. p. 296, 298. e Johnson's Works, VIII. 339. In 1649, MacLean of Duart married his sister Fingula to Mac- Lean of Col, with a hundred and eighty kine, and stipulated if she became a widow her jointure should be 360 ! * Trial of Captain Simon Fraser of Beaufort, 6th September, 1698. Justiciary Records, and Arnot's Criminal Trials, 79. covered the track of the "lifted" cattle, and overtook the aggressors, matters were generally compromised by the chief making a composi- tion ; a and this was conformable to their Brehon system, by which all crimes were commuted ; b but if captured, the robbers seldom betrayed the name of their protector : c he who did so, and received tascal money as informer, met scorn, perhaps death. d To purchase security from these spoilers, it became customary to enter into compacts with their leaders ; by which the latter agreed for a determinate annual sum to protect the contracting party's lands and property. This tribute received the appellation of black mail, and regular receipts were granted for its amount. These predatory incursions served to diffuse a martial spirit through the clans, rendering them averse to constant hard labour and a settled life. The commonalty were wretchedly lodged, wretchedly fed ; and knew no more of the im- provements of life than the breeding of cattle, and the making of hay, butter, and cheese. 6 Devoted to their chiefs they were ready, when the " fiery cross" circulated, to brave every dan- ger ; whilst the lightness of their habit, and the wandering nature of their avocations in the moun- tains, made them superior to fatigue, and indif- ferent to the inclemency of the weather. Wrap- a Hist, of Sutherland, 57. Birt, II. 130. b M'Pherson's Dissertations on Caledonians, 170. c Memoires de la Vie du Lord Lovat, 78. <> Birt, II. 142. c Gartmore MS. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 71 ped in his plaid, which he soaked in some neigh- bouring brook, the peasant felt a warmth from the steam, that enabled him to brave the most pitiless storm. a It might have been expected that he would have been as slightly armed as he was clad : on the contrary, when in full costume, the Highlander encumbered himself with a clay- more, or great two-handed sword, b a target, a brace of pistols, a dirk, a gun, and a skeandhu, or small hunting knife placed in the garter of his right leg : Captain Birt compares a man thus accoutred to a whole company of foot. Yet an acute observer was not able to discover that the art of defence was any part of common educa- tion : the gentlemen were sometimes skilful swordsmen ; but the common men had no other powers, than those of personal courage and vio- lence/ To the serious turn of mind inspired by a Birt, II. 16. b Meyrick's Ancient Armour, 358. Johnson's Works, VIII. 351. Birt. c Letters, II. 119. d Johnson's Works, VIII. 352. The singularity of the Highland garb and arms was not lost upon the author of " Memoirs of a Cavalier from the year 1632 to 1648." In describing the Scottish army, he says : " 1 confess the soldiers made a most uncouth figure, especially the Highlanders. They were generally tall swinging fellows; their swords were extravagantly, and I think insignificantly broad, and they carried great wooden targets, large enough to cover the upper part of their bodies. Their dress was as antique as the rest; a cap on their heads, called by them a bonnet, long hanging sleeves behind, and their doublet, breeches and stoekings, stripped across red and yellow, with short cloaks of the same. These fellows looked, when drawn out, like a regiment of merry Andrews ready for Bartholomew Fair. They are in companies of all of a name ; and therefore call one another only by their Christian names, as 72 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND the magnificent scenes of nature, and the indis- tinct appearance of objects under a varying at- mosphere, may be ascribed the tinge of supersti- tion which marked the national character. The Taishitaraugh, or second sight; 3 the witches, the goblins, and the wild train of tutelary and local spirits, are proofs of the poetical and enthu- siastic temperament of a mountain people. The love of such a people for their native land was in- delible, and it was exemplified in the new-mar- ried bride spinning the winding sheet, which was to cover her, when she lay among her fathers. At their marriages and funerals, to which a ge- nerous hospitality made every one welcome, without a question as to name or lineage, b mirth prevailed to an almost incredible degree. Each clan possessing separate and distinct interests, Jemmy, Jockey, and Sawney, that is, Alexander. They scorn to be commanded but by one of their own clan or family. They are all gentlemen, and proud enough to be kings. The meanest fellow among them is as tenacious of his honour as the best nobleman in the country; and they will fight, and cut one another's throats for every trifling affront. But to their own clans or lairds they are the willingest and most obedient fellows in nature. Give them their due, were their skill in exercises and discipline proportioned to their courage, they would make the bravest soldiers in the world. They are large bodies and prodigiously strong; and two qualities they have above other nations, viz. hardy to endure hun- ger, cold, and hardships, and wonderfully swift of foot. The lat- ter is such an advantage in the field, that I know none like it; for if they conquer, no enemy can escape them ; and if they run, even the horse can hardly overtake them. There were some of them who, as I observed before, went out in parties with their horse." pp. 156, 2. a Martin, Western Isles, 300 et seq. b Notes to Lady of the Lake, p. 307. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 7^ and therefore necessitated to provide for internal union, intermarried with one another.* With the chief it was an object of policy to seek additional strength by powerful alliances with his equals : b His household was numerous ; c a select body-guard, called Luicht-tach, defended his person ; and his visits were paid with much pomp. Independent of his gardes- de-corp, he was accompanied by his henchman or secretary ; his bard ; his bladier, or spokesman ; gillie-mbr, or sword-bearer ; gillie-cctfiflue, carrier over fords ; gittie-comstraine, leader of his horse ; gillie- trushanarinsh, baggage man : Next came the piper, and then the piper's attendant. Of con- venience or magnificence his dwelling had little to boast : the most ancient fortalices being sin- gle square towers, four or five storeys high, each comprising but one room. d The top con- a When a couple were united, their friends sent them presents to fit them out, such as table linen, meal, cattle, and the like ; and persons even of genteel birth did not disdain to receive such gifts. Sometimes the young people made the round of their relatives and neighbours to try fortune's smiles. This was called Thigging. * Many of our young ladies would stare to be told that in this man- ner were their grandmothers launched into the world. " It was also anciently customary in the Highlands to bring the bride to the house of the husband ; nay, in some cases, complaisance was stretched so far, that she remained there upon trial for a twelve- month, and the bridegroom even after this period of cohabitation retained an option of refusing to fulfil his engagement." t Hence deadly feuds arose. Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. 48. b Birt, II. p. 114. c Ibid. 61. Lady of the Lake, p. 358. d Cardonell's Antiquities, 8. Birt, II. 106. t Lord uf the Isle., p. 387. 74 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND sisted of a sharp-roofed warder's turret, encom- passed by battlements j in the second storey was the principal chamber or hall ; and below these, the dungeon and guard-room. Built solely for safety, such habitations answered every purpose of the owner, if they secured his family and depen- dants (nay, occasionally his cattle) from the assaults of an enemy. The famous Lord Lovat of 1745, kennelled 400 persons in his rude retreat ! a In the days of Birt, the chiefs had generally ex- changed these incommodious fastnesses for hou- ses built sometimes of stone and lime. b These were, however, far removed from the ideas of modern times; since it appears that if they were of two storeys they were, par excellence, styled " lofted houses j" whilst stone dwellings were so rare, as never to be seen in the interior of the mountains. The gentlemen of the clan were lit- tle better off in point of outward accommodation, than their vassals. They both lived in huts. c These had several gradations from " murky dens to commodious dwellings." They were built (and the peasant's hovel is so still) without mor- tar, either of turf or loose stones : The meanest had two rooms ; the first lighted by the entrance ; the second by a lateral apology for a window. The fire-place stood in the centre, and to econo- mize the heated air, there was seldom even a smoke hole. But several of the huts, inhabited by superior people, had walls cemented by mor- a Historical Account of Frasers, 1.56. b Birt, II. 101. Birt, !I. 7. Johnson's Works, VIII. 334, KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. J5 tar, glass windows, and boarded floors : Entering one of them belonging to a gentleman, Captain Birt found it, like the others, undivided by any partition ; the family at one end, the cattle at the other ; the host was without shoes, stockings, or breeches, in a short coat, with a shirt not much longer, and his two daughters sitting be- side him. In the course of conversation with aged persons in the Highlands, the author has been assured by them, that, where many of the modern elegant mansion houses of heads of tribes now stand, their fathers resided in poor " bo- thies." Yet the provisions of life were in abun- dance : of butcher meat there was ample store ; whilst his hills afforded the chieftain every variety of game, and his rivers the most wholesome fish. Many were provident to barter the latter with French merchants, receiving in return spiceries, and other delicacies. 3 A Highland laird, with a rental of perhaps not more than L.300 or L.400 per annum, kept up a state equal, if not greater than many sovereign princes of Germany at this day ; whilst the pride of birth, and the sense of real or affected superiority, were cherished by the compositions of the bards, in which they ex- tolled the exploits of his ancestors, or the daz- zling qualities of his own character. The pas- sion of fame, by exciting a spirit of emulation, led the inferior orders to copy their leader ; and it will not excite surprise, that the bards, who a Historical Account of Frasers, 102, 4to. 76 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND were placed, by the Celtic nations, beside the husbandman and artisan, as one of the three pil- lars of social existence,* should on their office becoming hereditary, assume an insolent and overbearing deportment. The blind respect paid to their persons, and the ample privileges conferred on them, by exciting the passions of a vain race of men, paved the way to their total decline ; and, as letters were diffused, the Order sunk into contempt. b We may not, perhaps, go the length of acceding to Dr. Johnson's axiom, and argue, that because a man cannot read he cannot compose ; on the contrary, we well know that many nations of antiquity couch- ed their laws and historical monuments in verse, which were handed down by tradition ; yet it seems but common sense to say, that all such compositions must partake of the intellectual debasement of the times. As the circle of their knowledge was narrow, the ideas of the bards must have been confined in proportion. Hence the objections, which have been raised, to the authenticity of the poems of Ossian ; founded on the inconsistency of appropriating civilized and benevolent feelings to a savage state of society, on the want of costume, and the striking inaccu- racies in chronology. Into the merits of this celebrated controversy, I do not pretend to enter. That the Highlanders possessed traditionary a Thierry, Histoire de la Conquete de 1'Angleterre, I. 99. b Lord of the Isles, note, p. 385, and Martin's Western Isles. c Dissertation on the Poems of Ossian, 351. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 77 songs and tales containing much of wild and beautiful imagery, it were vain to deny ; a but, whether the poems in point have anywise influ- enced the national character, is another question. The leading traits of most nations are preserved in their poetry, which again may be said of itself to mould the public taste ; the generous con- tempt of death, the wild and animated measure of the Runic ryhmes, characterize the earlier Gothic people, whilst yet in a primitive state of society : In the lyric poetry of Spain, we dis- cern that union of courage and love, that har- monious combination of gallantry and tender- ness, so expressive of the chivalrous bearing of Moor and of Spaniard. To those exquisite compositions, which have preserved, with all the a This is proved by the preface written by John Carsewell, bi- shop of the isles, to his " Foirm na Nurrnuidheabh, or Forms of Prayer," printed at Edinburgh, (called on the title-page both Dun- edin and Dun-Monaidh, i. e. City of the Moors) 24 April, 1567. The only complete copy of this singular work is in the possession of the Duke of Argyle ; but an extract from it will be found in the Scottish Descriptive Poems, edited by the lamented Leyden, p. 215. " We never had in print/' says the bishop, " the history of antiquity, or of our ancestors, although a certain portion of the literature of the Gaels of Scotland and Ireland exists in manu- scripts in the possession of bards and teachers, and their patrons. Great is the sinful darkness, and ignorance, and perverseness of those who teach, and write, and compose in Gaelic, in exhibiting much more attention, and showing more anxiety to preserve the vain, extravagant, false, and worldly histories of the Tuath-de- Da- nans and Milesians, and of the heroes of Fingal the son of Cum- hail of the Fingalians, and many others which I shall not here mention, than they display to write, and to teach, and compose the sincere words of God." See on this subject the notes to Sir Walter Scott's " Lord of the Isles." 78 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND freshness of nature, the manners of the Moriscoes and Shepherds, and the exploits of the Cid, must we look for the source of that tone of romance displayed in the Spanish character. With us the poems of Ossian were as a dead letter, till within the last forty or fifty years ; and it is cer- tainly a surprising fact, that compositions, replete with delicacy of sentiment, and the most ele- vated heroism, should have lingered for ages unknown, till the industry of M*Pherson gather- ed them together ! Music or song is found coeval with society among the most barbarous nations/ Critics have considered music and poetry as sister arts ; and it seems credible that the exquisite melodies, which still remain in the Highlands, have been handed down from our Gaelic progenitors. 1 * Mountaineers cling with affection to the customs of their ancestors ; and, if there be any thing which may escape shipwreck by traditionary de- scent in the mutations of time, we may say it is melody. Thus, the simple and affecting airs of the Scottish Highlanders would pass from one generation to another, unaffected by those revo- lutions which language, whether in verse or prose, must undergo. How the loud drone of the bagpipe should have superseded the once universal and melodious harp, is matter of curi- a Blair's Dissertation on Ossian. b See Captain Eraser's Highland Melodies, and the act of 6 James VI. c. 98. enjoining a knowledge of music. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 79 ous but unsatisfactory conjecture. 3 But " for the blast of war," the great Highland pipe is well adapted ; and the Highland soldier has evinced in many a hard fought field, the inspir- ing influence of " Those thrilling sounds, that call the might Of old clan-Alpine to the fight." We may now advance to a consideration of the political aspect of the Highlands. The dawn of history presents the tribes of the isles and western shores, yielding obedience to the Scandinavian Sea-kings and their successors, the lords of the isles j whilst the inland clans- men maintained a perpetual conflict with the Flemings and Saxon colonists of the Lowlands. Their subjection to the Scottish crown was merely nominal." Although the treaty entered into in 1266, transferred from the Norwegian monarch the possession of the Hebridean isles, and the laws of Scotland were in future to pre- vail over the ceded territory ; the powerful dy- nasty of the CLAN-COLLA, lords of the isles, ruled, with supreme authority, over the western 8 See notes to the Lady of the Lake, p. 307-8. and Dr. Beattie's Essay on Laughter ami Ludicrous Composition, cap. iii. b Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. p. 27. Of this we have a remarkable proof in the defiance and defeat of Alexander II. by a freebooter called Gillescop, A.D. 1228, and not until he had routed his sovereign, burnt the town of Inverness, and several wooden castles in Moray, and slain a baron, (one Tho- mas Thirlstane) was the Earl of Buchan enabled to subdue this savage- (Fordun, ix. c. 47.) e Torfseus, IV. 343. 80 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND islands, the greater part of Inverness-shire, and the whole of Ross, till the accession of the Ste- warts. The reign of Robert the Bruce, as it was distinguished by important revolutions, may be said to be the first, in which any impression was effected on the power of the Highland chiefs. John Cumine, lord of Badenoch, was regarded by the king as a competitor for the throne j and the mortal consequences of their in- terview at Dumfries/ aroused his adherents to revenge. Many of the most eminent of the Highland chieftains, especially of the western clans, joined the confederacy ; and the "broach of Lome," long preserved by one of their heads, bore witness to the personal danger of the mo- narch. The success of Bruce involved his op- ponents in ruin : nearly half of the lands in the kingdom became escheated to the crown ; while new and subordinate families rose to wealth and eminence on the downfall of the ancient houses. Low country barons now gained a footing in the mountains : b but whatever benefits might have accrued from the settlement of these strangers, were rendered nugatory by the feeble adminis- trations of David II. and Robert III. A pro- tracted struggle for national independence, the successive flight, imprisonment, and redemption of the son of Bruce, c prevented an inquiry into a M. Westminster, 455. b Robertson's Index to Charters. c Buchanan, b. ix. M'Keuzie's Lives of Eminent Authors, 11.91. Rymer's Foedera, V. 793. VI. 46, 52. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 81 the internal policy of the Highlands by the go- vernment j whilst, amid the general distress, the exaltation of the powerful family of Douglas threatened to dissolve what little of political union remained. 3 We find, indeed, that in the national council held by Robert II. in April 1385, John, earl of Carrick, was ordered to pro- ceed to the Highlands, and call the chiefs into his presence to reform the outrages complained of in their territories ; b but it does not appear his mission was productive of much effect. The commencement of Robert III.'s reign, was marked by an event strikingly illustrative of the inefficacy of the laws, and of the turbulence of the times. Alexander, fourth son of Robert II. justly denominated the " Wolf of Badenoch" collected his Highlanders in revenge for the sen- tence of excommunication denounced against him by the Bishop of Moray, and set fire to the ca- thedral of Elgin, and the houses of the clergy. Too mild to punish, the king dared not even to complain. From the long captivity of his suc- cessor, and the character of the regents, Robert and Murdoch, Dukes of Albany, universal anar- chy arose. The prerogatives of the Crown, na- turally inconsiderable, were reduced to nothing j the spoils of the monarchy shared by a dissolute nobility ; d whilst the weak, oppressed by the powerful, appealed to justice in vain. Donald, 3 Robertson's Scotland, I. 21. b Finkerton, J. 28. c Shaw's Moray, 276. Pinkerton, I. 47. d Innes's Critical Essay, I. 272. F 82 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND Lord of the Isles, laying claim to the earldom of Ross, led a numerous army of Hebrideans to the eastern coast, with the intent of sacking Aber- deen ; and burnt, on his destructive march, the greatest part of the town of Inverness. 