and judge; his castle was the centre and the scene of the martial and manly exercises of his tribe; they were companions in the sports or the dangers of the field; and the principal youth of the clan were welcomed to his table, and trained with his children. But while these connexions of kindness and consanguinity knit the clanship more closely together among themselves, they rendered them more keenly alive to any affront or injury offered to any of the name; and as the voice of the law was distant, feeble, and seldom heard, or when heard little attended to,* redress or revenge was the office of the chief and of the clan, who shared in the quarrel and vindicated the cause of the kindred; and not unfrequently the most deadly feuds arose from the private resentments of individuals. But the power of the chief, as it was founded on consanguinity, and not on feudal superiority which was connected with land, was not destroyed, when his estates were transferred to another, or even when they were forfeited. His influence was ramified to a dis

he could not return to his native country, for Glenlyon would be no home or country to him, as he would be despised and hunted out of the Glen." Accordingly he kept steady to his trust, and was executed. His name was John Macnaughton from Glenlyon, in Perthshire.-Sketches, v. i. p. 54. I cannot help, however, remarking on this anecdote, that if it shows the devotion of the vassal, it shows also either the stupidity or the leniency, of the government; for having got the man's name and the place where he lived, and the fact that his master had sent the horse, I think they might easily have traced out Mr. Menzies if they had so chosen.

We complain, even now, and not without reason, of the law's delay; many after being ruined themselves have left their law-suits as legacies, bequeathing the curse to their next generation; but I query whether any of the pleas upon record can match that of Lochiel and Macintosh, who were at law and at war, as Mr. Home informs us, for upwards of three centuries and a-half!-Introduction to the History of the Rebellion.

+ Remarkable instances of this occur in the case of the duke of Gordon. President Forbes, in his memorial to government, giving an account of the clans, says “the Gordons is no clan family, although the duke is chief of a very powerful name in the lowlands. He has a great posse of cavalry and gen. tlemen on horseback at Enzie and Strathbogie, but he is only placed here on account of his highland followers in Strathaven and Glenlivet, which are about 300 men; his extensive jurisdictions and superiorities in the centre highlands, viz. Badenoch, Lochaber, and Strathspey, do not yield him any followers. The tenants on his own property, as well as those who hold their lands of

tance through the chieftains, who considering themselves branches of the same family of which the chief was the stem, augmented his power while they seemed to subdivide it; these were proprietors of smaller estates, which they held either immediately from their own chief, or from some other powerful superior. Thus each clan consisted of several tribes, of which the chief was the supreme, the chieftains the subordinate rulers.

All being trained to arms, and impatient of injury, unless when directed against some common enemy, their restless spirits were seldom at peace among themselves; and the districts of the lowlands next to them were either tributary, paying what was called black-mail for their forbearance, or subject to their predatory incursions. Their martial habits were by these means kept alive, while the comparative tranquillity the lowlands enjoyed after the union of the two crowns which had put an end to their wars with the English, rendered their inhabitants less expert in military exercises. "The spirit of opposition and rivalry between the clans," says a late writer well acquainted with the subject," perpetuated a system of hostility, encouraged the cultivation of the military at the expense of the social virtues, and perverted their ideas both of law and morality. Revenge was accounted a duty, the destruction of a neighbour a meritorious exploit, and rapine an honourable occupation. Their love of distinction, and a conscious reliance on their own 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. But their inroads were more frequently directed to the lowlands, where the booty was richest, and where less vigilance was exercised in protecting it; regarding every lowlander as an alien, and

him in feu, follow their natural born chief of whom they are descended, and pay no regard to the master or superior of their lands. Thus the Camerons follow Lochiel, the Macphersons follow Clunie, and other chiefs are followed and obeyed in the same manner from respect, family attachment and consanguinity."

his cattle a fair spoil of war, they considered no law for his protection as binding; and if overtaken in their depredations, the plunderers were generally prepared for resistance, and for ennobling an act of robbery by the intrepidity of their defence. The lowlanders, on the other hand, regarded their neighbours at the mountains as a lawless banditti, whom it was dangerous to pursue to their fastnesses in order to recover their property or to punish aggressions."

Besides the authorised spoilers, there was a peculiar class, styled Kearnachs, who were a select band employed in all enterprises where uncommon danger was to be encountered, or more than common honour to be acquired.* The clans inhabiting the counties of Perth, Stirling,

* In times later than that to which the above description refers, the Kearnachs descended to less exalted services, or, as the author to whom I am indebted for my account expresses it, "their employments were less laudable, and consisted in levying contributions on their lowland neighbours, or in making them pay tribute, or black-mail, for protection." Of this character he has given some interesting examples; and, as history has often descended to chronicle robbers of higher rank, who did not possess the generosity either of serjeant Mor or Rob Roy, I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of copying two anecdotes, the first of which I used when a child to admire. "John Du Cameron, or serjeant Mor, as he was called from his large size, had been a serjeant in the French service, and came over to Scotland in the year 1745. Having no settled abode, and dreading the consequences of having served in the army of France, and of being afterwards engaged in the rebellion, he formed a party of outlaws, and took up his residence among the mountains, between the counties of Perth, Inverness, and Argyle. While he plundered the cattle of those whom he called his enemies, he protected the property of his friends, and frequently made people on the borders of the lowlands purchase his forbearance, by the payment of black-mail. On one occasion he met with an officer of the garrison of Fort-William, on the mountains of Lochaber. The officer told him he suspected he had lost his way, and having a large sum of money for the garrison, was afraid of meeting the serjeant 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 serjeant 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 sassanachs; but neither The nor his Kearnachs 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 misfortune.' You,' says the officer,

and Dumbarton, had not only frequent encounters with their southern neighbours, but likewise with the marauders from Lochaber, Badenoch, and the north, whom they sometimes attacked, when returning laden with spoil from their

