there honoured and honourable to this day. In or near the churchyard there was at one time a Roman Catholic Chapel, the only vestige of which now is a stone rudely hollowed into the form of a basin, which was at one time probably used as a Holy Water Font at the Chapel door.

Leaving the churchyard, a few minutes brought us to the schoolhouse, where Mrs Macpherson (the niece of our host) had for hours had waiting for us a table loaded with good things, after partaking of which we were fain to seek our pillows, but there was so much to comment and speculate on that, notwithstanding four A.M. was fixed for turning out, it was a good hour past midnight before we separated.

Breakfast between four and five in the morning is not usually a hearty meal, but knowing, though only by report, something of what was before us, we made it as hearty as we could. Starting by 5.30 from Glenmoriston Schoolhouse, a run of a mile along the left bank of the Moriston brought us to Torgoyle Bridge, and the main road through Glenmoristen. As we drove along, our host, afire with the love and pride of his native glen, had story or legend for every mile of the way. Here, on the left, was the road by which that ill-mannered, though inspired, giant, Dr Samuel Johnson, rode from Fort-Augustus to Skye. Yonder sheep-fank at the roadside, on your right, is all that remains of Aonach Inn, where Johnson and Boswell passed the night, and where Johnson, desiring to do a politeness to the Innkeeper's daughter, whom he found, apparently to his surprise, to be a young lady of some education, presented her with a book he had purchased in Inverness-a copy of Cocker's Arithmetic! That green spot on the other side of the river is Ballindrom, where our host's great-grandfather lived in 1746, and there, two hundred yards nearer the river, is where a detachment of the Royal Army encamped while the turbulent Highlanders were being quelled, and their Prince hunted for after Culloden. While the troops were so encamped above, a son was born to the man below. But the Glenmoriston men were known to have been in sympathy with the Stuart cause, and to have been on their way to join the Prince on the day of Culloden, and to have turned back only on meeting the fugitives from that fatal field. From the time therefore that the King's troops pitched their camp in the Glen until they left it, the people were murdered and robbed at the sweet will of the Duke of Cumberland's gentlemen. In the hope that in their absence their wives and families would be safe from insult, many of the men of Glenmoriston left their homes for a time, and took up their abode in the recesses of

the mountains around them. Among the number who did this was the great-grandfather of our host, the father of the boy born in the house near the camp. The father was thus absent when his son was born, and he did not return until the Royal troops had left Glenmoriston. On his return his child was baptised, and named Charles, after the unfortunate Prince whose cause the tender mercies of the Duke of Cumberland were sufficient to make popular if it had not been so already-the Prince who was himself in hiding in Glenmoriston, and in the safe keeping of its men at the time the boy was born. That boy was the grandfather of our host, and Mr Charles Macdonald, his grandson, our host's eldest brother, was named after him.

Further up the Glen on the left is the monolith in memory of Roderick Mackenzie, who, taking advantage of his likeness to the Prince, spent his last breath in the effort to save him; and a few steps further on, in a hollow on the opposite side of the road, is the brave fellow's grave. A jeweller's son he was, from Edinburgh. In personal appearance he resembled the Prince, in whose bodyguard he had served. He was hiding in Glenmoriston after Culloden, when the pursuit for the Prince was at its hottest. He was seen by a party of troops, pursued, wounded, and overtaken. As they poured the contents of their muskets into his body, and his life blood ebbed away, his only thought was for his Prince, and as he died he cried to his murderers, "Villains, you have killed your Prince." They believed him, and his head was cut off and sent to Edinburgh. His devotion resulted in the slackening of the pursuit at a critical time, and probably in the ultimate escape of the Prince. Mr Chambers, in his History of the Rebellion, affects to doubt the story. If tradition counts for anything it is nevertheless true. The grave is undoubtedly there, and Glenmoriston

has testified to her belief in the heroism and devotion of the stranger whose blood dyed her sod by erecting a monument to his memory.

THE BATTLE OF THE BRAES OF GLENMORISTON.

Further on to the right is Ceanacroc, where the river Doe, which comes tumbling noisily down Glen Fada, joins its waters to the peacefully flowing Moriston. Further on, on the right, is seen a piece of rising ground, on which, tradition says, a battle took place between a party of Gordons under the Marquis of Huntly, and the Camerons led by Lochiel. After a fierce fight the Gordons were defeated, and the Marquis wounded and a

prisoner. At this point, says the tradition, the Mac-Ian-Chroil sallied forth at the head of his men, attacked the Camerons, and rescued their prisoner. The Camerons managed, however, in retreating, to carry off seven of the Gordons whom they had taken, but, finding their prisoners an incumbrance they struck off their heads at Cnocknaceann, a name which survives to testify to the tragedy. Not content, says tradition, with merely rescuing the Marquis, the Mac-Ian-Chaoil nursed him until he had recovered from his wound, and then had him sent safely home. The tradition goes on to narrate that some time afterwards Macdonald being in Strathbogie went to Gordon Castle and asked for the Marquis. For a long time he was denied access by the retainers, to whom he was unknown, but his persistency in the end led to the Marquis being told of the rough-looking Highlander who stood at the door of Gordon Castle demanding access to its master. When the Marquis knew who his visitor was, he not only welcomed him as an honoured guest and as one to whom he owed his life, but he caused a lintel to be put over the chief entrance to Gordon Castle, bearing this Gaelic inscription, "Cha bhi Mac Iain Chaoil a mach agus Gordonach a stigh"-that a Mac Ian Chaoil shall not be without and a Gordon within. So says tradition, and looking to the gigantic proportions of the representatives of Mac-lan-Chaoil in the present day, we could well believe that the accession of even a very few of such men to one side would turn defeat into victory. As to the rest of the story is there not the battlefield and Cnocknaceann and Gordon Castle all to prove the truth of it!