8 Alex- ander Stuart, Earl of Mar, encountered the island chieftain at Harlaw, and defeated him on the 24th July, 1411. From this reverse, we may date the decline of the Clan-Cotta: The castle of Dingwall, the seat of their power, fell into the regent's hands, and the territory of Ross was an- nexed to the Crown. James I. returned to guide the councils of a distracted country in 1424. Wherever he bent his steps, he found the regal authority held in contempt, or circumscribed by the usurpations of the aristocracy. A people accustomed to the license of the loose and dele- gated jurisdiction of a regent, were inspired with respect for the measures of a sovereign as vigor- ous as they were wise. b Murdoch and his sons paid the penalty of their crimes ; and the nobility were taught submission, by the severity of whole- some laws. A parliament held in 1426, ordered every lord beyond the Grampians to repair to his castle, there to govern his district, and ex- pend his revenues. To repress the lawless acts of the Highland reguli, and, in particular, to crush the rebellious spirit of the lords of the isles, James repaired in person to Inverness in 1427. a Historical Account of Frasers, 57, 4to. b Robertson's Scotland, I. 30. Caledonia, I. 829. c Martial Achievements, II. 279. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 83 Fifty of the principal heads of clans were arrest- ed ; Alexander, lord of the isles, and his mother, thrown into captivity, and their adherents redu- ced to obedience. 9 But the mountain torrent was too powerful to be repressed by a solitary check : The island chief rose in arms, and burnt the town of Inverness ; and the king, again com- pelled to chastise his unruly subject, overtook his forces, and totally defeated them in Lochaber, 23d June, 1429. By the unreserved submission of the vanquished prince in the church of Holy- rood, the execution of Donald Baloch's follow- ers, 11 and the death of Baloch himself, the most fatal check was given to the dynasty of the isles which they had received since the conflict of Harlaw. The efforts of James II. C directed to the humbling of the overbearing ambition of the Douglasses, and other potent barons, afforded little leisure for the consideration of what was passing in the mountains ; and the silence of history bears the surest testimony to the salutary effects of his predecessor's policy. A period of nearly forty years elapsed from their subjection by James I. before we again hear of the lords of the isles. In that time they had recovered from their alarm ; and, in 1462, during the reign of James III. we find John of Hay, Earl of Ross, and lord of the isles, entering into a negotiation with Edward IV. of England, on the independent footing of a sovereign prince. On a Pinkerton, I. 119. b Bower. c Robertson, I. 33. 84 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND the 8th of February that year, he became Ed- ward's liegeman, and did homage for himself and his people. It was stipulated by the treaty, that if Scotland was vanquished by their alliance, all the country to the north of the Forth should be bestowed on Ross. a But this step proved fatal to his ambitious projects ; for the agreement with the English monarch coming to light in 1474, vi- gorous measures were directed against him for his treasonable practices ; sentence of forfeiture pro- nounced, 15 and a force assembled to carry it into execution : The rebellious Earl was stript of the earldom of Ross ; which, with the castles of Nairn and Inverness, and the districts of Knap- dale and Kin tyre, were annexed to the Crown for ever. c The title of lord of the isles, as a lord of parliament alone, was confirmed to John de Isla, in consequence of his submission ; and thus contracted in circumstances, and narrowed in authority, this family enjoyed a turbulent inde- pendence, till the forfeiture of the usurper Do- nald transferred their domains to the king. d While a race long the rivals of the Scottish monarchs thus ceased to exist, the power of the latter remained as circumscribed as formerly. Though extremely solicitous of humbling the aristocracy, the progress made by our rulers was inconsiderable. 6 The main expedient they had recourse to, was the excitement of discord among * Rymer, XI. 483, 484, 492. b Ilec. Parl. 195. 199. c Pinkerton, I. 285. d A. D. 1504. e Robertson, I. 24. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 85 the nobles j thereby hoping to annihilate the union of the order. But whilst individuals were thus sacrificed to the gratification of private re- sentment, the fluctuations of fortune brought fresh adventurers into their place ; and this shal- low device preserved unmitigated for ages, the seeds of discord and opposition to the throne. The conduct of government towards the High- landers partook of this policy. The Brucean line of kings, by turning the swords of a more potent clan against an unruly adversary, hoped for his extinction ; and they rewarded the service, by the possessions of the vanquished. 8 But this practice was productive of the continuance of the very evils it sought to subvert. Feuds ne- cessarily became more prevalent than before j b and the monarchial part of the constitution, was yet further injured, by the enfeebling custom, of granting along with a tract of territory, the ju- risdiction of a free regality. In these regalities, the decision of the lord was supreme, and the a Fordun, II. 380. Caledonia, I. 820. Robertson, I. 24. b Our national history is replete with instances of the rancour with which these hereditary quarrels were transmitted from parent to child. Lord Spainzie fell in a domestic broil of adverse branches of the Crawford family in 1607. (Stat. Account of Edzell, X. 102.) In the Inverness session records is this entry : " Upon ye frest of Junii, anno 1611, the shrff of Murray was slain in For- res be robt. dunbar, son to ye guidman of Bkezie with ane pistolat shot throw ye thie." On 24th November, 1567, the Laird of Airth and the Laird of Wemyss met upon the High Street of Edinburgh, and together with their followers fought a bloody battle, " many on both sides being hurte by shote of pistoll." Birrel's Diary. 86 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND privilege o repledging* removed the last shadow of dependence on the Crown. No wonder, then, if the difficulties which the Government had to struggle with, and the obstacles against order, were greater in Scotland than in any other coun- try in Europe. b The Highlands, parcelled out among numerous shoots from the great family of Clan-Colla, from those of Norman ancestry, and those of mixed Lowland origin, must have become the theatre of savage combat. The reiterated theme of clan conflicts is the only one on which for many ages our writers touch ; whilst foreign- ers speak with an air of pity and commiseration of " La sauvage Escoche." 1 ' In vain did a sta- a The Baron who repledged, was obliged " to give caution of Culrah for administration of justice." See Register of Entails, Lib. 6. fo. 62, for Charters, dated 9th June, 1686, and 15th July, 1698, under the great seal, to George 1. Earl of Cromarty. These charters gave the Earl power, if any of the indwellers and tenants of his lands should happen " to be arrested or attacked before any judge or judges spiritual or temporal, in any time coming, to re- pledge and call them back to the privilege and liberty of the said Court of Bailiery and Regality of Tarbat." For the definition of " caution of Culrach," the curious reader is referred to Quon. At- tach, c. 8 ; Jamieson's Dictionary, voce " Repledge and Culreach," and Jamieson's Supplement, voce " Culreach ;" Skene, voce " Col- rach ;" Armstrong's Gaelic Dictionary, voce " Cul and Urras," and Erskine's Institutes, B. I. Tit. IV. 8. b Pinkerton, I. 147. c Froissart, torn. IV. The Vidame of Chartres, when a hostage of Edward VI. pene- trated to the remote Highlands, (au fin fond des sauvages.) Per- lin, a French author, who wrote a description of England and Scotland in 1558, thus pourtrays the latter country : " Prenons le cas que 1'Angleterre soit Paris, 1'Ecosse soit le faulx-hourgz, Sainct Marceau ; la ville vault trop mieulx que les faulx-bourgz, aussi KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 87 tute of James II. ordain, " that the justices on the south side of the Scottish sea hold their courts of circuit twice in the year j and in like manner on the north ;" in vain did a parliament assemble at Edinburgh, in the reign of James IV., to de- vise means for checking the islemen and High- landers, " who had almost become savage ;" justices and sheriffs were in vain appointed for the northern isles j ordered to hold courts at Inver- ness and Dingwall ; and various districts allot- ted to the jurisdiction of Perth and Inverness, whilst a sheriff was created to rule over Caithness : The evil was too powerful for the remedy." Still the disorders of the clan system continued to call forth the exertions of the monarch, and the sagacity of the parliament. The vigorous understanding of James V. led him to imitate his predecessors, (but with greater constancy and success,) in humbling the nobles. He vi- sited the Orkneys and the Hebrides, 11 and com- pelled the rude chieftains to acknowledge the of- fended majesty of the laws. But what little good was effected in one way, was done away with in another. The act 1581, by irritating, vault trop mieulx 1'Angleterre que 1'Ecosse et n'y a poinct de pro- portion." " La plus part du pays est desert." And he congratu- lates Scotland for being favoured and caressed by the king of France, the greatest lord and monarch of all the earth ! " O bienhereulx tc doibs tu Estimer Koyaulme d'Ecosse ! d'etre favorise, nourry, cntrctcmi coimne 1'Enfant en la mamelle, du trcs puissant et inag- nanime roy de France, le plus grand seigneur dc tout Ic monde, et monarque f'utur de tuutc la machine rondc ! I a Quarterly Review, XIV. 306. b Caledonia, I. 839. 88 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND rather than soothing the angry passions, called into play, in the disastrous reign of Mary, when the Highland clans espoused contending inter- ests, 8 could be productive of nothing, but anar- chy and civil war. Six years afterwards, a new enactment was set forth.* Seventeen border, and thirty-four Highland tribes are enumerated, whose leaders were commanded to give sureties for their behaviour, and were made answerable for their dependents. The repeated insurrec- tions in after-reigns, make it manifest, from whatever cause, that the act was never enforced ; and the political aspect of the Highlands when Charles I. mounted the throne, presents the power of the chief as absolute the mass of the people as much benighted in darkness as com- plete victims to discord and penury as in the most distant and gloomy ages of the monarchy. But the consideration of this period requires I should look back on some minor details. I may be thought to have attributed too gene- rally the character of barbarism to the High- landers. I by no means wish to do so. Many of the more powerful chiefs became attendants on the Court of the Scottish kings, and must neces- sarily have imbibed ideas of civilization ; if at one time for the aggrandizement of the crown, at another, not less for their own emolument. The practice, partly voluntary, partly compulsa- tory, of sending their sons to the south, where a Robertson, I. 171. b Stat. II. James VI. 95. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 89 they might be initiated into the fashionable prac- tices of the day, or placed under the surveillance of a friendly noble, as a surety for their parents' conduct, could not but conduce to a refinement of manners ; and the memorable act of 1494, by which barons and freeholders were compelled, un- der heavy penalties, to put their eldest sons to school, to learn Latin and law ; the alliances with France, and the custom generally prevalent of the elder sons of chieftains receiving their education in that country, were all so many con- duits to the knowledge and politeness of the times. It was the extraordinary nature of their situation, which forced the Highland barons, men of education, into collision with the govern- ment ; which also led them in the civil wars, to support, whilst they contemned, (strange para- dox !) the regal prerogative ; and which may ac- count for our never finding them on the popular side of politics. Had they embraced that side, their own principles of unreserved obedience from the governed were at an end. Perhaps I am not wrong in saying, that a mixed sentiment of pity for majesty, and respect for their own authority, were the causes which contributed to the devoted loyalty of the Highlanders in the wars of Charles I. Under Montrose, the military character of the Highlanders attained just renowri. a The fame of his great name concentrated the discordant a Montrose's Memoirs, 68. 90 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND elements of warfare, and enabled him to turn the martial bias of the clans, hitherto displayed in domestic feuds, to a proper field of action. His reception was enthusiastic, to a degree al- most bordering on idolatry ; a and he led his fol- lowers to a succession of rapid, and almost blood- less victories. 1 " Indeed, of the remarkable inci- dents of Montrose's campaigns, not the least, is the small number of troops with which he en- gaged ; and the astonishing disparity of the slain as compared to the enemy's. Thus, at the battle of Aldearn, c he only lost fifteen men, whilst 3000 of Urray's were killed : And when we consider that on this occasion, and especially at Inverlochy, Highlanders were opposed to High- landers, the superiority of Montrose's soldiers must be looked upon, as the result of their entire confidence in their leader, joined to the aban- donment of military habits by the Lowlanders and border clans, after the accession of James VI. to the English throne. d The inhabitants of the north of England, and south of Scotland, had then by mutual consent laid down their arms. The Highland clans nearer the south, were also somewhat affected by the same cause j whilst those of the interior, of whom Montrose's army were mainly composed, retained the ferocity of their ancestors. With Montrose died the hopes of the royal cause : Cromwell trod down the a Montrose's Memoirs, 6J). b Ibid. 113. c Ibid. 133, 137. d See the Beauties of Scotland, V. 188. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 91 aspiring spirit of the cavaliers, and crushed the energies of the north. Forts were built at In- verness and Inverlochy ; and the heads of the clans compelled to give sureties for their good behaviour. 3 When Charles II. was restored, these forts, which had proved so conducive to the internal quiet of the country, were destroyed as hecatombs to the genius of loyalty ; and the Highlands again relapsed into their former tur- bulence : the detestable spirit of clan-feuds was even brought to the aid of the laws ; b and the dogmas of religion imposed by the broad- swords of the " Highland host." c We shall not a The following is the narrative of a bond of relief of such sure- tyship for a chieftain in the subsequent reign of William III. It is dated at Edinburgh, 5th August, 1697, and is in the author's possession. " Be itt kend to all men by thir present letters, us Archibald Earle of Argyle, and George Viscount of Tarbatt, foras- meikle as upon ye 21 day of Jullie, last bye past, Kenneth Mac- kenzie of Cromartie became cautioner and soveitie to the lords of his Matie prive councill for the pacable and good beheavior of Allan M'Donald of Moydart, under this present government, and that he should present the sd. Allan M'Donald to the lords of prive councill when requered thereto, and that under the peanultie of ffiue hundreth pounds stearling money, as the same bond of the daitte forsd. more fullie proports ; and now considering that the said Kenneth Mackenzie should sustaine no loss, trouble, or prejudice through his sd. cautionary ; and for the kindness and favor we have and bear towards the sd. Allan M'Donald, Therefore witt ye us to be bound, &c." (To relieve in usual form.) b Caledonia, I. 863. c Beauties of Scotland, V. 190. Calderwood's Hist, of Church of Scotland. Colonel Cleland of the Cameronian regiment, who fell in the battle of Dunkeld, thus satirizes the marauders who, in 1678, pour- ed upon the western shires.* Poems, p. 11, 12, 13. 92 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND therefore be surprised, that disaffection to the expulsion of the brother of Charles, marked the conduct of the Highlanders ; or that removed from the scene of his errors, they looked upon him only as their legitimate feudal superior ; without questioning the justice of the sentence which lost him a kingdom. On the night of the llth November, 1688, Viscount Dundee, a taking advantage of these feelings, left Edinburgh, attended by a force of " Some might have judged they were the creatures Called Selfies, whose customs and features Paracelsus doth descry In his occult philosophy ; Or Fauns or Brownies, if ye will, Or Satyrs come from Atlas hill. But those who were their chief commanders, As such who bore the pirnie standards, Who led the van, and drove the rear, Were light well mounted in their gear, With brogues, trues, and pirnie plaids, With good blue bonnets on their heads, AVhich on one side had a flipe Adorned with a tobacco pipe ; With durk and snapwork, and snuft mill, A bag which they with onions fill ; And as their strict observers say, A tupehorn filled with usquebay ; A slasht-out coat beneath her plaids ; A targe of timber, nails, and hides, With a long two-handed sword. In nothing they're accounted sharp, Except in bagpipe and in harp." Allowing for the temper of the writer, this may be accounted no bad description of the Highland garb, much as has been written on that topic. For a complete sketch of the costume as worn in the last cen- tury, sec Birt's Letters, II. 84. a His Memoirs, p. 28. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 93 thirty cavalry. After traversing Perthshire, Angus, Aberdeen, Banff, Moray, and Nairn, he effected a junction on the 1st of May, 1689, with Macdonald of Keppoch, who lay before Inverness with 900 men. Eight days before his arrival, the magistrates had proclaimed the Prince of Orange king ; making preparations at the same time for enforcing his authority. 3 . Matters were finally compromised by Keppoch receiving 2000 dollars to withdraw ; and on the 13th June, 1689, the forces of the rival monarchs met in the pass of Killicrankie ; when the High- landers achieved a splendid, but useless triumph, at the expense of their commander, b who fell in the moment of victory. At the accession of George I. the Highlands continued to present the same singular aspect, as in former reigns. The union of the two crowns had not removed the bitter conflicts of party spirit ; and the conduct of the new monarch was nowise calculated to allay disaffection. An a The following entry appears in the Inverness session records : " 28th April, 1689, That day, sermon was preached be Mr. Gil- bert Marshall in the forenoone at the Cross, and that by reason Coll. Macdonald was about the town, boasting to come in with his whole force, consisting of 8 ore 900 men, to plunder the town. Afternoone, Mr. Mackenzie preached as aforesaid, all the citizens being necessitate to stand in a posture of defence. No collection. Tuesday, no sermon, and that be reason of our confusions. 16 May, ]689, ane thanksgiving sermon preached be Mr. Gilbert Marshall, and that be vertue of ane act ishewed furth be the con- vention of states for our safe delyverie from the power and tirrarie of the papists. Text 124th psalm, l*th verse. b Acts of Scottish Parl. IX. Apr>. 