9 X> ^Nl UBRARYQ^ ; s s VA ,s\lOSANGEl^ ov^ ^/m O u_ ^ ^ %H3AIN IVEW/ A/A ^lOSANGElfj> ~^ I ~ CAUFO/? /TV- 53t\EUNIVERS// J Jitt-l'NIVEKjjj. 110^? $ < THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND VOLUME ONE IjtHfonj of By JAMES BROWNE, LL. D. IN EIGHT VOLUMES VOLUME I Jranria A. Sfarnlte & (En. EDINBURGH LONDON BOSTON 1909 98330 Mtum which One Thailand numbered and registered copies have been printed. Anbrnna 880 CONTENTS PACK CHAPTER I THE ROMAN PERIOD Of the aboriginal tribes of North Britain at the period of Agricola's invasion Their names and topographical positions State of civilization Religion Modes of sepulture Barrows, Cairns, Cistvaens, and Urns War weapons Canoes and Currachs Invasion and Cam- paigns of Agricola Battle of the Grampians Recall and death of Agricola Succeeded by Lollius Urbicus Wall of Antoninus Roman Iter through the North Roman highways, and stations or forts Campaign of Severus The Picts, Scots, and Attacots Roman abdi- cation of North Britain 1 CHAPTER II GAELIC POETRY Poetry of the Celts Antiquity and Authenticity of the Poems of Ossian 59 CHAPTER III THE PICTISH PERIOD Picts and Caledonians Chronological Table of the Pictish Kings The Scoto-Irish or Dalriads Settlement of the Dalriads in Argyle, in 503, under Lorn, Fergus, and Angus Conversion of the Caledonians, of Picts, to Chris- tianity by St. Columba Inauguration of Aidan, King of Scots, in lona Death of St. Columba Summary of Pictish History Wars with the Scots Arrival of the Vikingr or Pirate Kings Summary of the history of the Scoto-Irish Kings Accession of Kenneth to the Pic- tish Throne Government of the Scoto-Irish Their Judges and Laws Courts of Justice Mode of Living Practice of Fosterage Genealogy and Chronology of the Scoto-Irish Kings 96 CONTENTS PAGE CHAPTER IV THE SCOTTISH PERIOD Pictavian Kingdom Attacks of the Danish Vikingr Death of Kenneth Macalpin Defeat of the Danes by Constantino III Battles cf Brunanburg, of the Bands, and of Luncarty New Inroada of the Danes Their defeat Usurpation of Macbeth Malcolm Ceanmore Accession of Donal-bane Music and Musical Instru- ments of the Highlanders Learning and Civilization Chronological Table of the Scottish Kings, Anno 843-1097 125 CHAPTER V SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS Philological demarcation between the Highlands and Low- lands Anglo-Saxon colonization of the Highlands Characteristics of the Highlanders Care shown by them in educating their Children Highland Garb Dress of the women Antiquity of Tartan Superstitions of the Highlanders Kelpies, Urisks, Daoine Shi, etc. Second Sight Weddings Matrimonial fidelity Punishment of the breach thereof Reciprocal attachment of Parents and Children Disgrace and Punishment of Bankruptcy Fidelity in performing engagements Courage Love of Country Contempt of Death Hospitality . . . 152 CHAPTER VI CHIEFS AND CLANS Consequences of the removal of the seat of Government Institution of Chiefs Their great power System of Clanship Military ranks of the Clans Fiery-cross War cry Omens Hunting provision Numerical strength of the Clans Remarkaole succession of the Chiefs Consequences of Clanship Disputes of the Clans Treaties Spirit of hostility and revenge Modes of warfare Creachs Cearnachs Blackmail Absence of theft and highway robbery Voluntary tribunals Compensation for injuries MUd but arbitrary sway of the Chiefs Legal authority conferred on the great Barons and Chiefs Its extent Attendance at their courts Dona- tions to Chiefs and younger sons and daughters on marriage Attachment and fidelity of the Clans to their Chiefs Instances thereof jgg CHAPTER VII INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS Accession of Alexander I Defeat of the Earl of Moray at Stracathrow Insurrection in Moray Rising of Somerled, CONTENTS PAOB Lord of the Isles Defeat of Earl Gilchrist New revolt of Somerled Tumults in Ross Rebellion of Donal Bane His death Attempts of Harold, Earl of Orkney and Caith- ness Insurrections in Ross, Moray, and Argyle Revolt of Gillespoc M'Scolane Inauguration of Alexander III Revolt in Ross against the Earl Battle of Bealligh-ne- Broig Robert Bruce defeats the Lord of Lorn His ex- pedition against the Western Isles Their submission New revolt of the Islanders Feud between the Monroes and Mackintoshes, and between the Clan Chattan and the Camerons Combat on the North Inch of Perth between the Clan Chattan and Clan Kay Devastations of the Wolf of Badenoch and his son Battle of Gasklune Feud between the Earl of Sutherland and the Mackays Battle of Tuttim-Turwigh Formidable insurrection of Doimld of the Isles Battle of Harlaw 220 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE GARTH CASTLE Frontispiece MAP OP SCOTLAND vii TARTAN OF THE FARQUHARSON xlvi TARTAN OF THE MENZIES Ixxxvi TARTAN OF THE MACFARLANE 32 ARMORIAL BEARINGS 80 LOGIERAIT 112 TARTAN OF THE BUCHANAN 161 ARMORIAL BEARINGS 192 TARTAN OF THE MACALPINE ... . 240 PUBLISHERS' NOTE The familiar name of Scotland holds many significations as varied in their character as are the personalities of those who hear or utter it. To certain ones it means vaguely the " Land of brown heath and shaggy wood; " for others it summons up a mental picture of the Highlands peopled with spirited wearers of the tartan, speaking the language of the Gael, swayed by strange superstitions, intensely loyal to their separate clans, and differing in a hundred ways not only from their fellows in general, but from their Lowland neighbours in particular. Then there are those to whom the antiquarian interests of both Highlands and Lowlands make strongest appeal as contrasted with those to whom the word chiefly implies the Lowland country or the Highland, but never both. To some, Scotland signifies the Land of Burns or the Land of Scott. Still others there are to whom it is dear as the Land of John Knox, of Dr. Chalmers and of many and many another Presbyterian ill PUBLISHERS' NOTE theologian. It is the land of romance to the lover of Sir Walter; it is the land of prosaic fact to the merchant of Glasgow. To the reader of history it is the country of William Wallace and of Robert Bruce; of Flodden Field, of Culloden, and of Bannockburn, while very many, indeed, when the name is mentioned, recall with tender- ness the strains of some old Scottish air like Bonnie Dundee and Auld Lang Syne. It is the history of this small country whose name means so much and so many things, that furnishes the theme of the present work. Its author in great part, James Browne, LL.D., was himself a Scotsman, born in Coupar-Angus in 1793. In 1830 he was appointed sub-editor of the seventh edition of the Encyclopedia Bri- tannica, apposition which he held at the time of his death in 1841. His critical examination of McCulloch's work relating to the Scottish High- lands and Islands appeared in 1826 and his own great work, on the Highlands and their Clans, in 1838. In the preparation of this undertaking a wide field of research was levied upon as the wealth of quotation discoverable here and there will amply serve to show. Among other sources of information drawn from by the author may be mentioned. the famous " Stuart Papers," in which are included nearly two hundred letters iv PUBLISHERS' NOTE written by Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, and his father, the Chevalier de St. George, with many more by influential personages of the time, and memoirs and other historical papers of great interest and value. From these papers very full selections have been made for this history and not a few entire documents contained in them have been incorporated in the text or given in an appendix. The extent and scope of these famous Papers may be guessed at when it is stated they contain about 15,000 separate pieces and constitute in themy selves a comprehensive history of the epoch embraced between the years 1688 and 1755. Of lesser but still great importance in their bearing upon the annals of Scotland and conse- quently frequently consulted in the preparation of this history are the " Culloden Papers," cover- ing the years 1625-1748, discovered at Culloden House in 1812 and first printed in 1815; the " Jacobite Memories " by Chambers, issued in 1824; the " Lockhart Papers," and the writings of Lord Kames (Henry Home), Sir James Mack- intosh and Doctor Chalmers, to name no more. The illustrations are reproduced from the most authentic sources and consist not only of the Tartans, but the steel plates which were in the first edition published in Scotland. PUBLISHERS' NOTE It is a singular fact that there has never been in the last fifty years a comprehensive History of Scotland issued either in England or America. Browne's History for a period of many years has been a standard, but eventually it became so rare that it was almost unobtainable. In placing this edition before the public the publishers have been encouraged and supported by many prominent Scotchmen who have long desired a history of their native land. If we have in part accomplished our purpose and fulfilled the desires of our friends we shall have accomplished much. FRANCIS A. NICCOLLS & Co. * : W8Ws3G%k * 5 r~] Jk M <*+ I M S * ~ . - . !$/ 1 '* . \ M i*! . d- FOREWORD NOTWITHSTANDING the researches of the learned to trace the origin of nations and the descent and progress of the different branches of the great human family, as found at the dawn of history, it must be confessed that the result has been far from satisfactory, and that many of the systems which have been proposed are built upon the most gratuitous and chimerical hypotheses. By a comparison of languages, however, considerable light has been thrown upon the affinities of nations; but beyond these philological investigations, everything becomes vague and uncertain. Some modern writers, particularly amongst the Germans, with that unfortunate latitudinarianism of interpretation which distinguishes the disciples of the neologian school, consider the deluge as having been confined to a small portion of the globe; and upon this gratuitous hypothesis they have raised the most in- congruous systems. Klaproth, although he very prop- erly disclaims the intention of deriving all languages from one primitive tongue, nevertheless makes the following extraordinary observations: " The wide dis- persion of the Indo-Germanic race took place probably before the flood of Noah; besides, it is the only Asiatic one which appears to have descended, after that event, from two high mountains, namely, from the Himalaya into India and Middle Asia, and on the west from the Kaukasus into Asia Minor and Europe. In India this vii FOREWORD race mixed itself much with the dark-coloured aborigines, and, though its speech predominated, its physical char- acteristics were deteriorated, as has ever been the case when a mixture has taken place between a white and black, or brown race; when the physical qualities of the latter, and the moral qualities of each, undergo an inevitable change. The brown or negro-like aborig- ines of India probably saved themselves during the flood of Noah on the high mountains of Malabar and the Ghauts. In the dialects of the southern parts of India, there appears to be a number of roots and words re- ceived from the aborigines, and some remains of such words may perhaps be found among the wild mountain- people in the northern parts. From the Kaukasus, another branch of this stem seems to have descended upon the banks of the Caspian Sea, and proceeded into Media; and thence peopled Persia. Afterward they probably migrated into Asia Minor, and first into southern, and then into northern Europe." In this way does Klaproth, founding upon a series of the merest assumptions, coolly set aside the whole Mosaic account of the deluge; and we need not there- fore wonder the same fate has befallen him with other writers who have departed from the short but distinct narrative of the sacred historian, namely, being obliged to wander in Cimmerian darkness, . without even an occasional glimmering of light to direct his steps. For if the Mosaic history be rejected, it is perfectly evident that all speculations respecting the original peopling of the world can rest upon no foundation whatever, as the first dawning of profane tradition and history is. scarcely discernible earlier than 1,200 or 1,300 years before the Christian era. In proportion, therefore, as the Mosaic account is departed from, the more con- fused and perplexed do all such speculations become; viii FOREWORD an evident proof indeed of the vanity of human pre- tensions when opposed to the authority of divine rev- elation. From the account given by Moses, we must consider the great plain in the land of Shinar, or Mesopotamia, as the cradle of the human race, whence, as from a common centre, the different streams of population diverged upon the miraculous destruction of the uni- formity of speech, and the creation of a variety of lan- guages altogether distinct from one another. Of the number and description of the languages thus miracu- lously brought into existence, the sacred historian is silent, and, consequently, any inquiries to ascertain, with some degree of certainty, either the one or the other, must, amidst the immense variety of languages and dialects which now exist, be in a great measure indefinite and conjectural. By the aid of philology, however, some approximation has been made towards a solution of these recondite questions, but from the absence of historical detail, they must ever be regarded rather as curious speculations than as points conclu- sively settled. At that era when the dawn of history begins to dispel the dark cloud which had overshadowed the early ages of the world, the western countries of Europe were occupied by tribes differing from each other in manners, customs, and language, and distinguished by varieties in their physical constitution. When the Greek and Roman writers first began to turn their eyes westward, they found Europe, from the banks of the Danube to the remotest shores of Ireland, peopled by a race called Gauls or Celts, or rather Kelts, who, before they had attached themselves to the soil by tillage, had over- spread a considerable part of Spain in the course of their armed migrations, and had even poured their predatory ix FOREWORD bands through the Alpine passes into the great plain of northern Italy. They extended along the Danube as far as the Euxine, and spread themselves till they were met on different sides by the Sarmatians, Thracians, and Illyrians. As their expeditions were in general prior to the period of history, we have but slender means of probable conjecture as to the antiquity, extent, and direction of the great migratory movements of this remarkable race. Their later incursions or establish- ments in Italy are, however, better known; and even in the oldest memorials we can scarcely discern a trace of those wanderings or migrations of tribes which must, nevertheless, have originally filled this region of the earth with inhabitants. From a remote antiquity, the whole of the country between the Euxine and the German ocean appears to have been possessed by the Cimmerii or Cimbri, one of the grand divisions of the Celts; whilst Gaul was occupied by the other division, to which the name of Celtae was more properly and commonly applied. Herod- otus mentions the Celts and Cynetse as inhabiting the remotest parts of Europe towards the setting of the sun, near the sources of the Ister or Danube; but it is un- known during how many ages they had occupied this region before the father of history obtained this, which is the earliest, notice of them. Aristotle and other an- cient writers give us nearly the same information with Herodotus, whom they probably followed. With regard to Britain, it must have been inhabited at a period anterior to the Trojan war, since, from the statement of Herodotus, it appears that tin exported from Britain by Phoenician traders was at that time in general use, a circumstance which evidently implies that our island was then peopled by a race who had already explored its metallic treasures; whilst, from other considerations, I FOREWORD it has, with much probability, been inferred that the earliest settlers or inhabitants of Britain were of Celtic origin. But at what precise period of time the Celts found their way into Britain is a question involved in impenetrable obscurity, nor can it be ascertained in a satisfactory manner whether the original Celtic population of Scotland sprung from the Cimmerii or Cimbri, one of the great divisions of the Celtae, whose possessions extended from the Bosphorus Cimmerius on the Euxine, to the Cimbric Chersonesus of Denmark, and to the Rhine; or from the Celtse, properly and pe- culiarly so called, who inhabited ancient Gaul. Mr. Pinkerton, following the authority of Tacitus and the common tradition, is of opinion that as the southern part of Britain was first peopled from Gaul by Gael, who were afterward expelled by Cumri from Germany, so there is reason to infer, that the northern part of Britain was first peopled by Cumri from Jut- land, the passage from the Cimbric Chersonesus to North Britain through open sea being more easy than that from the south of Britain to the north through vast forests. The sea, so far from hindering, promotes even savage colonization; and late navigators have found islands in the Pacific Ocean, five or six hundred miles distant from each other, all peopled by one race of men. Where men and sea exist, canoes are always found, even in the earliest state of society, and the savage Finns and Greenlanders perform far longer navigations than that from Jutland to Scotland. The length of Britain is so great from south to north, that to people the latter from the former must have been a work of many ages; whereas, the passage from Ger- many was open and easy. The Picts, he continues, came from Norway to Scotland, and we may infer from analogy, that the first Celtic inhabitants of the latter FOREWORD country proceeded from the north of Germany; fo* the Cimbri or Cumri possessed the coast of Germany opposite to North Britain, or the Cimbric Chersonesus, even down to a late period. As it is improbable that the north of Britain remained without Celtic inhabitants, whilst all the opposite country of Germany was held by them, it is reasonable to infer that the Cimbri were the first inhabitants of Scotland. But when we find Cimbric names of mountains and rivers remaining in the most remote parts of Scotland, the inference acquires as much certainty as the case will admit of. These Cimbri, the supposed first inhabitants of Scotland, were of one and the same great stock with the Cumri or Welsh ; the Welsh, however, are not their descendants, but only remains of the Cimbri of South Britain, who passed from the opposite coast of Germany, and drove the Gael or Gauls, the first inhabitants, into Ireland. In the opinion of Tacitus, the aboriginal population of Scotland came out of Germany, and, according to a tradition in the time of the Venerable Bede, the Picts or Caledonians, who were probably the first inhabitants of North Britain, were said to have originally proceeded from Scythia, a generic term used by Strabo, Diodorus, and Pliny, to denote the northern division of the Euro- pean continent, in which sense it is adopted by Bede. Father Innes, a more sound and dispassionate in- quirer than Pinkerton, supposes, however, that as the Caledonian Britons or Picts were of the same origin as the Britons of the south, and that as the latter unques- tionably came into Britain from the nearest coasts of the Gauls, they advanced by degrees, as they multiplied in the island, and peopled the southern parts of it, towards the more northern parts and seated themselves there, carrying along with them the same customs as the Britons of the south, and the same language de- xii FOREWORD rived originally from the Celts or Gauls. He observes that Tacitus himself seems at last to have come into this opinion; for after his conjecture about the origin of the Caledonians and of the Silures, he adds, without excep- tion as to all the Britons, that it was more likely that the Gauls from the neighbouring coast had at first peopled the island. This was certainly the more natural way, for so the earth was at first peopled. Men, as their num- bers increased in their first habitations, were obliged to advance to new ones in their neighbourhood, to trans- port themselves not only over rivers, but across the nar- rowest arms of the sea, at first only to the nearest lands or islands, which they could easily discern from their own coasts, before they durst adventure on sea voyages out of sight of land, especially in those early times when men were ignorant of the compass and art of navigation. Hence, it is much more probable, that the first inhabi- tants of the northern parts of Britain came rather from the southern parts of the island than from Scandinavia, or from other parts of the northern continent, at the dis- tance of several days' sail from any part of Britain. In support of the hypothesis that the aboriginal in- habitants of North Britain came from Gaul, Mr. Innes refers to Herodian, Dio Cassius, and even to Tacitus himself, all of whom ordinarily call the Caledonians Britons, without any other distinction than that of their living in the most northerly part of the island, and of their having maintained their liberty with greater courage and unanimity than the Britons of the south against the Roman power, to which last characteristic allusion is made in the celebrated speech of Galgacus to his army when about to engage with the legions of Agricola. According to Tacitus, this intrepid chief told his countrymen that they were the most noble among the Britons (nobilissimi totius Britannia?), who xiii FOREWORD had never beheld slavery, far less felt it; the only difference which, from the harangue of Galgacus, seems to have then existed between the Caledonians and the Britons of the south. The defiles of the Caucasus, with the Bosphorus and Hellespont, are evidently the channels through which the streams of population flowed into Europe; and Thrace, which received its original population from Asia Minor, was probably the first land in our division of the globe which was trodden by human footsteps, for although the intervening countries of Lesser Asia, by presenting inducements for colonization, might have retarded the progress of emigration, yet, as there was no formidable mountain barrier like the Caucasian chain to stem the current of population, it may fairly be presumed that Thrace was the first European country which received its portion of the human race. But be this as it may, it is quite clear, from a variety of cir- cumstances, that Thrace, and indeed all the countries to the south of the Danube, were originally peopled from Asia Minor. Adelung, indeed, supposes that the latter country was originally inhabited by people of the Semitic branch, who were afterward supplanted in the principal and western division of the country by emigrating colonies of Thracians; but although several tribes of the Semitic family, such as the Cicilians, Cappadocians, and Lydians, who are supposed to have been of Semitic origin, lived in Asia Minor, there seems no sufficient grounds for an opinion, which, besides its inherent improbability, is contrary to history. In process of time the descendants of the races which had penetrated into Europe through the Caucasus, and by the Bosphorus and Hellespont, converged upon the Danube, whence they spread themselves over the neighbouring countries. Pressed by the influx of popu- xiv FOREWORD lation from the north, or desirous of conquest, several tribes of the Thracian race abandoned their possessions in Europe at an early period, and crossed over into Lesser Asia in quest of new settlements. These tribes took possession of the northern and western tracts of that country under the denomination of Phrygians, Bithy- nians, and Mysians. But notwithstanding this reflux of population, the Thracians in Europe still continued a great and powerful nation, and according to Herodotus they were the most numerous of all nations, next to the Indians, and would have been invincible had they been united under one chief or head. Of the Thracian race, the people known by the primary or generic denomina- tion of Getse, formed a considerable branch. In Europe the dominions of the Thracians lay between the Euxine and the Adriatic, and were bordered on the south by the territories of the Pelasgi, the first inhabitants of Greece. The Illyrians also were another branch of the same stem. From Thrace Greece was first peopled by the Pelasgi, a tribe of Thracian origin, who gave the name of Pe- lasgia to all Greece. To the Pelasgians, so called from Pelasgus, a fabulous king of Arcadia, and a mixture of other early settlers, the Greek nation is probably in- debted for its origin; for the isolated passage from He- rodotus, respecting an alleged difference between the languages of the Pelasgi of Kreston, and of Placia and Scylace on the Hellespont, and that of the Hellenes, does not, in the opinion of the learned, warrant the -conclusion that the Hellenic people were a different race, a conclusion which would not only be contrary to what the father of history elsewhere states, but also opposed to the authority of other ancient writers. The Greek nation was chiefly distinguished into three -races, namely, the ^Eolians, the lonians, and the Dorians, IV FOREWORD each of which spoke a different dialect, of which the jEolic has been considered as the most ancient. The last mentioned branch, having acquired an ascendency in Pelasgia, gave the name of Hellas to ancient Greece, from Hellen, the son of Deucalion, who reigned in Thes- saly, whom fable reports as the father of this race, and from whose name they took the appellation of Hellenes, which they gradually imposed upon the other inhabitants of Pelasgia. According to Thucydides, the Dorians or Hellenes were a clan celebrated for their exploits in the neighbourhood of Phthiotis, and the term Hellenes, by which they were particularly distinguished, was gradually extended to other Grecian tribes, who obtained their military aid, and between whom and their chiefs a sort of feudal association was maintained; but he observes that the name did not prevail generally in Greece till a long period afterward. " Of this," says Thucydides, " Homer is my chief testimony. For although he lived much later than the Trojan war, he has not by any means given to all the people of Greece the name of Hellenes, nor indeed to any others than those who came with Achilles from Phthiotis, and who were the first Hellenes." He afterward observes that Homer distinguishes the other Greeks by the names of Danai, Argivi, and Achaei. From the great variety and mixture of races of which the ancient population of Italy was composed, the gen- ealogy of its tribes cannot be traced with the same accuracy as that of the races which at an early period peopled the other regions of Europe. Whilst from its peninsular situation it was of easy access to colonists by sea either from Greece or Asia, it was always liable to the inroads of the migratory hordes which entered western Europe by the route indicated by the course of the Danube; and thus the stream of population xvi FOREWORD poured in from opposite directions, and nations origi- nally distinct became so amalgamated, that their dis- tinctive characteristics were almost either obliterated or were rendered so confused and perplexed, as to require the utmost stretch of critical acumen to unravel them. It was long before the historical divisions of mankind were restricted to the natural boundaries of nations, and it was not until those boundaries had been often changed, and the great divisions of the human race had been split into numerous subdivisions, and inter- mingled, by changes in the course of emigration, that these boundaries became fixed in the way that we now behold them. Long before the dawn of authentic history, the greater part of the Italian peninsula appears to have been occupied and settled by different races of men, as every account which has reached us of the arrival of a new colony, mentions that the advence, or newcomers, found certain tribes which they termed Aborigines, already in possession of the soil. But whence did these prirni cultores Italia proceed? That they were of eastern origin seems to be admitted on all hands, but the course of their migrations has been a subject of dispute among the learned. The Abbate Lanzi mentions (and he is supported in his opinion by the greater part of the Italian antiquaries and philologists) that the Pelasgi or Hellenes originally peopled Italy, and after having landed on its southern extremity, gradually spread themselves over the country to the northward. But the learned of other countries, particularly Fre>et, Heyne", and Adelung, maintain in opposition to Lanzi and his followers, that a portion of the tribes which first peopled Italy must, in their progress to that peninsula, have traversed the northern regions of Asia and Europe and have penetrated by the defiles of the Alps into the xvii FOREWORD valley of the Po, and the great plain of Continental Italy, or Cisalpine Gaul. Of the route followed by the Nomadic tribes, which originally peopled the southern and western countries of Europe, in their migrations from the east, no certain account can be given; but it is well known that these movements were generally to the westward; and it is highly probable that the great route of these migrations was between the chain of the Alps, which forms the northern boundary of the Italian peninsula, and the Danube. On reaching the Alpine barrier, several of the more enterprising tribes would turn to the left and enter the plains of Italy by the passes of the Tyrol, or by those in the Maritime or Julian Alps. These aborigines would, in process of time, and from various- causes, gradually advance to the southward, and as the descendants of these original settlers were never expelled from Italy, the inhabitants of southern Italy may partly be regarded as the offspring of those who first descended into the plains of Lombardy. As the precise route of the successive hordes of bar- barians who invaded and peopled Italy cannot now be determined, neither can the different periods of their emigrations be ascertained. All that we know for cer- tain, is, that at the dawn of history, Italy was occupied by a variety of tribes speaking different languages or dialects, who had arrived at different degrees of civili- zation. Some writers have divided these tribes into five classes, according to their presumed antiquity, viz., Illyrians, Iberians, Celts, Pelasgians, and Etrus- cans, whilst others classify them under the denomina- tions of Umbrians, Etruscans, (Enotrians, and Auso- nians or Opici. There are no data by which to ascertain the epochs of the different emigrations of these tribes. The four xviii FOREWORD classes first mentioned were in possession of Italy be- fore the arrival of the Hellenic colonies in Magna Grsecia; but with the exception of the Etruscans, who immedi- ately preceded them, it appears doubtful whether the Illyrians, Iberians, or Celts have the best title to priority of occupancy. If the Umbrians were of Celtic origin, as there is reason to believe, the north of Italy was probably first peopled by the Celts, as all the ancient writers who allude to the Umbri represent them as the most ancient people known to have inhabited that region. The Illyrians, who were of Thracian origin, had from the most remote ages established themselves on the coasts of the Adriatic, between Pannonia, Nori- cum, and Epirus, and are supposed to have entered Italy about sixteen centuries before the Christian era. They consisted, it is believed, of three tribes, viz., the Liburni, the Siculi, and the Heneti or Veneti. The first settlement of the Liburni, who are supposed by some writers to have been the most ancient inhabitants of Italy, was between the Alps and the Adige. They afterward crossed the Po, and spread themselves along the western coasts of the Adriatic, but the pressure of new colonies from the north forced them to move further southward to the provinces of Terra di Bari, and Terra di Otranto, where they were subdivided into three branches, the lapyges, the Peucetii, and the Calabri. The tribe which next followed the Liburni was the Siculi, origi- nally from the frontiers of Dalmatia. They took posses- sion of middle Italy as far as the Tiber, with the excep- tion of the districts on the Adriatic which the Liburni had previously occupied; but forced from their new pos- sessions, and from the extremity of the peninsula, to which they were driven by new settlers, they crossed the Strait of Messina, and colonized the eastern part of Sicily, to which they gave their name. This event, xix FOREWORD according to Hellanicus, who is cited by Dionysius of Halicarnassus, took place eighty years before the taking of Troy; but Thucydides fixes it at a later period. The Heneti or Veneti, the last of the Illyrian tribes who entered Italy, settled to the northward of the Po, where they long maintained their independence against the inroads of the Gauls, when the latter overran northern Italy, about the close of the sixth century before our era. The Iberians penetrated into Italy after the Illyrians. They are supposed to have proceeded from Aquitania, and to have entered Italy through the country of Nice. The Iberi are reputed by some writers as the oldest inhabitants of the west of Europe. They were certainly the original inhabitants of Spain, a circumstance which gave rise to a tradition mentioned by Strabo, that Pontus was peopled from Spain; but this is contrary to analogy, the course of migration having invariably been from east to west. On entering Italy the Iberians possessed themselves of the district, subsequently termed the Riviera di Genoa, and thereafter gradually spread them- selves over the coasts of Tuscany, Latium, and the Campagna, as it is now called. In process of time they were driven by the Ligurians, probably a Celtic tribe, to the extremity of the peninsula, and following the example of the Siculi, they crossed the Strait of Messina, and established themselves on the western coast of Sicily, under the denomination of Sicani, which they took from the River Sicanus. The Etruscans, as forming a powerful and important nation of ancient Italy, come next to be considered. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, they called themselves by the national appellation of Rasenna; but they were generally called Tyrseni or Tyrrheni, by the Greeks, and Tusci or Thusci by the Romans. xx FOREWORD At the dawn of history, and long before the building of Rome, this remarkable race appears to have possessed a great part of the country originally belonging to the Umbri, whom they drove from the maritime parts of the ancient Umbria into the defiles of the Apennines. No subject has puzzled ancient and modern writers more than the origin of the Etruscans. According to Herodotus, they were a colony of Lydians, a Pelas- gian tribe, who were compelled by famine to leave their abodes in Asia under the conduct of Tyrrhenus, the son of Atys, their king, and who, after visiting many shores, fixed themselves in Umbria under the appella- tion of Tyrrhenians, from the name of their leader. This tradition, which the father of history obtained from the people of Lydia, has been adopted by almost all the ancient writers, whether poets, historians, or geog- raphers. Though embellished with circumstances of a fabulous nature, the outline of the story is not im- probable, and the descent of the Etruscans from the Lydians might have been credited but for the silence of Xanthus, the Lydian historian, who lived a short time before Herodotus, and who, in a work of great credit which he compiled on the antiquities of his country, is silent respecting the Etruscans or their origin. From the Etruscan language having been spoken in the mountainous tracts bordering on the northern Etruria, a conjecture has been hazarded that the Etruscans were descendants of the people who, at the time of their emigration into Etruria, lived among the Rhsetian Alps; but in the absence of any data on which to found such an hypothesis, it is more reasonable to suppose that as the Etruscans inhabited the adja- cent plains of the Po for many centuries, they gradually propagated their dialect in the adjoining districts as xxi FOREWORD they extended their possessions, than that such a power- ful and populous nation should have sprung from the comparatively insignificant stock which inhabited the neighbouring Alps. The opinion maintained by the Senator Buonarotti, by Gorius, Guarnacci, Mazzochi, Maffei, and Lord Monboddo, that the Etruscans were of Egyptian descent, scarcely deserves serious considera- tion when opposed to the judgment of Bardelli, Pellou- tier, Fre"ret, Funccius, Adelung, Heyn6, Niebuhr, and other distinguished Italian, French, and German anti- quarians. These writers, though differing from one; another in other points, agree in maintaining that the Etruscans were of northern and Celtic origin. But although Etruria may have received a new accession of population by the Rhsetian valleys when the Gauls overran the Circumpadane Etruria, as mentioned by several historians, the character and manners of the Etruscan people seem to support the opinion of the ancient writers, that they were originally a maritime colony from the shores of the Tyrrhenian sea. Their high degree of social improvement, their great advance- ment hi the arts, their commercial industry, and, in. short, every circumstance in their history, distinguish them from the native inhabitants of Europe, and par- ticularly from those who, in these early ages, inhabited mountainous countries. Besides practising the art of writing, which was unknown in their time to the northern and western nations of Europe, their religious doctrines and customs were evidently so connected with the superstitions of the East, as almost to demonstrate their Oriental origin. When the Rasenna entered Umbria, part of that country was already in possession of some Pelasgian tribes from Thessaly and Epirus, who are supposed to have imported into Etruria the first elements of civil- xxii FOREWORD ization. These tribes having, as is reported, crossed the Adriatic at a period long before the Trojan war, seized part of Umbria, where they settled and built towns, all which, with the exception of Cortona, were after- ward taken by the Etruscans. The latter established themselves at first in the plains on both banks of the Po, even to its embouchure, when cethey gradually extended themselves over the greater part of the low country intervening between the Alps and the Apen- nines. They afterward pushed their conquests to the mouth of the Tiber, and entered into an alliance with the Latins, but were baffled in their efforts to obtain pos- session of that corner on the Adriatic, which was oc- cupied by the Veneti. The last settlement of the Etrus- cans was in Campania, in the plains round Capua and Nola, whence they expelled the former inhabitants, the Osci, who were of the Ausonian or Opic race. The first inhabitants of the south of Italy are supposed to have been the CEnotrii and the Opici or Ausones; at least when the Greek colonies arrived on the coast of Magna Grsecia, they found these two races already in possession of southern Italy. The CEnotrii, who were of Arcadian origin, possessed the country between the Scyllacean and Lametine gulfs. From the Arcadian Italus they are said by Aristotle and Thucydides to have given the name of Italy to that district. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, on the authority of Antiochus of Syra- cuse, says that the (Enotrii were afterward divided into three branches, and respectively called Siceli, Morgetes, and Italietes or Italians, after the names of different leaders. From the (Enotrii were descended the Latins, the Peucetii, Chaones, and lapygians on the eastern coast of Italy. The primitive inhabitants of the central parts of Italy were the Ausones or Opici, a barbaric people, whose FOREWORD origin is lost in the mists of antiquity. They spoke a language called by the Roman writers Opic or Oscan, and appear to have been an extensive nation. They ex- pelled the greater part of the Siceli from the south of Italy. The latter passed over into Sicily, and the Au- sones in their turn were driven from some of their possession by the Etruscans. The Sabines, Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians, who afterward overran Cam- pania and Magna Graecia, were descended from the Au- sonian or Opic race. Fron the identity of some Oscan words, which have been preserved, with the Celtic, the Oscan is supposed to have been originally a Celtic dia- lect, a conjecture by no means improbable. Indeed, as the original population of Rome consisted of a mix- ture of Latins and Sabines, and as its language was formed from the dialects of both these nations, there appears to be no other way of accounting for the mix- ture of Celtic words which is found hi the language of ancient Rome, than by supposing the Ausonians or Opici, as well as the Umbrians, to have been of Celtic origin. With regard to Spain it appears to have been first peopled by the Iberi. The Sicani, a branch of the Iberian race, are supposed to have possessed the whole southern coast of Gaul, from which they were driven by the Ligurians, who, it is believed, were of Celtic origin. The possession of the Ligurians, or Ligyes as they are named by the Greek writers, extended from the Rhone to the confines of Spain, at the period when the Greeks became acquainted with the western coun- tries of Europe; but in the time of Polybius they had acquired territories on both sides of the Apennines. At a period not long subsequent to the age of Herodo- tus, the Teutonic nations inhabited the north of Europe. Pytheas of Massalia or Massilia, now known by the name xxiv FOREWORD of Marseilles, who was contemporary with Aristotle, mentions the Guttones, who inhabited the shores of an estuary, which must have been the mouth of the Vistula, and earned on a traffic in amber with their neighbours the Teutones, then well known under that appellation; and as the Guttones were probably Goths, we thus already dis- cern in the north of Europe two of the most celebrated nations belonging to the Germanic family, in an age when the name of Rome had scarcely become known to the Greeks. The Finns and Sclavonians are supposed to have been the latest of the great nations who formed the population of Europe. Finningia and the Fenni are mentioned both by Tacitus and by Pliny. In the age of these writers, the Finns were situated near the the eastern shores of the Baltic, and had probably ex- tended themselves as far as those districts where their descendants were afterward known under the name of Beormahs or Biarmiers. The Sclavonians are not early distinguished in Europe under that name; but the appellation of Wends, given to the Sclavonic race by the Germans, seems to identify them with the Venedi, mentioned in the geographical descriptions of Pliny and Tacitus, as also with the OvcveSai or Winidae of Ptolemy and Jornandes, these being terms appropriate to the Sclavonic nations. Besides, it is probable that the Russians were known to Herodotus, and that they are mentioned by him under an appellation differing but little from that which is now applied to them by their Finnish neighbours. The Rhoxolani, first described by Herodotus, are stated by Strabo to have inhabited the plains near the sources of the Tanais and the Borysthenes; and the Finns still distinguish the Mus- covites by the name of Rosso-lainen, or Russian people, a term which, if heard by a Greek, would natur- ally be written Rhoxolani." xxv FOREWORD The German or Teutonic race, though allied in their origin to other races of men, may be considered as one particular division of mankind. Their connection, however, with other races, is too distant to come within the utmost reach of history, and the limits which dis- tinguish the Germans as a peculiar people are very clearly defined. Ancient Germany was bounded by the Danube and the Rhine on the south; by the Vistula, and the uncertain limits of the Sarmatian tribes and other nations confounded with them, on the east; and by the Rhine and the German Ocean on the west; but towards the north it had no precise limitation, all the countries beyond the Baltic being included in it. According to Tacitus, the Germans considered their nation as consisting of three principal tribes, descended, as they represented, from the three sons of Mannus, the first man. To these tribes they gave the names of Ingaevones, Hermiones, and Istsevones; but some, as he informs us, added four other tribes, which they termed Marsi, Gambrivii, Suevi, and Vandali. Pliny divides the whole nation into five departments or branches. The first class, which he terms Vindili (prob- ably the Vandali of Tacitus), comprehended the Bur- gundiones, Varini, Carini, and Guttones. According to Jornandes, they inhabited the southern shores of the Baltic, and the northeastern parts of Germany. The second tribe were the Ingaevones, including the Cimbri, Teutones, and the nations or tribes of Cauchi. Their abode was in the northwestern countries, where Tacitus also places them in the vicinity of the ocean. The Istaevones, who inhabited the countries adjoining the Rhine, were the third tribe. The Hermiones, or fourth class, comprehended the Suevi, Hermonduri, Catti, and Cherusci, and, according to Tacitus and Pliny, were bland nations. The Suevi, who, in the opinion xxvi FOREWORD of Tacitus, were a distinct tribe, included several tribes in the eastern part of Germany, as the Marcomanni, Quadi, Semnones, Marsingi, Lugii, Burii. The fifth department of nations were the Peucini and Bastarnae, the most easterly of ancient Germany, who were neigh- bours of the Daci or Getae. Doctor Prichard considers it as doubtful whether these divisions of Pliny were founded on the history and genealogy of the people, or were simply geographical arrangements. In the opinion of the author of the " Mithridates," the whole Germanic nation has, from the earliest times, been divided into two great races, whose descendants may be easily distinguished from each other by the difference of language, or rather of dialect, which distinguishes the Teutonic idioms. The Upper German dialect is that harsh and deeply-toned language abound- ing in gutterals and imperfectly articulated consonants, and in deep diphthongal sounds which stand in the place of the softer dentals and palatines, and of the open vowels of the Lower German languages. The- clas- sical German or High Dutch, though a softened and refined idiom, so far partakes of the character of the Upper German, as to be still one of the harshest lan- guages of Europe. This difference of dialect, it has been observed, is so general and so strongly marked, that it cannot be supposed to have originated in Germany, but argues a very ancient separation of the two races before they quitted their abodes in Upper Asia. The Suevi, and the tribes allied to them, who inhabited the northeastern region of ancient Germany, Bohemia, Prussia, and part of Poland (which countries they have dnce abandoned to nations of the Slavonic race), r poke the Upper German dialect, as did the tribes com- prehended among the Vandali by Tacitus and Pliny, and a part of the Ingaevones. The relative positions of xxvii FOREWORD the different branches of the Teutonic race underwent a considerable change, however, by a great movement at an early period. Long before the Christian era they, along with the Cimbri, began to migrate towards Gaul and Italy. Another movement took place during the second century, and they made many distant conquests. The Allemanni fixed themselves in the south of Ger- many, where they have preserved in Swabia the ancient name of the Suevic race, and from whom are descended the present inhabitants of Switzerland, Alsace, Swabia, the Upper and Middle Rhine. From the Longobardi, who obtained possession of the eastern parts of Ger- many, came the Bavarians, all the Teutonic people of the Austrian States, and the remains of the Old Lombards in the Vicentine and Veronese. All the tribes in the western parts of ancient Germany belong to the Lower or western German race, of which stock the old Franks, the Saxons, and the Frisians were the three most celebrated. The old Franks have lost their Ger- man speech, and have acquired that of the conquered Neustrian Gauls. The descendants of the Saxons, mixed with Angles and Jutes, speak English in the British Isles, and in Germany the Lower Saxon, or Platt-Deutsch. The Low Countries and the Seven United Provinces were peopled by the Frisian stock. The first inhabitants of Scandinavia were probably descended from the Lower German stock, though the Heruli who penetrated into Norway, and the Gutae or Goths of Sweden belong undoubtedly to the Teutonic race. The first habitation of the Finns appears to have been on the sides of the Table Mountains. Certain it is, that as far back as history can trace, the countries to a considerable distance on both sides of the great Uralian chain, were possessed, in the earliest times of which xxviii FOREWORD we have any trace, by a variety of nations connected by marks of a common origin, who regarded their Slavonian neighbours, their earliest invaders and con- querors, as branches of one race. Klaproth has proposed to distinguish this stock of men by the term Uralian: " All," he says, " that we know of them by history and philological researches, indicates their origin from the Uralian chain, whence they descended toward the west and the east." He adds, that before the move- ments among the northern nations they appear to have been spread, at least in Europe, much farther toward the south than in modern times; and probably reached as far as the Euxine, where they were comprehended with other nations under the vague appellation of Scythians. Though it appears certain that some tribes of this stock have crossed the Ural into Europe, yet, as remarked by Doctor Prichard, there is no historical ground for supposing that the western branch of the Tschudic race, namely, the Finnish nations, ever in- habited this range of hills. According to Gatterer, the Finnish nations, whom he looks upon as the remains of the old Scythians, and who all speak only one principal language, though di- vided into various dialects, include the following tribes: 1. The Finns themselves, properly so called, both of Swedish and Russian Finland, who give themselves the name of Suoma-lainen, but are termed by the Russians Tschuchonetz, or Tschuchna; 2. The Laplanders, in the northernmost region of Norway, Sweden, and Russia; by the Russians they are termed Lopari, but they call themselves Sabme and Almag; 3. The Ishores, in Inger- mannland, or Ingria, so named from the Ishora, or River Inger; 4. The Esthonians, in Eastland, who are termed Tschud hi the Russian annals, and by the Finns are called Viro-lainen; 5. The Livonians, near Salis, xxix FOREWORD in the circle of Riga, and in Courland, on the shore of Angern; 6. The Votes or Votiaks on the River Viatka, in the territory of Kasan and Oremburg, who name themselves Ud, or Mordi, and are termed by the Tartars AT; they speak a less mixed dialect, approaching very nearly to that of the Tscheremisses, and more closely to that of the Permians; 7. The Tscheremisses, or, as they term themselves, Mari, on the left side of the Volga, in the Kasan and Oremburg territory, whose language is much intermixed with that of the Tartars; 8. The Morduines, called by the Russians Mordwa, who term themselves Moksha, dwell in the Oremburg territory; their language varies greatly from that before mentioned, and a particular tribe of them, termed Erzja, have a dialect somewhat peculiar; 9. The Permians, called in the Icelandic Sagas, Beormahs; and the Syr janes; both of these nations live upon the Rivers Vitchegda and Vim, call themselves Komi, and speak a pure Fin- nish dialect; 10. The Vogouls, called by the Permians, Vagol, and in the Russian annals Vogulitsch and Ugritsch, are the first people in Siberia, living partly in the mountains of Yugori, and partly along the flat countries on both sides of them; their language corre- sponds with the Hungarian and proper Finnish, but most nearly with that of the Khondish Ostiaks; 11. The Khondish Ostiaks, or as they name themselves, Chon- dichui, that is, people of the Khonda, live on the lower Irtish, and lower Obi, near Surgut, Tobolsk, and Beresof ; their language is most nearly allied to that of the Permians and Vogouls; 12. The Hungarians, who name themselves Mad jar, and speak a Finnish dialect. According to Prichard, the Tschudish race may be most conveniently divided into three branches. The first, or Finnish branch, may be considered as compre- hending all the tribes of Finnish extraction, whose xxx FOREWORD abodes are to the westward of the White Sea and the great Russian lakes; as the Laplanders, the Finn- landers, Esthonians, Karelians, the Lievi, or Lifi, in Courland, the Finns of Olonetz, and the remains of the same race on the River Inger above mentioned. The second, or Permian branch, may include the people of Permia, the Syroenians and Votiaks, comprehending the old Beormahs, as well as the nations termed by Klaproth Volgian Finns, namely, the Mordouins, Mokshas, Tscheremisses, and other tribes in the adjoin- ing parts of the Russian empire. The third, or Uralian branch, includes the Vogouls, in the countries near the Uralian chain, the Ostiaks of the Obi, and lastly, the Hungarians, who, notwithstanding their remote separa- tion, are proved, by the affinity of their language, to belong to the Siberian, or Eastern department of the Tschudish race. Distinct from the Teutonic and Tschudish or Finnish races were the Scythae, who inhabited the country be- tween the Danube and the Tanais or Don. Some foreign writers of great learning and research, among whom Professor Gatterer stands conspicuous, have attempted to show, but apparently without success, that the remains of the Tschudish race are descended from this celebrated people. Pinkerton and others have en- deavoured to derive the Goths and Germans, and even the Greeks, from the Scythians; but although the re- .sult of their labours affords abundant proofs of deep reading and patient investigation, they do not seem to have sufficiently established their hypothesis. We are rather disposed to concur in the opinion of a third class of writers who look upon the Russians, Poles, Bohemians, and the other Slavonian nations as the representatives of the ancient Scythians. Doctor Prichard, who ranks in the last mentioned class, thinks notwithstanding, that the xxxi FOREWORD Tartars in the countries bordering on the Black Sea> have the best right to be considered as the true descend- ants of the Scythians, since they inhabit the same limits, and have preserved, from the earliest period of their history, a national character and manners remarkably similar to those of the old Scythians. Before the Scythians entered Europe, they appear, according to all the ancient accounts, to have inhabited the country eastward of the Araxes and the Caspian Sea, and probably also the north of Media. From their settlements in the east they were forced, at an early period, into Europe by the Massagetae, a powerful na- tion, whose queen, Tomyris, is said to have cut off the head of Cyrus the Great, whom she had vanquished in battle and made prisoner. " The nomadic Scythians," says Herodotus, " living in Asia, being overmatched in war by the Massagetae, passing the River Araxes, emigrated into the Cimmerian territory; for that country which the ScythsB now inhabit is said to have belonged of old to the Cimmerii." As Homer never mentions the Scythians, and speaks of the Cimmerians as a nation existing in his time, it is supposed that this emigration of the Scythians must have taken place subsequently to the Trojan war. But although the Scythians may not have been known under that name to the Greeks in the time of Homer, the descriptive epithets applied in the Iliad to the inhabitants of the countries possessed by the Scythians, seem to in- dicate that the Scythae had fixed their abode in Europe before the age of Homer. Having crossed the great Caucasian chain, between the Euxine and Caspian Seas, the Scythians gradually extended themselves over the country described by He- rodotus and others, as ancient Scythia, from which they expelled the Cimmerii or ancient Celtic inhabitants. xxxii FOREWORD A part, however, of the Cimmerii, protected by the strength of their position, or overlooked by the invaders, long maintained themselves in a corner of the Tauric Chersonesus. They were, however, expelled from this ancient abode by the Scythians about 640 years before the Christian era, and, crossing the Cimmerian Bos- phorus, entered Asia over the mountains of Cau- casus. Originally the term Scythae was confined to the people who possessed the country between the Danube and the Don; but in process of time, the name was applied by the Greeks to all the nations which, like the Scythians, properly so called, lived in the nomadic state. But it is of the Scythae, as a distinct European nation, that we are now speaking. Major Rennell, who has thrown great light upon the statements of Herodotus, thus ex- plains the opinion of the historian. " The country of Scythia he (Herodotus) places next in order to Thrace, going northeastward along the shores of the Euxine and Mseotis. Where Thrace ends Scythia begins, says he, Melp. 99. It will appear, however, that the Scyth- ians of Herodotus were the Sarmatse and Getae of the Romans; and his Massagetse the Scythians of the same people, as well as of the Greeks in general, from the date of Alexander's expedition. . . . The ancients distinguished two countries by the name of Scythia, the one extending along the north of the Euxine, the other beyond the Caspian and Jaxartes. . . . The west- ern, or Euxine Scythia, was the one invaded by Darius Hystaspes; on which occasion the lonians, by pre- serving his bridge of boats on the Danube, secured his retreat; and the eastern Scythia, called also the country of the Massagetse, was the one invaded by Cyrus, in which, according to our author, he lost his life. . . . So that the proper Scythians of Herodotus were those xxxiii FOREWORD at the Euxine, and those of succeeding writers at the Caspian (or rather Aral) and Jaxartes." From the description of ancient Scythia, as given by Herodotus, it appears that it was bounded on the east by the Tanais or Don, and consequently was confined within the limits of Europe. Scythia proper, as in- cluded between the Danube and the Don, compre- hended almost the whole of the Ukraine, including the country of the Nogay Tartars and the Don Cossacks; but the course of its northern boundary cannot be traced. Rennell supposes it to have passed from the southern confines of Polish Prussia eastward, and along the direction of the River Sem, from the Borysthenes to the Tanais. The neighbours of the Scythians were, on the east, the Sauromatse or Sarmatae, who are supposed to have been a branch of the same race, as Herodotus says they spoke a dialect of the Scythian language. On the northwest were the Neuri; on the west the Agathyrsi; on the side of Poland northward the Androphagi; and on that of Russia the Melanchloeni. These last men- tioned nations were probably distinct from the Scythian stock. The Scythian nation is divided by Herodotus into three parts: the Scythae Georgi, or agricultural Scythians; the Scythae Nomades, or wandering pastoral Scyth- ians; and the Scythae Basileii, or Royal Scythians. The first portion, from their inhabiting the country near the Borysthenes, were called Borysthenitse by the Greeks; but they denominated themselves Olbiopc- litae. These possessed the western division of ancient Scythia, and their territory extended about eleven or twelve days' journey up the river. The Scythae Nomades, whose manners corresponded with those of the modern Tartars of the same region, were to the east- xxxiv FOREWORD ward of the Borysthenitae, and still further eastward were the Scythae Basileii, who considered themselves of a nobler extraction than the rest of the Scythian nation. To the term Scythes, as denoting the people who pos- sessed the Seithia of Herodotus, succeeded that of Sarmatae from Sarmatia, a name given by the Romans, and the later Greek writers, to an extensive region, comprehending not only Scythia proper, but also the Trans- Vistular countries, and reaching northward to an undefined extent. The population of Sarmatia, as thus geographically defined, consisted, it appears, of four distinct families or races: first, the Sarmatae, who may be considered as the descendants of the more ancient Scythians; secondly, the Peucini or Basternae, a tribe of Teutonic extraction; thirdly, the Fenni, who possessed the extensive country to the north named Finningia by Pliny; and, lastly, the Venedi, or Venedae, or Wends, as they were named by the Germans. In the time of Tacitus, the three last mentioned races had become so intermixed with the Sarmatae, that it appeared doubtful to that discriminating writer, whether they were to be classed among the Germans or the Sarmatae. His words are : " I am in doubt whether to reckon the Peucini, Venedi, and Fenni, among the Germans or the Sarmatae, although the Peucini, who are by some called Basternse, agree with the Germans in language, apparel, and habitations. All of them live in filth and laziness. The intermarriages of their chiefs with the Sarmatians have debased them by a mixture of the manners of that people. The Venedi have drawn much from this source, for they overrun, in their preda- tory excursions, all the woody and mountainous tracts between the Peucini and Fenni. Yet, even these are rather to be referred to the Germans, since they build xxxv FOREWORD houses, carry shields, and travel with speed on foot; in all which particulars they totally differ from the Sarmatians, who pass their time in wagons and on horseback. The Fenni live in a state of amazing savage- ness and squalid poverty. They are destitute o.f arms, horses, and settled abodes; their food is herbs; their clothing skins; their bed the ground. Then- only dependence is on their arrows, which, for want of iron, are headed with bone; and the chase is the support of the women as well as the men, who wander with them hi the pursuit, and claim a share of the prey. Nor do they provide any other shelter for their infants from wild beasts and storms than a covering of branches twisted together. This is the resort of youth; this is the receptacle of old age." . But after the Gothic conquests in the east, it was as- certained, that the Venedi or Wends, were neither of German nor Sarmatian extraction, but of Slavonic origin. Jornandes, the bishop of Ravenna, who flour- ished in the reign of the Emperor Justinian, divides the Slavonian race, which collectively he calls the Winidae, into three nations, namely, the Veneti, Antes, and Sclavi; but he afterward distinguishes them into the Sclavini and Antes. " To the left side of the Alps," says the bishop, " surrounding Dacia, through an im- mense space lying northward of the source of the Vistula, the populous nation of the Winidae are settled, who, though they have different names in particular tribes and families, are principally distinguished by those of Sclavini and Antes." To the westward, between the Danube and the Dniester, he places the Sclavini, according to Cluverius; and, to the eastward of these, between the Dniester and the Dnieper, or Borysthenes, he fixes the Antes. The same distinction is adopted by Procopius, the contemporary of Jornandes. xxxvi FOREWORD The accuracy of this division is fully confirmed by the philological researches of the ex-jesuit, Dobrowsky, in his " Geschichte der Bohmischen Sprache und Lit- eratur," or History of the Bohemian Language and Literature, published in the " Transactions of the Royal Bohemian Society," and of which the substance is given in the second volume of Adelung's " Mithridates." From a critical examination and comparison of the dialects of the Slavonian language, Dobrowsky was in- duced to divide the Slavonic nation into two principal branches, namely, the Antes or eastern branch, com- prehending the Russians and the nations in Illyrium of Slavonic origin; and the Slavi or western branch, comprehending the Poles, Bohemians, and the Serbes or Wends in the north. Though the nations belonging to each branch differ but little in speech from each other, yet the people of one branch are scarcely understood by those of the other. From specimens of their languages and other histor- ical data, Doctor Prichard states, as the results of his inquiries, that of the Antes, the Russians are the first and chief nation; that the great Russian nation is intermixed with Scandinavians from the Teutonic clan of Rurik, who first gave the name of Russians to the Slaves of Novogorod; and that the Little, or South- ern, or Kiewite Russians, differ very little in language from the Slaves of Illyrium, from whom the ecclesiastical and old literary language of the Russians were derived. About two hundred years before the Slaves of Illyrium, consisting of three tribes, the Servian, Croatian, and the southern or Illyrian Wends, were converted by St. Cyril, they made their transit from the countries adjoin- ing Southern or Red Russia, and the Carpathian Moun- tains, into the districts on the Adriatic, which they now occupy. The first tribe amongst these is the Servian, xxxvii FOREWORD whose dialect is between the Russian and that of the second tribe. To the Servian tribe are referred, 1. The people of Servia; 2. The Bosnians; 3. The Bulgarians, intermixed with Tartars from Bolgari in Kasan; 4. The Morlachians, and the people of Wallachia of Slavonian descent. The Croatian, or second tribe of the Illyrian Slavi, comprehends the Croats, Slavonians proper, and the western Dalmatians. The third tribe is to be found in Carinthia, Carniola, and Steyermark. These three tribes belong to the Antes, or eastern branch. Until a recent period, the Sclavini, or western branch, were the most renowned. After the Goths and other Teutonic tribes migrated to the southward, their terri- tories were invaded by the Sclavini from the eastern countries, who took possession of all the northeast of Germany. On the fall of the Thuringian power in the sixth century, they gained all the east of Germany to the Saale, and all the northern parts from the Vistula to Holstein. The descendants of the Sclavini are, 1. The Poles; 2. The Tschechi or Bohemians, including the Moravians and other neighbouring tribes; 3. The Serbes, formerly a numerous people between the Saale and the Oder, of which the Lusatians are the remains, still speaking a Slavonian dialect; 4. The Northern Wends, who formerly inhabited all the northern parts of Germany between Holstein and Kassubon, and were divided into two chief nations, the Obotrites and the Wiltzes. The Wendish language is now retained by only a few scattered tribes of the last mentioned nations. The Cossacks are also of Slavonian origin, it being well known that the Russian Cossacks are the descendants of emigrants from Russia. Of these the Cossacks of Little Russia, who are descendants of emigrants from Red Russia, driven out by the Poles, are generally un- derstood to be the most ancient. xxxviii FOREWORD It thus appears that the European races, in the earliest periods of which we have any information respecting them, occupied nearly the same relative situation as the tribes chiefly descended from them still continue to possess. The few scattered facts or intimations which history furnishes, therefore, afford no evidence against the hypothesis that different parts of the world were originally filled with autochthones or indigenous in- habitants, nor indeed against any other hypothesis or theory whatsoever. Great reliance has been placed by many upon traits of resemblance hi customs and super- stitions; and from the coincidences of the doctrines of Druidism and the mythology of the Sagas, some have ascribed a common origin to the nations of Europe and those of the East. But opposed as we are upon the au- thority of sacred history to the opposite theory, we must, nevertheless, observe, that this principle is exceedingly unsafe; for by a similar mode of reasoning we might conclude that the Turks and Tartars came from Arabia, and derive the Buddhists of Northern Asia from India, or perhaps from Ceylon. Nor can historical traditions, however plausible and striking they may, in some instances, appear, fill up the void; because, besides involving every element of error, such traditions are found, when examined and compared, to lead to contra- dictory and incompatible results. It is, therefore, only by an analysis of languages, which, after all, are hi reality the most durable of human monuments, and by de- tecting in their composition common elements and forms of speech, that we can ever hope to obtain satis- factory evidence of the identity or connection in point of origin of those races by which they are spoken with ancient nations, whose languages have either in whole or in part been preserved. The diversity of opinion which has hitherto prevailed xxxix on this subject proves the uncertainty and insufficiency of the data from which inquirers have hitherto de- duced their conclusions. Amongst the ancients, the notion that any particular region of the earth was, from the beginning, supplied by a separate and distinct crea- tion with its peculiar stock of indigenous or native in- habitants, seems to have universally prevailed, and the frequent occurrence of such terms as autochthones, indigenae, or aborigines, affords undoubted evidence of the fact. The creation of man had indeed been handed down in the pagan world through an obscure tradition, which assigned the origin of the human race to a prim- itive pair fashioned out of clay by the hand of Prome- theus or Jupiter; but this tradition was considered by the better informed amongst the pagans as belonging to mythology; which, in its literal sense at least, was with them of little authority. Unacquainted with the affinity of languages, and puzzled by the varieties of the human species, the ancients adopted an opinion which was quite natural, but which no believer in sacred history can embrace, without repudiating the authority of revelation itself. Amongst Jews and Christians the prevailing belief, founded upon the authority of Scripture, has ever been, that all the natives of the earth originated from a common parentage, a belief which it is impossible to reconcile with a different hypothesis. Many learned men of late, chiefly on the continent, particularly among the French naturalists and physiologists, and the writers on history and antiquities in Germany, have, however, ventured to espouse the opinion of the ancient pagans on this subject. Amongst the former there are some who speak of the Adamic race as of one amongst many distinct tribes, and others who broadly controvert its claims to be considered as the primary stock of the xl FOREWORD human race. On the other hand some of the most learned of the Germans have, almost without reservation, adopted this opinion. Von Humboldt, notwithstanding the indubitable proofs he has collected of intercourse between the inhabitants of the eastern and western continents, appears to regard the primitive population of America as a distinct and peculiar race, and Malte- Brun has plainly taken it for granted, that from the earliest times each part of the earth had indigenous inhabitants, into whose origin it is vain to make in- quiries. Even the celebrated Niebuhr, perplexed by his researches into the early history and population of Italy, is glad to escape from the difficulty of his subject, by adopting a similar opinion. Such an hypothe- sis is, however, not only at variance with the proofs drawn from the analogy of languages, by the most eminent philologists, amongst whom Sir William Jones stands conspicuous, but also with sacred history, which is too clear on this point to admit of a different construc- tion. No doubt the comparison of languages will not, by itself, demonstrate the unity of the human race, or an original sameness of idiom in the whole species, but if properly applied, it will furnish vast assistance in tracing the history and affinity of nations. Perhaps the best illustrations of the utility and security of this mode of investigation are to be found in the history of the Goths who conquered the Roman empire, and in that of the Polynesian races. The Goths were supposed by most of the writers who lived shortly after the era of the Gothic invasion, to be Getse or Thracians; an opin- ion which has been adopted by some modern historians, but from an ample specimen of their language in the version of Ulphilas, it has been ascertained, that in con- formity with their own traditions, they were not Getai nor Thracians, but nearly allied in kindred to the north- xli FOREWORD era tribes of the German family. In the same way, by a comparison of the languages of some of the tribes of the Polynesian races, living in the most remote islands of the Great Ocean at an immense distance from all other inhabited regions, with those of the tribes inhabiting part of the Indian continent, and the isles of the Indian Archipelago, it has been clearly ascer- tained that they derived their origin from the same quarter, although the great remoteness of these island- ers would appear to furnish an argument to the Ration- alist, that they commenced their existence in their present abodes. With those who fearlessly reject the evidence of sacred history, the subject is not one which can be decided either way by authority; and it is only by examining the evidence which seems to bear more immediately upon the subject, that they can ever hope to arrive at a satis- factory conclusion. This viewed generally, is of two kinds, and comprehends, first, considerations resulting from a survey of the natural history of the globe, and facts connected with physical geography, and with the multiplication and dispersion of species of both plants and animals; and, secondly, analytical investigations into the structure, affinities, and diversities of languages, in reference to the general question as to the history of our species. With regard to the arguments deduced from the for- mer source, however, although they may, at first view, appear to bear with the greatest weight upon this ques- tion, yet, from our inability duly to appreciate the effects of physical causes operating during a long course of ages, it is impossible with any degree of certainty to infer original distinction from the actual differences observable amongst mankind. But in the case of languages, especially those which, though they have xlii FOREWORD ceased to be spoken, are still preserved, there is no such element of uncertainty; and hence we are inclined to hold, that the only conclusions upon which we can safely rely respecting the aboriginal history of our species, are those deducible from an analysis of languages, con- ducted upon strictly philosophical principles. In tracing, however, the affinities of languages, many writers, in the eagerness of etymological research, have endeavoured to derive all languages from one common origin; but they have signally failed in the attempt, and for this reason, that the language of Noah, the primi- tive speech of mankind, was abolished before the dis- persion of the human race, and this " one language and one speech " was miraculously supplanted by various distinct languages. Of this fact, the sacred text seems to be decisive, and yet many commentators on the Bible, and other writers, maintain, that the language of our first parents was preserved in the family of Shem. But independently of this irrefragable inference from sacred history, the non-existence of a primitive language from which all others are alleged to have been derived seems sufficiently established from the fact stated by Sir William Jones, in his ninth " Anniversary Discourse," that no affinity exists between Arabic, Sanscrit, and Tartaric, and that almost all existing languages bear more or less relation to the one or the other of these tongues. Supposing, however, that there are languages which have no such affinity, a conjecture far from being improbable, their distinct existence does not affect the argument, but only adds to the number of original languages. From the earliest periods of history, there have co- existed three distinct families of language, and of which all other languages appear to be dialects. Some phil- ologists have proposed to distinguish the different classes xliii FOREWORD of idioms by the generic terms of Semitic, Hamite, and Japetic, a division which seems to be not only conform- able to the structure of the languages included under these different denominations, but also to the apparently settled plan of separation and dispersion of Noah's posterity as recorded by Moses. Eichhorn observes, that the class of idioms, termed by German philological writers Semitic languages, divide themselves into the three following branches: The Hebrew, or the dialect of Palestine and Phoenice, the Arabic, and the Aramean or northern Semitic, spread over Syria and Mesopo- tamia; and he maintains that these are as nearly re- lated to each other as the Ionic, ^Eolic, and Doric dialects of the Greek. The term Semitic, however, has been thought objectionable by some, on the ground that several of the nations who spoke the languages so denominated in common with the descendants of Shem, were of Hamite origin, as the Phoenicians or Canaanites. Under the class of Hamite idioms may be comprehended prin- cipally the dialects of the old Egyptian speech, the Coptic, Sahidic, and Bashmuric, including conjecturally, until the mutual relations of these languages shall have been more fully investigated, several idioms spoken by races of Africa, in whose history marks are to be found of connection with the ancient subjects of the Pharaohs. The Japetic languages, so named by Schlozer, the learned editor of " Nestor's Annals," from most of the nations by whom they are spoken having descended, as is gen- erally believed, from Japhet, are the same as those now classed by philologists under the title of Indo-European, as being more or less nearly related to the ancient lan- guage of India. Such an analysis of various languages as that here spoken of will in every instance display one or other of four different relations subsisting between them. 1. xliv FOREWORD In comparing some languages, little or no analogy can be discovered in their grammatical construction, but a resemblance more or less extensive may be traced in their vocabularies, or in the terms of particular objects, actions, and relations; and if this correspondence is the result of commercial intercourse, conquest, or the intro- duction of a new system of religion, literature, and manners, it will extend only to such words as belong to the new stock of ideas thus introduced, and will leave unaffected the great proportion of terms which are expressive of mere simple ideas and of universal objects; but if the correspondence traced in the vocabularies of any two languages is so extensive as to involve words of a simple and apparently primitive class, it indicates a much more ancient and intimate connection. 2. Certain languages which have but few words in common nevertheless display, when carefully examined, a re- markable analogy in their principles and forms of grammatical construction; as in the polysynthetic idioms of the American tribes, and the monosyllabic languages of the Chinese and Indo-Chinese nations. 3. A third relation discoverable between languages, con- nected by both the circumstances already pointed out, consists in what may be properly called cognation; an epithet which is applied to all those dialects which are connected by analogy in grammatical forms, and by a considerable number of primitive words or roots common to all, or which at least possess such a resemblance as confessedly indicates a common origin. 