the sons of tacksmen. Of these respectable officers I could give many names, but shall mention only a few :-Generals William Fraser, killed at Saratoga in 1777, and Thomas M. Fraser, killed at Dieg in 1804; Lieutenant-General Simon Fraser, commanding the British troops in Lisbon ; Sir Archibald Campbell, Governor-General of India; Sir Hector Munro ; Sir Alexander Munro; Major-Generals John Small, Thomas Fraser, Francis Maclean, J. Stewart, P. Mackenzie, and a numerous list of brave soldiers and officers of talent and acquirements; as well as many accomplished civilians, Sir John Macpherson, Governor-General of India, the translator of Ossian, and many others.

T. Page 106.

THERE are many traits of the character, manners, and dispositions of the people, which I have not noticed. The most remarkable of these is that imaginary talent of seeing into futurity, commonly called the "Second Sight." The subject has been frequently discussed; and I shall, therefore, say little of these ideal flights of a warm and vivid imagination. But however ridiculous the belief of the second sight may now appear, it certainly had no small influence on the manners and actions of the people. The predictions of the seers impressed their minds with awe, and as they were generally such as brought to the remembrance death, a future state, retributive justice, the reward of honourable and virtuous conduct, and the punishment of the wicked, they certainly controlled the passions, and, as have often had occasion to observe, supplied the defect of those laws which now extend to the most distant recesses of the mountains.

The impressions of a warm imagination appear so like realities, and their confirmation is so readily found in subsequent events, that we can scarcely wonder if popular superstitions have long maintained their ground, even against the advances of reason and science. Allowing the possibility of coming events being shadowed forth by supernatural agency to some favoured seers, the question naturally occurs, Why should those revelations be confined to the Highlanders of Scotland? Yet it must be owned, that the coincidences between events and their forebodings have, in many instances, been so curious and remarkable, that credulous minds may be excused for yielding to the impression of their prophetic character. It may not be improper to produce an instance or two for the amusement of the reader.

Late in an autumnal evening in the year 1773, the son of a neighbouring gentleman came to my father's house. He and my mother were from home, but several friends were in the house. The young gentleman spoke little, and seemed absorbed in deep thought. Soon after he arrived he inquired for a boy of the family, then about three years of age. When shown into the nur sery, the nurse was trying on a pair of new shoes, and complaining that they did not fit. "They will fit him before he will have occasion for them," said the young gentleman. This called forth the chidings of the nurse for predicting evil to the child, who was stout and healthy. When he returned to the party he had left in the sitting-room, who had heard his observations on the shoes, they cautioned him to take care that the nurse did not derange his new talent of the second sight, with some ironical congratulations on his pretended acquirement. This brought on an explanation, when he told them, that, as he approached the end of a wooden bridge thrown across a stream a short distance from the house, he was astonished to see a crowd of people passing the bridge. Coming nearer, he observed a person carrying a small coffin, followed by about twenty gentlemen, all

of his acquaintance, his own father and mine being of the number, with a concourse of the country people. He did not attempt to join, but saw them turn off to the right in the direction of the church-yard, which they entered. He then proceeded on his intended visit, much impressed from what he had seen with a feeling of awe, and believing it to have been a representation of the death and funeral of a child of the family. In this apprehension he was the more confirmed, as he knew my father was at Blair, and that he had left his own father at home an hour before. The whole received perfect confirmation in his mind by the sudden death of the boy the following night, and the consequent funeral, which was exactly similar to that before represented to his imagination.

This gentleman was not a professed seer. This was his first and his last vision; and, as he told me, it was sufficient. No reasoning or argument could convince him that the appearance was an illusion. Now when a man of education and of general knowledge of the world, as this gentleman was, became so bewildered in his imaginations, and that even so late as the year 1773, it cannot be matter of surprise that the poetical enthusiasm of the Highlanders, in their days of chivalry and romance, should have predisposed them to credit wonders which so deeply interested them.

The other instance occurred in the year 1775, when a tenant of the late Lord Breadalbane called upon him, bitterly lamenting the loss of his son, who, he said, had been killed in a battle on a day he mentioned. His Lordship told him that was impossible, as no accounts had been received of any battle, or even of hostilities having commenced. But the man would not be comforted, saying, that he saw his son lying dead, and many officers and soldiers also dead around him. Lord Breadalbane, perceiving that the poor man would not be consoled, left him; but when the account of the battle of Bunker's Hill arrived some weeks afterwards, he learnt, with no small surprise, that the young man had been killed at the time and in the manner described by his father.

Page 107.

