(KlarneU Hnttierattg ffitbrarg 
 
 JItliara, Nnu fork 
 
 BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME OF THE 
 
 FISKE ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
 THE BEQUEST OF 
 
 WILLARD FISKE 
 
 LIBRARIAN OF THE UNIVERSITY 1868-1883 
 
 1905 
 
Cornell University Library 
 
 DA 880.I6L48 
 
 History of the county of Inverness (Main 
 
 3 1924 028 088 668 
 
The original of tiiis book is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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The Cozmty Histories of Scotland 
 
 COUNTY OF INVERNESS 
 
A HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 County of Inverness 
 
 (MAINLAND) 
 
 BY 
 
 J. CAMERON LEES, LL.D., F.S.A. Scot. 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 'the abbey of paisley,' ' ST GILES', EDINBURGH,' ETC. 
 
 WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS 
 
 EDINBURGH AND LONDON 
 
 MDCCCXCVII 
 
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED 
 TO 
 
 MRS ELLICE of Invergarry, 
 
 WHO, WITH HER LATE HUSBAND, 
 
 EDWARD ELLICE, ESQ., M.P., 
 
 HAS EVER MANIFESTED A DEEP INTEREST IN ALL 
 
 THAT PERTAINS TO THE PROSPERITY 
 
 OF INVERNESS-SHIRE. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The object of the writer has been to view the history 
 of Inverness-shire from the standpoint of the general 
 history of Scotland, to bring into prominence the vari- 
 ous particulars in which the former has been aiTected 
 by the latter, and so to trace the story of the county 
 from the earliest time to the present day. 
 
 In following out this design, no great stress has been 
 laid upon isolated incidents which have only a local 
 interest. The story of the various districts of the 
 county has been told, and well told, by different writers, 
 to whom reference is made in these pages. Few 
 counties of Scotland have had more done for them 
 than has been done for Inverness in the gathering 
 together of the traditions and historic associations of 
 particular localities. The history of the clans belong- 
 ing to the county, their genealogies and feuds, have 
 also been fully narrated, especially in the popular and 
 well-known books of Mr Alexander Mackenzie. These 
 are only referred to in what follows when deemed 
 necessary to illustrate the general trend of things, and 
 the evolution of present social conditions from a some- 
 what misty and chaotic past. 
 
viii PREFACE. 
 
 Considerable attention has been given to biographical 
 details, and to the productions of the Inverness-shire 
 bards. These, it is hoped, may not only be interesting 
 in themselves, but may also bring into prominence the 
 men by whom in great measure the destinies of the 
 county have been shaped and the character of its 
 people formed. 
 
 The history of the islands belonging to Inverness-shire 
 falls to be dealt with in another volume of the series 
 of County Histories of which this book forms part. 
 These islands are but slightly connected historically 
 with the mainland. From the days when they formed 
 part of the Norwegian kingdom, and afterwards of 
 the Lordship of the Isles, they have associations and 
 interests which are peculiarly their own, and which 
 deserve special treatment. 
 
 Generous assistance has been given to the writer 
 by many Inverness-shire men who have taken a kindly 
 interest in his work. He wishes specially to mention 
 the Rev. Dr Forsyth, Abernethy ; Mr Kenneth 
 M'Donald, the Town Clerk of Inverness ; Mr Alex- 
 ander Macpherson, Kingussie ; Mr George Malcolm, 
 Invergarry ; and Mr William Mackay, autlior of the 
 ' History of Glenmoriston and Glenurquhart,' Inverness. 
 To the last in various ways he has been much indebted, 
 especially in the compilation of the appended Biblio- 
 graphical list. His best thanks are also due to J. R. 
 Finlay, Esq. of Aberlour, for kindly revising the proofs 
 of his work. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The early annals of Inverness-shire — The four kingdoms — Inverness- 
 shire vk-ithin that of the Picts — The Cruithne of the North— Origin 
 of the kingdom of Moray — Its disturbed career — The battle- 
 ground between the Norsemen and the Scots — Finally incor- 
 porated with Scotland under Malcolm Caenmore — The religion of 
 the northern Picts — Its character and worship — Relics of the old 
 heathenism still existing — The coming of Christianity to Inver- 
 ness-shire — St Columba at the Pictish Court of King Brude —The 
 work of the Saint in Inverness-shire — Plis preaching and miracles 
 — The churches of the brethren of lona throughout the county — 
 Surviving memorials of primitive Inverness-shire 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Inverness-shire feudalised under King David, his grandson Malcolm, 
 William the Lion, and Alexander II. — The coming to the North 
 of Norman and Saxon colonists — Their character and the nature 
 of the feudal jDolity — Inverness-shire portioned out among the 
 strangers — Three great feudal institutions planted in the county — 
 The Castle, the Burgh, and the Church — Castle-building in each 
 district of Inverness-shire — Supremacy of the baron — The position 
 of the natives — The burgh of Inverness founded — Its privileges 
 guaranteed by royal charter — Its early progress — Change in 
 Church polity — The bishopric of Moray founded — Establishment 
 of the conventual system — The Priory of Beauly — The division 
 of the county into parishes — The despotic power of the feudal 
 lords — Extent of Inverness-shire in those early days ... 14 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTKK III. 
 