4. The fourth and last relation, which is almost purely negative, exists between languages in which none of the connecting characters above described can be discerned, and there is discoverable neither analogy of grammatical structure, nor any correspondence in words, sufficient to indicate a particular affinity, circumstances which are held as xlv FOREWORD conclusive that such languages are not of the same family, and that they belong to nations remote from each other in descent as well as differing in physical char- acteristics. Upon these principles, which are now universally received as almost the only guides, apart from sacred history, in investigating the origin and descent of nations, the languages of the Finnish tribes, the Lap- landers, the Hungarians, the Ostiaks, and the Siberian Tschudes have been compared and analyzed by Gigard- mathi, Adelung, Gatterer, Klaproth, and others; and the result, which appears to have been sufficiently established, is, that all these nations have sprung from one common original stock, the primitive seat of which was the country situated between the chain of Caucasus and the southern extremities of the Uralian mountains. But our chief object at present is with those tribes which have been latterly denominated Indo-European, a term which includes all that class of nations, many of them inhabitants of Europe, whose dialects are more or less nearly related to the ancient language of India. The idea of this classification, which is by far the most scientific that has yet been adopted, was suggested by comparing the Sanscrit with the Greek and Latin lan- guages, and observing the interesting and remarkable results evolved by that comparison. These were, first, the detection of a very considerable number of primitive words, which were found to be common to all these languages; and, secondly, the discovery of a still more striking affinity which was proved to exist between their respective grammatical forms. In the case of the Greek and Sanscrit, this affinity amounts almost to complete identity; in that of the Latin and Sanscrit, it is also, as might be supposed, exceedingly striking; and these languages are all evidently branches of one common or xlvi FOREWORD parent stem. But the same process of analysis had led to other and not less curious or interesting results. It has been proved that the Teutonic, as well as the Sclavonic, including the Lettish or Lithuanian, stand in nearly the same relation to the ancient language of India, as the Greek and the Latin; and several in- termediate languages, as the Zend and other Persian dialects, the Armenian and the Ossete, which is one of the various idioms spoken by the nations of the Caucasus, have been found by those who have examined their structure and etymology to belong to the same stock. In this way a close and intimate relation was proved by unquestionable evidence to subsist between a con- siderable number of languages and dialects used or spoken by nations who are spread over a great part of Europe and of Asia, and to whom the term Indo-Euro- pean has in consequence been applied. In fact, the more accurately these languages have been examined, the more extensive and deep-rooted have their affinities appeared; and it is only necessary to refer to Professor Jacob Grimm's masterly analysis of the Teutonic idioms, to enable the reader to verify the truth of this remark. The historical inference deducible from these investiga- tions, therefore, is, that the European nations who speak dialects referable, on analysis, to this class or family of languages, are of the same race with the Indians and Asiatics, to whom a similar observation may be applied; and that all are the descendants of some original nation or people, who spoke the primitive language, to which all the Indo-European forms of speech may be referred as a common source. In the application of the principles above stated to the languages of Africa and America, as com- pared with those of Asia and Europe, philologists have been sadly puzzled. In the old continent, they have xlvii FOREWORD sought in vain for a nation from whose speech the diversified idioms of America may with any degree of probability be derived; but an examination of the American languages themselves has led to some interest- ing results. The native races of North America, by a classification of their dialects, which are very numerous, may be reduced to a few great divisions, several of which extend as radii issuing from a common centre in the northwestern part of the continent which is divided from Asia by Behring's Straits. A chain of nations whose languages, particularly those of the Ugalyach- matzi, and Koluschians, bear a curious analogy to that of the Aztecs, and Tlaxcallans, has been discovered extending from New Mexico to Mount St. Elias, in the neighbourhood of the Esquimaux Tschugazzi. The Karalit or Esquimaux, another series of nations con- nected by affinities of dialect, has been traced from the settlements of the Tschuktzschi in Asia, along the polar zone to Acadia and Greenland. In a similar manner, light has been thrown on the history of the Lenni, Lenape, and the great kindred family of Algon- quin nations, on that of the Iroquois, and likewise of the Florida and other races of North America, by com- paring their national traditions with the indications discovered in their dialects. It is a remarkable circum- stance, that although there are, according to Lopez - a missionary well versed in the languages of South and North America about fifteen hundred idioms in America, there is a singular congruity in the structure between all the American languages, from the northern to the southern extremity of that vast continent. These facts have been fully developed by the researches of Barlow, Hewas, Humboldt, Heckewelder, Duponceau, and others. But a more immediate subject of inquiry is, whether xlviii FOREWORD the Celtic dialects belong to the class or family of languages spoken by the Indo-European nations; and the question is the more interesting as it bears directly on the origin of the nations of western Europe, including the British Islands, as well as on the more extensive one relating to the physical history of mankind. Many persons have supposed the Celts to be of Oriental origin, but, for the most part, upon grounds which are either altogether fanciful, or at least insufficient to warrant such a conclusion. The compilers of the " Universal History," for instance, gravely tell us, that the Celts were descended from Gomer, the eldest son of Japhet, the son of Noah; that Gomer settled in the province of Phrygia in Asia Minor, whilst his sons, Ashkenaz and Togarmah, occupied Armenia, and Rephath took pos- session of Cappadocia; that when they found it neces- sary to spread themselves wider, they moved regularly in columns, without disturbing or interfering with their neighbours; that the descendants of Gomer, or the Celtse, took the left hand, and gradually spread them- selves westward to Poland, Hungary, Germany, France, and Spain; and that the descendants of Magog, the brother of Gomer, moved to the eastward, peopling Tartary, and spreading themselves as far as India and China. Speculative fancies like these, however, are too absurd and extravagant to be even amusing. The real question is, whether the same arguments which prove most of the other nations of the world to be of eastern origin and descent, may not also be applied to that great stock, the branches of which, anterior to the commence- ment of history, had overspread Gaul and Britain, and occupied a considerable part of Spain. But here it is proper to observe, that writers on the history of languages and the antiquity of nations are divided in opinion with respect to this question. Adelung xlix FOREWORD and Murray have considered the Celts as a branch of the Indo-European stock; but the latter has left that part of his work which relates to the Celtic dialects in a most incomplete state; and Adelung has committed the error of supposing the Welsh or Cymbric to be derived from the language of the Belgae, and not from that of the Celts, who inhabited the central parts of Gaul and Britain. From want of information respecting the Celtic dialects, many of the continental writers, amongst whom may be mentioned Frederick Schlegel and Malte-Brun, have been led to believe the Celtic to be a language of a class wholly unconnected with the other idioms of Europe; and in Britain the same opinion has, from the same cause, been expressed by several well- known authors. Mr. Pinkerton, for instance, has de- clared, in his usual dogmatical manner, that the Celtse were a people entirely distinct from the rest of mankind; and that then* language, the real Celtic, is as remote from the Greek as the Hottentot is from the Lapponic. And Colonel Kennedy, at the conclusion of the chapter in which he successfully refutes some of the opinions of Pelloutier and Bullet, respecting the Celtse and their language, concludes, that " the Celtic, when divested of all words which have been introduced into it by conquest and religion, is a perfectly original language; " and that " this originality incontrovertibly proves that neither Greek, Latin, or the Teutonic dialects, nor Arabic, Persian, or Sanskrit, were derived from the Celtic, since these languages have not any affinity what- ever with that tongue." Davis, however, in the preface to his dictionary, has said, " Ausim affirmare linguam Britannicam (Celticam), turn vocibus, turn phrasibus et orationis contextu, turn literarum pronunciatione, mani- festium cum orientialibus habere congruentiam et affinitatem," and a result of a more accurate and 1 FOREWORD minute analysis has been to confirm this opinion in the most complete manner possible. The connection of the Sclavonian, German, and Pelasgian races with the ancient Asiatic nations may be established by historical proof. But the language of these races and the Celtic, although differing from each other, and constituting the four principal classes of dialects which prevail in Europe, are nevertheless so far allied in their radical elements, that they may with certainty be considered as branches of the same original stock. Remarkable, indeed, is the resemblance observ- able in the general structure of speech, and in those parts of the vocabulary which must be supposed to be the most ; ancient, as, for instance, in words descriptive of common objects and feelings, for which expressive terms existed in the primitive ages of society. In fact, the relation between the languages above mentioned and the Celtic is such as not merely to establish the affinity of the respective nations, but likewise to throw light upon the structure of the Indo-European languages in general; and particularly to illustrate some points which had been previously involved in obscurity. This is clearly demonstrated by Doctor Prichard's ample and satis- factory analysis, which embraces almost everything that can possibly enter into an inquiry of this nature. In examining that permutation of letters in composi- tion and construction which is common to many of the Indo-European languages, according to rules founded originally on euphony or on the facility of utterance, a circumstance from which has arisen the great capability which these languages possess, of forming compound words, Doctor Prichard adduces the substitution of con- sonants of particular orders for their cognates in the composition or formation of Greek compound words as an example of the peculiarity noticed. But the mutation U FOREWORD of consonants in Greek, in Latin, and in the German dialects is not general; it is confined to words brought together under very peculiar circumstances, as chiefly when they enter into the formation of compound terms, and it is scarcely observed in words which still remain distinct, and are merely constituent parts of sentences. To account for the immutability of simple terms, the learned author supposes that either the attention to euphony and the facility of utterance has not extended so far, or that the purpose was attained by a choice of collocation, the words themselves remaining unaltered. In the Sanscrit language, however, words merely in sequence influence each other in the change of termina- tions, and sometimes of initial letters, on the principle before alluded to. Thus, as Doctor Prichard notices, instead of atishtat manujah, stabat homo, the man stood, the words are written atishtun manujah, the final t of the verb atishtat, stabat, being altered into n, on account of the liquid consonant with which the next word begins. The Sanscrit grammarians term this change in distinct words Sandhi, conjunction; and the rules, according to which compound words are found, are called Sdmasa, signifying coalition. The same prin- ciples which govern the permutation of letters in the Sanscrit are clearly discoverable in the Celtic dialects, particularly in the Welsh and in the Gaelic. Proofs of the common origin, in the vocabulary of the Celtic and other Indo-European nations, are exhibited by this eminent philologist, first, in the names of persons and relations; secondly, in the principal elements of nature, and of the visible objects of the universe; thirdly, in names of animals; fourthly, in verbal roots found in the Celtic and other Indo-European languages, and fifthly, in adjectives, pronouns, and particles. He then proceeds to investigate the proofs of a common lii FOREWORD origin derived from the grammatical structure of the Celtic, as compared with that of other Indo-European languages, particularly the Sanscrit, the Greek, the Latin, the Teutonic, and Sclavonian dialects, and the Persian language; and in all of these he shows that a striking resemblance is discoverable in the personal inflections of verbs, as well as in the personal pronouns, and in the inflections of verbs through the different moods and tenses; and he concludes with a further illus- tration of the principles which he had previously estab- lished by an analysis of the verb substantive, and the attributive verbs hi the Celtic dialects, and in other Indo-European forms of speech, the result of which is to evolve coincidences precisely analogous to those already exemplified with the utmost accuracy of detail. What, then, is the -legitimate inference to be deduced from the obvious, striking, and, we may add, radical analogies, proved to exist between the Celtic dialects and the idioms which are generally allowed to be of cognate origin with the Sanscrit, the Greek, and the Latin lan- guages? The marks of connection are manifestly too decided and extensive, and enter too deeply into the structure and principles of these languages, to be the result of accident or casual intercourse; and, being thus interwoven with the intimate texture of the language compared, seem incapable of explanation upon any principle, except that which has been admitted with respect to the other great families of languages belonging to the ancient population of Europe, namely, that the whole Celtic race is of Oriental origin, and a kindred tribe with the nations who settled on the banks of the Indus, and on the shores of the Mediterranean and the Baltic. It is probable, indeed, that several tribes emigrated from their original seat at different periods, and at different stages of advancement, in respect to liii FOREWORD civilization; and hence, we find their idioms in different stages and degrees of refinement; but the proofs of a common origin, derived from an accurate examination and analysis of the intimate structure and component materials of these languages, are nevertheless such as, in our judgment, must command general assent; more especially, considering that the general inference thus deduced receives strong confirmation from those purely physical investigations, to which we have already alluded. If, indeed, there be any truth in those principles of classification which naturalists have adopted, the Mongol and the Chinese, the Hindu and the Tartar, are not more certainly Oriental than the native Celt, whose physical conformation indeed exhibits only a slight modification of that which is peculiar to the great race whence he is descended; whilst his superstitions, man- ners, customs, and observances, as well as language, are all decidedly marked with traces and indications of an eastern origin. The early history of the Celts, like that of the other nations of antiquity, is involved in obscurity. They were known to the ancient Greeks only by name, and these Greeks were so uncritical as to include amongst the Celts, all the people who lived between the Oder and the Tagus, and consequently to consider them all as be- longing to one race. Even the Romans, who did not fail to avail themselves of the better opportunity which they had of distinguishing these people from one another, according to their customs, origin, and language, too often, either through ignorance or indifference, pre- served erroneous general names, and thus included the Iberians, Germans, Scythians, and Thracians, among the Celts. These erroneous opinions have been adopted by some modern philologists and historians, who have gone so far as to assert that the people and languages liv FOREWORD of Europe have been derived from the Celts. By con- founding together in a most ingenious manner the histoiy of every ancient people, the misjudging support- ers of the Celtic hypothesis have given an air of plausi- bility to their conjectures; but there is no evidence that either the Germans or Thracians were Celts. It must be admitted, however, that the hypothesis respecting the Iberians appears not to be altogether without foundation. It is observed by Colonel Kennedy in his valuable " Researches," that in the absence of the authority of any ancient writer in support of the assertion, that the Scythians, and even the Persians, Thracians, Phrygians, and others were Celts, it may seem that the question of the origin of these people might be at once decided by the irrefutable testimony of language; but unfortunately, as he observes, it is admitted by both the supporters of the Celtic hypothesis and its opponents, " that the remains of the Celtic tongue, which are still preserved, abound in Greek, Latin, and Teutonic words; and it, therefore, becomes indispensable to determine, in the first place, whether these words are original or exotic. For it must be obvious, that if the Celts never inhabited the countries which were originally or subsequently occupied by the Greek, Latin, and Teutonic people, their languages could not possibly have become affected by the Celtic, unless they had either maintained a frequent friendly intercourse with the Celts, or had been con- quered by them; but it appears fully from the whole course of ancient tradition and history, that no such intercourse or conquest ever took place; and, conse- quently, if the Greek, Latin, Teutonic, and Celtic people were not originally one and the same race of men, it must necessarily follow that the Celts have been sub- dued by the Romans and Germans, as history attests it was from them that the Celts have received the foreign Iv FOREWORD words with which their language abounds, and not the Romans and Germans who received these words from the Celts." This, however, is a very doubtful theory, as Cisalpine Gaul, or the great plain of northern Italy, was inhabited at the remotest period of history by Celts, who are known to have been partly incorporated with the other early inhabitants of Italy. The local situations in which the Celts are found at the dawn of history prove that they were the aborigines of the northern and western parts of Europe. Of their migrations from the east, no memorials nor traditions have been preserved; but as they were distinct from the Thracians, who entered Europe by the Bosphorus and Hellespont, it is probable they penetrated through the defiles of the Caucasus, and turning to the left, advanced to the westward by the great valley of the Danube. In the time of Herodotus their possessions extended from the Upper Danube to the pillars of Hercules; but he adds that the Cynesii or Cynetae, on whom they bor- dered, were the most remote nation in Europe toward the west, that is, of Spain. These Cynetse or Cynesii are probably the same as the Iberi, the ancient inhabit- ants of Spain, who were perhaps of Celtic origin. The chief seat of the Celts was in Transalpine Gaul, where, although divided into a number of tribes, they maintained their independence against their powerful neighbours the Teu tones or Germans; but they were at last obliged to submit to the well-disciplined legions of Caesar. From the account given by that great warrior of the population of Gaul, an inference has been drawn that it was occupied in his time by three distinct races, and that the Celts were then limited to that part of Gaul lying between the Garonne, the Marne, and the Seine. But admitting that the Aquitani of Caesar were distinct from the Celtae, and either a separate race by Ivi FOREWORD themselves or a branch of the Iberi of Spain, there is nothing to be found in Caesar to warrant the conclusion that the Belgse were not Celts, unless the vain boast of the Rhemi that the greater part of the Belgae were descended from the Germans, is to be held as paramount to the authority of Tacitus and Strabo. The latter informs us that scarcely any difference existed between the Belgae and the Celtae, properly so called. He says, indeed, that a kind of diversity of language existed amongst them; but this difference is easily accounted for by the proximity of the Belgse to the Germans, and the intermixture of the two races on the left bank of the Rhine. The only difference, then, between the Belgic and Celtic Gauls was, that they spoke different dialects of the same language. With regard to the original inhabitants of South Britain, although every circumstance which has reached us respecting them denotes their Celtic origin, their connection with or descent from the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul rests upon probabilities which, however, amount almost to a certainty. The conclusion, that the aborig- inal Britons, who possessed the interior and western parts of the island in the time of Caesar, were nearly allied to the Celtic inhabitants of Gaul, seems, as Doctor Prichard observes, to result, 1. From a comparison of the languages of these nations. He considers the Welsh and Cornish dialects, chiefly the former, as a relic and specimen of the idiom spoken by the ancient Britons; and that the speech of Gallia Celtica was a cognate dialect of that idiom is rendered extremely probable from the cir- cumstance, that the language spoken by the inhabitants of Bretagne or Armorica is very nearly allied to the Welsh. 2. From the Druidical institutions being com- mon to the Celtic Gauls and the aboriginal Britons. 3. From the abundance of those rude erections commonly Ivii FOREWORD termed Druidical circles, cromlechs, and dolmins, both in Armorica and in Wales, as well as in other countries belonging to the early Britons. In the time of Julius Caesar, to whom we are indebted for our first acquaintance with the history of Britain, it was possessed by upwards of forty tribes, while the population of Gaul comprised about sixty, each of which endeavoured to maintain its own independence, and a state of isolated existence incompatible with the general security. In their domestic wars many of them had lost their independence, but others had raised themselves to great power and influence. Of ten nations, by which Briton, to the south of the Severn and the Thames, was possessed, the most considerable were the Cantii, the Belgae, and the Dumnonii. The Trinobantes, whose capital was London, lay between the Thames and the Stour, and from the Severn to the territories of the Trinobantes, along the left bank of the Thames, were two confederate tribes, the Dobuni and Cassii, above whom were the Carnabii and some minor tribes. Beyond the Trinobantes, and between the Stour and the Humber, lay the Iceni; and between the Humber and the Tyne stretched the Brigantes, the most powerful of all the British nations, to whom the Voluntii and Sistuntii, two nations on the western coast, were tributary. The Silures, almost equally powerful, who had extended themselves from the banks of the Wye to the Dee and the ocean, possessed Cornwall and South Wales. The five tribes, known by the general name of Mseatae, occupied the country between the Tyne and the Friths of Forth and Clyde, which formed the Roman province of Valentia; and beyond them were the sixteen tribes which make so conspicuous a figure in the Roman annals. As to the Belgic Britons, alluded to by Caesar, who Iviii possessed the southern parts of Britain, they must have emigrated from Belgic Gaul at a time posterior to the arrival of the other Celtic colonies, whom they appear to have compelled to retire from the maritime districts into the interior and western parts of the island. Such is the account given by Csesar, whose knowledge of the inhabitants of Britain appears to have been limited to those of Belgic descent. It seems to be unquestionably established, that the Belgic Britons were not a German people of Teutonic extraction, as some writers have supposed, but a Celtic tribe from Belgic Gaul, which, for the sake of war or plunder, passed over from Belgium into Britain at a very early period and fixed themselves in the maritime districts. Their houses are described by Caesar as almost similar to those of the Gauls, and the inhabitants of antium (Kent) are stated by Csesar as the most civilized, and differing very little from the Gauls in manners. About 150 years thereafter, Tacitus, who had better opportunities of observing and comparing the Gauls and Belgic Britons, noticed a resemblance between them. " Those (of the Britons) nearest Gaul resemble the Gauls; either from the remaining strength of the original stock, or because similarity of climate induces similar habits of body. But from a general conclusion it is probable that the Gauls occupied the adjacent country. Their sacred rites and superstitious persuasions are apparent, and the language is not much different." Had these Belgic Britons resembled the Germans, such a close observer as Tacitus would not have overlooked the circumstance. But if any doubt could otherwise exist respecting the Celtic origin of the British Belgae, that doubt would be removed by the prevalence of Celtic terms in then- idiom, as far as known, to the entire exclusion of Teutonic words. lix FOREWORD Although there were several tribes of Belgic origin in Britain, such as the Atrebatii, supposed to be a branch of the Atrebates of Belgic Gaul, the Durotriges or Morini of Richard of Cirencester, the Regni supposed to be synonymous with the Rhemi of Richard, and the Cantii, there was a tribe denominated Belgae, as we have observed, in Hampshire and Wiltshire, whose capital was Venta Belgarum, or Winchester. Mr. Pinkerton maintains, but without the shadow of proof, that the ancestors of these Belgic colonists were Goths who migrated into Britain about three hundred years before Christ. " To the Celtic population of England succeeded the Gothic. The Scythians or Goths, advancing from Asia, drove the Cimbri or Northern Celts before them; and at a period, long preceding the Christian era, had seized on that part of Gaul which is nearest to Great Britain, where they acquired the provincial denomina- tion of Belgae. (Dissertation on the Goths.) Their passage to England followed of course; and when Caesar first explored this island, he informs us that the primitive inhabitants were driven into the interior parts, whilst the regions on the southeast were peopled with Belgic colonies. (Lib. V. c. 10.) Those Belgae may be justly regarded as the chief ancestors of the English nation, for the Saxons, Angles, and other northern invaders, though of distinguished courage, were inconsiderable in numbers. Till a recent period, antiquaries had imagined that the Belgae used the Celtic language, and had execrated the cruelties of the Saxons for an extirpa- tion which never happened. But, as it appears that two- thirds of England were possessed by the Belgic Goths for six or seven centuries before the arrival of the Saxons, it is no wonder that no Celtic words are to be found in the English language, which bears more affinity to the Frisic and Dutch than to the Jutlandic or Danish." Iz FOREWORD He computes the Belgic population of Britain at three or four millions, and affirms, that at the time of the Saxon invasion these Belgae spoke the German language! Yet Nennius, who wrote his chronicle in the year 832, says expressly, that at " the feast given by Hengist to Vortigern, the latter brought his interpreter with him, for no Briton understood the Saxon tongue except that interpreter." If it could be shown that the Belgse of Gaul were Ger- mans of Gothic origin, the position maintained by Mr. Pinkerton and other writers, that the British Belgse were of the same descent, might be allowed, as it is an unquestionable fact that the Belgae whom Caesar found in Britain, were from the opposite coast of Belgic Gaul; but with the exception of two passages in Caesar of doubtful import, there are no historical data on which to found such an hypothesis. Bishop Percy, however, observes, " Caesar, whose judgment and penetration will be disputed by none but a person blinded by hypothesis, and whose long residence in Gaul gave him better means of being informed than almost any of his countrymen Caesar expressly assures us, that the Celts, or common inhabitants of Gaul, differed in language, customs, and laws, from the Belgae on the one hand, who were chiefly a Teutonic people, and from the inhabitants of Aquitaine on the other, who, from their vicinity to Spain, were probably of Iberian race. Caesar positively affirms, that the nations of Gaul differed from those of Germany in their manners, and in many particulars, which he has enumerated at length; and this assertion is not thrown out at random, like the passages brought by Cluverius against it, but is coolly and cautiously made when he is going to draw the characters of both nations in an exact and well-finished portrait, which shows him to have studied the genius and manners of both people Ixi FOREWORD with great attention, and to have been completely master of his subject." But unfortunately for the bishop's own hypothesis, Ceesar has, in the highly finished sketches which he has drawn in his sixth book, of the customs and manners of the Gauls and Germans, shown that the people of all Gaul, though some slight shades of difference existed among themselves, were, nevertheless, in language, customs, religion, and laws, toto ccelo different from the Germans. Mr. Pinkerton admits, that " in describing the customs of Gaul, he (Caesar) puts all as the same; " and with reference to the opening sentence in his first book, in which Caesar alludes to a difference in language, customs, and laws, which existed among the three great branches of the Gallic population, he asks, " Has he (Caesar) not herein palpably contradicted himself? Or is the fact this, that his omnis Gollia of the sixth book is quite different from his omnis Gattia of the first, the former applying solely to the Celtse, who were peculiarly called Galli, in his time, as Caesar says? " Mr. Pin- kerton immediately solves this apparent inconsistency by telling us that the omnis Gallia of the sixth book is Gallia Proper or Celtic Gaul, because, as he supposes, the Belgae, like the Germans, had, " of course," no Druids either in Gaul or Britain. Had the Germano-Belgic hypothesis rested simply on the single sentence alluded to, it would scarcely have required refutation; but those who maintain it further support then- opinion by a passage in the fourth book of the " Commentaries," where it is stated that most^of the Belgae were of German origin. The statement, however, is not Caesar's, but that of the ambassadors of the Rhemi, a Belgic tribe bordering on Celtic Gaul, who, when Caesar was preparing to attack the confederated Belgae, offered to submit themselves to the Romans. The fol- kii FOREWORD lowing is a close translation of the passage on which so much stress has been laid: " Caesar having inquired the number and power of their (the Belgic) states, and how many troops they could bring into the field, was thus answered: The greater part of the Belgse are descended from the Germans, who, having in former times crossed the Rhine, expelled the Gauls, settled in these parts on account of the fertility of the soil, and were the only people in the memory of our forefathers who expelled the Teutones and the Cimbri from their territories after they had harassed all Gaul. Hence they had gained great authority, and assumed great courage in military affairs. In consequence, they said, of our connection and affinity, we are well acquainted with the numbers each state has engaged to bring into the field, in the general assembly of the Belgae. The Bellovaci are the most conspicuous among them for rank, authority, and number, and they alone can muster one hundred thousand combatants, but have promised on the present occasion sixty thousand choice warriors, and claim the direction of the war. The Suessones are their neighbours, and possess a large and fertile territory. They had a king in our country called Divitiacus, who was the most powerful prince in Gaul, and governed a great part of these regions, as well as of Britain. Their present king is Galba, to whom, on account of his prudence and justice, the conduct of the war is assigned by general consent. They have twelve cities, and promised forty thousand combatants; the Attrebates fifteen thousand, the Am- biani ten thousand, the Morini twenty-five thousand, the Velocassi and Veromandici the same number, the Adualici ten thousand; the Condrusi, Eburones, Crersesi, Paemani, who are all called Germans, are estimated at forty thousand." The division of the tribes above enumerated into Bel- Ixiii FOREWORD gse and Germans indicates such a marked distinction between the Belgse, properly so called, and the Belgic Germans, as can only be accounted for on the supposition that the Belgse considered themselves as a distinct people from those German tribes which had recently crossed the Rhine and settled in their territories. The certain and well-known tradition in the time of Caesar, that their ancestors originally came from the country called Ger- many, may have induced the remoter Belgic tribes bordering upon the Rhine, to claim an affinity with the Teutonic race; but there may have been other reasons which might cause them to prefer a German to a Celtic extraction. A warlike nation like the Belgse, who had expelled the Teutones and the Cimbri, and resisted the encroachments of the Roman power, could not, it is obvious, brook the idea of being considered as of the same race with the effeminate people of Celtic Gaul, who had submitted themselves to the Roman yoke; and hence we may infer that many of the Belgic tribes that affected a German origin, were influenced, by some such feeling, to disown to strangers their Celtic extrac- tion. But we are not left here to conjecture, for Tacitus informs us that the Treviri and Nervii, the first of whom were confessedly Celtse, were ambitious of being thought of German origin. Besides the four German tribes enumerated by Caesar, there were, according to Tacitus, other four of German origin, namely, the Vangiones, Triboci, Nemetes, and ITbii; but all these formed but a, small part of the Belgic population. From the way in which Tacitus alludes to the language of the Gauls, he evidently did not consider the differences, which he must have observed, as partaking of any other distinction than a mere difference in dialect. It is very probable that his observations are limited to the speech of the people of Belgic and Celtic Gaul, for a radical Ixiv FOREWORD difference appears to have existed between their lan- guage and that of the Aquitani. " Some," says Strabo, " divide the inhabitants of Gaul into three parts, terming them Aquitani, Belgse, and Celtse ... the Aquitani are altogether different from the others, not only in language, but also in their persons, and bear a greater resemblance to the Iberi than to the Gauls; but the remainder, the Belgse and Celtse, have the per- sonal characters peculiar to the Gauls, though they are not all of one speech, some of them differing a little from the others in their language, and there are some slight diversities in their modes of government and manners." The same writer, after giving a long account of the Belgae, at the end of his description of the divisions of Gaul made by Augustus, thus closes his observations: " Among almost all these people (the Belgae) there are three ranks of men, called Bards, Ovates, and Druids, who are held in high veneration. The Bards are singers of hymns, and poets; the Ovates are performers of the sacred rites, and professors of natural philosophy; but the Druids, besides a knowledge in natural philosophy, investigate the nature of disorders." Next to language no better criterion could have been fixed upon for establishing the Celtic origin of the people of Belgic Gaul, than this reference to their religious orders, of which not a trace existed even among those Germans who had settled hi the Belgic terri- tories. It seems now to be fully established that the Fir- bholg of Ireland were of Belgic origin, but whether this race found its way into Ireland directly from the shores of Belgium, or through Britain, is a question which cannot be determined. The period of their emigration is lost in the mists of antiquity, but all accounts concur that they must have arrived in Ireland at an era long Ixv FOREWORD posterior to the settlement of the original population of that island. The little difference noticed by Caesar between the language of the Belgae and Celtae of Gaul naturally suggests the inquiry, to which of the two principal Celtic dialects the idiom of Belgic Gaul is to be referred? Was it a branch of the Cambro-Celtic, as the Armoric, the Welsh, and the Cornish, have been termed? Or of the other branch termed the Erse, including the language of the Irish and Scottish Gael, and the Manks? This is a question which can never be satisfactorily solved; but it is not improbable, that as several names of persons and places in parts of South Britain, which were possessed by the Belgae, are Erse, according to their orthography, the language spoken by them was a dialect of the Gaelic. In support of this opinion, reference has been made to the name of the British pendragon or generalissimo, who invited Hengist and his Saxons into England, which is written Gwrtheym by the Welsh historians, but which in Irish is Feartigearn, and pronounced nearly as Vorti- gern. Vortimer and Catigern, the names of his sons, it is observed, are also Erse. Another fact brought for- ward in support of this conjecture is, that Ennis Vliocht, an Irish name, is given to the isle of Shepey in some Welsh manuscripts. It must be confessed, however, that the Gwydhil may have given this name to that island before then* expulsion by the Cumri, though it is difficult to account for the Irish mode of orthography appearing in a Welsh manuscript for any other reason than that here supposed. It is a remarkable fact in the history of the aborigines of Britain and Ireland, that the original names of these islands are still retained by the Gael of Scotland and Ireland. The words Albin and Jerna were used by Aristotle, upwards of two thousand years ago, as the Ixvi FOREWORD respective appellations of both islands. These terms bear as close an approximation as the peculiar structure of the Greek language would admit of to the Albinn of the Scottish Gael, a name now confined by them to Scotland, and to the Erin of the Irish Celts. Hence, in distinguishing themselves from the Gael of Ireland, the Scottish Celts denominate themselves Gael Albinn or Albinnich, while they call those of Ireland Gael Eirinnich. The latter is the term which the Irish Gael also apply to themselves. It was not until the time of Csosar that the term Britannia superseded the original appellation of Albion or Albinn. The above mentioned fact, and the corollaries result- ing from it, are considered by a modem writer as faithful guides " to direct us in marking the progress of the orig- inal population of the Britannic islands. It being ascer- tained that the ancient name of the island of Great Britain was Albinn, if Gaelic was the language of the first inhabitants, it is unquestionable that they would call themselves, in reference to their country, Albinnich ; and this appellation they would carry along with them as they directed their course in all parts of the island of of Great Britain. There is reason to believe, that for a long succession of ages, emigrations from Gaul into Britain were frequent. And it appears, that in Caesar's days one of the Gallic princes bore sway in some of the southern parts of Britain. Whether the descendants of the first emigrants from Gaul extended their progress over the island in consequence of an increased population, or were propelled northward by the warlike aggression of their more southern neighbours, still, while the country of their residence was the island of Albinn, they would continue to denominate themselves Albinnich, a denomination which the unmixed descendants of the most ancient Gallic stock have ever retained as marking Lxvii FOREWORD their country; and they know no other name for Scots- men than Albinnich, nor any other name for the kingdom of Scotland than Albinn at this day." With respect to the etymology of the name Albinn or Albion, it is to be observed, in the first place, that it is compounded of two syllables, the last of which, inn, signi- fies in Celtic a large island. Thus far the etymology is clear, but the meaning of the adjective part, Alb, is not so apparent. Dr. John Macpherson thinks it folly to search for a Hebrew or Phoenician etymon of Albion, and he considers the prefix alb as denoting a high country, the word being, in his opinion, synonymous with the Celtic vocable alp or alba, which signifies high. " Of the Alpes Grajae, Alpes Paeninae or Penninse, and the Alpes Bas- tarnicse, every man of letters has read. In the ancient language of Scotland, alp signifies invariably an eminence. The Albani, near the Caspian Sea, the Albani of Macedon, the Albani of Italy, and the Albanich of Britain had all the same right to a name founded on the same char- acteristical reason, the height or roughness of their respective countries. The same thing may be said of the Gaulish Albici, near Massilia." Deriving alb from the Latin word aJbus, the appella- tion of Albinn would denote an island distinguished by some peculiarity either in the whiteness of its appearance or in the production of its soil, and hence Pliny derives the etymon of Albion from its white rocks washed by the sea, or from the abundance of white roses which the Island produced. His words are, " Albion insula sic d^cta ab albis rupibus, quas mare alluit, vel ob rosas albas quibus abundat." But although the whitish appearance of the English cliffs, as seen from the channel and the opposite coast of Gaul, certainly appears to support the supposition of Pliny, yet it is evidently contrary to philological analogy to seek for the etymon Ixviii FOREWORD of Albion in the Latin. Amongst the various opinions given on this subject, that of Doctor Macpherson seems to be the most rational. Though the Scottish Gael still call the kingdom of Scotland by the generic term Albinn, they nevertheless make a distinction between that part of Scotland in which English is spoken, and that possessed by them- selves. From the Gaelic word Gaoll, which means a stranger, the Gael denominate the Lowlands, or that part of Scotland where their language is not spoken, Gaolldoch, whilst they term their own country Gaeldoch. After the Danes had subdued the Hebrides, these islands were called by the Highlanders Innsegaoll, or the islands possessed by strangers, a name also by which they dis- tinguish the islands of Orkney and Shetland, and for the same reason they call Caithness Gaollthao,the quarter of strangers, on account of its having been colonized by the Anglo-Saxons. Wales was peopled originally by the ancestors of the Irish Gael, at least the Welsh retain a tradition among them that their Cumric or Cymric forefathers drove the Gwydhil, a term by which they have always distin- guished the Irish, into Ireland. This tradition appears to be fully confirmed by the fact, that many names of mountains and rivers in Wales are Gaelic. Though allied in language, and evidently of the race with the Gael, the Welsh never adopted that term, but have always retained the distinctive appellation of Cumri or Cim- merich, to denote their origin from that division of that Celtic race which, under the different names of Cim- merli or Cimbri, peopled ancient Germany. The author of the " Vindication of the Celts," thinks that Kim- merii or Cimmerii was the original name by which the Celtse were designated by themselves and other nations, because Homer uses the word Kippepiot, and not Keltai; Lux FOREWORD and the Welsh still distinguish themselves by the name of Cumri or Cymry (which they interpret " the first people "), and many of the early Greek writers more generally designate them by the appellation of Kim- meroi than Keltai. Waels, was the appellation given by the Saxons to the Cumri, a term which was afterward modernized into the present name of Welsh. The similarity of Wael and Gael can only be accounted for by supposing that the Saxons intended to denominate the people of Wales by the generic term Gael, which the other Celtic inhabitants of the island applied to themselves. Indeed, in the " Saxon Chronicle," the former inhabitants are termed indifferently Brit-walas, or Brittas, or Wealas. The Celtic origin of the aborigines of North Britain is admitted even by Pinkerton ; but he contends that the Caledonians of Tacitus were not descendants of this race, but Goths from Scandinavia, who settled in Scotland about two hundred years before the incarnation. He allows the identity of the Caledonians and Picts, though he had before he completely examined the subject held the opinion that the Picts were a new race who had come in upon the Caledonians in the third century and expelled them, and that the Caledonians were Cumric Britons; but finding Tacitus, Eumenius, Ammianus Marcellinus, and Bede opposed, as he imagines, to this idea, he was induced to alter his opinion, and to adopt the theory that the Picts or Caledonians were of Gothic origin. This hypothesis, however, will not bear the test of examination. It is true that Tacitus alludes to the large limbs and the red hair of the Caledonians as indi- cations of their German origin; but such marks of resem- blance are not sufficient of themselves to establish the point. The decisive evidence of speech, by which the affinity of nations can alone be clearly ascertained, is here wanting; and as Tacitus, who often refers to the Ixx FOREWORD difference of language when treating of the Germans, is silent respecting any similarity between the language of the Caledonians and Germans, it must be presumed, that no such resemblance existed, and consequently that the Caledonians were not of German or Gothic origin. The following account of the Caledonians, and of their southern neighbours the Mseatae, from a fragment of Dio, preserved by Xiphilin, certainly coincides better with the descriptions of the Britons of the south, found in the pages of Caesar and Tacitus, than with those given by the same writers of the Germans. " Of the (northern) Britons there are two great nations called Caledonii and Mseatse; for the rest are generally referred to these. The Mseatae dwell near that wall which divides the island into two parts. The Caledonians inhabit beyond them. They both possess rugged and dry mountains, and desert plains full of marshes. They have neither castles nor towns; nor do they cultivate the ground; but live on their flocks, and hunting, and the fruits of some trees; not eating fish, though extremely plenteous. They live in tents, naked, and without buskins. Wives they have in common, and breed up their children in common. The general form of government is democratic. They are addicted to robbery, fight in cars, have small and swift horses. Their infantiy are remarkable for speed in running, arid for firmness in standing. Their armour consists of a shield, and a short spear, in the lower end of which is a brazen apple, whose sound, when struck, may terrify the enemy. They have also daggers. Famine, cold, and all sorts of labour they can bear, for they will even stand in their marshes, for many days, to the neck in water, and in the woods will live on the bark and roots of trees. They prepare a certain kind of food on all occasions, of which taking only a bit the size Ixxi FOREWORD of a bean, they feel neither hunger nor thirst. Such is Britain " (he had, in a previous part of his work, given a description of the island), " and such are the inhabit- ants of that part which wars against the Romans." With regard to the tradition referred to Bede, as cur- rent in his time, that the Caledonians or Picts came from the north of Germany, it cannot, even if well founded, prove their Gothic origin; for as Father Innes observes, " though we should suppose that the Caledonians or Picts had their origin from the northern parts of the European continent, as Tacitus seems to conjecture, and as it was reported to Bede, that would not hinder the Caledonians from having originally had the same lan- guage as the Britons; since it appears that the Celtic language, whereof the British is a dialect, was in use in ancient times in the furthest extremities of the north; at least the Celts or Celto-Scyths were extended to these parts; for Strabo tells us that the ancient Greek writers called all the northern nations Celto-Scyths, or Scyths; and Tacitus assures us that in his time the Gallic tongue was in use among some of these northern people, such as the Gothini; and the British tongue among others, as the jEstii." Mr. Pinkerton himself admits that the Celts were the ancient inhabitants of Europe, of which they appear, he says, to have held the most before their expulsion by the other nations of Asia, and in proof of the great extent of their possessions in the north, he refers to the Promontorium Celticse of Pliny, which, from the situation he gives it, and the names around, he conjectures must have been near Moscow. The appellation of Picti, by which the Caledonians to the north of the Clyde and the Forth came to be dis- tinguished by the Romans in the third century, made Stillingfleet and other writers suppose, that the Picts were a distinct people who had then recently arrived in Ixxii FOREWORD Scotland; but this mistake has been so fully exposed by Innes, Chalmers, Pinkerton, and others, that it is quite unnecessary to do more than barely to allude to it. The names of Caledonians and Picts, as well as the appel- lation of Scots, by which another portion of the inhab- itants of the north of Scotland came also to be distin- guished, were at all times, as Mr. Grant observes, unknown to the original inhabitants as national appella- tions, and their descendants remain ignorant of them to this day. He thinks that the term Caledonii, the name by which the people living northward of the Friths of Clyde and Forth were called by the Romans, was not invented by Agricola, the first Roman general who penetrated into North Britain, but was an appellation taken from the words na caoillaoin, signifying the men of the woods, a name which he probably found given by the inhabitants of the country upon the southern sides of the Glotta and Bodotria, to the people living beyond these arms of the sea, on account of the woody nature of the country which they possessed. The Latinized term Caledonii was first used by Tacitus, and, with the exception of Herodian, who, in his account of the expedition of Severus, calls these Caledonii of Tacitus, Britons, is the appellation by which the in- habitants northward of the Friths are distinguished by all the Roman writers down to the orator Eumenius, who, for the first time, in an oration which he delivered before the Emperor Constantine, in the year 297, calls the Caledonians Picti. Eumenius appears, however, to have used this term in a limited sense, as from another oration which he delivered in presence of the same emperor, eleven years thereafter, he alludes to the " Caledones alique Picti," but although it is clear from this expression, that the terms Caledonii and Picti were used to denote the same people, the cause of this nominal Ixxiii FOREWORD distinction between the extra-provincial Britons is not so apparent. The next allusion to the Picts is by Ausonius, a poet of the fourth century, and preceptor of Gratian. " Viridem distinguit glarea museum Tota Caledoniis tails pictura Britannis." Claudian, who lived about the beginning of the fifth century, also mentions the Picts. " Ferroque notatas, Perlegin exanimes Picto moriente figuras." And in another place, where he gives an account of the victories of Theodosius, he says, " Hie leves Maurous, nee falso nomine Pictos Edomuit." About the end of the fourth, or beginning of the fifth century, the Caledonians, or Picts, were divided by Ammianus Marcellinus, the historian, into the Deu- caledones and Vecturiones, a division which seems to account for the distinction of Eumenius before observed. The etyma of these two terms have been attempted by different writers, but without success, as Mr. Grant thinks. The term Deucaledones, he however thinks, is attended with no difficulty. " Duchaoilldoin signifies in the Gaelic language, the real or genuine inhabitants of the woods. Du, pronounced short, signifies black; but pronounced long, signifies real, genuine, and in this acceptation the word is in common use: Du Erinnach, a genuine Irishman; Du Albinnach, a genuine Scotch- man. The appellation of Deucaledones served to dis- tinguish the inhabitants of the woody valleys of Albinn, Ixxiv FOREWORD or Scotland, from those of the cleared country on the east coast of Albinn, along its whole extent, to certain distances westward toward the mountains in the interior parts of the country. These last were denomi- nated, according to Latin pronunciation, Vecturiones; but in the mouths of the Gael, or native inhabitants, the appellation was pronounced Uachtarich. It may be observed, that the western division of Albinn, from the Friths northward along the range of mountains, which was anciently called Drumalbinn, consists of deep narrow valleys, which were in former times completely covered with closely growing woods, and which exhibited a different aspect of country from a great portion of that which falls from Drumalbinn in all directions toward the east coast of the country, which spreads out in larger tracts of level surface, and is generally of higher elevation than the bottoms of the deep valleys which chiefly form what is called the Highlands of Scotland at this day. The Vecturiones appeared to possess the more level surface of the country, while the Deucaledones inhabited the narrow deep valleys which were univer- sally completely covered with thickly growing woods. That a portion of the country was known in ancient times by Uachtar is evinced by the well-known range of hills called Druim-Uachtar, from which the country descends in every direction toward the inhabited regions on all sides of that mountainous range." With respect to the term Picti, it is unnecessary to search for its etymon anywhere but in the well-known practice which existed among the ancient Britons of painting their bodies with a blue juice extracted from woad, called glastum, in Gaul, according to Pliny, who says that it resembled plantain. This custom was uni- versal among the Britons in the time of Caesar, who informs us that they thereby intended to make them- Ixxv FOREWORD selves look more terrible to their enemies in battle. As the Roman arms prevailed, and civilization was diffused, this barbarous practice was gradually given up, and it is supposed that about the end of the second, or beginning of the third century, it had been wholly disused by the provincial Britons, including, of course, the midland Britons, or Mseatse of the Romans, living between the northern walls. To distinguish, therefore, these provincials who had submitted themselves to the Roman laws, and had laid aside many of their barbarous customs, from the unconquered Caledonians of the north, the Roman writers gave them the Latinized appellation of Picti, in reference to the practice of painting their bodies, which, after the expedition of Severus into the north of Scotland, was observed to be in general use among the barbarous tribes of that country by those who accompanied him. The same distinction was after- ward Gaelicized by the Irish and ancient Scots into cruinith, or cruineacht, from the Gaelic verb cruinicam, to paint. The Picts were called by the southern Britons Phychthead, a term which resembles Pichatach, a Gaelic word signifying pie-coloured, variegated, or painted. From the practice alluded to, Innes thinks that the name Britannia was derived, brith in the Celtic signifying, according to Camden, paint, and tannia in the same language, according to Pezron, country; so that Bri- tannia originally signified the country of the painted, or figured people. Although the national distinctions of Scots and Picts appear to have been unknown to the ancient inhabit- ants of North Britain till the sixth century, when a Scoto-Irish colony established themselves on the shores of Argyle, there is reason to believe that, from a very remote period, these aborigines were accustomed to dis- tinguish themselves by distinctive appellations, having Ixxvi FOREWORD reference to the nature of their occupations. They were divided into two classes, the cultivators of the soil, who attached themselves to spots favourable to agricul- ture in the valleys of the highlands and in the lowland districts; and the feeders of flocks, who led a wan- dering pastoral life among the mountainous regions. The former were termed by the pastoral Gael, Draonaich, a generic term, which, although chiefly applicable to persons employed in the labours of the field, was meant as descriptive of all who practised any art by which a livelihood was procured. The Draonaich, on the other hand, called the pastoral portion of the people, Scuit, or Scceoit, meaning the moving or nomadic bodies of people, such as the pastoral Gael were, who kept moving from time to time in small bodies between the mountains and valleys with their herds and flocks at various periods during the course of the year. This practice existed even down to a very recent period among the Highlanders of Scotland. Mr. Grant conjectures, but we think erroneously, that it is to this pastoral class Ammianus Marcellinus alludes in the following sentence in the last of his works, written in the year 368: " Picti in duas gentes divisi, Dicaledones et Vecturiones, itidemque Attacotti, bellicosa hominum natio; et Scoti per diversa vagantes multa populabantur." This is the first time the Scots are mentioned in history ; for Father Innes has shown that the passage respecting the Scoticce gentes cited by Usher from St. Jerome as taken from Porphyry, is not Porphyry's, but an expression of St. Jerome's, in his letter to Ctesiphon, written after the year 412. The etymon of the word Scoti has long puzzled anti- quaries and philologists. From the promiscuous way in which the Anglo-Saxon writers used the terms Scythae and Scoti, and from the verbal resemblance between these Ixxvii FOREWORD words, some writers, among whom is Innes, conjecture that the latter is derived from the former, the difference in pro- nunciation arising merely from the different accent of the people, who wrote or spoke of the ancient nations. From analogy, Walsingham supposes, that as Gethi is the same as Gothi, and Gethicus as Gothicus, so Scoti may have come from Scythse, and Scoticus from Scythi- cus. The reason why the Anglo-Saxon writers used the terms Scythae and Scoti indiscriminately is obvious from the fact, that in the German the Scythians and Scots are called Scutten. According to Camden, Y-Scot is the term by which the Scythians and Scots are termed in the ancient British tongue, a term which approaches very closely to the Scutt or Scaott of the Gael. Pelloutier observes that the Celts were anciently known by the general name of Scythians, but Herodotus, the father of profane history, and who is the first author that alludes to them, considers them as a distinct people. As the word Scythae, however, seems at last to have been used as a generic term for all nomadic tribes, it is not im- probable that certain portions of the Celts who led a wandering pastoral life were included under the general denomination of Scythians by the ancient writers. Hence the origin of the British appellation Y-Scot may be easily accounted for; and it is from that term, and not from the kindred word Scythae, that the Latinized term Scoti is, as we think, derived. From the appellation Scoti not occurring in history till the fourth century, an opinion has been formed that the Scots were a new people, who had, a few centuries before, settled in Ireland, and that they were of a different race from either the Gwydhil of Ireland, or the Caledonii of Tacitus. The grounds, however, on which this opinion rests, are insufficient to support such a hypothesis, and as far as these are adduced in proof of Lsxviii FOREWORD an alleged distinctness of origin between the Irish Gael and the Scots are negatived by the analogy of speech. Pinkerton is at great pains to show, that the Scots were Scythians or Goths (terms which with him are synony- mous) who passed into Ireland from the coast of Belgic Gaul about three centuries before the birth of Christ, and vanquished the original Celtic population; but his reasoning is inconclusive, and being fully aware of the insurmountable objection which would be brought for- ward against his system from the absence of any remains of the Gothic tongue in Ireland, he is obliged to arrive at the extraordinary conclusion, that the Scythae, who he supposes, conquered Ireland, lost their speech, and adopted that of the vanquished! Conjectures like these are even more absurd than the fables of the Irish bards and seanachies. The origin and history of the ancient Scots of Ireland and North Britain, to which a slight allusion has been made in the body of this work, are subjects which have been discussed with great learning and ingenuity. By some writers they are considered as a nation wholly distinct from the Celtic tribes which originally peopled the British Islands, and as having arrived at a com- paratively recent period from the shores of the Continent ; while others, with better reason, regard them as a power- ful branch of the Celtic family, and a part of the abori- ginal population which came to acquire such a predomi- nance over the other branches of the Celtic race, first in Ireland, and afterward in Scotland, as to excite the special notice of the Roman and Saxon writers. From the term Scoti having been first used in the third or fourth century, Father Innes supposes that they may have emigrated to Ireland in the interval between the reigns of Augustus of Tiberius and the third or fourth century, and from the name, which he considers synony- Ixxix FOREWORD mous with Scythae, he conjectures that the Scots came either from Scandinavia or the Cimbrian Chersonesus. In support of this opinion he thinks that the migration of the Scots from the north may be inferred, 1. From an extraordinary increase of population which some writers believe to have been peculiar to the northern nations. 2. From the fact that the northern nations, whose territories were bounded by the sea, were often compelled to abandon their habitations to more powerful neighbours, and forced to embark in quest of new dwell- ings. 3. That as these northern maritime nations, during the period in question, were so closely hemmed in by the Romans, and as they had no means of discharging their superfluous population among the nations behind them, already overburdened with their own yearly increasing population, it was very natural that the most warlike and resolute among them, impatient of being thus confined and enclosed, should resolve to put to sea in pursuit of new habitations, nor had they a more natural course to choose than to the opposite coasts of North Britain, or, if repulsed by the warlike Caledonians, to sail from thence to Ireland, where they were more likely to succeed among a people unaccustomed to foreigners. Nor could their coming to Ireland be more seasonably placed than during these first ages of Chris- tianity, when the Roman empire was at the height of its power and extent. Besides, the placing this invasion of Ireland in these first ages agrees perfectly with the first appearance of these people in Britain in the third or fourth age by the name of Scots, some time being required for making themselves masters of Ireland before they could be in a condition to send out bodies of men in conjunction with the Caledonians, or Picts, to attack the Roman empire in Britain towards the middle of the fourth century, as mentioned by Ammianus Marcellinus. Ixxx FOREWORD But this theory of the northern origin of the Scots being in opposition to the Irish tradition, that Ireland was peopled from Spain, Innes supposes that this tradition may have relation to other colonies, some of which may probably have come from Spain to Ireland before the arrival of the Scots. Yet even on the supposi- tion that the Scots came originally from Spain, he main- tains that such a hypothesis is not incompatible with the period of their supposed invasion, or with their alleged Scythian origin. For, as stated by Florus and Orosius, the Romans, in the reign of Augustus, met with the greatest difficulties in reducing the Canta- brians and Asturians, and other unconquered nations in Galicia, hi the northern parts of Spain opposite to Ire- land, and the greater part of the inhabitants of those parts chose rather to retire to the hills and rocks, and to the most remote places, than lose then* liberty and submit to the Roman yoke. Now, although neither of the authors above named, who give an account of the Cantabrian war, make mention of any emigrations from Spain, it is by no means improbable that many of the Galicians who had abandoned their habitations would seek new abodes, and as the passage from the northern extremities of Spain to Ireland, with which country they could not be unacquainted, was very easy, and as shipping was then in general use, they would naturally direct their course to it, which would fall an easy con- quest to such warlike invaders. Aware, however, that such a recent settlement of the Scots as here contended for could not be supported by the testimony of contemporary or ancient writers, and was at variance with the traditions in Irish and Scottish history, which, though differing in some respects, agree in assigning a very remote period to the Scottish colo- nization, this ingenious antiquary has recourse to a Ixxxi FOREWORD negative kind of proof in support of his system, from the usual effects with which such a revolution as the coming in of a new and foreign people upon the ancient inhabit- ants would be naturally followed. In applying this proof to the Irish Scots, he compares the marks and characters given them by the earliest writers at their first appearance in history, and in the times immediately following their first being mentioned in Ireland and Britain, with the first appearances and beginnings of the Franks when they settled among the Gauls. 1. Though history had been silent respecting the settlement of the Franks in Gaul in the fourth or fifth century, yet as no ancient writer mentions the existence of such a people in Gaul before these periods, and as all writers on Gaul since the fifth and sixth centuries allude to the Franks as inhabitants of Gaul, it is evident that their settlement in Gaul could not be earlier than the centuries first mentioned. In the same manner, though we have no distinct account of the arrival of the Scots in Ireland in the first ages of Christianity, and as the name of Scots was never heard of till the third or fourth century, after which they are mentioned as inhabitants of Ireland or of North Britain, the settlement of the Scots cannot be placed earlier than the era of the incarnation, or after it. The inhabitants of Ireland are called Hyberni, Hyberione, etc., by all the ancient writers before the third or fourth century, and Ptolemy, the geographer, who enumerates about twenty different tribes in Ireland, is entirely silent as to the existence of the Scots. 2. Before the Franks settled in Gaul they appear in history as a wandering people, the characteristic of the Scots as given by Ammianus Marcellinus; Scoti per diversa vagantes. 3. As after the Franks settled in Gaul, two people- Ixxxii FOREWORD thenceforth appear in history as the inhabitants of that country, under the denominations of the Galli, the original inhabitants, and the Franci, the new settlers, so in Ireland two kinds of people appear in the fourth or fifth centuries, the one distinguished as Hyberni, the term by which the ancient inhabitants of that island were distinguished, the other as Scoti, who then appear as a new people never before heard of in Ireland. 4. As the Franci were distinguished from the Galli, not only by their name but by their qualities, the Franci appearing, by being masters or conquerors, as the nobility and gentry, and the Galli, the ancient inhabitants, as the Coloni, or commons, so the Scots appear after their settlement in Ireland distinguished in like manner from the Hyberni. The Scoti, as being the conquerors, appear as the nobility or gentry, as appears from the confession or apology of St. Patrick, written by him in the fifth century, and from his letter to Coroticus, in both of which he calls the Scots the Reguli, or nobles, and the native Irish, or ancient inhabitants, Hyberionce, or Hyber- nigenoB, as the common and ordinary people. 5. Another remarkable resemblance between the Franks and Scots consisted in their warlike disposition ; for no sooner did they obtain settlements in Gaul and Ireland, than unlike the more peaceful people whom they subdued they kept themselves in a warlike attitude, ready to invade the neighbouring provinces and enlarge their conditions. Thus it does not appear that the ancient inhabitants of Ireland ever invaded Britain, and so little did they resemble the Caledonians in military prowess, that, according to the information given by Agricola to Tacitus, one legion and a few auxiliary troops would have been sufficient for the con- quest of Ireland. But no sooner do the Scots appear in history than we find them in arms, making warlike Ixxxiii FOREWORD expeditions into Britain, joining the Picts and attacking the Roman legions. 6. As Gaul still retained its old name long after the Franks had conquered it, and was, before these settlers finally communicated their name to that country, indiffer- ently called Gaul or France, so, in like manner, long after the Scots had settled in Ireland, it still retained the namo of Hybernia or lerne, and it was only by degrees that it got the new name of Scotia. St. Gregory the Great, who flourished in the beginning of the sixth century, is sup- posed to be the first writer who gave the name of Francia to Gaul; and St. Laurence, Archbishop of Canterbury in the beginning of the seventh century, is believed to have first given the name of Scotia to Ireland, in a letter to the bishops and clergy of that kingdom, alluded to by Bede. After this period, Hybernia and Scotia are used synonymously, till by the prevalence of the Scottish power in North Britain, the name was trans- ferred and came to be exclusively confined to that country. Whence then could Ireland derive the name of Scotia, but from a new people having settled in it bearing a similar appellation? Analogy fully supports this hypothesis, for thus it was that the Gauls acquired the name of Francia; a part of southern Gaul that of Gothia; other parts those of Burgimdia, Normannia, etc.; a part of Italy, Longobardia; and South Britain, those of Saxonia and Anglia. Such are the arguments by which the erudite Innes endeavours to evolve the intricate question respecting the era of the Scottish settlement, and from which he infers that the Scots, properly so called, were not originally the same race of people with the first and ancient inhabitants of Ireland, but a distinct nation that arrived in Ireland only after the time of the Incarnation, having all those characteristics of new Ixxxiv FOREWORD settlers, which distinguished the Franks and the other nations, which, like them about the third, fourth, and subsequent centuries, established themselves in the countries which they conquered. But plausible as these reasons are, they cannot supply the want of historical evidence, of which not a vestige can be shown in support of the theory for which they are adduced. Besides, the analogy from the history of the Franks is radically in- complete, as their conquests in Gaul were followed by a revolution in the language of the ancient inhabitants, which, on the supposition that the Scots were a new people, did not take place either in Ireland or in Scot- land when they ob tamed the ascendency, nor at any subsequent period of their history. No point connected with Irish and Scottish antiquities has been more clearly established than this, that the language of the native Irish, including of course the Scots of that island, and that of the Highlanders of Scotland, has always been, from the most remote period, radically the same. Though separated perhaps for upwards of twenty centuries, the Gael of Connaught, and those of Scotland, can mutually understand each other, and even con- verse together. The only plausible answer that can be made against what appears to us an insurmountable objection to Innes's theory, is by assuming that the language of the Scots and the ancient inhabitants of Ireland was the same, or at least that if any difference did exist, it was merely a difference in dialect; but neither Innes nor any of the writers who have adopted his system have ven- tured upon the assertion. Pinkerton, aware of the force of the objection we have stated, was so unphilosophical as to maintain that the Scots of Ireland, who he admits as soon as known in history spoke the Celtic tongue, had lost their original language in that of the van- Ixxxv FOREWORD quished. " Long before Christianity," he observes, " was settled in Ireland, perhaps, indeed, before the birth of Christ, the Scots or Scythae, who conquered Ireland, had lost their speech in that of the greater numbers of the Celts, the common people, as usually happens. From England and Scotland the Celts had crowded to the west, and vast numbers had passed to Ireland. The mountainous north and west of England, the friths of Scotland, had formed barriers between the Goths and Celts. But in Ireland, the grand and last receptacle of the Celts, and whither almost their whole remains finally flowed, it is no wonder that the Gothic con- querors, the Scots, lost their speech in that of the popu- lation." Conquerors, indeed, have never been able to efface the aboriginal language of a country; and though they have succeeded in altering its form to suit their own idiom, the original language still remained the ground- work of the new superstructure; but it is believed that no instance can be adduced of the language of the conquerors having entirely effaced that of the conquered as here supposed. If any reliance could be placed upon the traditions of the Irish bards and seannachies, some approximation might be made to fixing the epoch of the arrival of the Scots; but the mass of fiction which, under the name of history, disfigures the annals of Ireland, does not afford ^jmy data on which to found even a probable conjecture. [The era of the settlement of the Irish-Scots in North Britain, however, is matter of real history. This settle- ment took place about the year 258, when a colony of Scots, under the conduct of a leader named Reuda, crossed over from Ireland and established themselves on the north of the Clyde. Alluding to this emigration, Venerable Bede observes: " In process of time Britain, after the Britons and Picts, received a third nation , Ixxxvi FOREWORD that of the Scots, in that part belonging to the Picts; who, emigrating from Ireland under their leader Reuda, either by friendship or arms, vindicated to themselves those seats among them which they to this time hold. From which leader they are called Dalreudini to this day; for in their language, dal signifies a part." Among the modern Irish writers, Kennedy is the first who mentions this emigration, his predecessors, either from ignorance of the fact, or from a desire to fix the settlement of the Scoto-Irish at a later period, making no allusion to it. ( " Our books of antiquity," says Kennedy, " giving an account at large of the children and race of Conar MacMogalama, King of Ireland, mention that he had three sons, Carbre Muse, Carbre Baskin, and Carbre Riada; and that the first was by another name, jEngus; the second, Olfile; and the third, 'Eocha. . . . Our writers unanimously tell us that Carbre Riada was the founder of the Scottish sovereignty in Britain; but they make him only a captain, as Venerable Bede does, or conductor, who ingratiated himself so far with the Picts, by his and his children's assistance, and good service against the Britons, that they consented that they and their followers should continue among them." This account, as far as the arrival of the Scots is con- cerned, is corroborated by Ammianus Marcellinus, who, about a century after the period assigned, mentions for the first time the existence of this people in North Britain, who, in conjunction with the Picts, had begun to make themselves formidable to the Romans. That the Scoti of Ammianus were distinct from the Picts is evident, and as the Scots were unknown to Agricola and Severus, they must have arrived in Scotland posterior to the celebrated expedition of the latter. Besides the Scottish auxiliaries, the Picts were aided by a warlike people called Attacotti; but although Ixxxvii FOREWORD Ammianus seems to distinguish them from the Scoti, Pinkerton thinks that the term Attacotti was neither more nor less than the name given by the provincial Britons to the Dalreudini. This conjecture appears to be well founded, as Richard of Cirencester places in Ptolemy's map, the Attacotti on the north of the Frith of Clyde, and the Damni Albani just above them, being in the very position in which the Dalreudini are placed by Bede on their arrival. " The Attacotti make a dis- tinguished figure in the " Notitia Imperil," a work of the fifth century, where numerous bodies of them appear in the list of the Roman army. One body was in Illyri- cum, their ensign a kind of mullet; another at Rome, their badge a circle; the Attacotti Honoriani were in Italy. In the same work are named bodies of Parthians, Sarmatae, Arabs, Franks, Saxons, etc. These foreign soldiers had, hi all likelihood, belonged to vanquished armies; and been spared from carnage on condition of bearing arms in those of Rome. Some, it is likely, were foreign levies and auxiliaries. To which class those Attacotti belonged is difficult to say. Certain it is, that Theodosius, in 368, repelled the Piks, Scots, and Atta- cotti, from the Roman provinces in Britain; rebuilt the wall of Antoninus between Forth and Clyde; and founded the province of Valentia. The Attacotti, find- ing no employment for their arms, might be tempted to enter into the Roman armies, for it was the Roman policy in latter ages to levy as many foreign troops as possible, and to oppose barbarians to barbarians. Perhaps the Attacotti were subdued, and forced to furnish levies. Perhaps these bodies were prisoners of war." Of the Celtic language there were at no very distant period seven dialects, viz., the Waldensian, the Armo- rican, or Bas Breton, the Cornish, the Welsh, the Manks, Ixxxviii FOREWORD the Irish, and the Scottish Gaelic. The Basque, or Can- tabrian, is considered by some philologists as a dialect of the Celtic, but although it contains many words from that language, these bear too small a proportion to the other words of a different origin, of which the Basque is chiefly composed, to entitle it to be classed among the Celtic idioms. With the exception of the Waldensian and Cornish, the other dialects are still spoken; but remains of the former exist in certain manuscripts collected by Sir Samuel Morland, and preserved in the public library of the University of Cambridge, where they were lodged in the year 1658, and the latter has been pre- served in books. Of these different dialects, the Walden- sian, the Armorican, the Cornish, and the Welsh form one family, the parent of which was probably the idiom of Celtic Gaul, which it is conjectured was the same with the language of the ancient Britons; while the close affinity between the Manks, the Irish, and the Gaelic shows that they are relics of the idiom spoken by the early inhabitants of Ireland. All these dialects are more or less allied, but those of Wales and Armorica are the most closely connected, and differ so little from each other, that the natives of Brittany and Wales mutually understand each other. According to Lhuyd, a consider- able dissimilarity exists between the Welsh and Irish dia- lects; but he is mistaken in this idea, as out of twenty-five thousand words in the Irish dictionary, eight thousand are common words in Welsh. Besides most of the general prefixes and terminations of the different classes of words used by the Irish are also in the Welsh, and the two dialects also agree in various affinities of idioms and construction. The similarity between the dialects of Wales and Armorica has been ascribed to two causes: 1. To the intercourse which it is well known existed for a long bcxxix FOREWORD time, and at an early period, between the ancient inhabitants dwelling on the opposite coasts of the channel; and 2. To the fact of a British colony having emigrated to the Armorican coast after the invasion of Britain by the Saxons. History, however, affords so little information respecting the date of this settlement and the circumstances attending it, that it cannot be ascertained whether those British Celts remained a distinct people, or were incorporated with the original inhabitants. From the close connection which had previously subsisted between these new settlers and the natives, and their similarity in language and customs, the probability is that they gradually intermingled. A conjecture has been hazarded, that from these British settlers the Britons of Gaul derived their name, but this term was in use in Gaul before the era of the Saxon invasion; for Sidonius Appollinaris alludes to the Britons living upon the banks of the Loire; and as early as the council of Tours, which was held in 461, Mansuetus, bishop of the " Britones," is mentioned among the bishops who attended the council from " Lugudensis Tertia," or Brittany. Perhaps an earlier colony from the British shores were the ancestors of those early Gaulish Britons. Whoever examines the Manks, Irish, and Gaelic dia- lects critically must be convinced that originally the language of the ancestors of the people who now speak these different idioms must have been the same. Cor- rupted as the Manks is by a greater admixture of exotic words, it is still understood by the Highlanders of Scot- land; and the natives of Connaught, where the Irish is the purest, and the Scottish Gael can, without much difficulty, make themselves mutually understood. Pri- ority in point of antiquity has been claimed, for the Irish over the other Celtic dialects; but the advocates of this xc FOREWORD claim appear to carry it too far when they infer that the Gaelic is derived, from the Irish. A comparison of the primitive words which exist in each shows their original identity, and many of the differences which now exist between these dialects are to be ascribed to their col- lision with other languages. It has, however, been observed that the Scottish Gaelic resembles more closely the parent Celtic, and has fewer inflections than the Welsh, Manks, or Irish dialects. In common with the Hebrew and other oriental languages, it is distinguished by this peculiarity, that it wants the simple present tense, a circumstance which is urged in support of the opinion that the Gaelic of Scotland is the more ancient dialect. The remarks of Lhuyd in his " Archaeologia Britannica " on the Irish, may, with some modification, be applied to its cognate idiom, the Gaelic. " To the antiquary this language is of the utmost importance; it is rich in pure and simple primitives, which are proved such by the sense and structure of the largest written compounds; by the supply of many roots which have been long obsolete in the Welsh and Armori- <jan, but still occur in the compounds of these languages, and by their use hi connecting the Celtic dialects with Latin, Greek, and Gothic, and perhaps with some of the Asiatic languages." The invention of printing, which brought about such a speedy revolution in the history of mind, and accel- erated the progress of literature, was long inoperative upon the Celtic population of Europe. The reason is obvious. For a considerable period the Latin tongue, which was the language of the western church, and had long been that of the learned, continued to be used in the various publications which issued from the early press, in preference to the vulgar tongues; and even when the latter came to be partially adopted, there were xci FOREWORD comparatively few persons who could read. Unac- quainted as the great bulk of the European population was with letters, those scattered and insulated parts thereof, which comprised the Celtic race, participated in a more especial manner in the general ignorance; and the few persons among them who were desirous of acquiring literary knowledge, were obliged to seek for it in languages which were foreign to them. The paucity of printed works in the different dialects of the Celtic, and particularly among the Scottish Gael, is, therefore, not surprising. The Gaelic had, for many centuries before the invention of printing, ceased to be the language of the court; and when that important discovery was made, it was limited to a small and isolated portion of Scotland. In Ireland, however, the Irish, as the Gaelic is termed in Ireland, continued to be spoken by all classes of the population for six hundred years after the Gaelic had ceased to be spoken at the court of Scotland, and it was not till the reign of Elizabeth and James I, that the Irish nobility and gentry generally began to exchange their mother tongue for the English language. For this reason the Irish have more printed Gaelic works than the Scots. The first work printed for the use of the Highlanders was a translation into Gaelic of John Knox's Liturgy, known better by the name of Bishop Carswell's Prayer Book. This, which is the first Gaelic book ever printed, issued from the press of Robert Lepreuck, an Edinburgh printer, and bears date, 24th April, 1567. One, or at most two entire copies only are now known to exist. One of these was in the Duke of Argyll's library at Inverary castle, but is now amissing. Adelung has given a very accurate account of it in his " Mithridates." The fol- lowing is a copy of the table of the contents of this very scarce work : xcii FOREWORD "Dontriath Chomhachtach cheirtbhreatach chiuinbhria- thrach, do ghiollaesbuig. Ebistil Thioghlaicthe. Admhail an Chreidimh. Doifige na Ministreadh and so sios. Do Mhinisdribh Eagluise D6 and da dtogha labhrus so seasda, agus dona coingheallaibh dhligheassiad do bheith iondta. Dona Foirfidheachaibh agas da noisige agas da dtogha and BO sios. Dona Deochanaibh, agas da noisige agas da dtoghe, and so sios. Vrrnaidhthe. Foirm an Bhaisdidh and so sios. Foirm Tsacramvinte Chuirp Chriosd re" raitear Suiper an Tighearna, and so sios. Teagasg do chum an Posaidh. Comhfhvrtacht na Neaslan. Do Smachtvghadh Na Heaglvise. Vrrnaidhthe. Foirceadal an Chreidimh. Altachadh." Lemoine says that an Irish Liturgy was printed at Dublin in 1566, for the use of the Highlanders of Scot- land, but it is supposed that he alludes to the above- mentioned work, as no book is known to have been printed in Ireland till 1571, when the " Alphabetum et ratio loquendi linguam Hibernicam, et Catechismus in eadem lingua," printed by John Kearney and Nicholas Walsh, made its appearance. An interval of sixty-four years took place till the next Gaelic publication, which was a translation of Calvin's Catechism, printed at Edinburgh in the year 1631, during which time there were published in Ireland a translation of the New Testament in 1603, being the first edition of any part of the Scriptures in Celtic, and a translation of the Book of Common Prayer, with the exception of the Psalms, in 1608. Besides these there were published xciii FOREWORD abroad in the Irish, first at Louvain in 1608, and after- terward at Antwerp in 1611 and 1618, a Catechism, under the title of " Teagasg Criosdaidhe," and several other works. It was not until the year 1767, being 164 after the New Testament first appeared in Irish, that that portion of the Scriptures appeared in Gaelic. The translation was made by the Rev. James Stewart, minister of Killin; and of this first edition, which was published both in octavo and duodecimo, ten thousand copies were printed. Since that time there have been seventeen editions of the New Testament printed, probably averaging ten thousand copies each, thus making a total of about 180,000 copies. A translation of the Old Testament was published in four parts, the first of which did not appear till 1783, upwards of a century after the first Irish Bible was pub- lished. The remaining parts appeared successively in 1786, 1787, and 1801. The Rev. Dr. John Stuart, minister of Luss, was the translator of the first, second, and third parts; and the Rev. Dr. John Smith, minister of Campbelton, translated the fourth. Of this edition five thousand copies were printed, besides an extra quantity of the Pentateuch. A second edition of twenty thousand copies, with some alterations, chiefly in Isaiah, was printed in 1807. None other editions have since appeared. A complete enumeration of all the works which have been printed in Gaelic may be seen in the " Bibliotheca Scoto-Celtica." These consist chiefly of translations, a circumstance not to be wondered at, when we reflect on the many obstacles which, from local and other causes, checked the progress of science among the Highlanders, and the little inducements which literary men had to exhibit the treasures of knowledge in a language read by few, and which, from the prevalence xciv. FOREWORD of the English language, and the rapid changes which are taking place in the Highlands, seems destined at no distant period, to exist only in those works which were intended to ensure its perpetuity as one of the living dialects of a language spoken at one time by the aborigi- nal population of Europe. xcv THE STUART PAPERS THE STUART PAPERS in the possession of the Crown, to which his late Majesty was graciously pleased to allow access for the use of the present work, and which reach as far back as the Revolution of 1688, consist of a large mass of important documents illustrative of the efforts of James the Second, and of his son and grandson, to recover the crown which the first had lost by his own obstinacy, or the treachery of his advisers; but as the events of the Rebellion of 1745 formed the only subject of inquiry, the commencement of the investigation was limited to the year 1740, and was carried down to the close of the year 1755, in which period the prin- cipal events preceding the Rebellion, those of the Re- bellion itself, and the occurrences which followed are embraced. It is believed that the documents ex- amined, amounting to about 15,000 unedited pieces, convey all the information required to complete the history of one of the most remarkable epochs in the British annals. Copious selections have been made from these papers for the present work, and many entire documents have been copied, all of which have been either partly incorporated with the work itself, or given in an appendix. From the information which these papers afford, the publishers have no hesitation in stating that this work contains the most complete and authentic history yet published of the events of 1745. To give some idea of the historical importance xcvii THE STUART PAPERS of these documents, which, for the first time, meet the public eye, or are referred to in the present work, the following general enumeration may suffice: 1. Eighty-one letters and memorandums written by Charles Edward. 