THE notions entertained by the inhabitants of the Low country in this respect are very excusable, when it is considered, that they formed their opinions regarding the natives of the mountains on information received from those who lived nearest the boundary, and who were supposed to be best acquainted with them. This, however, was a very doubtful source of intelligence; because, in the first place, the borderers lived in a state of perpetual contention with their Lowland neighbours, and had thus the worst propensities of their nature called forth and exasperated; and, se condly, because their more powerful neighbours had been, for ages, in the habit of taking deep revenge for petty injuries. No one who knows any thing of human nature need be told, that there exists a strong propensity in the minds of those who oppress others by an undue exercise of power, to justify that proceeding to themselves, by exaggerating every provocation given by the objects of their hostility. Prejudice and party hatred are like streams, always enlarging in their progress by petty additions. A man incapable of direct falsehood, willingly and confidently repeats the tales of wonder told by others; and these seldom lose in the recital. That "oppression," which, we are told from the highest authority. "makes a wise man mad,"* must have produced a similar effect on a proud high

* Of this we have too many instances among the peasantry in Ireland.

spirited people, who had not even language in which to complain, and would not have been listened to if they had. "Lions are not painters," as the fable says, and Highlanders are not writers of their own traditions; but if the tales of wrong and injustice preserved in traditions were unfolded, they might then " make justice and indignation start," &c. ; but this blazon must not be. It would be visiting the sins of the fathers on the children, who may perhaps, even on this score, have enough of their own to answer for, when they appear at their last account.

Since the above was written, a new edition of "Letters from a Gentleman in the North" has been published by Mr Jamieson of Edinburgh. This edition has been enlarged, by several tracts and articles on the Highlanders, and the former state of the people. One of these is a kind of statistical report of the state of the Highlands about the year 1747. This paper is a perfect specimen of the spirit of the times, and of the jaundiced eye with which the Highlanders were viewed by their Lowland neighbours, who held them in the greatest contempt for their Jacobite principles, their heathenish belief in ghosts and fairies,their slothful habits, fabulous traditions, poetry, and songs. The author was educated beyond the mountains, a stranger to the habits and principles of the Highlanders, and at a period when the stream of ribaldry ran strongly against them, and their true character was ill understood, it was difficult to state it in proper colours: the commonly received opinions of the times, that their fidelity and ready obedience proceeded from a base and servile disposition, and their idle habits from an aversion to industry, when, in fact, they proceeded from want of employment or payment for labour. Had the author given in to the grave discussions which were not unfrequent at that period, on the propriety of exterminating the whole race, it might have excited less surprise, than that this mode of improving a people by extirpation and banishment should not only be discussed in more enlightened times, but actually acted upon and enforced, if not with the fury and violence with which those who call themselves the friends of liberty in America treat their free, independent, but unfortunate neighbours the Indians, the original possessors of their country, at least by means sufficiently effectual.

U. Page 110.

DUNCAN FORBES of Culloden, Lord President of the Court of Session, was one of the most enlightened men of his time. Born in the Highlands, he lived much among his countrymen, gained an intimate knowledge of their habits, and, by his virtue, wisdom, and probity, obtained an influence over them almost incredible. His " pen and ink, and tongue, and some reputation," as he himself expressed it, contributed more than any other means to the suppression of the Rebellion,-breaking the union of the clans,-overawing some, crossing and checking the intentions of others, and retarding and preventing their rising en masse, to which they had every inclination. That such services were neglected and slighted by Government, must remain an indelible stain on the memory of the men in power at that period It is said, that when this great and good man was recommending clemency and moderation in the punishinent of the misguided men about to suffer for their infatuation, and stating his services as a claim to be heard, he was contemptuously asked, "What were his services, and what they were worth?" "Some think them worth three Crowns," was the answer.

An idea of the importance of his services and of his influence may be formed by looking over his Memorial, already given in the Appendix, of the State

and Number of the Clans, whose rising he prevented, or whose exertions he paralyzed. It has been thought by some, particularly by Jacobites, that those Chiefs who were persuaded by Culloden to relinquish, on the day of trial, the cause to which they were secretly attached, showed duplicity, if not cowardice, in so doing. This was not at all the case. The President knew too well the character of the persons he addressed, to endeavour to change their opinion, or induce them to dissemble. The arguments by which he prevailed on so many to remain neutral, while others risked all in a desperate cause, were drawn from his knowledge of the world, and of the resources and views of the opposite parties. He attempted no sudden conversions, but merely represented the folly of sacrificing their lives, and what was dearer to them, their clans, in a rash and unsupported enterprise, in which they were deceived by their French allies, deserted by many whose courage evaporated in drinking healths, and more particularly by the English Jacobites, who promised every thing and performed nothing. It was by a statement of obvious facts, and not by an attack on established principles, that he succeeded in rescuing, by persuasion, so many families from the destruction in which the inconsiderate and rashly brave were so suddenly involved. The sound arguments that prevailed with the Chiefs, who could comprehend them, had no influence on their followers, who were, in this instance, more inclined to follow their feelings than listen to reason. Of this, the behaviour of the clan Grant was an instance. Eleven hundred men pressed forward to offer their services, on condition that their Chief would lead them, to support, what they styled, the cause of their ancient Kings. Afterwards, when it was found necessary to pay a compliment to the Royal General, by meeting him at Aberdeen, all the Chief's influence could only procure ninety-five followers to attend him; a Chief, too, much beloved by his people.