I am indebted to Mr William Mackay, the author of a forthcoming History of the Glen and of the parish of which it forms part, for information which led me to what is probably the historical foundation of the tradition. Students of Scots History in the 17th century know that when Montrose was maintaining his heroic struggle on behalf of Charles I. in Scotland, in 1645 and the early part of 1646, until in compliance with the twicerepeated command of the King he disbanded his army, there was none who gave him such doubtful and half-hearted support as the Marquis of Huntly. The cause of Huntly's lukewarmness would not perhaps be far to seek. Montrose disbanded his forces in July 1646 and sailed for Norway on 3rd September following. In December Huntly obtained a commission from the King, who was with the Scots army in England virtually a prisoner, commissioning him to levy forces in the North. In January 1647 the Scots army committed the infamy of giving up the King to the

English, and Leslie marched northward to suppress the rising headed by Huntly. Then was seen Huntly's incapacity to fill the place of Montrose, a leader whose greatness he was too small a man to see—a leader too with whom had he loyally co-operated, the history of our country might have been changed. Huntly retreated before Leslie through Badenoch into Lochaber, where he disbanded his men, retaining only a small party as a body-guard for himself and his son. With these he continued his flight through the Caledonian Valley. "In Glenmoriston," says Mr Mackay, "he was overtaken by General Middleton whom Leslie sent in pursuit, and a conflict followed in which his party was defeated and several of his men slain. He himself escaped for the time, but in November following he was taken prisoner in Strathdon." It appears from the editor's introduction to the Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron that some of the Clan Cameron assisted General Middleton when he defeated Huntly at the Braes. of Glenmoriston in 1647- a fact which no doubt gave rise to the tradition that the conflict was between the Camerons and the Gordons. History does not say how the Marquis escaped from the field, or where to, but there is no reason to doubt the tradition that he obtained assistance and shelter in the immediate neighbourhood and from Mac-Ian-Chaoil. As to the rest of the tradition I fear it must be given up. Huntly was a fugitive with a price on his head from the time the conflict in Glenmoriston took place until his capture in November following, and from the time of his capture he remained a close prisoner in Edinburgh, until in March 1649, he was led forth to execution. There was no Marquis of Huntly in Gordon Castle until after the Restoration in 1660, and the Marquis then was the second in succession after the Marquis who was wounded in Glenmoriston. The tradition furnishes another instance of how unreliable mere tradition is as a basis for historical narrative. The story probably had its origin in a much earlier tradition of the Earl of Mar, who, as he fled wounded from the battle of Inverlochy in 1431, was kindly treated by a man O'Birrin, who afterwards went to Kildrummie Castle, and, after experiencing difficulty in getting access to the Earl, at last saw him, and was sent home rich in the possession of sixty cows.

THE BATTLE OF GLENSHIEL.

But while the story of the battle of the Braes of Glenmoriston is telling, we are passing historic ground on the other side. Away on the left, on the face of the almost precipitous cliff's

bounding the glen on the south, runs a narrow ledge rising gradually towards the summit at the west. This is known as the Spanish road. The name carries us back to that little known episode in the Jacobite Rebellions, the battle of Glenshiel, which took place on 10th June, 1719. After the failure of the rising under the Earl of Mar in 1715, the Jacobites received offers of assistance from Spain, and an imposing expedition was fitted out to effect a landing in the south of England, while at the same time a number of Spanish troops was to be landed in the Highlands to create a diversion. The Mackenzies and other clans loyal to the exiled royal family were expected to rally round the Spanish force, with whom were the Earl of Seaforth, the Marquis of Tullibardine, and Lord George Murray. The fleet destined to land the invaders in the south was dispersed by a storm and accomplished nothing, while the expedition to the north was, as soon as it had landed, distracted by dissensions among its chiefs. After spending a short time in Stornoway, the ships sailed towards the west coast of the mainland, and the Spaniards were landed at Eilean Donan Castle, which they proceeded to put into a defensive state. The Government was, however, on the outlook for the invaders, and in a few days two or three warships sailed up Loch Duich, and battered the walls of Eilean Donan Castle, which were never meant to resist artillery, until they began to tumble about the ears of the garrison. Leaving Eilean Donan therefore, the Spaniards, along with the Mackenzies, Macraes, Maclennans, and Macgregors-the latter under Rob Roy-marched to Glenshiel, where they were attacked and defeated by General Wightman, who had marched from Inverness to meet them. During the battle, the Spaniards, whose conduct was not heroic, retired to the heights of Sgurr Ouran, where next morning they laid down their arms, and 274 of them were conveyed to Edinburgh as prisoners. History does not say by what route they were conveyed, but it is impossible to believe that General Wightman, whose force included four companies of dragoons and some light mortars, and who had come from Inverness to Glenshiel by way of Strathglass and Glen Affric, would have attempted to return by a road impassable for cavalry, or would have divided his force by sending his prisoners under an escort by a different route from that taken by the main body. The "Spanish Road" did not therefore get its name from Wightman taking his prisoners along it, and there is no local explanation, so far as I know, of the origin of the name; but as the number of Spaniards who surrendered is less than the lowest estimate of the number who landed, and they do not seem to have