61. 94 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND address from the heads of Highland clans met with contempt/ and insurrection broke forth. When his Majesty was proclaimed in the town of Inverness, the magistrates opposed the sheriff in the execution of his duty ; and even encour- aged a mob to break the windows of those whigs who had illuminated their houses on the occa- sion. 1 ' The years 1715 and 1719 were both marked by rebellion ; but whatever attempts were made towards its extinction by forfeitures, suppression of heritable jurisdictions, and the disarming of the Highlanders, seem to have soon worn off. The terror of forfeiture was momen- tary : full effect remained to be given to the second remedy from subsequent experience ; and the act which empowered General Wade to take away the arms of the Highlanders, did not cure the evil, root and branch. Many clans, disaffected to the government, remained in pos- session, while the loyal ones surrendered their weapons : Many persons, on pretence of being- necessitated to carry arms, were permitted to do so ; and the irregular force, called the " Black Watch," calculated under precautionary mea- sures, to have been of immense service to the internal police of the country, was itself a dan- a Appendix to Birt's Letters. Culloden Papers. Smollett's History. b Ibid. c It was the taking away of his company in this corps, which was made the main pretence by Simon Lord Lovat, for joining the re- bellion of 1745. (See his trial.) State Trials, vol. xviii. KNOWLEDGE ITST THE HIGHLANDS. 95 gerous engine of feudal power." The letters of Captain Birt, opening as they do, upon the man- ners and customs of a people till then almost un- known to the rest of the island, must convince us, that at the period of the rebellion in 1 745, the spirit of change had effected little on the characteristics of the Highlanders. Society had stood still, and " life knew nothing of progres- sion or advancement." 11 The occurrences of that memorable year, were such, as to excite the astonishment of all Europe. A handful of mountaineers shook the throne of one of her most powerful sovereigns ; and might have seated their leader, but for disunion among themselves, in that sovereign's place. The suc- cess which crowned their first advance, is in a main degree attributable to the superiority they possessed over their Lowland brethren in the use of arms ; and the vague, and indistinct no- tions these latter entertained of a people, whose a Poverty with its attendant evils pressed sore even on the royal boroughs, as clearly appears by a petition of the burgh of Dingwall (1724) to the convention of boroughs, setting forth " That being reduced to so great poverty wee were not able to send a commis- sioner to the General Conventione halden at Glasgow in July 1704-, when there was two shillings Scots of the ten pounds then divided amongst the burrowes, added to the shilling wee used formerly to be in the taxtroll, the stenting whereof was soe heavy upon the inha- bitants, that a great many of them have deserted the toune, which is almost turned desolate, as is weel known to all our neighbors ; and there is hardly any thing to be seen but the mines of old houses ; and the few inhabitants that are left, having now noe manner of trade, live only by laboring the neighbouring lands, and our inha- bitants are still dayly deserting us."* * In author's possession. b Johnson's Works, VIII. 335. 96 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND warlike attributes were magnified in their ima- gination into something supernatural.' 1 It is well known that the disarming act, consequent on the insurrection of 1715, was in a great mea- sure nugatory ; and, that the Highlanders still preserved the martial, and predatory habits of their forefathers. The cabinets of France and Spain availed themselves of these circumstances to facilitate the restoration of the Stewarts : They appealed to the heads of tribes, in behalf of an exiled and unfortunate race, as to men deeply interested in preserving the royal prero- gative by regard to their own power, now threat- ened to be pared down by the innovating hand of reform : They excited the lofty and chival- rous daring of ardent spirits, by the promises of rewards and honours from a dynasty, proverbi- ally false, and forgetful of services : They paint- ed the fallen splendour of their royal, though ill- obeyed masters ; and lured the clans, by specious pretexts, to their destruction. Luckily for their purpose, the disorganized elements of clan-policy, had as little opportunity, as inclination, to reason over the proposal. Divided by natural and po- litical causes, and individually acted upon, by peculiar wants and feelings, the clans presented diversified points of attack to the emissaries of rebellion. These well knew that the strong at- tachment of a Highlander to his sovereign, founded on feudal and patriarchal principles, a See Home's, Patten's, and the other different accounts of the Rebellion, and Stewart's Sketches, I. 25!. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 97 could have no check in the accuracy of actual observation. 3 But not the least powerful engine against the ruling powers, was the difference of religious feelings and prejudices. These never attained that tincture of gloomy fanaticism in the Highlands, which soured the dogmas of their reforming brethren in the south. For the spirit of every government of a regal character is inimical to the extravagancies of a sectarian mind : and continuing attached to the doc- trines of Rome, or the reformed Episcopal com- munion, the Highlanders were the more readily induced to side with the princely adherents to similar sentiments. But had they studied the history of their own treatment, they must have found, however circumstances varied, that they would continue to excite the jealousy and per- secution of the executive. For, however un- palatable the truth may be, it is certain, that the Stewart family did whatever in them lay, to curb their aspiring pretensions. What had they then to gain, by the re-accession of that justly expatriated race ? Nothing, I am bold to reply. But in applying censure to the cause, let us not blame the devoted gallantry of its adherents. However shallow its merits, they at least gave it a redeeming character, and we shall continue to dwell on this portion of our domestic transactions, as on one in which the a Colonel Stewart's Sketches, I. 100. Mrs. Grant's Essays on Superstitions of Highlanders, 1.17. G 98 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND high qualities of courage, attachment, and invio- lable fidelity, shine prominent and conspicuous." If I have been at all correct in my deductions, we need not linger on our march. In the long lapse of time, where aught can be discovered, tending to the amelioration of the Highlands, it is to be looked for in Cromwell's sway. The minds of men, softened after the ravages of war, had leisure and inclination to turn to the more pleas- ing images of domestic enjoyment. If Crom- well subdued the Highlanders by the rigour of his arms, he tamed their natural ferocity not less effectually, by making them acquainted with those arts which constitute the happiness of so- cial existence ; and the town of Inverness in par- ticular, is deeply indebted to him. b Foreign in- vasion, however, to be dreaded at the moment, has some equivalent in return for its horrors, when the turbulence of the waters has subsided, and repose has again settled over the political ho- rizon. The measures of Government, for the de- struction of the patriarchal system of the High- landers, have been looked upon as originating in uncalled for severity. Whilst we admit the par- tial truth of the charge, let us remember the na- ture of the times. However much the beau-ideal of clan-policy may warm our imaginations, or ex- cite feelings of regret for its decay ; however a How just was Johnson's prediction, that the name of Flora Macdonald would live in history ! b Johnson's Journey, Works, VIII. 238. Colonel Stewart's Sketches, I. 115. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 99 much of the romance of existence* be thrown around the modes of life, and the deeds of such a state of society, it is evident the peace and pro- sperity of the community called for its dissolu- tion. So long as independent tribes set the laws and usages of the civilized classes of mankind at defiance, the integrity of the monarchy was in danger." To disseminate the blessings of settled government, a blow was required, sudden in its operation, and certain in its consequences. The abolition for ever of heritable jurisdictions, ward- holdings, and the Highland garb, effected what had hitherto been attempted in vain. Yet the policy of depriving the natives of their ancient and graceful costume, has been questioned. A violent encroachment on the feelings of an entire people may engender a callous indifference to the ties of honour, and the calls of martial renown. The incentive to action, as a peculiar race, was excited by the appearance of a dress associated with the memory of their sires ; and its lingering existence, is a testimony to the force of national partiality triumphing over every difficulty. As already observed, the peculiarities of the Highland character remained in full force at the a See MacCulloch's Letters, IV. 320 et seq. Mrs. Grant's Es- says on Highlanders, Dr. Graharne's Writings, and Stewart's Superstitions of the Highlands. b What would be thought nowadays of a Highland chief telling the Supreme Law officer of Scotland, that if he knew the rogues who had insulted his Lordship, he would make them smart for their temerity ? Yet such was the tone used by Lord Lovat to Lord President Forbes, when the latter complained of an attack upon his house by the Stratherrick Erasers. See CnHoden Papers. 100 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND breaking out of the rebellion in 1745. The le- gislative enactments subsequent to that period dissolved the clan-system, and gave liberty to the people : They taught the Highland peasant to claim inheritance with his southern brethren in the charter of constitutional freedom : They awoke the slumbering energies of a nation long bowed down in feudal thraldom, and aroused the spirit of honourable adventure, and personal in- dependence. The attention of the lairds was directed to the improvement of their estates ; young gentlemen of family, finding no resource at home, now that the ancient means of a varying existence were at an end, entered into the liberal professions, and imbibed the sentiments of their calling ; whilst not a few of the commons joined the military service ; where, as they must have seen varieties of character, they acquired new no- tions and habits. But what forcibly tended to re- volutionize the Highland character, and to create a comparative indifference in the lower ranks towards their chiefs and landlords," was the ex- treme impatience of the latter to better their rent- roll, without a due regard to the slow and certain aid of circumstances. Many vallies formerly peopled by numerous families, were thrown into the grasp of one monopolizing tacksman ; and glens where the pibroch and song resounded, and a hundred " fires " arose, were despoiled of their inhabitants, and surrendered to flocks of sheep. The rebound from feudal despotism to a Johnson's Journey, Works, VIII. 325, 326. Stewart's Sketches, I. 123. Beauties of Scotland, V. 192, 193. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 101 insatiate speculation, was almost instantaneous and destructive. Deprived of his state, of his patriarchal and feudal privileges, the Highland landholder seems to have resolved upon the part of a hard taskmaster, as a satisfaction to his wounded pride for the immunities lie had forfeit- ed ; a and thus the country lost thousands of effi- cient men, who, driven " in a state of helpless despair to the wilds of a far distant land," there became the most inveterate enemies of that isle which had given them birth. So long as the Highlands remained under the feudal system, an excessive population was the necessary conse- quence. Money was of no use: Men were the sinews of war, and the greatest grace of the war- rior, a numerous body of retainers. But when this bond of union was dissolved, these very vassals became objects of indifference. The middle ranks, by a sudden revolution of cir- cumstances, found themselves in every quality acknowledged as a distinction in a refined age ; and in the wealth which confers weight in society, and the possession of the comforts and conveniences of life, far below the cor- responding class in the south. With all the pomp and pride of birth, they felt keenly the po- verty of their situation. The subordinate class, still more wretched, were at once deprived of a protector, of a liberal purveyor to their wants, and of the attractive pleasures of a semi-barbar- ous life. To rid himself of all craving supernu- meraries was the immediate object of the laird. a Johnson's Journey, Works, VJII. p. 319, 326. 102 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND The most profitable purpose to which the exten- sive moorlands of the Highlands of Scotland can be applied, is obviously the rearing of sheep. That the landed interest should have co-operat- ed in the adoption of this plan, of making their mountainous wastes yield a return of that, which constitutes the riches of civilized life, is what the altered state of society entirely justifies. And a retrospective glance at once convinces us, that the Highland chieftain's retainers, who, during the dominion of feudal usages, swelled his state and consequence, in the exact proportion of their numerical force could not, consistently with his changed and pecuniary views, be permitted to re- main scattered amidst the recesses of his glens and vallies. A large proportion of the hardy Gael, instead of continuing to be regarded as the legitimate, because indigenous occupants of the soil, came to be looked upon as burdensome so- journers in those fastnesses where all their affec- tions were concentrated. But it was certainly the imperative duty of the chief, in sheathing his sword, to have provided for the martial followers who had done his behests in the stirring times of clan warfare ; and to have afforded them an asy- lum, either on the sea-coast, to which his new policy did not reach, or in other vallies, as yet undevoted to the universal doom. He should have borne in mind that the redundant popula- tion were entitled to his good offices, and that he was not warranted in withholding that coun- tenance, without a temporary continuance of which, they could not elude certain starvation, KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 108 if they were to remain in their native land. It is to be regretted such considerations were too fre- quently unheeded. Every man has undoubtedly a sacred interest in the enjoyment and use of his property : But proprietors ought to have calcu- lated their resources. They should have remem- bered that a country such as theirs, emerging from barbarism, was in a very different state from the rest of the island ; that old prejudices were to be encountered and removed, not by the hasty hand of violence, but by an exposure of their folly; and that a temporizing spirit of slow, but gradual growth, was the surest means of increasing the prosperity, whilst it preserved the population of the country. A very lament- able effect of this strained system, has been, a diminution of honourable principles among the peasantry.* They have "betaken themselves to smuggling, to make up the rents their little farms cannot afford. In this hazardous enter- prise there is much of keen and savage excite- ment. Indolently stretched along the heath watching the progress of the distillation ; or en- gaged in some bold attempt, or cunning strata- gem, to foil the officers of the revenue, the smuggler contracts an indifference to a settled course of industry ; whilst he becomes habituated to falsehood, fraud, and perjury. A lingering attachment (yet remaining) to their superiors, joined with a consciousness perhaps, of being in his debt, beget feelings of humility, with no slight degree of duplicity to avert his anger, or Stewart's Sketches, I. 130. 104 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND flatter his consequence. These views have been treated so ably by Colonel Stewart, that I shall content myself, by merely quoting a passage from his work, in further argument. " Little could the Highlander calculate when his fears were excited by vague ideas of a change, nor could he anticipate, that the introduction of civil order, and the extension of legal authority, which, in an enlightened age, tend to advance the prosperity, as well as promote the security of a nation, should have been to his country- men either the signals of banishment from their native land, or the means of lowering the con- dition of those who were permitted to remain. With more reason, it might have been expected that the principles of an enlightened age, would have gradually introduced beneficial changes among that ancient race ; that they would have softened down the harsher features of their character, and prepared them for habits, better suited to the cultivation of the soil, than the in- dolent freedom of a pastoral life." Thus much for the bad side of the picture. Happily, there were landlords who pursued mea- sures in aid of the legislature's views, of a differ- ent complexion. With the true spirit of patriot- ism, whilst they turned the labours of their liber- ated tenantry, by judicious management, to the increase of their own incomes, they were no less solicitous for the amelioration of the people ; and wherever we find this union of profit with justice, the bond of association is drawn together, by ties of affection and attachment, infinitely more KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 105 deserving of admiration, than the blind obedience of ancient times. A very happy instance was ex- hibited in the facility with which Highland land- lords raised such vast numbers of men for the army, during the last war. It is no doubt true, that with his change in condition, the common High- lander has laid aside many of those habits, which endear to the fancy the memory of early associ- ations and traditional tales : He has become a common-place personage, possessed of none of those chivalrous attributes with which romance was wont to invest his fathers ; he is acute and cunning, and has often been accused of incorri- gible laziness. But his indolence is the effect of situation. Mr. Birt long ago observed, that the Highland peasant was by no means averse to la- bour, if he saw a prospect of fair remuneration ; and when convinced of the utility of innovation,* he can enter into the plan with activity and zeal. In considering the astonishing alteration which has been made upon the Highlands since the last rebellion, the mind finds so few materials upon which, to build a regular construction of advancement, as almost leads it to recoil in dis- belief of what has been effected. The revolu- tion in sentiment and character appears to have been almost instantaneous. Natives now listen to the tales of the last century with the same wonder as to the exploits of the American In- dian, forgetful that perhaps their own relations were the actors ; and the country round Inver- ness which, in Birt's time, presented but two * Stewart, I. 173. ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND fields of wheat, is now a landscape of the richest and most luxuriant crops. To point out a few of the means of improvement, but not in pro- gressive rotation, shall now be my endeavour. One of the first steps to the awakening of a people from a state of ignorance, must be the dissemination of religious knowledge. Destitute of teachers, and debarred all intercourse with their southern fellows, by the impassable barriers of their mountains, the Highlanders were stran- gers to the blessings of a regular ministry, of the arts of reading and writing, of schools, and of teachers, till the year l646. a We recur with in- tense veneration to the periods of lona's glory and renown, when this favoured isle shone the blessed gem, whence knowledge diffused her stores. "As he who long coasting the rugged and barren rocks of Mull, or buffeted by the turbulent waves, beholds with delight b its tower first rising out of the deep, giving to this deso- late region an air of civilization, and recalling the consciousness of that human society which seems to have abandoned these naked shores to the cormorant and seagull ;" so does the picture of its history affect our imagination. But where universal gloom overspreads the horizon, what can a solitary taper effect? This very isle, " the luminary of the Caledonian regions," is now entitled to receive only four sermons a year a Moral Statistics of the Highlands, by Inverness Society for Education, p. 12. b MacCulloch's Western Isles. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 107 from the minister to whose parish it is attached.' Benighted in darkness, the Highlands were un- provided with religious treatises in the native tongue till 1 690 ! For the first time, a Gaelic version of the Psalms was then published, and soon thereafter, a translation of the Confession of Faith. 3000 copies of an Irish translation of the Bible were printed in the same year for the Highlands. 11 The lamentable condition of the clans called forth the regards of the General Assembly of the Scottish Church ; and a society for the propagation of Christian Knowledge, was formed in Edinburgh, in 1704. Nineteen pres- byterial and fifty-eight local libraries were erect- ed in various districts, in 1705 and 1706 ; few of which at present exist : Schools were instituted by the same Society for English reading, writ- ing, and the elements of Christian knowledge. In 1719, these had increased to 48. In 1732, to 109 ; and at the beginning of the present century, to 200. In 1738, the Society extended their plans, by the institution of schools of indus- try to instruct females in spinning, sewing, and knitting. Of these useful seminaries, it now supports 89. The same motives which laid the foundation of the Society for propagating Chris- tian Knowledge, suggested an application to go- vernment, in 1725, for a fund to support assis- tant preachers. These were necessary in a a Dr. Dewar's Letter to Sir J. M. Riddel, on the Highlands, 1819. b Moral Statistics, by Inverness Education Society, 14. IDS ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND country separated by large arms of the sea, rapid rivers, extensive moors, and lofty moun- tains ; where the individual efforts of the pastor, however zealous, could make but feeble impres- sion on the inhabitants. The sum of L.1000 a- year was accordingly granted, and placed in charge of a committee of the General Assem- bly ; by whom twenty preachers and twenty catechists were appointed to the more destitute districts : At a later period, this grant was doubled ; and the committee now maintains thirty-one ministers, and twenty-four catechists. Notwithstanding these efforts, the dissemination of knowledge has been comparatively circum- scribed. The mass of the people, from the period of the last rebellion to the present day, have remained sunk in ignorance and poverty. The causes of this lamentable state appear to be threefold. In the first place, the rudiments of instruction conveyed to the Highland peasantry, were, till the commencement of this century, entirely in the English tongue ; whilst the Gaelic language was retained as the ordinary medium of intercourse. By this, I would wish to be understood as saying, that the efforts of the teacher were confined to training his pupils to read, instead of leading them to comprehend the import of English composition. 3 The two a The following is an extract from a letter of a Highland clergy- man, addressed to an intimate friend of the writer : " As to the education of the Highlanders, it will never be accomplished until a different system from the present one be adopted. Pray what is KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 109 languages should have gone hand in hand : no foreign tongue is ever taught as a written one, till the pupil can read in his own. The mere mechanical capacity of reading English can serve no purpose ; and, on the other hand, to re- strict the Highland peasant to the few Gaelic works we possess, would be to forbid him access to the stores of general knowledge. In the se- cond place, the schools were infinitely too few in number, for a population, which, in less than a century, 3 had increased 100,000 j whilst, in the third place, the vast and disproportionate extent of the Highland parishes themselves, embracing a surface of every imaginable diversity of cha- racter, was a barrier to civilization. Many of the use of forcing children to read and repeat what they do not understand? I could find thousands in the Highlands of Scotland who will read the English Bible tolerably well, but cannot under- stand more than 'yes or no;' and being thus obliged to continue reading a language completely unintelligible to them, it gives their, no pleasure, but rather disgust ; and the moment they leave school, if they remain at home in those districts where nothing but their mother tongue is spoken, they lay their books aside, and never look at them more. I know some men who were at Inverness at their education sixty years ago ; they could read and write when they left school, and to-day cannot read any. How, in God's name, could the people be expected to read even in their own language, when their pastors could not read nor write that language, although they preached it to the poor people f The clergy read no more than the text, whereas if they would read every Lord's day, a chapter or two out of the Holy Scriptures, the people in that case would be inclined to bring their Bibles to the kirk, and they would follow the minister. Even in the present day, I venture to say that there are a few of the Presbyterian clergy in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, that cannot read a chapter out of the Gaelic Bible ! !" a Moral Statistics, ut supra. 110 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND these parishes are sixty miles in length from sea to sea, and have but one church j and some contain but a single place of worship capable of holding the congregation in the whole parish. About 3000 souls in the parish of Lochbroom are excluded from all acquaintance with the gospel, except by the ear; and they do not hear a sermon oftener than twice or thrice ; in other districts, but once during the twelve months.* " It is not unusual to travel forty or fifty miles without meeting one in a hundred who can read or write, or speak English, except gentlemen's families." 11 But, besides the extent of the pa- rishes, and the disinclination of the Highlander to receive instruction in any language but his own, there existed for many ages, a leaning to the Catholic ritual. The Presbyterian form of church government was not firmly established till the reigns of George I. and II. ; c and a pre- dilection to the Episcopalian communion, was evinced by the adherents of Prince Charles, in 1745. These sentiments have by no means lost ground with their descendants j and we must look for more diffued means of communication, ere we can find the dissimilar elements of High- land society drinking at the fountain of instruc- tion. I shall pursue the track of what has been attempted to the attainment of this end, by fol- lowing the details of the Inverness Society for Moral Statistics, App. III. IX. b Ibid. IX. c Colonel Stewart's Sketches, I. 134. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. Ill the Education of the Highland Poor, in 1769, the Scriptures were first printed in Gaelic ; but the whole Bible was unknown in that tongue till 1802. a In 1811, the Gaelic School Society of Edinburgh, was formed for the express and laudable purpose, of teaching Gaelic reading ex- clusively ; and the sincere well-wishers of the Highlands, must rejoice in the fact, that this in- stitution supports seventy-seven schools, con- taining 4300 scholars. Similar societies have been established at Glasgow and Inverness, jointly maintaining 125 schools, and perhaps 5000 scholars. With all the aid of government, benevolent institutions, and individual exertions, the following facts have been established, in a report of the Inverness Education Society ; as creditable to the heart as to the head of the writer. 1st, As to education. Half of all the popula- tion are unable to read ; above one-third of the whole population are more than two miles, and many thousands, more than five miles, distant from the nearest schools. 2d, Diffusion of the Scriptures. That in the western parts of Inverness and Ross, all the Scriptures found existing are in the proportion of ONE copy of the Bible for every eight persons above the age of eight years ; and in other parts of the Highlands and Islands, including Orkney a A translation in the kindred language of Ireland was printed by the celebrated Boyle at his own expense, in 16S5. ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND and Shetland, one copy for every three persons. One-fourth of all the families in these districts, or 100,000 persons are still wholly without Bibles ; and there are in this number, several thousand families in which there are persons who can read the Scriptures. Whilst we thus see the small advance which knowledge has made among the mass of the community, its dissemination among the superior ranks has long been respectable.* The heaSs of clans even in dark ages, imbibed some acquain- tance with the literature of the day, from the prevalence of a French education. 11 To this they were necessitated by the want of compe- tent means of instruction in their own country, and the impossibility of receiving it in the low- lands, or England, from their almost constant wars. It was to France all Scotsmen looked as to their natural ally ; and as the Highland chiefs a Johnson's Works, VIII. 338. b " Till of late years/' we are told by an eminent female writer,* "letters were unknown in the Highlands, except among the highest rank of gentry and clergy." There is too much reason to believe the remark correct. For whatever progress in knowledge might have been made by the chiefs, many of the subordinate leaders and tacksmen were extremely ignorant. " Wi my hand at ye pen, led be Mr. Martin Loggie, Notar Publick," was no unusual expression by Inverness lairds, in the middle of the sixteenth century. In a bond of manrent now before the author, the head of a very ancient and respectable branch of the clan Fraser is thus documented : 2d December, A. D. 1578, " James Fraser in Belladrum, with my hand at ye pen led be Maister Martine Loggie, Nottar Publick at my command be me speciallie requirit thairto. Ita est Martinus Loggie Notarius Publicus." * Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. 30. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 113 were destined to play at times important parts in the national drama, a polish in address and knowledge was necessary to the due perform- ance of these with adroitness and finesse. But the example of the church had been instrumen- tal in confining science within the bounds of the Latin tongue. 3 Without an acquaintance with that language, no man could taste of the streams of learning ; and as it was deemed a degrada- tion to employ the national speech on literary topics, the Highland barons, whilst they acquir- ed a relish for the poems of ancient Rome, would disregard the feeble efforts of native genius. Hence, perhaps, the groundwork of that intima- cy with the Latin writers which many High- land gentlemen displayed a century ago ; yet it does not appear that the Greek was ever known in the territories of the Gael of Scotland. b Slight as was the pontifical authority obtained by the Roman see over this country, 6 ecclesiastic esta- blishments were scattered, sparingly it is true, . in the remotest corners of the Isles and High- lands ; d and although the scholastic theology a Robertson's View of Society in Europe, 83. b Grant on the Gael, 31. c Hailes's Annals in confirmation. <* We may instance a few of these : Priories ; Bewlie, Kingxissie, and Urquhart. Abbeys ; Fearn, Inchaffray in Strathern, Colonsay in Argyle, Abernethy in Perthshire. There were monasteries of different orders at Inverness, as well as chapels to the Virgin, St. John the Baptist, and St. Catharine. Hugo de Roos, first laird of Kilravock, founded a chapel at Geddes, which he dedicated to the Virgin Mary. There was one also at Balnagown in Ross, where prayers were daily offered for the king and his successors. (Inq. H 1 14 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND and attainments of the brethren were defective, they gave some scope to the reasoning powers ; so that their example and occupations, may be supposed to have had a share, in softening the ruder minds of their mountain patrons. The Reformation which enlightened the Lowlands, was the cause, nevertheless, of a retrograde in knowledge of all kinds, by the Highland popula- tion. A century elapsed from the downfall of the papal power, before the condition of the northern districts attracted attention on the part of government, "and whilst their former feeble instructors were taken from them, no successors appeared." 3 Even when measures were, for the first time, adopted by the General Assembly of the Scottish Church, on 18th June, 1646, "for planting a ministry, and providing kirks through- out the Highlands and Islands," it was found no easy task to carry the same into execution. Clergymen refused livings "so poor as not to afford bread" among a barbarous people ; and the few who were induced to dedicate them- selves to the care of souls, were ignorant of the Gaelic tongue. In the face of these difficulties, the magistrates of Inverness appear to have en- tered into the views of the Assembly with ala- Ret. Lib. X. fo. 44.) There were cells of monasteries at Lochtay and Oronsay. On this subject see Spottiswoode's Religious Houses. The bishops of Moray, Dunkeld, and Ross, were suffragans of the archbishop of St. Andrews ; those of Argyle and the Isles, suffra- gans of the archbishop of Glasgow. a Report of Inverness Education Society, II. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 115 crity and zeal ; and their countenance must have operated with no slight effect on the habits of the surrounding mountaineers. We find from the town records, that salaries were paid to teachers by the burgh, as far back as l64?6j a and their labours could not have been unproductive, when the magistrates in 1662 prohibited all per- sons but the town teachers, from giving instruc- tion in reading, or writing within its bounds. In 1677> the council enacted, "that Mary Cowie shall not teach reading beyond the pro- verbs j" a proof that the tree of knowledge had taken root in this remote quarter, where it gra- dually attained strength. A sum of L.I 200 was bequeathed in 17^6, by Mr. John Raining of Norwich, to form a fund for the support of cha- rity schools in the Highlands ; and in the year 1747, the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge, under whose charge the money was placed, built their house in Inverness, and granted the school in perpetuity to the town. Twenty years afterwards, the town council es- tablished a school for young ladies, with a regu- lar salary to the mistress j but the present aca- demy of Inverness, which has justly received the approbation of many eminent names, was not erected till 1791. From the period of the last rebellion to the present time, seminaries of education of respectable attainments, have been 8 Memorabilia of Inverness. 116 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND gradually opened at Tain, Fortrose, Fort Wil- liam, and other points of the Highland line. From the tenor of the preceding remarks, it will be seen that I have confined them to the male sex. I was unwilling to hazard conjec- tures on the modes of life, and the mental re- sources of our fair countrywomen in past ages, without patient and dispassionate inquiry. The notices I have been enabled to collect, are con- fined, it is true ; but they are the result of com- munings with those ladies of the " olden time," whose narrative was that of their own childhood, aided by the gleanings derived from their parents. It would appear that female education at a remote era, was purely domestic. At the period of the last rebellion, girls of the highest rank were in- structed by governesses, who were always women of superior attainments. Their range of know- ledge seems to have been limited to English lite- rature. Each young lady had her own department of the household to superintend: one looked after the poultry ; another the culinary arrangements. To sew, spin, cast accounts, work tapestry, play on the spinette, and some few to possess a taste for flower gardening, were the amount of their accomplishments. It was the fashion for the men to drink deep and to excess ; a and when they joined the female circle, tea was made and superintended by the daughter of the host, in all a Mrs. Grant's Essays, II. 118. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 117 the formality of ceremony. Cards succeeded for the older part of the community ; whilst the younger betook themselves to various indoor amusements, chiefly dancing/ With supper and Gaelic songs, the day terminated. Some such scene probably inspired the elegant com- pliment of Johnson That whatever is imaged in the wildest tale, would be felt by him, who, .wandering in the mountains without a guide, or upon the sea without a pilot, should be carried amidst his terror and uncertainty to the hospita- lity and elegance of Raasay, or Dunvegan. These observations apply only to the hunt monde of Highland society. My investigations lead me to suspect, that the endowments of the wives and daughters of the second class of chieftains or tacksmen, were extremely inconsiderable j and I have seen instances where their pens were guided in their signatures, as well as those of their husbands. It must be remembered, the sphere in which they moved, called upon them to be useful, not ornamental. Of what benefit would the modish airs of a modern bette have been to a Highland gentleman in his hut ? The change of manners consequent on the downfall of feudal policy, gave the better classes the means of paying for that instruction, which the erection of schools -was to diffuse; and the Highland ladies may now challenge comparison, as possessed of every feminine grace, with their 11 See Johnson's Works, VIII. 279, 303. ' 118 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND countrywomen of the south. But it is lamen- table to think, that females of the lower ranks are still so little regarded, as to be exposed to all the drudgery of outdoor labour, in addition to their domestic toils. In the efforts of government to lessen the evils of the clan system, and to invigorate the nascent energies of the Highlanders, after the rebellion, they greatly neglected the means of enlightening the minds of the people j and left these desirable ends to the voluntary contribu- tions of individuals, or societies. As the opening up of communications is one of the main con- duits to civilization, the policy of ministers was rather directed to the attainment of a knowledge of the features and capabilities of the country ; and in effecting their purpose, the name of General Wade 3 will long be entitled to grateful remembrance. The expediency of becoming acquainted with the internal aspect of the moun- tain glens, had been seen in the insurrection of 1715, when the royal troops found it impracti- cable to advance beyond Blair Athol. About the year 1730, three great lines of road were . accordingly commenced. One ran from Stirling to the western divisions of Perth and Argyle ; and thence through Glencoe, to Fort William. The second united Fort William with Inverness ; and the third, stretching from Inverness across the a "No partial flattery need thy verse invade, That in the ear of Scotland sounds a Wade."* * Albania^-a Poem. Leydon's Scottish Descriptive Poems, p. H7. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 119 Grampians to Dunkeld, connected the entrances into the northern and southern Highlands. Minor branches traversed the country at dif- ferent points from these main roads ; and the whole were executed by parties of soldiers. We shall not detail the various schemes devised for their support or alteration since then. It will be enough to remark, that in 1 802-3, a an act was passed, by which government undertook the half of the estimated expenses of the neces- sary additional roads and bridges in the High- lands, whilst the other moiety was to be defray- ed by the proprietors of the land who were benefited by them ; and commissioners were ap- pointed for the proper expenditure of the requi- site outlay. Under this system, the old military communications are still kept up, whilst nume- rous other lines of road have been added ; and the Highlands have thus been laid open to in- spection in their most secluded wilds. The Highlanders were not, however, in a condition to avail themselves at once, of the benefits afforded them. For many years after the rebellion, the mountains were infested by predatory bands, composed of the scattered remnants of the rout- ed army, who rendered travelling on horseback, (then the only method of journeying) insecure, if not impracticable. b A postchaise was first seen in Inverness itself, in 1760, and was for a a App. Agric. Report of Scotland, III. 228. Reports of the Commissioners for Highland Roads and Bridges. * Culloden Papers, XXII. Note. 120 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND considerable time, the only four-wheeled carriage in the district. At the present moment there are three manufactories for coaches in Inver- ness ! While people thought a journey to Edin- burgh, an undertaking of such magnitude as to require them to frame their will before setting out j a an impediment to intercourse was present- ed on the one hand, by the unwillingness of the Highlander to mix with a Lowland people, against whom old prejudices still remained ; and on the other, by the exaggerated picture of dan- ger and misery, which the fertile mind of the Saxon conjured up, as attendant on an incursion into the Highland hills. Looking back to what the Highlands had been, he pictured a gloomy region, inhabited by barbarous and ferocious tribes, to whom he attached ignorance, pride, and insolence ; whilst the mountaineer repaid the sarcasm, by contempt for the mechanical habits of the Lowlander, sprung in his estima- tion of an inferior and mongrel race. b These mutual prepossessions continued till the present century. In it, we have seen the downfall of animosity, and the intelligence and public spirit of individuals triumphing over national bias. Six public coaches (including the Caledonian to Perth, the first vehicle which communicated with the south) now arrive at, and depart daily from, Inverness ; all of which have been esta- a Birt's Letters, I. 5. b Mrs. Grant's Essays, I. 28. Johnson's Works, VI J I. 317. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. blished within a period of twenty years. Pre- vious to the year 1819, the post was conveyed from Inverness to Tain on horseback, and from thence across the friths of Dornoch and Loch Fleet, by foot runners to the extremities of the island. To complete the munificent views of Parliament, and to surmount the inconvenien- cies occasioned by the navigation of these dan- gerous estuaries, an iron bridge of 150 feet span, with two stone arches of fifty and sixty feet span respectively, was constructed under the super- intendence of Mr. Telford, civil engineer, at an expense, to the heritors of Ross and Sutherland, (including public subscriptions) of L.I 3,971 sterling. 3 This work was commenced in the summer of 1811, and completed in 1812. To remedy the defect by which the general line of communication was cut off by Loch Fleet or the Little Ferry, a mound of earth was constructed across the narrowest part of the channel, 995 yards in length, exclusive of the bridge, sixty in width at the base, and eighteen feet of perpen- dicular height. At the north end, the embank- ment terminates in a strongly built bridge, thirty- four yards long, consisting of four arches of twelve feet span each, fitted with strong valve gates. 'In 1819, the benefit of the mail coach system was extended even to the Pentland Firth. Horses were brought from Edinburgh, and a Loch's Account of the improvements on the Stafford estates in Sutherland, p. 26. ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND stables and inns erected by Lord Stafford, at very considerable expense. By one common bond of intercourse, the two most distant parts of the island, the one situated at the extremity of the English channel, the other in the latitude of John o' Groat's House/ were thus joined to- gether, at a distance of one thousand and eighty- two miles ! In no country, it may be safely said, is there a parallel of so rapid a change. But the views of government were not con- fined to the making of roads and bridges : Two canals were projected ; the Crinan, and the Ca- ledonian. The first cuts across the peninsula of Kintyre, and abridges a dangerous voyage from the west Highlands and Hebridean ports to the river Clyde ; b whilst the second, running along the great glen of Scotland, connects the eastern and western oceans. Nature herself seems to have suggested the idea of an inland navigation along this track, traversed as it is, by a series of navigable lakes. In 1803, the practicability of the communication was essayed. Great expec- tations were entertained, that a spirit of industry would now be imparted to the Highland charac- ter, by the habits of application which the la- bourers on the various works were expected to acquire j and a final blow was anticipated to emigration. It would be cruel to suppose these hopes have not been in some measure realized ; but it is to be regretted that the engineers and a Loch, ut supra, 37. *> App. to General Report of State of Scotland, II. 231. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 123 operatives to whom the furtherance of the design was intrusted, were permitted to employ so many foreigners, especially Welshmen ; for the num- ber of native workmen being inconsiderable, the salutary effects must have been incon- siderable in proportion. After a toil of about twenty years, this magnificent undertaking, so worthy of a great and enlightened nation, was completed. Gigantic as were the obstacles which impeded its progress, they were finally overcome in the autumn of 1822, when the ca- nal was opened from sea to sea. " The echoes of the great glen then reverberated to the dis- charges of artillery, and to the shouts of hun- dreds of native Highlanders, who hastened to hail the first vessel, which proved that the ave- nues to commerce, industry, and wealth, were henceforth open to them."* The herring fishery on the western coasts of Scotland, has been justly considered as a source of national wealth, and one in which the over- flowing population of the isles and continent might be beneficially employed j whilst a nur- sery for seamen would be created at a cheaper rate than by a standing navy. In spite, how- ever, of every encouragement both by govern- ment, and by the institution of various joint- stock companies, the expectations from the her- ring fishery have never been fully realized. b a Picturesque Delineations of the Highlands, by J. G. Hamil- ton and George Anderson, F. R. S. E. P. 2. b Sir George M'Kenzie's Report of the Counties of Ross and Cromarty. ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND Whether it be, that the landholders on the sea- coasts, have not used means to excite a spirit of enterprise among their people, or have failed in convincing them of the happiness and comfort they themselves would enjoy from the pursuit, certain it is, the western Highlands have not be- come that depot of adventurous mariners which was anticipated/ Whilst the shoals of herrings which frequent the north and west coasts are so great, that were the fishing to be carried on with regularity and spirit, full employment would be afforded to all who engaged in it, and emigration would be repressed, b the Highlanders have ad- vanced little, either in the knowledge of the fishery, or of naval tactics. A powerful reason may be found, both in the mode of acquiring hands to guide the herring busses, and the anti- pathy shown on all occasions by the Highland- ers to the sea-service. The masters of the her- ring vessels are for the most part coopers, and no more real seamen are required, than are bare- ly sufficient to manage the ship ; whilst the rest of the crew are straggling Highlanders and trades- men accidentally picked up, who return to their different occupations on land so soon as the fish- ing is over, and either venture no more to sea, or at all events, not till the next season. Nor is this all : legal restraints and discouragements to commerce were given by the enactments respect- a App. to General Report of Scotland, II. 240. b Prize Essays of Highland Society of Scotland, II. 432, 427, 302. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 12.5 ing salt. The best fishing stations were long re- signed by the inactivity or incapacity of the na- tives, to traders from the Clyde and Holland ; and thus the apathy of the former was in no slight degree aided by the belief, that the market was pre-occupied. While I thus touch upon some of the means resorted to, for the amelioration of the High- lands, it were impossible to pass by in silence the exertions of those patriotic institutions which have sprung up in aid of the great cause. To arouse the mind from the sullen indifference of contented ignorance, these have introduced a gradual change in opinion and practice, by the presentation of new motives, and the creation of new desires. The first in point of time to excite the spirit of emulation, was the Highland Society of London, (the parent of the Caledonian Asy- lum) established by General Eraser of Lovat, and other native Highlanders, in the year 1778. Its objects were directed to the preservation of the language, music, poetry, and garb of the Highlands, and along with these some of the best traits of the ancient characteristics of the people. 3 It was followed by the association of a Highland Society at Edinburgh in 1784. The attention of this body is turned to the present state of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and the condition of the inhabitants ; the means of their improvement by the erection of towns a Col. Stewart's Sketches, I. 229. 126 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND and villages j formation of roads and bridges ; advancement of agriculture, and extending of fisheries ; introducing useful trades and manu- factures ; and an endeavour to unite the efforts of the proprietors, and the attention of govern- ment to these beneficial purposes. 4 The Society was also to pay a proper attention to the preser- vation of the language, poetry, and music of our mountaineers. " Faithful to the purposes of its institution, this Society has taken every oppor- tunity of encouraging whatever tended to im- prove the cultivation of the country in general, and particularly of the remote and rugged region from which it assumed its name." It has been emulated in its labours by minor associations in different quarters of Perth, Ross, Inverness, and Argyle ; some more immediately tending to the preservation of what was noble in the Highland clans, their mutual attachment, garb, and love for their native soil j others again formed for the diffusion of agricultural knowledge. Of the for- mer, the Celtic Society, founded in Edinburgh about seven years ago, may be accounted the most eminent. To its original objects, it has also added premiums to be given to the best scholars attending certain schools within the Highland boundary. As a voluntary military corps, it had the honour of having the re- galia of Scotland intrusted to its charge on the occasion of his Majesty's visit in 1822. But the a Introd. to Prize Essays of the Society, I. iii. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. limits of an Essay such as this, preclude the par- ticularising of each individual inroad on former apathy and prejudice. The town of Inverness, which may be considered the point from whence the rays of civilization shone over the surround- ing gloom, may be selected as an instance of the rapid change in sentiment and manners since 1765. The manufacture of hempen cloths has been commenced ; churches and chapels of va- rious sects built ; Missionary and Bible Societies established ; schools endowed j markets regu- larly enclosed j an infirmary erected ; a commu- nication made with London and Leith by means of regular smacks ; the harbour repaired, and a new one formed ; a theatre opened ; reading- rooms established; a proprietary subscription library set on foot ; two newspapers published weekly, and various professional and philanthro- pic institutions founded. Till 1817, bargains for wool and sheep, were concluded at the va- rious trysting places throughout the Highlands, and sometimes at the homes and fanks of the farmers. To do away with the inconvenience and expense of this method, a great annual sheep and wool market was established in Inver- ness in 1817- Here the whole fleeces and sheep of the north of Scotland are generally sold or contracted for in the way of consignment ; and here the gentlemen who grow wool in the north- ern counties, and the respectable wool-dealers and manufacturers of England attend. In June, 1818, upwards of 100,000 stones of wool, and 128 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND 150,000 sheep were sold at very advanced prices. 3 Agriculture has advanced with every other improvement. The old system has been almost completely abandoned. Under it a scan- ty and imperfect cultivation of corn was limited to trivial and detached patches of arable ground. Cattle were the main resources of the tribe the acquisition of these the great object of their hostile forrays. The precarious crops gave them wherewithal to bake their oaten cakes, or distil their ale or whisky. When these failed, the crowded population suffered every extreme of misery and want. At one time in particular, in Sutherland, they were compelled to subsist on broth made of nettles, thickened with a little oatmeal : b At another, those who had cattle, to have recourse to the expedient of bleeding them, and mixing the blood with oatmeal, which they afterwards cut into slices and fried. Under the ancient system, crops were produ- ced either with, or without manure, as that could be procured. The land was scourged by a re- petition of grain crops, till it refused to bear any longer ; weeds and spontaneous grasses were then suffered to accumulate for a series of years, till the ground gained such heart as fitted it for a renewal of the former exhausting process. The natural pastures, which were free to all the community, were at the same time overstocked a Inverness Courier, 21st June, 1826. b Loch's Sutherland Improvements, 77, 54. c MacCulloch's Western Islands, I. 29. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. by cattle, producing the inevitable consequences of numerous deaths every winter. A ludicrously large establishment of horses was kept up, for the momentous purposes of tillage ; or, more properly speaking, for dragging their peats: their number too often augmented by the silly vanity of the cottars themselves. Farms were let to the whole body of tenants resident in each " town" in runrigg. The various subdivisions of the farm, passing into the hands of all the co- occupants in succession, each person had only a pro tempore interest in the portion which he happened to hold, and had no prospective bene- fit to induce him to ameliorate it. Every indi- vidual was liable, not only for his own rent, but for that of all his neighbours, the sober for the drunkard, the industrious for the pro- fligate. And, to crown all, these poor peo- ple held their miserable lots, not of the proprie- tor, but as sub-tenants of a principal tacksman or middleman, under whom they were trammell- ed with numerous services independent of their rent. The first and most material change was the introduction of the potato. Requiring little labour in its cultivation, this valuable root was quickly adopted. During the prevalence of the ancient * regime,' it nevertheless proved a curse, rather than a blessing, as an increased popula- tion and accumulated misery were the conse- quences ; for, in proportion to the greater multi- tudes which this vegetable supported, w 7 hen the crop was good, were the corresponding evils of i 130 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND famine, when, by mildew or frost, it had been destroyed. When this calamity befell them, the starving people necessarily became dependent on the bounty of their chief. Unlike the pea- sant of the south, the common Highlander had no " kail yaird" to which he might have recourse for wholesome food j and, to this day, any culi- nary vegetable beyond the potato, is rarely to be met with, except in the fields of landlords and principal farmers. Turnips, pease, beans, grass seeds, and clover, are yet unknown in many of the western islands. 3 To manifest the complete revolution, which in agriculture, as in every thing else, has taken place since the last rebellion, I will oppose to the sketch now drawn, a few circumstances which will speak for themselves. They are stated by me, on the authority of parties whose access to the sources of information, gives the best pledge for their accuracy. The estate of Castlehill, belonging to the Cuth- berts, an ancient family, (of whom the French Abbe Colbert, and the Bishop of Rodez, were cadets,) was brought to judicial sale, in, or about the year 1779, and was purchased for the family by their agent, for L.8000 sterling. It was ex- posed in lots, for debts due to Mr. Roberts, a London banker, in 1804, and sold for be- tween L.60,000 and L.70,000 sterling. In 1787, the barony of Lentron, holding of the family of Fraser of Strichen, producing a trifling a MacCulloch's Western Islands, I. 45, 31. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 131 rental, and itself in a wretched state, was sold, after a competition, at L.2500 to a Mr. Warren ; five-and-twenty years afterwards, he disposed of it to Major Fraser of Newton for L.20,000. Simon, Lord Lovat, sold the estate of Glenelg, in Inverness-shire, in 1620, to M'Leod of Mac- Leod for a few thousand merks Scots. In 1781, the rental of the same property was about L.600 sterling per annum. MacLeod sold it in 1811 to Mr. Bruce, banker in London, for L.100,000. It was previously exposed, towards the close of last century, for less than L.30,000. The lands of Ardnagrask, the property of Sir Hector M'Kenzie of Garloch, were put up to sale by warrant of the Court of Session in 1789 : Rental, not L.30. They were purchased by John Rose, an excise officer, and considered high at L.I 200. Mr. Rose never expended a penny on them, and sold them to his brother, Major Rose, for L.5000; who again turned them over in 1825, to Thomas M'Kenzie, Esq. of Ord, for L.6000 sterling. General Sir Alexander M'Kenzie of Fairburn, in Ross, succeeded, in 1787> to his paternal estate of Fairburn, which then only yielded a gross annual rental of L.700 sterling. He transferred a pendicle of this estate, called Moy, to M'Kenzie of Seaforth in 1791-92, for L.3500. A year or two afterwards, he disposed of other parts of his property for L.I 8,000. M'Kenzie of Ord, and Gillanders of Highfield, purchased another portion for about L.8000 ; and M'Kenzie of Lentron a further division for 132 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND L.3500. In 1813-14, the General sold an ex- tensive grazing to Mr. Fraser of Eskadale, for L.9000 odds. After all these sales, he still re- tained the district of Strathconan, which itself, in 1802, yielded a rental of L.1700, when a new set was made. In 1824, this remnant of his old estate was sold by General M'Kenzie for L.40,000 ! making a grand total received for it, of L80,000. It should be mentioned this last part was entirely pasture land. In 1790, the pro- perty of Redcastle, in Ross, was sold judicially, and after a keen competition, purchased by Mr. Grant of Shewgley, for L.25,000, the gross rent- al being about L.I 000 per annum. In 1824, the same estate was bought by Sir William Fettes, Bart, for L. 135,000 sterling ! ! To ac- count for so extraordinary an advance, I may add that this estate is adjacent to the town of Inverness j being washed by the Murray Firth, and having a fine southern exposure. But that it may be seen, that the rise in the value of land has not been confined to those districts, more im- mediately under the influence of the northern capital, it is sufficient to refer to what has been done by capitalists from the Lothians and North- umberland, on the Stafford estates in Suther- land. The beneficial influence of the spirited operations in that quarter, has also been felt through the most inaccessible parts of Lord Reay's country ; where enclosures have been made, farm houses erected, and a rental of L.2000 increased to L.15,000. The estates of KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 133 " The Chisholm," situated in the romantic district of Strathglass, have risen, since 1785, from L.700 to be now upwards of L.5000 per annum. When Duncan Macdonald of Glengary died in 1788, his yearly income did not exceed L.800. The same lands now yield from L.6000 to L.7000. Before the effects of so many combined ad- vantages, whatever portion of the Highlands may remain under circumstances arising out of the feudal state, must speedily be freed. The Highland gentleman will no longer derive con- sequence from the mere circumstance of being able to boast of a long line of ancestry ; public opinion will tell him that in these days, there is an aristocracy of talent, and of wealth, as well as of birth ; and if unpossessed of either of these, he will carry little weight as a member of ge- neral society. As an unavoidable consequence, the Highlands must soon fall into that condition which is most conducive to the general welfare of the empire, and to which their domestic re- pose is particularly favourable. In fact, there is no country in Europe, where crimes are less frequent, or property more secure. The last districts of the Highlands to feel the beneficial influence of that change, operating so powerfully in every other quarter, were the county of Sutherland, and the western parishes of Ross. Cut off by geographical position from all inter- course with the rest of the kingdom, or enabled only to communicate at the risk of life by dan- 134 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND gerous terries, ill supplied with the means of na- vigation, the native of Sutherland must neces- sarily have had all his views bounded by a very narrow compass, scarcely extended indeed, be- yond his native glen ; from the difficulty of traversing a county destitute of roads, and in- tersected by rapid rivers and numberless lesser streams. 8 To this day the recesses of Loch- broom, on the western shores of Ross, are almost inaccessible from the want of roads ; and the condition of the natives is one of the most de- plorable ignorance. b It might naturally be ex- pected, that the ideas of a patriarchal life would tinge the character of the people, and that the notions of supremacy in the ruler and subordina- tion in the vassal remained in full force. These feelings were cherished by the manner in which the Sutherland " family " regiment was formed, exhibiting the old distribution of laird, tacksmen, and tenants. They all claimed kindred with the chief, and looked upon the grant of a farm, or tack of land, as a necessary return for having forwarded his views by enlistment. Every tacksman paid the bulk of his rent by the num- ber of men he could raise ; and his son or his kinsman was promoted according to the re- cruits he furnished. Irregular in their habits, the men abandoned the heavy labour to the Loch, 20. b Letter of Dr. Ross, App. p. 2. Moral Statistics by Inverness Education Society, 1826. c Loch, 42, 47. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 135 women, preferring the more exciting plea- sure of the chase, or illicit distillation, to the drudgery of agriculture. When the Sutherland regiment was enrolled into the line, a complete revolution in its domestic economy, was the ne- cessary consequence. But the people at home remained attached to the feelings of their fa- thers : To substitute, in place of these, habits a of regular and continued industry; to enable the inhabitants to bring to market, a consider- able surplus quantity of provisions for the sup- ply of the large towns in the south ; and to make Sutherland the depository of wool for the staple manufactory of England, by convert- ing the mountainous districts into sheep walks, and removing the population to the sea coast, or the valleys adjacent thereto; have been the objects of the extensive arrangements carried on by the Marquis and Marchioness of Stafford since 1819- The propriety of these arrange- ments has been questioned ; but they have met with an able defender in Mr. Loch, whose ex- cellent treatise will be read with interest, by all who remember, that Sutherland produced that gallant soldiery so deservedly commemorated by General Stewart of Garth. With his improvement in a political sense, an important amelioration has also been effected in the domestic comforts, and mode of living, of the Highlander. Among all nations, the better ranks partake of a similarity of character. a Loch, 73, 140. 136 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND In the modern Highland gentleman, we must expect the same shades which are to be found in his grade elsewhere. Whilst any actual authority over his tenants must be disclaim- ed, it cannot be denied that ancient remem- brances, and remoteness of situation, place it more in his power to be the father, or the tyrant of his district, than in the well-peopled plains of the Lowlands, or sister country. But the same circumstances also contribute in the case of a considerable landlord, to cement the bond of social existence j whilst the diffusion of knowledge is every day advancing too rapid- ly, to cause apprehension from such a connexion, however dangerous in feudal times. So long as the relative duties of landlord and tenant are guided by fair and dispassionate principles, we may be assured, that should any emergency arise, and the thunders of Britain be heard, the superior will be followed to the field by men, for whose fidelity and good conduct, there will be a solid pledge in the families they have left, and the motives which animate them ; motives which the lash never can enforce. " Ne'er in battle-field throbb'd heart so brave, As that which beats beneath the Scottish plaid ; And when the* pibroch bids the battle rave, And level for the charge your arms are laid, Where lives the desperate foe that for such onset staid ?" SCOTT. What the Highland soldier can do, the in- habitants of almost every clime may tell. Whe- KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 137 ther he was engaged on the burning sands of Egypt, on the plains of Italy, or the mountains of Spain ; in the new world or in the old ; he has well maintained the eulogium of the gifted Chatham : " I sought for merit wherever it was to be found : It is my boast that I was the first minister who looked for it, and found it in the mountains of the north. I called it forth, and drew into your service a hardy and intrepid race of men : They served with fidelity, as they fought with valour, and they conquered for you in every part of the globe." In what remains to be effected for the High- lands, we may be permitted to hope, that a speedy abolition of the disgusting practice of carousing at funerals, will be among the first improvements in society. The ceremonies of interment were, however, so singular, that I may be pardoned the wish of rescuing from oblivion, a few of the fleeting me- morials which are now passing away from us. A rapid survey of some of the funeral rites among various people, may not at the same time be .uninteresting by way of preface ; as tending to establish many striking points of similarity between the nations of antiquity, and the High- landers of Scotland. The most ancient mode of disposing of the dead was by committing the body to the earth. In this way did the patriarchs act ; a Jacob, and a Gen. xlvii. 29, 30; xlix. 30, 31. 138 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND his son Joseph only, were embalmed/ Among their descendants the Hebrews, it was custom- ary for the friends of the deceased to rend their clothes, and cover their head with ashes. " Rend your hearts, and not your garments," is an ex- pression of holy writ. The Jews had no de- fined places of interment. They buried in mount- ains, 11 in gardens, and on highways. Every traveller must remember, that the tombs of the old Romans are beyond the city walls. Burning before tumulation, seems to have succeeded simple interment, from a desire of preventing indignities by enemies, to those who fell in battle. The body carefully washed and anointed, was laid on the funeral pyre, over which the attendants threw handfuls of their hair/ Into the pyre were cast the arms of the deceased, the spoils of the foe, and the presents of the bystanders. 6 From burning and raising a pile over the dead, the transition to barrows seems inevitable : And this custom, derived by the northern nations from Greece and Rome, was rendered imperative by a law of Woden. We next perceive a rude stone, inscribed with Runic characters, surmounting the tumulus ; hence engraved tombstones among ourselves. To the Egyptian, the form of the pyre sug- gested the towering pyramid/ a Gen. 1. 2, 26. b Matthew xxvii. 60. c John xix. 42. ll Homer, lib. xxiii. e Strutt, I. 53. Ezekiel xxxii. 27. f Forsyth's Italy, 148. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 139 The veneration with which the ancients view- ed their places of sepulture, has been thought to have laid the foundation of their boundless my- thology, a and introduced their belief in national and local tutelary deities ; and the same feeling induced the old Highlander to wave his broad sword in the air for the ghost of a relative, at any sudden gust of wind. b To insure the en- trance of the departed into the blessings of an after-state, it was held a sacred obligation on travellers, if they met a dead body, to cast mould or dust on it three times ; and of these three handfuls, one at least, was poured upon the head. So in the Highlands, every passer by, threw a stone upon the resting place of their friends, or of those, whose silent house they encountered in the pathless wilds of their mountains. " I will add a stone to your cairn," was an expression implying the most attached affection. The fune- ral rites (so denominated from the torches borne on such occasions by the Romans) were ex- tremely numerous among that people : d But the prognostics of death among all mankind seem to have been lights or flambeaux. At the door were placed branches of pine and cypress, and hence the mutes of modern days stationed at the entrance of a dwelling, with black plumes mount- ed on poles. 6 The corpse laid on a bed of purple, 3 Fosbrooke, Ency. Antiq. I. p. 64. b Ibid. II. 548. c Homer, lib. xxiii. Ency. Brit. III. 781. Virgil, lib. x. verse 904. * Ency. Brit. VII. 501. Ency. Ed. X. 34. 140 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND was preceded by a trumpeter, and bands of old women, styled prceficce, hired for the occasion, who intermingled the praises of the dead with wailing for his loss. 3 Before the pyre was light- ed, the next of kin mounted the rostrum, and eu- logised his relation's merits ; and in like manner, when the paroxysms of their grief had subsided, the Highland women sung the praises of the deceased. 11 This done, the pile was set fire to, and the people took their departure with the affecting expression, " Vale, vale, vale, nos te ordine quo natura permiserit, sequemur." To render the last duties more imposing, prisoners of war were sometimes sacrificed to appease the manes of the dead. Thus Achilles cut the throats of several Trojan captives at Patroclus' funeral. Wives and slaves were slain, with the favourite horse of the warrior, to conduce to his comfort in his new abode. In Dalmahoy, an African state, the king annually " waters the graves of his ancestors " with the blood of thou- sands to this day. Among both Greeks and Romans, a feast fol- lowed the interment j by the latter styled Silicer- num ; and the custom was of universal preva- lence over the East also. c The northern English a Like the ululatus of the Romans, the coronach of the High- landers, and the ulaloo of the Irish, was the mournful token of bereavement. " In their streets they shall gird themselves with sackcloth : on the tops of their houses, and in their streets, every one shall howl, weeping abundantly." (Isaiah xv. 3.) h M'Pherson's Dissert, on Caledonians, 302. c Homer, b. xxiii. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 141 serve up arvil bread to this day. In southern Scotland, they drink the dirge of the dead ; and in the Highlands, this always was held in the deceased's own house. In many parts of Bri- tain, a passing bell was rung for a person ex- piring, and is so still in the Highlands. Lyke wakes held there sometimes for nights together before the funeral ; a platter of salt was placed on the corpse, with candles about it, and a scene of debauchery ensued, with its concomitant at- tendants of singing and dancing. In Inverness and other towns and villages, the bells of the church tolled all the time the corpse was above ground, quarter chimes. The bellman went round and proclaimed the death in these terms : " Bro- thers and sisters, this is to let you know, that a brother is departed, called to his name . You are requested to come to his funeral to morrow at , and do unto him as you would wish to be done with." The same mode is adopted in Holland, where the announcement is, " mak bekend that overladen is." All the friends of the deceased becomingly dressed, were in use also to wait on the inhabitants, and request their attendance. A printed circular now sup- plies the annoyance of this ceremony. I shall next proceed to call out a few other circumstances attendant on some of the more re- markable Highland funerals of the last hundred years. I pick them at random ; not even arrang- ing chronologically. One remark only will I ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND make ; that the consequent feast, so ancient, and among rude tribes still so universal, may be typical of joy for the escape of a soul from this region of care. Whether the idea be correct or not, I have heard it said, that to the christenings, marriages, and burials of their forefathers, many Highland families may fairly ascribe the mort- gages which at present impoverish their estates. Lachlan M'Intosh of M'Intosh died in 1704. The funeral feasts and entertainments were kept up for an entire month. Cooks and confec- tioners were brought from Edinburgh at great expense ; and on the day of interment, the pro- cession extended from Dalcross Castle, to the churchyard of Petty, a distance of four miles ! It has been said, that the expense incurred on this occasion, proved the source of the pecuniary embarrassments of the M'Intosh family to a re- cent period. In September, 1816, when George M'Kenzie of Dundonald died, a vast concourse of people brought the body from Inverness, to the family burial place in Lochbroom, over wilds and mountains even yet, almost impassable. The cavalcade left Inverness, on 2d October, 1816; had regular halting places every night, where deep and inspiring potations of whisky and wine were quaffed ; independent of the drams drunk every five miles, by way of giving breath and spirit to the attendants. Four days were con- sumed in this way ; and, upon approaching the KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 143 estate of the deceased, an additional band of mourners joined the procession. Many of them were women, and the coronach was raised per- haps for the last time, in modern history. The funeral or last feast was worthy of the rest of the ceremony, and the wine-cup passed rapidly around. At the funeral of M'Kenzie of Red Castle, (who was collector of customs in Inverness) in May 1785, I have been assured, that from the ferry of Kessock to the house of Red Castle, a distance of four miles, a row of clansmen occu- pied either side of the road. Five hundred of these, were retainers of Seaforth ; the others came from the estates of Lovat, Chisholm, Kilcoy, Allangrange, and the different quarters of Ross. Numerous pipers played the wild, yet melan- choly " lament" customary on such occasions. A grand dinner terminated the day. William Chisholm of Chisholm, died at Bath, in March 1817- His corpse was sent to Inver- ness by sea, and lay in state there for several days, in one of the inns ; where wines and refreshments were laid out for all visitors ; af- ter which it was removed to the family bu- rial place in Beauly priory, attended by al- most the entire population of the town. The tenants of the deceased met the funeral pro- cession at Beauly Bridge, resolved on remov- ing their chief from the hearse, and carrying him on their shoulders ; but the coffin being a leaden one, they were glad to desist from their 144 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND purpose. A granary adjacent to the priory, was the scene of the banquet after the interment. The company were so numerous, that it was apprehended the floor would have given way. Those of " gentle kindred" occupied the upper room, whilst the commons caroused in the lower storey. To use a rude but familiar phrase, the claret ran like ditch water and the old women of the village brought pails to carry off the su- perfluous whisky, when those, for whom it was designed, could drink no more ; nay, further, the voice of scandal has hinted, that every one of them kept public house for six months after- wards, from the relics of the feast. When the fiery beverage had inflamed their blood, the te- nants, indignant at being debarred from tasting the claret, made an irruption into the quarters of the more favoured class, but were easily repulsed. Night closed on the revellers ; several of whom (if my information be correct) were to wake no more ; for a sharp fall of snow overpowered in- dividuals of the senseless and straggling people. On rising in the morning to claim their horses, some of the gentlemen were astonished to find that the flaps of their saddles had been cut off, the Highlanders having discovered they would make excellent brogues! and made free with them accordingly. At the interment of the Honourable Archi- bald Fraser of Lovat, in 8th December, 1815, a sumptuous entertainment was given. The gentlemen filled every apartment in the house ; KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 145 the tenants were upon the green ; claret and every other wine abounded to the first, whisky to the last. The procession left the castle of Beaufort, by torchlight late in the evening, for the chapel of Kirkhill, after ample justice had been done to the flowing bowl. Some thousand clansmen attended, as did the widow of the deceased. Several of the lower order tumbled into the vault intoxicated, and were hauled out next day when the smith came to close the door. The funeral of Sir ^Eneas M'Intosh of M'ln- tosh, in January 1820, was conducted in truly feudal style : nor was that of Colonel Hugh Grant, who died at Moy near Forres in 1823, and was thence carried to Urquhart, one iota less so. And now, turning from the spectacle of feu- dal manners, venerable from antiquity, and doubly attractive through the magic colouring of fancy, let us hail the important consequences, to be anticipated from the future labours of the Northern Institution for the Promotion of Science and Literature, established at Inverness on the 8th March, 1 825. In the class of desi- derata attached to the " Memorabilia of Inver- ness" as yet practicable, or useful, there occurs a recommendation for the foundation of some such public body. " To those," says the writer, " who may ridicule the project as too extensive, and too extravagant, we would suggest the re- collection of the numerous improvements ac- complished among us during the past thirty years." The objects of the institution are such 9 K 14*6 ON THE STATE OF SOCIETY AND as are every way consistent with the rapid ad- vancement of our countrymen ; and its founders are entitled to merited praise. Their views point to no Utopian scheme : they contemplate the promotion of science and literature in gene- ral ; the investigation of the former history of Scotland, and of the Highlands in particular : They call upon the lover of science to unfold her stores, and they afford a protecting shield to the child of genius, in works of art. Where is the Highlander who can remain deaf to the ap- peal? Where is the native who can listen with indifference to a call, which, if answered, may elevate his countrymen to a distinguished rank in the list of the benefactors of mankind ? which may entitle the Scottish mountaineers hereafter, to be as marked for their exten- sive knowledge, and liberal attainments, as they were heretofore in ages of civil commo- tion, distracted by internal discord, and bent down by feudal oppression. With the names of those, who by literary eminence have shed a lustre over the Highland horizon, it were but justice to conclude this paper. They will admit of a twofold classification : a in the first we may rank Monro, dean of the isles ; Sir George Mac- a It were conferring additional honour on my country, could I add that her rugged soil had given birth to Mrs. Grant of Laggan, to Henry Mackenzie, to Thomas Campbell, and to Hector M'Neill. If my information be correct, the authoress of many interesting works upon the Highlanders, though of Highland ex- traction, was born in America : The Scottish Addison first drew breath in the Cowgate ; Glasgow lays claim to Campbell ; and M'Neill sleeps in his native Roslin. KNOWLEDGE IN THE HIGHLANDS. 