2. Seventy letters of his father, the Chevalier de St. George. 3. Two of Cardinal York. 4. Six of Lochiel. 5. Eleven of old and young Glengary. 6. Three of Lochgary. 7. Eight of Lord Marischal. 8. Three of Robertson of Strowan. 9. Eight of Drummond of Bochaldy. 10. Six of Lord George Murray. 11. Two of Lord John Drummond. 12. Three of Lord Strathallan. 13. Three of Doctor Cameron, Lochiel's brother. 14. Three of Mr. John Graham. In the selection which has been made are also letters of Lord and Lady Balmerino; the Duchess of Perth ; Lords Clancarty, Qgilvy, Nairne, and Elcho; Macdonald of Clan Ranald; Gordon of Glenbucket; Sir Hector Maclean; Sir John Wedderburn; Oliphant of Gask; and James Drummond, or Macgregor, the son of Rob Roy, etc. The correspondence throws considerable light on several matters hitherto little understood or imperfectly known. The embezzlement of the money left by the prince under the charge of Macpherson of Cluny is referred to, and the conduct of the persons who appear to have appropriated it to their own use is freely animadverted on. The correspondence likewise embraces two most xcviii THE STUART PAPERS interesting letters from the Chevalier to the prince on the subject of his marriage, and on the promotion of Prince Henry to the dignity of cardinal. Besides the correspondence, the selection compre- hends a report of Gordon the Jesuit, on the state of affairs in Scotland in 1745; a treaty entered into at Fontainebleau between the King of France and the Chevalier after the battle of Preston pans; instructions from the King of France to Lord John Drummond on the conduct of the expedition entrusted to him; note from Lord George Murray to the prince, resigning his command after the battle of Culloden, with his reasons for that step; notice from the prince to the chiefs of the clans after said battle; list of charges drawn up by the prince against Macdonald of Baris- dale; state of allowances granted by the French gov- ernment to the Highland officers; memoir presented by the prince to the King of France on his return from Scotland; commission by Charles to treat for a mar- riage with the Princess of Hesse Darmstadt; Charles's accounts with Waters, his banker at Paris; account of the Moidart family, presented to the Chevalier de St. George; a curious and interesting memoir presented to the prince in 1755 by a deputation of gentlemen, in relation to his conduct during the extraordinary in- cognito he preserved for several years, with the prince's answer; address by the Chevalier de St. George to the universities of Oxford and Cambridge; memorandum by the prince, in which he refers to his visit to Eng- land in 1750, etc. This partial enumeration will serve to convey some idea of the extent of the researches which have been made into this great repository of materials for history, and also of the value of the acquisitions which have been made for the present work; but it is only from the xcix THE STUART PAPERS documents themselves, and the new light which they shed on one of the most interesting and memorable episodes in British history, that their real importance can be fully estimated. THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND CHAPTER I THE ROMAN PERIOD WHEN Agricola invaded North Britain in the year eighty-one of the Christian era, it appears to have been possessed by twenty-one tribes of aboriginal Britons, having little or no political connection with one another, although evidently the same people in origin, speaking the same language, and following the same customs. The topographical position of these Caledonian tribes or clans, at the epoch in question, may be thus stated: First, The Ottadini, or Otadeni, occupied the south- east boundary of North Britain, extending along the whole line of coast from the southern Tyne to the Frith of Forth, and including the half of Northumber- land, the eastern part of Roxburghshire, the whole of Berwickshire and of East Lothian. They had two towns, both south of the Tweed, called Curia, supposed to have been situated in Roxburghshire, and Bremenium, understood to be Rochester on Reedwater in North- umberland. The latter was the chief town. Anti- quaries conclude that this tribe derives its name from the river Tyne, which formed their boundary on the south, because the name in British denotes the people living beyond or out from the Tyne. 1 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Second, The Gadeni inhabited the interior country on the west of the Ottadini, including the western part of Northumberland; a small part of Cumberland, lying to the north of Irthing River; the western part of Rox- burghshire, the whole of Selkirk, Tweeddale; a consid- erable part of Mid-Lothian, and nearly all West Lothian. Their possessions thus extended from the Tyne on the south, to the Frith of Forth on the north; and Curia on the Gore water was their capital. Conjecture de- rives the name of this tribe from the groves with which their country abounded. Third, The Selgovae inhabited Annandale, Nithsdale, and Eskdale in Dumfries-shire, and the eastern part of Galloway to the river Deva, or Dee, their western boundary. To the south they were bounded by the Solway Frith, or Ituna jEstuarium. Ptolemy mentions their having four towns in their territories, namely, Carbantorigum, supposed to be Kircudbright; Uxellum, believed to be Castle Over; Corda, the site of which cannot be fixed; and Trimontium, said to have lain near the Eildon Hills. The name Selgovae is supposed to be descriptive of the country inhabited by this tribe, which was much divided by water. Fourth, The Novantse possessed the middle and western parts of Galloway from the Dee on the east, to the Irish Sea on the west; on the south they were bounded by the Solway Frith and the Irish Sea, and on the north by the chain of hills which separates Galloway from Carrick. They had two towns, the principal, Leucopibia or Candida Casa, on the site of the present Whithorn, and Rerigonium, now Stranraer, on the bank of the Rerigonius Sinus, now Loch Ryan. The name of this tribe is said to have arisen from the nature of their country, which abounded with streams. Fifth, The Damnii, the most important of the south- 2 THE ROMAN PERIOD ern tribes, inhabited the whole extent of country from the ridge of hills between Galloway and Ayrshire on the south, to the river Era on the north. They pos- sessed all Strathclyde, the shires of Ayr, Renfrew, and Stirling, and a small part of the shires of Dumbarton and Perth. According to Ptolemy, the Damnii had six towns, namely, Vanduaria, at Paisley ; Colania, supposed to be Lanark; Coria, at Carstairs in Eastern Clydes- dale; Alauna, on the river Allan, believed to be Kier near Stirling; Lindum, near Ardoch; and Victoria, at Dealginross on the Ruchil water. Sixth, The Horestii inhabited the country between the Bodotria or Forth, on the south, and the Tarvus or Tay, on the north, comprehending the shires of Clack- mannan, Kinross, and Fife, with the eastern part of Strathern, and the country westward of the Tay as far as the river Brann. Seventh, The Venricones possessed the territory between the Tay on the south, and the Carron on the north, comprehending Gowrie, Strathmore, Stormont, and Strathardle in Perthshire; with the whole of Angus, and the larger part of Kincardineshire. Their chief town was Orrea on the Tay. This and the last men- tioned tribe were afterward named Vecturiones by the Romans. Eighth, The Taixali inhabited the northern part of the Mearns and the whole of Aberdeenshire, as far as the Doveran. The promontory of Kinnaird's head, the Taixalorum promontorium of the Romans, was included in this district. Devana, on the northern side of the Dee, six miles above its influx into the sea, was their principal town, which stood on the site of Nor- mandykes of the present day. Ninth, The Vacomagi inhabited the country on the southern side of the Moray Frith, from the Doveran 3 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND on the east, to the Ness on the west, comprehending the shires of Banff, Elgin, Nairn, the eastern part of Inverness, and Braemar in Aberdeenshire. Their towns were the Ptoroton of Richard; the Alata Castra of Ptolemy; at the mouth of the Varar, where the pres- ent Burghead runs into the Moray Frith; Tuessis on the eastern bank of the Spey; and Tamea and Banatia in the interior country. Tenth, The Albani, afterward called Damnii-Albani, on their subjection to the Damnii, possessed the in- terior districts between the lower ridge of the Grampians which skirts the southern side of the loch and river Tay, on the south, and the chain of mountains which forms the southern limit of Inverness-shire, on the north. These districts comprehended Braidalbane, Athole, a small part of Lochaber, with Appin and Glen- orchy in Upper Lorn. The Albani were so called be- cause they possessed a high and mountainous country. Eleventh, The Attacotti inhabited the whole country from Loch Fyne on the west to the eastward of the river Leven and Loch Lomond, comprehending the whole of Cowal in Argyleshire, and the greater part of Dumbartonshire. The British word eithacoeti, which signifies men dwelling along the extremity of the wood, appears to indicate the derivation of the name of this tribe. Twelfth, The Caledonii proper inhabited the whole of the interior country from the ridge of mountains which separates Inverness and Perth, on the south, to the range of hills which forms the forest of Balna- gowan in Ross, on the north; comprehending all the middle parts of Inverness and of Ross. This territory formed a considerable part of the extensive forest which, in early ages, spread over the interior and western parts of the country, on the northern side of the Forth and 4 THE ROMAN PERIOD Clyde, and to which the British colonists, according to Chalmers, gave the descriptive appellation of Celyd- don, signifying literally the coverts, and generally denoting a woody region. It was on this account that the large tribe in question was called Celyddoni, a name afterward Latinized into the more classical appel- lation of Caledonii. The descriptive name, Celyddon, restricted originally to the territory described, was afterward extended to the whole country on the north- ern side of the Forth and Clyde, under the Latinized appellation of Caledonia. Thirteenth, The Cantae possessed the east of Ross- shire from the estuary of Varar or the Moray Frith, on the south, to the Abona, or Dornoch Frith, on the north; having Loxa or Cromarty Frith, which indented their country in the centre, and a ridge of hills, Uxellum montes, on the west. This ridge, of which Ben-Wyvis, one of the highest mountains in Great Britain, is the prominent summit, gradually declines towards the northeast, and terminates in a promontory, called Pen Uxellum, the Tarbetness of modern times. The term Cantae, the name of this tribe, is derived from caint, a British word meaning an open country, which the district in question certainly was, when compared with the mountainous interior and the western districts. Fourteenth, The Logi possessed the southeastern coast of Sutherland, extending from the Abona, or Dornoch Frith, on the southwest, to the river Ila on the east. This river is supposed to be the Helmsdale River of the Scandinavian intruders, called by the Celtic inhabitants Avon-Uile, or Avon-High, the floody water. It is conjectured that this tribe derived its name from the British word lygi, which is applicable to a people living on the shore. Fifteenth, The Carnabii inhabited the south, the THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND east, and northeast of Caithness from the Ila River; comprehending the three great promontories of Viru- bium or Noss Head, Virvedrum or Duncansby Head, and Tarvedrum, or the Orcas promontorium, the Dunnet Head of the present time. The Carnabii of Caithness, like those of Cornwall, derived their appel- lation from their residence on remarkable promontories. Sixteenth, The Catini, a small tribe, inhabited the northwestern corner of Caithness and the eastern half of Strathnaver in Sutherlandshire, having the river Naver, the Navari fluvius of Ptolemy, for their western boundary. Various conjectures are hazarded as to the derivation of the name of this tribe. Chalmers thinks that it is taken from the name of the British weapon called the cat or catai, with which they fought; but Sir Robert Gordon supposes it to be derived from the Catti of Germany, who are said to have settled in Caith- ness at an early period. Others again say that the tribe derived its name from Cattey, an appellation given to the country which they possessed on account of its being infested with a prodigious number of cats. But be that as it may, the Gaelic people of Caithness and Sunderland are, according to Chalmers, ambitious, even at this day, of deriving their distant origin from those Catini or Catai of British times. Seventeenth, The Mertoe occupied the interior of Sutherland, and this is all that we know of them. Eighteenth, The Carnonacoe inhabited the northern and western shores of Sutherland and a small part of the western shore of Ross, from the Naver on the east, round to the Volsas Bay, on the southwest. A river called Straba falls into the sea in this district on the west of the Naver, and the headland at the turn is named Ebudium promontorium. Nineteenth, The Creones inhabited the western coast 6 THE ROMAN PERIOD of Ross from Volsas-sinus on the north to the Itys or Lochduich on the south. They are said to have derived their name from their fierceness, Crewon or Creuonwys signifying, in British, " men of blood." Twentieth, The Cerones inhabited the whole western coast of Inverness and the countries of Ardnamurchan, Morven, Sunart, and Ardgowar in Argyleshire, having the Itys or Lochduich on the north, and the Longus or Linne Loch on the south. Twenty-first, The Epidii inhabited the southwest of Argyleshire from Linne Loch on the north, to the Frith of Clyde and the Irish Sea on the south, including Cantyre, the point of which was called the Epidian promontory, now named the Mull of Cantyre; and they were bounded on the east by the country of the Albani and the Lelanonius Sinus or the Lochfine of the present day. The name of this tribe is derived from the British ebyd, a peninsula, as they chiefly inhabited the promon- tory of Cantyre. Such, according to the most authentic accounts that can be obtained, were the names and topographical positions of the twenty-one tribes which at the time of the Roman invasion occupied the whole of North Britain, a country at that time without agriculture, studded with bogs and covered with woods almost in the state in which it had been formed by nature. We have enumerated the whole of the North British tribes in order to make our narrative the more intelligible; but our researches and details, except where the sub- ject shall render reference to all of them necessary, shall be confined to the thirteen last mentioned, in- habiting the tract of country known by the name of the Highlands of Scotland. This celebrated territory is separated from the Lowlands of Scotland by the Grampians, a lofty chain of mountains running diago- THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND nally across the kingdom, from the north of the river Don in Aberdeenshire, and terminating beyond Ard- more in Dumbartonshire. The range in question, which consists of rocks of primitive formation, appears at a distance to be uninterrupted; but it is broken by straths and glens. The principal straths are on the rivers Leven, Ern, Tay, and Dee; but besides these there are many glens and valleys called passes, which, till a very late period, were almost impassable. The chief of these passes are Bealmacha upon Loch Lomond; Aberfoyle and Leny in Monteith; the Pass of Glenal- mond above Crieff; the entrance into Athole at Dun- keld; and those formed by the rivers Ardle, Islay, and South and North Esk. Immediately within the ex- ternal boundary of the chain there are also many strong and defensible passes, as Killikrankie, the entrances into Glenlyon, Glenlochy, Glenogle, etc. The prin- cipal mountains of the range are Benlomond, Ben- lawers, and Shichallain. This line of demarcation between the Highlands and Lowlands has kept the inhabitants of these two divisions of Scotland so dis- tinct " that for seven centuries," as General Stewart observes, " Birnam Hill, at the entrance into Athole, has formed the boundary between the Lowlands and Highlands, and between the Saxon and Gaelic languages. On the southern and eastern sides of the hill, breeches are worn, and the Scotch Lowland dialect spoken with as broad an accent as in Mid-Lothian. On the northern and western sides are found the Gaelic, the kilt and the plaid, with all the peculiarities of the Highland char- acter. The Gaelic is universal, as the common dialect in use among the people on the Highland side of the boundary. This applies to the whole range of the Grampians; as, for example, at General Campbell of Monzie's gate, nothing but Scotch is spoken, while 8 THE ROMAN PERIOD at less than a mile distant on the hill to the northward, we meet with Gaelic." The space which the thirteen last mentioned tribes occupied within the mountains comprehended, as we have seen, part of the counties of Dumbarton, Stirling, Perth, Angus, Aberdeen, Banff, and Moray, and the whole counties of Argyle, Bute, Inverness, Nairn, Ross, Cromarty, Sutherland, and Caithness, and the Hebrides. This boundary may be defined by a line commencing at Ardmore in Dumbartonshire, running along the southern verge of the Grampians to Aberdeenshire, and from thence through Banff and Elgin to the sea- shore, cutting off the Lowland portions in these three districts. This line then skirts the shores of the Moray Frith till it reaches the northeastern point of Caithness at the eastern opening of the Pentland Frith; then proceeds along the southern side of that Frith, sweeping round St. Kilda so as to include the whole cluster of islands to the east and south as far as Arran; and then stretching to the Mull of Cantyre it reenters the main- land and ends at Ardmore in Dumbartonshire. The maritime outline of this boundary, particularly on the north and west, is remarkably bold and rocky, and the mainland is deeply indented by bays and arms of the sea. The interior of the country within the Grampian range is grand and picturesque. Lofty mountains, whose summits are seldom to be distin- guished from the mists or clouds which envelop them, steep and tremendous precipices, and glens watered by mountain streams or diversified by winding lakes, and occasional sprinklings of beautiful woods, impress the mind of the traveller with just ideas of the sublime and beautiful as displayed by the hand of nature in that romantic and poetical region. But nowhere is the wild and magnificent scenery of the Highlands seen 9 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND to greater advantage than from the summits of Ben- lomond, Benlawers, and the other elevated points of the Grampians. These mountains, like the rest, are often either covered with clouds or skirted with mists. Of a bleak and barren aspect, and furrowed by channels deep and rocky, their summits present scarcely any appearances of vegetation, but a thin covering of stunted heath, the residence only of birds of prey or of the white hare or ptarmigan, is to be found a little lower down. Below this inhospitable region the mountain deer and moor-fowl have fixed their abode among more luxuriant heath, interspersed with nourishing pasture on which feed numerous flocks of sheep. The romantic glens at the base of these mountains are well peopled, and contain a vast number of flocks and herds which form the staple wealth of the country. Although the people of Caledonia were certainly in a higher state of civilization than that described by Dio and afterward by Herodian, it must be admitted that they knew little of the arts of social life and had ad- vanced but few stages beyond the savage state. Their division into tribes or clans engendered a spirit of reciprocal hostility which prevented any political union or amalgamation of their common interests; and it was only when a foreign foe threatened their existence that a sense of danger forced them to unite for a time under the military authority of a pendragon or chief elected by common consent. Their subjugation, therefore, by the Romans under Agricola, as far as that victorious commander pushed his conquests, is not to be wondered at. The disunion of the British tribes as favouring the Roman arms is indeed acknowledged by Tacitus. ' There was one thing," says that historian, " which gave us an advantage over these powerful nations, that they never consulted together for the advantage of the 10 THE ROMAN PERIOD whole. It was rare that even two or three of them united against the common enemy." A people so unhappily circumstanced could neither appreciate the blessings of peace nor have any desire to enjoy them. Hence they carried on a predatory system of warfare, congenial to their rude state of existence, which retarded their ad- vancement in civilization. Their whole means of sub- sistence consisted in the milk and flesh of their flocks and the produce of the chase. The piscatory treasures with which the rivers and waters of Caledonia abound appear to have been but little known to them, a thing not to be wondered at when it is considered that the druidical superstition proscribed the use of fish. Their dislike to this species of food continued long after the system of the Druids had disappeared, and they did not abandon this prejudice till the light of Chris- tianity was diffused among them. They lived in a state almost approaching to nudity, but whether from ne- cessity or from choice cannot be satisfactorily deter- mined. Dio indeed represents the Caledonians as being naked, but Herodian speaks of them as wearing a partial covering. Their towns, which were very few, consisted of huts covered with turf or skins, and built without order or regularity or any distinction of streets. For better security they were erected in the centre of some wood or morass, the avenues leading to which were defended with ramparts of earth and felled trees. The following is the description of a British town as given by Ssesar: " What the Britons call a town is a tract of woody country, surrounded by a vallum and ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of an enemy; for, when they have enclosed a very large circuit with felled trees, they build within it houses for themselves, and hovels for their cattle." Notwithstanding the scantiness of their covering, 11 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which left their bodies exposed to the rigours of a cold and variable climate, the Caledonians were a remark- ably hardy race, capable of enduring fatigue, cold, and hunger to an extent which their descendants of the present day could not encounter without the risk of life. They were decidedly a warlike people, and are said to have been addicted, like the heroes of more ancient times, to robbery. The weapons of their war- fare consisted of small spears, long broadswords, and hand daggers; and they defended their bodies in com- bat by a small target or shield, all much of the same form and construction as those afterward used by their posterity in more modern times. The use of cavalry appears not to have been so well understood among the Caledonians as among the more southern tribes; but in battle they often made use of cars, or chariots, which were drawn by horses of a small, swift, and spirited description, and it is conjectured that, like those used by the Southern Britons, they had iron scythes pro- jecting from the axle. It is impossible to say what form of government obtained among these warlike tribes. When history is silent historians should either maintain a cautious reserve or be sparing in their conjectures; but analogy may supply materials for well-grounded speculations, and it may therefore be asserted, without any great stretch of imagination, that, like most of the other uncivilized tribes we read of in history, the Northern Britons or Caledonians were under the government of a leader or chief to whom they yielded a certain degree of obedience. Dio indeed insinuates that the governments of these tribes were democratic; but he should have been aware that it is only when bodies of men assume, in an advanced stage of civili- zation, a compact and united form, that democracy can prevail; and the state of barbarism in which he 12 THE ROMAN PERIOD says the inhabitants of North Britain existed at the period in question seems to exclude such a supposition. The conjecture of Chalmers that, like the American tribes, they were governed under the aristocratic sway of the old men rather than the coercion of legal authority, is more probable than that of Dio and approximates more to the opinion we have ventured to express. It is remarked by Plutarch that in his time it would have been easier to have found cities without walls, houses, kings, laws, coins, schools, and theatres than without temples and sacrifices. The observation is just; for all the migratory tribes which spread themselves over the globe after the dispersion of the human race carried along with them some recollections of religion. Accordingly the aboriginal inhabitants of Northern Britain brought from the east a system of religion, modified and altered no doubt by circumstances in its course through different countries. The prevailing opinion is that Druidism was the religion followed by all the Celtic colonies; and, in proof of this, reference has been made to a variety of druidical monuments abounding in all parts of Britain and particularly in the north. An author, Mr. Pinkerton, whose asperity, to use the words of Doctor Jamieson, " has greatly enfeebled his argument," has attacked this position under the shields of Caesar and Tacitus; but although his reasoning is powerful and ingenious, he appears to have failed in establishing that these monuments are of Gothic origin. As Druidism then may be considered as the first religious profession of the ancient Cale- donians, some account of it, as forming a part of their antiquities, may naturally be expected in this place. That Druidism may have been corrupted by innova- tion, and may have appeared in different shapes at various periods and in different countries, is a supposi- 13 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND tion that admits of no doubt; but there are not suffi- cient data in history to enable the antiquary to trace the various shades of dissimilarity which characterized the system in its gradual advancement from the east through Europe. The obscurity in which this system is enveloped is owing to a principle of the Druids which forbade them to commit any part of their theology to writing. As they had to trust entirely for everything to memory, the science of mnemonics was cultivated by the youth bred to the druidical profession, in an extraordinary degree, and many of them spent twenty years in storing their minds with the knowledge necessary for one of their order. Diogenes Laertius divides the tenets of the Druids into four heads. The first was, to worship God; the second, to abstain from evil; the third, to exert courage, and the fourth, to believe in the immortality of the soul, for enforcing these virtues. If such were the early tenets of the Druids, they must have sadly degenerated in the course of time; for they are quite incompatible with the gross and revolting practices related of them by more modern writers. Among the objects of druidical veneration the oak was particularly distinguished; for the Druids imagined that there was a supernatural virtue in the wood, in the leaves, in the fruit, and, above all, in the mistletoe. Hence the oak woods were the first places of their de- votion, and the offices of their religion were there per- formed without any covering but the broad canopy of heaven; for it was a peculiar principle of the Druids that no temple or covered building should be erected for public worship. The part appropriated for worship was enclosed in a circle, within which was placed a pillar of stone set up under an oak, and sacrifices were offered thereon. The groves, within which the mysteries of 14 THE ROMAN PERIOD the druidical superstition were celebrated, were also appropriated for the instruction of the people and the education of youth, which was under the sole super- intendence of the priests. The pillars which mark the sites of these places of worship are still to be seen, and so great is the superstitious veneration paid by the country people to those sacred stones, as they are considered, that few persons have ventured to remove them, even in cases where their removal would be advantageous to the cultivator of the soil. 1 Some writers pretend to have discovered in the system of Druidism three distinct orders of priests: the Druids or chief priests, the Vates, and the Bards, who severally performed different functions. The Bards of course sung in heroic verse the brave actions of those of their tribe who had made themselves famous by their warlike exploits; the Vates continually studied and explained the laws and the productions of nature; and the Druids directed the education of youth, offi- ciated in the affairs of religion, and presided in the administration of justice. The latter were exempted from serving in war and from the payment of taxes. The duties above enumerated would seem to imply that the Druids were the only order of priests; and although the Bards and Vates might eventually rise to the high and honourable dignity of Druids, the pro- priety of writing them down as priests of the second and third order seems very questionable. Besides the immunities before mentioned, enjoyed by the Druids, they also possessed both civil and criminal jurisdiction. They decided all controversies among states as well as among private persons; and whoever refused to sub- mit to their awards was exposed to the most severe penalties. The sentence of excommunication was pronounced against him; he was forbidden access to 15 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the sacrifices or public worship; he was debarred all intercourse with his fellow citizens, even in the common affairs of life; his company was universally shunned as profane and dangerous; he was refused the protec- tion of law; and death itself became an acceptable relief from the misery and infamy to which he was exposed. 2 " Thus," according to Hume, " the bands of government, which were naturally loose among that rude and turbulent people, were happily corrob- orated by the terrors of their superstition." As connected in some degree with religion the modes of sepulture among the pagan people of North Britain come next to be noticed. These have been various in different ages. The original practice of interring the bodies of the dead gradually gave way among the pagan nations to that of burning the bodies, but the older practice was resumed wherever Christianity obtained a footing. The practice of burning the dead at the time we are treating of was common among the inhabitants of North Britain; but the process of inhumation was not always the same, being attended with more or less ceremony according to the rank of the deceased. Many of the sepulchral remains of our pagan ancestors are still to be seen, and have been distinguished by antiquaries under the appellations of barrows, cairns, cistvaens, and urns. Among the learned the barrows and cairns, when they are of a round shape and covered with green sward, are called tumuli, and hillocks by the vulgar. These tumuli are circular heaps resembling a flat cone, and many of them are oblong ridges resembling the hull of a ship with its keel upwards. The most of them are composed of stones, some of them of earth, many of them of a mixture of earth and stones, and a few of them of sand. There is a great distinction, however, between 16 THE ROMAN PERIOD the barrow and the cairn, the first being composed solely of earth, and the last of stones. The cairns are more numerous than the barrows. Some of these cairns are very large, being upwards of three hundred feet in circumference and from thirty to forty feet in height, and the quantity of stones that has been dug from their bowels is almost incredible. Many of these tumuli have been subjected from time to time to the prying eyes of antiquaries; and, as their researches are curious, a short notice of them may be interesting to the general reader. Within several tumuli which were opened in the isle of Skye there were dis- covered stone coffins with urns containing ashes and weapons. In a barrow which was opened in the isle of Egg, there was found a large urn, containing human bones, and consisting of a large round stone, which had been hollowed, while its top was covered with a thin flagstone. In a large oblong cairn, about a mile west from Ardoch, in Perthshire, there was found a stone coffin, containing a human skeleton seven feet long. On a moor between the parishes of Kintore and Kinellar in Aberdeenshire, there are several sepulchral cairns, wherein were found a stone chest, containing a ring of a substance like veined marble, and large enough to take in three fingers-; and near this stone chest was discovered an urn, containing human hair. A sepulchral cairn, in Bendochy Parish, jn. Perthshire, being opened, there were found in it some ashes and human bones, which had undergone the action of fire; and lower down, in the same cairn, there were dis- covered two inverted urns, which were large enough to contain thigh and leg bones ; and these urns were adorned with rude sculpture, but without inscriptions. In the Beauly Frith, which is on both sides very shallow, there are at a considerable distance within the flood mark, 17 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND on the coast of Ross-shire, several cairns, in one of which urns have been found. From these facts it is evident that the sea has made great encroachments upon the flat shores of this Frith since the epoch of the cairns which are now so far within its dominion. One of these cairns on the southeast of Redcastle stands four hundred yards within the flood mark and is of consider- able size. On the south side of the same Frith, at some distance from the mouth of the river Ness, a considerable space within the flood mark, there is a large cairn which is called Carn-aire, that is, the Cairn in the sea, and to the westward of this, in the same Frith, there are three other cairns at considerable distances from each other, the largest of which is a huge heap of stones, in the middle of the Frith, and is accessible at low water, and appears to have been a sepulchral cairn from the urns which are found in it. The cistvaen, which, in the British language, signifies literally a stone chest, from cist, a chest, and maen changing in composition to vaen, a stone, was another mode of interment among the ancient inhabitants of our island. Sometimes the cistvaen contained the urn within which were deposited the ashes of the deceased, yet it often contained the ashes and bones without an urn. But urns of different sizes and shapes have been found without cistvaens, a circumstance which may be owing to the fashion of different ages and to the rank of the deceased. The same observation may be made with respect to urns which have been .found generally in tumuli, but often below the surface where there had been no hil- lock. They were usually composed of pottery, and sometimes of stone, and were of different shapes, and variously ornamented according to the taste of the times and the ability of the parties. Besides the varieties 18 THE ROMAN PERIOD already noticed in the modes of sepulture in South and North Britain there were others not yet noticed. In both ends of the island sepulchral tumuli have been found in close connection with the druidical circles. At Achencorthie, the field of the circles, there are the remains of a druidical temple which was composed of three concentric circles; and there has been dug up between the two outer circles, a cistvaen about three feet long and one foot and a half wide, wherein there was found an urn containing some ashes. At Barrach in the parish of New Deer, Aberdeenshire, a peasant digging for stones, in a druidical temple, found, about eighteen inches below the surface, a flat stone lying horizontally; and, on raising it, he discovered an urn, full of human bones, some of which were quite fresh; but on being touched they crumbled into dust. This urn had no bottom, but was placed on a flat stone, like that which covered its top; and about a yard from this excavation another urn was found, containing similar remains. These facts demonstrate an intimate connection be- tween druidical remains and tumuli, and show that they must have been the handiwork of the same people. As stone chests and clay urns containing ashes and bones have been frequently dug up about the ancient fortresses, a very close connection is supposed to have existed between these strengths and the sepulchral tumuli. On the eastern side of the British fort at Inchtuthel, there are two sepulchral tumuli; and several have also been found on a moor in the parish of Monzie, contiguous to a British fortress; in one of these called Carn-Comb-hall, a stone coffin was dis- covered. It is conjectured that these were the burial places of the chiefs who commanded the Caledonian hill-forts in early times. When such pains were taken to keep alive the recol- 19 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND lection of the inglorious dead, it is not to be imagined that the memories of those who fell in battle would be forgotten. Accordingly the fields of ancient conflict are still denoted by sepulchral cairns, and it is even con- jectured that the battle at the Grampians has been perpetuated by sepulchral tumuli raised to the memory of the Caledonians who fell in defence of their country. " On the hill, above the moor of Ardoch (says Gordon Itin. Septen. p. 42) are two great heaps of stones, the one called Carn-wochel, the other Carnlee. The former is the greatest curiosity of this kind that I ever met with; the quantity of great rough stones, lying above one another, almost surpasses belief, which made me have the curiosity to measure it; and I found the whole heap to be about one hundred and eighty-two feet in length, thirty in sloping height, and forty-five in breadth at the bottom." Some of these cairns, which are still to be found in the parish of Libberton near Edinburgh, are known by the name of cat-stanes or battle-stanes. There are single stones also in many parts of North Britain still known by the appropriate name of cat-stanes. The British cad or the Scoto- Irish cath, both of which words signify a battle, is the original derivation of this name. The next objects of antiquarian notice are the stand- ing-stones, so traditionally denominated from their upright position. They are all to be found in their natural shape without any mark from the tool or chisel. Sometimes they appear single and as often in groups of two, three, four or more. These standing-stones are supposed to have no connection with the druidical remains, but are thought by some to have been erected in successive ages as memorials to perpetuate certain events which, as the stones are without inscriptions, they have not transmitted to posterity, although such 20 THE ROMAN PERIOD events may be otherwise known in history. In Arran there are two large stone edifices which are quite rude, and several smaller ones; and there are also similar stones in Harris. These standing-stones are numerous in Mull, some of which are very large, and are commonly called by the Scoto-Irish inhabitants Carra, a word signifying in their language a stone pillar. These stones in short are to be seen in every part of North Britain as well as in England, Wales, Cornwall, and Ireland; but being without inscriptions they " do not," as Chal- mers observes, " answer the end either of personal vanity or of national gratitude." After the aboriginal inhabitants of North Britain had become indigenous to the soil, which the bounds set to their farther emigration to the north by the waters of the Atlantic would hasten sooner than in any other country over which the Celtic population spread, it became necessary for them to select strong- holds for defending themselves from the attacks of foreign or domestic foes. Hence the origin of the hill- forts and other safeguards of the original people which existed in North Britain at the epoch of the Roman invasion. There were many of these in the south, the description of which does not fall within the design of this work; but the notice to be given of those in the north of Scotland will suffice for a general idea of the whole. In the parish of Menmuir, in Forfarshire, are two well-known hill-forts called White Caterthun, standing to the south, and Brown Caterthun, to the northward. The name is derived from the British words, coder, a fortress, a stronghold, and dun, a hill. These are said to be decidedly reckoned amongst the most ancient Caledonian strongholds and to be coeval with what are called British forts. White Caterthun is of uncommon 21 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND strength: it is of an oval form constructed of a stu- pendous dike of loose stones, the convexity of which, from the base within to that without, is a hundred and twenty-two feet, and on the outside, a hollow, which is made by the disposition of the stones, surrounds the whole. Round the base is a deep ditch; and below, about a hundred yards, are vestiges of another trench that swept round the hill. The area within the stonyhill is flat; the length of the oval is 436 feet, and the transverse diameter two hundred; near the east side is the foundation of a rectangular building; and there are also the foundations of other erections, which are circular, and smaller, all which foundations had once their superstructures, the shelters of the possessors of the fort; while there is a hollow, now nearly rilled with stones, which it is supposed was once the well of the fort. The other fortress, which is called Brown Cater- thun, from the colour of the earth that composes the ramparts, is of a circular form, and consists of various concentric dikes. A British fortress on Barra-hill in Aberdeenshire, similar to those described, deserves notice. It is built in an elliptical form, and the ramparts were partly composed of stones, having a large ditch that occupies the summit of the hill, which, as it is about two hundred feet above the vale, overlooks the low ground between it and the mountain of Benachie. It was surrounded by three lines of circumvallation. Facing the west the hill rises very steeply, and the middle line is inter- rupted by rocks; while the only access to the fort is on the eastern side where the ascent is easy; and at this part the entry to the fort is perfectly obvious. This Caledonian hill-fort is now called by the tradition of the country, Cummin's Camp, from the defeat which the Earl of Buchan there sustained, when attacked by the 22 THE ROMAN PERIOD gallant Bruce. The name Barra is derived from bar, which, in the British language as well as in the Scoto- Irish, signifies a summit, and from ra, which in the latter denotes a fort, a strength. On the top of Barry-hill near Alyth in Perthshire, which derives its name it is believed from the same etymology, there was a fort of very great strength. The summit of this hill has been levelled into an area of about 168 yards hi circumference within the ram- part. A vast ditch surrounded this fort. The approach to the fort was from the northeast, along the verge of a precipice, and the entrance was secured by a bulwark of stones, the remains of which still exist. Over the ditch, which was ten feet broad and fourteen feet below the foundation of the wall, a narrow bridge was raised, about eighteen feet long and two feet broad; and this bridge was composed of stones, which had been laid together without much art, and vitrified on all sides, so that the whole mass was firmly cemented. This is the only part of the fortifications which appears to have been intentionally vitrified; for although among the ruins there are several pieces of vitrified stone, it must have been accidental, as these stones are inconsiderable. There seems to be no vestige of a well, but westward beyond the base of the mound and the precipice, there was a deep pond, which has been recently filled up. The tradition of the country, which is probably derived from the fiction of Boyce, relates that this vast strength of Barry-hill was the appropriate prison of Arthur's queen, the well known Guenever, who had been taken prisoner by the Picts. About a quarter of a mile east- ward, on the declivity of the hill, there are some remains of another oval fort, which was defended by a strong wall and a deep ditch. The same tradition relates, with similar appearance of fiction, that there existed a sub- 23 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND terraneous communication between these two British forts on Barry-hill. Within the walls of both fortresses there appear to be the remains of some superstructure, probably the dwellings of those who defended them. Many forts exist in every district of North Britain of a similar nature and of equal magnitude, several of which exhibit also the remains of the same kind of structures, within the area of each, for the shelter of their inhabitants. There is a fortress of this kind, which commands an extensive view of the lower parts of Braidalbane. On the summit of Dun-Evan in Nairnshire, there is also a similar fortress, consisting of two ram- parts, which surround a level space of the same oblong form, with that of Craig-Phadric, though not quite so large. Within the area of Dun-Evan there are the traces of a well and the remains of a large mass of building, which once furnished shelter to the defenders of the fort. A similar fort exists in Glenelg in Inverness- shire: a stone rampart surrounds the top of the hill, and in the area there is the vestige of a circular building for the use of the ancient inhabitants. On the east side of Lochness stands the fortress of Dunhar-duil upon a very high hill of a circular or rather conical shape, the summit of which is only accessible on the southeast by a narrow ridge, which connects the mount with a hilly chain that runs up to Strath- erric. On every other quarter the ascent is almost per- pendicular, and a rapid river winds round the circum- ference of the base. The summit is surrounded by a very strong wall of dry stones, which was once of great height and thickness. The enclosed area is an oblong square of twenty-five yards long and fifteen yards broad; it is level and clear of stones, and has on it the remains of a well. Upon a shoulder of this hill, about fifty feet below the summit, there is a druidical 24 THE ROMAN PERIOD temple, consisting of a circle of large stones, firmly fixed in the ground, with a double row of stones ex- tending from one side as an avenue or entry to the circle. From the situation of these hill-forts, as they are called, their relative positions to one another, and the accommodations attached to them, it has been inferred with great plausibility that they were rather constructed for the purpose of protecting the tribes from the attacks of one another, than with the design of defending them- selves from an invading enemy. As a corroboration of this view it is observed that these fortresses are placed upon eminences in those parts of the country which in the early ages must have been the most habitable and furnished the greatest quantity of subsistence. They frequently appear in groups of three, four, or more in the vicinity of each other, and they are so disposed, upon the tops of heights, that sometimes a considerable number may be seen at the same time, one of them being always much larger and stronger than the others, placed in the most commanding situation, and no doubt intended as the distinguished post of the chief. Subterraneous retreats or caves were common to most early nations for the purpose of concealment in war. The Britons and their Caledonian descendants had also their hiding-places. The excavations or retreats were of two sorts: first, artificial structures formed under ground of rude stones without cement; and, secondly, natural caves in rocks which have been ren- dered more commodious by art. Of the first sort are the subterraneous apartments which have been discovered in Forfarshire, within the parish of Tealing. This building was composed of large flat stones without cement, consisting of two or three apartments not more than five feet wide, and covered with stones of the same kind; and there were found in 25 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND this subterraneous building, some wood ashes, several fragments of large earthen vessels, and one of the ancient hand-mills called querns. In the same parish, there has been discovered a similar building, which the country people call in the Irish language a weem or cave. It is about four feet high and four feet wide, and it is composed of large loose stones. There was found in it a broad earthen vessel and an instrument resembling an adze. Several hiding-holes of a smaller size and of a somewhat different construction are to be seen in the Western Hebrides. Subterraneous structures have been also found on Kildrummie moor, in Aberdeenshire; in the district of Applecross in Ross- shire; and in Kildonan parish in Sutherland. A sub- terraneous building sixty feet long has been discovered on the estate of Raits in the parish of Alvie in Inverness- shire. Of the second kind there are several in the parish of Applecross. On the coast of Skye, in the parish of Portree, there are some caves of very large extent, one of which is capacious enough to contain five hundred persons. In the isle of Arran there are also several large caves, which appear to have been places of retreat in ancient times. One of these at Drumaduin is noted, in the fond tradition of the country, as the lodging of Fin MacCoul the Fingal of Ossian, during his residence in Arran. This is called the King's Cave, and is said to have been honoured with the presence of the illus- trious Bruce, who, along with his patriot companions, was obliged to resort to it as a place of temporary safety. There are other caves of great dimensions in this island, of which as well as of those in Skye many strange and fabulous stories are told. Some of the warlike weapons of the ancient Cale- donians have been already mentioned. Besides their 26 spears, swords, and daggers, they also used axes or hatchets and arrow-heads. The hatchets which have been usually found are generally of flint, and are com- monly called celts, a term which antiquaries have been unable to explain. An etymologist would derive the name from the British word celt, literally signifying a flint stone. Some of these hatchets were formed of brass or other materials of a similar kind, as well as of flint. Arrow-heads made of sharp-pointed flint have been found in various graves in North Britain, on the side of a hill in the parish of Benholm, Kincardineshire, where tradition says a battle was fought in ancient times, and also in the isle of Skye. These arrow-heads of flint are known among the common people by the name of elf-shots, from a superstitious notion that they were shot by elves or fairies at cattle. Hence the vulgar impute many of the disorders of their cattle to these elf-shots. When superstition finds out its own cause, of course it has always its remedy at hand; and accordingly the cure of the distressed animal may be effected either by the touch of the elf-shot or by making the animal drink of water in which the elf-shot had been dipped. It thus appears that the ancient Caledonians were not deficient in the implements of war, their armouries being supplied with helmets, shields, and chariots, and with spears, daggers, swords, battle-axes, and bows. The chiefs alone, however, used the helmet and chariot. These accoutrements have been mostly all found in the graves of the warriors, or have been seen, during recent times, on the Gaelic soldiers in fight. Among such rude tribes as have been described, marine science must have been little attended to and but imperfectly understood. As the ancient Caledoni- ans had no commerce of any kind and never attempted 27 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND piratical excursions, the art of shipbuilding was un- known to them; at least no memorials have been left to show that they were acquainted with it. They, however, constructed canoes consisting of a single tree, which they hollowed with fire in the manner of the American Indians; and they put these canoes in motion by means of a small paddle or oar hi the same manner as the Indian savages do at this day. With these they crossed rivers and arms of the sea and traversed lakes. Many of these canoes have been discovered both in South and North Britain embedded in lakes and marshes. The most remarkable and the largest discovered in North Britain was that found in the year 1726 near the influx of the Carron into the Forth, buried fifteen feet in the south bank of the Forth. It was thirty-six feet long, four feet broad in the middle, four feet, four inches deep, four inches thick in the sides, and it was all of one piece of solid oak, sharp at the stem and broad at the stern. This canoe was finely polished, being quite smooth within and without. Not a single knot was observed in the whole block, and the wood was of an extraordinary hardness. The canoes were afterward superseded, at an early period, by another marine vehicle called a currach. Caesar describes the currachs of South Britain as being accom- modated with keels and masts of the lightest wood, while their hulls consisted of wicker covered over with leather. Lucan calls them little ships hi which he says the Britons were wont to navigate the ocean. Solinus says that it was common to pass between Britain and Ireland in these little ships. It is stated by Adomnan in his life of St. Columba that St. Cormac sailed into the north sea in one of these currachs, and that he remained there four- teen days in perfect safety; but this vessel must have been very different from the currachs of Caesar, as 28 THE ROMAN PERIOD according to our author it had all the parts of a ship with sails and oars, and was capacious enough to con- tain passengers. Probably the currachs in which the Scoto-Irish made incursions into Britain during the age of Claudian were of the latter description. The reader will now be able to form a general idea of the Caledonian Britons, and their most important antiquities and topographical positions, at the mem- orable era of Agricola's invasion of North Britain, the inhabitants of which opposed him with a prowess and bravery which astonished the conquerors of the world and excited their wonder and admiration; but no bravery, however great, circumstanced as the Caledonians then were, disunited by principle and habit, could withstand the military skill and experience of the Roman legions. The interval between the first invasion of Britain by Julius Caesar and the time when Agricola assumed the command of the Roman army in that country embraces a period of 135 years, during all which time the legions of imperial Rome had not been able to pene- trate into North Britain. The complete conquest of the whole island had often occupied the thoughts of the emperors and the able commanders to whom the government of South Britain was entrusted, but the bravery of the people, and a variety of obstacles hith- erto insurmountable, thwarted their designs. It was reserved for Agricola to effect what the most skilful of his predecessors could not accomplish; and although he failed in bringing the whole of Caledonia under sub- jection to the Roman yoke, his victories and conquests have covered his name with glory as a warrior and a statesman. We are not to regard him as the ruthless invader carrying fire and sword into the bosom of a peace- able country, but rather as the mild and merciful con- queror bringing in his train the blessings of civilization 29 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND and refinement to a rude and ungovernable people; nor should we forget that it is to him chiefly that we are indebted for the information which we now possess of the earliest period of our history. It was in the year seventy-eight of the Christian era that Agricola took the command in Britain, but he did not enter North Britain till the year eighty-one, at which time he was forty-one years of age. The years seventy-nine and eighty were spent in subduing the tribes to the south of the Solway Frith hitherto uncon- quered, and in the year eighty-one Agricola entered on his fourth campaign by marching into North Britain along the shores of the Solway Frith and overrunning the mountainous region which extends from that estu- ary to the Friths of Clyde and Forth, the Glotta and Bodotria of Tacitus. He finished this campaign by rais- ing a line of forts on the narrow isthmus between these Friths, so that, as Tacitus observes, " the enemies being removed as into another island," the country to the south might be regarded as a quiet province. But Agricola still having enemies in his rear in the persons of the Sel- govae and Novantes, who inhabited the southwestern parts of North Britain, he resolved, before pushing his conquests farther to the north, to subdue these hostile tribes. The fifth campaign in eighty-two was under- taken with this view. " He therefore invaded," says his historian, " that part of Britain which is opposite to Ireland," being the whole extent of Galloway both by sea and land. A landing from the fleet, which had been brought from the Isle of Wight, was effected within the loch near Brow at the Lochermouth which here forms a natural harbour; but the Locher moss, which was then a vast marsh and a wood impenetrable to everything but Roman labour and skill, obstructed his march. Difficulties which would have been almost insuperable 30 THE ROMAN PERIOD to any other commander vanished before the genius and perseverance of Agricola, who opened a passage through the whole of this wood and marsh by felling the trees which obstructed the progress of his army, and making a causeway of the trunks so cut down across the morass. He marched along the shore with part of his army, leaving the estuary of Locher and Caerlaverock on his left, and encamped against Uxellum, the chief town of the Selgovse. From this position he continued his march, and arrived at length at the Caer- bantorigum of Ptolemy, the Drummore Castle of modern maps, one of the largest and strongest fortresses of the Selgovse. The traces of Agricola's route through the country of the Novantes, which was not so well fortified as that of the Selgovse, cannot be so easily defined. Having accomplished the subjugation of these two tribes, Agricola made preparations for his next campaign which he was to open beyond the Forth in the summer of eighty-three. He began by surveying the coasts and sounding the harbours on the north side of the Forth by means of his fleet. As, according to Tacitus, the country beyond the Forth was the great object of Agricola, and as the latter appears to have been aware of the formidable resistance which had been prepared for him by the Caledonians, if he should attempt to cross the estuary, it is supposed, with every appearance of probability, that he employed his fleet in transporting his army across the Forth from as convenient a station as he could select without being perceived by the enemy; and it is certain that the seamen were frequently mixed with the cavalry and infantry in the same camp after Agricola arrived among the Horestii. The offen- sive operations of the sixth campaign were commenced by the Caledonian Britons who, from the higher country, made a furious attack on the Transforthan fortifications, 31 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which so alarmed some of Agricola's officers, who were afraid of being cut off from a retreat, that they advised their general to recross the Forth without delay; but Agricola resisted this advice and made preparations for the attack which he expected would soon be made upon his army. In pursuance of a plan which he had formed he disposed his army in three divisions. The position which his army occupied appears to have been near Carnock on the site of two farms, appropriately known by the names of East Camp and West Camp, where are still to be traced the remains of two military stations. From this position the Roman general pushed forward the ninth legion to Loch Ore about two miles southward to Loch Leven, with two ranges of hills in front, the Cleish range on their left and Binnarty hill on their right. The camp here formed was situated on the north side of Loch Ore, less than half a mile southwest from Loch Ore house in the parish of Bal- lingry in Fife. Its form was nearly square and its total circumference was about 2,020 feet, and it was surrounded by three rows of ditches and as many ram- parts of earth and stone. Another division of the army encamped it is said near Dunearn-hill, about a mile distant from Burntisland, near which hill are still to be seen the remains of a strength called Agricola's Camp. The Horestii, having watched the proceedings of the Roman army, made the necessary preparations for at- tack, and during the night delivered a furious assault on the Roman entrenchments at Loch Ore. They had acted with such caution that they were actually at the very camp before Agricola was aware of their movements; but with great presence of mind he despatched a body of his lightest troops to turn their flank and attack the assailants in the rear. After an obstinate engage- 32 THE ROMAN PERIOD ment, maintained with varied success in the very gates of the camp, the Britons were at length repulsed by the superior skill of the Roman veterans. This battle was so far decisive, that Agricola did not find much difficulty afterward hi subduing the country of the Horestii, and having finished his campaign he passed the winter of eighty-three in Fife, being supplied with provisions from his fleet in the Forth, and keeping up a constant correspondence with his garrisons on his southern side. After the defeat of the Horestii, the Caledonians begin to perceive the danger of their situation from the near proximity of such a powerful enemy, and a sense of this danger impelled them to lay aside the feuds and jealousies which had divided and distracted their tribes, to consult together for their mutual safety and protection, and to combine their scattered strength into a united and energetic mass. The proud spirit of in- dependence which had hitherto kept the Caledonian tribes apart, now made them coalesce in support of their liberties, which were threatened with utter anni- hilation. In this eventful crisis, they looked around them for a leader or chief under whom they might fight the battles of freedom and save their country from the dangers which threatened it. A chief, named Galgacus by Tacitus, was pitched upon to act as generalissimo of the Caledonian army; and, from the praises bestowed upon him by that historian, this warrior appears to have well merited the distinction thus bestowed. Pre- paratory to the struggle they were about to engage in, they sent their wives and children into places of ^safety, and they ratified the confederacy, which they had en- tered into against their common enemy, in solemn as- semblies in which public sacrifices were offered up. Having strengthened his army with some British 33 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND auxiliaries from the south, Agricola marched through Fife in the summer of eighty-four, sending at the same time his fleet round the eastern coast, to support him in his operations, and to distract the attention of the Caledonians. The line of Agricola' s march, it is con- jectured, was regulated by the course of the Devon, and he is supposed to have turned to the right from Glen-devon through the opening of the Ochil hills, along the course of the rivulet which forms Glen-eagles, leaving the braes of Ogilvie on his left and passing be- tween Blackford and Auchterarder towards the Gram- pian hills, which he saw at a distance before him as he debouched from the Ochils. By an easy march he reached the moor of Ardoch, from which he descried the Caledonian army, to the number of thirty thousand men, encamped on the declivity of the hill which begins to rise from the northwestern border of the moor of Ar- doch. Agricola took his station at the great camp which adjoins the fort of Ardoch on the northward. From this camp Tacitus informs us that Agricola drew out his army on the neighbouring moor, having a large ditch of considerable length in front. The Caledonians, after making the necessary preparations for battle, descended from the position which they occupied on the declivity of the hill, and attacked the Roman army with the most determined bravery. The battle was long and bloody, but night put an end to the combat, and the Caledonians, seeing no hopes of driving the enemy from his entrenchments, resolved to retreat. Here again superior skill and science triumphed over rude valour. The short swords and large shields of the Romans, with the use of which they were so familiar, gave them a decided advantage over the longer and more inefficient weapons of the Caledonians, while the plan of keeping troops in reserve to relieve those who were fatigued or 34 THE ROMAN PERIOD sorely pressed upon, always adopted in the Roman army, enabled the soldiers of Agricola to maintain the contest with undiminished vigour, tended greatly to weary out the breathless impetuosity of their less skilful assailants. Yet the Romans paid dearly for the advantage they obtained, their loss being more considerable than might have been expected in a conflict really so unequal. The number that fell on the side of the Caledonians is rated at ten thousand. It may be necessary to acquaint the reader that the site of this famous battle is a subject of much controversy among antiquaries, and that the place above indicated has been selected as the one which, from various circumstances, has most historical probabilities in its favour. As Agricola, from the check he had experienced, found it impossible either to advance or retain his position during the ensuing winter, he retraced his steps, and after taking hostages from the Horestii, he recrossed the Forth and took up his winter quarters on the south of the Tyne and Solway. During his progress southward, he sent his fleet on a voyage of discovery to the north which, after exploring the whole coast from the Forth to the Hebrides and descrying the Ultima Thule, supposed to be either the Shetland Islands or Foula, the most westerly of the group, or Iceland, returned ad portum Trutulensem, or Richborough, or Rickborough, before the approach of winter. The Emperor Domitian now resolved to supersede Agricola in his command in North Britain, and he was accordingly recalled in the year eighty-five, under the pretence of promoting him to the government of Syria, but in reality out of envy on account of the glory which he had obtained by the success of his arms. He died on the 23d of August, ninety-three, some say, from poison, while others attribute his death to the effects of 35 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND chagrin at the unfeeling treatment of Domitian. His countrymen lamented his death, and Tacitus, his son- in-law, preserved the memory of his actions and his worth in the history of his life. During the remainder of Domitian's reign and that of Adrian his successor, North Britain appears to have enjoyed tranquillity, an inference which may be fairly drawn from the silence of the Roman historians. Yet as Adrian in the year 121 built a wall between the Solway and the Tyne, some writers have supposed that the Romans had been driven by the Caledonians out of North Britain, in the reign of that emperor. But if such was the case, how did Lollius Urbicus, the Roman general, about nineteen years after Adrian's wall was erected, penetrate without opposition to Agricola's forts between the Clyde and the Forth? May we not rather suppose that the wall of Adrian was built for the purpose of preventing incursions into the south by the tribes which inhabited the country between that wall and the Friths? But, be this as it may, little is known of the history of North Britain from the time of Agricola's recall till the year 138, when Antoninus Pius assumed the imperial purple. That good and sagacious emperor was distinguished by the care which he took in selecting the fittest officers for the government of the Roman provinces, and his choice for that of Britain fell on Lollius Urbicus, a man who united talents for peace with a genius in war. After putting down a revolt of the Brigantes in South Britain in the year 139, this able general marched north- ward the following year to the Friths, between which he built a wall of earth on the line of Agricola's forts. He proceeded northward and is supposed to have car- ried his arms as far north as the Varar or Moray Frith, throwing the whole of the extensive country between 36 THE ROMAN PERIOD Forth and Clyde and the Varar into the regular form of a Roman province. The numerous Roman stations found throughout the wide tract just mentioned seem to corroborate this very probable conjecture. At this period the Emperor Antoninus, with that spirit of benev- olence which formed a prominent trait in his character, extended the right of citizenship over the whole Roman empire, and thus all the inhabitants of North Britain who had resided along the east coast, from the Tweed to the Moray Frith, might, like St. Paul, have claimed the privileges of Roman citizens. But it is not likely that the Caledonians availed themselves of those rights. Their native pride and independence, which could not brook the idea of acknowledging any subjection to a foreign power, induced them to pay little regard to privileges which, though granted with the most praise- worthy motives, always reminded them of the causes which led to them. It may not be out of place here to give some account of the wall of Antoninus erected by Lollius Urbicus. Capitulinus, who flourished during the third century, is the first writer who notices this wall, and states that it was built in the reign of Antoninus Pius, but he gives no exact description of it. The wall or rampart extended from Caeridden on the Forth to Dunglas and perhaps to Alcluid on the Clyde. Taking the length of this wall from Old Kilpatrick, on the Clyde, to Caeridden on the Forth, its extent would be 39,726 Roman paces, which agree exactly with the modern measurement of thirty- six English miles and 620 yards. This rampart which was of earth, and rested on a stone foundation, was up- wards of twenty feet high and four and twenty feet thick. Along the whole extent of the wall there was a vast ditch or prcptentura on the outward or north side, which was generally twenty feet deep and forty feet 37 88330 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND wide, and which, there is reason to believe, might be filled with water when occasion required. This ditch and rampart were strengthened at both ends, and throughout its whole extent, by one and twenty forts, three being at each extremity, and the remainder placed between at the distance of 3,554J yards, or something more than two English miles from one another; and it has been clearly ascertained that these stations were designedly placed on the previous fortifications of Agricola. Its necessary appendage, a military road, ran behind the rampart from end to end, for the use of the troops and for keeping up the usual communication between the stations or forts. From inscriptions on some of the foundation stones, which have been dug up, it appears that the second legion, with detachments from the sixth and twentieth legions and some auxilia- ries, executed these vast military works, equally credit- able to their skill and perseverance. Dunglas, near the western extremity, and Blackness, near the eastern extremity of the rampart, afforded the Romans com- modious harbours for their shipping, such as they en- joyed, while they remained in North Britain, at Cra- mond. This wall is called in the popular language of the country Grime's Dyke, the etymology of which has confounded antiquarians and puzzled philologists. In British speech and in the Welsh language of the present day the word grym signifies strength, but whether the appellation which the wall now receives is derived from such a root seems doubtful. Certain it is, that the absurd fiction of Fordun, Boyce, and Buchanan, who derive the name from a supposititious person of the name of Grime and his Scots having broken through this wall, has long been exploded with many other fictions of the same authors. At this epoch we may date the height of the Roman 38 THE ROMAN PERIOD power in Britain. The Romans had now enlarged their territories to their greatest extent; they had conducted Iters almost to the extremities of North Britain, from the Solway and Tyne to the Forth and Clyde, and from thence to the Burgh-head qf Moray; they had formed roads throughout that extent of country, and they had established stations in the most commanding places within the districts of Valentia and Vespasiana. As a notice of these works of art cannot fail to be interesting, they shall be here shortly described as they existed, in the province of Vespasiana, extending from the wall of Antoninus to the Varar or the Moray Frith. According to Richard of Cirencester, an Iter with its accompanying stations traversed the whole extent of Vespasiana from the wall of Antoninus to the Varar or Moray Frith. The first stage extended twelve miles from the wall to Alauna, or the Allan water near its junction with the Forth. From thence it went forward along Strathallan, nine miles to the Lindum of Richard's Itinerary, the well-known station at Ardoch. From Lindum the Iter passed throughout a course of nine miles to the Victoria of the Itinerary, the proud monu- ment of Agricola's victory of the Grampians, the Deal- ginross of the Tourists, at the western extremity of Strathern. The Iter then took an easterly direction nine miles