 Inverness-shire during the Scottish War of Independence — Edward 
 I. of England in the North — The castle of Urquhart a stronghold 
 of the patriotic party— Randolph, Earl of Moray — I lis vigorous 
 rule — David II. at Inverness — Great social changes in the county 
 — Establishment of the clan system — The Erasers, Grants, 
 Chisholms, Camerons, and others become heads of clans — The 
 clan system in the main a development of the Norman polity — The 
 first notice in history of the clans connected with Inverness-shire 
 — Feud between the Clan Chattan and the Clan Cameron — Battle 
 of Invernahavon — Conflict on the Inch of Perth .... 25 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Annals of Inverness-shire now fall into two divisions — The king 
 against the clans and the clans against each other — Eflforts of the 
 Crown to bring the chiefs into subjection — Two centuries of dis- 
 order — Rebellions of the I,ords of the Isles — Of Donald in 141 1 — 
 His defeat at Marlaw — Visit to Inverness of James I. — Executes 
 justice on the rebels — Inverness burnt by the Island Chief — His 
 defeat in Lochaber and submission at Holyrood — The rising of 
 Donald Balloch — The rebellion of John of the Isles in 1451, and 
 of his nephew in 1491 — The lordship of the Isles forfeited — Other 
 uprisings of the northern clans — Policy of the Government to 
 strengthen the authority of the Crown in the North — The Earl 
 of Huntly appointed Lieutenant-General of the Highlands — His 
 difificulties in maintaining order — John of Moidart and the 
 "Battle of the Shirts" — The black tailor of the axe — Gradual 
 evolution of order — Royal visits to the North — Of James II., III., 
 IV., v., and of Mary of Guise — Maiy Queen of Scots at Inver- 
 ness — The burgh of Inverness in those troubled times — Holds its 
 own against "clanned men" and grows in wealth and prosperity 35 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland — Slow progress of Protestantism in 
 Inverness-shire — Conformity to the "new opinions" more ap- 
 parent than real — Deputation of the Kirk at Inverness — Ofler 
 of the Mackintosh to "plant" ministers — Position of the Roman 
 clergy in Inverness-shire before llic Reformation — Ministers 
 gradually settled throughout the county — The nen- minister of 
 ICilmallie and his doctrine— Troubles of the minister of Abertarft" 
 — Thi' Reformation in the burgh — Dissolution of the monasteries 
 and <loslhiation of their property — Hardships suffered by the old 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 clergy — Their zeal in troubled times — Character of the Roman 
 Catholics of Inverness-shire — Huntly remains Catholic — A period 
 of terrible feuds — The vigorous rule of James VI. — The king's 
 writ made to run freely in the North — The fighting chiefs brought 
 before the Privy Council — Their sons ordered to be educated 
 — The gradual cessation of clan feuds — A new epoch begins in 
 Inverness-shire . ........ 50 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Highland seers prophesy troublous times in 1644 — Their prognosti- 
 cations fulfilled — Montrose breaks with the Covenant and joins 
 the king — The fiery cross speeds throughout Inverness - shire — 
 Colkitto appears in the county — Alarm of the burghers of Inver- 
 ness — Campaign of Montrose in the North — His game of "hide- 
 and-seek " round the Grampians — Inverness-shire clans join his 
 standard — His descent upon Argyle — Camps at Kilchumin — His 
 march to Inverlochy — The battle of Inverlochy — His retreat to 
 Inverness-shire after Phihphaugh — Lays siege to the town — Dis- 
 bands his army — Two other attempts to retrieve the royal fortunes 
 — The last effort of Montrose — His appearance as a prisoner at 
 Inverness — Influence of Montrose on the Highlanders — Inspires 
 them with loyalty to the Stewarts ...... 64 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Cromwell in the North — His conquest of Inverness-shire — Builds a 
 citadel at Inverness — Description of the fortress — Churches 
 razed to build it — A vessel of war placed on Loch Ness — The 
 Chief of Glengarry plots insurrection — The rising of 1653 
 under Glencairn — Wonderful march through the county of 
 General Monk — Final defeat of Glencairn — Ewen Cameron of 
 Lochiel refuses to make terms with the English — The " Ulysses 
 of the Highlands " — His character, and struggles with Crom- 
 well's soldiers— Makes peace with Monk — Accompanies him to 
 London at the Restoration of Charles II. — Restoration of the 
 king received with joy in the North — The citadel of Inverness 
 demolished — Influence of Cromwell's soldiers on the people — 
 On their departure the county becomes turbulent — The Keppoch 
 murder and the punishment of the murderers — "The Well of the 
 Seven Heads " — The Mackintoshes invade Lochaber — The old 
 feud between them and the Camerons closed — The last of the 
 clan battles of Inverness-shire — The fight at Mulroy — "Mac- 
 donald took the Brae on them " — The county assumes its present 
 geographical area ......... 76 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Inverness-shire during the wars of Viscount Dundee— " Great John 
 of the Battles" — Takes up arms in favour of James VII. — Comes 
 to Inverness — Finds the town besieged by Keppoch — " Col of 
 the Cows" — His interview with that freebooter — Appoints a 
 general muster of the clans — His march through Inverness-shire 
 to Dalmacomer — Gathering of the clans — Striking pictures of the 
 chiefs in the " Grtemiad " — Glengarry, Keppoch, Lochiel — The 
 campaign in Badenoch against General Mackay — Dundee at 
 Moy in Lochaber — The battle of Killiecrankie and death of 
 Dundee — The ineffectual struggle of the chiefs on the side of the 
 king — The Haughs of Cromdale — Mackay erects Fort William 
 — The chiefs submit to Government — Keppoch and Glengarry 
 narrowly escape the fate of Glencoe — The county again peaceful 
 — Death of Lochiel 91 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Inverness-shire again disturbed — Death of Queen Anne — Procla- 
 mation of King George at Inverness — The chiefs promise to 
 support the king, but take part in the rising of the Earl of 
 Mar — "Old Borlum" — Failure of the rising in 17 15 — Punish- 
 ment of the chiefs who took part — General Wade receives sub- 