147 kenzie the eminent lawyer ; George, first earl of Cromarty ; Dr. George Mackenzie ; Duncan Forbes, Lord President of the Court of Session, and the Macphersons. In the second, Sir James M'Intosh ; the three Stewarts, the learned trans- lators of the Bible into Gaelic ; Evan Maclauch- lan, M. A. of Aberdeen, a native of Knoydart, and the conductors of the Gaelic dictionary; Sir George M 'Kenzie of Coul ; Mr. Grant of Corrimony ; Mrs. Grant, Duthel ; and General Stewart of Garth. And in the list of those who have studied to diffuse the blessings of civi- lization, let not the memory of Sir James M 'Donald of Macdonald be forgotten j a man, whose early demise, at the age of twenty-five, excited the regret both of his countrymen and foreigners, and blighted the hopes of the many improvements, which his fruitful genius had sug- gested, " under the sober direction of a clear and enlightened understanding." 3 What he longed to behold has arrived : a new era has opened on our mountains j the bar- riers which have closed the avenues to know- ledge exist no more. The diffusion of educa- tion and intelligence will awaken the spirit of honourable enterprise, and, in the words of a living poet, " There are hearts, prophetic Hope may trust ! That slumber yet in uncreated dust, Ordain'd to fire th' adoring sons of earth With every charm of wisdom and of worth ; Ordain'd to light, with intellectual day, The mazy wheels of Nature as they play, Or, warm with Fancy's energy, to glow, And rival all but Shakspeare's name below !" a Doug. Peer. II. 15. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. r No. I. LIST OF THE HONORARY MEMBERS OF THE NORTHERN INSTITUTION. WITH THE DATES OF THEIR ELECTION. 1825. March 23. Samuel Hibbert, Esq. M.D. one of the Secretaries to the Society of Scottish Antiquaries. James Tulloch, Esq. Professor of Natural Philoso- phy, King's College, Aberdeen. Thomas Telford, Esq. F.R.S. Civil Engineer. Dr. Jackson Hooker, Professor of Botany in the University of Glasgow. Alexander Nimmo, Esq. Civil Engineer, formerly Rector of the Inverness Royal Academy. Robert Grant, Esq. Barrister, London. Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, Bart. April 29. Sir James Mackintosh, M.P. Knight. James Grant, Esq. of Corrymony. APPENDIX. Rev. William Buckland, B.D. Professor of Minera- logy and Geology in the University of Oxford. Sir Walter Scott of Abbotsford, Bart. September 16. Sir James Macgregor, F.R.S. Lon- don and Edinburgh, Director General of the Medical Department in the Army. James Trail, Esq. F.R.S., &c. &c. Liverpool. Thomas Thomson, Esq. M.D. &c. &c. University of Glasgow. Andrew Ure, Esq. M.D. F.R.S., &c. &c. Anderso- nian Institution, Glasgow. Robert Jameson, Esq. Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, &c. &c. David Brewster, Esq. LL.D. Edinburgh. October 18. General David Stewart of Garth. Isaac Forsyth, Esq. Bookseller, Elgin. William Couper, Esq. M.D. Lecturer on Minera- logy in the University of Glasgow. December 30. Captain Parry, R.N. Adam Anderson, Esq. F.R.S., &c. &c. Rector of the Perth Academy. John MacCulloch, Esq. M.D. F.R.S., Chemist to the Board of Ordnance, &c. &c. 1826. January 27. James Trail, Esq. Sheriff-Depute of the County of Caithness. February 24. Henry Mackenzie, Esq. Comptroller of Taxes for Scotland. June 27. R. E. Grant, Esq. M.D. F.R.S., &c. &c. Edinburgh. William Ritchie, A.M. Rector of the Academy at Tain. Charles Waterton, Esq. of Walton-Hall, Yorkshire. The Rev. John Fleming, Minister of Flisk. Charles Edmonstone, Esq. of Cardross Park, near Dumbarton. APPENDIX. 153 Captain Carmichael, Appin. October 27. General H. Hutton, Inspector General of Fortifications. Colonel Ronaldson Macdonell of Glengary and Clanranold, &c. &c. Dr. Robert Thomson, F.R.S., York Terrace, Lon- don. December 28. John Gregorson, Esq. of Ardtornisli, Sheriff Substitute of Argyleshire. No. II. CORRESPONDING MEMBERS. 1825. March 23. Rev. Charles Clouston, Stromness, Ork- ney. John Coldstream, Esq. M.W.S., &c. Leith. John Turnbull, jun. Esq. Merchant, Glasgow. William Robertson, Esq. Brora, Sutherlandshire. D. Morison, jun. Esq. Secretary to the Literary and Antiquarian Society of Perth. Rev. William Dunbar, Schoolmaster, Duthil. Rev. Hugh Urquhart, Montreal, North America. Robert Armour, Esq. Montreal. Gregor Urquhart, Esq. Portrait Painter of Inver- ness, now at Rome. James Hopkirk, Esq. Advocate, Edinburgh. J. G. Hamilton, Esq. Portrait Painter and Drafts- man to the Institution. April 29. Lieutenant Skene, R.N. Inverness. Lieutenant John Macbean, H.E.I.C.S., of Inverness. Captain James Macdonald, Floddigary. Dr. Donald Smith Young of Inverness, Arungabad. Walter Bethune, Esq. Van Dieman's Land. 154 APPENDIX. James Matheson, Esq. Vice Consul, Canton, China. Thomas Rankin, Esq. of Inverness, Surgeon, Bom- bay. John Fraser, Esq. Merchant, Madras. April 29. George Biddel Airy, Esq. Trinity College, Cambridge. James Parker, Esq. Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr. William Maclver, Stornoway. George Miller Sinclair, Esq. Gilmour Place, Edin- burgh. September 16. The Rev. Michael Russell, LL.D., Leith. James Macpherson, Esq. Rotterdam. John Macpherson, Esq. Merchant, Glasgow. The Rev. Donald Leitch, Missionary Minister, Gairlochy. Charles .Macdougall, Esq. Advocate, Edinburgh. Rev. Thomas Macfarlane, Edinkillie. October 28. Charles Lush, Esq. M.D. Lecturer on Botany, St. Thomas 1 Hospital, London. Rev. David Ritchie of Tarbolton, Ayrshire. Alexander Denoon, Esq. London. Allan Kerr, junior, Esq. Greenock. P. B. Henderson, Esq. M.D. Scotcalder, Caithness. November 25. John Murray, Esq. Stranraer, F.R.S. &c. &c. Lecturer on Chemistry. 1826. January 27. Lieutenant George Mackenzie, Cyder- hall, Sutherlandshire, (Author of the Cycle of the Weather.) William Hutton, Esq. Newcastle. John Traill Urquhart, Esq. Advocate, Orkney. Lieutenant Campbell, R.N. Captain of the Ben Nevis Steam Packet. April 1. Rev. William Steven, presently at Glenmo- riston. APPENDIX. 155 June 27. John Mackintosh, Esq. M.D. Berbice. William MacGillivray, Esq. A.M. M.W.S. Deputy Keeper of the Museum, University, Edinburgh. The Rev. John Macvicar, Professor of Natural His- tory, University of St. Andrews. October 27. Mr. Peter Swany, Reiss Lodge, Caith- ness. Mr. A. D. Mathewson, Schoolmaster, Yell, Shet- land. December 28. Major Phineas Macpherson, late of the 35th Regiment of Foot, Barbadoes. Dr. D. Maclean of Oban, Argyleshire. Mr. William Fraser, (late of Inverness) Watch- maker, London. Dr. John Leonard Freeman, Arungabad. No. III. ORDINARY MEMBERS. 1825. March 8. James Robertson, Esq. M.D. Provost of Inverness. The Rev. Alexander Rose, D.D. Inverness. The Rev. Alexander Clark, Inverness. The Rev. Charles Fyvie of St. John's Chapel, Inver- ness. Alexander Mackenzie, Esq. of Woodside. Alexander Shepperd, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Robert Logan, Esq. Agent for the British Linen Company, Inverness. > Mr. Peter Scott, Teacher of the Humanity Class in the Academy of Inverness. Bailie John Fraser, Agent for the Perth Bank, In- verness. 156 APPENDIX. Mr. Joseph Mitchell, Parliamentary Road Inspec- tor, Inverness. James Suter, jun. Esq. Merchant. Mr. Alexander Forbes, Druggist. Mr. Hugh Fraser, Surgeon, Inverness. Roderick Reach, Esq. Solicitor. Mr. Robert Naughton, Jeweller. Mr. John Mackintosh, Solicitor. Mr. James Wilson, Solicitor. George Anderson, Solicitor, F.R.S.E. F.S.S.A. March 23. His Grace the Duke of Gordon. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder of Fountainhall and Grange, Bart. William Fraser Tytler, Esq. Sheriff-Depute of Inverness-shire. Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coul, Bart. Rev. Robert Findlater, Inverness. Rev. James Scott, Inverness. Rev. Donald Fraser, Kirkhill. John Mactavish, Esq. Solicitor. John Thomson, Esq. Solicitor. John Inglis Nicol, Esq. Inverness. Alex. Mactavish, Esq. Solicitor. Neil Maclean, Esq. Landsurveyor. Mr. R. B. Lusk, Bookseller. Edward Atkins, Esq. of Inverness. John Mackay, Esq. Solicitor. Rev. Duncan Mackenzie, Episcopal Minister, For- trose. Andrew Belford, Esq. Solicitor. Golin Chisholm, Esq. Solicitor. James Grant, Esq of Bught. Dr. Alex. Macdonald, Inverness. Mr. George Suter, Inverness, William Mackintosh, Esq, of Geddes, M.D. William P. Grant, Esq. younger of Rothiemurcus. APPENDIX. 157 Captain Thomas Fraser of Balmain, formerly of King's College, Cambridge. James Murray Grant, Esq. of Glenmoriston. Robert Macbean, Esq. Solicitor. April 29. John Edwards, Esq. Solicitor. Rev. Edward Elton Chaundy, Somersetshire. William Mackintosh, Esq. of Millbank, Nairn. Rev. Robert Milne, Chaplain, Fort George. Rev. Donald Mackenzie, Fodderty. William Hughes, Esq. Civil Engineer, Inverness. James Davidson, Esq. Civil Engineer, Clachna- herry. Mr. David Denoon, Solicitor, Inverness. Mr. Robert Maclean, Portrait Painter, Inverness. Mr. Eneas Mackintosh, Solicitor, Inverness. Duncan Grant, Esq. younger of Bught, W.S. Edin- burgh. Henry Fraser, Esq. of Achnagairn, Queen's College, Cambridge. John Ross, Esq. of Berbice. Mr. James Mackenzie, Inverness. Sept. 16. James Alex. Stuart Mackenzie, Esq. of Seaforth, &c. James Macpherson, Esq. of Belleville. George Simson, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Mr. John Mactavish, Inverness. Alex. Inglis Robertson, Esq. younger of Altna- skiach. Major William Mackay, residing at Hedgefield, near Inverness. James Watson, Esq. Collector of Excise, Inverness. John Macandrew, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Henry Welsh, Esq. Fort George. Donald Mackintosh, Esq. W.S. John Anderson, Esq. W.S. Charles C. Ross, Esq. younger of Shandwick. 1,58 APPENDIX. The Rev. David Fraser, Dores. Oct. 28. Colonel James John Mackintosh of Fair, H. E. I. C. S. Nov. 25. Robert Smith, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Duncan Davidson, Esq. younger of Tulloch, M.P. Dec. 30. John Mackenzie, Esq. Writer, Tain. 1826. Jan. 27. Bailie John Ferguson, Inverness. George Cameron, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Feb. 24. John Mackenzie, Esq. Agent for the Bank of Scotland at Inverness. John Fraser, Esq. Croyard, near Beauly. John France, Esq. Groam of Annat, near Beauly. James Tomlie, Esq. Surgeon Campbelton, Fort George. Lieutenant Clodius Kerr, H. E. I. C. S. Inverness. Peter Anderson, Esq. Inverness. March 31. Charles L. Robertson, Esq. Inverness. William Stewart, Esq. Sheriff-clerk Depute of In- verness-shire. Lauchlan Gumming, Esq. Surveyor of Customs at Inverness. April 1. Robert Smith, Esq. of Delmore, Bailie of Inverness. Mr. William Forbes, Student of Medicine, Inver- ness. June 27. Captain Simon Fraser, Inverness, author of the Airs and Melodies peculiar to the High- lands and Isles, &c. Thomas Fraser, Esq. younger of Eskadale. James Macgregor, Esq. Writer in Fort William. R. Maclauchlan, Esq. M.D. Inverness. Donald Fraser Mackenzie, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Oct. 27. The Right Honourable Charles Grant, Member of Parliament for the County of Inver- ness, Vice- President of the Board of Trade, &c. APPENDIX. 159 Robert Grant, Esq. M.P. Barrister, London. Hugh Monro, Esq. of Novar. Hugh Rose, Esq. of Glastulich. Alexander Mackenzie, Esq. Factor on the estate of Lovat. Dec. 28. James Grant Manford, Esq. Solicitor, Inver- ness. John Macqueen, Esq. late of Inverness, now of London. No. IV. COMMUNICATIONS READ AT MEETINGS OF THE NORTHERN INSTITUTION. First and Second Sessions t 1825 26. April 29, 1825. I. Account of a Stone Coffin, Druidical Circle, and Rocking Stone, on the farm of Blackhills. By JEneas Falconer, Esq. Blackhills, Nairnshire. II. Notice regarding a Stone Coffin opened on the estate of Leys, the Urns found in which are now in the Museum. By Mr. Anderson, General Secretary. III. Remarks on a curious Marriage Contract, dated in 1681, in the author's possession ; copy deposited in the Museum. By Mr. Anderson. IV. Catalogue of a Series of Historical Papers con- nected with the Highlands, of the 17th century. In the possession of the Reverend C. Fy vie, Inverness. lt>0 APPENDIX. Sept. 16. V. Original Letter of Simon, Lord Fra- ser of Lovat. Presented by John Anderson, Esq. W. S. VI. Memorandum of Evidence taken by the Laird of Glenmorison, regarding the sudden Agitation of Loch Ness, on the 7th November 1755. Communi- cated by Mrs. Grant, Duthil. VII. Account of a Subterranean Building, recently discovered in Glenshiel. By Mr. J. Mactavish, Soli- citor. VIII. Remarks on an ancient Cocquet, or Custom- House Seal of the Burghs of Inverness and Cromarty, found some years ago on the sea-shore at Aberdeen. By Mr. Anderson, General Secretary. Oct. 28. IX. Description of Sections recently made by order of T. A. Fraser, Esq. of Lovat, on Dun Fion, a Vitrified Fort on the Banks of the river Beauly ; accompanied with specimens of the charcoal and ani- mal bones found within the structure. By John Fra- ser, Esq. Croyard. X. Account of the Sufferings of Mrs. Erskine of Grange, commonly called Lady Grange, from a manu- script, written partly by herself, and partly by the mi- nister of St. Kilda. By Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Bart. Nov. 25. XI. Sketch of the History of Caithness. By P. B. Henderson, Esq. of Scotscalder, M. D. XII. Copy of a curious Letter from the Laird of Lochiel to the Laird of Grant, dated 18th October 1645, regarding a raid of the Camerons into Mur- rayland. Presented by Robert Grant, Esq. of Kin- corth. XIII. Letter from Provost Hossack of Inverness, to the Laird of Auchnagairn, regarding the Capture of the Castle of Inverness, for the Hanoverian family, by Simon Fraser, afterwards Lord Lovat, dated 13th APPENDIX. 161 November 1715. By Henry Fraser, Esq. Auchna- gairn. XIV. Notice of a search for Lead Ore, in a vein of heavy spar, recently made by Lovat, in Strathglass. By Mr. Anderson, General Secretary. Dec. 30. XV. Observations on the Geology of. the East Coasts of Ross and Cromarty shires. By Sir George Mackenzie of Coul, Bart. XVI. On the ancient Coinages of England and Scotland. By Mr. Naughton, Curator of the Mu- seum. January 27, 1826. XVII. Part First of an Essay on Architecture, by Mr. Mitchel, Parliamentary Road Inspector. XVIII. Transcript of a scarce document, being a Letter (printed at Bath in 1750,) from a gentleman in London, to his friend in Bath, regarding the conduct of the Duke of Cumberland and the Royal Troops, after the battle of Culloden. By the Reverend C. Fyvie. February 24. XIX. Protection to the Lands of Eskadell, and Passport from the Duke of Cumber- land to Mr. William Fraser of Agais, llth July 1746. Presented by H. Fraser, Esq. of Eskadale. February 14. XX. Exposition of part of the Sys- tem of the Weather. By Lieutenant George Mac- kenzie, Cyderhall, Sutherlandshire. XXI. Notice respecting the occurrence of a Verte- bral Bone of a Whale, found in a bed of gravel in the Glebe of Nairn. By William M'Intosh, Esq. of Millbank. XXII. No. I. of a Series of Papers on Highland Antiquities ; (1.) on Stone Circles and Cairns. By Mr. Anderson, General Secretary. March 31. XXIII. Sketch of the Progress of Me- APPENDIX. teorology. By John Coldstream, Esq. Leitb, M.W.S. Corresponding Member of the Northern Institution, &c. XXIV. On the Origin of the local Name and Sur- name of Cunningham. By the Reverend David Ritchie, Edinburgh, Corresponding Member of the Institu- tion. October 27. Essay on the State of Society and Knowledge in the Highlands of Scotland, at the pe- riod of the Rebellion in the year 1745, and of their progress up to the present time. By John Anderson, Esq. W. S. author of the History of the Erasers. Sir George S. Mackenzie's Gold Medal was awarded to the writer, for this Essay. December 1. On certain Meteorological and Elec- trical Phenomena which have given rise to many su- perstitions among the vulgar, especially in the High- lands. Illustrated by experiments. By John Inglis Nicol, Esq. Inverness. December 28. Communications on Apparitions, il- lustrated by an account of a Vision, reported to have been seen in the neighbourhood of Inverary, towards the close of last century. From Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Bart. &c. No. V. LIST OF DONATIONS PRESENTED TO THE NORTHERN INSTITUTION, From 23d March 1825, to 28th December 1826'. Donations. Names of Donors. 1. A set of Minerals ; Specimens of Mr. R. B. Lusk, cloth made of the bark of trees in the Bookseller, Inver- southern hemisphere. ness. APPENDIX. 163 Donations. 2. Scull of the Seahorse from Hud- son's Bay ; Ditto of the Polar Bear ; Model of an Esquimaux Canoe ; Es- quimaux Dress ; Knife ; Bow and Dart ; and Specimens of Spongia di- chotoma; Orkney. 3. Series of the organic remains, and varieties of coal occurring in the coalfield of Brora, Sutherlandshire ; Specimens of the scorified matter from vitrified forts in Inverness and Ross-shire, and ancient brass broach. 4. Thirty-two varieties of ancient English and Scottish Coins ; An An- drea Ferrara Sword. 5. Collection of Jacobite Papers ; Urquhart's Tracts ; Bacon's Natural History ; History of the Rebellion of 1745, and Miscellaneous Papers. 6. Series of Coins ; Copy of the Vulgate, Antwerp, 1587; Copy of Quintilian, Paris, 1542; Cicero de Oratore, Venice, 1 546 ; Eupheus' Golden Legacy. 7. Two brass Battle Axes ; Head of a Spear ; and brass Medal. 8. Kamtschatka Comb ; Chinese Portable Eating Implements and Mo- ney Balance. 9. Etchings of remarkable Carved Stones in Ross-shire. 10. Stuffed Pheasant and Badger. 1 1 . Pair of Bishop's Gloves, found in a crypt in the Cathedral of For- trose ; Silver Coin of Edward VI. 1 2. Copy of the Culloden Papers. Names of Donors. The Rev. Charles Clouston, Strom- ness, Orkney. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. Mr. Naughton, Cura- tor of the Museum. Mr. R. B. Lusk, In- verness. James Suter, junior, Esq. Inverness. Alexander Tolmie, Esq. Glasgow. Mrs. Captain Innes, Forres. D. D. C. Petley, Esq. through Sir George S. Mackenzie, Bart. Captain Park, Inver- ness. Rev. Charles Fyvie, Inverness. Mr. Tait, Perfumer, Inverness. 164 APPENDIX. Donations. 13. Copy of the Public Records of Scotland, viz. the Acts of the Parlia- ment of Scotland, in 1 vols. folio ; the Retours of Services, 3 vols. and Register of the Great Seal, 1 vol. 14. Tv/o Sepulchral Vases from a stone coffin opened in the Leys, near Inverness. 15. Ancient Highland Implements of Household Economy ; Silver Coin, and work on Natural History in MS. 16. Relics from the Tombs and Mummy Cases of Thebes. 1 7- North American Bow and Ar- rows ; Tomahawk ; Indian Flag ; and New South Wales Paddle. 