'what had you to do with the affair?' 'I am John Du Camerou-I am the serjeant Mor; there is the road to Inverlochy-you cannot now mistake it. You and your money are safe. Tell your governor to send in future a more wary messenger for his gold; tell him also, that though an outlaw, 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.'” I know not if the feeling be correct, but I never could hear the sequel of this man's story without regret. He was betrayed by a treacherous associate, and executed at Perth, on the 23d November, 1753. App. to General Stewart's Sketches, b. i. pp. 24, 25. "Robert Macgregor Campbell, better known as Rob Roy, at the period to which the above sketch refers, was a substantial highland drover; but in consequence of the union, a large speculation in black cattle, in which he and the duke of Montrose were partners, having failed, the duke would not agree to be a sharer in the loss, and Macgregor refusing to settle accounts on any other principle, kept the whole, which he spent in the interest of the pretender, 1715, and Montrose then got possession of Craigrostane [Rob Roy's lands] on account of his bond. This rendered Macgregor desperate. Determined that his grace should not enjoy his lands with impunity, he collected a band of about twenty followers, declared open war against him, and gave up his old course of regular droving, declaring that the estate of Montrose should in future supply him with cattle. He kept his word, and for nearly thirty years, that is, till the day of his death, levied regular contributions on the duke and his tenants, not by nightly depredations and robberies, but in broad day, and in a systematic manner; at an appointed time making a complete sweep of all the cattle of the district; always passing over those not belonging to the duke's estate, as well as the estates of his friends and adherents. And having previously given notice where he was to be by a certain day with his cattle, he was met there by people from all parts of the country, to whom he sold them publicly. These meetings or trysts were held in different parts of the country; sometimes the cattle were driven south, but oftener to the north and west, where the influence of his friend the duke of Argyle protected him. When the cattle were in this manner driven away, the tenants paid no rent, so that the duke was the ultimate sufferer. But he was made to suffer in every way. The rents of the lower or cultivated farms were paid partly in grain and meal, which was generally lodged in a storehouse, called a girnel, near the loch of Monteith. When Macgregor required a supply of meal, he sent notice to a certain number of the duke's tenants to meet him at the girnel on a certain day, with their horses to carry home his meal. They met accordingly, when he ordered the horses to be loaded, and giving a regular receipt to his grace's storekeeper for the quantity taken, he marched away, always entertaining the people very hand

predatory expeditions. The clan Farquharson, and the highlanders of Braemar, were placed in similar circumstances with regard to the lowlands of the counties of Banff, Aberdeen, and Kincardine, and the Atholmen again, were as advantageously situated for those of Perth, Stirling, and Angus; the borderers thus kept in constant activity were always prepared to turn out when their services were wanted,

somely, and careful never to take the meal till it had been lodged in the duke's storehouse in payment of rent. When the money rents were paid, Macgregor frequently attended. On one occasion, when Mr. Graham of Killearn [the factor] had collected the tenants to receive their rents, all Rob Roy's men happened to be absent, except Alexander Stewart, the bailie'-a name given him because before him people were sworn when it was necessary to bind them to secrecy. With this single attendant he descended to Chapellairoch, where the factor and the tenants were assembled. He reached the house after it was dark, and looking in at a window saw Killearn, surrounded by a number of the tenants, with a bag full of money which he had received, and was in the act of depositing in a press or cupboard; at the same time saying, he would cheerfully give all the bag for Rob Roy's head. This ratification was not lost on the outside visitor, who instantly gave orders in a loud voice to place two men at each window, two at each corner, and four at each of two doors, thus appearing to have twenty men. Immediately the door opened, and he walked in with his attendant close behind, each armed with a sword in his right, and a pistol in his left hand, and with dirks and pistols slung on their belts. The company started up; but he requested them to sit down, as his business was only with Killearn, whom he ordered to hand down the bag, and put it on the table. When this was done, he ordered the money to be counted, and proper receipts to be drawn out, certifying that he had received the money from the duke of Montrose's agent as the duke's property, the tenants having paid their rents, so that no after demand could be made against them on account of this transaction; and finding that some of the people had not obtained receipts, he desired the factor to grant them immediately, to show his grace,' said he, that it is from him I take the money, and not from these honest men who have paid him.' After the whole was concluded, he ordered supper, saying, that, as he had got the purse, it was proper he should pay the bill; and after they had drunk heartily for several hours, he called for his baillie' to produce his dirk, and lay it naked on the table. Killearn was then sworn that he would not move from the spot for an hour after the departure of Macgregor, who thus cautioned him, If you break your oath, you know what you are to expect in the next world, and in this'-pointing to his dirk. He then walked away, and was beyond pursuit before the hour expir ed." Stewart's Sketches, Append. 21. Rob Roy died peaceably in his bed when nearly eighty years of age.