to Hierna the station on the Ern at Strageth, and from thence to Orrea on the Tay, at the distance of fourteen itinerary miles. From Orrea the Iter went ad Tavum nineteen miles, and from thence ad Esicam twenty-three miles. Setting off from Orrea in an easterly direction, through the passage of the Seidlaw hills and along the Carse of Gowrie, the Iter reached ad Tavum on the northern side of the estuary of the Tay, near Dundee. From this last station, proceeding in a northeast di- rection through the natural opening of the country, the 39 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Iter, at the distance of eleven miles, fell in with the well-known Roman camp at Harefauld's, and at the end of these twenty-three miles nearly, it reached the South Esk at Brechin, the ad Esicam of Richard. In the course of this route, at the distance of two miles west from Dundee and half a mile north from Invergowrie, on the estuary of the Tay, there are the remains of a Roman camp, about two hundred yards square, fortified with a high rampart and a spacious ditch. From the last mentioned station, the course of the itinerary proceeded in a northeast direction, and would have arrived at the end of five miles and three quarters, on the North Esk, the Tina of Richard. Passing the North Esk at the King's ford, the Roman troops, it is supposed, marched straight forward through the valley of Luther water, about eight and a half miles, to the station at Fordun, where the remains of two Roman camps are to be seen ; and thence by Urie hill, where there is the well-known camp of Raedikes, from which, in a northerly direction, about six English miles, these troops would reach the river Dee at Peter-Culter, the Devana of Ptolemy and Richard. This last position is thirty-one miles from the South Esk, at Brechin; and the route corresponds with the devious track de- lineated on Richard's useful map. Remains of extensive entrenchments of a rectangular form, at the termination of the itinerary distance on the north side of the Dee, west from the church of Mary-Culter, and southwest from the church of Peter-Culter, indicate the site of a Roman camp. These remains are popularly denomin- ated, " the Norman Dikes." This camp extended from the northeast to the west-southwest. The rampart and ditch, on the northern side, are about three-quarters of a mile long, and remain tolerably entire. From each end of this work, a rampart and ditch ran off at right 40 THE ROMAN PERIOD angles, and formed the ends of a camp, a few hundred yards of which only remain, the whole of the southern side is destroyed. This camp is 938 yards long, and 543 yards broad, comprehending an area of eighty Scotch acres, being nearly of the same size as the camp of Raedikes, on the Ithan, the next stage in the Iter. It has two gates in each side, like the camps of Battle- dikes and Harefaulds, and at Urie, and one gate in each of the ends, which appears to have been covered by a traverse in the Roman manner. From the Dee at Peter-Culter, the Iter proceeded on the right of Achlea, Fiddy, and Kinmundy, and from thence in a north-northwest direction it went through a plain district, till it reached the site of Kintore on the Don, and thence it followed, according to the Roman practice, the strath of the river to the head of the Don, where there is a ford, at the same place where the high- road has always passed the same river to Inver-urie. The Romans then passed the Urie and pushed on in a north-northwest course, through a moorish district to the sources of the Ithan, the Ituna of Richard, where the camp of Glen-mailen was placed, an extended course of twenty-six statute miles between these itinerary stations. The camp at Glen-rnailen, as well as the camp at Urie, is called the Rae-Dikes, from the Gaelic Ra,' signifying a cleared spot or fortress. In proceeding from Glen-mailen, the Romans directed their course northward, and crossing the Doveran, at Achengoul, where there are still considerable remains of military works, they arrived, at the distance of thir- teen statute miles, at the high ground on the north of Foggy-lone at the eastern base of the Knock-hill, the real Mons Grampius of Richard, being the first land- mark seen by mariners as they approach the most easterly point of North Britain. The heights near 41 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Glen-mailen afford a distinct view of the whole course of the Moray Frith, and the intermediate country through which the Romans had to pass forward to their ulti- mate object, Ptoroton, or Kinnaird's head, and the whole of the northeast of Buchan may be seen from the high grounds on the north of Foggy-lone. From the station at Knock-hill the itinerary proceeds ad Selinam of Richard, or to the rivulet Cullen, near the old tower of Deskford, at the distance of ten statute miles. This is evident from the circumstance of Roman coins having been found some years ago near the old bridge, a little below the tower of Deskford. Following the course of the rivulet to Inver-Cullen, and passing along the coast of the Moray Frith, the Roman armies arrived at the Roman post which is still to be seen on the high bank of the Spey, the Tuessis of Ptolemy and Richard, below the church of Bellie, a distance of nine- teen statute miles. About half a mile northeast of the ruins of Bellie, on a bank overlooking the low fluviated ground of the river, are the remains of a Roman en- campment. It is situated upon a flat surface, and forms nearly a rectangular parallelogram of 888 feet by 333; but the west side and the greater part of the north end of the parallelogram are now wanting. It is singular that the ford on the Spey, by which the Romans were enabled to connect their stations in the north, during the second century, should have facilitated the passage of the Duke of Cumberland in April, 1746, when he pressed forward " in order to decide," says Chalmers, " the fate of the Gaelic descendants of the ancient race." From their station on the eastern bank of the Spey, with the Moray Frith close to their right, they were only one day's march from the Alatta-Castra of Ptolemy, the Ptoroton of Richard, the Burgh-head of modern geographers, at the mouth of the Estuary of Varar, 42 THE ROMAN PERIOD The north and west sides of the promontory called Burgh-head are steep rocks washed by the sea, and which rises sixty feet above the level of the low water- mark; the area on the top of the head is 300 feet long on the east side, and 520 feet long on the west side; it is 260 feet broad, and contains rather more than two English acres. A strong rampart, twenty feet high, built with old planks, cased with stone and lime, appears to have sur- rounded it. The south and east sides are pretty entire, but the north and west sides are much demolished. On the east side of this height, and about forty-five feet below the summit, there is an area 650 feet long, and 150 feet wide, containing upwards of three English acres. The space occupied by the ruins of the ramparts which have fallen down is not included in this measure- ment. It appears to have been surrounded with a very strong rampart of stone which is now much demolished. On the south and land side of these fortified areas, two deep ditches are carried across the neck of this promontory. These ditches were, in 1792, when sur- veyed by Chapman, from sixteen to twenty feet deep, from twelve to sixteen feet wide at the bottom, and from forty to fifty feet wide at the top. The bottoms of the ditches were then twenty-five feet above the level of the sea at high water, and are considerably higher than the extensive tract of the flat ground on the land side. The ditches, ramparts, rocks, and waste ground, which surround the areas above described, contain upwards of five English acres. As the Romans had other stations in the north be- sides those noticed, they did not always in returning to the south follow the course of the Iter just described. They had another Iter, the first station of which from the Burgh-head was the Varis of Richard, now Torres, a distance of eight statute miles. It is singular that 43 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the Gaelic name of Forres is Faris, which corresponds so< exactly with Varis as to make it certain that Forres and the Varis of Richard are the same. Besides, when the streets of Forres were dug up in order to repair the pave- ment, there were discovered several Roman coins, and a Roman medallion in soft metal, which resembled a mixture of lead and tin. From Forres the Iter pro- ceeds to the Spey at Cromdale, a distance of nineteen statute miles. Proceeding southward, along Stratha- ven to Loch-Bulg, to the junction of the Dee and Cluny, the Roman troops arrived at the commodious ford in that vicinity, a distance of twenty-eight statute miles from the Spey. Richard does not mention the names of the two next stations, the first of which is supposed to have been at the height which separates the waters that flow in opposite directions to the Dee and the Tay, and which consequently divides Aberdeenshire from Perthshire; and the next, it is conjectured, was at the confluence of the Shee with the Lornty water, the Iter taking its course along Glen-beg and Glen-shee. The whole extent of this route amounts to nearly forty statute miles. A variety of circumstances indicate the middle station to have been at Inchtuthel, which still exhibits a remarkable camp of Roman construction, on a height that forms the northern bank of the Tay. From the last mentioned station to Orrea the distance is nine itinerary miles, and the real and corresponding distance from Inchtuthel along the banks of the Tay to ancient Bertha is about ten miles. At this central station, which has always been a military position of great importance, the Iter joined the one already de- scribed, and proceeded southward by the former route to the wall of Antoninus. The Romans have left many remarkable monuments of their power and greatness, of which the most promi- 44 THE ROMAN PERIOD nent are their highways, which, commencing at the gates of Rome itself, traversed the whole extent of their mighty empire. These highways, by facilitating the communication between the capital and the most dis- tant provinces, were of the utmost importance, in many respects, to the maintenance of the Roman authority in places remote from the seat of government. The whole of Britain was intersected by these roads, and one of them may be traced into the very interior of Vespasiana, where it afforded a passage to the Roman armies, kept up the communication between the sta- tions, and thereby checked the Caledonian Clans. This road issued from the wall of Antoninus and passed through Camelon, the Roman port on the Carron, and pushing straight forward, according to the Roman cus- tom, across the Carron, it pursued its course by Torwood house, Pleanmuir, Bannockburn, St. Ninians, and by the west side of the Castlehill of Stirling, to the Forth, on the south side of which, near Kildean, there are traces of its remains. It here passed the Forth and stretched forward to Alauna, which was situated on the river Allan, about a mile above its confluence with the Forth, and which, as it is twelve miles from the opening in the Roman wall, agrees with the distance in the Iter. From thence the road went along Strathallan, and at the end of ten miles came to the Lindum of Richard's Itinerary, the well-known station at Ardoch. The road after passing on the east side of Ardoch ascends the moor of Orchil to the post at Kemp's Castle, which it passes within a few yards on the east. The road from Kemp's hill descends the moor to the station of Hierna at Strageth, from which it immediately crosses the river Ern. After the passage of the Ern the road turns to the right, and passes on the north side of Inverpeffery, in an easterly direction, and proceeds nearly in a straight 45 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND line across the moor of Cask, and, continuing its course through the plantations of Gask, it passes the Roman camp on the right. At the distance of two miles farther on, where the plantations of Gask terminate, this great road passes another small post on the left. From this position the road proceeded forward in a northeast direc- tion to the station at Orrea, which is situated on the west bank of the Tay at the present confluence of the- Almond with that noble river. Having crossed the Tay, by means of the wooden bridge, the Roman road proceeded up the east side of the river, and passed through the centre of the camp at Grassy-walls. From this position the remains of the road are distinctly visible for a mile up to Gellyhead, on the west of which it passed and went on by Inner- buist, to Nether-Collin, where it again becomes appar- ent, and continues distinct to the eye for two miles and a half, passing on to Drichmuir and Byres. From thence, the road stretched forward in a northeast direction, passing between Blairhead and Gilwell to Woodhead;. and thence pushing on by Newbigging and Gallowhill on the right, it descends Leyston-moor; and passing that village it proceeds forward to the Roman camp at Cupar Angus, about eleven and a half miles from Orrea. The camp at Cupar appears to have been an equilateral quadrangle of four hundred yards, fortified by two strong ramparts and large ditches, which still remain on the east and south sides, and a part on the north side, but. the west side has been obliterated by the plough. From Cupar the road took a northeast direction towards Reedie, in the parish of Airly. On the south of this hamlet the vestiges of the road again appear, and for more than half a mile the ancient road forms the modern way. The Roman road now points towards Kirriemuir, by which it appears to have passed in its course to the- 46 THE ROMAN PERIOD Roman camp at Battledikes. After traversing this camp, the road continued its course in an east-northeast direction for several miles along the valley on the south side of the river South-Esk, which it probably passed near the site of Black-mill, below Esk-mount. From this passage it went across the moor of Brechin, where vestiges of it appear pointing to Keithock, and at this place there are the remains of a Roman camp which are now known by the name of Wardikes. Beyond this camp on the north, the Roman road has been seldom or never seen. In the popular tradition this road is called the Lang Causeway, and is supposed to have extended northward through Perthshire and Forfarshire, and even through Kincardineshire to Stonehaven. About two miles northeast from the Roman station at Fordun, and between it and the well-known camp at Urie, there are the traces, as it crosses a small hill, of an artificial road, which is popularly called the Picts' Road. It would appear that there are traces of Roman roads even farther north. Between the rivers Don and Urie in Aberdeenshire, on the eastern side of Bennachee, there exists an ancient road known in the country by the name of the Maiden Causeway, a name by which some of the Roman roads in the north of England are distinguished. This proceeds from Bennachee whereon there was a hill-fort, more than the distance of a mile into the woods of Pitodrie, when it disappears; it is paved with stones and is about fourteen feet wide. Still farther north, in the track of the Iter, as it crosses be- tween the two stations of Varis and Tuessis, from Forres to the ford of Cromdale on the Spey, there has been long known a road of very ancient construction, leading along the course of the Iter for several miles through the hills, and pointing to Cromdale, where the Romans must have forded the Spey. Various traces of very ancient 47 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND roads are still to be seen along the track of the Iter, between the distant station of Tuessis and Tamea, by Corgarf and through Braemar. The tradition of the people in Strathdee and Braemar supports the idea that there are remains of Roman roads which traverse the country between the Don and the Dee. Certain it is, that there are obvious traces of ancient roads which cross the wild districts between Strathdon and Strath- dee, though it is impossible to ascertain where or by whom such ancient roads were constructed, in such directions, throughout such a country. After the Iters and the roads, the Roman stations to the north of Antoninus' wall come next to be noticed. The stations or forts along the course of the wall have been already described. The first we meet with is on the eastern base of Dunearn hill, about a mile from Burntisland, which was very distinctly marked in the days of Sibbald, who mentions it, and speaks of the prce- torium as a square of a hundred yards diameter, called by the country people the Tournament, where many Roman medals have been found. This area was sur- rounded by a rampart of stones, and lower down in the face of the hill another wall encompassed the whole. On the north there was another fort on the summit of Bonie hill. There was also a Roman camp at Loch Ore, supposed to be that in which the ninth legion of Agricola was attacked by the Horestii. Several Roman an- tiquities have been found in drains cut under this camp. Near Ardargie on the May water, at the defile of the Ochil hills, was a small Roman post which served as a central communication between the stations on the Forth and in Strathern, the great scene of the Roman operations. The Romans had also a station at Hallyards, in the parish of Tulliebole. Ardoch, on the east side of Knaigwater, the scene of 48 THE ROMAN PERIOD many Roman operations, from the great battle between Galgacus and Agricola, till the final abdication of the Roman power, was a very important post. As this station was the principal inlet into the interior of Cale- donia, the Romans were particularly anxious in fortify- ing so advantageous a position. The remains of camps of various sizes are still to be seen. The first and largest was erected by Agricola, in his campaign of eighty-four. The next in size is on the west of Agricola's camp, and includes within its intrenchments part of the former. The third and last was constructed on the south side of the largest, and comprehends a part of it. These two last mentioned camps must have been successively formed after Agricola's recall. A strong fort surrounded by five or six fosses and ramparts was erected on the south side of the last of these camps, opposite to the bridge over Knaigwater; its area was about 500 feet long and 450 broad, being nearly of a square form. The next station was the Hierna of Richard, about six miles northeast from Ardoch, on the south side of the river Ern. This station was placed on an eminence and commanded the middle part of Strathern, lying between the Ochil hills on the south, and the river Almond on the north. On the moor of Cask, between the stations of Hierna and Orrea, there were two Roman posts designed probably to protect the Roman road from the incursions of the tribes on either side of that communication. But being situated at the confluence of the Almond with the Tay, Orrea was the most im- portant station, as it commanded the eastern part of Strathern, the banks of the Tay, and the country be- tween this river and the Siedlaw hills. So much with regard to the principal stations which commanded the central country between the Forth and Tay; and so much for the posts south of the Grampian 49 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND range, which seem to have served the double purpose of commanding the Low countries, between that range and the eastern sea, and of protecting the Lowlands from the incursions of the Northern Caledonians. But as these might be insufficient for the latter purpose, every pass of the Grampian hills had its fortress. We shall now point out the fortresses by which the passes of the Grampians were guarded throughout the extent of Perthshire. The first of these on the southeast was placed on a tongue of land formed by the junction of the rivers Strath-gartney and Strath-ire, the two sources of the Teith. This station was near Bochastle, about fifteen miles west-southwest from Ardoch, where the remains of a camp may still be seen, and it guarded two important passes into the west country, the one leading up the valley of Strath-ire, near Braidalbane, and thence into Argyle; the other leading along the north side of Loch Venachor, Loch Achray, and Loch Katrine, through Strath-gartney, into Dumbartonshire. The next pas- sage to the north from the western Highlands, through the Grampian range into Perthshire, is along the north side of Loch Ern into Strathern. This defile was guarded by a double camp at Dalgenross, near the confluence of the Ruchel with the Ern. These camps commanded western districts of Strathern and also guarded the pas- sage along the Loch. This station is about eight miles northwest from Ardoch. Another important station was at East Findoch, at the south side of the Almond. It guarded the only practicable passage through the mountains northward, to an extent of thirty miles from east to west. The Roman camp here was placed on a high ground, defended by water on two sides, and by a morass with a steep bank on the other two sides. It was about 180 paces long, and eighty broad, and was 50 THE ROMAN PERIOD surrounded by a strong earthen wall, part of which still remains, and was near twelve feet thick. The trenches are still entire, and in some places six feet deep. On the eastern side of Strathern, and between it and the Forth, are the remains of Roman posts; and at Ardargie a Roman camp was established with the design, it is supposed, of guarding the passage through the Ochil hills, by the valley of May water. Another camp at Gleneagles secured the passage of the same hills through Glendevon. With the design of guarding the narrow, but useful passage from the middle Highlands, westward through Glenlyon to Argyle, the Romans fixed a post at Fortingal, about sixteen miles northwest from the station at East Findoch. Another station was placed at Inchtuthel, upon an eminence on the north bank of the Tay, about fifteen miles from the camp at Findoch. In conjunction with another station, about four miles eastward upon the Haugh of Hallhole on the western side of the river Isla, the post of Inchtuthel commanded the whole of Stormont and every road which could lead the Caledonians down from Athole and Glen- Shee into the countries below. Such are the posts which commanded the passes of the Grampians, throughout the whole extent of Perthshire. A different line of posts became necessary to secure Angus and the Mearns. At Cupar Angus on the east side of the Isla about seven miles east from Inchtuthel stood a Roman camp, of a square form, of twenty acres within the ramparts. It appears to have been an equilateral quadrangle of four hundred yards, fortified with two strong ramparts and large ditches, which are still to be seen on the eastern and southern sides. This camp commanded the passage down Strathmore be- tween the Siedlaw hills, on the southeast, and the Isla on the northwest. On Campmoor, little more than a mile 51 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND south from Cupar Angus, appear the remains of another Roman fort. The great camp of Battledikes stood about eighteen miles northeast from Cupar Angus, being obvi- ously placed there to guard the passage from the High- lands through Glen-esk,and Glen-Prosen. From the camp at Battledikes, about eleven and a half miles northeast was a Roman camp, the remains of which may still be traced near the mansion house of Keithock. This camp is known by the name of Wardikes. In the interior of Forfarshire about eight miles south-southeast frem the camp of Battledikes and fourteen miles south-south- west from that of Wardikes stood a Roman camp now called Harefaulds. This camp commanded a large ex- tent of Angus. The country below the Siedlaw hills on the north side of the estuary of Tay was guarded by a Roman camp near Invergourie, which had a communication on the northeast with the camp at Harefaulds. This camp, which was about two hundred yards square, and fortified with a high rampart and a spacious ditch, stood about two miles west from Dundee. At Fordun, about twelve miles northeast from Wardikes, stood another Roman station. The site of this camp was near the mansion house of Fordun, and about a mile south- southeast of the church of Fordun. The Luther water, which is here only a rivulet, ran formerly through the west side of this camp, and on the east side of it there are several springs. This camp is called by the country people the West Camp. From Fordun, northeast, eleven miles, and from the passage of the Dee at Mary- Culter, south, six miles, stood the great camp called Raedikes, upon the estate of Urie. This station com- manded the narrow country, between the northeast of the Grampian hills and the sea, as well as the angle of land lying between the Dee and the sea. From 52 THE ROMAN PERIOD Fordun, about four and a half miles west-northwest, there was a Roman post at Clattering bridge, now known by the name of the Green castle, which guarded the passage through the Grampian mountains, by the Cairn-o-mount into the valley of the Mearns. This post stood on a precipitous bank, on the northeast of the Clatteringburn. The area of the part within the ramparts measures 137 feet, nine inches, at the north- east end, and at the southwest, eighty-two feet, six inches; the length is 262 feet, six inches. The ditch is thirty-seven feet, six inches broad at the bottom, and the rampart which is wholly of earth is in height, from the bottom of the ditch, fifty-one feet, nine inches. The commanding station at Glenmailen, with its subsidiary posts, protected and secured the country from the Dee to the Moray Frith, comprehending the territories of the Taixali and the Vacomagi. From the details which have been given of the Roman roads, and the different stations selected by the Ro- mans for securing and defending their conquests in the north, some idea may be formed of the skill with which the conquerors of the world carried on their warlike operations in the most distant countries, and of that prudent foresight by which they guarded against the many contingencies inseparable from a state of war or insecure and dubious repose. It will be evident to those who are well acquainted with the different lines and stations of the Roman posts before enumerated, that at the time we are treating of it was not possible to select situations better fitted to answer the ends which the Romans had in view, than those we have pointed out. It seems quite unnecessary and unprofitable to enter into any discussion of the historical controversy, as to whether these roads and stations were constructed in the same age, or in other 53 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND words, whether the Roman remains in North Britain are to be attributed altogether to Agricola. The fact is, there do not appear sufficient data in history to arrive at any certain conclusions. Yet it seems scarcely pos- sible, as some antiquarians have maintained, that all these roads and important stations could have been finished during the period of Agricola's government in Britain. It seems probable that many roads were made and stations erected during the able administra- tions of Lollius Urbicus. Whether the Romans had grown weary of keeping up such an extended line of posts in North Britain, or found it impracticable any longer to retain them, or that they required to concentrate their strength in the south, they resolved to abandon their conquests to the north of Antoninus' wall, and, accordingly in the year 170, they evacuated the whole of the country beyond that wall without molestation. The Caledonians being thus relieved from the pres- ence of their formidable foes, now prepared for offensive operations, but it was not until the year 185, during the misgovernment of Commodus, that their hostility began to alarm the Romans. Some of their tribes passed the wall that year and pillaged the country, but they were driven back by Ulpius Marcellus. A few years after- ward the Caledonians renewed the attack, but were kept in check by Virius Lupus, with whom they entered into a treaty in the year 200. But this treaty was not of long continuance, for the Caledonians again took the field in 207. These proceedings made Severus liasten from Rome to Britain in the following year, on hearing of whose arrival the tribes sent deputies to him to negotiate for peace, but the emperor, who was of a war- like disposition and fond of military glory, declined to entertain any proposals. 54 THE ROMAN PERIOD After making the necessary preparations, Severus began his march in the year 209 to the north. He traversed the whole of North Britain from the wall of Antoninus to the very extremity of the island with an immense army. The Caledonians avoided coming to a general engagement with him, but kept up an inces- sant and harassing warfare on all sides. He, however, brought them to sue for peace; but the honours of this campaign were dearly earned, for fifty thousand of the Romans fell a prey to the attacks of the Caledonians, to fatigue, and the severity of the climate. The Cale- donians soon disregarded the treaty which they had entered into with Severus, which conduct so irritated him that he gave orders to renew the war, and to spare neither age nor sex; but his son, Caracalla, to whom the execution of these orders was entrusted, was more intent on plotting against his father and brother than in executing the revengeful mandate of the dying em- peror, whose demise took place at York on the 4th February, 211, in the sixty-sixth year of his age, and in the third year of his administration in Britain. It was not consistent with the policy by which Cara- calla was actuated, to continue a war with the Cale- donians, for the scene of his ambition lay in Rome, to which he made hasty preparations to depart on the death of his father. He therefore entered into a treaty with the Caledonians by which he gave up the terri- tories surrendered by them to his father, and abandoned the forts erected by him hi their fastnesses. The whole country north of the wall of Antoninus appears in fact to have been given up to the undisputed possession of the Caledonians, and we hear of no more incursions by them till the reign of the Emperor Constans, who came to Britain in the year 306 to repel the Caledonians and other Picts. 3 Their incursions were repelled by 55 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the Roman legions under Constantius, and they re- mained quiet till about the year 343, when they again entered the territories of the provincial Britons, but they were compelled, it is said, again to retreat by Constans. Although these successive inroads had been always repelled by the superior power and discipline of the Ro- mans, the Caledonians of the fourth century no longer considered them in the formidable light they had been viewed by their ancestors, and their genius for war improving every time they came in hostile contact with their enemies, they meditated the design of expelling the intruders altogether from the soil of North Britain. The wars which the Romans had to sustain against the Persians in the east, and against the Germans on the frontiers of Gaul, favoured their plan, and having formed a treaty with the Scots they, in conjunction with their new allies, invaded the Roman territories and com- mitted many depredations. Julian, who commanded the Roman army on the Rhine, despatched Lupi- cinus, an able military commander, to defend the province against the Scots and Picts, but he does not appear to have been very successful in opposing them. As the Scots appear for the first time upon the stage, it will be necessary to give some account of them. The question which has been so keenly discussed between the antiquaries of Scotland and Ireland whether the Scots were indigenous Britons, or merely emigrants from Ireland, has long been set at rest, as it has been demonstrated beyond the possibility of doubt that they came originally from that island. But, on the other hand, it has been equally demonstrated that the Scots of Ireland, or the Scoticce gentes of Porphyry, as a branch of the great Celtic family, passed over at a very 56 THE ROMAN PERIOD early period from the shores of Britain into Ireland, and before the beginning of the fifth century had given their name to the whole of that country. Their name, however, does not occur in the Roman annals till the year 360. All the authors of this age agree that Ireland was the proper country of the Scots, and that they in- vaded the Roman territories in North Britain about the last mentioned epoch. Ammianus, in the year 367, mentions the Scots as an erratic or wandering people, who carried on a predatory system of warfare, and other contemporary authors speak of them as a transmarine people who came from Ireland, their native island. Of this fact there can be no doubt, and it is equally certain that Ireland was the ancient Scotica of the Romans. It was not till the year 1020 that the name of Scotia was given to North Britain. The Picts or Caledonians and Scots being joined by another ally the Attacots, a warlike clan which had settled on the shores of Dumbarton and Cowal, from the opposite coast of Ireland made another attack on the Roman possessions in Britain in the year 364, on the accession of Valentinian. It required all the valour and skill of the celebrated Theodosius, who was sent to Britain in the year 367, to repel this aggression and to repair the great ravages committed by the invaders. Having been successful in clearing the whole country between the walls, he made it the fifth province in Britain, to which Valentinian gave the name of Valentia in honour of Valens, whom he had associated with him in the empire. The successes of Theodosius ensured a peaceful pause of nearly thirty years, but in 398 the Caledonians or Picts and Scots again renewed their attacks, which they continued from time to time. At length, in the year 446, during the consulate of .<Estius, the Romans, unable any longer to keep their possessions 57 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND in North Britain, intimated to the Provincials that they could give them no further assistance in resisting the Scots and Picts, abdicated the government, and left them to protect themselves. 58 CHAPTER II GAELIC POETRY No question of literary controversy has been discussed with greater acrimony and pertinacity than that regard- ing the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, and never did Saxon and Gael exhibit more bitter enmity in mortal strife than has been shown by the knights of the pen in their different rencontres in the field of antiquarian research. We have no wish to revive a controversy, in regard to which it is scarcely possible to add anything new, but holding as we do the authenticity of these poems, we shall adduce briefly the arguments in their favour as well as those which have been urged against them, leaving to the reader, whose mind has not yet been made up upon the subject, to draw his own con- clusions. But it seems really to be a matter of little importance whether the poems from which Macpherson translated or any part of them were actually composed by Ossian or not, or at what period the poet flourished, whether in the third, or fourth, or fifth centuries. It is, we apprehend, quite sufficient to show that these poems are of high antiquity, and that they belong to a very remote era. One of the most remarkable traits in the character of the Celtic tribes was their strong attachment to poetry, by means of which they not only animated themselves to battle, but braved death with joy in the hope of meeting again their brave ancestors who had fallen in battle. Either unacquainted with letters, or 59 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND despising them as unworthy of a warlike race, the ancient Celts set apart the Bards, whose business it was to compose and recite in verse the military actions of their heroes or chiefs, and by the same means they sought to preserve the memory of their laws, religion, and historical annals, which would otherwise have been buried in oblivion. " When the Celts," says Poso- donius, "go to war, they take with them associates whom they call parasites who sing their praises, either in public assemblies, or to those who wish to hear them privately. These poets are called bards." It is well known that the Druids to whom the education of the Celtic youth was committed spent many years in com- mitting to memory the compositions of the bards. This peculiarity was not confined to any one of the Celtic nations, but prevailed universally among them. The bards, according to Buchanan, were held in great honour both among the Gauls and Britons, and he observes that their function and name remained in his time amongst all those nations which used the old British tongue. " They," he adds, " compose poems, and those not inelegant, which the rhapsodists recite, either to the better sort, or to the vulgar, who are very desirous to hear them, and sometimes they sing them to musical instruments." And in speaking of the inhabitants of the Hebrides or Western islands, he says that they sing poems " not inelegant, containing commonly the eu- logies of valiant men; and their bards usually treat of no other subject." Thus the existence of bards from the most remote period among the Celtic population of Scotland is un- doubted, and some idea of their importance may be formed from the following observations from the elegant and classical pen of a distinguished scholar. " Although it is well known that the Scots had always more strength 60 GAELIC POETRY and industry to perform great deeds, than care to have them published to the world; yet, in ancient times, they had, and held in great esteem, their own Homers and Maros whom they named bards. These recited the achievements of their brave warriors in heroic measures, adapted to the musical notes of the harp; with these they roused the minds of those present to the glory of virtue, and transmitted patterns of fortitude to posterity. This order of men still exists among the Welsh and ancient Scots (the Highlanders), and they still retain that name (bards) in their native language." 4 So formidable were they considered in rousing the passions against the tyranny of a foreign yoke, by their strains, that Edward I. adopted the cruel policy of extirpating the order of the Welsh bards about the end of the thir- teenth century. They continued, however, to exist in England down to the reign of Queen Elizabeth, " till which period," as Doctor Graham observes, " there was a regular public competition of harpers maintained; and there is, at this day, as Mr. Pennant informs us, in his tour through Wales, a silver harp, awarded dur- ing that period, in the possession of the Mostyn family." The bardic order was preserved longer in Scotland than in any other country, for it was not till the year 1726, when Niel Macvuirich, the last of the bards, died, that the race became extinct. He and his ancestors had for several generations exercised the office of bard in the family of Clan Ranald. Every great Highland family had their bard, whose principal business was to amuse the chieftain and his friends by reciting at enter- tainments the immense stores of poetry which he had hoarded up in his memory, besides which he also preserved the genealogy, and recorded the achieve- ments of the family which were thus traditionally and 61 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND successively handed down from generation to genera- tion. At what particular period of time the Caledonian bards began to reduce their compositions to writing, cannot now be ascertained, but it seems to be pretty evident that no such practice existed in the Ossianic age, nor, indeed, for several centuries afterward. To oral tradition, therefore, as conveyed through the race of bards, are we indebted for the precious remains of Gaelic song which have reached us. But although the bards were the depositories of the muses, there were not wanting many who deljghted to store their mem- ories with the political effusions of the bards, and to re- cite them to their friends. The late Captain John Macdonald of Breakish, a native of the island of Skye, declared upon oath, at the age of seventy-eight, that he could repeat, when a boy between twelve and fifteen years of age (about the year 1740), from one to two hundred Gaelic poems differing in length and in number of verses, and that he had learned them from an old man about eighty years of age, who sung them for years to his father, when he went to bed at night, and in the spring and winter before he rose in the morning. The late Reverend Doctor Stuart, minister of Luss, knew an old Highlander in the isle of Skye, who repeated to him for three successive days, and during several hours each day, without hesitation, and with the utmost rapidity many thousand lines of ancient poetry, and would have continued his repetitions much longer, if the doctor had required him to do so. A curious illustration of the attachment of the High- landers to their ancient poetry and the preference given to it above all other literary pursuits, is given by Bishop Carsewell, in his preface to the translation into Gaelic of the forms of prayer and administration of the sac- 62 GAELIC POETRY raments and catechism of the Christian religion, as used in the reformed church of Scotland, printed at Edinburgh in the year 1567, a work little known and extremely scarce. " But there is," says Bishop Carse- well, " one great disadvantage, which we the Gael of Scotland and Ireland labour under, beyond the rest of the world, that our Gaelic language has never yet been printed, as the language of every other race of men has been. And we labour under a disadvantage which is still greater than every other disadvantage, that we have not the Holy Bible printed in Gaelic, as it has been printed in Latin and in English, and in every other language; and also, that we have never yet had any account printed of the antiquities of our country, or of our ancestors, for though we have some accounts of the Gael of Scotland and Ireland, contained in manu- scripts and in the genealogies of bards and historiog- raphers, yet there is great labour in writing them over with the hand, whereas the work which is printed, be it ever so great, is speedily finished. And great is the blindness and sinful darkness and ignorance and evil design of such as teach, and write, and cultivate the Gaelic language that, with the view of obtaining for themselves the vain rewards of this world, they are more desirous and more accustomed to compose vain, tempting, lying, worldly histories, concerning the Tuatha de dannan, and concerning warriors and cham- pions, and Fingal the son of Cumhall with his heroes, and concerning many others which I will not at present enumerate or mention, in order to maintain or reprove, than to write and teach, and maintain the faithful words of God, and of the perfect way of truth." This attachment continued unabated till about the middle of the last century, when the measures of government produced a change in many of the ancient habits. " Be- 63 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND fore this period, the recitation of that poetry (the ancient poetry of the Highlands) was the universal amusement of every winter fireside." That such a vast collection of Gaelic poetry, as that which has reached us, should have been handed down by oral tradition may appear extraordinary to those who have not sufficiently reflected on the power of the human memory, when applied and confined to the acquisition of those sublime and lofty effusions of poetic fancy hi which the Highlanders took such delight, as to super- sede all other mental pursuits. The mere force of habit in persons who, from their childhood, have been ac- customed to hear recitals often repeated, which de- lighted them, will make an indelible impression, not confined to the ideas suggested, or to the images which float in the imagination, as reflected from the mirror of the mind, but extending to the very words themselves. It was not, therefore, without good reason that the Highland Society observe in their Report, already quoted, " that the power of memory in persons accus- tomed from their infancy to such repetitions, and who are unable to assist or to injure it by writing, must not be judged of by any ideas or any experience possessed by those who have only seen its exercise in ordinary life. Instances of such miraculous powers of memory, as they may be styled by us, are known hi most coun- tries where the want of writing, like the want of a sense, gives an almost supernatural force to those by which that privation is supplied." Mr. Wood, in his essay on the original writings and genius of Homer, remarks, with great justice, that we cannot, in this age of dic- tionaries and other technical aids to memory, judge what her use and powers were at a time when all a man could know was all he could remember, and when the memory was loaded with nothing either useless or un- 64 GAELIC POETRY intelligible. The Arabs, who are in the habit of amusing their hours of leisure by telling and listening to tales, will remember them though very long, and rehearse them with great fidelity after one hearing. Besides these and other reasons in favour of the oral transmission of the Gaelic poetry, to which we shall afterward allude, one more important consideration, as far as we can ascertain, has been entirely overlooked, namely, that to ensure a correct transmission of the poems in question, through the medium of oral tradition, it was by no means necessary that one or more individ- uals should be able to recite all of them. To secure their existence it was only necessary that particular persons should be able to recite with accuracy such parts as they might have committed to memory so as to communicate them to others. Doubtless there would be great differ- ences in the powers of acquisition and retention in differ- ent persons, but we have no idea that one person could carry in his memory the whole poetry of Ossian. We know, indeed, a gentleman who says that if the works of Homer were lost, he could almost supply the Iliad and Odyssey from memory; but, although we are dis- posed to be rather sceptical on this subject, we have no doubt that if the poems of Burns ceased to exist on paper, every word could be supplied by thousands from mere memory. Besides these arguments in support of oral tradition, the following reasons are given by the Right Honourable Sir John Sinclair, Baronet, in support of the preserva- tion of the poems of Ossian through that medium: 1, The beauty of the poetry, of which it is impossible to form an adequate idea from any translation hitherto given; 2, The partiality which the Highlanders naturally entertained for songs, which contained the traditional history of the greatest heroes, in the ancient annals 65 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND of their country; 3, It is to be observed that the bards were for a long time a distinct class or caste, whose whole business it was, either to compose verses them- selves, or to recite the poetry of others; 4, Though the poems were not composed in rhyme, yet there was an emphasis laid upon particular syllables of a particular sound in every line, which greatly assisted the memory; 5, The verses were set to particular music, by which the remembrance of the words was greatly facilitated; and, 6, The Highlanders, at their festivals and other public meetings, acted the poems of Ossian, and on such oc- casions, those who could repeat the greatest number of verses were liberally rewarded. What also tended greatly to preserve the recollection of the Gaelic poetry, was a practice followed by the Highlanders of going by turns to each others' houses in every village during the winter season, and reciting or hearing recited or sung the poems of Ossian, and also poems and songs as- cribed to other bards. The first person who made a collection of Gaelic poetry was the Reverend John Farquharson, a Jesuit mission- ary in Strathglass, about the year 1745, of which collec- tion some interesting information will be afterward given. Alexander Macdonald, a schoolmaster at Ardna- murchan, was the next who made a collection of Gaelic poetry, which was published in Gaelic at Edinburgh, in the year 1751. In an English preface Macdonald assigns two reasons for the publication: 1, That it may raise a desire to learn something of the Gaelic language, which he states may be found to contain in its bosom the charms of poetry and rhetoric; and, 2, To bespeak the favour of the public to a great collection of poems, in all kinds of poetry that have been in use among the most cultivated nations, with a translation into English verse, and critical observations on the nature of such 66 GAELIC POETRY writings to render the work useful to those who do not understand the Gaelic language. Jerome Stone, a native of the county of Fife, and who had acquired a knowledge of the Gaelic language during some years' residence in Dunkeld, where he kept a school, was the third person who collected several of the ancient poems of the Highlands, and was the first person who especially called public attention to the beauty of these poems in a letter which he addressed " To the Author of the Scots Magazine," accompanied with a translation in rhyme of one of them, both of which ap- peared in that periodical in January, 1756. As Stone was only twenty or twenty-one years of age when he made this translation, and being besides in an obscure situation, and with few opportunities of cultivating his native genius or talents, he could not be supposed capable of giving a very happy or impressive translation of Gaelic poetry, especially when fettered with rhyme, which, even in the ablest hands, and those most accus- tomed to the construction of English verse, affords always an unfaithful, and generally an imperfect tran- script of ancient poetry. His place of residence, too, was unfavourable either to the acquirement of pure Gaelic, or the collection of the best copies of the ancient poetry of the Highlands. The next and most noted collector of Gaelic poetry was the celebrated James Macpherson, whose spirited translations, or forgeries, as some writers maintain, have consigned his name to immortality in the literary world. The circumstances which gave rise to this col- lection were as follows: In the summer of 1759, John Home, the author of " Douglas," having met Mr. Mac- pherson at Moffat, learned from him in conversation that he was possessed of some pieces of ancient Gaelic poetry in the original, one or two of which Mr. Home 67 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND expressed a desire to see an English translation of as a specimen. Accordingly Mr. Macpherson furnished Mr. Home with two fragments which the latter very much admired, and which he sometime thereafter showed to the celebrated Dr. Hugh Blair and other literary friends, as valuable curiosities. The doctor, as well as Mr. Home, was so struck with the high spirit of poetry which breathed in them, that he immediately requested an interview with Macpherson, and having learned from him that, besides the few pieces of Gaelic poetry which he had hi his possession, greater and more considerable poems of the same strain were to be found in the High- lands, and were well known to the natives there, Doctor Blair urged him to translate the other pieces which he had, and bring them to him, promising that he, Doctor Blair, would take care to circulate and bring them out to the public, to whom they well deserved to be made known. Doctor Blair informs us that Macpherson was extremely reluctant and averse to comply with his request, saying, that no translation of his could do jus- tice to the spirit and force of the original, and that be- sides injuring them by translation, he apprehended that they would be very ill relished by the public as being so different from the strain of modern ideas and of modern, correct, and polished poetry. It was not till after much and repeated importunity on the part of Doctor Blair, and after he had represented to Macpherson the injustice he would do to his native country by keep- ing concealed those hidden treasures, which, he was assured, if brought forth, would serve to enrich the whole learned world, that he was at length prevailed upon to translate and bring to the reverend doctor the several poetical pieces which he had in his possession. These were published in a small volume at Edinburgh in the year 1760, under the title of " Fragments of 68 GAELIC POETRY Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands of Scotland," to which Doctor Blair prefixed an introduction. " These ' Fragments/ " says Doctor Blair, " drew much atten- tion and excited, among all persons of taste and letters, an earnest desire to recover, if possible, all those con- siderable remains of Gaelic poetry which were said still to exist in the Highlands." Several eminent literary men of the day were ex- tremely desirous to have these literary treasures im- mediately collected, and Mr. Macpherson was spoken to on the subject and urged by several persons to under- take the search, but he showed extreme unwillingness to engage in it, representing to them his diffidence of success and of public approbation, and the difficulty and ex- pensiveness of such a search as was requisite throughout the remote Highlands. At length, to encourage him to undertake it, a meeting was brought together at a dinner, to which Mr. Macpherson was invited, and Doctor Blair, from whom this account is taken, says he had a chief hand in convoking there many of the first persons of rank and taste in Edinburgh. Patrick, Lord Elibank, took a great lead at that meeting, to- gether with Principal Robertson the historian, Mr. John Home, Dr. Adam Ferguson, and many others, who were all very zealous for forwarding the proposed discovery, and after ^much conversation with Mr. Mac- pherson, it was agreed that he should disengage him- self from all other employment, and set out without delay on this poetical mission through the Highlands; but, as his circumstances did not admit of his engaging in this at his own expense, that the whole expense he might incur was to be defrayed by a collection raised from the meeting with the aid of such other friends as they might choose to apply to for that purpose. When this meeting was about breaking up, Mr. Macpherson 69 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND followed Doctor Blair to the door and told him, that from the spirit of the meeting, he now, for the first time, entertained the hope that the undertaking to which he had so often prompted him would be attended with success; that hitherto he had imagined they were merely romantic ideas which the doctor had held out to him, but now he saw them likely to be realized, and should endeavour to exert himself so as to give satis- faction to all his friends. Under this patronage Mr. Macpherson set out on his literary journey to the Highlands in the year 1760, and during his tour he transmitted from time to time to Doctor Blair and his other literary friends, accounts of his progress in collecting, from many different and re- mote parts, all the remains he could find of ancient Gaelic poetry, either in writing or by oral tradition. In the course of his journey he wrote two letters to the Rev. James M'Lagan, formerly minister of Amalrie, afterward of Blair in Athole, which, as they throw much light on the subject of these poems, and particularly on the much contested question, whether Macpherson ever collected any manuscripts, are given entire. The first of these letters is dated from Ruthven, 27th October, 1760, and is as follows : "REV. Sm: You perhaps have heard, that I am employed to make a collection of the ancient poetry in the Gaelic. I have already traversed most of the Isles, and gathered all worth notice in that quarter. I intend a journey to Mull and the coast of Argyle, to enlarge my collection. " By letters from Edinburgh, as well as gentlemen of your acquaintance, I am informed that you have a good collection of poems of the kind I want. It would be, therefore, very obliging should you transmit me them 70 GAELIC POETRY as soon as convenient, that my book might be rendered more complete, and more for the honour of our old poetry. Traditions are uncertain ; poetry delivered down from memory must lose considerably; and it is a matter of surprise to me, how we have now any of the beauties of our ancient Gaelic poetry remaining. " Your collection, I am informed, is pure, as you have taken pains to restore the style. I shall not make any apology for this trouble, as it will be for the honour of our ancestors, how many of their pieces of genius will be brought to light. I have met with a number of old manuscripts in my travels; the poetical part of them I have endeavoured to secure. " If any of that kind falls within your hearing, I beg it of you, to have them in sight. " I shall probably do myself the pleasure of waiting on you before I return to Edinburgh. Your correspond- ence in the meantime will be very agreeable. You will excuse this trouble from an entire stranger, and believe me, etc. (Signed) "JAMES M'PHERSON. " Inform me of what you can of the tradition of the poems: direct to me by Edinburgh and Ruthven, en- closed to Mr. Mcpherson, postmaster here." The second letter is dated from Edinburgh, 16th January, 1761, and runs thus: "REV. SIR: I was favoured with your letter enclosing the Gaelic poems, for which I hold myself extremely obliged to you. Duan a Ghairibh is less poet- ical and more obscure than Teantach mor na Feine. The last is far from being a bad poem, were it complete, and is particularly valuable for the ancient manners 71 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND it contains. I shall reckon myself much obliged to you for any other pieces you can send me. It is true I have the most of them from other hands, but the misfortune is, that I find none expert in the Irish orthography, so that an obscure poem is rendered doubly so, by their uncouth way of spelling. It would have given me real pleasure to have got your letter before I left the High- lands, as in that case I would have done myself the pleasure of waiting on you; but I do not despair but something may soon cast up that may bring about an interview, as I have some thoughts of making a jaunt to Perthshire. Be that, however, as it will, I shall be always glad of your correspondence; and hope that you will give me all convenient assistance in my present undertaking. " I have been lucky enough to lay my hands on a pretty complete poem, and truly epic, concerning Fingal. The antiquity of it is easily ascertained, and it is not only superior to anything in that language, but reck- oned not inferior to the more polite performances of other nations in that way. I have some thoughts of publishing the original, if it will not clog the work too much. " I shall always be ready to acknowledge the obliga- tion you have laid upon me, and promise I will not be ungrateful for further favours. It would give me pleasure to know how I can serve you, as I am, etc. (Signed) " JAMES M'PHERSON." The districts through which Mr. Macpherson travelled were chiefly in the northwestern parts of Inverness- shire, the Isle of Skye, and some of the adjoining islands; " places, from their remoteness and state of manners at that period, most likely to afford, in a pure and genu- ine state, the ancient traditionary tales and poems, of 72 GAELIC POETRY which the recital then formed, as the Committee has before stated, the favourite amusement of the long and idle winter evenings of the Highlanders." Before re- turning to Edinburgh Mr. Macpherson paid a visit to an early acquaintance, the Rev. Andrew Gallie, then missionary at Badenoch, who was a proficient in the Gaelic language, to whom, and to Mr. Macpherson of Strathmashie in Badenoch, he exhibited the poems and manuscripts which he had collected during his tour. " They consisted," says Mr. Gallie, " of several volumes, small octavo, or rather large duodecimo, in the Gaelic language and characters, being the poems of Ossian, and other ancient bards. I remember perfectly," con- tinues the reverend gentleman, " that many of those volumes were, at the close, said to have been collected by Paul Macmhuirich, Bard Clanraonuil, and about the beginning of the fourteenth century. Mr. Macpherson and I were of opinion, that though the bard collected them, yet that they must have been writ by an ecclesi- astic, for the characters and spelling were most beauti- ful and correct. Every poem had its first letter of its first word most elegantly flourished and gilded, some red, some yellow, some blue, and some green: the material writ on seemed to be a limber yet coarse and dark vellum: the volumes were bound in strong parch- ment; Mr. Macpherson had them from Clan Ronald." Mr. Macpherson, on the occasion of his visit to Mr. Gallie, availed himself of the able assistance of that gentleman, and of his namesake Mr. Macpherson of Strathmashie, in collating the different editions or copies of the poems he had collected, and in translating difficult passages and obsolete words. On his return to Edinburgh from his poetical tour, Mr. Macpherson took lodgings in a house at the head of Blackfriars' Wynd, immediately below that possessed 73 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND by his chief patron, Doctor Blair, and immediately set about translating from the Gaelic into English. He soon afterward, viz., in 1761, published one volume in quarto, containing " Fingal," an epic poem, in six books, and some other detached pieces of a similar kind. He published, in the year 1762, another epic poem called " Temora," of one of the books or divisions of which he annexed the original Gaelic, being the only specimen he ever published, though at his death he left 1000 to de- fray the expense of publication of the originals of the whole of his translations, with directions to his executors for carrying that purpose into effect. Various causes con- tributed to delay their appearance till the year 1807, when they were published under the sanction of the Highland Society of London. Such is the brief history of Macpherson's connection with those remarkable poems, which have excited the admiration of the literary world, and given occasion to a controversy which, for nearly half a century, agitated the breasts of philologists and antiquaries, and which even now does not seem to be set at rest, for we find that, in a modern publication, a writer of great pene- tration and extensive erudition thus speaks of these poems: "Some fragments of the songs of the Scottish Highlanders, of very uncertain antiquity, appear to have fallen into the hands of Macpherson, a young man of no mean genius, unacquainted with the higher criticism ap- plied to the genuineness of ancient writings, and who was too much a stranger to the studious world to have learnt those refinements which extend probity to literature as well as to property. Elated by the praise not unjustly bestowed on some of these fragments, instead of ensuring a general assent to them by a publication in their natural state, he unhappily applied his talents for skilful imita- tion to complete poetical works in a style similar to the 74 GAELIC POETRY fragments, and to work them into the unsuitable shape of epic and dramatic poems. " He was not aware of the impossibility of poems, preserved only by tradition, being intelligible after thirteen centuries to readers who knew only the language of their own times; and he did not perceive the extrava- gance of peopling the Caledonian mountains, in the fourth century, with a race of men so generous and merciful, so gallant, so mild, and so magnanimous, that the most ingenious romances of the age of chivalry could not have ventured to represent a single hero as on a level with their common virtues. He did not con- sider the prodigious absurdity of inserting as it were a people thus advanced in moral civilization between the Britons, ignorant and savage as they are painted by Caesar, and the Highlanders, fierce and rude as they are presented by the first accounts of the chroniclers of the twelfth and fourteenth centuries. Even the better part of the Scots were, in the latter period, thus spo- ken of: 'In Scotland ye shall find no man lightly of honour or gentleness: they be like wylde and savage people.' The great historian who made the annals of Scotland a part of European literature, had sufficiently warned his countrymen against such faults, by the decisive observation that their forefathers were un- acquainted with the art of writing, which alone preserves language from total change, and great events from ob- livion. Macpherson was encouraged to overleap these and many other improbabilities by youth, talent, and applause: perhaps he did not at first distinctly present to his mind the permanence of the deception. It is more probable, and it is a supposition countenanced by many circumstances, that after enjoying the pleasure of duping so many critics, he intended one day to claim the poems as his own; but if he had such a design, con- 75 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND siderable obstacles to its execution arose around him. He was loaded with so much praise that he seemed bound in honour to his admirers not to desert them. The support of his own country appeared to render adherence to those poems, which Scotland inconsider- ately sanctioned, a sort of national obligation. Ex- asperated, on the other hand, by the, perhaps, unduly vehement and sometimes very coarse attacks made on him, he was unwilling to surrender to such opponents. He involved himself at last so deeply as to leave him no decent retreat. Since the keen and searching publica- tion of Mr. Laing, these poems have fallen in reputation, as they lost the character of genuineness. They had been admired by all the nations, and by all the men of genius in Europe. The last incident in their story is perhaps the most remarkable. In an Italian version, which softened their defects, and rendered their charac- teristic qualities faint, they formed almost the whole poetical library of Napoleon, a man who, whatever may be finally thought of him in other respects, must be owned to be, by the transcendent vigour of his powers, entitled to a place in the first class of human minds. No other imposture in literary history approaches them in the splendour of their course." A sentence so severe and condemnatory, proceeding from an author of such acknowledged ability as Sir James Mackintosh, and who we presume had fully considered the question, must have considerable effect, but we apprehend it is quite possible that minds of the first order may, even in a purely literary question, be led astray by prepossessions. That Macpherson en- deavoured to complete some of the poetical fragments he collected, in his translation, may, we think, be fairly admitted; and, indeed, the Committee of the Highland Society, with that candour which distinguished their 76 GAELIC POETRY investigation in answering the second question to which their inquiries were directed, namely, how far the col- lection of poetry published by Mr. Macpherson was genuine, considered that point as rather difficult to answer decisively. The Committee reported, that they were inclined to believe that Mr. Macpherson " was in use to supply chasms, and to give connection, by in- serting passages which he did not find, and to add what he conceived to be dignity and delicacy to the original composition, by striking out passages, by softening incidents, by refining the language, in short, by changing what he considered as too simple or too rude for a modern ear, and elevating what in his opinion was below the standard of good poetry. To what degree, however, he exercised these liberties it is impossible for the Com- mittee to determine. The advantages he possessed, which the Committee began its inquiries too late to enjoy, of collecting from the oral recitation of a number of persons, now no more, a very great number of the same poems, on the same subjects, and then collating those different copies or editions, if they may be so called, rejecting what was spurious or corrupted in one copy, and adopting from another something more genu- ine and excellent in its place, afforded him an oppor- tunity of putting together what might fairly enough be called an original whole, of much more beauty, and with much fewer blemishes, than the Committee be- lieves it now possible for any person, or combination of persons, to obtain." But this admission, when all the other circumstances which are urged in favour of the authenticity of these poems are considered, assuredly does not detract in any material degree from their gen- uineness; more particularly when the history of Mr. Farquharson's collection of Gaelic poetry, shortly to be noticed, is taken into account, a collection with 77 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which the Committee were totally unacquainted, till it was brought to light by the patriotic exertions of Sir John Sinclair, seconded by those of the late highly respected Bishop Cameron. While we readily subscribe to the position as to the impossibility of poems, preserved only by tradition, being intelligible after thirteen centuries to readers who knew only the language of their own times, we cannot agree to the assumption that the Gaelic of the Highlands, as it was spoken in the Ossianic era, has been so materially altered or corrupted as to be unintelligible to the Gaelic population of the present age. That some alterations in the language may have taken place there can be no doubt; but, in an original and purely idio- matic language, these must have been necessarily few and unimportant. No fair analogy can be drawn be- tween an original language, as the Gaelic unquestionably is, and the modern tongues of Europe, all, or most of which, can be deduced from their origin and traced through their various changes and modifications; but who can detect any such in the Gaelic? " A life of St. Patrick," says the Rev. Dr. John Smith, " written in the sixth century, in Irish verse, is still intelligible to an Irishman, and a poem of near one hundred verses, of which I have a copy, and which was composed about the same time by St. Columba, though for ages past little known or repeated, will be understood, except a few words, by an ordinary Highlander." And if such be the case as to poetical compositions, which had lain dormant for an indefinite length of time, can we sup- pose that those handed down uninterruptedly from father to son through a long succession of generations could by any possibility have become unintelligible? ' The preservation of any language from total change " does not, we apprehend, depend upon the art of writing, 78 GAELIC POETRY alone, but rather upon its construction and character, and on its being kept quite apart from foreign admixture. Owing to the latter circumstance all the European lan- guages, the Gaelic alone excepted, have undergone a total change, notwithstanding the art of writing. In connection with this fact it may be observed that the purest Gaelic is spoken by the unlettered natives of Mull and Skye, and the remote parts of Argyleshire and Inverness-shire, and it has been truly observed that " an unlettered Highlander will feel and detect a violation of the idiom of his language more readily than his countryman who has read Homer and Virgil." The high state of refinement and moral civilization depicted in the poems of Ossian affords no solid objection against their authenticity. The same mode of reasoning might with great plausibility be urged against the gen- uineness of the Iliad and Odyssey. Fiction is essential to the character of a true poet, and we need not be surprised that one so imaginative and sublime as Ossian should people his native glens with beings of a superior order. We have already alluded to a collection of Gaelic poems made by Mr. Farquharson, which unfortu- nately does not now exist. The history of this col- lection being very interesting, as throwing a flood of light on the Ossianic question, and supporting, in an essential manner, the views of the defenders of the au- thenticity of Ossian's poems, we hope we shall be excused for drawing the attention of the reader to the documents which detail the circumstances relating to that collec- tion. Sir John Sinclair, Baronet, having accidentally heard that Doctor Cameron, the Catholic Bishop of Edinburgh, could furnish some interesting information regarding the authenticity of Ossian, with that praise- worthy zeal which has ever distinguished the honourable 79 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND baronet, addressed the following card to the bishop, dated Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, 7th February, 1806. " Sir John Sinclair presents his compliments to Bishop Cameron. Has accidentally heard that the bishop can throw some new light upon the controversy regard- ing the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, and takes the liberty, therefore, of requesting his attention to the subjoined queries. " 1. Does the bishop ever recollect to have seen or heard of any ancient Gaelic manuscripts in France? " 2. Did they contain any of the poems of Ossian, and what were they? " 3. Did the bishop compare them with Macpherson's translation, and did it seem to be a just one? "4. Can the bishop recollect any other person or persons, now living, who saw those manuscripts? " 5. Where did he see them; and is there any chance of those being yet recovered, or copies of them ob- tained? " To which application, Bishop Cameron returned for answer, that he had taken the necessary steps for ac- quiring and laying before Sir John the most satisfactory account he could of a manuscript Gaelic collection, which contained a very considerable part of what was afterward translated and published by Macpherson - that the collector had died in Scotland some years before that the manuscript had been lost in France ; but there was at least one alive, who, being much pleased with the translation, although he did not understand the original, saw them frequently compared, and had the manuscript in his hands and that Sir John's queries, and whatever could throw any light on the subject, would be attended to. In answer to a second application from Sir John, the bishop regretted that the information he had hitherto 80 GAELIC POETRY received, concerning the manuscript of Ossian's poems, was not so complete as he expected and that the MS. was irreparably lost that the Rev. James Mac- gillivray declared, that he remembered the manuscript perfectly well; that it was in folio, large paper, about three inches thick, written close, and in a small letter - the whole in Mr. John Farquharson's handwriting that Mr. Macgillivray went to Douay College, in 1763, where Mr. Farquharson was at the time Prefect of Studies that Gaelic poetry and the contents of the MS. were frequently brought upon the carpet that about 1766, Mr. Glendonning of Parton sent Macpher- son's translation of the poems of Ossian to Mr. Farquhar- son that the attention of every one was then drawn to the MS. in proportion to the impression made upon their minds by the translation. Mr. Macgillivray saw them collated hundreds of times that the common complaint was, that the translation fell very far short of the energy and beauty of the original and Mr. Macgillivray was convinced that the MS. contained all the poems translated by Macpherson. 1. Because he recollected very distinctly having heard Mr. Farquhar- son say, after having read the translation, that he had all these poems in his collection. 2. Because he never saw him at a loss to find the original in the MS. when any observation occurred upon any passage in the translation - that he knew the poems of Fingal and Temora were of the number, for he saw the greater part of both collated with the translation, and he heard Mr. Far- quharson often regret that Macpherson had not found or published several poems contained in his MS., and of no less merit than any of those laid before the public - that Mr. Farquharson came to Scotland in 1773, leaving his MS. in the Scots' College of Douay, where Mr. Macgillivray had occasion to see it frequently during 81 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND his stay there till 1775; but, he said, it had got into the hands of young men who did not understand the Gaelic, and was much tattered, and that several leaves had been torn out that the late principal of that college, who was then only a student there, remembered very well having seen the leaves of the mutilated manuscript torn out to kindle the fire in their stove. Bishop Cameron believed the collection was made be- fore the middle of last century. He was personally acquainted with Mr. Farquharson from 1773 to 1780, and the poems were often the subject of their conversa- tion, that whatever opinion the literary world might form of them, it was not easy to foresee that Macpherson should be seriously believed to be the author of them, and it was hoped he would publish the originals. In that persuasion perhaps few Highlanders would have copied them, for the value of any trifling variation. Bishop Cameron afterward acquainted Sir John, that he considered the testimony of Mr. Macgillivray, on the subject of Mr. Farquharson's collection of Gaelic poems, as of the greatest weight with him, for many reasons. The impression made upon Mr. Macgillivray by the translation enhanced his veneration for the original. The manuscript appeared to him in a very different light from that in which it was seen by those who had from their infancy been accustomed to hear the con- tents of it recited or sung by illiterate men, for the entertainment of the lower classes of society that the account then given by Mr. Macgillivray was the same which he gave him thirty years ago, for he, Bishop Cameron, took notes of it then, and had fre- quently repeated it since on his authority. On receipt of the communication alluded to, Sir John drew up the following queries which he transmitted to Bishop Cameron to be communicated to his friends. 82 GAELIC POETRY " Queries for the Rev. Dr. John Chisholm, and for the Rev. James Macgillivray, to be answered separately. " 1. Did you recollect a manuscript of Gaelic poetry, at the College of Douay in Flanders? "2. At what time do you recollect receiving that manuscript? " 3. Was it an ancient or modern manuscript? " 4. By whom was it supposed to be written, and at what period? " 5. Did it contain other poems, and of equal or inferior merit? "6. To whom were the poems ascribed? " 7. Did you compare the Celtic manuscript with Macpherson's translation, and what similarity existed between them? "8. To what extent did you make the comparison, or was it made in your presence? " 9. Were the Gaelic scholars at Douay perfectly sat- isfied with the result of the comparison? " 10. Was there any communication of the circum- stance made to any in Great Britain, so far as your knowledge goes? "11. How long did the manuscript remain at the College of Douay? " 12. What was the cause of the loss thereof? " 13. Is there any chance of recovering a copy, or any part of it? "14. Are there any other persons in Scotland who saw the manuscript, and can certify the comparison above- mentioned? "15. Did you ever hear of any other manuscript of Ossian, either in France, or in Rome? " 16. Do you entertain any doubt respecting the authenticity of the poems of Ossian, and that Mr. Mac- pherson was merely the translator thereof? 83 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND " 17. Do you think that his translation did justice to the original?" To these queries Bishop Chisholm replied as follows: - 1. That he recollected the manuscript in question. 2. That he remembered having seen it in the hands of the Rev. Mr. John Farquharson, a Jesuit, in the years 1766- 67, etc., but could not then read it. 3. Mr. Farquharson wrote it all when (4) missionary in Strathglass, before and after the year 1745. 5. It contained, as Mr. Far- quharson said, Gaelic poems not inferior to either Virgil or Homer's poems, according to his judgment, called (6) by him Ossian's poems. 7. The Bishop did not, but Mr. Farquharson did, compare the Celtic manuscripts with Macpherson's translation, and he affirmed the trans- lation was inferior to the original, and (8) he said so of the whole of Mr. James Macpherson's translation. 9. There was not one scholar at Douay, that could read the Gaelic in his, Bishop Chisholm's, time. 10. Mrs. Frazer of Culbokie spoke of the manuscript to him on his return to Scotland, and told him she had taught Mr. Farquharson to read the Gaelic on his arrival in Scotland, in which his progress in a short time exceeded her own. She likewise had a large collection, of which she read some passages to him, when he could scarcely understand the Gaelic, and which escaped his memory since; the manuscript was in fine large Irish characters, written by Mr. Peter Macdonel, chaplain to Lord Mac- donel of Glengary, after the Restoration, who had taught Mrs. Frazer, and made such a good Gaelic scholar of her: she called this collection a Bolg Solair, that Mr. Frazer of Culbokie, her grandson, could give no account of it. 11. The manuscript was at Douay, 1777, when the bishop left that place. 12. That he could not say what might have been done with it since; it was then much damaged; that Mr. John Farquharson, in Elgin, formerly 84 GAELIC POETRY prefect of studies, and at the time of the French Revolu- tion, Principal of the Scotch College, was the only one that could give any account of it, if he remembered it. 13. The bishop feared that neither it nor any part of it could be recovered. 14. Mr. Farquharson, Mr. James Macgillivray, Mr. Ronald Macdonald, and the bishop had seen it. The 15th query was answered in the negative. 16. The bishop never doubted the authen- ticity of Ossian's poems, and never thought Macpherson anything but a translator. 