 missions to the Government — Humble letters addressed to him — 
 Clemency of the Government — Measures adopted by Wade — 
 Building of barracks — Disarming of the clans — Embodiment of 
 companies of loyal Plighlanders — Erection of Fort Augustus — 
 Construction of roads throughout the country — Feats of engineer- 
 ing — Weakness of General Wade's policy — Establishment of 
 "Watches" — Macdonald of Barisdale — Inverness-shire quiet, but 
 ready for insurrection ........ 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Social state of Inverness-shire before the destruction of the feudal 
 system — Sources of information — Reports of Lovat and of General 
 Wade — Burt's letters — The town of Inverness — Its buildings and 
 condition — Descriptions of Mackey and Burt — Fort William — 
 The chiefs, the tacksmen, and the common people — Their mode 
 of life — Houses, customs, amusements, and position generally — 
 Customs and manners of the period illustrated by hfe of Lord 
 Loval — The leading man in the county ..... 1^5 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The county preparing for a rising — Emissaries from France at work — 
 Prince Charles Stewart lands in Moidart — The die cast — Heroism 
 of young Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart — Description of the 
 Prince by one who was present — Lochiel prevailed to join the 
 enterprise — The first bloodshed in the new rising — The standard 
 raised in Glenfinnan — General Cope marches northward — Makes 
 for Inverness — Prince Charles crosses Corryarrick and camps at 
 Dalwhinnie — The clansmen who were with him — The cunning 
 policy of Lovat — The Highland army moves to the south — Their 
 return to Inverness - shire — The "Affair of Moy" — Loudon 
 abandons Inverness — The Highland army destroys Fort George 
 — The Duke of Cumberland arrives at Nairn — Prince Charles 
 camps on CuUoden Moor — Failure of the projected attack on the 
 Hanoverian camp — The battle of Culloden — The Macdonalds 
 stand on their dignity and refuse to fight — The last charge — 
 Bravery of the Highlanders — John Mor M'Gillvray — Escape of 
 Lochiel — The savage treatment of the wounded and prisoners — 
 The Duke of Cumberland moves to Inverness — Failure of the 
 Highlanders to retrieve their position — The meetings at Ruthven 
 and Muirlagan — Inverness - shire abandoned to the enemy — 
 "Mourning, lamentation, and woe" ..... 164 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Charles Edward Stewart after Culloden — Arrives at Gortuleg — 
 Meets with Lovat — Reaches Invergarry — Starts for the west — 
 At Glen Pean, Meoble, and Loch Morar — Crosses the mountains 
 to Glenboisdale — Resolves to proceed to the Islands — Sets sail 
 from Borradale with Donald Macleod — Returns after many 
 adventures and escapes to the mainland — At Little Mallack — 
 Reaches Borradale for the third time — Passes through a cordon 
 of soldiers — Stays with the seven outlaws of Glenmoriston — 
 Moves again westward — Welcomed by friends in Locharkaig — 
 Makes for Badenoch — Joins Lochiel at Mellanuir— In a shieling 
 on Ben Alder — The cage and its inmates — Hears of the arrival 
 of two French vessels in Loch-na-Nuagh — Travels to Borradale 
 and embarks for France — Atrocities perpetrated on the inhabi- 
 tants of Inverness-shire by the Hanoverians — Sickening details 
 —Rebel-hunting— Races at Fort Augustus— Fate of the Inver- 
 ness-shire chiefs — Escape of Cluny and young Clanranald — 
 Colonel Macdonald of Barrisdale — The apprehension of Lovat 
 — Taken to London — His trial and execution — Dr Cameron the 
 last victim of the '45 — Acts of Parliament passed after the in- 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 surrection— The Act of clemency— The Act for disarming the 
 Highlanders and al»Iishing their dress — The Act abolishing 
 heritable jurisdictions— Its important results— The romance of 
 the county ends— A new order of things begins . .185 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 Travellers in Inverness-shire after the '45— Visit of General James 
 Wolfe in 1751— His description of the town and people — Goes to 
 CuUoden and Fort George — Attends an assembly — Culloden 
 commemorated at Inverness — Reports of Hanoverian officers 
 quartered in the county — A captured priest — Endeavours of the 
 people to evade the Act preventing the Highland dress — Visit of 
 Bishop Pococke in 1760 — His interest in antiquities — Describes 
 Fort William — Reaches Fort Augustus by Loch Lochy — Comes 
 to Inverness and Culloden — His description of Beauly Priory and 
 of the Aird — Visit of Pennant in 1769 — His disparagement of 
 Prince Charles — His praise of Inverness — Restoration of the 
 Lovat estates — Administration of forfeited property in the county 
 — A fair at Inverness — Loch Ness affected by an earthquake — 
 Lochaber described — Break up of the clan system — Visit of Dr 
 Samuel Johnson and Boswell in 1773 — At Fort George — Spends 
 a Sunday in Inverness — The Episcopal chapel — Rides by Glen- 
 moriston to Glenelg — His views on emigration and disappearance 
 of the tacksmen — General character of his observations — Visit of 
 Colonel Thornton in 1784 — Settles down as a sportsman in Bade- 
 noch — His interest in the people and scenery — Restoration of 
 Cluny Macpherson to his estates — A Badenoch feast — Dying out 
 of Jacobite feeling — "George III., and long may he reign!" 
 drank everywhere — What may be learned from the accounts of 
 these travellers — They show an extraordinary change to have 
 taken place .......... 205 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The sullen discontent of the people after Culloden — Broken by a 
 call to arms — The people enlist largely in the arm)- — Highland 
 regiments before '45 — Lord Chatham orders regiments to be 
 raised on an extensive scale — His celebrated speech in praise of 
 Highland soldiers — Inverness-shire a productive recruiting-ground 
 — The Hon. Simon Eraser raises a regiment in 1757 — Many 
 gentlemen of the county join — The Fr.ascr Highlanders and their 
 career— Regiment raised in 1759 under the influence of the House 
 of fjordon — M.acdonald's Highl.anders raised in 177S — The 
 Gordon lllghl.anders raised in 1794 — The various fencible regi- 
 