18. Key found in the rubbish of an encampment in the Aird ; Pair of Hudson's Bay Boots and Shoes. 19. Orkney Shearing Hook. 20. Calabrian Bagpipe. 21. Portion of an ancient Record of Inhibitions in the Shire of Ross. 22. Stuffed Badger and Fox. 23. Specimens of the Skins and Horns of native and foreign animals ; Variety of Shells, and Indian Bows and Arrows. 24. Coronation Medal of Henry V. 25. Silver Coins, found at Boles- kine, in 1787. 26. Series of Roman, British, and Spanish Silver and Copper Coins ; Namet of Donor*. Thomas Thomson, Esq. Advocate, De- pute Clerk Regis- trar. Colonel J. Baillie of Leys. Rev. D. M'Kenzie, Gaelic Secretary to the Institution. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. Major W. Mackay, Hedgefield, Inver- ness. Mr. D. Fraser, Tel- ford Street, Inver- ness. Eneas Falconer, Esq. Blackballs, Nairn- . shire. Mr. R. Maclean, Por- trait Painter, In- verness. Mr. James Mackenzie, Inverness. Mr. Mackay, Cradle- hall, near Inverness. Dr. A. Macdonald, Inverness. Mr. J. Mackintosh, Solicitor, Inverness. Mrs. Grant, late of Duthil, Nairn. Miss Fraser of Achna- gairn. APPENDIX. 165 Donations. Vegetable products of the West In- dies; Rattle and other Snakes and Insects from North America, Africa, and the North of Scotland ; and col- lection of the Dresses and Weapons of the North American Indians. 27. The Edinburgh Journal of Science, Nos. I. II. III. and IV. 28. Treatises on Optics, Hydrody- namics, Electricity, and on Philoso- phical Instruments. 29- The Chair which formerly stood in the pulpit of the old Gaelic chapel of Inverness. 30.* Four old Coins. 31. Series of Shells. 32. Skin of a Boa Constrictor, twenty-four feet long ; Horn of the extinct British Elk, found in digging out the foundation of a house in In- verness. 33. Model of a West Indian Hut, with Furniture, &c. ; Ancient view of the town of Inverness. 34. Beautiful flint Arrow Head found at Kiumylies near Inverness. 35. Shell of the Green Turtle. Testudo Mydas. 36. History of the Family of Fri- zel or Fraser, by John Anderson, Esq. W. S. S?. Curious antique scriptural Prints ; Ten foreign silver Coins ; Four copper Ditto. 38. Medallion of Prince Charles, 1745. 39. Asbestos from Corsica. Namet of Donors. Miss Fraser of Achna- gairn. The Rev. Mr. Scott, Inverness. The Author, David Brewster, Esq. LL.D. &c. &c. Mr. John Macleod, Bookseller, Wooler. Major W. Mackay, Hedgefield. A Lady. James Robertson,Esq. M.D. Provost of In- verness. James Fraser, Esq. of Belladrum. Mr. J. Fraser, junior, House Painter. R. Reach, Esq. Soli- citor, Inverness. The Author. J. Inglis Nicol, Esq. Inverness. Miss D. Macfarlane, Inverness. A Lady. APPENDIX. Donations. 40. The Black Tarantula; Tail and Sting of the Sting- Ray Fish ; Mangrove Oysters. 41. Beautiful specimen of Scotch Agate. 42. Three Copper Coins, found among the sand hills of Coubin ; Coin of the republic of Hayti. 43. Burgess Ticket of the Burgh of Musselburgh, with Seal appended, 1 740 ; Original Letter of Simon Lord Fraser of Lovat, 1722 ; Gene- alogical Tree of the Family of Lovat. 44. Piece of Dress worn by the celebrated Lady Grange. 45. An ancient Roman Catholic Cross. 46. Two Basalt Columns from the Giant's Causeway. 47. Broach found in the sand hills of Coubin. 48. Twig from the Cyprus tree growing over the. grave of Marshal Ney. 49. Edition of the black letter Bible called the Breeches Bible, 1610. 50. Hume's History of the houses of Douglas and Angus, 1644. 51. Account of Lady Grange, drawn up from original MSS. and printed by Sir G. S. Mackenzie, Bart. 52. Passport from the emperor of Germany to Alexander Macro, 1703. 53. Pair of Horns of the North American Elk. Names of Donors. H. Fraser, Esq. of Kingilly. Mr. William Ander- son, Inverness. Rev. Price Campbell of Ardersier. John Anderson, Esq. W.S. Edinburgh. Mrs. Macdonald of Boisdale. > " Mrs. Fraser, late of Kilmorack. Sir John Mortlach, Chairman of the Board of Excise. W. Falconer, Esq. Sheriff Substitute of Nairnshire. John Ross, Esq. In- verness. James Watson, Esq. Collector of Excise, Inverness. A Lady. The Author. The Rev. C. Fyvie, Inverness. Mr. G. Mackenzie, yr. of Coul. APPENDIX. 167 Donations, 54, 55. Battle Axe; Red Deer's Horns ; and Snout of the Saw Fish. 56. No. I. of Picturesque Delinea- tions of the Highlands, by J. G. Hamilton, Draughtsman to the Insti- tution, with descriptions by G. An- derson, F.R.S., &c. General Secre- tary, published by Ackerman, Lon- don, and 11. B. Lusk & Co. Inverness. 57. Indian Greece or Dagger ; In- dian Purse and Coins ; Pair of Java Swallows, with their edible nest. 58. Six copies of an etching of characters carved on a granite pillar in Aberdeenshire. 59. Fragments of an ancient wea- pon found on the estate of Mr. Skeen of Hallyards, twenty feet below the surface ; an old silver watch. 60. Upwards of sixty specimens of Chalcedony, Opal, Quartz, and Agate of Iceland, with the zeolites and lava of the Faroe Isles ; and series of organic remains from England. 6'1. Series of Stilbite, Cnbicite, Chabasite, Fluor Spar and Thomso- nite of Dumbartonshire and Renfrew- shire. 62. North American Indian War Cap and Purse. 63. Receipt for Customs, by Simon Lord Lovat to Mr. A. Fraser of Bell- nain, dated in 1742. 64. Stone Axe from Jamaica. 65. Collection of Fuci and Algae. Orkney. 66. Original Charter of King Ro- bert I., No. 83, fol. 16. Reg. Mag. Nantes of Donors. A Lady. The authors and pub- lishers. A Lady. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Baronet. Lieutenant Skene, R. N. Inverness. Sir George S. Mac- kenzie of Coul, Bart. John Turnbull, jun. Esq. Merchant, Glasgow. Robert Grant, Esq. of Kincorth, Advocate. Alexander Macken- zie, Esq. of Wood- side. Alex. Cuming, Esq. Mollochard, Strath- spey. Reverend C. Coulston, Stromness, Orkney. George Simpson, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. 168 APPENDIX. Donations. Sig. Proclamation of Prince Charles Edward. Ancient Silver Coins. 6'7- Beautiful Stone Axe found at Castle Daviot, near Inverness. ^ 68. Carved Ornamental Stone from the Priory of Beauly; Casts of the Medallions of the Titian Caesars. 69. Death's Dread Moth, (Sphinx Atropos,) found at Aldourie, Loch- ness. 70. Another Specimen of the same Insect found at Clacknaherry, near Inverness. 71. Battle Axe, (brass") found near the Cats Cairn, between Fortrose and Cromarty. 72. Catalogue of Engravers, and Anecdotes of Painting by Horace Walpole, 4 vols. 8vo. 73. Specimens of Serpentine and Asbestos from Portsoy. 74. Three Ancient Silver Coins. 75. Fifteen Nos. of the Scientific Gazette. 76. Bow and Arrow from Hudson's 77. Ancient Weapon found near the Carved Pillar at Forres. 78. Five hundred and eighty-two Ancient English and Scotch Silver Coins, principally of the Alexanders, Davids, and Roberts of Scotland, and Henrys and Edwards of England. 79. Ancient Brass Sword found un- der a bed of peat, in the Isle of Skye. Names of Donors. Mr. L. MacGillivray, Huntly Place, Inver- ness. J. J. Nicol, Esq. In- verness. Miss Fraser of Achna- gairn. James Davidson, Esq. Civil Engineer. Mr. R. Maclean, Por- trait Painter. Mr. Hossack, Corn Extractor,Aberdeen. J. Suter, jun. Esq. In- verness. Mr. J. Cleghorn of Edinburgh, mer- chant. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. Mr. R. Maclean, In- verness. Mr. A. Cooper, jun. Castlehill. Duncan Davidson, Esquire, younger of Tulloch. Alex. M'Tavish, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. APPENDIX. 169 Donations. 80. Two Silver Coins. 81. Four Specimens of Serpentine from Portsoy. 82. The Book of Common Prayer in the Irish Character. 83. Four varieties of Asbestos ; Specimens of the Calcareous Rock of Gibraltar, with its organic remains, and of the Calcareous Stalactite of Strathaird's Cave in Skye. 84-. Specimens of the Lead ores and Minerals associated with them in the Lead Mines of Cumberland, and of the ore, &c. from a vein recently open- ed in Strath Glass, by T. A. Fraser, Esq. of Lovat. 85. Capital of a Pilaster formerly attached to the Gateway of the Stone Bridge of Inverness. 86. Specimen of the Black Cock. 87- Beautiful Roman Silver Coin, and Parisian Edition of Esop's Fables in 1564. 88. Indian War Club and Smoking Pipe. 89. Carved Bone handle of a Knife found at Castle Spiritual, near Inver- ness, and curious deposit from Loch- Dochfour. 90. Medallion of the Duke of Cum- berland, struck after the battle of Culloden ; Ancient Brass Pin from the Island of North Uist, used to fas- ten the Plaid. Names of Donors. John M 'Andrew, Esq. Solicitor. Rev. C. Fyvie, Inver- ness. Rev. Duncan M'Ken- zie, Gaelic Secre- tary to Institution. James Watson, Esq. Collector of Excise, Inverness. John Fraser, Esquire, Factor for Lovat. Bailie John Ferguson, Inverness. Rev. Duncan Mac- Kenzie. Mr. Scott, Latin Se- cretary to the In- stitution. Major W. MacKay, Hedgefield. James Davidson, Esq. Civil Engineer. Mrs. N. Maclean, In- verness. APPENDIX. Donations. 91. Series of Roman and British Silver and Copper Coins, and several Foreign Medallions. 92. Three additional Nos. of the Scientific Gazette; A Highland Quern from Glen Roy; and Copy of Linnaeus' Flora Lapponica. 93. History of the Rebellion of 1 745 in verse, by D. Graham, Glasgow, 1796. Scarce. 94. Coins of Edward I. and Henry VIII found in a Cave in the Island of Islay. 95. Coin of Robert II. 96. Series of old Scotch Coins. 97- Pair of Ancient Brass Com- passes, and Coin of Alexander I. found in Pluscardine Abbey in 1823. 98. Andrea Ferrara Broad Sword, and Coin of Robert I. 99- An Esquimaux Canoe, 24 feet long. 100. Cast of a Gold Rod found in the vicinity of the Druidical Temple of Leys, near Inverness, in 1824. 101. Specimen of precious Opal from India. 102. Silver Seal found on Culloden Muir. 103. Several Gold, Silver, and Cop- per Coins. 104. Protection to the Lands of Eskadell and Teanuilt, in 1746, and Passport from the Duke of Cumber- land to Mr. W. Fraser of Aygas, 1 Ith Julv, 1745'. Navies of Donors. John MackintoshjEsq. Solicitor. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. Rev. David Ritchie, junior, Edinburgh. Lieutenant Campbell, R.N. Henry Welsh, Esq. Fort- George. Colin Chisholm, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Mr. Philip Torrance, officer of Excise, Elgin. Mr. Alex. Watson, junior, Islandbank, Inverness. Capt. Murray, R. N. Assint, Ross-shire. Mr. Naughton, Cura- tor of the Museum. Miss MacBean, Castle Street, Inverness. Mr. Scott, Latin Se- cretary. Rev. W. Steven, In- vermorison. Hugh Fraser, Esq. of Eskadale. APPENDIX. 171 Donations. 105. Sepulchral Urn from a Cairn in the Parish of Alves. 106. Specimen of the Cass-Chrome or Crooked Spade, the Ancient High- land Plough. 107. Model of a Canadian Birch Bark Canoe. 108. Series of Silver Coins. 109. Beza's Geneva New Testa- ment in French, with the Geneva Church Forms and Psalmody, 1610. (Rare.) 110. System of the Winds and Cycle of the Weather, by George Macken- zie, Esquire, Cyderhall, Sutherland- shire ; Corresponding Member of the Institution. 111. Six vols. of the File of the London Courier, from March 1816, to February 1821, and five vols. of the Caledonian Mercury, from March 1816, to March 182l". 112. Monteith's Theatre of Morta- lity, or Copies of Inscriptions on the Tomb-stones, &c. in Scotland, 1?04. 113. Models of West Indian house- hold implements, manufactured cloths, and Bows and Arrows. 114. Beautiful Specimens of Coral and Coralline. 115. Andrea Ferrara Broad Sword used at the Battle of Culloden, by John Bain Mackenzie, the Donor's grand- father ; Sir George Mackenzie's Trea- tise on the Royal Line of Scotland, 1586; Memoirs of Affairs in Scot- land in 1565 to 1583. 116. Drawing of a Silver Bracelet Names of Donors. W. Mackintosh, Esq. Millbank, Nairn. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. James Wilson, Esq. Solicitor, Inverness. Mr. George Cobban, Inverness. Rev. C. Fyvie, Inver- ness. The Author. Mr. Mackay, Editor of the Inverness Courier. Mr. Smith, Booksel- ler, Inverness. George Inglis, Esq. King's-mills, Inver- ness. Mr! Wilson, Solicitor, Inverness. Mr. T. M. Paterson, Writer, Inverness. Sir Thomas Dick 172 APPENDIX. Donations. found at Burghead, supposed to be Roman. 117. Experimental Researches in Chemistry ; Remarks on the cultiva- tion of the Silk Worm ; Account of an improved Shower Bath ; By John Murray, F.S.A. F.L.S. &c. 118. Accounts of the Chamberlain of Scotland, in the years 1329, 1330, and 1331. Edinburgh, 1771, 4to. 1 ip. The first three numbers of the Canadian Review. 120. Two fine Specimens of Rock Crystal, from Goatfeld, Arran. . 121. Beautiful specimen of White Coral. 122. Very large Stone Axe, found at Drakies, near Inverness, and Stone Cup, or Patera, found in the same place. 123. French Rapier, found near Moyhall, in a gravel bed ; and Sheath of a Sword presented by King Charles I. to Lauchlin, Laird of Mackintosh, on the occasion of his being knight- ed. 124. Crown Piece of Queen Eliza- beth. 125. American Indian Dagger. 126. Pane of Glass from the wreck of the Comet Steam-Boat, in the Firth of Clyde, encrusted with Shells. 127. Viti Beringii Florus Danicus. Olthinise, 1698. Names of Donors. Lauder, Bart. &c. &c. Relugas. The Author. Mr. Anderson, Gene- ral Secretary. David Chisholm, Esq. Montreal. Rev. David Ritchie, Edinburgh. Mr. George Cobban, Inverness. Mr. James Anderson, Haugh Brea, In- verness. Lady Mackintosh, Moyhall. Rev. Angus M 'Don- ald, Roman Catholic Priest, Laggan. J. A. Ore, Esq. Assis- tant Surgeon 95th Regiment. Mr. S. Hunter, Mer- chant, Inverness. D. Morison, junior, Esq. Secretary to APPENDIX. 173 Donations. 128. Large specimen of the Lam- prey Eel. 129. Specimen of Aberdeenshire Granite. 130. Bone Comb, and Small Stone Ring, found in digging near the foundation of one of the Scandina- vian Burghs in the parish of Reay, Caithness. 131. Specimens of the Dudley Tri- lobite and Mountain Lime Stone, Dudley, Yorkshire. 132. No. I. of Lithographic Colour- ed Flowers, with Botanical Descrip- tions by a Lady. Gun Barrel, found on the field of battle on the Haughs of Cromdale. 133. Series of Petrifications from the Coal fields of Ayrshire, and of Rocks of the primitive district of the Isle of Arran. 134. An Illuminated Missal, and Version of Thomson's Seasons in French. Paris, 1759- 135. Solemn League and Covenant for the Church of Tain, signed by the Earl of Sutherland, and many others, of various dates in the end of the 16th, and beginning of the 17th cen- tury. 136. Geological Sketch of the North Western Extremity of Sussex, and adjoining parts of Hants and Surrey, by R. J. Murchison, Esq. Nantes of Donor t. the Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society. Mr. T. Mackenzie, Distiller, Fort Au- gustus. Right Rev. Bishop Skinner, Aberdeen. Mr. John Macallan, Schoolmaster,Thur- Mr. Elmsley Dallas of Inverness, Lon- don. William Mackintosh Esq. of Millbank, Nairn. Rev. David Ritchie, Edinburgh, Corre- sponding Member of the Institution. Rev. W. Steven, Rotterdam, Corre- sponding Member of the Institution. Donald Macleod, Esq. of Geanies, Sheriff Depute of Ross- shire. The Author. 174 APPENDIX. Donations. Secretary to the Geological Society of London, F.R.S. &c. &c. 137- Specimens of Cloth woven by the South Sea Islanders, brought home by Captain Cook ; Geological Specimens from Davis Straits ; Do. from Labrador ; Molucca Bean, thrown ashore on the Orkneys. 1.38. Series of Silver and Copper Coins, and Two Ancient Brass Pins from the Island of Harris. 139. Carved Figure of a Bull in Freestone, from the Roman Bath at Burghead ; Iron Axe, or Halbard, from the same place ; Brass Axe, found on the Muir of Culloden, and Brass Pin from Cromwell's Fort, parish of Ardersier. 140. Grant by Alexander of the Isles and Earl of Ross, to the Black Friars of Inverness, of an annual rent of 20s. payable out of the lands and ferry of Easter Kessock, 4th September 1437 ; and Notorial Co- py of the Retour of an Inquest held at Tain the 20th April 1439, ascer- taining the Antiquity and Privileges of that Burgh. 141. Specimen of Fossil Echinus, from Isle Oransay, Skye. 142. Series of Organic Remains, from the Chalk formations of Eng- land, and a Collection of Shells and Insects. 143. Two specimens of Basalt, from the vicinity of St. Andrews, containing Crystals of Peroxyne. 144. Original Letter of John Phi- lip Kemble, Esq. Names of Donors. Rev. C. Clouston, Stromness, Ork- ney. J. C. Gordon, Esq. Solicitor, Inver- ness. Sir Thomas Dick Lauder, Baronet, &c. &c. Alexander M'Kenzie, Esq. of Woodside, Inspector of An- cient Manuscripts for the Institution. James Elder, Esq. Isle Oransay. Mrs. Admiral Harvey, through Mrs. E. Fraser, Inverness. Robert Trail, Esq. residing at Nairn Grove. Mr. Urquhart, Book- binder, Inverness. APPENDIX. 175 Donations. 145. Model of an Ancient High- land Wooden Lock. 146. Ornaments made of the Cal- careous Sinter of Gibraltar. 147. An Esquimaux Canoe, and North American Birch Bark Canoe, 18 and 12 feet long. 148. Proof Copy on India Paper of Drawings of Elgin Cathedral, by- William Clark, Esq. London, with Ground Plan, and Table of Measure- ments, by W. Robertson, Architect, Elgin; and an Historical Account of the Building, by Isaac Forsyth, Esq. 1826. 149. Specimen of the Lava of Mount Etna, and Series of Speci- mens from the Calcareous and Osse- ous deposits of Gibraltar ; Series of Copper Greek and Roman Coins, from the Ionian Islands ; Curious Paper Lantern, and Catholic Rosary. 150. St. Paul's Epistles in Latin. Paris, 1553. 151. Specimens of Shale, from Caithness, containing impressions of Fishes. 152. Copy of the Scottish Black Acts. 153. An Ancient Stone Reading Desk, supported on a Twisted Pillar, found in November 1826, while clearing out the foundations of St. Giles' Parish Church of Edinburgh ; Two beautifully Sculptured Heads, probably Tie Stones, from the Roof of the Cathedral of Elgin ; Small Square of Stained Glass, and Four Names of Donors. Rev. D. M'Kenzie, Gaelic Secretary to the Institution. A Lady. Captain Murray, R.N. Assint, Ross-shire. Isaac Forsyth, Esq. Author and Pub- lisher. Mr. John Fraser, Con- fectioner, North St. Andrew's Street, Edinburgh. Mr. Scott, Latin Se- cretary. James Trail, Esq. Sheriff Depute of Caithness-shire. Mr. Morrison, Book- seller, Inverness. Isaac Forsyth, Esq. Elgin. 176 APPENDIX. Donations. Names of Donor *. Copper Coins, found in the rubbish of St. Giles's Church. 1 54. Five Burmese Idols ; Pair of The Dowager Lady Chinese Shoes. Mackenzie of Coul. 155. Two East Indian Sabres, (one Sir George Mackenzie said to be a Damascus blade,) Indian of Coul, Baronet. Bows and Arrows, and Dagger ; Very large specimen of Serpula Con- tortuplicata, from the Faroe Isles ; Broach from St. Kilda. 156. Chinese Bow and Slippers, W. Mackenzie, Esq. and fine Specimen of the Globe younger of Coul, fish. H.E.I.C.S. The following Gentlemen will receive Collections for this Institution, namely Messrs. Rikards, Mackintosh and Com- pany, and John Jameson, Esq. Muscovie Court, Trinity Square, merchants in London ; Messrs. Gladstone and Grant, Liverpool ; Rev. Charles Clouston, Stromness, Orkney ; John Coldstream, Esq. Leith ; John Turnbull, junior, Esq. mer- chant, Glasgow ; Dr. M'lver, Stornoway ; Messrs. Campbell, Dent, and Company, Rotterdam ; Lewis Gordon, Esq. mer- chant, and the Rev. Hugh Urquhart, Montreal ; Dr. John Mackintosh, Berbice ; Mr. William Fraser, watchmaker, De- merara ; Messrs. Rankin and Company, Bombay ; Messrs. Mackintosh and Company, Bombay ; Messrs. Arbuthnot and Company, Madras ; Messrs. Mackintosh and Company, and Archibald Gibson, Esq. merchants, Calcutta ; James Mathe- son, Esq. Danish Consul, Canton ; and Walter Bethune, Esq. Van Diemen's Land. Boxes or Parcels addressed to the care of any of these Gen- tlemen, are requested to be distinctly marked as for the NORTHERN INSTITUTION AT INVERNESS ; and those Gentle- men to whom any Packages may be sent, are entreated to ad- vise the Secretary of their arrival, that the charges for freight, &c. may be immediately transmitted, to prevent their being in advance for the Society. FINIS. ERRATUM. Page 34>, line 3, for a Cimmerian, read Cimmerian. M, University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. NC NON-REIIEWABLE SEP 1^1995 DATE RECEIVED OCT ' 4 199 J i-EC'DYRL JUN 121)0 Ciomedical Litrary NON-RENEWABLE MAY 5 1997 81987 9 CT) O^ IT, O ZD -. H6A5 Prize essay. A 001 016 160