17. By what he had seen of the original he believed it was impossible for Mac- pherson to do justice to it; that it was likewise his opinion, he had it in his power to do more justice to it than he had done, and was convinced he had not taken up the meaning of the original in some passages. The bishop added that Mr. Macgillivray was a great pro- ficient in poetry, and was much admired for his taste, that he never saw one more stubborn and stiff in denying the merit of Highland poets, till Macpherson's transla- tion appeared, which, when compared with Mr. Far- quharson's collection, made a convert of him ; and none then admired Ossian's more than he. Mr. Macgillivray in answering Sir John's communica- tion stated, that Mr. Farquharson was a man of an excellent taste in polite literature, and a great admirer of the ancient poets. When he went to Strathglass, where he lived upwards of thirty years, he knew very little of the Erse language, and was obliged to begin a serious study of it; that he was greatly assisted in this study by that Mrs. Frazer of Culbokie, who passed for the best Erse scholar in that part of the country. From this lady he learnt the language grammatically, and to read and write it; she likewise gave him a high opin- ion of Erse poetry, by the many excellent compositions in that language, with which she made him acquainted; 85 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND that in consequence of this, when he became master of the language he collected every thing of the kind he could meet with, and of such collections was formed the MS. in question. He first saw the MS. in the possession of Mr. Far- quharson, when he was a student in the Scotch College of Douay, and afterward at Dinant in the county of Liege, Mr. Farquharson being then prefect of studies. That it remained in Mr. Farquharson's possession from the year 1763, when Mr. M'G. went first to the college, until 1773, when he and Mr. Farquharson left Dinant, the latter to return to Scotland, and the former to prosecute his studies at Douay. That Mr. Farquharson, on his return to Scotland, passed by Douay where he left his MS. That Mr. M'G. saw it there till the summer of 1775 when he left Douay, and was at that time in a much worse condition than he had ever seen it before: that it had got into the hands of the students, none of whom, he believed, could read it: that it was much tat- tered in many places, and many leaves had been torn out. That from the manner in which it was then treated, very little care had been taken of it afterward; but allowing that what remained of it had been carefully kept, it must have perished with everything else in that house, during the French Revolution. That the MS. was a large folio about three inches thick, and entirely in Mr. Farquharson's own handwriting. As it consisted wholly of poems collected by himself, it was written pretty close, so that it must have contained a great deal. Mr. M'G. could not say positively how Mr. Farquharson had collected the poems; that many of them certainly must have been obtained from hearing them recited, and he had a sort of remembrance that Mr. F. frequently mentioned his having got a great many of them from Mrs. Frazer, and indeed it must have 86 GAELIC POETRY been so, as she first gave him a relish for Gaelic poetry, by the fine pieces with which she made him acquainted. That Mr. M'G. could say nothing at all of the particular pieces which Mr. F. got from her, or from any other person, as he did not remember to have heard him specify anything of the kind. Mr. Macgillivray farther ob- serves, that in the year 1766 or 1767, Mr. Farquharson first saw Mr. Macpherson's translation of Ossian. It was sent to him by Mr. Glendonning of Parton. That he remembered perfectly well his receiving it, although he did not recollect the exact time, but Mr. Farquharson said, when he had read it, that he had all the translated poems in his collection. That Mr. M'G. had an hundred times seen him turning over his folio, when he read the translation, and comparing it with the Erse; and he could positively say, that he saw him in this manner go through the whole poems of Fingal and Temora. Although he could not speak so precisely of his com- paring the other poems in the translation with his manuscript, Mr. M'G. was convinced he had them, as he spoke in general of his having all the translated poems; and he never heard him mention that any poem in the translation was wanting in his collection; whereas he has often heard him say that there were many pieces in it, as good as any that had been published, and regret that the translator had not found them, or had not translated them. Mr. M'G. does not remember to have ever heard Mr. F. tax Mr. Macpherson's translation with deviating essentially from the sense of the original, which he would not have failed to have done, had he found grounds for it; for he very frequently complained that it did not come up to the strength of the original, and to convince his friends of this, he used to repeat the Erse expressions, and to translate them literally, com- paring them \vith Macpherson's. This difference, how- 87 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND ever, he seemed to ascribe rather to the nature of the two languages, than to any inaccuracy or infidelity in the translator. With regard to the time at which Mr. Farquharson collected the poems he had, it was evident that it must have been during his residence in Strathglass, as he brought them from Scotland to Douay with him. Mr. M'G. did not know the very year he came to Douay, but he was sure it was before 1760, and he always understood that Mr. F. had collected them long before that time. When Mr. Farquharson first received Macpherson's translation, Mr. M'G. was studying poetry and rhetoric, and he thought that nothing could equal the beauties of the ancient poets, whom he was then reading. He says that he used with a sort of indignation to hear Mr. Farquharson say that there were Erse poems equal in merit to the pieces of the ancients, whom he so much admired ; but when he saw the translation, he began to think his indignation unjust, and consequently paid more attention to the comparison which Mr. F. made of it with his own collection than he would otherwise have done. " This is all the information," says Mr. Macgillivray, " I can give relative to Mr. Farquharson's manuscript; I have often regretted, since disputes began to run so high about the authority of Ossian's poems, that I did not ask Mr. Farquharson a thousand questions about them, which I did not think of then, and to which, I am sure, he could have given me the most satisfactory answers; at any rate, what I have so often heard from him has left on my mind so full a conviction of the authenticity of the poems, or at least that they are no forgery of Macpherson's, that I could never since hear the thing called in question, without the greatest indignation. It is certain that Mr. Farquharson 88 GAELIC POETRY made his collection before Macpherson's time, and I am sure that he never heard of Macpherson till he saw his book. I sincerely wish that persons of more judgment, and more reflection than I had at the time, had had the same opportunities of seeing and hearing what I did, and of receiving from Mr. Farquharson, whose known character was sincerity, the information he could have given them; in that case, I believe, they would have been convinced themselves, and I make no doubt but they would have been the means of convincing the most incredulous." Bishop Cameron, after sending the communications alluded to, to Sir John Sinclair, informed him that besides Doctor Chisholm and Mr. Macgillivray, two other persons had been named, who were students in the Scots College of Douay, in the year 1773, when Mr. Farquharson, returning to Scotland, from Dinant, spent some days amongst his countrymen, and left his manuscript with them that the first of these two, afterward president of the college, and then residing in Elgin, had declared to the bishop, that he remembered the MS., that no one in the college could read it, and that he had seen the leaves torn out of it, as long as it lasted, to light the fire. That the second, the Rev. Ronald Macdonald, residing in Uist, declared, that he had a clear remembrance of having seen the manuscript. But it was after his return to Scotland in 1780, after he had acquired a more perfect knowledge of the Gaelic, when he discovered that the poems of Ossian were not so common, or so fresh in the memory of his countrymen, when the public began to de- spair of Mr. Macpherson's publishing his original text, and when some people doubted, or affected to doubt, the existence of an original, it was then Mr. Macdonald formed some idea of the value of the manuscript, and 89 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND often expressed his regret that he had not brought it to Scotland, for he was confident no objection would have been made to his taking it. The following extracts from the bishop's last letter to Sir John are curious and interesting : " From the year 1775, when he came to Scotland, to 1780, when I went to Spain, where I resided more than twenty years, Mr. Macgillivray and I lived in a habit of intimacy and friendship. Our interviews were fre- quent, and we were not strangers to Macpherson's translation of the poems of Ossian. It was then Mr. Macgillivray gave me the first account of the manu- script. The Rev. John Farquharson, to whom it be- longed, lived at that time with his nephew, Mr. Far- quharson of Inverey, at Balmorral. Amongst many others who visited in that respectable family, it is probable Lord Fife may still recollect the venerable old man, and bear testimony of the amiable candour and simplicity of his manners. I knew him, and he confirmed to me all that my friend, Mr. Macgillivray, had told me. He added, that when he was called to Douay, I believe about the year 1753, he had left an- other collection of Gaelic poems in Braemar. He told me by whom and in what manner it had been destroyed ; and made many humourous and just observations, on the different points of view, in which different people may place the same object. He seemed to think that similar and even fuller collections might still be formed with little trouble. He was not sensible of the rapid, the incredible, the total change, which had taken place in the Highlands of Scotland, in the course of a few years. ' The poems of Ossian were sometimes the subject of my conversation with my friends in Spain. I wished to see them in a Spanish dress. The experiment was made; but the public reception of the specimen did 90 GAELIC POETRY not encourage the translator to continue his labour. The author of a very popular work on the origin, prog- ress, and present state of literature, had confidently adopted the opinion of those, who thought, or called Mr. Macpherson, the author, not the translator, of the poems; and the opinion became common amongst our literati. This gave me occasion to communicate to my friends the grounds of my opinion. To that circum- stance, I ascribe my having retained a distinct memory of what I have now related; and upon that account alone, I have taken the liberty of troubling you with this perhaps no less unimportant than tedious relation. " The Right Rev. Dr. Eneas Chisholm informs me, that the late Mr. Archibald Frazer, major in the Glen- gary Fencibles, son of Mrs. Frazer, Culbokie, so re- nowned for her Gaelic learning, assured him that his mother's manuscripts had been carried to America. Her son, Simon, emigrated thither with his family, in 1773. He had received a classical education, and cul- tivated the taste which he had inherited for Gaelic poetry. When the American war broke out, Simon declared himself for the mother country. He became an officer in the British service, was taken prisoner, and thrown into a dungeon, where he was said to have been very cruelly used, and where he died ; I understood two of his sons, William and Angus, are now in Canada, but I can learn nothing of the fate of his manuscripts." In consequence of the allusion by Bishop Chisholm to the Rev. John Farquharson, who had been president of the Scotch College at Douay, as knowing something of his namesake's collection, Sir John Sinclair requested that he would send him all the particulars he could possibly recollect as to the MS. alluded to, and his opinion regarding the authenticity of Ossian. He also wished to be informed if there was a chance of recovering the 91 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND whole, or any part of the Douay MS., or if any copy of any part of it was extant. To which request Mr. Far- quharson replied, that he perfectly recollected to have seen in 1775 and 1776 the MS. mentioned, but being no Gaelic scholar, all that he could attest was his having repeatedly heard the compiler assert it contained va- rious Gaelic songs, a few fragments of modern com- position, but chiefly extracts of Ossian's poems, collected during his long residence in Strathglass, previous to the rebellion of Forty-five; and to have seen him compare the same with Macpherson's translation, and exclaiming frequently at its inaccuracy; that the MS. might be about three inches thick, large paper, scarce stitched, some leaves torn, others lost, and of course little heeded r as the Highland Society's and Sir John Sinclair's pa- triotic exertions were not then thought of. What its subsequent fate had been, he could not positively say, for, thrown carelessly amongst other papers into a corner of the college archives, no care whatever had been taken of it, being in a manner en feuilles detachees, in a hand- writing scarcely legible, and of a nature wholly unin- telligible. The documents referred to establish beyond the possibility of doubt that long before the name of Mac- pherson was known to the literary world, a collection of manuscript poems in Gaelic did exist which passed as the poems of Ossian, and that they were considered by competent judges as not inferior to the poems of Virgil or Homer; they demonstrate the absurdity of the charge that Macpherson was the author of the poems he published, and annihilate the rash and unfounded assertion of the colossus of English literature, Dr. Samuel Johnson, that " the poems of Ossian never ex- isted in any other form than that which we have seen," in Macpherson's translation, and " that the editor or 92 GAELIC POETRY author never could show the original, nor can it be shown by any other." Whether the celebrated lexi- cographer, had he lived to witness the publication of the Gaelic manuscripts under the sanction of the High- land Society of London, would have changed his opin- ion is a question which cannot be solved, nor is it neces- sary to speculate on the subject. Every unprejudiced mind must now be satisfied of the authenticity of these poems, and may adopt " the pleasing supposition that Fingal lived and that Ossian sung." The most formidable objection against the genuine- ness of the poems of Ossian, and which has been urged with great plausibility, is the absence of all allusions to religion. " Religion," says Mr. Laing, " was avoided as a dangerous topic that might lead to detection. The gods and rites of the Caledonians were unknown. From the danger, however, or the difficulty of inventing a religious mythology, the author has created a savage society of refined atheists who believe in ghosts, but not in deities, and are either ignorant of, or indifferent to, the existence of superior powers. In adopting Rousseau's visions concerning the perfection of the savage state, which was then so popular, Macpherson, solicitous only for proper machinery, has rendered the Highlanders a race of unheard-of infidels, who believed in no gods but the ghosts of their fathers." It is certainly not easy to account for this total want of religious allusions, for to suppose that at the era in question the Caledonians were entirely destitute of religious impressions, or in other words, a nation of atheists, is contraiy to the whole history of the human race. That the druidical superstition was the religion of all the Celtic tribes is placed beyond all doubt, and that the influence and power of imperial Rome gradu- ally weakened and finally extinguished that system ia 93 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND equally certain. The extinction of that superstition took place long before the supposed era of Ossian, but to imagine that all recollection of the ancient belief had also been obliterated, is to suppose what is far from probable. Indeed, the well-known traditions- respecting the disputes between the Druids, and Trathal and Cormac, ancestors to Fingal, in consequence of the attempts of the former to deprive Trenmor, grandfather to Fingal, of the office of vergobretus or chief magis- trate, which was hereditary in his family, show plainly that Ossian could not be ignorant of the tenets of the Druids; and as the Fingalian race from the circumstance noticed were the enemies of the Druids, the silence of Ossian respecting them and their tenets is not much to be wondered at. It cannot, however, be denied that this silence has puzzled the defenders of the poems very much, and many reasons have been given to account for it. The reason assigned by Doctor Graham of Aberfoil in his valuable essay appears to be the most plausible. " We are informed," says he, " by the most respectable writers of antiquity, that the Celtic hierarchy was divided into several classes, to each of which its own particular department was assigned. The Druids, by the consent of all, constitute the highest class; the Bards seem to have been the next in rank; and the Eubages the lowest. The higher mysteries of religion, and probably, also, the science of the occult powers of nature, which they had discovered, constituted the department of the Druids. To the Bards, again, it is allowed by all, were committed the celebration of the heroic achievements of their warriors, and the public record of the history of the nation. But we know, that in every polity which depends upon mystery, as that of the Druids undoubtedly did, the inferior orders are sedulously 94 GAELIC POETRY prevented from encroaching on the pale of those im- mediately above them, by the mysteries which con- stitute their peculiar badge. Is it not probable, then, that the Bards were expressly prohibited from encroach- ing upon the province of their superiors by intermingling religion, if they had any knowledge of its mysteries, which it is likely they had not, with the secular objects of their song? Thus, then, we seem warranted to con- clude upon this subject, by the time that Ossian flour- ished, the higher order of this hierarchy had been de- stroyed; and in all probability the peculiar mysteries which they taught had perished along with them; and even if any traces of them remained, such is the force of habit, and the veneration which men entertain for the institutions in which they have been educated, that it is no wonder the Bards religiously forbore to tread on ground from which they had at all times by the most awful sanctions been excluded. In this view of the subject, it would seem that the silence which prevails in these poems, with regard to the higher mysteries of religion, instead of furnishing an argument against their authenticity, affords a strong presumption of their having been composed at the very time, in the very circumstances, and by the very persons to whom they have been attributed." But it is unnecessary to enlarge further on this sub- ject. The publication of the original poems, so long withheld from the world by the unaccountable conduct of Macpherson, has settled the question of their authen- ticity, and there are few persons now so sceptical as not to be convinced that these poems are of very high antiquity. 95 CHAPTER III THE PICTISH PERIOD WE now enter upon what is called the Pictish period of Caledonian history, which embraces a course of 397 years, viz., from the date of the Roman abdication of the government of North Britain, in the year 446, to the subversion of the Pictish government in the year 843. This interval of time is distinguished by two important events in the history of North Britain - the arrival and settlements of the Dalriads, or Scoto- Irish, on the shores of Argyle, in the year 503, and the introduction of Christianity by St. Columba into the Highlands, in 563, both of which events will be fully noticed in the sequel. Many conjectures have been hazarded as to the deri- vation of the term Pict, to which there seems no neces- sity to revert here; but of this there can be no doubt, that the Picts were Celts, and that they were no other than a part of the race of the ancient Caledonians under another name. Of the twenty-one distinct tribes which inhabited North Britain, at the time of the Roman invasion, as we have observed, the most powerful was that of the Caledonii, or Caledonians, who inhabited the whole of the interior country, from the ridge of moun- tains which separates Inverness and Perth on the south to the range of hills that forms the forest of Balnagowan in Ross, on the north, comprehending all the middle parts of Inverness and of Ross; but in process of time the whole population of North Britain were designated 96 THE PICTISH PERIOD by the generic appellation of Caledonians, though occa- sionally distinguished by some classic writers, proceed- ing on fanciful notions, by the various names of Maeatae, Dicaledones, Vecturiones, and Picti. At the time of the Roman abdication, the Caledonians, or Picts, were under the sway of a chieftain, named Drust, the son of Erp, who, for his prowess in his various expeditions against the Roman provincials, has been honoured by the Irish annalists, with the name of " Drust of the hundred battles." History, however, has not done him justice, for it has left little concerning him on record. In fact, little is known of the Pictish history for upwards of one hundred years, immediately after the Roman abdication, although some ancient chroni- cles afford us lists of the Pictish kings, or princes, a chronological table of whom, according to the best authorities, is here subjoined: A CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE PICTISH KINGS Series THE1E NAMES AND FILIATIONS Date of Acces- sion Duration of Reigns Period of their Deaths 1 DRUST, the son of Erp 451 2 TALORC, the son of Aniel 451 4 years 455 3 NACTON MORBET, the sou of Erp 455 25 480 4 DREST Gurthiumoch . 480 30 610 5 GALANAU ETELICH 510 12 622 6 DADRE8T ... . 522 1 623 7 BREST, the son of Girom 523 1 524 DREST, the son of Wdrest, with the former .... 524 6 629 DREST, the son of Girom, alone . 629 6 634 8 GARTNACH, the son of Girom 634 7 641 9 GEALTRAIM, the son of Girom . 641 1 542 10 TALORG, the son of Muircholaich 642 11 663 11 DREST, the son of Munait . 653 1 654 12 GALAM, with Aleph . 654 1 655 GALAM, with Bridei 565 1 556 13 BRIDEI, the son of Mailcon 556 30 686 14 GARTNAICH, the son of Domelch 586 11 697 15 NECTU, the nephew of Verb 697 20 617 16 CINEOCU, the son of Luthrin 617 19 636 97 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Series THEIB NAMES AND FILIATIONS Date of Acces- sion Duration of Reigns Period of their Deaths 17 GARNARD, the son of Wid . 636 4 640 18 BRIDEI, the son of Wid 640 5 645 19 TAI/OHC, their brother 645 12 657 20 TALLORCAN, the son of Enfret . 657 4 661 21 GARTNAIT, the son of Donnel 661 6* 667 22 BREST, his brother 667 7 674 23 BRIDEI, the son of Bill 674 21 695 24 TARAN, the son of Entifidich 695 4 699 25 BRIDEI, the son of Dereli . 699 11 710 26 NECHTON, the son of Dereli 710 15 725 27 BREST, and Elpin 725 5 730 28 UNGUS, the son of Urguis . 730 31 761 29 BRIDEI, the son of Urguis . 761 2 763 30 CINIOD, the son of Wredech 763 12 775 31 ELPIN, the son of Bridei 775 3* 779 32 BREST, the son of Talorgan 779 5 784 33 TALORGAN, the son of Ungus 784 2* 786 34 CANAUL, the son of Tarla . ^ . 786 5 791 35 CONSTANTIN, the son of Urguis . 791 30 821 36 UNGUS (Hungus), the son of Ur- guis 821 12 ' 833 37 BREST, the son of Constantine , and Talorgan, the son of Wthoil 833 3 836 38 UUEN, the son of Ungus 836 3 839 39 WRAD, the son of Bargoit . 839 3 4 842 40 BRED 842 1 ' 843 But before proceeding further with the Pictish history, it is proper, in the order of time, to give some details concerning the settlement of the Dalriads, and the introduction of Christianity among the Highland Clans. And with regard to the first of these events we beg to refer the reader to the short notice given of the Scots in the first chapter, which will serve as a preliminary to what follows. The Scoto-Irish, a branch of the great Celtic family, are generally supposed to have found their way into Ireland from the western shores of North Britain, and to have established themselves at a very early period in the Irish Ulladh, the Ulster of modern times. They appear to have been divided into two tribes or clans, 98 THE PICTISH PERIOD the most powerful of which was called Cruithne or Cruithnich, a term said to mean eaters of corn or wheat, from the tribe being addicted to agricultural pursuits. The quarrels between these two rival tribes were fre- quent, and grew to such a height of violence, about the middle of the third century, as to call for the interference of Cormac, who then ruled as king of Ireland; and it is said that Cairbre-Riada, the general and cousin of King Cormac, conquered a territory in the northeast corner of Ireland, of about thirty miles in extent, pos- sessed by the Cruithne. This tract was granted by the king to his general, and was denominated Dal-Riada, or the portion of Riada, over which Cairbre and his posterity reigned for several ages, under the protection of their relations, the sovereigns of Ireland. The Cruithne of Ireland and the Picts of North Britain being of the same lineage and language, kept up, according to O'Connor, a constant communication with each other, and it seems to be satisfactorily established that a colony of the Dalriads or Cruithne of Ireland had settled at a very early period in Argyle, from which they were ulti- mately expelled and driven back to Ireland about the period of the abdication, by the Romans, of the govern- ment of North Britain, in the year 446. In the year 503, a new colony of the Dalriads or Dal- riadini, under the direction of three brothers, named Lorn, Fergus, and Angus, the sons of Ere, the descend- ant of Cairbre-Riada, settled in the country of the British Epidii, near the Epidian promontory of Richard and Ptolemy, named afterward by the colonists Ceantir or head-land, now known by the name of Cantyre. His- tory has thrown but little light on the causes which lead to this settlement, afterward so important in the annals of Scotland, and a question has even been raised whether it was obtained by force or favour. In proof of the 99 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND first supposition it has been observed, that the head- land of Cantyre, which forms a very narrow peninsula and runs far into the Deucaledonian sea, toward the nearest coast of Ireland, being separated by lofty moun- tains from the Caledonian continent, was in that age very thinly peopled by the Cambro-Britons ; that these descendants of the Epidii were little connected with the central clans and still less considered by the Pictish government, which, perhaps, was not yet sufficiently refined to be very jealous of its rights, or to be promptly resentful of its wrongs; and that Drest-Gurthinmoch then reigned over the Picts, and certainly resided at a great distance, beyond Drum-Albin. It is also to be observed, in further corroboration of this view, that Lorn, Fergus, and Angus brought few followers with them, and though they were doubtless joined by sub- sequent colonists, they were, for some time, occupied with the necessary, but uninteresting labours of settle- ment within their appropriate districts. Ceantir was the portion of Fergus, Lorn possessed Lorn to which he gave his name, and Angus is supposed to have colonized Ila, for it was enjoyed by Muredach, the son of Angus, after his decease. Thus these three princes or chiefs had each his own tribe and territory, according to the accustomed usage of the Celts, a system which in- volved them frequently in the miseries of civil war, and in questions of disputed succession. There is no portion of history so obscure or so per- plexed as that of the Scoto-Irish kings and their tribes, from their first settlement, in the year 503, to their accession to the Pictish throne in 843. Unfortunately no contemporaneous written records appear ever to have existed of that dark period of our annals, and the efforts which the Scotch and Irish antiquaries have made to extricate the truth from the mass of con- 100 THE PICTISH PERIOD tradictions in which it lies buried have rather been displays of national prejudice than calm researches by reasonable inquirers. The annals, however, of Tiger- nach and of Ulster, and the useful observations of O'Flaherty and O'Connor, along with the brief chronicles and historical documents, first brought to light by the industrious Innes, in his " Critical Essay " (a work praised even by Pinkerton), have thrown some glimpses of light on a subject which had long remained in almost total darkness, and been rendered still more obscure by the fables of our older historians. Some of the causes which have rendered this part of our history so perplexed are thus stated by Chalmers in his Caledonia. " The errors and confusion, which have been introduced into the series, and the history, of the Scottish kings, have chiefly originated from the following causes: 1st. The sovereignty was not transmitted by the strict line of hereditary descent. There were, as we shall see, three great families, who, as they sprung from the royal stock, occasionally grew up into the royal stem; two of these were descended from Fergus I by his grandsons, Comgal and Gauran ; the third was descended from Lorn, the brother of Fergus. This circumstance naturally produced frequent contests, and civil wars, for the sovereignty, which, from those causes, was sometimes split; and the representatives of Fergus and Lorn reigned independently over their separate terri- tories, at the same time. The confusion, which all this had produced, can only be cleared up by tracing, as far as possible, the history of these different families, and developing the civil contests which existed among them. 2d. Much perplexity has been produced by the mistakes and omissions of the Gaelic bard, who composed the Albanic Duan, particularly, in the latter part of the series, where he has, erroneously, introduced several 101 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND supposititious kings, from the Pictish catalogue. These mistakes having been adopted by those writers, whose subject was rather to support a system, than to unravel the history of the Scottish monarchs, have increased, rather than diminished the confusion." Although the Dalriads had embraced Christianity before their arrival in Argyle, they do not appear to have been anxious to introduce it among the Caledoni- ans or Picts. Their patron saint was Ciaran, the son of a carpenter. He was a prelate of great fame, and several churches in Argyle and Ayrshire were dedicated to him. The ruins of Kil-keran, a church dedicated to Ciaran, may still be seen in Campbelton in Cantyre. At Kil-kiaran in Ilay, Kil-kiaran in Lismore, and Kil- keran in Carrick, there were chapels dedicated, as the names indicate, to Ciaran. Whatever were the causes which prevented the Dalriads from attempting the con- version of their neighbours, they were destined at no distant period, from the era of the Dalriadic settlement, to receive the blessings of the true religion, from the teaching of St. Columba, a monk of high family descent, and cousin of Scoto-Irish kings. It was in the year 563, when he was forty-two years of age, that he took his departure from his native land, to labour in the pious duty of converting the Caledonians to the faith of the gospel. On arriving among his kindred on the shores of Argyle, he cast his eyes about that he might fix on a suitable site for a monastery, which he meant to erect, from which were to issue forth the apostolic missionaries destined to assist him in the work of con- version, and in which also the youth set apart for the office of the holy ministry were to be instructed. St. Columba, with eyes brimful of joy, espied a solitary isle lying in the Scottish sea, near the southwest angle of Mull, then known by the simple name I, signifying hi 102 Irish an island, afterward changed by the Venerable Bede into Hy, Latinized by the monks into lona, and again honoured with the name of I-columb-cil, the isle of St. Columba's retreat or cell. No better station or one more fitted for its purpose could have been selected than this islet during such barbarous times; but events, which no human prudence could foresee, rendered the situation afterward most unsuitable, for during the ravages of the Danes, in the eighth and ninth centuries, lona was particularly exposed to their depredations, and suffered accordingly. In pursuance of his plan, St. Columba settled with twelve disciples in Hy. " They now," says Bede, " neither sought, nor loved, anything of this world," true traits in the missionary character. For two years did they labour with their own hands erecting huts and building a church. These monks lived under a very strict discipline which St. Columba had established, and they recreated themselves, after their manual and devotional labours closed, by reading and transcribing the Holy Scriptures from the Latin or Vulgate trans- lation. Having formed his infant establishment, the pious missionary set out on his apostolic tour among the Picts. Judging well that if he could succeed in converting Bridei, the son of Mailcon, who then governed the Picts and had great influence among them, the ardu- ous task he had undertaken of bringing over the whole nation to the worship of the true God would be more easily accomplished, he first began with the king, and by great patience and perseverance succeeded in converting him. Whether the saint was gifted with miraculous powers as many excellent writers maintain is a question on which we do not wish to enter, but we cannot sub- scribe to the remark of Chalmers, that " the power of prophecy, the gift of miracles, which were arrogated by 103 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Columba, and are related by his biographers, are proofs of the ignorance and simplicity of the age." Doubt- less the Picts at the time we are treating of were ex- tremely ignorant, but if a belief in miracles is to be held as a proof of ignorance and simplicity, how are we to account for it amongst a highly refined and civilized people? The question whether miracles ceased after the Apostolic age is a question not of opinion but of fact; for, assuredly, there is no limitation to be found in Scripture of the duration of miraculous gifts, which God in his good providence may grant whenever he may deem proper. The learned Grotius in his Commentary on Mark xvi. 17 and 18, says, " As the latter ages, also, are full of testimonies of the same thing, I do not know by what reason some are moved to restrain that gift (of miracles) to the first ages only. Wherefore, if any one would even now preach Christ, in a manner agree- able to him, to nations that know him not, I make no doubt but the force of the promise will still remain." As it is not OUT intention to defend the alleged miracles of St. Columba, we shall merely quote the testimony of the celebrated Dr. Conyers Middleton, on the historical proofs in support of miracles, which we do the more readily as he stoutly maintained the cessation of mirac- ulous powers after the Apostolic age: " As far as church historians can illustrate or throw light upon anything, there is not a single point in all history, so constantly, explicitly, and unanimously affirmed by them all, as the continual succession of those (miraculous) powers through all ages, from the earliest father that first mentions them, down to the time of the Reformation; which same succession is still farther deduced by persons of the most eminent character, for their probity, learn- ing, and dignity in the Roman church to this very day; so that the only doubt that can remain with us is,. 104 THE PICTISH PERIOD whether the church historians are to be trusted or not? For if any credit be due to them in the present case, it must reach either to all or to none, because the reason of believing them in any one age will be found to be of equal force in all." The conversion of Bridei was immediately followed by that of his people, and St. Columba soon had the happiness of seeing the blessings of Christianity diffused among a people who had not before tasted its sweets. Attended by his disciples he traversed the whole of the Pictish territories, and even penetrated into the islands of Orkney, spreading everywhere the light of faith by instructing the people in the truths of the gospel. To keep up a succession of the teachers of religion, he es- tablished monasteries in every district, and from these issued, for many ages, Apostolic men to labour in that part of the vineyard of Christ. These monasteries or cells were long subject to the abbey of lona. Conal, the fifth king of the Scots in Argyle, the kins- man of St. Columba, and under whose auspices he en- tered on the work of conversion, and to whom it is said he was indebted for Hy, died in 571. His successor Aidan went over to Hyona in 574, and was there or- dained and inaugurated by the abbot according to the ceremonial of the liber vitreus, the cover of which is supposed to have been encrusted with crystal. F. Mar- tene, a learned benedictine, says hi his work, " De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritibus," that this inauguration of Aidan is the most ancient account that, after all his researches, he had found as to the benediction or in- auguration of kings. There can be no doubt, however, that the ceremony was practised long before the time of Aidan. St. Columba died on the 9th of June, 597, after a glorious and well-spent life, thirty-four years of which 105 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND he had devoted to the instruction of the nation he had converted. His influence was very great with the neighbouring princes, and they often applied to him for advice, and submitted to him their differences which he frequently settled by his authority. His memory was long held hi reverence by the Scots and Caledonians. To return to the history of the Picts, we have already observed that little is known of Pictish history for more than a hundred years after the Roman abdication, but at the time of the accession of Bridei in 556 to the Pictish throne, some light is let in upon that dark period of the Pictish annals. The reign of that prince was distinguished by many warlike exploits, but above all by his conversion and that of his people to Christianity, which indeed formed his greatest glory. His chief contests were with the Scoto-Irish or Dalriads, whom he defeated hi 557, and slew Gauran their king. Bridei died in the year 586, and for several ages his successors carried on a petty system of warfare, partly foreign and partly domestic. Passing over a domestic conflict, at Lindores in 621, under Cineoch the son of Luthrin, and the trifling battle of Ludo-Feirn in 663 among the Picts themselves, we must nevertheless notice the im- portant battle of Dun-Nechtan, fought in the year 685, between the Picts under Bridei, the son of Bili, and the Saxons, under the Northumbrian Egfrid. The Saxon king, it is said, attacked the Picts without provocation, and against the advice of his court. Crossing the Forth from Lothian, the Bernicia of that age, he entered Strathera and penetrated through the denies of the Pictish kingdom, leaving fire and desolation in his tram. His career was stopped at Dun-Nechtan, the hill-fort of Nechtan, the Dunnichen of the present times, and by a neighbouring lake long known by the name of Nechtan's mere did Egfrid and his Saxons fall before 106 THE PICTISH PERIOD Bridei and his exasperated Picts. This was a sad blow to the Northumbrian power, yet the Northumbrians, in 696, under Berht, an able leader, again ventured to try their strength with the Picts, when they were once more defeated by Bridei, the son of Dereli, who had recently mounted the Pictish throne. The Picts were, however, finally defeated by the Saxons, hi 710, under Beorthfryth, in Mananfield, when Bridei, the Pictish king, was killed. The wars between the Picts and Northumbrians were succeeded by various contests for power among the Pictish princes which gave rise to a civil war. Ungus, honoured by the Irish annalists with the title of great, and Elpin, at the head of their respective partisans, tried their strength at Moncrib, in Strathern, in the year 727, when the latter was defeated, and the conflict was again renewed at Duncrei, when victory declared a second time against Elpin, who was obliged to flee from the hostility of Ungus. Nechtan next tried his strength with Ungus, in 728, at Moncur, in the Carse of Cowrie, but he was defeated, and many of his followers perished. Drust, the associate of Elpin in the Pictish government, also took the field the same year against the victorious Ungus, but he was slain in a battle fought at Drumberg, an extensive ridge on the western side of the river Ila. Talorgan, the son of Congus, was defeated by Brude, the son of Ungus, in 720, and Elpin, who, from the time of his last defeat till that year, had remained a fugitive and an outlaw, now lost his life at Pit Elpie, within the parish of Liff, near the scene of his flight in 727. This Elpin is not to be confounded, as some fabulous writers have done, with the Scottish Alpin who fell at Laicht Alpin in the year 836. Having now put down rebellion at home, the victorious Ungus commenced hostilities against the Dalriads, or 107 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Scoto-Irish, in the year 736. Muredach, the Scottish king, was not disposed to act on the defensive but carried the war into the Pictish territories. Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, however, defeated him in a bloody engagement in which many principal persons fell. The Scots were again worsted in another battle in 740 by Ungus, who in the same year repulsed an attack of the Northumbrians under Eadbert. In the year 750, he defeated the Britons of the Cumbrian kingdom, in the well-fought battle of Cath-0, in which his brother Talorgan was killed. Ungus, who was certainly by far the most powerful and ablest of the Pictish monarchs, died in 761. A doubtful victory was gained by Ciniod, the Pictish king over Aodh-fin, the Scottish king, in 767. Constantin, having overcome Canaul, the son of Tarla in 791, succeeded him in the throne. 6 Up to this period, the pirate kings of the northern seas, or the Vikingr, as they were termed, had confined their ravages to the Baltic; but in the year 787 they for the first time appeared on the east coast of England. Some years afterward they found their way to the Caledonian shores, and during the ninth century they ravaged the Hebrides. In 839, the Vikingr entered the Pictish ter- ritories. A murderous conflict ensued between them and the Picts under Uen their king, in which both he and his only brother Bran, as well as many of the Pict- ish chiefs, fell. This event hastened the downfall of the Pictish monarchy, and as the Picts were unable to resist the arms of Kenneth, the Scottish king, he carried into execution, in the year 843, a project he had long entertained, of uniting the Scots and Picts, and placing both crowns on his head. The ridiculous story about the total extermination of the Picts by the Scots has long since been exploded. They were recognized as a distinct people even in the tenth century, but before 108 THE PICTISH PERIOD the twelfth they lost their characteristic nominal dis- tinction by being amalgamated with the Scots, their conquerors. The Scoto-Irish after their arrival in Argyle did not long continue under the separate authority of the three brothers, Lorn, Fergus, and Angus. They were said to have been very far advanced in life before leaving Ireland, and the Irish chroniclers assert that St. Patrick gave them his benediction before his death, in the year 493. The statement as to their advanced age derives some support from their speedy demise after they had laid the foundations of their settlements, and of a new dynasty of kings destined to rule over the kingdom of Scotland. Angus was the first who died, leaving a son, Muredach, who succeeded him in the small government of Ila. After the death of Lorn, the eldest brother, Fergus, the last survivor, became sole monarch of the Scoto-Irish, but he did not long enjoy the sovereignty, for he died in 506. In an ancient Gaelic poem or genea- logical account of the Scoto-Irish kings, Fergus 7 is honoured with the appellation ard, which means either that he was a great sovereign or the first in dignity. Fergus was succeeded by his son Domangart or Don- gardus, who died in 511, after a short but troubled reign of about five years. His two sons Comgal and Gabhran or Gauran successively enjoyed his authority. Comgal had a peaceful reign of four and twenty years, during which he extended his settlements. He left a son named Conal, but Gauran his brother, notwithstand- ing, ascended the throne in the year 535 without oppo- sition. Gauran reigned two and twenty years, and, as we have already observed, was slain in a battle with the Picts under Bridei their king. Conal, the son of Comgal, then succeeded in 557, and closed a reign of fourteen years in 571, but a civil war 109 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND ensued between Aidan, the son of Gauran, and Duncha, the son of Conal, for the vacant crown, the claim to which was decided on the bloody field of Loro, in 575,. where Duncha was slain. Aidan, the son of Gauran, was formally inaugurated by St. Columba in Iona r in 574. Some years thereafter Aidan assisted the Cum- brian-Britons against the Saxons. He defeated the latter at Fethanlea, on Stanmore, in Northumberland, in 584, and again in 590, at the battle of Leithredh, in which his two sons, Arthur and Eocha-fin, were slain, with upwards of three hundred of his men, a circum- stance which renders the supposition probable, that the armies of those times were far from numerous, and that the conflicts partook little of the regular system of modern warfare. Another battle was fought at Kirkinn in 598, between Aidan and the Saxons, in which he appears to have had the disadvantage and in which he lost Domangart his son; and in 603 he was finally de- feated by the Northumbrians under ..Ethilfrid at the battle of Dawstane in Roxburghshire. The wars with the Saxons weakened the power of the Dalriads very considerably, and it was not till after a long period of time that they again ventured to meet the Saxons in the field. During a short season of repose Aidan, attended by St. Columba, went to the celebrated council of Drum- keat in Ulster, in the year 590. In this council he claimed the principality of Dalriada, the land of his fathers, and obtained an exemption from doing homage to the kings of Ireland, which his ancestors, it would appear > had been accustomed to pay. Aidan died in 605, at the advanced age of eighty, and was buried in the church of Kil-keran, the ruins of which are still to be seen in the midst of Campbelton. Aidan was succeeded in the throne by his son Eocha'- 110 THE PICTISH PERIOD bui, or Eocha' the yellow-haired, who reigned sixteen years. In 620 he got involved in a war with the Cruithne of Ulster. His son Kenneth-Caer, the tanist or heir apparent, was appointed to the command of the army destined to act against these Cruithne. A battle was fought at Ardcoran in which Kenneth was successful, and in which Tiachna, the son of the Ultonian monarch, was slain. The same year was distinguished by another battle gained over the same people at Kenn, by Donal- breac, the son of Eocha'-bui. Eocha' died soon after- ward, when his son Kenneth-Caer, or the awkward, assumed the monarchical dignity, but he was kilted in a battle against the Irish Cruithne, at Fedhaevin, in 621, after a short reign of three months. Ferchar, the son of Eogan, the first of the race of Lorn who ever mounted the throne, now succeeded. He was, according to Usher, crowned by Conan, the Bishop of Sodor, but neither his own reign nor that of his predecessor is marked by any important events. He died in 637, after a reign of sixteen years. Donal, surnamed breac or freckled, the son of Eocha'- bui, of the race of Gauran, succeeded Fercher in 637. He was a warlike prince and had distinguished himself in the wars against the Cruithne of Ireland. Congal- Claon, the son of Scanlan, the king of the Cruithne in Ulster, having slain Suibne-mean, the king of Ireland, was attacked by Domnal II, supreme king of Ireland, who succeeded Suibne, and was defeated in the battle of Duncetheren, in 629. Congal sought refuge in Cantyre, and having persuaded Donal-breac, the kinsman of Dom- nal, to join him in a war against Domnal, they invaded Ireland with a heterogeneous mass of Scoto-Irish, Picts, Britons, and Saxons, commanded by Donal and his brothers. Cealach, the son of Maelcomh, the nephew of the reigning king, and as tanist or heir apparent, 111 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the leader of his army, attacked Donal-breac in the plain of Moyrath in 637, and completely defeated him after an obstinate and bloody engagement. Congal, the murderer of his sovereign, met his merited fate, and Donal-breac was obliged to secure his own and his army's safety by a speedy return to Cantyre. St. Co- lumba had always endeavoured to preserve an amicable understanding between the Cruithne of Ulster and the Scoto-Irish, and his injunctions were, that they should live in constant peace, but Donal disregarded this wise advice and paid dearly for disregarding it. He was not more successful in an enterprise against the Picts, having been defeated by them in the battle of Glenmoreson during the year 638. He ended his days at Straith- cairmaic on the Clyde, by the sword of Hoan, one of the reguli of Strathcluyd, in the year 642. The same destiny seems to have pursued his issue, for his son Cathasuidh fell by the same hand in 649. Conal II, the grandson of Conal I, who was also of the Fergusian race of Congal, next ruled over the tribes of Cantyre and Argyle, but Dungal of the race of Lorn, having obtained the government of the tribe of Lorn, questioned the right of Conal. He did not, however, carry his pretensions far, for Conal died, in undis- turbed possession of his dominions, in 652, after a reign of ten years. To Donal-duin, or the brown, son of Conal, who reigned thirteen years, succeeded Maolduin, his brother, in 665. The family feuds which had long existed between the Fergusian races of Comgal and Tauran existed in their bitterest state during the reign of Maolduin. Domangart, the son of Donal-breac, was murdered in 672, and Conal, the son of Maolduin, was assassinated in 675. Ferchar-fada, or the tall, apparently of the race of Lorn, and either the son or grandson of Ferchar, who 112 TH! fLAND the ! < Donal-breac in the pletely defeated him . the . n, met his merited fate, bbged to secure his own and his ;urn to Cantyre. St. Co- d to preserve an amicable uithne of Ulster and the ;re, that they should c Donai disregarded this wise regarding it. He was not wttenfal in an enterprise against the Picts, having in the battle of Glenmoreson He ended his days at Straith- by the sword of Hoan, one of the -trathcluyd, in the year 642. The same destiny 1 his issue, for his son Cathasuidh ; in 649. of Conal I, who was al- j;al, next ruled over the tribes it Dungat of the race of Lorn, government of the tribe of Lorn, of Conal. He lid not, ho\v earr - far, for Conal died, in undis- wAsitH . after a reign 'onal-dui. >n of ied ^laolduin, family dch had long nrirtfrrt betwegp -in raceB of Comgai f^t state during the reigu Donal-breac, was :ml, the son of Maolduin, was the tall, appa: ' the race of or grandsoti of Fercliar, who _ ll'j _ - Logeralt Photogravure from tk* Painting by BrtnvK THE PICTISH PERIOD died in 673, seized the reins of government upon the death of Maolduin. Donal, the son of Conal and grand- son of Maolduin, was assassinated in 695, with the view, no doubt, of securing Ferchar's possession of the crown, which he continued to wear amidst family feuds and domestic troubles for one and twenty years. On the death of Ferchar, in 702, the sceptre passed again to the Fergusianrace in the person of Eocha'-rineval, remarkable for his Roman nose, the son of Domangart, who was assassinated in 672. The reign of this prince was short and unfortunate. He invaded the territories of the Britons of Strathcluyd and was defeated on the banks of the Leven in a bloody conflict. Next year he had the misfortune to have his sceptre seized by a prince of the rival race of Lorn. This prince was Ainbhcealach, the son of Ferchar- fada. He succeeded Eocha' in 705. He was of an ex- cellent disposition, but after reigning one year, was dethroned by his brother, Selvach, and obliged, hi 706, to take refuge hi Ireland. Selvach attacked the Britons of Strathcluyd, and gained two successive victories over them, the one at Lough-coleth in 710, and the other at the rock of Mionuire hi 716. At the end of twelve years, Ainbhcealach returned from Ireland, to regain a sceptre which his brother had by his cruelties shown himself unworthy to wield, but he perished in the battle of Finglein, a small valley among the moun- tains of Lorn, in 719. Selvach met a more formidable rival in Duncha-beg, who was descended from Fergus, by the line of Congal. He assumed the government of Cantyre and Argail, and confined Selvach to his family settlement of Lorn. These two princes appear to have been pretty fairly matched in disposition and valour, and both exerted themselves for the de- struction of one another, a resolution which brought 113 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND many miseries upon their tribes. In an attempt which they made to invade the territories of each other in 719, by means of their currachs, the novel scene of a naval combat ensued off Ardaness on the coast of Argyle, which was maintained on both sides with as determined perseverance and bravery as were ever displayed in modern times by the English and the Dutch. Selvach, though superior hi skill, was overcome by the fortune of Duncha, but Selvach was not sub- dued. The death of Duncha, in 721, put an end to his designs, but Eocha' III, the son of Eocha'-rineval, the successor of Duncha, being as bent on the overthrow of Selvach as his predecessor, continued the war. The rival chiefs met at Air-Gialla in 727, where a battle was fought, which produced nothing but irritation and dis- tress. This lamentable state of things was put an end to by the death of Selvach in 729. This event enabled Eocha' to assume the government of Lorn, and thus the Dalriadian kingdom, which had been alternately ruled by chiefs of the houses of Fergus and Lorn, be- came again united under Eocha'. He died in 733, after a reign of thirteen years, during nine of which he ruled over Cantyre and Argail, and four over all the Dalriadic tribes. Eocha' was succeeded in the kingdom by Muredach, the son of Ainbhcealach of the race of Lorn, called by the Gaelic bard Muredhaigh Mhaith, or Muredagh the good. His reign was short and unfortunate. In re- venge for an act of perfidy committed by Dungal, the son of Selvach, who had carried off Forai, the daughter of Brude, and the niece of Ungus, the great Pictish king, the latter, in the year 736, led his army from Strathern, through the passes of the mountains into Lorn, which he wasted with fire and sword. He seized Dun-ola, the chief residence of the Lorn dynasty in Mid-Lorn, 114 THE PICTISH PERIOD and burned Creic, another fortress, and having taken Dungal and Feradach, the two sons of Selvach, prison- ers, he carried them to Forteviet, his capital, in fetters. Muredach collected his forces, and went in pursuit of his retiring enemy, and having overtaken him at Cnuic- Coirbre, a battle ensued, in which the Scots were re- pulsed with great slaughter. Talorgan, the brother of Ungus, commanded the Picts on this occasion, and pursued the flying Scots. In this pursuit Muredach is supposed to have perished, after a reign of three years. Eogban or Ewan, the son of Muredach, took up the fallen succession in 736, and died in 739, in which year the Dalriadic sceptre was assumed by Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' III and grandson of Eocha'-rineval, descended from the Fergusian race of Gauran. This sovereign is called by the Gaelic bard, Aodh na Ardf-hlaith, or Hugh, the high or great king, a title which he appears to have well merited, from his successful wars against the Picts. In 740, he measured his strength with the celebrated Ungus, but victory declared for neither, and during the remainder of Ungus' reign, he did not attempt to renew hostilities. After the death of Ungus in 761, Aodh-fin declared war against the Picts, whose territories he entered from Upper Lorn, penetrating through the passes of Glenorchy and Braid-Alban. In 767, he reached Forteviet, the Pictish capital in Strath- ern, where he fought a doubtful battle with Ciniod, the Pictish king. As the Picts had seized all the defiles of the mountains by which he could effect a retreat, his situation became extremely critical, but he succeeded by great skill and bravery in rescuing his army from their peril, and leading them within the passes of Upper Lorn, where the Picts did not venture to follow him. Aodh-fin died in 769, after a splendid reign of thirty years. 115 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Fergus II, son of Aodh-fin, succeeded to the sceptre on the demise of his father, and died after an unimpor- tant reign of three years. Selvach II, the son of Eogan, assumed the government in 772. His reign, which lasted twenty-four years, presents nothing very remarkable in history. A new sovereign of a different lineage now mounted the throne of the Scots in 796, in the person of Eocha'- annuine, the son of Aodh-fin of the Gauran race. Eocha' IV is known also by the Latinized appellation of Achaius. On his accession, he found a civil war raging in his dominions, which he took no means to allay, but the rival chieftains could not be kept in check, and probably Eocha' thought he best consulted his own interest and the stability of his throne by allowing them to waste their strength upon one another. The story of the alliance between Achaius and Charlemagne has been shown to be a fable, which, notwithstanding, continues to be repeated by superficial writers. He, however, entered into an important treaty with the Picts, by marrying Urgusia, the daughter of Urguis, an alliance which enabled his grandson Kenneth afterward to claim and acquire the Pictish sceptre, in right of Urgusia, his grandmother. Achaius died in 826, after a happy and prosperous reign of thirty years. He was succeeded by Dungal, the son of Selvach II of the race of Lorn, being the last of that powerful family which swayed the Dalriadic sceptre. After a feeble reign of seven years, he died in 833. Alpin, the last of the Scoto-Irish kings, and the son of Eocha' IV and of Urgusia, now mounted the throne. He was killed in 836, near the site of Laicht castle, on the ridge which separates Kyle from Galloway. Having landed with a force on the coast of Kyle, within the bay of Ayr, he laid waste the country between the Ayr and 116 THE PICTISH PERIOD the Doon, before the native chiefs could assemble a sufficient force to oppose him, but being met by them near the spot just mentioned, he met his fate, from the weapon of an enraged chief. The fiction that Alpin fell in a battle with the Picts, when asserting his right to the Pictish throne, has long been exploded. In 836, Kenneth, the son of Alpin, succeeded his father. He is called, by the Gaelic bard so often alluded to, Chionasith Chruaidh, signifying Kenneth the hardy. He was a prince of a warlike disposition, and of great vigour of mind and body. He avenged the death of his father, by frequent inroads among the people dwelling to the south of the Clyde, but the great glory of his reign consists in his achievements against the Picts, which secured for him and his posterity the Pictish sceptre. The Pictish power had, previous to the period of Kenneth's accession, been greatly enfeebled by the inroads of the Danish Vikingr, but it was not till after the death of Uven, the Pictish king, in 839, after a dis- tracted reign of three years, that Kenneth made any serious attempt to seize the Pictish diadem. On the accession of Wred, the last of the Pictish kings, Kenneth laid claim to the Pictish throne in right of Urgusia, his grandmother, and after an arduous struggle, he wrested the sceptre from the hand of Wred, in 843, after he had reigned over the Scots seven years. In noticing the opinion of those writers who suppose that the Picts rather subdued the Scots, than that they were subdued by their Scoto-Irish rivals, Chalmers observes that " there are two moral certainties, which forbid the adopting of this theory, or the believing of that system : it is morally certain that the language which was spoken by the people, on the north of the Clyde and Forth, was Cambro-British, till the close of the Pictish period, in 843 A. D. ; it is also morally certain that the 117 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND prevailing language, within the same country, through- out the Scottish period, from 843 to 1097 A. D., was the Scoto-Irish, the speech of Kenneth, and his people." 1 The history of the Scoto-Irish kings affords few mate- rials either amusing or instructive, but it was impossible, from the connection between tliat history and the events that will follow in detail, to pass it over in silence. The Scoto-Irish tribes appear to have adopted much the same form of government as existed in Ireland at the time of their departure from that kingdom, the sovereignty of which, though nominally under one head, was in reality a pentarchy, which allowed four provin- cial kings to dispute the monarchy of the fifth. This system was the prolific source of anarchy, assassinations, and civil wars. The Dalriads were constantly kept hi a state of intestine commotion and mutual hostility by the pretensions of their rival chiefs, or princes of the three races, who contended with the common sovereign for preeminence or exemption. The dlighe-tanaiste, or law of tanistry, which appears to have been generally followed as in Ireland, as well in the succession of kings as in that of chieftains, rather increased than mitigated these disorders, for the claim to rule not being regulated by any fixed law of hereditary succession, but depending upon the capricious will of the tribe, rivals were not found wanting to dispute the rights so conferred. There was always, both in Ireland and in Argyle, an heir presumptive to the crown chosen, under the name of tanist, who commanded the army during the life of the reigning sovereign, and who succeeded to him after his demise. Budgets, and committees of supply, and taxes, were wholly unknown in those times among the Scots, and the monarch was obliged to support his dignity by voluntary contributions of clothes, cattle, furniture, and other necessaries. 118 THE PICTISH PERIOD Among the Scots, the tenure of lands ceased with the life of the possessors, and women could not even possess an inch of ground under the Brehon law. So late as the reign of Alexander II, the Galloway-men rose, almost en masse, to support the pretensions of a bastard son against the claims of three legitimate daughters of their late lord, a revolt which it required all the power of the sovereign to put down. The portion allotted to daughters on marriage, and denominated Spre in Irish, consisted of cattle. We have elsewhere observed, that writing, during the existence of the Druids, was unknown to the Celtic tribes, and that their history, laws, and religion were preserved by tradition. There is reason to believe that tradition supplied the place of written records for many ages after the extinction of the Druidical super- stition. Hence among the Scots, traditionary usages and local customs long supplied the place of positive or written laws. It is a mistake to suppose, as some writers have done, that the law consisted in the mere will of the Brehon or judge. The office of Brehon was no doubt hereditary, and it is quite natural to infer that, under such a system of jurisprudence, the dictum of the judge might not always comport with what was understood to be the common law or practice; but from thence, to argue that the will of the judge was to be regarded as the law itself, is absurd, and contrary to every idea of justice. As the principle of the rude ju- risprudence of the Celtic tribes had for its object the reparation, rather than the prevention of crimes, almost every crime, even of the blackest kind, was commuted by a mulct or payment. Tacitus observes in allusion to this practice, that it was " a temper wholesome to the commonwealth, that homicide and lighter trans- gressions were settled by the payment of horses or 119 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND cattle, part to the king or community, part to him or his friends who had been wronged." The law of Scot- land long recognized this system of compensation. The fine was termed, under the Brehon law, eric, which not only signifies a reparation, but also a fine, a ransom, a forfeit. Among the Albanian Scots it was called cro, a term preserved in the Regiam Majestatem, which has a whole chapter showing " the cro of ilk man, how mikil it is." This law of reparation, according to O'Connor, was first promulgated in Ireland, in the year 164. According to the Regiam Majestatem, the cro of a villain was sixteen cows; of an earl's son or thane, one hundred; of an earl, one hundred and forty; and that of the king of Scots, one thousand cows, or three thousand oras, that is to say, three oras for every cow. Besides a share of the fines imposed, the Brehon or judge obtained a piece of arable land for his support. When he administered justice, he used to sit sometimes on the top of a hillock or heap of stones, sometimes on turf, and sometimes even on the middle of a bridge, surrounded by the suitors, who, of course, pleaded their own cause. We have already seen, that under the sys- tem of the Druids, the offices of religion, the instruction of youth, and the administration of the laws were conducted in the open air, and hence the prevalence of the practice alluded to. But this practice was not peculiar to the Druids, for all nations, in the early stages of society, have followed a similar custom. The Tings of the Scandinavians, which consisted of circular enclosures of stone without any covering, and within which both the judicial and legislative powers were exercised, afford a striking instance of this. According to Pliny, even the Roman senate first met in the open air, and the sittings of the court of the Areopagus, at Athens, were so held. The present custom of holding 120 THE PICTISH PERIOD courts of justice in halls is not of very remote antiquity in Scotland, and among the Scoto-Irish, the baron bailie long continued to dispense justice to the baron's vassals from a moothill or eminence, which was gener- ally on the bank of a river, and near to a religious edifice. In the rude state of Scoto-Irish society, learning and the arts could receive little encouragement. Archi- tecture was but little regarded, the materials employed in the construction of houses consisting only of wattles, of which slight articles were built, even the celebrated abbey of lona, from which issued the teachers of religion for many ages. The comforts of stone and lime buildings were long unknown to the Scoto-Irish. As they were without manufactures, their clothing must necessarily have been very scanty. " The clothing even of the monks," says Chalmers, " consisted of the skins of beasts, though they had woollen, and linen, which they knew how to obtain from abroad by means of traffic: the variegated plaid was introduced in latter times. Venison, and fish, and seals, and milk, and flesh, were food of the people. The monks of lona, who lived by their labour, had some provision of corn, and perhaps the chiefs, who lived in strengths. But, it is to be recollected, that the monks were everywhere, for ages, the improvers themselves, and the instructors of others, in the most useful arts. They had the merit of making many a blade of grass grow where none grew before. Even lona had orchards, during the rugged times of the ninth century, till the Vikingr brutishly ruined all. Whatever the Scoto-Irish enjoyed themselves, they were willing to impart to others. The most unbounded hos- pitality was enjoined by law, and by manners, as a capital virtue." Of the various customs and peculiarities which dis- tinguished the ancient Irish, as well as the Scoto-Irish, 121 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND none has given rise to greater speculation than that of fosterage, which consisted in the mutual exchange, by different families, of their children for the purpose of being nursed and bred. Even the son of the chief was so entrusted during pupilarity with an inferior member of the clan. An adequate reward was either given or accepted in every case, and the lower orders, to whom the trust was committed, regarded it as an honour rather than a service. " Five hundred kyne and better," says Campion, " were sometimes given by the Irish to procure the nursing of a great man's child." A firm and indis- soluble attachment always took place among foster- brothers, and it continues in consequence to be a saying among Highlanders, that "affectionate to a man is a friend, but a foster-brother is as the life-blood of his heart." Camden observes that no love in the world is comparable by many degrees to that of foster-brethren in Ireland. The close connection which the practice of fosterage created between families, while it frequently prevented civil feuds, often led to them. But the strong attach- ment thus created was not confined to foster-brothers; it also extended to their parents. Spenser relates of the foster-mother to Murrough O'Brien, that, at his execution, she sucked the blood from his head, and bathed her face and breast with it, saying that it was too precious to fall to the earth. The family, which had been fortunate to bring up the chief, were greatly beloved and respected by him, and the foster-brothers were promoted in his household to places of trust and confidence. The remuneration for fosterage was often a matter of paction, and, in modern times, became, in some cases, the subject of an especial written agreement; but, in general, an un- derstood practice prevailed in particular districts. " In Mull, the father sends with his child a certain number 122 THE PICTISH PERIOD t)f cows, to which the same number is added by the fosterer; the father appropriating a proportionate extent of country, without rent, for their pasturage. If every cow brings a calf, half belongs to the fosterer and half to the child; but if there be only one calf between two cows, it is the child's; and when the child returns to the parents, it is accompanied by all the cows given both by the father and by the fosterer, with half of the in- crease of the stock by propagation. These beasts are considered as a portion, and called macaladh cattle, of which the father has the produce, but is supposed not to have the full property, but to owe the same number to the child, as a portion to the daughter, or a stock for the son." 9 It is unnecessary, at this stage of our labours, to enter upon the subject of clanship, as we mean to reserve our observations thereon till we come to the history of the clans, when we shall also notice some peculiarities or traits of the Highlanders not hitherto mentioned. We shall conclude this chapter by giving A GENEALOGICAL AND CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTO-IRISH KINGS, FROM THE YEAR 503 TO 843 Series NAMES AND FILIATIONS Date of Accession Dura- tion of Reigns Demise A. D. Yean A.D. LOARN, the son of Ere, reigned > contemporary with Fergus In 503 3 In 506 1 Fergus, the son of Ere . . ) 2 DOMANGART, the son of Fergus 506 6 511 3 COMGAL, the son of Domangart 511 24 535 4 GAURAN, the son of Domangart 535 22 557 5 CONAL, the son of Comgal . 557 14 571 6 AID AN, the son of Gauran . 571 34 605 7 EoACHA'-bui, the son of Aidan . 605 16 621 8 KENNETH-Cear, the son of Eoa- cha'-bui 621 i 621 9 FERCHAR, the son of Eogan, the first of the race of Lorn 621 16 637 123 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Series NAMKS AMD FILIATIONS Date of Accession Dura- tion of Reigns Demise A. D. Years A. D.~ 10 DoNAL-breac, the son of Eoacha'-bui In 637 5 In 642 11 CONAL II, the grandson of*J 12 Conal I ....;. 1 642 10 652 DUNGAL reigned some years with Conal J 13 DoNAL-Duin, the son of Conal . 652 13 665 14 MAOLrDuin, the son of Conal 665 16 681 15 FERCHAR-fada, the grandson of Ferchar I 681 21 702 EoACHA'-Rinevel, the son of 16 Domangart, and the grandson of Donal-breac .... 702 3 705- 17 AINBHCEAZACH, the sen of Fer- char-fada 705 1 706 18 SELVACH, the son of Ferchar- " fada, reigned over Lora, from 706 to 729 19 DuNCHA-Beg reigned over Can- tyre and Argail, till 720 . > 706 27 73& EOCHA' III, the son of Eoacha'- 20 rinevel, over Cantyre and Ar- gail, from 720 to 729; and also over Lorn from 729 to 733 21 MUREDACH, the sou of Ainbhcea- lach 733 3 736 22 EOGAN, the son of Muredach 736 3 739- 23 AoDH-nn, the i>on of Eoacha' III ... . . 739 30 769 24 FERGUS, the son of Aodh-fin 769 3 772 25 SELVACH II, the son of Eogan 772 24 796 26 EOACHA '-annuine IV, the son of Aodh-fin .... 796 30 826 27 DUNGAL, the son of Selvach II . 