INTRODUCTION. OBJECT OF THE PRESENT WORK, AND ACCOUNT OF ITS FOR MATION, WITH SOME NOTICE OF ANCIENT HISTORICAL ANNALS, &c. THE Scots' Highlanders are the unmixed descendants of the Celts, who were the aboriginal inhabitants of Europe, and the first known colonists of Britain. Slowly following the progress of refinement, and assimilating with their neighbors, it may soon be matter of unavailing regret, that their language, their singular manners, and peculiar customs, will have become extinct and unknown, save in the traditions of the people or the partial records of the historian. This race, which for so many ages preserved inviolate its Celtic principles and original habits, has already yielded to the powerful advance of modern civilisation, and has apparently lost more of its distinctive features within the last century, than during all the previous lapse of time, from its first settlement in Britain. Tenaciously retaining their primitive language, social institutions, and established usages, and inhabiting a romantic and picturesque country, in which they so long preserved their independence, the Gaël and their territories have become the objects of much curiosity, and the prominent place which they occupy in the national annals, heightens the interest which Scotland has so much excited. After the union of the two kingdoms there was, indeed, a long period of indifference towards this country, and of consequent ignorance of its moral and political state, but emerging from this situation of apparent insignificance, it was destined to attract peculiar regard, and every thing relating to it became an object of the liveliest attention. Various causes contributed to effect this change. The rebellions of 1715 and 1745 forced on government the necessity of paying more attention to this part of the kingdom, more particularly to the Highlands, where the consequences of the battle of Culloden proved that, even at that late period, the Gaël were deemed unworthy of regard, as members of the empire, no laws being thought applicable to them on the suppression of the rebellion, but those which were given by a brigade.* It was soon, however, * Culloden Papers. perceived, that from the mountains of Scotland could be drawn an inexhaustible supply of the best soldiers in Europe, and government quickly availed itself of a resource so invaluable. Those who represented the exiled chiefs from the period of the forfeiture of their estates, until the act of grace restored their lands, and permitted them to return to their country, with that hereditary authority, which could not, while the spirit of clanship animated the people, be dissolved or impaired, many of them, without any other income than what was supplied by the benevolence of the clan, were able to raise numerous battalions, with whom they gloriously fought in support of that constitution which a principle of honor, mistaken loyalty, and the intrigues of France, had so lately led them to endeavor to subvert. The most interesting part of the Scots' nation is the Highlanders, the descendants of the aboriginal Celts, who signalized themselves by a determined and effectual resistance, to the utmost efforts of the Romans, who had subdued the inhabitants of the Southern provinces. The nature of their country, wild and mountainous, protected by natural bulwarks, within which, fear and prudence would equally prevent intrusion, and which opposing a barrier to free communication with other parts, served to preserve them for so many ages as a distinct and independent people. Their simple patriarchal manners and government did not lead to much intercourse with strangers, and, except cattle, there was little produce of their country, the disposal of which would have brought them into contact with others. Their habits led to no wants which could not be supplied within themselves. The sea, and numerous lakes and rivers, afforded an abundance of fish, the woods and mountains a variety of fowl and venison, and those who attempted agriculture found the valleys highly productive. Thus secluded, their traditions and songs celebra. ted the exploits of their own nation, and the locality of description fostered the spirit of independence, the lofty notions of their own unconquered race, and jealous pride of ancestry, so remarkable in the Highlanders. Hence they tenaciously preserved their primitive institutions, their costume, language, poetry, music, &c., and remained for many ages little known to the rest of the kingdom. The more Southern Scots were, indeed, aware of their existence. The troops and hosts of "hardy warriors that often swelled the armies of the king, and were sometimes brought down in hostility to his authority, apprized their countrymen that they were a considerable people. The fierce and overwhelming forays that necessity or revenge impelled them to make on the plains, informed their Lowland neighbors, in a more unpleasant way, of their vicinity to powerful tribes of different habits, and living under peculiar laws. The civil wars which they had at different times maintained on behalf of the Stewarts, kept alive the recollection of their existence, but it was not until after the remarkable events of 1745-6, that the Northern part of Britain became an object of serious attention to the ministry, and of much curiosity to all. This interest, at first chiefly arising from po |