In the Isle of Skye, likewise, Sir Alexander Macdonald, (father of Chief Baron Macdonald,) and the Lairds of Macleod, Rasay, and others, had 2400 men ready, when expresses arrived from Culloden. Macdonald remained at home with his men; Macleod obeyed the summons of the President, but Rasay indulged the inclination of his people to join the rebels, contrary to the views and injunction of the chief. Though Macleod is described by this great law officer as the only man of sense and courage he had about him, his influence over his followers failed so completely, when they discovered that his opinion was opposite to their own, that he could not command the obedience of more than 200 men, although upwards of 1000 men, consisting of his own people, the Laird of Rasay's, and other gentlemen, were ready at Dunvegan Castle. These, and many circumstances which occurred at that period, are of themselves sufficient to prove, that the Highlanders were not those slaves to the caprice and power of their Chiefs they have been supposed; and that, on the contrary, as I have already noticed, the latter were obliged to pay court, and yield to the will and independent spirit of their clans. These facts also refute a general opinion, that those who engaged in the Rebellion were forced out by their Chiefs and Lairds. In Lord Lovat's correspondence with Culloden, he is full of complaints against his clan, whose eagerness to fly to arms he could not restrain. Although his is not the best authority, I have had sufficient evidence of his correctness in this instance from eye-witnesses. We learn also from the President, that Lord Lovat's eldest son (afterwards General Fraser) put himself at the head of his clan, who are passionately fond of following him, and who cannot be restrained by my Lord's authority from following the fortunes of the Adventurous Prince,

which not only may destroy the Master and the family, but bring his own grey hairs with sorrow to the grave.” †

To this same independent spirit we may ascribe the preference which the people now manifest for emigration to a foreign land, to remaining in the degraded state of cottars and day-labourers, to which the late changes have reduced such numbers of the once independent tenantry. When they have once resolved to remove to a foreign country, a set of " illiterate peasants," says Mrs Grant, "have gone about it in a systematical manner. They have themselves chartered a ship, and engaged it to come for them to one of their Highland ports, and a whole cluster of kindred of all ages, from four weeks to fourscore years, have gone in mournful procession to the shores; the bagpipes meanwhile playing before them a sad funeral air."

V. Page 113.

A HIGHLANDER would fight to the last drop of his blood at the command of his Chief; and if he thought his own honour, or that of his district or clan, insulted, he was equally ready to call for redress, and to seek revenge: yet, with this disposition, and though generally armed, few lives were lost, except in general engagements and skirmishes. This is particularly to be remarked in their personal encounters, duels, and trials of swordmanship. The stories detailed of private assassinations, murders, and conflagration, deserve no credit, as is well known to every man of intelligence in the country, at least when reported to have occurred within the last century and a half. In earlier times, there were murders in the Highlands, as there were in the streets of Edinburgh in mid-day, but much of these may be attributed to the weakness of the laws, and a high-spirited turbulence. The character of the Highlanders will be better understood by their actions, than by collecting anecdotes two and three hundred years old, and giving them as specimens of what was supposed

* In Scotland, the eldest son of a Lord or Baron of the House of Peers was styled Master. Thus, the Master of Gray, the Master of Rollo, the Master of Blantyre, &c. + Culloden Papers.

99

A relation of mine, the late Mr Stewart of Bohallie, exhibited an instance of this. He was one of the gentlemen soldiers in the Black Watch, (but left them before the march to England,) and one of the best swordsmen of his time. Latterly he was of a mild disposition, but in his youth had been hot and impetuous; and as in those days the country was full of young men equally ready to take fire, persons of this description had ample opportunity of proving the temper of their swords, and their dexterity in the use of them. Bohallie often spoke of many contests and trials of skill, but they always avoided, he said, coming to extremities, and were in general satisfied when blood was drawn, and I had the good fortune never to kill my man. His swords and targets gave evidence of the service they had seen. On one occasion he was passing from Breadalbane to Lochlomond through Glenfalloch, in company with James Macgregor, one of Rob Roy's sons. As they came to a certain spot, Macgregor said, "It was here I tried the mettle of one of your kinsSome miles farther on, he continued, "Here I made another of blood your feel the superiority of my sword; and here," said he, when in sight of Benlomond, in the country of the Macgregors, "I made a third of your royal clan yield to clan Gregor.' My old friend's blood was set in motion by the first remark; the second, as he said, made it boil; however, he restrained himself till the third, when he exclaimed, “You have said and done enough; now stand and defend yourself, and see if the fourth defeat of a Stewart will give victory to a Gregarach." As they were both good swordsmen, it was some time before Macgregor received a cut in the sword arm, when, dropping his target, he gave up the contest.

men."