826 7 833 28 ALPIN, the son of Eoacha'-an- nuine IV 833 3 836 29 KENNETH, the son of Alpin 836 7 843 124 CHAPTER IV THE SCOTTISH PERIOD THE accession of Kenneth, son of Alpin, to the Pictish throne, led to a union of the two crowns, or of two separate nations into one monarchy; but this union gave the Scots an ascendency, which enabled them, afterward, to give their name to the whole of North Britain. The coalition, or rather amalgamation of the Scots and Picts under one sovereign, was greatly facilitated from their being of the same common origin, and speaking respectively the Gaelic and British tongues, the differences between which were immaterial; for nothing tends more to keep up a separation between the inhabitants of a country than a marked distinction in their language. The consolidation of the Scottish and Pictish power, under the direction of one supreme chief, enabled these nations not only to repel foreign aggression, but afterward to enlarge their territories beyond the Forth, which had hitherto formed, for many ages, the Pictish boundary on the south. Pictavia, or the country of the Picts, is said to have been anciently divided into six kingdoms or states; but, passing over these fictitious monarchies, we may observe, that, at the time of the union in question, it consisted of the whole of the territory north of the Forth, with the ex- ception of that on the western coast, extending from the Clyde on the south, to Loch-Ew and Loch-Marce on the north, and from the sea on the west, to Drumalban 125 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND on the east; which latter territory and the adjacent isles were possessed by the Scots. Although the power of the tribes to the north of the Forth was greatly augmented by the union which had taken place, yet all the genius and warlike energy of Kenneth were necessary to protect him and his people from insult. Ragnor Lodbrog with his fierce Danes infested the country round the Tay on the one side, and the Strathclyde Britons on the other, wasted the adjoining territories, and burnt Dunblane. Yet Ken- neth overcame these embarrassments, and made fre- quent incursions into the Saxon territories in Lothian, and caused his foes to tremble. After a brilliant and successful reign, Kenneth died at Forteviot, or Aber- nethy, the Pictish capital, on the sixth day of February, in the year 859, having ruled the Scots seven years, and the Scots and Picts jointly sixteen years, being a reign of twenty-three years. Kenneth was a prince of a very religious disposition, and, in the midst of his cares, did not forget the interests of religion. He built a church in Dunkeld, to which, in 850, he removed the relics of St. Columba from lona. He is celebrated also as a legislator, and it is extremely probable that the union of the two nations rendered some legislative enactments for their mutual government necessary; but no au- thentic traces of such laws now appear, the Macalpine laws which have been attributed to the son of Alpin being clearly apocryphal. Kenneth left a son, named Constantine, and a pious daughter, Maolmhuire, 10 celebrated by the Irish annalists. But Constantine did not immediately succeed his father, for the sceptre was assumed by Donal III his uncle, son of Alpin. The Gaelic bard calls him, " Dhomhnaill dhreachruaid," or Donal of the ruddy countenance. He died at his palace of Balachoir, in the year 863 r 126 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD after a short reign of four years. It is said that the Scoto-Irish chiefs, during this reign, reenacted the laws of Aodh-fin, the son of Eocha' III at Forteviot. Constantine, the son of Kenneth, succeeded his Uncle Donal, and soon found himself involved in a dread- ful conflict with the Danish pirates. Having, after a contest, which lasted half a century, established them- selves in Ireland, and obtained secure possession of Dublin, the Vikingr directed their views toward the western coasts of Scotland, which they laid waste. These ravages were afterward extended to the whole of the eastern coast, and particularly to the shores of the Frith of Forth; but although the invaders were often repulsed, they never ceased to return and renew their attacks. In the year 881, Constantine, in repelling an attack of the pirates at the head of his people, was slain near a rampart called the Danes' dike, in the parish of Crail. The Gaelic bard thus alludes to that event. "... Gona bhrigh Don churaidh do Chonstantin : " "The hero Constantine bravely fought, Throughout a lengthened reign." Aodh or Hugh, the fair-haired, succeeded his brother Constantine in 881. His reign was unfortunate, short, and troublesome. Grig, an artful chieftain, who was Maormor of the country between the Dee and the Spey, having raised the standard of insurrection, Aodh en- deavoured to put it down, but did not succeed; and having been wounded in the bloody field of Strathallan, he was carried to Inverurie, where he died, after linger- ing two months, having held the sceptre only one year. Grig, the worthless chief who had waged war with his sovereign, now assumed the crown, and, either to secure 127 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND his wrongful possession, or from some other motive, he associated with him in the government, Eoacha', son of Ku, the British king of Strathclyde. and the grandson, by a daughter, of Kenneth Macalpin. After a reign of eleven years, both Eoacha' and Grig were forced to abdicate, and gave way to Donal IV, who succeeded them in 893. During his reign the king- dom was infested by the piratical incursions of the Danes. Although they were defeated by Donal in a well-con- tested action at Collin, on the Tay, they nevertheless returned under Ivar O'lvar, from Ireland, in the year 904, but they were gallantly repulsed, and their leader killed in a threatened attack on Forteviot, by Donal, who unfortunately also perished in defence of his people, after a reign of eleven years. Constantine III, the son of Aodh, a prince of a war- like and enterprising character, next followed. He had to sustain, during an unusually long reign, the repeated attacks of the Danes. In one invasion they plundered Dunkeld, and in 908 they attempted to obtain the grand object of their designs, the possession of Forteviot in Strathern, the Pictish capital; but in this design they were again defeated and forced to abandon the country. The Danes remained quiet for a few years, but in 918 their fleet entered the Clyde, from Ireland, under the command of Reginald, where they were attacked by the Scots in conjunction with the Northern Saxons whom the ties of common safety had now united for mutual defence. Reginald is said to have drawn up his Danes in four divisions; the first headed by Godfrey O'lvar; the second by earls; the third by chieftains; and the fourth by Reginald him- self, as a reserve. The Scots, with Constantine at their head, made a furious attack on the first three divisions, which they forced to retire. Reginald's reserve not 128 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD being available to turn the scale of victory against the Scots, the Danes retreated during the night, and em- barked on board their fleet. After this defeat of the Danes, Constantine enjoyed many years' repose. A long grudge had existed between him and ^Ethelstane, son of Edward, the elder, which at last came to an open rupture. Having formed an alliance with several princes and particularly with Anlof, king of Dublin as well as of Northumberland, and son-in-law of Constantine, the latter collected a large fleet in the year 937, with which he entered the Humber. The hope of plunder had attracted many of the Vikingr to Constantino's standard, and the sceptre of ^Ethelstane seemed now to tremble in his hand. But that monarch was fully prepared for the dangers with which he was threatened, and resolved to meet his enemies in battle. After a long, bloody, and obstinate contest at Brunanburg, near the southern shore of the Humber, victory declared for ^Ethelstane. Prodigies of valour were displayed on both sides, especially by Turketel, the chancellor of England; by Anlof, and by the son of Constantine, who lost his life. The confeder- ates, after sustaining a heavy loss, sought for safety in their ships. This, and after misfortunes, gradually disgusted Constantine with the vanities of this world, and, in the fortieth year of his reign, he put into practice a resolution which he had formed of resigning his crown and embracing a monastic life. He became abbot of the monastery of St. Andrews, and thus ended a long and chequered life in a cloister, like Charles V. Malcolm I, the son of Donal IV, obtained the abdi- cated throne. He was a prince of great abilities and prudence, and Edmund of England courted his alliance by ceding Cumbria, then consisting of Cumberland and part of Westmoreland, to him, in the year 945, on con- 129 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND dition that he would defend that northern county, and become the ally of Edmund. Edred, the brother and successor of Edmund, accordingly applied for and obtained the aid of Malcolm against Anlaf, king of Northumberland, whose country, according to the barbarous practice of the times, he wasted, and carried off the people with their cattle. Malcolm, after putting down an insurrection of the Moray men under Cellach, their Maormor, or chief, whom he slew, was sometime thereafter assassinated, as is supposed, at Fetteressoe, by one of these men, in revenge for the death of his chief. Indulph, the son of Constantine III, succeeded the murdered monarch hi the year 953. He sustained many severe conflicts with the Danes, and ultimately lost his life, after a reign of eight years, in a successful action with these pirates, on the moor which lies to the west- ward of Cullen. This victory is known in the tradition of the country by the name of " The Battle of the Bands." This battle took place in 961. Duff, the son of Malcolm I, according to the estab- lished order of succession, now mounted the throne; but Culen, the son of Indulf, laid claim to the sceptre which his father had wielded. The parties met at Dun- crub, in Strathern, and, after a doubtful struggle, in which Doncha, the Abbot of Dunkeld, and Dubdou, the Maormor of Athol, the partisans of Culen, lost their lives, victory declared for Duff. But this triumph was of short duration, for Duff was afterward obliged to retreat from Forte viot into the north, and was assassi- nated at Forres in the year 965, after a brief and unhappy reign of four years and a half. Culen, the son of Indulf, succeeded, as a matter of course, to the crown of Duff, which he stained by his vices. He and his brother Eocha' were slain in Lothian, in an action with the Britons of Strathclyde, after an 130 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD inglorious reign of four years and a half. This happened in the year 970. Kenneth III, son of Malcolm I, and brother of Duff, succeeded Culen the same year. He waged a successful war against the Britons of Strathclyde, and annexed their territories to his kingdom. During his reign the Danes meditated an attack upon Forteviot, or Dunkeld, for the purposes of plunder; and, with this view, they sailed up the Tay with a numerous fleet. Kenneth does not appear to have been fully prepared, being probably not aware of the intentions of the enemy; but collecting as many of his chiefs and their followers as the spur of the occasion would allow, he met the Danes at Luncarty, in the vicinity of Perth, on the southwestern side of the Tay, at a small distance from Inveralmond. Prepara- tions for battle immediately commenced. Malcolm, the Tanist, Prince of Cumberland, commanded the right wing of the Scottish army; Duncan, the Maormor of Athole, had the charge of the left; and Kenneth, the king, commanded the centre. A furious combat ensued, and man stood singly opposed to man. The Danes with their battle-axes made dreadful havoc, and com- pelled the two wings of the Scottish army to give way; but they retired without much confusion, and rallied behind the centre division, under the immediate com- mand of the king. Here they were enabled to take up a new position on more advantageous ground, from which they renewed the combat with great vigour, and finally succeeded in repulsing the enemy, who, as usual, fled to their ships. The defeat of the Danes enabled Kenneth to turn his attention to the domestic concerns of his kingdom. His first thoughts were directed to bring about a com- plete change in the mode of succession to the crown, in order to perpetuate in, and confine the crown to his 131 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND own descendants. This alteration could not be well accomplished as long as Malcolm, the son of Duff, the Tanist of the kingdom, and Prince of Cumberland, stood in the way; and, accordingly, it has been said that Kenneth was the cause of the untimely death of Prince Malcolm, who is stated to have been poisoned. It is said that Kenneth got an act passed, that in future the son, or nearest male heir, of the king, should always succeed to the throne; and that in case that son or heir were not of age at the time of the king's demise, that a person of rank should be chosen regent of the kingdom, until the minor attained his fourteenth year, when he should assume the reins of government; but whether such a law was really passed on the moot- hill of Scone or not, of which we have no evidence, certain it is that two other princes succeeded to the crown before Malcolm, the son of Kenneth. Kenneth, after a reign of twenty-four years, was assassinated by Finella, the wife of the Maormor of the Mearns, and the daughter of Cunechat, the Maormor of Angus, in revenge for having put her only son to death while suppressing an insurrection in the Mearns. This event took place in th year 994. Constantine IV, son of Culen, characterized by the name cluin, or deceitful, by the Gaelic bard, succeeded; but his right was disputed by Kenneth, the Grim, son of Duff. The dispute was decided in a battle near the river Almond, in Perthshire, where Constantine lost his life, in 995. Kenneth IV, surnamed Grim, from the strength of his body, the son of Duff, now obtained the sceptre which he had coveted; but he was disturbed in the possession thereof by Malcolm, the son of Kenneth III, heir pre- sumptive to the crown, and regulus or Prince of Cumber- land. By the interposition of Fothad, one of the Scot- 132 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD tish bishops, the parties were, for some time, prevented from coming to blows, and it is said that a treaty was concluded, by which it was stipulated that Kenneth should wear the crown during his life, and that Malcolm and his heirs should succeed in future as intended by Kenneth III. But this treaty proved in the end only a truce, for Malcolm again took the field, and decided his claim to the crown in a bloody battle at Monivaird, in Strathern, in which Kenneth, after a noble resistance, received a mortal wound. This happened in the year 1003, after Kenneth had reigned eight years. Malcolm II now ascended the vacant throne, stained with the blood of the brave Kenneth; but he was not destined to enjoy repose. Of him the Gaelic bard has said " Trocha blaidhain breacaid rainn Ba righ manaidh, Maolcholaim." " Thirty years of variegated reign ; Was king by fate Malcolm." The Danes, who had now obtained a firm footing in England, directed their attention in an especial manner to Scotland, which they were in hopes of sul> duing. They had hitherto been defeated in every at- tempt they had made to establish themselves in the north; but having become powerful by their vast pos- sessions in England, they considered that they now had great chances of success in their favour. Accordingly, immense preparations were made by the celebrated Sweyn to invade Scotland. He ordered Olaus, his viceroy in Norway, and Enet in Denmark, to raise a powerful army, and to equip a suitable fleet. Sigurd, the Earl of Orkney, carried on a harassing and preda- tory warfare on the shores of the Moray Frith, which he continued even after a matrimonial alliance he 133 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND formed with Malcolm, by marrying his daughter; but this was no singular trait in the character of a Vikingr, who plundered friends and foes with equal pleasure. The scene of Sigurd's operations was chosen by his brother northmen for making a descent, which they effected near Speymouth. They carried fire and sword through Moray, and laid siege to the fortress of Nairne, one of the strongest in the north. The Danes were forced to raise the siege for a time, by Malcolm, who encamped his army in a plain near Kilflos or Kinloss. In this position he was attacked by the invaders, and, after a severe action, was forced to retreat, after being seriously wounded. Nairne then surrendered, but the whole garrison were hanged, notwithstanding a capitu- lation which stipulated for their lives and proper- ties. Having mustered all his forces, Malcolm, in the ensuing spring, marched north with his army, and en- camped at Mortlach. This was in the year 1010. The Danes advanced to meet the Scots, and a dreadful and fierce conflict ensued, the result of which was long du- bious. At length the northmen gave way and victory declared for Malcolm. Had the Danes succeeded they would in all probability have obtained as permanent a footing in North Britain as they did in England; but the Scottish kings were determined, at all hazards, never to suffer them to pollute the soil of Scotland by allowing them even the smallest settlement in their dominions. In gratitude to God for his victory, Malcolm, in pursu- ance of a vow which it is said he made on the field of battle, endowed a religious house at Mortlach with its appropriate church erected near the scene of action. Pope Benedict afterward confirmed this endowment, and Mortlach soon became the residence of a bishop. The Danes were not discouraged by this defeat. On 134 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD the contrary, that, as well as some disasters which they met with on the coasts of Angus and Buchan, exasper- ated Sweyn, who formed a determination to seek re- venge by another descent. He therefore despatched Camus, an able general, who effected a landing with his army on the coast of Angus, near to Panbride, but he had advanced but a very few miles when he was met by Malcolm, who attacked him with great fury and intrepidity. After a bloody contest the army of Camus gave way and their leader sought safety in flight, but he was closely pursued and was killed by a stroke from a battle-axe -which cleft his skull asunder. The place of his overthrow is indicated by a monumental stone called Camus'-Cross. 11 No defeat, however, could subdue the persevering attempts of the Danes, to subject North Britain to their sway. They renewed their enterprise again by landing on the coast of Buchan, about a mile west from Slaines Castle, in the parish of Cruden, but they were attacked and defeated by the Maormor of the district. The site of the field of battle has been ascertained by the discovery of human bones left exposed by the shift- ing or blowing of the sand. From the circumstance of a chapel having been erected in this neighbourhood dedicated to St. Olaus, the site of which has become invisible, by being covered with sand, the assertion of some writers that a treaty was entered into with the Danes, who were then Christians, by which it was stipulated that the field of battle should be consecrated by a bishop as a burying-place for the Danes who had fallen in battle, and that a church should be then built and priests appointed in all time coming to say masses for the souls of the slain, seems very probable. Another stipu- lation it is said was made, by which the Danes agreed to evacuate the Burgh-head of Moray, and finally to 135 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND leave every part of the kingdom, which they accordingly did in the year 1014. Some time after this Malcolm was engaged in a war with the Northumbrians, and, having led his army in 1018 to Carham, near Werk, on the southern bank of the Tweed, where he was met by Uchtred, the Earl of Northumberland, a desperate battle took place which was contested with great valour on both sides. The success was doubtful on either side, though Uchtred claimed a victory, but he did not long enjoy the fruits of it, as he was soon thereafter assassinated when on his road to pay obeisance to the great Canute. Endulf, the brother and successor of Uchtred, justly dreading the power of the Scots, was induced to cede Lothian to Mal- colm forever, who, on this occasion, gave oblations to the churches and gifts to the clergy, who in return trans- mitted his name to posterity. He was designated, par excellence, rex victoriosissimus. The last struggle with which Malcolm was threatened was with the celebrated Canute, who, for some cause or other not properly explained, entered Scotland in the year 1031; but these powerful parties appear not to have come to action. Canute's expedition appears, from what followed, to have been fitted out, to compel Malcolm to do homage for Cumberland, for it is certain that Malcolm engaged to fulfil the conditions on which his predecessors had held that country, and that Canute thereafter returned to England. But the reign of Malcolm was not only distinguished by foreign wars, but by civil contests between rival chiefs. Finlegh, the Maormor of Ross, and the father of Macbeth, was assassinated in 1020, and about twelve years thereafter, Maolbride, the Maormor of Moray, grandfather of Lulach, was, in revenge for Finlegh's murder, burnt within his castle, with fifty of his men. 136 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD At length after a splendid reign of thirty years, Mal- colm slept with his fathers, and his body was trans- ferred to lona, and interred with due solemnity among the remains of his predecessors. The story of his assassi- nation is a mere fiction. Malcolm was undoubtedly a prince of great acquire- ments. He made many improvements in the internal policy of his kingdom, and in him religion always found a guardian and protector. But although Malcolm is justly entitled to this praise, he by no means came up to the standard of perfection assigned him by fiction. Duncan, son of Bethoc, one of the daughters of Mal- colm II, succeeded his grandfather in the year 1033. He had to sustain several severe conflicts with the Danes, whom he finally repulsed from his dominions, and in virtue of the engagements of his grandfather with Canute, he entered Northumberland in 1035, and attacked Durham, but was forced to retire with loss, according to an old English historian. The unhappy fate of Duncan is too familiar to render any detail of the circumstances of that event necessary. The scene of Macbeth's perfidy was not at Inverness, as some writers have erroneously laid it, but at Bothgowanan, near Elgin. Duncan had reigned only six years when he was assassinated by Macbeth, leaving two infant sons, Malcolm and Donal, by a sister of Siward, the Earl of Northumberland. The former fled to Cumberland, and the latter took refuge in the Hebrides on the death of their father. Macbeth, " snorting with the indigested fumes of the blood of his sovereign," immediately seized the gory sceptre. As several fictions have been propagated con- cerning the history and genealogy of Macbeth, we may mention that, according to the most authentic authori- ties, he was by birth Thane of Ross, and by his marriage 137 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND with the Lady Gruoch, became also Thane of Moray, during the minority of Lulach, the infant son of that lady, by her marriage with Gilcomgain, the Alaormor, or Thane of Moray. Lady Gruoch was the daughter of Boedhe, son of Kenneth IV; and thus Macbeth united in his own person many powerful interests which enabled him to take quiet possession of the throne of the mur- dered sovereign. He of course found no difficulty in getting himself inaugurated at Scone, under the pro- tection of the clans of Moray and Ross, and the aid of those who favoured the pretensions of the descend- ants of Kenneth IV. Various attempts were made on the part of the parti- sans of Malcolm, son of Duncan, to dispossess Macbeth of the throne. The most formidable was that of Siward, the powerful Earl of Northumberland, and the relation of Malcolm, who, at the instigation or command of Edward the Confessor, led a numerous army into Scot- land in the year 1054. They marched as far north as Dunsinnan, where they were met by Macbeth, who com- manded his troops in person. A furious battle ensued, but Macbeth fled from the field after many displays of courage. The Scots lost 3,000 men, and the Saxons 1,500, including Osbert, the son of Siward. Macbeth retired to his fastnesses hi the north, and Siward re- turned to Northumberland; but Malcolm continued the war till the death of Macbeth, who was slain by Macduff, Thane of Fife, in revenge for the cruelties he had in- flicted on his family, at Lumphanan, on the fifth day of December in the year 1056. Macbeth was unquestionably a person of great vigour, and well fitted to govern in the age in which he lived; and had he obtained the crown by fair and honourable means, his character might have stood well with pos- terity. He appears to have entertained some sentiments 138 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD of compunction on account of his many crimes, for which he offered some expiation by deeds of charity and benev- olence, and particularly by grants to the church; but it is to be feared that his heart remained unchanged. Lulach, the great-grandson of Kenneth IV, who fell at the battle of Monivaird in the year 1003, being sup- ported by the powerful influence of his own family, and that of the deceased monarch, ascended the throne at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six; but his reign lasted only a few months, he having fallen in battle at Essie, in Strathbogie, on the third day of April, 1057, in defending his crown against Malcolm. The body of Lulach was interred along with that of Macbeth, in lona, the common sepulchre, for many centuries, of the Scot- tish kings. Malcolm III, better known in history by the name of Malcolm Ceanmore, or great head, vindicated his claim to the vacant throne after a two years' struggle. His first care was to recompense those who had assisted him in obtaining the sovereignty, and it is said that he created new titles of honour, by substituting earls for thanes; but this has been disputed, and there are really no sure data from which a certain conclusion can be drawn. In the year 1059, Malcolm paid a visit to Edward the Confessor, during whose reign he lived on amicable terms with the English; but after the death of that monarch he made a hostile incursion into Northumber- land, and wasted the country. He even violated the peace of St. Cuthbert in Holy Island. William, Duke of Normandy, having overcome Harold in the battle of Hastings, on the fourteenth day of Octo- ber, 1066, Edgar ^Etheling saw no hopes of obtaining the crown and took his departure from England along with his mother -and sisters for Hungary; but they were driven by adverse winds into the Frith of Forth, 139 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND and took refuge in a small port, which was afterward named the Queen's-ferry, in memory of Queen Margaret. Malcolm, on hearing of the distress of the illustrious strangers, left his royal palace at Dunfermline to meet them, and invited them to Dunfermline, where they were hospitably entertained. Margaret, one of Edgar's sisters, was a princess of great virtues and accomplishments, and she at once won the heart of Malcolm. The offer of his hand was accepted, and their nuptials were celebrated with great solemnity and splendour. This queen was a blessing to the king, and to the nation, and appears to have well merited the appellation of saint. There are few females in history who can be compared with Queen Margaret. It is quite unnecessary, and apart from the object of the present work, to enter into any details of the wars between Malcolm and William the Conqueror, and Will- iam Rufus. Suffice it to say, that both Malcolm and his eldest son Edward were slam in an attack on Alnwick Castle, on the thirteenth day of November, 1093, after a reign of thirty-six years. Queen Margaret, who was on her death-bed when this catastrophe occurred, died shortly after she received the intelligence, with great composure and resignation to the will of God. Malcolm had six sons, viz., Edward, who was killed along with his father, Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred, Alexander, and David, and two daughters, Maud, who was married to Henry I of England, and Mary, who married Eus- tache, Count of Boulogne. Of the sons, Edgar, Alex- ander, and David, successively came to the crown. On the demise of Malcolm, Donal-bane, his brother, assumed the government; but Duncan, the son of Malcolm, who had lived many years hi England, and held a high military rank under William Rufus, invaded Scotland with a large army of English and Normans, 140 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD and forced Donal to retire for safety to the Hebrides. Duncan, whom some writers suppose to have been a bas- tard, and others a legitimate son of Malcolm, by a former wife, enjoyed the crown only six months, having been assassinated by Maolpeder, the Maormor of the Mearns, at Menteith, at the instigation, it is believed, of Donal. Duncan left, by his wife Ethreda, daughter of Gospat- rick, a son, William, sometimes surnamed Fitz-Duncan. Donal-bane again seized the sceptre, but he survived Duncan only two years. Edgar ^Etheling, having as- sembled an army in England, entered Scotland, and made Donal prisoner in an action which took place in September, 1097. He was imprisoned by orders of Edgar, and died at Roscobie in Forfarshire, after having been deprived of his eyesight, according to the usual practice of the age. The series of the Scoto-Irish kings may be said to have ended with Donal-bane. The accession of Kenneth to the Pictish throne, and the consequent union of the Scots and Picts, introduced, throughout the whole extent of the Pictish dominions, many usages which were peculiar to the Scoto-Irish. Some of these would require the force of a positive law to establish them, while others would be gradually amalgamated with the Pictish customs. The authenticity of the Macalpine laws has been questioned; but, with- out entering into a discussion upon such a dubious question, we think there can be no doubt that the new sovereign would find it necessary to make some regu- lations for the government of the two nations he had united. It certainly appears, that the Brehon law of the Scoto-Irish was introduced among the Picts under Kenneth. By this law every chief, or flaith, had a Bre- hon, or judge, within his district, and this office was hereditary, descending to the sons of the judge, who were brought up to the study of law. The law of tanistry, 141 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which limited the right of succession to the crown of the royal line, but did not confine that succession to any direct series, was another characteristic in the new government, which superseded the Pictish law of suc- cession. This law which left the succession open to competition, and the only exception from which seems to have been, when a tanist, or heir presumptive, was; appointed during the life of the reigning monarch f naturally produced innumerable disorders in the state, and weakened the government, and hence the many civil strifes, tumults, and assassinations we have wit- nessed during the whole sway of the Scoto-Irish kings, We have already alluded to the poetry of the Celts. And here it may not be out of place to take some notice of their music, which seems to have been cultivated with greater success by the Scots, than by the Picts. A question has been raised by the genealogists of music r whether she is the mother or daughter of poetry, or, in other words, whether music or poetry be the older art. Such a discussion appears to be neither instructive nor amusing, and may therefore be passed over with this simple remark, that the kindred and sister arts- of poetry and music are undoubtedly almost coeval in their origin. Among the Celts the science of music wa& cultivated with great care, and formed a branch of the education of the bards. Some remains of the songs of the Druids are still said to exist, and it is alleged that the chanting of the druidical precepts in times of pa- ganism, was imitated by the early Christians. This is indeed extremely probable. The primitive Christians did not, for many ages, devote their attention to the improvement of the melody of the church, and in the east they are supposed to have long followed the music of the synagogue. The Gregorian chant, as used in the Catholic churches at vespers, is conjectured to be 142 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD nearly the same as that used by the Jews, with some trifling variations, made by St. Ambrose, Archbishop of Milan, and afterward still further improved by Pope Gregory the Great, from whom the music derives ite present name. 12 The great characteristics of the Gaelic music are its simplicity, tenderness, and expression. All the ancient music is distinguished by the first quality, for the com- plex movements and intricate notes of modern com- posers were unknown to antiquity; but the latter qualities, which may be termed national, inasmuch as they are dependent upon the genius and character of a people, and the structure of language, are peculiar attributes of the music of the Highlanders. " The Welsh, the Scots, and the Irish, have all melodies of a simple sort, which, as they are connected together by cognate marks, evince at once their relationship and antiquity." The ancient Scottish scale consists of six notes, as shown in the annexed exemplification, No. 1. The lowest note, A, was afterward added to admit of the minor key in wind instruments. The notes in the diatonic scale, No. 2, were added about the beginning of the fifteenth century, and when music arrived at its present state of perfection, the notes in the chromatic scale, No. 3, were further added. Although many of the Scottish airs have had the notes last mentioned intro- duced into them, to please modern taste, they can be played without them, and without altering the character of the melody. Any person who understands the ancient scale can at once detect the later additions. No. 1. T c D 8 143 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND m f BC a A B c 89 ay sj cb Eb ?b x| ob xb sb cb B| JJJJjJJ-1^6 DD fBFFjoofAAj^Cd The Gaelic music consists of different kinds or species. 1. Martial music, the Golltraidheacht of the Irish, and the Prosnachadh Cath of the Gael, consisting of a spirit- stirring measure, short and rapid. 2. The Geantraid- heacht, or plaintive, or sorrowful, a kind of music to which the Highlanders are very partial. The Coronach or lament, sung at funerals, is the most noted of this sort. 3. The Suantraidheacht, or composing, calculated to calm the mind, and to lull the person to sleep. 4. Songs of peace, sung at the conclusion of a war. 5. Songs of victory, sung by the bards before the king on gaining a victory. 6. Love songs. These last form a considerable part of the national music, the sensibility and tenderness of which excites the passion of love, " and, stimulated by its influence, the Gael indulge a spirit of the most ro- mantic attachment and adventure which the peasantry of perhaps no other country exhibit." " The ancient Gael were fond of singing, whether in a sad or cheerful frame of mind. Bacon justly remarks, ' that music feedeth that disposition which it findeth; ' it was a sure sign of brewing mischief when a Caledonian warrior was heard to ' hum his surly song.' This race, in all their labours, used appropriate songs, and ac- companied their harps with their voices. At harvest the reapers kept time by singing; at sea the boatmen did the same; and while the women were graddaning, 144 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD performing the luaghadh, or at other rural labour, they enlivened their work by certain airs called luineags. When milking, they sung a certain plaintive melody, to which the animals listened with calm attention. The attachment which the natives of Celtic origin have to their music is strengthened by its ultimate connection with the national songs. The influence of both on the Scots' character is confessedly great the pictures of heroism, love, and happiness, exhibited in then- songs, are indelibly impressed on the memory, and elevate the mind of the humblest peasant. The songs, united with their appropriate music, affect the sons of Scotia, par- ticularly when far distant from their native glens and majestic mountains, with indescribable feelings, and excite a spirit of the most romantic adventure. In this respect, the Swiss, who inhabit a country of like char- acter, and who resemble the Highlanders in many par- ticulars, experience similar emotions. On hearing the national ranz de vaches, their bowels yearn to revisit the ever dear scenes of then* youth. So powerfully is the amor patrice awakened by this celebrated air, that it was found necessary to prohibit its being played under pain of death among the troops, who would burst into tears on hearing it, desert their colours, and even die. " No songs could be more happily constructed for singing during labour, than those of the Highlanders, every person being able to join in them, sufficient inter- vals being allowed for breathing time. In a certain part of the song, the leader stops to take breath, when all the others strike hi and complete the air with a chorus of words and syllables, generally without sig- nification, but admirably adapted to give effect to the time. In singing during a social meeting, the company reach their plaids or handkerchiefs from one to another, 145 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND and swaying them gently in their hands, from side to- side, take part in the chorus as above. A large company thus connected, and see-sawing in regular time, has a curious effect; sometimes the bonnet is mutually grasped over the table. The low country manner is, to cross arms and shake each other's hands to the air of ' Auld lang syne/ or any other popular and commemorative melody. Fhir a bhata, or, the boatmen, is sung in the above manner by the Highlanders with much effect. It is the song of a girl whose lover is at sea, whose safety she prays for, and whose return she anxiously expects. The greater proportion of Gaelic songs, whether sung in the person of males or females, celebrate the valour and heroism, or other manly qualifications, of the clans." Connected with the Gaelic music, the musical instru- ments of the Celts remain to be noticed; but we shall confine our observations to the harp and to the bagpipe, the latter of which has long since superseded the former in the Highlands. The harp is the most noted instrument of antiquity, and was in use among many nations. It was, in particular, the favourite instrument of the Celts. The Irish were great proficients in harp music, and they are said to have made great improvements on the in- strument itself. So honourable was the occupation of a harper among the Irish, that none but freemen were permitted to play on the harp, and it was reckoned a disgrace for a gentleman not to have a harp, and be able to play on it. The royal household always included a harper, who bore a distinguished rank. Even kings did not disdain to relieve the cares of royalty by touching the strings of the harp; and we are told by Major, that James I, who died in 1437, excelled the best harpers among the Irish, and the Scotch Highlanders. But harpers were not confined to the houses of kings, for every chief had his harper, as well as his bard. 146 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD The precise period when the harp was superseded by the bagpipe it is not easy to ascertain. Roderick Morrison, usually called Rory Dall, or the blind, was one of the last native harpers. He was harper to the Laird of M'Leod. On the death of his master, Morrison led an itinerant life, and in 1650, he paid a visit to Robertson of Lude, on which occasion he composed a porst or air, called " Suipar chiurn na Leod," or " Lude's Supper," which, with other pieces, is still preserved. M'Intosh, the compiler of the Gaelic Proverbs, relates the following anecdote of Mr. Robertson, who, it appears, was a harp player himself of some eminence. " One night, my father, James M'Intosh, said to Lude, that he would be happy to hear him play upon the harp, which, at that time, began to give place to the violin. After supper, Lude and he retired to another room, in which there was a couple of harps, one of which be- longed to Queen Mary. James, says Lude, here are two harps; the largest one is the loudest, but the small one is the sweetest, which do you wish to hear played? James answered the small one, which Lude took up, and played upon, till daylight." The last harper, as is commonly supposed, was Mur- doch M'Donald, harper to M'Lean of Coll. He received instructions in playing from Rory Dall, in Sky, and afterward in Ireland, and from accounts of payments made to him, by M'Lean, still extant, Murdoch seems to have continued in his family till the year 1734, when he appears to have gone to Quinish, in Mull, where he died. The history of the bagpipe is curious and interesting, but such history does not fall within the scope of this work. Although a very ancient instrument, it does not appear to have been known to the Celtic nations. It was in use among the Trojans, Greeks, and Romans; 147 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND but how or in what manner it came to be introduced into the Highlands is a question which cannot be solved. Two suppositions have been started on this point, either that it was brought in by the Romans, or by the northern nations. The latter conjecture appears to be the most probable, for we cannot possibly imagine that, if the bagpipe had been introduced so early as the Roman epoch, no notice should have been taken of that in- strument, by the more early annalists and poets. But if the bagpipe was an imported instrument, how does it happen that the great Highland pipe is peculiar to the Highlands, and is perhaps the only national in- strument in Europe? If it was introduced by the Romans, or by the people of Scandinavia, how has it happened that no traces of that instrument in its present shape are to be found anywhere except in the High- lands? There is, indeed, some plausibility in these interrogatories, but they are easily answered by sup- posing, what is very probable, that the great bagpipe, in its present form, is the work of modern improvement, and that, originally, the instrument was much the same as is still seen in Belgium and Italy. The effects of this national instrument in arousing the feelings of those who have, from infancy, been ac- customed to its wild and warlike tones are truly as- tonishing. " In halls of joy and in scenes of mourning it has prevailed; it has animated her (Scotland's) warriors in battle, and welcomed them back after their toils, to the homes of their love and the hills of their nativity. Its strains were the first sounded on the ears of infancy, and they are the last to be forgotten, in the wanderings of age. Even Highlanders will allow that it is not the gentlest of instruments; but when far from their mountain homes, what sounds, however melodious, could thrill round their heart like one burst 148 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD of their own wild native pipe? The feelings which other instruments awaken are general and undefined, be- cause they talk alike to Frenchmen, Spaniards, Germans, and Highlanders, for they are common to all; but the bagpipe is sacred to Scotland, and speaks a language which Scotsmen only feel. It talks to them of home and all the past, and brings before them, on the burning shores of India, the wild hills and oft frequented streams of Caledonia; the friends that are thinking of them, and the sweethearts and wives that are weeping for them there! and need it be told here, to how many fields of danger and victory its proud strains have led! There is not a battle that is honourable to Britain in which its war blast has not sounded. When every other in- strument has been hushed by the confusion and carnage of the scene, it has been borne into the thick of battle, and, far in the advance, its bleeding but devoted bearer, sinking on the earth, has sounded at once encouragement to his countrymen and his own coro- nach." Many interesting anecdotes connected with the use of this instrument on the field of battle will be given when we come to treat of the military history of the modern Highlanders. History has thrown little light on the state of learn- ing in the Highlands during the Pictish and Scottish periods; but, judging from the well-attested celebrity of the college of Icolm-kill, which shed its rays of knowl- edge over the mountains and through the glens of Caledonia, we cannot doubt that learning did nourish in some degree among the Scots and Picts. The final destruction of the venerable abbey of lona, by the Danish pirates, unfortunately checked for a time the progress of civilization, and swept away, as is supposed, the proofs collected by the monks in support of the learning of those times, and to which, if they had been 149 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND preserved, the historian of future ages would have appealed. No man, no scholar, no Christian can visit the hallowed ruins of lona without awakening associa- tions, the most powerful and affecting. Doctor John- son, the great and inflexible moralist, thus describes the emotions he felt on visiting this celebrated spot: " We were now treading that illustrious island, which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions, whence savage clans and roving barbarians derived the benefit of knowledge, and the blessings of religion. To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible, if it were endeavoured, and would be foolish, if it were possible. Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses, whatever makes the past, the distant, or the future, predominate over the present, advances us in the dignity of thinking beings. Far from me, and from my friends, be such frigid philosophy, as would conduct us, indifferent and unmoved, over any ground which has been dignified by wisdom, bravery, or virtue! That man is little to be envied, whose pa- triotism would not gain force on the plains of Marathon or whose piety would not grow warm among the ruins of lona." CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE SCOTTISH KINGS, FROM 843 to 1097, ADJUSTED FROM THE BEST AUTHORITIES NAMES OF THE KINGS Date of Acces- sions Duration of Reign Demise KENNETH MACALPINE over the Scots and Picts .... A. D. 843 Years 16 A. B. 859 DONAL MACALPIN .... CONSTANTINE II, son of Kenneth . AODH, or HUGH, the son of Kenneth EOCHA, or ACHY or GRIG, jointly . DONAL IV, the son of Constantino CONSTANTINE III, the son of Aodh MALCOLM I, son of Donal IV . 150 859 863 881 882 893 904 944 4 18 1 11 11 40 9 863 881 882 893 904 944 953 THE SCOTTISH PERIOD NAMES OF THE KINGS Date of Acces- sions Duration of Reign Demise A. D. Years A. D. INDULF, the son of Constantino III 953 8 961 DUF, the son of Malcolm I 961 4i 965 CULEN, the son of Indulf . 965 4* 970 KENNETH III, the son of Malcolm I 970 24 994 CONSTANTINE IV, the son of Culen . 994 1* 99i KENNETH IV, surnamed Grim, the son of Duf 995 8 1003 MALCOLM II, the son of Kenneth III 1003 30 1033 DUNCAN, the grandson of Malcolm II . . . . . 1033 6 1039 MACBETH, the son of Finlech . 1039 17 1056 LULACH, the son of Gruoch and Gilcomgain 1056 4* 1057 MALCOLM-CEANMORE, the son of Duncan 1057 36-8Months 1093 DONAL-BANE, the son of Duncan . 1093 * 1094 DUNCAN II, the son of Malcolm III 1094 * 1094 DONAL-BANE, again .... 1094 3 1097 151 CHAPTER V SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS WE have now arrived at an era in our history when the line of demarcation between the inhabitants of the Lowlands and Highlands of Scotland begins to appear, and when, by the influx of a Gothic race into the former, the language of that part of North Britain is completely revolutionized, when a new dynasty or race of sover- eigns ascends the throne, and when a great change takes place in the laws and constitution of the kingdom. At the epoch which closes the last chapter, the Gaelic was the almost universal language of North Britain. In proof of this, reference has been made to proper names, or names of persons and places, which were all Gaelic during that period, as may be seen by consulting the ancient chartularies and chronicles, the annals of Ulster, and the register of the Priory of St. Andrews. In the Lowlands, however, some places still retain the British appellations conferred on them by the aborigi- nal inhabitants of North Britain. The cause of this may be owing to the close affinity between the same names in the British and Gaelic; and to this circumstance, that the Gaelic language did not obtain such a complete mastery over the British in the Lowlands as in the Highlands. Although the Anglo-Saxon colonization of the Low- lands of Scotland does not come exactly within the design of the present work, yet, as forming an important feature in the history of the Lowlands of Scotland as 152 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS contradistinguished from the Highlands, a slight notice of it may not be uninteresting. At the time when the Romans invaded North Britain, the whole population of both ends of the island consisted of a Celtic race, the descendants of its original inhab- itants. Shortly after the Roman abdication of North Britain in the year 446, which was soon succeeded by the final departure of the Romans from the British shores, the Saxons, a people of Gothic origin, estab- lished themselves upon the Tweed, and afterward ex- tended their settlements to the Frith of Forth, and to the banks of the Solway and the Clyde. About the beginning of the sixth century the Dalriads, as we have seen, landed in Kintyre and Argyle from the opposite coast of Ireland, and colonized these districts, from whence, in the course of little more than two centuries, they overspread the Highlands and western islands, which their descendants have, ever since, continued to possess. Toward the end of the eighth century, a fresh colony of Scots from Ireland settled in Galloway among the Britons and Saxons, and having overspread the whole of that country were afterward joined by de- tachments of the Scots of Kintyre and Argyle, in con- nection with whom they peopled that peninsula. Be- sides these three races, who made permanent settle- ments in Scotland, the Scandinavians colonized the Orkney and Shetland islands, and also established themselves on the coasts of Caithness and Sutherland. But notwithstanding these early settlements of the Gothic race, the era of the Saxon colonization of the Lowlands of Scotland is, with more propriety, placed in the reign of Malcolm Ceanmore, who, by his mar- riage with a Saxon princess, and the protection he gave to the Anglo-Saxon fugitives who sought for an asylum in his dominions from the persecutions of William the 153 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Conqueror, and his Normans, laid the foundations of those great changes which took place in the reigns of his successors. Malcolm, in his warlike incursions into Northumberland and Durham, carried off immense numbers of young men and women, who were to be seen in the reign of David I in almost every village and house in Scotland. The Gaelic population was quite averse to the settlement of these strangers among them, and it is said that the extravagant mode of living introduced by the Saxon followers of Queen Margaret was one of the reasons which led to their expulsion from Scotland, in the reign of Donalbane, who rendered himself popular with his people by this unfriendly act. This expulsion was, however, soon rendered nugatory, for on the accession of Edgar, the first sovereign of the Scoto-Saxon dynasty, many distinguished Saxon fami- lies with their followers settled in Scotland, to the heads of which families the king made grants of land of con- siderable extent. Few of these foreigners appear to have come into Scotland during the reign of Alexander I, the brother and successor of Edgar; but vast numbers of Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Normans, and Flemings es- tablished themselves in Scotland in the reign of David I. That prince had received his education at the court of Henry I and had married Maud or Matildes, the only child of Waltheof, Earl of Northumberland and Hunt- ingdon, by Judith, niece to William the Conqueror on the mother's side. This lady had many vassals, and when David came to the throne in the year 1124, he was followed, successively, by a thousand Anglo-Nor- mans to whom he distributed lands, on which they and their followers settled. Most of the illustrious families in Scotland originated from this source. Malcolm Ceanmore had, before his accession to the throne, resided for some time in England as a fugitive, 154 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS under the protection of Edward the Confessor, where he acquired a knowledge of the Saxon language; which language, after his marriage with the Princess Margaret, became that of the Scottish court. This circumstance made that language fashionable among the Scottish nobility, in consequence of which and of the Anglo- Saxon colonization under David I, the Gaelic lan- guage was altogether superseded in the Lowlands of Scotland in little more than two centuries after the death of Malcolm. A topographical line of demarcation was then fixed as the boundary between the two lan- guages, which has ever since been kept up, and presents one of the most singular phenomena ever observed in the history of philology. The change of the seat of government by Kenneth / on ascending the Pictish throne, from Inverlochay, the capital of the Scots, to Abernethy, also followed by the removal of the marble chair, the emblem of sovereignty, from Dunstaffnage to Scone, appears to have occasioned no detriment to the Gaelic population of the Highlands; but when Malcolm Ceanmore transferred his court about the year 1066 to Dunfermline, which also became, in place of lona, the sepulchre of the Scottish kingc, the rays of royal bounty, which had hitherto diffused its protecting and benign influence over the inhabitants of the Highlands, were withdrawn, and left them a prey to anarchy and poverty. " The people," says General David Stewart, " now beyond the reach of the laws, became turbulent and fierce, revenging in person those wrongs for which the administrators of the laws were too distant and too feeble to afford redress. Thence arose the institution of chiefs, who naturally became the judges and arbiters in the quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and who were surrounded by men de- voted to the defence of their rights, their property, 155 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND and their power; and accordingly the chiefs established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost wholly independent of their liege lord." The connection which Malcolm and his successors maintained with England estranged still farther the Highlanders from the dominion of the sovereign and the laws; and their history, after the Gaelic population of the Lowlands had merged into and adopted the lan- guage of the Anglo-Saxons, presents, with the exception of the wars between rival clans, which will be noticed afterward, nothing remarkable till their first appearance on the military theatre of our national history in the campaigns of Montrose, Dundee, and others. Of these campaigns and other interesting military achievements of the modern Highlanders, we intend to give the de- tails; but before entering upon that important and highly interesting portion of our labours, we mean to bring under the notice of the reader such objects of general interest connected with the ancient state of the Highlands, and the character and condition of the High- landers in former times, as may be considered interesting either in a local or national point of view. The early history of the Highlanders presents us with a bold and hardy race of men, filled with a romantic attachment to their native mountains and glens, cherish- ing an exalted spirit of independence, and firmly bound together in septs or clans by the ties of kindred. Hav- ing little intercourse with the rest of the world, and pent up for many centuries within the Grampian range, the Highlanders acquired a peculiar character, and re- tained or adopted habits and manners differing widely from those of their Lowland neighbours. " The ideas and employments, which their seclusion from the- world rendered habitual, the familiar contemplation of the most sublime objects of nature, the habit of 156 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS concentrating their affections within the narrow pre- cincts nf their own glens, or the limited circle of their own kinsmen, and the necessity of union and self- dependence in all difficulties and dangers combined to form a peculiar and original character. A certain romantic sentiment, the offspring of deep and cherished feeling, strong attachment to their country and kindred, and a consequent disdain of submission to strangers, formed the character of independence; while a habitual contempt of danger was nourished by their solitary musings, of which the honour of then- clan, and a long descent from brave and warlike ancestors, formed the frequent theme. Thus, their exercises, their amuse- ments, their modes of subsistence, their motives of action, their prejudices and their superstitions became characteristic, permanent, and peculiar. " Firmness and decision, fertility in resources, ardour in friendship, and a generous enthusiasm were the result of such a situation, such modes of life, and such habits of thought. Feeling themselves separated by nature from the rest of mankind, and distinguished by their language, their habits, their manners, and their dress, they considered themselves the original possessors of the country, and regarded the Saxons of the Lowlands as strangers and intruders." Like their Celtic ancestors, the Highlanders were tall, robust, and well formed. Early marriages were unknown among them, and it was rare for a female who was of a puny stature and delicate constitution to be honoured with a husband. The following observations of Martin on the inhabitants of some of the western islands may be generally applied to the Highlanders: " They are not obliged to art in forming their bodies, for Nature never fails to act her part bountifully to them; perhaps there jia no part of the habitable globe where so few bodily 157 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND imperfections are to be seen, nor any children that go more early. I have observed several of them walk alone before they were ten months old; they are bathed all over every morning and evening, some in cold, some in warm water; but the latter is most commonly used, and they wear nothing strait about them. The mother generally suckles the child, failing of which, a nurse is provided, for they seldom bring up any by hand; they give new-born infants fresh butter to take away the miconium, and this they do for several days; they taste neither sugar, nor cinnamon, nor have they any daily allowance of sack bestowed on them, as the custom is elsewhere, nor is the nurse allowed to taste ale. The generality wear neither shoes nor stockings before they are seven, eight, or ten years old; and many among them wear no nightcaps before they are sixteen years old, and upward; some use none all their lifetime, and these are not so liable to headaches as others who keep their heads warm." This practice of bathing children every morning and evening contributes more than any other expedient to steel the body against cold, and to preserve the frame from rheumatic affection. Nor did this healthy opera- tion cease with childhood, it was continued in after life, and the practice still is with those who wear the kilt to wash their limbs every morning as a preventive against cold. These precautions made the Highlanders impervious to cold, and indifferent to warm and cum- brous clothing. Their wardrobe was, of course, very scanty, but quite sufficient for useful purposes, comfort and cleanliness. As a proof of the indifference of the Highlanders to cold, reference has been made to their often sleeping in the open air during the severity of winter. Birt, who resided among them and wrote in the year 1725 r 158 , SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS relates that he has seen the places which they occupied, and which were known by being free from the snow that deeply covered the ground, except where the heat of their bodies had melted it. The same writer repre- sents a chief as giving offence to his clan by his de- generacy in forming the snow into a pillow before he lay down. " The Highlanders were so accustomed to sleep in the open air, that the want of shelter was of little consequence to them. It was usual before they lay down, to dip their plaids in water, by which the cloth was less pervious to the wind, and the heat of their bodies produced a warmth, which the woollen, if dry, could not afford. An old man informed me, that a fa- vourite place of repose was under a cover of thick over- hanging heath. The Highlanders, in 1745, could scarcely be prevailed on to use tents. It is not long since those who frequented Lawrence fair, St. Sair's, and other markets in the Garioch of Aberdeenshire, gave up the practice of sleeping in the open fields. The horses being on these occasions left to shift for themselves, the in- habitants no longer have their crop spoiled, by their ' upthrough neighbours,' with whom they had often bloody contentions, in consequence of these uncere- monious visits." Till of late years the general opinion was that the plaid, philebeg, and bonnet formed the ancient garb of the Highlanders, but some writers have maintained that the philebeg is of modern invention, and that the truis, which consisted of breeches and stockings in one piece, and made to fit close to the limbs, was the old costume. Pinkerton says, that the kilt " is not ancient, but singular, and adapted to their " - the Highlanders' - " savage life, was always unknown among the Welsh and Irish, and that it was a dress of the Saxons, who could not afford breeches." We like an ingenious 159 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND argument even from the pen of this vituperative writer, with all his anti-Gaelic prejudices, and have often ad- mired his tact in managing it; but after he had ad- mitted that " breeches were unknown to the Celts, from the beginning to this day," it was carry ing con- jecture too far to attribute the introduction of the philebeg to the Saxons, who were never able to introduce any of their customs into the Highlands; and of all changes in the dress of a people, we think the substi- tution of the kilt for the truis the most improbable. That the truis are very ancient in the Highlands is probable, but they were chiefly confined to the higher classes, who always used them when travelling on horse- back. Beague, a Frenchman, who wrote a history of the campaigns in Scotland in 1549, printed in Paris in 1556, states that, at the siege of Haddington, in 1549, " they (the Scottish army) were followed by the High- landers, and these last go almost naked; they have painted waistcoats, and a sort of woollen covering, variously coloured." The style of dress is alluded to by our older historians, by Major, Bishop Lesly, and Buchanan. Lindsay of Pitscottie also thus notices it: "The other pairt northerne ar full of mountaines, and very rud and homelie kynd of people doeth inhabite, which is called the Reid Schankes, or wyld Scottis. They be cloathed with ane mantle, with ane schirt, fachioned after the Irish manner, going bair legged to the knie." Another who wrote before the year 1597 observes that, in his time, " they " the Highlanders " delight much in marbled cloths, especially that have long stripes of sundry colours; they love chiefly purple and blue ; their predecessors used short mantles, or plaids of divers colours, sundrie ways divided, and among some the same custom is observed to this day; but, for the most part 160 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS now, they are brown, most near to the colour of the hadder, to the effect when they lye among the hadders, the bright colour of their plaids shall not bewray them, with the which, rather coloured than clad, they suffer the most cruel tempests that blow in the open fields, in such sort, that in a night of snow they sleep sound." There was nothing a Highlander took so much delight in as the improvement of his personal appearance by the aid of dress. The point of personal decoration being once secured, it mattered not, says General Stew- art, that his dwelling was mean, his domestic utensils scanty, and of the simplest construction, and his house and furniture merely such as could be prepared by his own hands. Yet, with all his gay tendencies, the High- lander looked upon the occupations of the tailor and weaver with profound contempt, and as fit only for sickly and effeminate persons. He did not disdain, how- ever, to be his own shoemaker, cooper, and carpenter, all of which he considered honourable professions, when confined at least to the supply of his own domestic necessities. We shall now give a description of the different parts of the Highland costume: The Breacan-feile, literally, the chequered covering, is the original garb of the Highlanders, and forms the chief part of the costume; but it is now almost laid aside in its simple form. It consisted of a plain piece of tartan from four to six yards in length, and two yards broad. The plaid was adjusted with great nicety, and made to surround the waist in great plaits or folds, and was firmly bound round the loins with a leathern belt in such a manner that the lower side fell down to the middle of the knee joint, and then, while there were the foldings behind, the cloth was double before. The upper part was then fastened on the left shoulder with a large brooch or pin, so as to display to the most advantage 161 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the tastefulness of the arrangement, the two ends being sometimes suffered to hang down; but that on the right side, which was necessarily the longest, was more usu- ally tucked under the belt. In battle, in travelling, and on other occasions, this added much to the commodious- ness and grace of the costume. By this arrangement, the right arm of the wearer was left uncovered and at full liberty; but in wet or very cold weather the plaid was thrown loose, by which both body and shoulders were covered. To give free exercise for both arms in case of need, the plaid was fastened across the breast by a large silver bodkin, or circular brooch, often en- riched with precious stones, or imitations of them, having mottoes engraved, consisting of allegorical and figurative sentences. Although the belted plaid was peculiar to the Highlanders, it came gradually to be worn by some of the inhabitants of the Lowland districts adjoining the Highlands; but it was discontinued about the end of the last century. As the Breacan was without pockets, a purse, called sporan by the Highlanders, was fastened or tied in front, which was very serviceable. This purse was made of goats' or badgers' skin, and sometimes of leather, and was neither so large nor so gaudy as that now in use. People of rank or condition ornamented their purses sometimes with a silver mouthpiece, and fixed the tassels and other appendages with silver fastenings; but in general the mouthpieces were of brass, and the cords employed were of leather neatly interwoven. The sporan was divided into several compartments. One of these was appropriated for holding a watch, another money, etc. The Highlanders even carried their shot in the sporan occasionally, but for this purpose they commonly carried a wallet at the right side, in which they also stowed, when travelling, a quantity of meal and other 162 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS provisions. This military knapsack was called dorlach by the Highlanders. The use of stockings and shoes is of comparatively recent date in the Highlands. Originally they encased their feet in a piece of untanned hide, cut to the shape and size of the foot, and drawn close together with leather thongs, a practice which is observed by the descendants of the Scandinavian settlers in the Shetland islands even to the present day; but this mode of cover- ing the feet was far from being general, as the greater part of the population went barefooted. Such was the state of the Highlanders who fought at Killicrankie; and Birt, who wrote upward of a century ago, says that he visited a well-educated and polite laird, in the north, who wore neither shoes nor stockings, nor had any covering for his feet. A modern writer observes, that when the Highland regiments were embodied during the French and American wars, hundreds of the men were brought down without either stockings or shoes. The stockings, which were originally of the same pattern with the plaid, were not knitted, but were cut out of the web, as is still done in the case of those worn by the common soldiers in the Highland regiments; but a great variety of fancy patterns are now in use. The garters were of rich colours, and broad, and were wrought in a small loom, which is now almost laid aside. This texture was very close, which prevented them from wrinkling, and displayed the pattern to its full extent. On the occasion of an anniversary cavalcade, on Michael- mas Day, by the inhabitants of the island of North Uist, when persons of all ranks and of both sexes appeared on horseback, the women, in return for presents of knives and purses given them by the men, presented the latter " with a pair of fine garters of divers colours." The bonnet, of which there were various patterns, 163 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND completed the national garb, and those who could afford had also, as essential accompaniments, a dirk, with a knife and fork stuck in the side of the sheath, and some- times a spoon, together with a pair of steel pistols. The garb, however, differed materially in quality and in ornamental display, according to the rank or ability of the wearer. The short coat and waistcoat worn by the wealthy were adorned with silver buttons, tassels, embroidery, or lace, according to the taste or fashion of the times; and even " among the better and more provident of the lower ranks," as General Stewart remarks, silver buttons were frequently found, which had come down to them as an inheritance of long descent. The same author observes, that the reason for wearing these buttons, which were of a large size and of solid silver, was that their value might defray the expense of a decent funeral in the event of the wearer falling in battle, or dying in a strange country and at a distance from his friends. The officers of Mackay's and Munroe's Highland regiments, who served under Gustavus Adol- phus hi the wars of 1626 and 1638, in addition to rich buttons, wore a gold chain round the neck, to secure the owner, in case of being wounded or taken prisoner, good treatment, or payment for future ransom. Although shoe buckles now form a part of the High- land costume, they were unknown in the Highlands 150 years ago. The ancient Highlanders did not wear neckcloths. Their shirts were of woollen cloth, and as linen was long expensive, a considerable time elapsed before linen shirts came into general use. We have heard an old and intelligent Highlander remark, that rheu- matism was almost, if not wholly, unknown in the High- lands until the introduction of linen shirts. It is observed by General Stewart, that " among the circumstances which influenced the military character 164 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS of the Highlanders, their peculiar garb was conspicuous,, which, by its freedom and lightness, enabled them to use their limbs, and to handle their arms with ease and celerity, and to move with great speed when employed with either cavalry or light infantry. In the wars of Gustavus Adolphus, in the civil wars of Charles I; and on various other occasions, they were often mixed with the cavalry, affording to detached squadrons the incalculable advantage of support from infantry, even in their most rapid movements." " I observed," says the author of " Memoirs of a Cavalier," speaking of the Scots army in 1640, " I observed that these parties had always some foot with them, and yet if the horses galloped or pushed on ever so forward, the foot were as forward as they, which was an extraordinary advan- tage. These were those they call Highlanders; they would run on foot with all their arms, and all their accoutrements, and kept very good order too, and kept pace with the horses, let them go at what rate they would." Among the different costumes with which we are acquainted, none can stand comparison with the High- land garb for gracefulness. The nice discernment and correct taste of Eustace preferred it to the formal and gorgeous drapery of the Asiatic costume. Its utility,- now that such a complete change has been effected in the manners and condition of the people, may be ques- tioned, but it must be admitted on all hands, that a more suitable dress for the times when it was used could not have been invented. The dress of the women seems to require some little notice. Till marriage, or till they arrived at a certain age, they went with the head bare, the hair being tied with bandages or some slight ornament, after which they wore a head-dress, called the curch, made of linen, 165 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which was tied under the chin; but when a young woman lost her virtue and character she was obliged to wear a cap, and never afterward to appear bareheaded. Martin's observations on the dress of the females of the western islands may be taken as giving a pretty correct idea of that worn by those of the Highlands. " The women wore sleeves of scarlet cloth, closed at the end as men's vests, with gold lace round them, having plate buttons set with fine stones. The head-dress was a fine kerchief of linen, straight about the head. The plaid was tied before on the breast, with a buckle of silver or brass, according to the quality of the person. I have seen some of the former of one hundred merks value; the whole curiously engraved with various animals. There was a lesser buckle which was worn hi the middle of the larger. It had in the centre a large piece of crystal, or some finer stone, of a lesser size." The plaid, which, with the exception of a few stripes of red, black, or blue, was white, reached from the neck almost to the feet; it was plaited, and was tied round the waist by a belt of leather, studded with small pieces of silver. The antiquity of the tartan has been called in question by several writers, who have maintained that it is of modem invention; but they have given no proofs in support of their assertion. We have seen that an author who wrote as far back as the year 1597 mentions this species of cloth; and in the account of charge and dis- charge of John, Bishop of Glasgow, Treasurer to King James III in 1471, the following entries occur: " An elne and ane halve of blue tartane to lyne his gowne of cloth of gold 1 10 6 " Four elne and ane halve of tartane for a sparwurt aboun his credill, price ane elne, 10s . . . 250 " Halve ane elne of duble tartane to lyne collars to her lady the Quene, price 8 shillings." 16G SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS It is therefore absurd to say that tartan is a modern invention. When the great improvements in the process of dyeing by means of chemistry are considered, it will appear surprising, that without any knowledge of this art, and without the substances now employed, the High- landers should have been able, from the scanty materials which their country afforded, to produce the beautiful and lasting colours which distinguished the old High- land tartan, some specimens of which are understood still to exist, and which retain much of their original brilliancy of colouring. " In dyeing and arranging the various colours of their tartans, they displayed no small art and taste, preserving at the same time the distinctive patterns (or sets, as they were called) of the different clans, tribes, families, and districts. Thus, a Macdonald, a Campbell, a Mackenzie, etc., was known by his plaid; and, in like manner, the Athole, Glenorchy, and other colours of different districts were easily distinguishable. Besides those general divisions, industrious housewives had patterns, distinguished by the set, superior quality, and fineness of cloth, or brightness and variety of the colours. In those times, when mutual attachment and confidence subsisted between the proprietors and oc- cupiers of land in the Highlands, the removal of tenants, except in remarkable cases, rarely occurred; and, consequently, it was easy to preserve and perpetuate any particular set or pattern, even among the lower orders." The Highlanders, in common with most other nations, were much addicted to superstition. The peculiar aspect of their country, in which nature appears in its wildest and most romantic features, exhibiting at a glance sharp and rugged mountains, with dreary wastes wide- stretched lakes, and rapid torrents, over which the thun- ders and lightnings, and tempests and rains, of heaven, 167 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND exhaust their terrific rage, wrought upon the creative powers of the imagination, and from these appearances, the Highlanders " were naturally led to ascribe every disaster to the influence of superior powers, in whose character the predominating feature necessarily was malignity toward the human race." The most dangerous and most malignant creature was the kelpie, or water-horse, which was supposed to allure women and children to his subaqueous haunts, and there devour them. Sometimes he would swell the lake or torrent beyond its usual limits, and overwhelm the unguarded traveller in the flood. The shepherd, as he sat upon the brow of a rock in a summer's evening, often fancied he saw this animal dashing along the surface of the lake, or browsing on the pasture-ground upon its verge. The urisks, who were supposed to be of a condition somewhat intermediate between that of mortal men and spirits, " were a sort of lubbary supernaturals, who, like the brownies of England, could be gained over by kind attentions to perform the drudgery of the farm; and it was believed that many families in the Highlands had one of the order attached to it." The urisks were supposed to live dispersed over the Highlands, each having his own wild recess; but they were said to hold stated assemblies in the celebrated cave called Coire- nan-Uriskin, situated near the base of Ben- Venue, in Aberfoyle, on its northern shoulder. It overhangs Loch Katrine " in solemn grandeur," and is beautifully and faithfully described by Sir Walter Scott. 13 The urisks, though generally inclined to mischief, were supposed to relax in this propensity, if kindly treated by the families which they haunted. They were even serviceable hi some instances, and in this point of view were often considered an acquisition. Each 168 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS family regularly set down a bowl of cream for its urisk, and even clothes were sometimes added. The urisk resented any omission or want of attention on the part of the family; and tradition says that the urisk of Glaschoil, a small farm about a mile to the west of Ben- Venue, having been disappointed one night of his bowl of cream, after performing the task allotted him, took his departure about daybreak, uttering a horrible shriek, and never again returned. The Daoine Shith, or Shi' (men of peace), or as they are sometimes called, Daoine matha (good men), come next to be noticed. Dr. P. Graham considers the part of the popular superstitions of the Highlands which relates to these imaginary persons, and which is to this day retained, as he observes, in some degree of purity, as " the most beautiful and perfect branch of Highland mythology." Although it has been generally supposed that the mythology of the Daoine Shi' is the same as that respect- ing the fairies of England, as portrayed by Shakespeare, in the " Midsummer Night's Dream," and perhaps, too, of the Orientals, they differ essentially in many important points. The Daoine Shi', or men of peace, who are the fairies of the Highlanders, " though not absolutely malevolent, are believed to be a peevish, repining race of beings, who, possessing themselves but a scanty portion of happiness, are supposed to envy mankind their more complete and substantial enjoyments. They are sup- posed to enjoy, in their subterraneous recesses, a sort of shadowy happiness, a tinsel grandeur, which, however, they would willingly exchange for the more solid joys of mortals." Green was the colour of the dress which these men of peace always wore, and they were sup- posed to take offence when any of the mortal race pre- 169 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND sumed to wear their favourite colour. The Highlanders ascribe the disastrous result of the battle of Killie- crankie to the circumstance of Viscount Dundee having been dressed in green on that ill-fated day. This colour is even yet considered ominous to those of his name who assume it. The abodes of the Daoine Shi' are supposed to be below grassy eminences or knolls, where, during the night, they celebrate their festivities by the light of the moon, and dance to notes of the softest music. 14 Tradition reports that they have often allured some of the human race into their subterraneous retreats, con- sisting of gorgeous apartments, and that they have been regaled with the most sumptuous banquets and delicious wines. Their females far exceed the daughters of men in beauty. If any mortal shall be tempted to partake of their repast, or join in their pleasures, he at once for- feits the society of his fellow-men, and is bound down irrevocably to the condition of a Shi'ich, or man of peace. " A woman," says a Highland tradition, " was con- veyed, in days of yore, into the secret recesses of the men of peace. There she was recognized by one who had formerly been an ordinary mortal, but who had, by some fatality, become associated with the Shi'ichs. This acquaintance, still retaining some portion of human benevolence, warned her of her danger, and counselled her, as she valued her liberty, to abstain from eating or drinking with them for a certain space of time. She complied with the counsel of her friend; and when the period assigned was elapsed, she found herself again upon earth, restored to the society of mortals. It is added, that when she had examined the viands which had been presented to her, and which had appeared so tempting to the eye, they were found, now that the en- 170 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS chantment had been removed, to consist only of the refuse of the earth." Some mortals, however, who had been so unhappy as to fall into the snares of the Shi'ichs, are generally believed to have obtained a release from fairy-land, and to have been restored to the society of their friends. Ethert Brand, according to the legend, was released by the intrepidity of his sister, as related by Sir Walter Scott in the fourth Canto of the Lady of the Lake: " She crossed him thrice that lady bold: He rose beneath her hand, The fairest knight on Scottish mould, Her brother, Ethert Brand! " A recent tradition gives a similar story, except in its unfortunate catastrophe, and is thus related by Dr. Patrick Graham in his " Sketches of Perthshire." The Rev. Robert Kirk, the first translator of the Psalms into Gaelic verse, had formerly been minister at Balquidder; and died minister of Aberfoyle, in 1688, at the early age of 42. His gravestone, which may be seen near the east end of the church of Aberfoyle, bears the inscription which is given in the note. 15 He was walking, it Is said, one evening in his nightgown, upon the little eminence to the west of the present manse, which is still reckoned a Dun-shi'. He fell down dead, as was believed; but this was not his fate: " It was between the night and day, When the fairy king has power, That he sunk down (but not) in sinful fray, And/twixt life and death, was snatched away, To the joyless Elfin bower." Mr. Kirk was the near relation of Mr. Graham of Duchray, the ancestor of the present General Graham 171 Stirling. Shortly after his funeral, he appeared in the dress in which he had sunk down, to a mutual relation of his own and of Duchray. " Go," said he to him, " to my cousin Duchray, and tell him that I am not dead; I fell down in a swoon, and was carried into fairy-land, where I now am. Tell him, that when he and my friends are assembled at the baptism of my child for he had left his wife pregnant I will appear in the room, and that if he throws the knife which he holds in his hand over my head, I will be released, and restored to human society." The man, it seems, neglected for some time to deliver the message. Mr. Kirk appeared to him a. second time, threatening to haunt him day and night till he executed his commission, which at length he did. The day of the baptism arrived. They were seated at table. Mr. Kirk entered, but the Laird of Duchray, by some unaccountable fatality, neglected to perform the prescribed ceremony. Mr. Kirk retired by another door, and was seen no more. It is firmly believed that he is, at this day, in fairy-land. Another legend in a similar strain is also given as communicated by a very intelligent young lady: " A young man roaming one day through the forest, observed a number of persons, all dressed in green, issuing from one of those round eminences which are commonly accounted fairy hills. Each of them, in succession, called upon a person by name, to fetch his horse. A caparisoned steed instantly appeared; they all mounted, and sallied forth into the regions of the air. The young man, like AH Baba in the ' Arabian Nights/ ventured to pronounce the same name, and called for his horse. The steed immediately appeared ; he mounted and was soon joined to the fairy choir. He remained with them for a year, going about with them to fairs and weddings, and feasting, though unseen by mortal 172 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS -eyes, on the victuals that were exhibited on those occasions. They had, one day, gone to a wedding, where the cheer was abundant. During the feast the bride- groom sneezed. The young man, according to the usual custom, said, ' God bless you, 18 The fairies were offended at the pronunciation of the sacred name, and assured him, that if he dared to repeat it they would punish him. The bridegroom sneezed a second time. He repeated his blessing; they threatened more than tremendous vengeance. He sneezed a third time; he blessed him as before. The fairies were enraged; they tumbled him from a precipice, but he found himself unhurt, and was restored to the society of mortals." The Shi'ichs, or men of peace, are supposed to have a design against new-born children, and women in child- bed, whom, it is universally believed, they sometimes carry off into their secret recesses. To prevent this abduction, women in childbed are closely watched, and are not left alone, even for a single moment, till the child is baptized, when the Shi'ichs are supposed to have no more power over them. 17 The following tradition will illustrate this branch of the popular superstition respecting the Shi'ichs: A woman whose new-born child had been conveyed by them into their secret abodes, was also carried thither herself, to remain, however, only until she should suckle her infant. She one day, during this period, observed the Shi'ichs busily employed in mixing various ingredi- ents in a boiling cauldron; and as soon as the composi- tion was prepared, she remarked that they all carefully anointed their eyes with it, laying the remainder aside for future use. In a moment when they were all absent, she also attempted to anoint her eyes with the precious drug, but had time to apply it to one eye only, when the Daoine Shi' returned. But with that eye, she was 173 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND henceforth enabled to see everything as it really passed in their secret abodes; she saw every object, not as she liad hitherto done, in deceptive splendour and elegance, but in its genuine colours and form. The gaudy orna- ments of the apartment were reduced to the naked walls of a gloomy cavern. Soon after, having discharged her office, she was dismissed to her own home. Still, how- ever, she retained the faculty of seeing with her medi- cated eye everything that was done, anywhere in her presence, by the deceptive art of the order. One day, amidst a throng of people, she chanced to observe the Shi'ich, or man of peace, in whose possession she had left her child, though to every other eye invisible. Prompted by maternal affection, she inadvertently accosted him, and began to inquire after the welfare of her child. The man of peace, astonished at thus being recognized by one of mortal race, sternly demanded how she had been enabled to discover him. Awed by the terrific frown of his countenance, she acknowledged what she had done. He spit into her eye, and extinguished it for ever. The Shi'ichs, it is still believed, have a great pro- pensity for attending funerals and weddings, and other public entertainments, and even fairs. They have an object in this; for it is believed that, though invisible to mortal eyes, they are busily employed in carrying away the substantial articles and provisions which are exhibited, in place of which they substitute shadowy forms, having the appearance of the things so purloined. And so strong was the belief in this mythology, even tilt a recent period, that some persons are old enough to- remember that some individuals would not eat any- thing presented on the occasions alluded to, because they believed it to be unsubstantial and hurtful. As the Shi'ichs are always supposed to be present 174 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS on all occasions, though invisible, the Highlanders, whenever they allude to them, do so in terms of respect. This is, however, done as seldom as possible, as they endeavour to avoid conversing about them as much as possible; and when the Shi'ichs are casually mentioned, the Highlanders add some propitiatory expression of praise to avert their displeasure, which they greatly dread. This reserve and dread on the part of the High- landers is said to arise from the peevish envy and jealousy which the Shi'ichs are believed to entertain toward the human race. Although believed to be always present, watching the doings of mortals, the Shi'ichs are supposed to be more particular in their attendance on Friday, on which day they are believed to possess very extensive influence. They are believed to be es- pecially jealous of what may be said concerning them; and if they are at all spoken of on that day, which is never done without great reluctance, the Highlanders uniformly style them the Daoine matha, or good men. According to the traditionary legends of the High- landers, the Shi'ichs are believed to be of both sexes; and it is the general opinion among the Highlanders that men have sometimes cohabited with females of the Shi'ich race, who are in consequence called Leannan Shi'. These mistresses are believed to be very kind to their mortal paramours, by revealing to them the knowledge of many things both present and future, which were concealed from the rest of mankind. The knowledge of the medicinal virtues of many herbs, it is related, has been obtained in this way from the Leannan Shi'. The Daoine Shi' of the other sex are said, in their turn, to have sometimes held intercourse with mistresses of mortal race. This popular superstition relating to the Daoine Shi' is supposed, with good reason, to have taken its rise in the 175 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND times of the Druids, or rather to have been invented by them after the overthrow of their hierarchy, for the purpose of preserving the existence of their order, after they had retreated for safety to caves and the deep recesses of the forest. This idea receives some corrobo- ration from the Gaelic term, Druidheachd, which the Highlanders apply to the deceptive power by which the men of peace are believed to impose upon the senses of mankind; " founded, probably, on the opinion enter- tained of old, concerning the magical powers of the Druids. Deeply versed, according to Caesar's informa- tion, as the Druids were, in the higher departments of philosophy, and probably acquainted with electric- ity, and various branches of chemistry, they might find it easy to excite the belief of their supernatural powers, in the minds of the uninitiated vulgar." The influence of this powerful order upon the popular belief was felt long after the supposed era of its extinction; for it was not until Christianity was introduced into the Highlands, that the total suppression of the Druids took place. Adomnan mentions in his life of St. Col- umba, the mocidruidi (or sons of Druids) as existing in Scotland in the time of Columba; and he informs us " that the saint was interrupted at the castle of the king (of the Picts), in the discharge of his religious offices, by certain magi; " a term, by the bye, applied by Pliny to the order of the Druids. The following passage from an ancient Gaelic MS. in the possession of the Highland Society of Scotland, supposed to be of the twelfth or thirteenth century, is conjectured to refer to the incident noticed by Adomnan. " After this, St. Columba went upon a time to the king of the Picts, namely, Bruidhi, son of Milchu, and the gate of the castle was shut against him; but the iron locks of the town opened instantly, through the prayers of 176 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS Columb Cille. Then came the son of the king, to wit, Maelchu, and his Druid, to argue keenly against Columb Cille, in support of paganism." Martin relates that the natives of South-Uist believed that a valley called Glenslyte, situated between two mountains on the east side of the Island, was haunted by spirits, whom they called the great men, and that if any man or woman entered the valley without first making an entire resignation of themselves to the con- duct of the great men, they would infallibly grow mad. The words by which they gave themselves up to the guidance of these men are comprehended in three sen- tences, wherein the glen is twice named. This author remonstrated with the inhabitants upon this " piece of silly credulity," but they answered that there had been a late instance of a woman who went into the glen without resigning herself to the guidance of the great men, " and immediately after, she became mad; which confirmed them in their unreasonable fancy." He also observes, that the people who resided in the glen in summer said they sometimes heard a loud noise in the air like men speaking. The same writer mentions a universal custom among the inhabitants of the western islands, of pouring a cow's milk upon a little hill, or big stone, where a spirit they called Brownie, was believed to lodge, which spirit always appeared in the shape of a tall man, with very long brown hair. On inquiring " from several well- meaning women, who, until of late, had practised it," they told Martin that it had been transmitted to them by their ancestors, who believed it was attended with good fortune, but the most credulous of the vulgar had then laid it aside. It was also customary among the " overcurious," in the western islands, to consult an invisible oracle, 177 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND concerning the fate of families, battles, etc. This was done three different ways; the first was by a company of men, one of whom, being chosen by lot, was afterward carried to a river, the boundary between two villages; four of the company seized on him, and having shut his eyes, they took him by the legs and arms, and then tossing him to and fro, struck his posteriors with force against the bank. One of them then cried out, " What is it you have got here? " Another answered, " A log of birch wood." The other cried again, " Let his invisible friends appear from all quarters, and let them relieve him, by giving an answer to our present demands;" and in a few minutes after, a number of little creatures came from the sea, who answered the question, and disappeared suddenly. The man was then set at liberty,. and they all returned home to take their measures accord- ing to the prediction of their false prophets. This was always practised at night. The second way of consulting the oracle was by a. party of men, who first retired to solitary places, remote from any house, and then singling out one of their number, wrapped him in a large cow's hide, which they folded about him, covering all but his head, in which posture they left him all night until his invisible friends relieved him by giving a proper answer to the question put; which answer he received, as he fancied, from several persons he found about him all that time. His companions returned to him at break of day, when he communicated his news to them, which it is said " often proved fatal to those concerned in such unlawful in- quiries." The third way of consulting the oracle, and which consultation was to serve as a confirmation of the second, was this: The same company who put the man into the hide, took a live cat and put him on a spit. One of 178 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS the company was employed to turn the spit, and when in the act of turning, one of his companions would ask him, what are you doing? He answered, I roast this cat, until his friends answer the question, the same as that proposed to the man enclosed in the hide. After- ward a very large cat was said to come, attended by a number of lesser cats, desiring to relieve the cat turned upon the spit, and answered the question. And if the answer turned out to be the same that was given to the man in the hide, then it was taken as a confirmation of the other, which in this case was believed infal- lible. A singular practice called Deis-iuil existed hi the Western Islands, so called from a man going round carrying fire in his right hand, which in the Gaelic is called Deas. In the island of Lewis this fiery circuit was made about the houses, corn, cattle, etc., of each particular family, to protect them from the power of evil spirits. The fire was also carried round about women before they were churched after child-bearing, and about children till they were baptized. This cere- mony was performed in the morning and at night, and was practised by some of the old mid wives in Martin's time. Some of them told him that " the fire-round was an effectual means of preserving both the mother and the infant from the power of evil spirits, who are ready at such times to do mischief, and sometimes carry away the infant; and when they get them once in their pos- session, return them poor meagre skeletons; and these infants are said to have voracious appetites, constantly craving for meat. In this case it was usual with those who believed that their children were thus taken away, to dig a grave in the fields upon quarter-day, and there to lay the fairy skeleton till next morning; at which time the parents went to the place, where they doubted 179 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND not to find their own child instead of this skeleton. Some of the poorer sort of people in these islands long retained a custom of performing rounds sun-wise, about the persons of their benefactors three times, when they blessed them, and wished good success to all their enterprises. Some were very careful, when they set out to sea, that the boat should be first rowed about sun-wise; and if this was neglected, they were afraid their voyage would prove unfortunate." These and many other customs which were peculiar to the inhabi- tants of the Western Islands, are, we think, of Scandi- navian origin, and were probably introduced by the Danish Vikingr. The practice of turning the boat sun- wise is still observed by the fishermen of the Shetland islands, where none of the Celtic usages were ever intro- duced. A prevailing superstition also existed in the Western Islands, and among the inhabitants of the neighbouring coast, that women, by a certain charm or by some secret influence, could withdraw and appropriate to their own use the increase of their neighbour's cow's milk. It was believed, however, that the milk so charmed did not produce the ordinary quantity of butter usually churned from other milk, and that the curds made of such milk were so tough that they could not be made so firm as other cheese, and that it was also much lighter in weight. It was also believed that the butter produced from the charmed milk could be discovered from that yielded from the charmer's own milk, by a difference in the colour, the former being of a paler hue than the latter. The woman in whose possession butter so dis- tinguished was found was considered to be guilty. To bring back the increase of milk, it was usual to take a little of the rennet from all the suspected persons, and put it into an egg-shell full of milk, and when the rennet 180 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS taken from the charmer was mingled with it, it was said presently to curdle, but not before. Some women put the root of groundsel among their cream as an amulet against such charms. In retaliation for washing dishes, wherein milk was kept, in streams or rivulets in which trouts were, it was believed that they prevented or took away an increase of milk, and the damage thus occasioned could only be repaired by taking a live trout and pouring milk into its mouth. If the milk curdled immediately, this was a sure sign of its being taken away by trouts; if not, the inhabitants ascribed the evil to some other cause. Some women, it was affirmed, had the art to take away the milk of nurses. A similar superstition existed as to malt, the virtues of which were said to be sometimes imperceptibly filched, by some charm, before being used, so that the drink made of this malt had neither strength nor good taste, while, on the contrary, the supposed charmer had very good ale all the time. The following curious story is told by Martin in relation to this subject. " A gentleman of my acquaintance, for the space of a year, could not have a drop of good ale in his house; and having complained of it to all that conversed with him, he was at last advised to get some yeast from every alehouse in the parish; and having got a little from one particular man, he put it among his wort, which became as good ale as could be drank, and so defeated the charm. After which, the gentleman on whose land this man lived, banished him thirty-six miles from thence." A singular mode of divination was sometimes prac- tised by the Highlanders with bones. Having picked the flesh clean off a shoulder-blade of mutton, which was supposed to lose its virtue if touched by iron, they turned towards the east, and with looks steadily fixed 181 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND on the transparent bone they pretended to foretell deaths, burials, etc. The phases or changes of the moon were closely observed, and it was only at particular periods of her revolution that they would cut turf or fuel, fell wood, or cut thatch for houses, or go upon any important expedition. They expected better crops of grain by sowing their seed in the moon's increase. " The moon," as Doctor Johnson observes, " has great influence in vulgar philosophy," and in his memory it was a precept annually given in one of the English almanacs, " To kill hogs when the moon was increasing, and the bacon would prove the better in boiling." The aid of superstition was sometimes resorted to for curing diseases. For hectic and consumptive complaints, the Highlanders used to pare the nails of the fingers and toes of the patient, put these parings into a bag made from a piece of his clothes, and after waving their hand with the bag thrice round his head, and crying, Deis-iuil, they buried it in some unknown place. Pliny, in his natural history, states this practice to have existed among the Magi or Druids of his time. To remove any contagious disease from cattle, they used to extinguish the fires hi the surrounding villages, after which they forced fire with a wheel, or by rubbing one piece of dry wood upon another, with which they burned juniper hi the stalls of the cattle that the smoke might purify the air about them. When this was per- formed, the fires in the houses were rekindled from the forced fire. Shaw relates hi his history of Moray, that he personally witnessed both the last mentioned prac- tices. Akin to some of the superstitions we have noticed, but differing from them in many essential respects, is the belief for superstition it cannot well be called in 182 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS the second sight, by which, as Doctor Johnson observes, " seems to be meant a mode of seeing, superadded to that which nature generally bestows," and consists of " an impression made either by the mind upon the eye, or by the eye upon the mind, by which things distant or future are perceived, and seen as if they were present." This " deceptive faculty " is called taibhse in the Gaelic, which signifies a spectre, or a vision, and is neither voluntary nor constant, but consists " in seeing an otherwise invisible object, without any previous means used by the person that sees it for that end; the vision makes such a lively impression upon the seers, that they neither see nor think of anything else, except the vision, as long as it continues; and then they appear pensive or jovial, according to the object which was represented to them." It has been observed by lookers-on, that those persons who saw, or were supposed to see, a vision, always kept their eyelids erect, and that they continued to stare until the object vanished. Martin affirms that he and other persons that were with them, observed this more than once; and he mentions an instance of a man in Skye, the inner part of whose eyelids was turned so far upwards during a vision, that after the object disappeared he found it necessary to draw them down with his fingers, and would sometimes employ others to draw them down, which he indeed, Martin says, " found from experience to be the easier way." The visions are said to have taken place either in the morning, at noon, in the evening, or at night. If an object was seen early in the morning, its accomplishment would take place in a few hours thereafter. If at noon, that very day. If in the evening, perhaps that night; if after the candles were lighted, the accomplishment would take place by weeks, months, and sometimes 183 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND years, according to the time of night the vision was seen. As the appearances which are said to have been ob- served in visions and their prognostics are not generally known, and may prove curious to the general reader, a few of them shall be here stated, as noted by Martin. When a shroud was perceived about one, it was a sure prognostic of death. The time was judged according to the height of it about the person. If not seen above the middle, death was not to be expected for the space of a year, and perhaps some months longer; and as it was frequently seen to ascend higher towards the head, death was concluded to be at hand within a few days, if not hours. If a woman was seen standing at a man's left hand, it was a presage that she would be his wife, whether they were married to others, or unmarried at the time of the apparition. If two or three women were seen at once standing near a man's left hand, she that was next to him would un- doubtedly be his wife first, and so on, whether all three, or the man, were single or married at the time of the vision or not. It was usual for the seers to see any man that was shortly to arrive at the house. If unknown to the seer he would give such a description of the person he saw as to make him to be at once recognized upon his arrival. On the other hand, if the seer knew the person he saw in the vision, he would tell his name, and know by the expression of his countenance whether he came in a good or bad humour. The seers often saw houses, gardens, and trees, in places where there were none, but in the course of time these places became covered with them. To see a spark of fire fall upon one's arm or breast 184 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS was a forerunner of a dead child to be seen in the arms of those persons. To see a seat empty when one was sitting on it, was a presage of that person's immediate death. There are now few persons, if any, who pretend to this faculty, and the belief in it is almost generally exploded. Yet it cannot be denied that apparent proofs of its existence have been adduced which have staggered minds not prone to superstition. When the connection between cause and effect can be recognized, things which would otherwise have appeared wonderful and almost incredible are viewed as ordinary occurrences. The impossibility of accounting for such an extraordi- nary phenomenon as the alleged faculty, on philosophical principles, or from the laws of nature, must ever leave the matter suspended between rational doubt and confirmed scepticism. " Strong reasons for incredulity," says Doctor Johnson, " will readily occur. This faculty of seeing things out of sight is local, and commonly useless. It is a breach of the common order of things, without any visible reason or perceptible benefit. It is ascribed only to a people very little enlightened; and among them, for the most part, to the mean and ignorant. To the confidence of these objections it may be replied, that by presuming to determine what is fit, and what is beneficial, they presuppose more knowledge of the universal system than man has attained; and therefore depend upon principles too complicated and exten- sive for our comprehension; and that there can be no security in the consequence, when the premises are not understood; that the second sight is only wonderful because it is rare, for, considered in itself, it involves no more difficulty than dreams, or perhaps than the regular exercises of the cogitative faculty; that a general opinion of communicative impulses, or visionary repre- 185 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND sentations, has prevailed in all ages and all nations; that particular instances have been given, with such evidence as neither Bacon, nor Bayle, has been able to resist; that sudden impressions, which the event has verified, have been felt by more than own or publish them; that the second sight of the Hebrides implies only the local frequency of a power which is nowhere totally unknown; and that where we are unable to decide by antecedent reason, we must be content to yield to the force of testimony." Among the various modes of social intercourse which gladdened the minds and dissipated the worldly cares of the Highlanders, weddings bore a distinguished part, and they were longed for with a peculiar earnestness. Young and old, from the boy and girl of the age of ten to the hoary headed sire and aged matron, attended them. The marriage invitations were given by the bride and bridegroom, in person, for some weeks previous, and included the respective friends of the betrothed parties living at the distance of many miles. When the bride and bridegroom had completed their rounds, the custom was for the matrons of the invited families to return the visit within a few days, carrying along with them large presents of hams, beef, cheese, butter, malt, spirits, and such other articles as they inclined or thought necessary for the approaching feast. To such an extent was this practice carried in some instances in the quantity presented, that, along with what the guests paid (as they commonly did) for their entertainment at the marriage, and the gifts presented on the day after the marriage, the young couple obtained a pretty fair competence, which warded off the shafts of poverty, and even made them comfortable in after- life. The joyous wedding-morning was ushered in by the 186 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS notes of the bagpipe. A party of pipers, followed by the bridegroom and a party of his friends, commenced at an early hour a round of morning calls to remind the guests of their engagements. These hastened to join the party, and before the circuit, which sometimes occupied several hours, had ended, some hundreds, perhaps, had joined the wedding standard before they reached the bridegroom's house. The bride made a similar round among her friends. Separate dinners were provided; the bridegroom giving a dinner to his friends, and the bride to hers. The marriage ceremony was seldom performed till after dinner. The clergyman, sometimes, attended, but the parties preferred waiting on him, as the appear- ance of a large procession to his house gave additional importance and eclat to the ceremony of the day, which was further heightened by a constant firing by the young men, who supplied themselves with guns and pistols, and which firing was responded to by every hamlet as the party passed along; " so that, with streamers flying, pipers playing, the constant firing from all sides, and the shouts of the young men, the whole had the appearance of a military army passing, with all the noise of warfare, through a hostile country." On the wedding-day, the bride and bridegroom avoided each other till they met before the clergyman. Many ceremonies were performed during the celebration of the marriage rites. These ceremonies were of an amusing and innocent description, and added much to the cheer- fulness and happiness of the young people. One of these ceremonies consisted in untying all the bindings and strings about the person of the bridegroom, to denote that nothing was to be bound on the marriage-day but the one indissoluble knot which death only can dissolve. The bride was exempted from this operation from a delicacy of feeling towards her sex, and from a supposi- 187 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND tion that she was so pure that infidelity on her part could not be contemplated. To discontinue practices in themselves innocent, and which contribute to the social happiness of mankind, must ever be regretted, and it is not therefore to be won- dered at, that a generous and open-hearted Highlander, like General Stewart, should have expressed his regret at the partial disuse of these ceremonies, or that he should have preferred a Highland wedding, where he had himself " been so happy, and seen so many blithe countenances, and eyes sparkling with delight, to such weddings as that of the Laird of Drum, ancestor of the Lord Sommer- ville, when he married a daughter of Sir James Banna- tyne of Corehouse." 18 The festivities of the wedding-day were generally prolonged to a late hour, and during the whole day the fiddlers and pipers never ceased, except at short intervals, to make sweet music. The fiddlers performed in the house, the pipers in the field; 19 so that the company alternately enjoyed the pleasure of dancing within and without the house, as inclined, provided the weather permitted. No people were more attached to the fulfilment of all the domestic duties, and the sacred obligation of the marriage vow, than the Highlanders. A violation thereof was of course of unfrequent occurrence, and among the common people a separation was almost unknown. Rarely, indeed, did a husband attempt to get rid of his wife, however disagreeable she might be. He would have considered his children dishonoured, if he had driven their mother from the protection of his roof. The punishment inflicted by the ecclesiastical authority for an infringement of the marriage vow was, that " the guilty person, whether male or female, was made to stand in a barrel of cold water at the church. 188 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS door, after which, the delinquent, clad in a wet canvas shirt, was made to stand before the congregation, and at close of service the minister explained the nature of the offence." Illicit intercourse before marriage between the sexes was also of rare occurrence, and met with condign punishment in the public infamy which attended such breaches against chastity. This was the more remarkable, as early marriages were discouraged and the younger sons were not allowed to marry until they obtained sufficient means to keep a house and to rent a small farm, or were otherwise enabled to support a family. The attachment of the Highlanders to their offspring and the veneration and filial piety which a reciprocal feeling produced on the part of their children were leading characteristics in the Highland character, and much as these mountaineers have degenerated in some of the other virtues, these affections still remain almost unimpaired. Children seldom desert their parents in their old age, and when forced to earn a subsistence from home, they always consider themselves bound to share with their parents whatever they can save from their wages. But the parents are never left alone, as one of the family, by turns, remains at home for the purpose of taking care of them in terms of an arrangement. " The sense of duty is not extinguished by absence from the mountains. It accompanies the Highland soldier amid the dissipations of a mode of life to which he has not been accustomed. It prompts him to save a portion of his pay, to enable him to assist his parents, and also to work when he has an opportunity, that he may in- crease their allowance, at once preserving himself from idle habits, and contributing to the comfort and happi- ness of those who gave him birth. I have been a frequent witness of these offerings of filial bounty, and the 189 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND channel through which they were communicated, and. I have generally found that a threat of informing their parents of misconduct has operated as a sufficient check on voung soldiers, who always received the intimation with a sort of horror. They knew that the report would not only grieve their relations, but act as a sentence of banishment against themselves, as they could not return home with a bad or blemished character. Generals M'Kenzie, Fraser, and M'Kenzie of Suddie, who suc- cessively commanded the 78th Highlanders, seldom had occasion to resort to any other punishment than threats of this kind, for several years after the embodying of that regiment." Nor were the Highlanders less alive to the principles of honesty and fair dealing, in their transactions with one another. Disgrace was the usual consequence of in- solvency, which was considered ex facie criminal. Bank- rupts were not only compelled to wear a dyvours habit, but to undergo a singular punishment. They " were forced to surrender their all, and were clad in a party- coloured clouted garment, with the hose of different sets, and had their hips dashed against a stone, in pres- ence of the people, by four men, each taking hold of an arm or a leg. This punishment was called Ton- cruaidh." Such was the confidence in their honour and integrity, that in the ordinary transactions of the people, a mere verbal obligation without the intervention of any writing was held quite sufficient, although contracted in the most private manner, 20 and there were few instances where the obligation was either unfulfilled or denied. Their mode of concluding or confirming their money agreements or other transactions was by the contracting parties going out into the open air, and with eyes erect, taking Heaven to witness their engagements, after which 190 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS each party put a mark on some remarkable stone or other natural object, which their ancestors had been accustomed to notice. Accustomed, as the Highlanders were, to interminable feuds arising out of the pretensions of rival clans, the native courage which they had inherited from their Celtic progenitors was preserved unimpaired. Instances of cowardice were, therefore, of rare occurrence, and whoever exhibited symptoms of fear before a foe was considered infamous and put to the ban of his party. The following anecdote, as related by Mrs. Grant, shows, strongly, the detestation which the Highlanders enter- tain towards those who had disgraced themselves and their clan by an act of poltroonery: "There was a clan, I must not say what clan it is, who had been for ages governed by a series of chiefs, singularly estimable, and highly beloved, and who, in one instance, provoked their leader to the extreme of indignation. I should observe that the transgression was partial, the culprits being the inhabitants of one single parish. These, in a hasty skirmish with a neighbouring clan, thinking discretion the best part of valour, sought safety in retreat. A cruel chief would have inflicted the worst of punishments, banishment from the bounds of his clan, which, indeed, fell little short of the curse of Kehama. This good laird, however, set bounds to his wrath, yet made their punishment severe and exemplary. He appeared himself with all the population of the three adjacent parishes at the parish church of the offenders, where they were all by order convened. After divine service, they were marched three times round the church, in presence of their offended leader and his assembled clan. Each individual, on coming out of the church door, was obliged to draw out his tongue with his fingers, and then cry audibly, ' Shud bleider heich,' i.e. ' This 191 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND is the poltroon,' and to repeat it at every corner of the church. After this procession of ignominy, no other punishment was inflicted, except that of being left to guard the district when the rest were called out to battle. ... It is credibly asserted, that no enemy has seen the back of any of that name (Grant) ever since. And it is certain that, to this day, it is not safe for any person of another name to mention the circumstance in presence of one of the affronted clan." The Highlanders, like the inhabitants of other romantic and mountainous regions, always retain an enthusiastic attachment to their country, which neither distance of place nor length of time can efface. This strong feeling has, we think, been attributed erroneously to the powerful and lasting effect which the external objects of nature, seen in their wildest and most fantastic forms and features, are calculated to impress upon the imagina- tion. No doubt the remembrance of these objects might con- tribute to endear the scenes of youth to the patriotic Highlander when far removed from his native glens; but it was the recollection of home, sweet home ! - of the domestic circle, and of the many pleasing associa- tions which arise from the contemplation of the days of other years, when mirth and innocence held mutual dalliance, that chiefly impelled him to sigh for the land of his fathers. Mankind have naturally an affection for the country of their birth, and this affection is felt more or less according to the degree of social or com- mercial intercourse which exists among nations. Con- fined, like the Swiss, for many ages within their natural boundaries, and having little or no intercourse with the rest of the world, the Highlanders formed those strong local attachments for which they were long remarkably distinguished, but which are now being gradually oblit- 192 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS erated by the mighty changes rapidly taking place in the state of society. Firmly attached as they were to their country, the Highlanders had also a singular predilection for the place of their birth. An amusing instance of this local attachment is mentioned by General Stewart. A tenant of his father's, at the foot of the mountain Shichallain, having removed and followed his son to a farm which the latter had taken at some distance lower down the country, the old man was missing for a considerable time one morning, and on being asked on his return where he had been, replied, " As I was sitting by the side of the river, a thought came across me, that, per- haps, some of the waters from Shichallain, and the sweet fountains that watered the farm of my fore- fathers, might now be passing by me, and that if I bathed they might touch my skin. I immediately stripped, and, from the pleasure I felt in being surrounded by the pure waters of Leidna-breilag (the name of the farm) I could not tear myself away sooner." But this fondness of the Highlander was not confined to the desire of living upon the beloved spot it extended even to the grave. The idea of dying at a distance from home and among strangers could not be endured, and the aged Highlander, when absent from his native place, felt discomposed lest death should overtake him before his return. To be consigned to the grave among strangers, without the attendance and sympathy of friends, and at a distance from their family, was considered a heavy calamity; and even to this day, people make the greatest exertions to carry home the bodies of such relations as happen to die far from the ground hallowed by the ashes of their forefathers. This trait was exemplified in the case of a woman aged ninety-one, who a few years ago went to Perth from her house in Strathbrane in perfect 193 health, and in the possession of all her faculties. A few days after her arrival in Perth, where she had gone to visit a daughter, she had a slight attack of fever. One evening a considerable quantity of snow had fallen, and she expressed great anxiety, particularly when told that a heavier fall was expected. Next morning her bed was found empty, and no trace of her could be discovered, till the second day, when she sent word that she had slipped out of the house at midnight, set off on foot through the snow, and never stopped till she reached home, a distance of twenty miles. When questioned some time afterward why she went away so abruptly, she answered, " If my sickness had increased, and if I had died, they could not have sent my remains home through the deep snows. If I had told my daughter, perhaps she would have locked the door upon me, and God forbid that my bones should be at such a distance from home, and be buried among Gall-na-machair , the strangers of the plain." Among the causes which contributed to sustain the warlike character of the Highlanders, the exertions of the bards in stimulating them to deeds of valour in the field of battle must not be overlooked. We have already noticed some of the duties of then* office (Chapter II) which need not be here repeated; but we omitted to mention that one of the most important of these con- sisted in attending the clans to the field, and exhorting them before battle to emulate the glories of their an- cestors, and to die if necessary in defence of their country. The appeals of the bards, which were delivered and enforced with great vehemence and earnestness, never failed to arouse the feelings; and when amid the din of battle the voices of the bards could no longer be heard, the pipers succeeded them, and cheered on their respective parties with their warlike and inspiring 194 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS strains. After the termination of the battle, the bard celebrated the praises of the brave warriors who had fallen in battle, and related the heroic actions of the survivors to excite them to similar exertions on future occasions. To impress still more deeply upon the minds of the survivors the honour and heroism of their fallen friends, the piper was employed to perform plaintive dirges for the slain. From the associations raised in the mind by the great respect thus paid to the dead, and the honours which awaited the survivors who distinguished themselves in the field of battle, by their actions being celebrated by the bards, and transmitted to posterity, originated that magnanimous contempt of death for which the High- landers are noted. While among some people the idea of death is avoided with studious alarm, the Highlander will speak of it with an easy and unconcerned familiarity, as an event of ordinary occurrence, but in a way " equally remote from dastardly affectation, or foolhardy pre- sumption, and proportioned solely to the inevitable certainty of the event itself." To be interred decently, and in a becoming manner, is a material consideration in the mind of a Highlander, and care is generally taken, even by the poorest, long before the approach of death, to provide sufficient articles to ensure a respectable interment. To wish one another an honourable death, crioch onarach, is con- sidered friendly by the Highlanders, and even children will sometimes express the same sentiment towards their parents. " A man well known to the writer of these pages was remarkable for his filial affection, even among the sons and daughters of the mountains, so distin- guished for that branch of piety. His mother being a widow, and having a numerous family, who had married very early, he continued to live single, that he might the 105 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND more sedulously attend to her comfort, and watch over her declining years with the tenderest care. On her birthday, he always collected his brothers and sisters, and all their families, to a sort of kindly feast, and, in conclusion, gave a toast, not easily translated from the emphatic language, without circumlocution, ' An easy and decorous departure to- my mother,' comes nearest to it. This toast, which would shake the nerves of fashionable delicacy, was received with great applause, the old woman remarking that God had been always good to her, and she hoped she would die as decently as she had lived, for it is thought of the utmost conse- quence to die decently. The ritual of decorous departure, and of behaviour to be observed by the friends of the dying on that solemn occasion, being fully established, nothing is more common than to take a solemn leave of old people, as if they were going on a journey, and pretty much in the same terms. People frequently send con- ditional messages to the departed. ' If you are per- mitted, tell my dear brother, that I have merely endured the world since he left it, and that I have been very kind to every creature he used to cherish, for his sake.' I have, indeed, heard a person of a very enlightened mind, seriously give a message to an aged person, to deliver to a child he had lost not long before, which she as seriously promised to deliver, with the wonted salvo, if she was permitted." In no country was " the savage virtue of hospitality " carried to a greater extent than in the Highlands, and never did stranger receive a heartier welcome than was given to the guest who entered a Highland mansion or cottage. This hospitality was sometimes carried rather too far, particularly in the island of Barra, where, accord- ing to Martin, the custom was, that, when strangers from the northern islands went there, " the natives, immedi- 196 SUPERSTITIONS AND CUSTOMS ately after their landing, obliged them to eat, even though they should have liberally eat and drank but an hour before their landing there." This meat they called BieytaV, i. e. ocean meat. Sir Robert Gordon informs us that it was a custom among the western islanders, that when one was invited to another's house, they never separated till the whole provision was finished; and that, when it was done, they went to the next house, and so on from one house to another until they made a complete round, from neighbour to neighbour, always carrying the head of the family in which they had been last entertained to the next house along with them. 197 CHAPTER VI CHIEFS AND CLANS THE removal of the court by Malcolm Ceanmore to the lowlands was an event which was followed by results very disastrous to the future prosperity of the Highlands. The inhabitants soon sunk into a state of poverty, and, as by the transference of the seat of government the administration of the laws became either inoperative or was feebly enforced, the people gave themselves up to violence and turbulence, and revenged in person those injuries which the laws could no longer redress. Re- leased from the salutary control of monarchical govern- ment, the Highlanders soon saw the necessity of sub- stituting some other system in its place, to protect them- selves against the aggressions to which they were exposed. From this state of things originated the institution of chiefs, who were selected by the different little communities into which the population of the Highlands was naturally divided, on account of their superior property, courage, or talent. The powers of the chiefs were very great. They acted, as judges or arbiters, in the quarrels of their clansmen and followers, and as they were backed by resolute supporters of their rights, their property, and their power, they established within their own territories a jurisdiction almost inde- pendent of the kingly authority. From this division of the people into clans and tribes under separate chiefs arose many of those institutions, feelings, and usages which characterized the High- 198 CHIEFS AND CLANS landers. ' The nature of the country, and the motives which induced the Celts to make it their refuge, almost necessarily prescribed the form of their institutions. Unequal to contend with the overwhelming numbers, who drove them from the plains, and, anxious to preserve their independence, and their blood uncontaminated by a mixture with strangers, they defended themselves in those strongholds which are, in every country, the sanctuaries of national liberty, and the refuge of those who resist the oppressions and the dominion of a more powerful neighbour. Thus, in the absence of their monarchs, and defended by their barrier of rocks, they did not always submit to the authority of a distant government, which could neither enforce obedience nor afford protection. The division of the country into so many straths, valleys, and Islands, separated from one another by mountains, or arms of the sea, gave rise, as a matter of necessity, to various little societies; and individuals of superior property, courage, or talent, under whose banners they had fought, or under whose protection they had settled, naturally became their chiefs. Their secluded situation rendered general intercourse difficult, while the impregnable ramparts with which they were surrounded made defence easy." The various little societies into which the Highland population was, by the nature of the country, divided, having no desire to change their residence or to keep up a communication with one another, and having all their wants, which were few, supplied within themselves, became individually isolated. Every district became an independent state, and thus the Highland population, though possessing a community of customs and the same characteristics, was divided or broken into separate masses, and placed under different jurisdictions. A 199 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND patriarchal 21 system of government, " a sort of heredi- tary monarchy founded on custom, and allowed by general consent, rather than regulated by laws," was thus established over each community or clan in the persons of the chiefs, which continued in full vigour till about the year 1748. As a consequence of the separation which was pre- served by the different clans, matrimonial alliances were rarely made with strangers, and hence the members of the clan were generally related to one another by the ties of consanguinity or affinity. While this double connection tended to preserve harmony and good-will among the members of the same clan, it also tended, on the other hand, to excite a bitter spirit of animosity between rival clans, whenever an affront or injury was offered by one clan to another or by individuals of different clans. Although the chief had great power with his clan in the different relations of landlord, leader, and judge, his authority was far from absolute, as he was obliged to consult the leading men of the clan in matters of importance in things regarding the clan or particular families, in removing differences, punishing or redressing injuries, preventing law-suits, supporting declining families, and declaring war against, or adjusting terms of peace with other clans. As the system of clanship was calculated to cherish a warlike spirit, the young chiefs and heads of families were regarded or despised according to their military or peaceable disposition. If they revenged a quarrel with another clan by killing some of the enemy or carry- ing off their cattle and laying their lands waste, they were highly esteemed, and great expectations were formed of their future prowess and exploits. But if they failed in their attempts, they were not respected; 200 CHIEFS AND CLANS and if they appeared disinclined to engage in hostile rencontres, they were despised. 22 The military ranks of the clans were fixed and per- petual. The chief was, of course, the principal com- mander. The oldest cadet commanded the right wing, and the youngest the rear. Every head of a distinct family was captain of his own tribe. An ensign or standard-bearer was attached to each clan, who generally inherited his office, which had been usually conferred on an ancestor who had distinguished himself. A small salary was attached to this office. Each clan had a stated place of rendezvous, where they met at the call of their chief, When an emergency arose for an immediate meeting from the incursions of a hostile clan, the cross or tarie, or fiery-cross, was immediately despatched through the territories of the clan. This signal consisted of two pieces of wood placed in the form of a cross. One of the ends of the horizontal piece was either burnt or burning, and a piece of linen or white cloth stained with blood was suspended from the other end. Two men, each with a cross in his hand, were despatched by the chief in different directions, who kept running with great speed, shouting the war-cry of the tribe, and naming the place of rendezvous, if different from the usual place of meeting. The cross was delivered from hand to hand, and as each fresh bearer ran at full speed, the clan assembled with great celerity. General Stewart says that one of the latest instances of the fiery-cross being used was in 1745 by Lord Breadalbane, when it went round Loch Tay, a distance of thirty-two miles, in three hours, to raise his people and prevent their joining the rebels, but with less effect than in 1715 when it went the same round, and when five hundred men assembled the same evening under the command of the Laird of Glenlyon to join the Earl of Mar. 201 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Every clan had its own war-cry (called in Scottish slogan), to which every clansman answered. It served as a watchword in cases of sudden alarm, in the confusion of combat, or in the darkness of the night. The clans were also distinguished by a particular badge, or by the peculiar arrangements or sets of the different colours of the tartan, which, with the different war-cries, will be fully noticed when we come to treat of the history of the clans. When a clan went upon any expedition they were much addicted to omens. If they met an armed man they believed that good was portended. If they observed a deer, fox, hare, or any other four-footed beast of game, and did not succeed in killing it, they prognosticated evil. If a woman barefooted crossed the road before them, they seized her and drew blood from her fore- head. The cuid-oidhche, or night's provision, was paid by many tenants to the chief, and in hunting or going on an expedition, the tenant who lived near the hill was bound to furnish the master and his followers a night's entertainment, with brawn for his dogs. There are no sufficient data to enable us to estimate correctly the number of fighting men which the clans could bring at any time into the field; but a general idea may be formed of their strength in 1745 from the following statement of the respective forces of the clans as taken from the memorial supposed to be drawn up by the Lord President Forbes of Culloden, for the information of government. It is to be observed, however, that besides the clans here mentioned, there were many independent gentlemen, as General Stewart observes, who had many followers, but being what were called broken names, or small tribes, are omit- ted. 202 CHIEFS AND CLANS Argyle . . Breadalbane . KXK) Lochnell and other chieftains of the Campbells 1000 Macleans Maclauchlans . Stewart of Appin Macdougals . 200 Stewart of Grandtully Clan Gregor Duke of Athol .... 30(X) Farquharsons .... 500 Duke of Gordon .... 1 300 Grant of Grant [ 850 Mackintosh gOQ Macphersons 400 Erasers j 900 Grant of Glenraorriston 150 Chisholms 200 Duke of Perth ] 300 Seaforth .... .... 1000 Cromarty, Scatwell, Gairloch, and other chief- tains of the Mackenzies . . . . 1500 Laird of Menzies 300 Munros 300 Rosses 500 Sutherland 2000 Mackays 800 Sinclairs 1100 Macdonald of Slate 700 Macdonald of Clan Ronald 700 Macdonell of Glengary 500 Macdonell of Keppoch 300 Macdonald of Glencoe 130 Robertsons 200 Camerons 800 M'Kinnon 200 Macleod 700 The Duke of Montrose, Earls of Bute and Moray, Macfarlanes, M'Neils of Barra, M'Nabs, M'Naughtons, Laments, etc. . 5600 31,930 There is nothing so remarkable in the political history of any country as the succession of the Highland chiefs, and the long and uninterrupted sway which they held over their followers. The authority which a chief exercised among his clan was truly paternal, and he might, with great justice, have been called the father 203 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND of his people. We cannot account for that warm attach- ment and the incorruptible and unshaken fidelity which the clans uniformly displayed towards their chiefs, on any other ground, than the kind and conciliatory system which they must have adopted towards their people; for, much as the feelings of the latter might have been awakened, by the songs and traditions of the bards, to a respect for the successors of the heroes whose praises they heard celebrated, a sense of wrongs committed, or of oppressions exercised, would have obliterated every feeling of attachment in the minds of the sufferers, and caused them to attempt to get rid of a tyrant who had rendered himself obnoxious by his tyranny. The division of the people into small tribes, and the establishment of patriarchal government, were attended with many important consequences affecting the char- acter of the Highlanders. This creation of an imperium in im-perio was an anomaly, but it was, nevertheless, rendered necessary from the state of society in the High- lands shortly after the transference of the seat of govern- ment from the mountains. The authority of the king, though weak and inefficient, continued, however, to be recognized, nominally at least, except indeed when he interfered hi the disputes between the clans. On such occasions his authority was utterly disregarded. " His mandates could neither stop the depredations of one clan against another, nor allay their mutual hostilities. Delinquents could not, with impunity, be pursued into the bosom of a clan which protected them, nor could his judges administer the laws in opposition to their in- terests or their will. Sometimes he strengthened his arm by fomenting animosities among them, and by entering occasionally into the interest of one, in order to weaken another. Many instances of this species of policy occur in Scottish history, which, for a long 204 CHIEFS AND CLANS period, was unhappily a mere record of internal vio- lence." The general laws being thus superseded by the internal feuds of the clans, and the authority of the sovereign being insufficient to repress these disorders, a perpetual system of warfare, aggression, depredation, and con- tention existed among them, which, during the con- tinuance of clanship, banished peace from the Highlands. The little sovereignties of the clans " touched at so many points, yet were so independent of one another; they approached so nearly, in many respects, yet were, in others, so distant; there were so many opportunities of encroachment, on the one hand, and so little of a disposition to submit to it, on the other; and the quarrel of one individual of the tribe so naturally involved the rest, that there was scarcely ever a profound peace, or perfect cordiality between them. Among their chiefs the most deadly feuds frequently arose from opposing interests, or from wounded pride. These feuds were warmly espoused by the whole clan, and were often transmitted, with aggravated animosity, from genera- tion to generation." The disputes between opposing clans were frequently made matters of negotiation, and their differences were often adjusted by treaties. Opposing clans, as a means of strengthening themselves against the attacks of their rivals, or of maintaining the balance of power, also entered into coalitions with friendly neighbours. These bands of amity or manrent, as they were called, were of the nature of treaties of offensive and defensive alliance, by which the contracting parties bound themselves to assist each other; and it is remarkable tlrnt the duty of allegiance to the king was always acknowledged in these treaties, " always excepting my duty to our lord the king, and to our kindred and friends," was a clause 205 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND which was uniformly inserted in them. In the same manner, when men who were not chiefs of clans, but of subordinate tribes, thus bound themselves, their fidelity to their chiefs was always excepted. The smaller clans who were unable to defend themselves, and such clans or families who had lost their chiefs, were included in these friendly treaties. 23 Under these treaties the smaller clans identified themselves with the greater clans; they engaged in the quarrels, followed the for- tunes, and fought under the greater chiefs; but their ranks, as General Stewart observes, were separately marshalled, and led by their own subordinate chieftains and lairds, who owned submission only when necessary, for the success of combined operations. We shall give several instances of this union in the history of the clans. As the system of clanship, by repudiating the authority of the sovereign and of the laws, prevented the clans from ever coming to any general terms of accommodation for settling their differences, their feuds were interminable, and the Highlands were, therefore, for ages, the theatre of a constant petty warfare destructive of the social virtues. " The spirit of opposition and rivalry between the clans perpetuated a system of hostility, encouraged the cultivation of the military at the expense of the social virtues, and perverted their ideas of both law and morality. Revenge was accounted a duty, the destruc- tion of a neighbour a meritorious exploit, and rapine an honourable occupation. Their love of distinction, and their conscious reliance on their courage, when under the direction of these perverted notions, only tended to make their feuds more implacable, their condition more agitated, and their depredations more rapacious and desolating. Superstition added its influence in ex- asperating animosities, by teaching the clansmen, that, to revenge the death of a relation or friend was a sacrifice 206 CHIEFS AND CLANS agreeable to their shades; thus engaging on the side of the most implacable hatred, and the darkest vengeance, the most amiable and domestic of all our feelings, reverence for the memory of the dead, and affection for the virtues of the living." As the causes out of which feuds originated were innumerable, so many of them were trivial and unim- portant, but as submission to the most trifling insult was considered disgraceful, and might, if overlooked, lead to fresh aggression, the clan was immediately summoned, and the cry for revenge met with a ready response in every breast. The most glaring insult that could be offered to a clan was to speak disrespect- fully of its chief, 24 an offence which was considered as a personal affront by all his followers, and was resented accordingly. It often happened that the insulted clan was unable to take the field to repel aggression or to vindicate its honour; but the injury was never forgotten, and the memory of it was treasured up till a fitting opportunity for taking revenge should arrive. The want of strength was sometimes supplied by cunning, and the blackest and deadliest intentions of hatred and revenge were sought to be perpetrated under the mask of conciliation and friendship. This was the natural result of the inefficiency of the laws which could afford no redress for wrongs, and which, therefore, left every individual to vindicate his rights with his own hand. The feeling of revenge, when directed against rival tribes, was cherished and honoured, and to such an extent was it carried, that there are well-authenticated instances where one of the adverse parties has been exterminated in the bloody and ferocious conflicts which the feuds occasioned. As the wealth of the Highlanders consisted chiefly in flocks and herds, " the usual mode of commencing 207 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND attacks, or of making reprisals, was by an incursion to carry off the cattle of the hostile clan. A predatory expedition was the general declaration of enmity, and a command given by the chief to clear the pastures of the enemy constituted the usual letters of marque." These creachs, as such depredations were termed, were carried on with systematic order, and were considered as per- fectly justifiable. If lives were lost in these forays, revenge full and ample was taken, but in general, per- sonal hostilities were avoided in these incursions either against the Lowlanders or rival tribes. These predatory expeditions were more frequently directed against the Lowlanders, whom the Highlanders considered as aliens, and whose cattle they, therefore, considered as fair spoil at all times. The forays were generally executed with great secrecy, and the cattle were often lifted and secured for a considerable time before they were missed. To trace the cattle which had been thus carried off, the owners endeavoured to discover their foot-marks in the grass, or by the yielding of the heath over which they had passed; and so acute had habit rendered their sight, that they frequently succeeded, in this manner, in discovering their property. The man on whose property the track of the cattle was lost was held liable if he did not succeed in following out the trace or discovering the cattle; and if he did not make restitution, or offer to compensate the loss, an immediate quarrel was the con- sequence. A reward called Tasgal money was sometimes offered for the recovery of stolen cattle; but as this was considered in the light of a bribe it was generally dis- couraged. The Camerons and some other clans, it is said, bound themselves by oath never to accept such a reward, and to put to death all who should receive it. Besides the creachs there was another and a peculiar class of forays or spoliations called cearnachs, a military 208 CHIEFS AND CLANS term of similar import with the Catherens of the Low- lands, the Kernes of the English, and the Catervae of the Romans. The cearnachs were originally a select body of men employed in difficult and dangerous enterprises where more than ordinary honour was to be acquired; but, in process of time, they were employed in the degrading and dishonourable task of levying contri- butions on their Lowland neighbours, or in forcing them to pay tribute or blackmail for protection. Young men of the second order of gentry who were desirous of entering the military profession frequently joined in these ex- ploits, as they were considered well fitted for accustoming those who engaged in them to the fatigues and exercises incident to a military life. The celebrated Robert Macgregor Campbell, or Rob Roy, 25 was the most noted of these freebooters. The cearnachs were principally the borderers living close to and within the Grampian range, but cearnachs from the more northerly parts of the Highlands also paid frequent visits to the Lowlands, and carried off large quantities of booty. The border cearnachs judging such irruptions as an invasion of their rights frequently attacked the northern cearnachs on their return home- wards; and if they succeeded in capturing the spoil, they either appropriated it to their own use or restored it to the owners. It might be supposed that the system of spoliation we have described would have led these freebooters occasionally to steal from one another. Such, however, was not the case; for they observed the strictest honesty in this respect. No precautions were taken because unnecessary to protect property, and the usual securities of locks, bolts, and bars, were never used, nor even thought of. Instances of theft from dwelling- houses were very rare; and, with the exception of one 209 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND case which happened so late as the year 1770, highway robbery was totally unknown. Yet, notwithstanding the laudable regard thus shown by the freebooters to the property of their own society, they attached no ideas of moral turpitude to the acts of spoliation we have alluded to. Donald Cameron, or Donald Bane Leane, an active leader of a party of banditti who had associated together after the troubles of 1745, tried at Perth for cattle-stealing, and executed at Kinloch Rannoch, in 1752, expressed surprise and indignation at his hard fate, as he considered it, as he had never committed murder nor robbery, or taken anything but cattle off the grass of those with whom he had quarrelled. The practice of " lifting of cattle " seems to have been viewed as a very venial offence, even by persons holding very different views of morality from the actors, in proof of which, General Stewart refers to a letter of Field-Marshal Wade to Mr. Forbes of Culloden, then lord advocate, dated October, 1729, describing an entertainment given him on a visit to a party of cearnachs. " The knight and I," says the marshal, " travelled in my carriage with great ease and pleasure to the feast of oxen which the highwaymen had prepared for us, opposite Loch- garry, where we found four oxen roasting at the same time, in great order and solemnity.- We dined in a tent pitched for that purpose. The beef was excellent; and we had plenty of bumpers, not forgetting your lordship's and Culloderi's health; and, after three hours' stay, took leave of our benefactors, the highwaymen, 26 and arrived at the hut at Dalnachardoch, before it was dark." Amid the violence and turbulence which existed hi the Highlands, no appeal for redress of wrongs committed, or injuries sustained, could be effectually made to the legal tribunals of the country; but to prevent the utter 210 CHIEFS AND CLANS anarchy which would have ensued from such a state of society, voluntary and associated tribunals, composed of the principal men of the tribes, were appointed. A composition in cattle being the mode of compensating injuries, these tribunals generally determined the amount of the compensation according to the nature of the injury, and the wealth and rank of the parties. These compensations were called erig. Besides these tribunals, every chief held a court, in which he decided all disputes occurring among his clans- men. He generally resided among them. " His castle was the court where rewards were distributed, and the most enviable distinctions conferred. All disputes were settled by his decision, and the prosperity or poverty of his tenants depended on his proper or improper treatment of them. These tenants followed his standard in war attended him in his hunting excursions supplied his table with the produce of their farms and assembled to reap his corn, and to prepare and bring home his fuel. They looked up to him as their adviser and protector. The cadets of his family, respected in proportion to the proximity of the relation in which they stood to him, became a species of sub-chiefs, scattered over different parts of his domains, holding their lands and properties of him, with a sort of subor- dinate jurisdiction over a portion of his people, and were ever ready to afford him their counsel or assistance in all emergencies. " Great part of the rent of land was paid in kind, and generally consumed where it was produced. One chief was distinguished from another, not by any additional splendour of dress or equipage, but by being followed by more dependants, and by entertaining a greater number of guests. What his retainers gave from their individual property was spent amongst them in the kindest and til THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND most liberal manner. At the castle every individual was made welcome, and was treated according to his station, with a degree of courtesy and regard to his feelings unknown in any other country. 27 This con- descension, while it raised the clansman in his own estimation, and drew closer the ties between him and his superior, seldom tempted him to use any improper familiarities. He believed himself well born, and was taught to respect himself in the respect which he showed to his chief; and thus, instead of complaining of the difference of station and fortune, or considering a ready obedience to his chieftain's call as a slavish oppression, he felt convinced that he was supporting his own honour in showing his gratitude and duty to the generous head of his family. ' Hence, the Highlanders, whom more savage nations called savage, carried in the outward expression of their manners the politeness of courts without their vices, and in their bosoms the high point of honour without its follies.' ' In many minds the idea of a Highland chief is as- sociated with that of a domineering tyrant who plunders and oppresses his people. This notion is, however, extremely fallacious. " Nothing," says Mrs. Grant, " can be more erroneous than the prevalent idea, that a Highland chief was an ignorant and unprincipled tyrant, who rewarded the abject submission of his followers with relentless cruelty and rigorous oppression. If ferocious in disposition, or weak in understanding, he was curbed and directed by the elders of his tribe, who, by inviolable custom, were his standing counsellors, without whose advice no measure of any kind was decided." It cannot, however, be denied, that the authority of the chief was naturally arbitrary, and was sometimes exercised unduly and with great severity; as a proof 212 CHIEFS AND CLANS of which there is said to exist among the papers of the Perth family, an application to Lord Drummond from the town of Perth, dated in 1707, requesting an occasional use of his lordship's executioner, who was considered an expert operator, a request with which his lordship complied, reserving, however, to himself the power of recalling the executioner when he had occasion for his services. Another curious illustration of this exercise of power is given by General Stewart. Some- time before the year 1745, Lord President Forbes dined at Blair castle with the Duke of Atholl, on his way from Edinburgh to his seat at Culloden. A petition was de- livered to his Grace in the course of the evening, on reading which, he thus addressed the president: ".My lord, here is a petition from a poor man, whom Com- missary Bisset, my baron bailie (an officer to whom the chief occasionally delegated his authority), has con- demned to be hanged; and as he is a clever fellow, and is strongly recommended to mercy, I am much inclined to pardon him." " But your Grace knows," said the president, " that, after condemnation, no man can par- don but his Majesty." " As to that," replied the duke, " since I have the power of punishing, it is but right that I should have the power to pardon." Then, calling upon a servant who was in waiting, his Grace said, " Go, send an express to Logierait, and order Donald Stewart, presently under sentence, to be instantly set at liberty." The authority which the generality of the chiefs exer- cised was acquired from ancient usage and the weakness of the government; but the lords of regality, and the great barons and chiefs, had jurisdiction conferred on them by the Crown, both in civil and criminal cases, which they sometimes exercised in person and sometimes by deputy. The persons to whom they delegated this 213 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND authority were called bailies. In civil matters the baron or chief could judge in questions of debt within his barony, as well as in most of those cases known by the technical term of possessory actions. And though it has always been an established rule of law, that no person can be judge in his own cause, a baron might judge in all actions between himself and his vassals and tenants, necessary for making his rents and feu-duties effectual. Thus, he could ascertain the price of corns due by a tenant and pronounce sentence against him for arrears of rent; but in all cases where the chief was a party, he could not judge in person. The criminal jurisdiction of a baron, according to the laws ascribed to Malcolm Mackenneth, extended to all crimes except treason, and the four pleas of the Crown, viz., robbery, murder, rape, and fire-raising. Freemen could be tried by none but their peers. Whenever the baron held a court, his vassals were bound to attend and afford such assistance as might be required. On these occasions, many useful regulations for the good of the community were often made, and supplies were sometimes voluntarily granted to the chief to support his dignity. The bounty of the vassals was especially and liberally bestowed on the marriage of the chief, and in the portioning of his daughters and younger sons. These donations consisted of cattle, which constituted the principal riches of the country in those patriarchal days. In this way the younger sons of the chief were frequently pro- vided for on their settlement in life. The reciprocal ties which connected the chief and his clan were almost indissoluble. In return for the kindness and paternal care bestowed by the former on the latter, they yielded a ready submission to his authority, and evinced a rare fidelity to his person, which no adversity could shake. Innumerable instances of this devoted 214 CHIEFS AND CLANS attachment might be given, but two will suffice. In the battle of Inverkeithing, between the royalists and the troops of Oliver Cromwell, five hundred of the followers of the Laird of Maclean were left dead on the field. Sir Hector Maclean being hard pressed by the enemy in the heat of the action, he was successively covered from their attacks by seven brothers, all "of whom sacrificed their lives in his defence; and as one fell another came up in succession to cover him, crying, "Another for Hector." This phrase, says General Stewart, has continued ever since a proverb or watch- word, when a man encounters any sudden danger that requires instant succour. The other instance is that of a servant of the late James Menzies of Culdares, who had been engaged in the rebellion of 1715. Mr. Menzies was taken at Preston in Lancashire, was carried to Lon- don, where he was tried and condemned, but afterwards reprieved. This act prevented him from turning out in 1745, but to show his good wishes towards Prince Charles, he sent him a handsome charger as a present, when advancing through England. The servant who led and delivered the horse was taken prisoner and carried to Carlisle, where he was tried and condemned. Every attempt was made, by threats of immediate execution in case of refusal, and promises of pardon on giving information, to extort a discovery from him of the person who sent the horse, but in vain. He knew, he said, what would be the consequence of a disclosure, and that his own We was nothing in comparison with that which it would endanger. Being hard pressed at the place of execution to inform on his master, he asked those about him if they were really serious in supposing that he was such a villain as to betray his master. He said that if he did what they desired, and forgot his master and his trust, he needed not return to his country, for Glenlyon 215 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND would be no home or country for him, as he would be despised and hunted out of the glen. This trusty serv- ant's name was John Macnaughton, a native of Glen- lyon in Perthshire. 38 The obedience and attachment of the Highlanders to their chiefs, and the readiness they displayed, on all occasions, to adopt, when called upon, the quarrels of their superiors, 29 did not, however, make them forget their own independence. When a chief was unfit for his situation, or had degraded his name and family, the clan proceeded to depose him, and set up the next in succession, if deserving, to whom they transferred their allegiance, as happened to two chiefs of the families of Macdonald of Clan Ronald and Macdonell of Kep- poch. The head of the family of Stewart of Garth, who, on account of his ferocious disposition, was nicknamed the " Fierce Wolf," was, about the year 1520, not only deposed, but confined for life in a cell in the castle of Garth, which was, therefore, long regarded by the people with a kind of superstitious terror. The clans even sometimes interfered with the choice of the chiefs in changing their places of abode, or in selecting a site for a new residence. The Earl of Seaforth was prevented by his clan (the M'Kenzies) from demolishing Brahan castle, the principal seat of the family. In the same way the Laird of Glenorchy, ancestor of the Marquis of Breadalhane, having some time previous to the year 3570 laid the foundation of a castle which he intended to build on a hill on the side of Loch Tay, was compelled, or induced, by his people, to change his plan and build the castle of Balloch or Tay mouth. From what has been stated, it will be perceived that the influence of a chief with his clan depended much on his personal qualities, of which kindness and a con- descension, which admitted of an easy familiarity, were 216 CHIEFS AND CLANS necessary traits. The author of "Utters from the North " thus alludes to the familiarity which existed between a chief and his clan, and the affability and courtesy with which they v/ere accustomed to be treated: " And as the meanest among them pretended to be his relations by consanguinity, they insisted on the privilege of taking him by the hand whenever they met him. Concerning this last, I once saw a number of very dis- contented countenances when a certain lord, one of the chiefs, endeavoured to evade the ceremony. It was in the presence of an English gentleman, of high station, from whom he would willingly have concealed the knowledge of such seeming familiarity with slaves of wretched appearance; and thinking it, I suppose, a kind of contradiction to what he had often boasted at other times, viz., his despotic power in his clan." From the feeling of self-respect which the urbanity and condescension of the chiefs naturally created in the minds of the people arose that honourable principle of fidelity to superiors and to their trust, which we have already noticed, " and which," says General Stewart, " was so generally and so forcibly imbibed, that the man who betrayed his trust was considered unworthy of the name which he bore, or of the kindred to which he belonged." Besides the instance already given in illus- tration of this honourable principle, others will be related in the course of this work. From this principle flowed a marked detestation of treachery, a vice of very rare occurrence among the Highlanders; and so tenacious were they, on that point, that the slightest suspicion of infidelity on the part of an individual estranged him from the society of his clan, who shunned him as a person with whom it was dangerous any longer to associate. The case of John Du Cameron, better known, from his large size, by the 217 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND name of Sergeant Mor, 30 affords an example of this. This man had been a sergeant in the French service, and returned to Scotland in the year 1745, when he engaged in the rebellion. Having no fixed abode, and dreading the consequences of having served in the French army, and of being afterward engaged in the rebellion, he formed a party of freebooters, and took up his residence among the mountains between the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle, where he carried on a system of spoliation by carrying off the cattle of those he called his enemies, if they did not purchase his forbearance by the payment of blackmail. Cameron had long been in the habit of sleeping in a barn on the farm of Dunan in Rannoch; but having been betrayed by some person, he was apprehended one night when asleep in the barn, in the year 1753, by a party of Lieutenant (after Sir Hector) Munro's detachment. On finding himself seized, being a powerful man, he shook off all the soldiers who had laid hold of him, and attempted to escape, but he was overpowered by the remainder of the party who had remained outside. He was carried to Perth, and there tried before the court of justiciary for the murder alluded to hi the note, and various acts of theft and cattle stealing. Being found guilty, he was executed at Perth in 1753, and hung in chains. It was generally believed in the country that Cameron had been betrayed by the man in whose barn he had taken shelter, and the circumstance of his renting a farm from govern- ment, on the forfeited estate of Strowan, on advantageous terms, strengthened the suspicion, but beyond this there was nothing to confirm the imputation ; yet this man was ever after heartily despised, and, having by various misfortunes lost all his property, which obliged him to leave the country in great poverty, the people firmly believed, and the belief it is understood is still prevalent 218 CHIEFS AND CLANS in Rannock, that his misfortunes were a just judgment upon him for violating the trust reposed in him by an unsuspecting and unfortunate person. Such were some of the leading characteristics of this fine and celebrated race of people, who preserved many of their natural peculiarities till a comparatively recent period. These, however, are now fast disappearing amidst the march of modern improvement and civiliza- tion, and we are sorry to add that the vices which seem almost inseparable from this new state of society have found their way into the Highlands, and supplanted, in some degree, many of those shining virtues which were once the glory of the Gael. 219 CHAPTER INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS WE now resume the thread of our historical narrative. During the short reign of Edgar, which lasted nine years, viz., from 1097 to 1106, Scotland appears to have enjoyed repose; but that of his brother and successor, Alexander I, was disturbed in the year 1120 by an insurrection in Moray ; under Angus, the grandson of Lulach, who laid claim to the crown. This rising was immediately suppressed by the king in person, who, from the promptitude displayed by him, obtained the appellation of " the fierce " from his people. The Earl of Moray, ten years afterward, again took the field for the purpose of overthrowing the government of King David; but the latter having collected all his forces r and being aided by the martial barons of Northumber- land, with Walter L'Espec at their head, Angus was- completely defeated at Stracathrow, one of the passes in Forfarshire, whither he had advanced with his army. The next enterprise of any note was undertaken by Somerled, Thane of Argyle and the Isles, against the authority of Malcolm IV; who, after various conflicts, was repulsed, though not subdued, by Gilchrist, Earl of Angus. A peace, concluded with this powerful chieftain in 1153, was considered of such importance as to form an epoch in the dating of Scottish charters. A still more formidable insurrection broke out among the Moray men, under Gildominick, on account of an attempt, on the part of the government, to intrude the 220 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS Anglo-Norman jurisdiction, introduced into the Low- lands, upon their Celtic customs; and the settling of Anglo-Belgic colonists among them. These insurgents laid waste the neighbouring counties, and so regardless were they of the royal authority, that they actually hanged the heralds who were sent to summon them to lay down then- arms. Malcolm despatched the gallant Earl Gilchrist with an army to subdue them, but he was defeated, and forced to recross the Grampians. This defeat aroused Malcolm, who was naturally of an indolent disposition. About the year 1 160 he marched north with a powerful army, and found the enemy on the muir of Urquhart, near the Spey, ready to give him battle. After passing the Spey, the noblemen in the king's army reconnoitered the enemy; but they found them so well prepared for action, and so flushed with their late success, that they considered the issue of a battle rather doubtful. On this account, the com- manders advised the king to enter into a negotiation with the rebels, and to promise/ that in the event of a submission their lives would be spared. The offer was accepted, and the king kept his word; but as the Moray men were, as Buchanan says, homines inquieto semper ingenio, men of a factious disposition, his Majesty, by the advice of his nobles, ordained that every family in Moray which had been engaged in the rebellion should, within a limited time, remove out of Moray to other parts of the kingdom, where lands would be assigned to them, and that their places should be supplied with people from other parts of the kingdom. For the performance of this order, they gave hostages, and at the time ap- pointed transplanted themselves, some into the northern, but the greater number into the southern counties. Chalmers considers this removal of the Moray men as " an egregious probability," because " the dispossessing 221 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND of a whole people is so difficult an operation, that the recital of it cannot be believed without strong evidence; " but it is not said that the whole people were removed, and it is very probable that only the ringleaders and their families were transported. The older historians say that the Moray men were (pene intemecionem) almost totally cut off in an obstinate battle, and strangers brought into their place; but this statement is at variance with the register of Paisley, and the fact, that while there are very few persons of the name of Murray in Moray, they are numerous in the counties on the English borders, and are to be found in the more northern counties, where some of them have taken the name of Sutherland, favours the account which that writing gives of the transportation of the Moray men. About this time Somerled, the ambitious and powerful lord of the isles, made another and a last attempt upon the king's authority. Having collected a large force, chiefly in Ireland, he landed in 1164 near Renfrew, the seat of the steward of Scotland; but he was defeated by the brave inhabitants and the king's troops in a decisive battle, in which he and his son Gillecolane were slain. The reign of William the Lion was marked by many disturbances in the Highlands. The Gaelic population could not endure the new settlers whom the Saxon colonization had introduced among them, and every opportunity was taken to vex and annoy them. At this period, the Gaelic people rose upon them, and forced them to retire to the towns and castles for shelter. An open insurrection broke out in Ross-shire, which obliged William, in the year 1179, to march into the north, where he built two garrisons to keep the people in check. He restored quiet for a few years; but hi 1187, Donal Bane again renewed his pretensions to the crown, and raised 222 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS the standard of revolt in the north. He took possession of Ross, and wasted Moray. William lost no time in leading an army against him. While the king lay at Inverness with his army, a foraging party under the com- mand of Roland, the brave lord of Galloway, fell in with Donal Bane and his army upon the Mamgarvy moor, on the borders of Moray. A conflict ensued, in which Donal and five hundred of his followers were killed. Roland carried the head of Donal to William, " as a savage sign of returning quiet." This happened on the fifth of July, 1187. After this, matters remained pretty quiet in the north till the year 1196, when Harold, the powerful Earl of Orkney and Caithness, disturbed its peace. William dispersed the insurgents at once; but they again appeared the following year near In- verness, under the command of Torphin, the son of Harold. The rebels were again overpowered. The king seized Harold, and obliged him to deliver up his son, Torphin, as a hostage. Harold was allowed to retain the northern part of Caithness, but the king gave the southern part of it, called Sutherland, to Hugh Freskin, the progenitor of the earls of Sutherland. Harold died in 1206, but as he had often rebelled, his son suffered a cruel and lingering death in the castle of Roxburgh, where he had been confined. During the year 1211, a new insurrection broke out in Ross, headed by Guthred, the son of Donal Bane, or M'William, as he was called. Great depredations were committed by the insurgents, who were chiefly free- booters from Ireland, the Hebrides, and Lochaber. For a long time they baffled the king's troops; and although the king built two forts to keep them in check, and took many prisoners, they maintained for a considerable period a desultory and predatory warfare. Guthred even forced one of the garrisons to capitulate, and burnt 223 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND the castle; but being betrayed by his followers, and delivered up to William Comyng, the justiciary of Scot- land, he was executed in the year 1212. Shortly after the accession of Alexander II in 1214, the peace of the north was attempted to be disturbed by Donald M'William, who made an inroad from Ire- land into Moray; but he was repulsed by the tribes of that country, led by M'Intagart the Earl of Ross. In 1222, an insurrection broke out in Argyle. Notwith- standing the formidable obstacles which presented themselves from the nature of the country, Alexander carried his army into it, which so alarmed the men of Argyle, that they immediately made their submission. Several of the chiefs fled for safety, and to punish them, the king distributed their lands among his officers, and their followers. During the same year a tumult took place in Caithness, on account of the severity with which the tithes were exacted. Adam, the bishop, after being cruelly scourged, was burnt in his palace of Halkirk. The king, who was at the time at Jedburgh, hearing of this horrid murder, immediately hastened to the north with a military force, and inflicted the punishment of death upon the prin- cipal actors in this tragedy, who amounted, it is said, to four hundred persons; and that their race might become extinct, their children were emasculated, a practice very common in these barbarous times. The Earl of Caithness, who was supposed to have been privy to the murder, was deprived of his estate, which was after- ward restored to him on payment of a heavy fine. The earl was murdered by his own servants in the year 1231, and in order to prevent discovery, they laid his body into his bed and set fire to the house. In 1228 the country of Moray became the theatre of a new insurrection, headed by a Ross-shire freebooter, 224 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS named Gillespoc M'Scolane. He committed great de- vastations by burning some wooden castles in Moray, and spoiling the Crown lands. He even attacked and set fire to Inverness. The king led an army against him, but without success. Next year a larger army of horse and foot, under the command of John Comyn, Earl of Buchan, justiciary of Scotland, was sent against this daring rebel, whom he captured, with his two sons, and sent their heads to the king. Chalmers thinks that it was on this occasion that the king gave the great district of Badenoch to Walter Comyn, the son of the Earl of Buchan. Angus, the Lord of Argyle, who had usually paid homage to the King of Norway for some of the Hebrides, having refused his homage to the Scottish king, Alex- ander marched an army against him to enforce obedi- ence, but his Majesty died on his journey in Kerreray, a small island near the coast of Argyle, on the eighth day of July, 1249, hi the fifty-first year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign. According to the custom of the times, his son, Alexander III, then a boy only in his eighth year, was seated on the royal chair, or sacred stone of Scone, which stood before the cross, in the eastern division of the chapel. Immediately before his inauguration, the Bishop of St. Andrews knighted him, by girding him with the belt of knighthood, and explained to him, first in Latin and afterward in Norman French, the nature of the compact he and his subjects were about to enter into. The crown, after the king had been seated, was placed on his head, and the sceptre put into his hand. He was then covered with the royal mantle, and received the homage of the nobles on their knees, who, in token of submission, threw their robes beneath his feet. On this occasion, agreeably to ancient practice, a Gaelic 225 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND sennachy, or bard, clothed in a red mantle, and venerable age and hoary locks, approached the king, and in a bended and reverential attitude, recited from memory, in his native language, the genealogy of all the Scottish kings, deducing the descent of the youthful monarch from Gathetus, the fabulous founder of the nation. 31 The sennachy, after pronouncing his blessing in his native tongue, Beannachdte do Righ Albainn, Alexander, Mac- Alexander, Mac-William, Mac-David, Mac-Malcolm, was dismissed with handsome presents. The reign of this prince was distinguished by the entire subjugation of the western islands to the power of the Scottish Crown. The Scandinavian settlers were allowed to leave the islands, if inclined, and such of them as remained were bound to observe the Scottish laws. Shortly after the accession of Alexander III, an in- surrection broke out against the Earl of Ross, of some of the people of that province. The earl apprehended their leader or captain, whom he imprisoned at Ding- wall. In revenge, the Highlanders seized upon the earl's second son at Balnagown, took him prisoner, and detained him as a hostage till their captain should be released. The Monroes and the Dingwalls immediately took up arms, and having pursued the insurgents, over- took them at a place called Bealligh-ne-Broig, between Ferrandonald and Loch Broom, where a bloody conflict ensued. " The Clan Iver, Clan-Talvich, and Clan- Laiwe," says Sir Robert Gordon, " wer almost uterlie extinguished and slain." The Monroes and Dingwalls lost a great many men. Dingwall of Kildun, and seven score of the surname of Dingwall, were killed. No less than eleven Monroes of the house of Foulls, who were to succeed one after another, fell, so that the succession of Foulis opened to an infant then lying in his cradle. The earl's son was rescued, and to requite the service per- 226 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS formed, he made various grants of lands to the Mon- roes and Dingwalls. No event of any importance appears to have occurred in the Highlands till the time of King Robert Bruce, when he was attacked, after his defeat at Methven, by Stewart, Lord of Lorn, who defeated his small army in Strathfillan. But Bruce was determined that Stewart should not long enjoy his petty triumph. Having been joined by his able partisan, Sir James Douglas, he entered the territory of Lorn. On arriving at the narrow pass of Cruachan Ben, between Loch Awe and Loch Etive, Bruce was informed that Stewart had laid an ambuscade for him. As the pass was dangerous, and might be defended by a handful of men against a considerable army, Bruce resolved not to enter the pass at first, but to divide his army into two parts. One of these divisions, consisting entirely of archers who were lightly armed, was placed under the command of Douglas, who was directed to make a circuit round the mountain, and to attack the Highlanders in the rear. As soon as Douglas had gained possession of the ground above the High- landers, Bruce entered the pass, and, as soon as he had advanced into its narrow gorge he was attacked by the men of Lorn, who, from the surrounding heights, hurled down stones upon him accompanied with loud shouts. They then commenced a closer attack, but, being in- stantly assailed in the rear by Douglas' division, and assaulted by the king with great fury in front, they were thrown into complete disorder, and defeated with great slaughter. Stewart, who was, during the action, on board a small vessel in Loch Etive, waiting the result, took refuge in his castle of Dunstaffnage. After ravaging the territory of Lorn, and giving it up to indiscriminate plunder, Bruce laid siege to the castle, which, after a slight resistance, was surrendered by the Lord of Lorn, 227 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND who swore homage to the king; but John, the son of the chief, refused to submit, and took refuge in England. During the civil wars among the competitors for the Scottish crown, and those under Wallace and Bruce for the independence of Scotland, the Highlanders scarcely ever appear as participators in those stirring scenes which developed the resources, and called forth the chivalry of Scotland; but we are not to infer from the silence of history that they were less alive than their southern countrymen to the honour and glory of their country, or that they did not contribute to secure its independence. General Stewart says that eighteen Highland chiefs " fought under Robert Bruce at Ban- nockburn; and as these chiefs would be accompanied by their vassals, it is fair to suppose that Highland prowess lended its powerful aid to obtain that memorable victory which secured Scotland from the dominion of a foreign yoke. After Robert Bruce had asserted the independence of his country by the decisive battle of Bannockburn, the whole kingdom, with the exception of some of the western islands, under John of Argyle, the ally of Eng- land, submitted to his authority. He, therefore, under- took an expedition against those isles, in which he was accompanied by Walter, the hereditary high-steward of Scotland, his son-in-law, who, by his marriage with Marjory, King Robert's daughter, laid the foundation of the Stewart dynasty. To avoid the necessity of doubling the Mull of Kintyre, which was a dangerous attempt for the small vessels then in use, Robert sailed up Loch Fine to Tarbet with his fleet, which he dragged across the narrow isthmus between the lochs of East and West Tarbet, by means of a slide of smooth planks of trees laid parallel to each other. It had long been a superstitious belief amongst the inhabitants of the 228 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS Western Islands, that they should never be subdued till their invader sailed across this neck of land, and it is said that Robert was thereby partly induced to follow the course he did to impress upon the minds of the islanders a conviction that the time of their subjugation had arrived. The islanders were quickly subdued, and John of Lorn, who, for his services to Edward of England, had been invested with the title of Admiral of the Wes- tern fleet of England, was captured and imprisoned first in Dumbarton castle, and afterward in the castle of Lochleven, where he died. The feeble and effeminate reign of David II was dis- turbed by another revolt by the lord of the Isles, who was backed in his attempt to throw off his dependence by a great number of the Highland chiefs. David, with " an unwonted energy of character, commanded the attendance of the steward, with the prelates and barons of the realm, and surrounded by this formidable body of vassals and retainers, proceeded against the rebels in person. The expedition was completely successful. The rebel prince, John of the Isles, with a numerous train of those wild Highland chieftains who followed his banner, and had supported him in his attempt to throw off his dependence, met the king at Inverness, and sub- mitted to his authority. He engaged in the most solemn manner, for himself and his vassals, that they should yield themselves faithful and obedient subjects to David, their liege lord; and not only give due and prompt obedience to the ministers and officers of the king in suit and service, as well as in the payment of taxes and public burdens, but that they would coerce and put down all others, of whatever rank or degree, who dared to raise themselves in opposition to the royal authority, and would compel them either to submit, or would pursue and banish them from their territories; 229 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND for the fulfilment of which obligation the lord of the Isles not only gave his own oath, under the penalty of forfeiting his whole principality if it was broken, but offered the high-steward, his father-in-law, as his security, and delivered his lawful son, Donald, his grandson, Angus, and his natural son, also named Donald, as hostages for the strict performance of the articles of the treaty." The deed by which John of the Isles bound himself to the performance of these stipu- lations is dated fifteenth November, 1369. To enable him the better to succeed in reducing the inhabitants of the Highlands and islands to the obedi- ence of the laws, it is stated by an old historian, that David used artifice by dividing the chiefs, and promising high rewards to those who should slay or capture their brother chiefs. The writer says that this diabolical plan, by implanting the seeds of disunion and war amongst the chiefs, succeeded; and that they gradually destroyed one another, a statement, to say the least of it, highly improbable. Certain it is, however, that it was in this reign that the practice of paying manrent began, when the powerful wished for followers, and the weak wanted protection, a circumstance which shows that the government was too weak to afford protection to the oppressed, or to quell the disputes of rival clans. In the year 1333 M John Monroe, the tutor of Foulis, in travelling homeward, on his journey from Edinburgh to Ross, stopped on a meadow in Stratherdale that he and his servants might get some repose. While they were asleep, the owner of the meadow cut off the tails of their horses. Being resolved to wipe off this insult, he, immediately on his return home to Ross, summoned his whole kinsmen and followers, and, after informing them how he had been used, craved their aid to revenge the injury. The clan, of course, complied; and, having 230 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS selected 350 of the best and ablest men among them, he returned to Stratherdale, which he wasted and spoiled; killed some of the inhabitants, and carried off their cattle. In passing by the isle of Moy, on his return home, Macintosh, the chief of the clan Chattan, being urged by some person who bore Monroe a grudge, sent a message to him demanding a share of the spoil. This was cus- tomary among the Highlanders when a party drove cattle which had been so taken through a gentleman's land, and the part so exacted was called a staoig rathaid, or staoig creich, that is, a road collop. Monroe, not being disposed to quarrel, offered Macintosh a reasonable share, but this he was advised not to accept, and de- manded the half of the booty. Monroe refused to comply with such an unreasonable demand, and proceeded on his journey. Macintosh, determined to enforce compliance, immediately collected his clansmen, and went in pur- suit of Monroe, whom he overtook at Clach-na-Haire, near Inverness. As soon as Monroe saw Macintosh approaching, he sent home five of his men to Ferrin- donald with the cattle, and prepared for action. But Macintosh paid dearly for his rapacity and rashness, for he and the greater part of his men were killed in the conflict. Several of the Monroes also were slain, and John Monroe himself was left for dead in the field of battle, and might have died if the predecessor of Lord Lovat had not carried him to his house in the neighbour- hood, where he was cured of his wounds. One of his hands was so mutilated that he lost the use of it the remainder of his life, on which account he was afterward called John Bac-laimh, or Ciotach. The Monroes had great advantage of the ground by taking up a position among rocks, from which they annoyed the Mackin- toshes with their arrows. Besides the feuds of the clans in the reign of David 231 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND II the Highlands appear to have been disturbed by a formidable insurrection against the government, for, in a parliament which was held at Scone, in the year 1366, a resolution was entered into to seize the rebels in Argyle, Athole, Badenoch, Lochaber, and Ross, and all others who had risen up against the royal authority, and to compel them to submit to the laws. The chief leaders in this commotion (of which the bare mention in the parliamentary record is the only account which has reached us) were the Earl of Ross, Hugh de Ross, John of the Isles, John of Lorn, and John de Haye, who were all summoned to attend the parliament and give in their submission, but they all refused to do so in the most decided manner; and as the government was too weak to compel them, they were suffered to remain independent. In the year 1386 a feud having taken place between the Clan Chattan and the Camerons, a battle took place in which a great number of the Clan Chattan were Killed, and the Camerons were nearly cut off to a man. The occasion of the quarrel was this. The lands of Mackintosh 34 in Lochaber were possessed by the Oamerons, who were so tardy in the payment of their rents that Mackintosh was frequently obliged to levy them by force by carrying off his tenants' cattle. The Camerons were so irritated at having their cattle poinded and taken away, that they resolved to make reprisals, preparatory to which they marched into Badenoch to the number of about four hundred men, under the com- mand of Charles Macgilony. As soon as Mackintosh became acquainted with this movement he called his clan and friends, the Macphersons and Davidsons, to- gether. His force was superior to that of the Camerons, but a dispute arose among the chiefs which almost proved fatal to them. To Mackintosh, as captain of the 232 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS Clan Chattan, the command of the centre of the army was assigned with the consent of all parties; but a difference took place between Cluny and Invernahavon, each claiming the command of the right wing. Cluny demanded it as the chief of the ancient Clan Chattan, of which the Davidsons of Invernahavon were only a branch; but Invernahavon contended that to him, as the oldest branch, the command of the right wing belonged according to the custom of the clans. The Camerons came up during this quarrel about precedency, on which Mackintosh, as umpire, decided against the claim of Cluny. This was a most imprudent award, as the Macphersons exceeded both the Mackintoshes and Davidsons in numbers, and they were, besides, in the country of the Macphersons. These last were so offended at the decision of Mackintosh, that they with- drew from the field, and became, for a time, spectators of the action. The battle soon commenced, and was fought with great obstinacy. Many of the Mackintoshes, and almost all the Davidsons, were cut off by the superior number of the Camerons. The Macphersons seeing their friends and neighbours almost overpowered, could no longer restrain themselves, and friendship got the better of their wounded pride. 35 They, therefore, at this perilous crisis, rushed in upon the Camerons, who, from exhaustion and the loss they had sustained, were easily defeated. The few that escaped, with their leader, were pursued from Invernahavon, the place of battle, three miles above Ruthven, in Badenoch. Charles Macgilony was killed on a hill in Glenbenchir, which was long called Torr-Thearlaich, i. e. Charles'-hill. In the opinion of Shaw, this quarrel about precedency was the origin of the celebrated judicial conflict, which took place on the North Inch of Perth, before Robert III, his queen, Annabella Drummond, and the Scottish 233 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND nobility, and some foreigners of distinction, in the year 1396, and of which a variety of accounts have been given by our ancient historians. The parties to this combat were the Macphersons, properly the Clan Chat- tan, and the Davidsons of Invernahavon, called in the Gaelic Clann-Dhaibhidh, and commonly pronounced Clann-Chai. The Davidsons were not, as some writers have supposed, a separate clan, but a branch of the Clan Chattan. These rival tribes had for a long period kept up a deadly enmity at one another, which was difficult to be restrained; but after the award by Mack- intosh against the Macphersons, that enmity broke out into open strife, and for ten years the Macphersons and the Davidsons carried on a war of extermination and kept the country in an uproar. To put an end to these disorders, Robert III sent Dunbar, Earl of Moray, and Lindsay of Glenesk, after- ward Earl of Crawfurd, two of the leading men of the kingdom, to endeavour to effect an amicable arrange- ment between the contending parties; but having failed in their attempt, they proposed that the differences should be decided in open combat before the king. " The ideas of chivalry, the factitious principles of that singular system of manners from which we derive our modern code of honour, had hitherto made little progress amongst them (the Highlanders) ; but the more intimate intercourse between the northern and southern portions of the kingdom, and the residence of the Lowland barons amongst them, appear to have introduced a change ; and the notions of the Norman knights becoming more familiar to the fierce mountaineers, they adopted the singular idea of deciding their quarrel by a combat of thirty against thirty. This project, instead of dis- couragement, met with the warm approval of govern- ment, who were happy that a scheme should have sug- 234 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS gested itself, by which there was some prospect of the leaders in those fierce and endless disputes being cut off." A precedent had occurred in Robert the First's time, when Hugh Hardinge fought William de Saint- lowe, on the North Inch of Perth, in the royal presence. The same ground was now fixed on, and the Monday before Michaelmas was the day appointed for the combat. According to Sir Robert Gordon, who is followed by Sir Robert Douglas and Mr. Mackintosh, it was agreed that no weapon but the broad sword was to be employed, but Wyntoun, who lived about the time, adds bows, battle-axes, and daggers. " All thai entrit in barrens, With bow and axe, knyf and swerd, To deal amang them thair last werd." The chronicler is borne out by Bower, in regard to the bow at least. The numbers on each side have been variously reported. By mistaking the word triceni, used by Boece and Buchanan for treceni, some writers have multiplied them to three hundred. Bower, the continuator of Fordun and Wyntoun, however, mentions expressly sixty in all, or thirty on either side. On the appointed day the combatants made their appearance on the North Inch of Perth, to decide in presence of the king, his queen, and a large concourse of the nobility, their respective claims to superiority. Barriers had been erected on the ground to prevent the spectators from encroaching, and the king and his party took their stations upon a platform from which they could easily view the combat. At length the warriors, armed with sword and target, bows and arrows, short knives and battle-axes, advanced within the barriers, and eyed one another with looks of deadly revenge. When about to engage, a circumstance occurred which 235 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND postponed the battle, and had well-nigh prevented it altogether. According to some accounts, one of the Macphersons fell sick; but Bower says, that when the troops had been marshalled, one of the Macphersons, panic-struck, slipped through the crowd, plunged into the Tay and swam across, and, though pursued by thousands, effected his escape. 36 Sir Robert Gordon merely observes, that, " at their entrie into the feild, the clan Chattan lacked one of their number, who wes privilie stolne away, not willing to be pertaker of so deir a bargane." A man being now wanting on one side, a pause ensued, and a proposal was made that one of the Davidsons should retire, that the number on both sides might be equal, but they refused. As the combat could not proceed from this inequality of numbers, the king was about to break up the assembly, when a diminutive and crooked, but fierce man, named Henry Wynd, a burgher of Perth, a foundling reared in the hospital of the burgh, and an armourer by trade, sprung within the barriers, and, as related by Bower, thus addressed the assembly: " Here am I. Will any one fee me to engage with these hirelings in this stage play? For half a mark will I try the game, provided, if I escape alive, I have my board of one of you so long as I live. Greater love, as it is said, hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. What then shall be my reward, who stake my life for the foes of the commonwealth and realme." This demand of Gow Crom, " Crooked Smith," as Henry was familiarly styled, adds Bower, was granted by the king and nobles. A murderous conflict now be- gan. The armourer bending his bow, and sending the first arrow among the opposite party, killed one of them. After showers of arrows had been discharged on both sides, the combatants, with fury in their looks and re- venge in their hearts, rushed upon one another, and a 236 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS terrific scene ensued which appalled the heart of many a valorous knight who witnessed the bloody tragedy. The violent thrusts of the daggers, and the tremendous gashes inflicted by the two-handed swords and battle- axes, hastened the work of butchery and death. " Heads were cloven asunder, limbs were lopped from the trunk. The meadow was soon flooded with blood, and covered with dead and wounded men." After the crooked armourer had killed his man, as already related from Bower, it is said that he either sat down or drew aside, which being observed by the leader of Cluny's band, he asked his reason for thus stopping; on which Wynd said, " Because I have fulfilled my bar- gain, and earned my wages." - " The man," exclaimed the other, " who keeps no reckoning of his good deeds, without reckoning shall be repaid," an observation which tempted the armourer to earn, in the multiplied deaths of his opponents, a sum exceeding by as many times the original stipulation. This speech of the leader has been formed into the Gaelic adage, " Am fear nach cunntadh rium Cha chunntainn ris," which Mackintosh thus renders, " The man that reckons not with me I will not reckon with him." Victory at last declared for the Macphersons, but not until twenty-nine of the Davidsons had fallen prostrate in the arms of death. Nineteen of Cluny's men also bit the dust, and the remaining eleven, with the exception of Henry Wynd, who by his excellence as a swordsman had mainly contributed to gain the day, were all griev- ously wounded. The survivor of the Clan Kay escaped unhurt. Mackintosh, following Buchanan, relates that 237 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND this man, after all his companions had fallen, threw himself into the Tay, and making the opposite bank, escaped; but this is an improbable story, and is most likely a new version of Bower's account of the affrighted champion before the commencement of the action,, which seems to have been metamorphosed by the genius of fiction into a concluding embellishment. The leader of the Clan Kay, or Davidsons, is called by Bower Scheabey, and by Wyntoun, Scha-Ferguharis- son. Boetius, who superintended the press in the first edition of his work, calls him Straiberge. These three authors agree in calling the leader of the opposite force Christi-Jonson, for Boece does not differ from the others, except by using the Gaelic form of Jonson, viz., Mac-Iain. " Shaw Macintosh," as Sir Robert Douglas styles him, or Shaw Oig, as he is also called by Sir Robert, is, by this genealogist, stated to have been uncle of Lachlan Mackintosh, captain of the Clan Chattan, in right of his paternal grandmother, and to have commanded the Clan Chattan. But are we to believe Sir Robert in opposition to the united testimony of Wyntoun, Bower, and Boetius? Who Christi-Mac-Iain, or Christi-Jonson was genealogically, we are not informed, but one thing is pretty clear, that he, not Schea-beg, or Shaw Oig, fop these are obviously one and the same, commanded the Clan Chattan, or " Clann-a-Chait." Both the principals seem to have been absent or spectators merely of the battle, and as few of the leading men of the clan, it is believed, were parties in the combat, the savage policy of the government, which, it is said, had taken this method to rid itself of the chief men of the clan, by making them destroy one another, was completely defeated. This affair seems to have produced a good effect, as the Highlanders remained quiet for a consider- able time thereafter. 238 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS The disorders in the Highlands, occasioned by the feuds of the clans, were, about the period in question, greatly augmented by Alexander of Badenoch, fourth son of Robert II, whom he had constituted lieutenant or governor from the limits of Moray to the Pentland Firth. This person, from the ferocity of his disposition, obtained the appropriate appellation of " the Wolf of Badenoch." Avaricious, as well as cruel, the Wolf seized upon the lands of Alexander Barr, Bishop of Moray, and as he persisted in keeping violent possession of them, he was excommunicated. The sentence of ex- communication not only proved unavailing, but tended to exasperate the Lord of Badenoch to such a degree of fury, that, in the month of May, 1390, he descended from his heights, and burnt the town of Forres, with the choir of the church, and the manse of the archdeacon. And in June following, he burnt the town of Elgin, the church of St. Giles, the hospital of Maison-Dieu, and the cathedral, with eighteen houses of the canons and chaplains in the college of Elgin. He also plundered these churches of their sacred utensils and vestments, which he carried off. For this horrible sacrilege the Lord of Badenoch was prosecuted, and obliged to make due reparation. Upon making his submission he was absolved by Walter Trail, Bishop of St. Andrews, in the church of the Black friars in Perth. He was first received at the door, and afterward before the high altar, in presence of the king (Robert III, his brother) and many of the nobility, on condition that he should make full satisfaction to the Bishop of Moray, and obtain absolution from the Pope. The Lord of Badenoch had a natural son, named Duncan Stewart, who inherited the vices of his father. Bent upon spoliation and bloodshed, and resolved to imitate the barbarous exploits which his father had just 239 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND been engaged in, he collected a vast number of Catherans, armed only with the sword and target, and with these he descended from the range of hills which divides the county of Aberdeen and Forfar, devastated the country, and murdered the inhabitants indiscriminately. A force was instantly collected by Sir Walter Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir Patrick Gray, and Sir David Lindsay of Glenesk, to oppose him, and although in- ferior in numbers, they attacked Stewart and his party of freebooters at Gasklune, near the water of Ila. A desperate conflict took place, which was of short dura- tion. The Cathorans fought with determined bravery, and soon overpowered their assailants. The sheriff, his brother, Wat of Lichtoune, Young of Ouchterlony, the Lairds of Cairncross, Forfar, and Guthry, and sixty of their followers, were slain. Sir Patrick Gray and Sir David Lindsay were severely wounded, and escaped with difficulty. Winton has preserved an anecdote illustrative of the fierceness of the Highlanders. Lind- say had run one of them, a strong and brawny man, through the body with a spear, and brought him to the earth; but although in the agonies of death, he writhed himself up, and with the spear sticking in his body, struck Lindsay a desperate blow with his sword, which cut him through the stirrup and boot into the bone, on which he instantly fell and expired. Following chronological exactness, the following occur- rence should have been previously related, had not a necessary connection existed between the history of the battle of the North Inch of Perth, and the account which precedes it. Nicolas, Earl of Sutherland, had a feud with Y-Mackay of Far, in Strathnaver, Chief of the Clanwig-worgm, and his son Donald Mackay, in which many lives were lost, and great depredations committed on both sides. In order to put an end to this difference, 240 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS the earl proposed a meeting of the parties at Dingwall, to be held in presence of the Lord of the Isles, his father- in-law, and some of the neighbouring gentry, the friends of the two families. The meeting having been agreed to, the parties met at the appointed time, and took up their residence in the castle of Dingwall in apartments allotted for them. A discussion then took place between the earl and Mackay, regarding the points in contro- versy, in which high and reproachful words were ex- changed, which so incensed the earl, that he killed Mackay and his son with his own hands. Having with some difficulty effected his escape from the followers and servants of the Mackays, he immediately returned home and prepared for defence, but the Mackays were too weak to take revenge. This event took place in the year 1395. The matter was in some degree recon- ciled between Robert, the successor of Nicolas, and Angus Mackay, the eldest son of Donald. Some years after this event a serious conflict took place between the inhabitants of Sutherland and Strath- naver, and Malcolm Macleod of the Lewis, which arose out of the following circumstances. Angus Mackay, above mentioned, had married a sister of Malcolm Macleod, by whom he had two sons, Angus Dow and Roriegald. On the death of Angus, Houcheondow Mackay, a younger brother, became tutor to his nephews, and entered upon the management of their lands. Malcolm Macleod, understanding that his sister, the widow of Angus, was ill treated by Houcheondow, went on a visit to her, accompanied by a number of the choicest men of his country, with the determination of vindicating her cause either by entreaty or by force. He appears not to have succeeded in his object, for he returned homeward greatly discontented, and in re- venge laid waste Strathnaver and a great part of the 241 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Breachat in Sutherland, and carried off booty along with him. As soon as Houcheondow and his brother Neill Mackay learned this intelligence, they acquainted Robert Earl of Sutherland, between whom and Angus Mackay a reconciliation had been effected, who immediately despatched Alexander Ne-Shrem-Gorme (Alexander Murray of Cubin), with a number of stout and resolute men, to assist the Mackays. They followed Macleod with great haste, and overtook him at Tuttim-Turwigh, upon the marches between Ross and Sutherland. The pursuing party at first attempted to recover the goods and cattle which had been carried off, but this being opposed by Macleod and his men, a desperate conflict ensued, in which great valour was displayed on both sides. It " was long, furious, cruel, and doubtful," says Sir Robert Gordon, and was " rather desperate than resolute," as the same author quaintly observes. At last the Lewismen, with their commander, Malcolm Macleod, nicknamed Gilealm Beg M'Bowen, were slain, and the goods and cattle were recovered. One man alone of Macleod's party, who was sorely wounded, escaped to bring home the sorrowful news to the Lewis, which he had scarcely delivered when he expired. These feuds were followed by a formidable insurrec- tion in 1411 by Donald, Lord of the Isles, of such a serious nature as to threaten a dismemberment of the kingdom of Scotland. The origin of this rebellion arose out of the following circumstances. The male succession to the earldom of Ross having become extinct, the honours of the peerage devolved upon a female, Eu- phemia Ross, wife of Sir Walter Lesley. Of this marriage there were two children, Alexander, afterward Earl of Ross, and Margaret, afterward married to the Lord of the Isles. Earl Alexander married a daughter of the Duke of Albany. Euphemia, Countess of Ross, was the 242 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS only issue of this marriage, but becoming a nun she resigned the earldom of Ross in favour of her uncle, John Stewart, Earl of Buchan. The Lord of the Isles conceiving that the countess, by renouncing the world, had forfeited her title and estate, and, moreover, that she had no right to dispose thereof, claimed both in right of Margaret, his wife. The Duke of Albany, governor of Scotland, at whose instigation the countess had made the renunciation, of course refused to sustain the claim of the prince of the islands. The Lord of the Isles then raised the standard of revolt; and having formed an alliance with England, from whence he was to be supplied with a fleet far superior to the Scottish, he, at the head of an army of ten thousand men, fully equipped and armed citer the fashion of the islands with bows and arrows, pole-axes, knives, and swords, burst like a torrent upon the earldom, and carried every- thing before him. He, however, received a temporary check at Dingwall, where he was attacked with great impetuosity by Angus Dubh Mackay of Fair, or Black Angus, as he was called, but Angus was taken prisoner, and his brother Roderic Gald and many of his men were killed. Flushed with the progress he had made, Donald now resolved to carry into execution a threat he had often made to burn the town of Aberdeen. For this purpose he ordered his army to assemble at Inverness, and sum- moned all the men capable of bearing arms in the Boyne, and tho Enzie, to join his standard on his way south. This order being complied with, the Lord of the Isles marched through Moray without opposition. He committed great excesses in Strathbogie and in the district of Garioch, which belonged to the Earl of Mar. The inhabitants of Aberdeen were in dreadful alarm at the near approach of this marauder and his fierce 243 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND hordes; but their fears were allayed by the speedy appearance of a well-equipped army, commanded by the Earl of Mar, who bore a high military character, assisted by many brave knights and gentlemen in Angus and the Mearns. Among these were Sir Alexander Ogilvy, sheriff of Angus, Sir James Scrymgeour, constable of Dundee and hereditary standard bearer of Scotland, Sir William de Abernethy of Salton, nephew to the Duke of Albany, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irvine of Drum, and Sir Robert Melville. The earl was also joined by Sir Robert Davidson, the Provost of Aberdeen, and a party of the burgesses. Advancing from Aberdeen, Mar marched by Inverury, and descried the Highlanders, stationed at the village of Harlaw, on the water of Ury near its junction with the Don. Mar soon saw that he had to contend with tre- mendous odds, but although his forces were, it is said, as one to ten to that opposed to him, he resolved, from the confidence he had in his steel-clad knights, to risk a battle. Having placed a small but select body of knights and men-at-arms in front, under the command of the constable of Dundee and the sheriff of Angus, the earl drew up the main strength of his army in the rear, including the Murrays, the Straitens, the Maules, the Irvings, the Lesleys, the Levels, the Stirlings, headed by their respective chiefs. The earl then placed himself at the head of this body. At the head of the Islesmen and Highlanders was the Lord of the Isles, subordinate to whom were Mackintosh and Maclean and other High- land chiefs, all bearing the most deadly hatred to their Saxon foes and panting for revenge. On a signal being given, the Highlanders and Isles- men, setting up those terrific shouts and yells which they were accustomed to raise on entering into battle, rushed forward upon their opponents; but they were 244 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS received with great firmness and bravery by the knights, who, with their spears levelled, and battle-axes raised] cut down many of their impetuous but badly armed adversaries. After the Lowlanders had recovered them- selves from the shock which the furious onset of the Highlanders had produced, Sir James Scrymgeour, at the head of the knights and bannerets who fought under him, cut his way through the thick columns of the Isles- men, carrying death everywhere around him; but the slaughter of hundreds by this brave party did not intimi- date the Highlanders, who kept pouring in by thousands to supply the place of those who had fallen. Surrounded on all sides, no alternative remained for Sir James and his valorous companions but victory or death, and the latter was their lot. The constable of Dundee was amongst the first who suffered, and his fall so encouraged the Highlanders, that seizing and stabbing the horses, they thus unhorsed their riders whom they despatched with their daggers. In the meantime the Earl of Mar, who had penetrated with his main army into the very heart of the enemy, kept up the unequal contest with great bravery, and, although he lost during the action almost the whole of his army, he continued the fatal struggle with a handful of men till nightfall. The disastrous result of this battle was one of the greatest misfortunes which had ever happened to the numerous respectable families in Angus and the Mearns. Many of these families lost not only their head, but every male in the house. Lesley of Balquhain is said to have fallen with six of his sons. Besides Sir James Scrymgeour, Sir Alexander Ogilvy, the sheriff of Angus, with his eldest son George Ogilvy, Sir Thomas Murray, Sir Robert Maule of Panmure, Sir Alexander Irving of Drum," Sir William Abernethy of Salton, Sir Alexander Straiton of Lauriston, James Lovel, and Alexander Stirling, and 245 THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND Sir Robert Davidson, Provost of Aberdeen, with five hundred men-at-arms, including the principal gentry of Buchan, and the greater part of the burgesses of Aber- deen who followed their provost, were among the slain. The Highlanders left nine hundred men dead on the field of battle, including the chiefs, Maclean and Mackin- tosh. This memorable battle 38 was fought on the eve of the feast of St. James the Apostle, the twenty-fourth day of July, in the year 1411, " and from the ferocity with which it was contested, and the dismal spectacle of civil war and bloodshed exhibited to the country, it appears to have made a deep impression on the national mind. It fixed itself in the music and the poetry of Scotland; a march, called the ' Battle of Harlaw,' continued to be a popular air down to the time of Drum- mond of Hawthornden, and a spirited ballad, on the same event, is still repeated in our age, describing the meeting of the armies, and the deaths of the chiefs, in no ignoble strain." Mar and the few brave companions in arms, who sur- vived the battle, were so exhausted with fatigue and the wounds they received, that they were obliged to pass the night on the field of battle, where they expected a renewal of the attack next morning; but when morning dawned, they found that the Lord of the Isles had re- treated, during the night, by Inverury and the hill of Benochie. To pursue him was impossible, and he was therefore allowed to retire, without molestation, and to recruit his exhausted strength. As soon as the news of the disaster at Harlaw reached the ears of the Duke of Albany, then regent of Scotland, he set about collecting an army, with which he marched in person to the North, in autumn, with a determina- tion to bring the Lord of the Isles to obedience. Having taken possession of the castle of Dingwall, he appointed 246 INSURRECTIONS AND FEUDS a governor, and from thence proceeded to recover the whole of Ross. Donald retreated before him, and took up his winter-quarters in the islands. Hostilities were renewed next summer, but the contest was not long or doubtful notwithstanding some little advantages ob- tained by the King of the Isles for he was compelled to give up his claim to the earldom of Ross, to become a vassal to the Scottish Crown, and to deliver hostages to secure his future good behaviour. A treaty to this effect was entered into at Pilgilbe or Polgillip, the modern Loch Gillip in Argyle. END OF VOLUME I. 247 NOTES 1. The guildry of Perth, some years ago, proved that they, at least, were superior to this amiable and, it may be, superstitious affection for the relics of the past. On their property of Craig- makerran stood a circle of stones familiarly known by the name of " Stannin Stanes," as complete and perfect as when the dispensers of fire to the righteous assembled within its sacred enclosure; but they wanted stones to build some offices for one of their tenants; and, as these monoliths lay convenient to their hand, the corporation Goths had them blasted with gunpowder, and thus utterly destroyed one of the noblest monuments " of Britain's elder time." 2. The aquas et ignis interdictio of the Roman law, and the letters of intercommuning anciently familiar to, but now, happily, unknown in the municipal jurisprudence of our native country, were punish- ments evidently traceable to the Druidical times. 3. The first writer who mentions the Picts is Eumenius, the orator, who was a professor at Autun, and who, in a panegyric pronounced by him in the year 297, and again in 308, alludes to the Caledones aliique Picli. From this it is evident that he considered the Caledonians and the Picts as the same people. Ammianus Marcellinus, speaking of them at the end of the fourth century, says, Lib. xxvii. ch. vii. " Eo tempore Picti in duas gen tea divira, Dicaledones et Vecturiones." It is now admitted, even by these antiquaries who take the most opposite views on the origin of these people, that they were not distinct nations but the same people distinguished merely by their names. 4. " Quamvis intelligunt omnes plus semper virium et industri* Scotis fuisse ad res gerendas, quam commentationis ad pnedi- candas, habuerunt tamen antiquitus, et coluerunt BUGS Homeros et Marones, quos Bardos nominabant. Hi fortium virorum fact* versibus heroicis et lyrse modulis aptata concinebant; quibus et praesentium animos acuebant ad virtutis gloriam, et fortitudin exempla ad posteros transmittebant. Cujusmodi apud Caml et priscos Scotos nee dum desiere; et nomen illud patrio sermone adhuc retinent." J. Johnston in Praefat. ad Hist. Scot. 249 NOTES 5. The following curious and interesting declaration of Lachlan Mac Vuirich, son of Niel, taken by desire of the Committee of the Highland Society of Scotland, appointed to inquire into the nature and authenticity of the poems of Ossian, will throw much light on the bardic office. In the house of Patrick Nicolson, at Torlum, near Castle Burgh, in the shire of Inverness on the ninth day of August, compeared, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, Lachlan, son of Niel, son of Lachlan, son of Niel, son of Donald, son of Lachlan, son of Niel MOT, son of Lachlan, son of Donald, of the sirname of Mac Vuirich, before Rod- erick M'Neil, Esq. of Barra, and declared, That according to the best of his knowledge, he is the eighteenth in descent from Muireach, whose posterity had officiated as bards to the family of Clanranald; and that they had from that time, as the salary of their office, the farm of Staoiligary, and four pennies of Drimisdale, during fifteen gen- erations; that the sixteenth descendant lost the four pennies of Drimisdale, but that the seventeenth descendant retained the farm of Staoiligary for nineteen years of his life. That there was a right given them over these lands, as long as there should be any of the posterity of Muireach to preserve and continue the genealogy and history of the Macdonalds, on condition that the bard, failing of male issue, was to educate his brother's son, or representative, in order to preserve their title to the lands; and that it was in pursu- ance of this custom that his own father, Niel, had been taught to read and write history and poetry by Donald, son of Niel, son of Donald, his father's brother. He remembers well that works of Ossian written on parchment were in the custody of his father, as received from his predecessors; that some of the parchments were made up in the form of books, and that others were loose and separate, which contained the works of other bards besides those of Ossian. He remembers that his father had a book, which was called the Red Book made of paper, which he had from his predecessors, and which, as his father informed him, contained a good deal of the history of the Highland clans, together with part of the works of Ossian. That none of those books are to be found at this day, because when they (his family) were deprived of their lands, they lost their alacrity and zeal. That he is not certain what became of the parchments, but thinks that some of them were carried away by Alexander, son of the Rev. Alexander Macdonald, and others by Ronald his son; and he saw two or three of them cut down by tailors for measures. That he remembers well that Clanranald made 250 NOTES liis father give up the red book to James Macpherson from Bade- noch; that it was near as thick as a Bible, but that it was longer and broader, though not so thick in the cover. That the parchments and the red book were written in the hand in which the Gaelic used to be written of old both in Scotland and Ireland, before people began to use the English hand in writing Gaelic ; and that his father knew well how to read the old hand. That he himself had some of the parchments after his father's death, but that because he had not been taught to read them, and had no reason toet any value upon them, they were lost. He says that none of his forefathers had the name of Paul, but that there were two of them who were called Cathal. He says that the red book was not written by one man, but that it was written from age to age by the family of Clan Mhuirich, who were preserving and continuing the history of the Macdonalds, and of other heads of Highland clans. After the above declaration was taken down, it was read to him, and he acknowledged it was right, in presence of Donald M'Donald of Balronald, James M'Donald of Garyhelich, Ewan M'Donald of Griminish, Alexander M'Lean of Hosier, Mr. Alexander Nicolson, minister of Benbecula, and Mr. Allan M'Queen, minister of North- Uist, who wrote this declaration. his LACHLAN X MAC VOIBICH. mark. RODERICK MAC NIEL, J. P. 6. See the Ulster Annals where an account is given of all these conflicts. 7 The proper Irish name it seems is Feargus, derived fearg of the Irish language, signifying a warrior or champio Irish chieftains were so named. 8. Caledonia, Vol. I, pp. 304 and 305. In proof of thu . opmiot he refers to the change by the Scots of the British word Aber i. the Scoto-Irish Inver in ancient Chartulanes. 9. Johnson's Tour to the Hebrides. 10 This name signifies in Gaelic the devotee of Mai ladv was married, 1. to Aodh-Finlaith. who reigned m Ii ween 8^3 and 879; 2. to his successor, Flann-Sionna, who re.gned from 897 to 916 Ogygia, p. 434. She had several sons who r InTrelfnd; and a d'aTghtJr Ligach, who married Congal, the fang rf ll. A huge skeleton" was' dug up many years ago near Camui.'- 251 NOTES Cross, supposed to have been that of Camus. It was lying in a sepulchre which was erected with four stones. 12. The Gregorian song consists of eight tones, of which four are called authentic, and four are said to be plagal. The former are confined to an octave the plagal descends from the lower octave to the fourth below. 13. " It was a wild and strange retreat, As e'er was trod by outlaw's feet. The dell, upon the mountain's crest, Yawned like a gash on warrior's breastj Its trench had staid full many a rock, Hurl'd by primeval earthquake shock From Ben- Venue's grey summit wild, And here, in random ruin piled, They frowned incumbent o'er the spot, And formed the rugged sylvan grot. The oak and birch, with mingled shade, At noontide there a twilight made, Unless where short and sudden shone From straggling beam on cliff or stone, With such a glimpse as prophet's eye Gains on thy depth, Futurity. No murmur wak'd the solemn still, Save tinkling of a fountain rill; But when the wind chafed with the lake, A sullen sound would upward break, With dashing hollow voice, that spoke The incessant war of wave and rock. Suspended cliffs, with hideous sway, Seem'd nodding o'er the cavern grey. From such a den the wolf had sprung, In such a wild cat leaves her young; Yet Douglas and his daughter fair Sought for a space their safety there. Grey Superstition's whisper dread, Debarred the spot to vulgar tread; For there, she said, did fays resort, And satyrs hold their sylvan court, By moonlight tread their mystic maze, And blast the rash beholder's gaze." Lady of the Lake, c. iii. s. 26. 252 NOTES 14 The belief in fairies is a popular superstition among the Shetlanders. The margin of a small lake called the Sandy Loch about two miles from Lerwick, is celebrated for having been their favourite resort. It is said that they often walk in procession along the sides of the loch in different costumes. Some of the natives used frequently, when passing by a knoll, to stop and listen. to the music of the fairies, and when the music ceased, they would hear the rattling of the pewter plates which were to be used at supper. The fairies sometimes visit the Shetland barns, from which they are usually ejected by means of a flail, which the pro- prietor wields with great agility, thumping and threshing in every direction. 15. ROBERTUS KIRK, A.M. LINGUA HIBERNII(C) LUMBN, OBIIT, etc. 16. Doctor Graham has some curious observations on this practice. It is mentioned by Apuleius in his " Metamorphosis of the Golden Ass; " and in the Greek Anthologia, this custom is recorded in a verse, which speaks of the withholding of this blessing by an evil-minded person: OvSe Xeyet, ev auaov ta wrapt). Lib. II. ets " Nor does he say, Jupiter save him, if he should sneeze." In the seventeenth book of Homer's Odyssey, Penelope, led by the account given by Eumaeus of a stranger that had just arrived, to entertain some hopes of the return of Ulysses, expresses her expecta- tions, when her son Telemachus sneezes aloud. Auguring favourably from this omen, Penelope smiles, and gives orders to conduct the stranger to the palace. " She spoke. Telemachus then sneez'd aloud; Constrain'd, his nostril echo'd through the crowd, The smiling queen the happy omen blest." From the existence of the practice of blessing among the Siamese, it has been inferred, with some degree of probability, that it is of oriental origin, and was brought into Europe along with the Druidi- cal superstition. Father Tachard, in his Voyage de Siam, abridged by Le Clerc in his Bibliotheque Universelle de I'Annee, 1687, thus relates the belief of the Siamese as to this practice. " The Siameee believe that, in the other world, there is an angel, whose name u 253 NOTES Prayompaban, who has a book before him, in which the life of every individual upon earth is written; he is incessantly employed in reading this book; and when he arrives at the page which contains the history of any particular person, that person infallibly sneezes. This, say the Siamese, is the reason why we sneeze upon earth; and that we are in use to wish a long and happy life to those who sneeze." 17. The fairies of Shetland appear to be bolder than the Shi'ichs of the Highlands, for they are believed to carry off young children even after baptism, taking care, however, to substitute a cabbage stock, or something else in lieu, which is made to assume the appear- ance of the abstracted child. The unhappy mother must take as much care of this phantom as she did of her child, and on no account destroy it, otherwise, it is believed, the fairies will not restore her child to her. " This is not my bairn," said a mother to a neighbour who was condoling with her on the wasted appearance of her infant, then sitting on her knee, " this is not my bairn may the d i rest where my bairn now is! " 18. " On that occasion, sanctified by the puritanical cant of the times, there was ' one marquis, three earls, two lords, sixteen barons, and eight ministers present at the solemnity, but not one musician; they liked yet better the bleating of the calves of Dan and Bethel the ministers' long-winded, and sometimes nonsensical graces, little to purpose, than all musical instruments of the sanctu- aries, at so solemn an occasion, which, if it be lawful at all to have them, certainly it ought to be upon a wedding-day, for divertise- ment to the guests, that innocent recreation of music and dancing being much more warrantable and far better exercise than drinking. and smoking tobacco, wherein the holy brethren of the Presbyterian, (persuasion) for the most part employed themselves, without any formal health, or remembrance of their friends, a nod with the head, or a sign with the turning up of the white of the eye, served for the ceremony." Stewart's Sketches, Memoirs of the Sommerville Family. 19. " Playing the bagpipes within doors," says General Stewart, " is a Lowland and English custom In the Highlands the piper is always in the open air; and when people wish to dance to his music, it is on the green, if the weather permits; nothing but ne- cessity makes them attempt a pipe-dance in the house. The bag- pipe was a field instrument intended to call the clans to arms, and animate them in battle, and was no more intended for a house than a round of six pounders. A broadside from a first-rate, or a round from a battery, has a sublime and impressive effect at a proper dis- 254 NOTES tance. In the same manner, the sound of bagpipes, softened by distance, had an indescribable effect on the mind and actions of the Highlanders. But as few would choose to be under the muzzle of the guns of a battery, so I have seldom seen a Highlander whose ears were not grated when close to pipes, however much his breast might be warmed, and his feelings roused, by the sounds to which he had been accustomed in his youth, when proceeding from the proper distance." 20. Two remarkable instances of the regard paid by the High- landers to their engagements are given by General Stewart. " A gentleman of the name of Stewart agreed to lend a considerable sum of money to a neighbour. When they had met, and the money was already counted down upon the table, the borrower offered a receipt. As soon as the lender (grandfather of the late Mr. Stewart of Ballachulish) heard this, he immediately collected the money, saying, that a man who could not trust his own word, without a bond, should not be trusted by him, and should have none of his money, which he put up in his purse and returned home." An in- habitant of the same district kept a retail shop for nearly fifty years, and supplied the whole district, then full of people, with all their little merchandise. He neither gave nor asked any receipts. At Martinmas of each year he collected the amount of his sales which were always paid to a day. In one of his annual rounds, a customer happened to be from home; consequently, he returned unpaid, but before he was out of bed the following morning, he was awakened by a call from his customer, who came to pay his account. After the business was settled, his neighbour said, " You are now paid; I would not for my best cow that I should sleep while you wanted your money after your term of payment, and that I should be the last in the country in your debt." Such examples of stern honesty are now, alas! of rare occurrence. Many of the virtues which adorned the Highland character have disappeared in the vortex of modern improvement, by which the country has been com- pletely revolutionized. 21. The power of the chiefs over their clans was, from political motives, often supported by the government, to counteract the great influence of the feudal system which enabled the nobles fre- quently to set the authority of the state at defiance. Although the Duke of Gordon was the feudal superior of the lands held by the Camerons, M'Phersons, M'Donells of Keppoch and others, he had no influence over those clans who always obeyed the orders of Lochiel, Clunie, Keppoch, etc. 255 NOTES 22. Martin observes that in the Western Islands, " every heir, or young chieftain of a tribe, was obliged in honour to give a public specimen of his valour before he was owned and declared governor or leader of his people, who obeyed and followed him upon all occa- sions. This chieftain was usually attended with a retinue of young men of quality, who had not beforehand given any proof of their valour, and were ambitious of such an opportunity to signalize them- selves. It was usual for the captain to lead them, to make a des- perate incursion upon some neighbour or other that they were in feud with, and they were obliged to bring, by open force, the cattle they found on the lands they attacked, or to die in the attempt. After the performance of this achievement, the young chieftain was ever after reputed valiant, and worthy of government, and such as were of his retinue acquired the like reputation. This custom being reciprocally used among them was not reputed robbery, for the damage which one tribe sustained by this essay of the chief- tain of another was repaired when their chieftain came in his turn to make his specimen; but I have not heard an instance of this practice for these sixty years past." Western Islands, 2d edit. p. 101, 102. 23. General Stewart says that the families of the name of Stewart, whose estates lay in the district of Athol, and whose chief, by birth, was at a distance, ranged themselves under the family of Athol, though they were themselves sufficiently numerous to raise 1,000 fighting men. 24. " When a quarrel begins in words between two Highlanders of different clans, it is esteemed the very height of malice and rancour, and the greatest of all provocations, to reproach one an- other with the vices or personal defects of their chiefs, or that of the particular branch whence they sprung." Letters from a Gentle- man in the North of Scotland. 25. This famous person, whose name has been immortalized by our great novelist, was the younger son of Mr. Macgregor of Glengyle (a respectable family in Perthshire) by a daughter of Campbell of Glenlyon, sister to the commander at the base massacre of Glenco. He was born between the year 1657 and 1660, and mar- ried Helen Campbell of the family of Glenfalloch. Rob Roy fol- lowed the profession of a drover or cattle-dealer at an early period of life, and was so successful in business, that before the year 1707 he purchased the lands of Craigrostane on the banks of Lochlomond from the family of Montrose, and relieved the estate of Glengyle, the property of his nephew, from considerable debts. Before the 256 NOTES Union no cattle were allowed to be imported into England, but free intercourse in that commodity being allowed by the treaty, various speculators engaged in this traffic, and, among others, the Marquis of Montrose, afterward created duke, and Rob Roy entered into a joint adventure. The capital to be advanced was fixed at 10,000 merks each, and Rob Roy was to purchase the cattle and drive them to England for sale. Macgregor made his purchases accord- ingly, but finding the market overstocked on his arrival in England, in consequence of too many speculators having entered the field, he was obliged to sell the cattle below prime cost. The duke re- fused to bear any share of the loss, and insisted on repayment of the whole money advanced by him with interest. Macgregor told him that if such were his principles he should not consider it his principle to pay the interest, nor his interest to pay the principal, and he kept his word. Macgregor having expended the duke's money in organizing a body of the Macgregors in 1715, under the nominal command of his nephew, his Grace took legal means to re- cover his money, and laid hold of the lands of Craigrostane in secu- rity. This proceeding so exasperated Macgregor, that he declared perpetual war against the duke, and resolved that in future he should supply himself with cattle from his Grace's estates, a reso- lution which he literally kept, and for nearly thirty years, down to the day of his death, he carried off the duke's cattle with impunity, and disposed of them publicly in different parts of the country. Although these cattle generally belonged to the duke's tenant*, he was the ultimate sufferer, as they were unable to pay their rents, to liquidate which, their cattle mainly contributed. Macgregor also levied contributions in meal and money; but he never took it away till delivered to the duke's storekeeper in payment of rent, and he then gave the storekeeper a receipt for the quantity taken. At settling the money-rents Macgregor often attended, and sev- eral instances are recorded of his having compelled the duke's factor to pay him a share of the rents, which he took good care to see were discharged to the tenants beforehand. This singular man lived till nearly eighty years of age, thirty of which he spent in open violation of the laws. He died peaceably in his bed, and his funeral, which took place in 1736, was attended by the whole population of the surrounding country, with the exception of the duke and his immediate friends. This funeral was the last at which a piper officiated in the Highlands of Perthshire. 26. General Stewart observes that the marshal had not at 1 period been long enough in the Highlands to distinguish a cearnach 257 NOTES or " lifter of cattle," from a highwayman. " No such character as the latter then existed in the country; and it may be presumed he did not consider these men in the light which the word would indicate, for certainly the commander-in-chief would neither have associated with men whom he supposed to be really highway- men, nor partaken of their hospitality." 27. This was noticed by Doctor Johnson. He thus describes a meeting between the young Laird of Coll and some of his " subjects:" " Wherever we roved, we were pleased to see the reverence with which his subjects regarded him. He did not endeavour to dazzle them by any magnificence of dress, his only distinction was a feather in his bonnet; but as soon as he appeared, they for- sook their work and clustered about him ; he took them by the hand, and they seemed mutually delighted. He has the proper disposition of a chieftain, and seems desirous to continue the customs of his house. The bagpiper played regularly when dinner was served, whose person and dress made a good appearance; and he brought no disgrace upon the family of Rankin, which has long supplied the lairds of Coll with hereditary music." Journey to the Western Islands. 28. A picture of the horse was in the possession of the late General Stewart of Garth, being a legacy bequeathed to him by the daughter of Mr. Menzies. " A brother of Macnaughton " (says the general) " lived for many years on the estate of Garth, and died in 1790. He always went about armed, at least so far armed, that when debarred from wearing a sword or dirk, he slung a large long knife in his belt. He was one of the last I recollect of the ancient race, and gave a favourable impression of their general manner and ap- pearance. He was a smith by trade, and although of the lowest order of the people, he walked about with an air and manner that might have become a field-marshal. He spoke with great force and fluency of language, and, although most respectful to those to whom he thought respect was due, he had an appearance of in- dependence and ease, that strangers, ignorant of the language and character of the people, might have supposed to proceed from im- pudence. As he always carried arms when legally permitted, so he showed on one occasion that he knew how to handle them. When the Black Watch was quartered on the banks of the rivers Tay and Lyon, in 1741, an affray arose between a few of the soldiers and some of the people at a fair at Kenmore. Some of the Breadalbane men took the part of the soldiers, and, as many were armed, swords were quickly drawn, and one of the former killed, when their oppo- 258 NOTES nents, with whom was Macnaughton, and a smith (to whom he was then an apprentice) retreated and fled to the ferry-boat across the Tay. There was no bridge, and the ferryman, on seeing the fray, chained his boat. Macnaughton was the first at the river side, and leaping into the boat, followed by his master, the smith, with a stroke of his broadsword cut the chain, and crossing the river, fixed the boat on the opposite side, and thus prevented an immediate pursuit. Indeed no farther steps were taken. The Earl of Breadal- bane, who was then at Taymouth, was immediately sent for. On inquiry, he found that the whole had originated from an accidental reflection thrown out by a soldier of one of the Argyle companies against the Athole men, then supposed to be Jacobites, and that it was difficult to ascertain who gave the fatal blow. The man who was killed was an old warrior of nearly eighty years of age. He had been with Lord Breadalbane's men, under Campbell of Glenlyon, at the battle of Sheriffmuir; and, as his side lost their cause, he swore never to shave again. He kept his word, and as his beard grew till it reached his girdle, he got the name of Padric-na-Phai- saig, ' Peter with the Beard.' " 29. Sir Walter Scott has thus beautifully and justly described the alacrity of a clan gathering at the call of a chief: " He whistled shrill, And he was answered from the hill; Wild as the scream of the curlieu, From crag to crag the signal flew; Instant, through copse and heath arose Bonnets and spears and bended bows; On right, on left, above, below, Sprung up at once the lurking foe; From shingles grey their lances start, The bracken bush sends forth the dart, The rushes and the willow wand, Are bristling into axe and brand, And every tuft of broom gives life To plaided warrior, armed for strife. That whistle garrison'd the glen At once with full five hundred men. As if the yawning hill to heaven A subterranean host had given. Watching their leader's beck and will, All silent there they stood, and still, 259 NOTES Like the loose crags whose threatening mass Lay tottering o'er the hollow pass, As if an infant's touch could urge Their headlong passage down the verge, With step and weapon forward flung, Upon the mountain-side they hung." Lady of the Lake, Canto V. ix. 30. The following amusing anecdote of this man is related by General Stewart: " On one occasion he met with an officer of the garrison of Fort William on the mountains of Lochaber. The officer told him that he suspected he had lost his way, and, having a large sum of money for the garrison, was afraid of meeting the Sergeant Mor; he therefore requested that the stranger would accompany him on his road. The other agreed; and, while they walked on, they talked much of the sergeant and his feats, the officer using much freedom with his name, calling him robber, murderer. ' Stop there,' interrupted his companion, ' he does indeed take the cattle of the Whigs and you Sassanachs, but neither he nor his cearnachs ever shed innocent blood; except once,' added he, ' that I was unfortunate at Braemar, when a man was killed, but I immediately ordered the creach (the spoil) to be abandoned, and left to the owners, retreating as fast as we could after such a mis- fortune! ' ' You,' says the officer, ' what had you to do with the affair? ' ' I am John Du Cameron, I am the Sergeant Mor; there is the road to Inverlochay, you cannot now mistake it. You and your money are safe. Tell your governor to send a more wary messenger for his gold. Tell him also, that, although an out- law, and forced to live on the public, I am a soldier as well as himself, and would despise taking his gold from a defenceless man who confided in me.' The officer lost no time in reaching the garrison, and never forgot the adventure, which he frequently re- lated." 31. Almost the same ceremom'al of inauguration was observed at the coronation of Macdonald, king of the Isles. Martin says that " there was a big stone of seven feet square, in which there was a deep impression made to receive the feet of Mack- Donald, for he was crowned king of the Isles standing in this stone; and swore that he would continue his vassals in the possession of their lands, and do exact justice to all his subjects; and then his father's sword was put into his hand. The Bishop of Argyle and seven priests anointed him king, in presence of all the heads of the tribes in the 260 NOTES isles and continent, and were his vassals'; at which time the orator rehearsed a catalogue of his ancestors." Western Islandt, p. 241. 32. The chiefs at Bannockburn were M'Kay, Mackintosh, Mac- pherson, Cameron, Sinclair, Campbell, Menzies, Maclean, Suther- land, Robertson, Grant, Fraser, Macfarlane, Ross, Macgregor, Munro, Mackenzie, and Macquarrie. After the lapse of five hun- dred years since the battle of Bannockburn was fought, it is truly astonishing to find such a number of direct descendants who are now in existence, and still possessed of their paternal estates. 33. This is the date assigned by Sir Robert Gordon, but Shaw makes it more than a century later, viz., in 1454. 34. According to that eminent antiquary, the Reverend Donald Macintosh, non-juring episcopal clergyman, in his historical illus- trations of his Collections of Gaelic Proverbs, published in 1785, the ancestor of Mackintosh became head of the Clan Chattan in this way. During these contests for the Scottish crown, which succeeded the death of King Alexander III, and favoured the pretensions of the King of the Isles, the latter, styling himself " King," had, in 1291, sent his nephew Angus Macintosh of Macin- tosh to Dougall Dall (Blind) MacGillichattan, chief of the Clan 'Chattan, or Macphersons, to acquaint him that " the King " was to pay him a visit. Macpherson, or MacGillichattan, as he was named, in honour of the founder of the family Gillichattan ' Mor, having an only child, a daughter, who he dreaded might attract an inconvenient degree of royal notice, offered her in marriage to Macintosh along with his lands, and the station of the chief of the Clan Chattan. Macintosh accepted the offer, and was received as chief of the lady's clan. 35. The Reverend Donald Mackintosh gives a different account of this matter. He says that Macintosh, irritated at Cluny's conduct, despatched to Cluny's camp a minstrel, who was instructed to feign he had been sent by the Camerons, and to sing a few Gaelic lines reflecting on the cowardice of those who had hung aloof in the hour of danger. Cluny, stung by the satire, attacked the supposed au- thors that night in their camp, and put them to flight with the loss -of their chief. 36. Lesley (1st edition, p. 252) says that the fugitive in questio i " A votary or servant of St. Rattan," a most popular Scottish saint. W hare thus Gillichallum, meaning a - votary of Columba," and of which , an other form is Malcolm or Molcalm, the prefix Mol, bain* corrupted I signifying the same as Gilly. Thus Oilly-DMa Is the etymon of Culdee, tlf - nifying servant of God,"- GUli- Christ means " servant of Chris 261 NOTES belonged to the Clan Kay. His words are, " Anno imperii sur (Roberti Illtii.) quinto, maximae in Scotia herbae a duabus Sylves- trium familiis clankaya, et clanquhattana, ciebantur, etc. . . . Tempus praefinitur, locus insulor apud Perthum figitur, hostes in palestram descendant. Sed cum ex Clankaya tribu unus timore perculsus se clanculum subducebat, a pugna tantis per abstinetur dum aliquis cognatus fugitur locum subiret." 37. The Laird of Maclean, according to a tradition in the family of Irving of Drum, was killed by Sir Alexander Irving. Genealogical collections, MS. Advocates' Library, Jac. v. 4. 16. Vol. I. p. 180. 38. The site of the battle is thus described in the manuscript geographical description of Scotland, collected by Macfarlane and preserved in the Advocates' Library, Vol. I. p. 7. " Through this parish (the chapel of Garioch formerly called Capella Beatae Marise Virginis de Garryoch, Chart. Aberdon,p. 31) runs the king's high way from Aberdeen to Inverness, and from Aberdeen to the high country. A large mile to the east of the church lies the field of an ancient battle called the battle of Harlaw, from a country town of that name hard by. This town, and the field of battle, which lies along the king's highway upon a moor, extending a short mile from S. E. to N. W. stands on the northeast side of the water of Urie, and a small distance therefrom. To the west of the field of battle, about half a mile, is a farmer's house, called Legget's Den, hard by, in which is a tomb, built in the form of a malt steep, of four large stones, covered with a broad stone above, where, as the country people generally report, Donald of the Isles lies buried, being slain in the battle, and therefore they call it commonly Donald's tomb." This is an evident mistake, as it is well known that Donald was not slain. Mr. Tytler conjectures with much probability that the tomb alluded to may be that of the chief of Maclean or Mackintosh, and he refers, in support of this opinion, to Macfarlane's genealogical collections (MS. Advocates' Library, Jac. V. 4. 16. Vol. I. p. 180), in which an account is given of the family of Maclean, and from which it appears that Lauchlan Lubanich had, by Macdonald's daughter, a son, called Eachin Rusidh ni Cath, or Hector Rufus Bellicosus, who commanded as lieutenant-general under the Earl of Ross at the battle of Harlaw, when he and Irving of Drum, seek- ing out one another by their armorial bearings on their shields, met and killed each other. This Hector was married to a daughter- of the Earl of Douglas. 262 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY Los Angeles This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. SEP 8D79 OCT 61981 ( U> l URL fVCV 4700 1' RENEWAL ,,LD URL NOV 1 8 661 Form L9-Series 4939 iipr NON- JUL.O //-^y DUE 2 WKS FROM I 1 SO O LZi vr ^Aavaan-i^ 21981 /r DATE REG: c-i ao -n O B ^ ^ 6 g I 2 ^ C3 i ir si 111!) 3 1158 0050( lARYQ^ ^ UJ ,\W I'NIVIRS//, &v t*& INIVERS/4 A^VOS-- O OB " " T O c ^ ^ -n <- 3NVSO^ UKIVER% ^clOS-i O Q; T 1 O i 1 -n <-> "^ IDNV-Sm^ IUNIVERS/A > cxT X IIIRIIIlllllll A 00019591 ? s KV J "