CONTENTS. XV 
 
 ments— The 79th raised by Cameron of Erracht— Sketch of his 
 histoi-y and that of the Cameron Highlanders — Effect on Inver- 
 ness-shire of this great opening up of military service — Every man 
 proud to be a soldier — Inverness-shire men who have distin- 
 guished themselves in the army : Sir Colquhoun Grant and his 
 services — John Cameron of Fassiefern — His gallant career — Killed 
 at Quatre Bras and buried in Lochaber — Sir John Cameron of 
 Culchenna — Sir Alexander Cameron of Inverailort — Sir James 
 Macdonnell of Glengarry — Sir Herbert Macpherson — Two great 
 non-combatants : Sir James MacGregor, M.D. — John Cameron, 
 war correspondent — IVIen like these maintain the martial spirit 
 of their ancestors — This spirit generally dead throughout the 
 county — Few Inverness men join the army .... 229 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Changes in the county and among its people — Rents of the tacks- 
 men raised — Large numbers leave Inverness-shire for the Colonies 
 — Progress of the process of depopulation — The strong tide of 
 emigration to America — Government induced to try to stop it — 
 Send Mr Telford, engineer, to report on the best measures to be 
 taken — His recommendations — Strongly advises giving the people 
 work in the construction of roads and a canal — Construction of 
 roads and making of the Caledonian Canal begun in 1804 — The 
 different lines of roads described, and their cost — The excavating 
 of the canal — Difficulty of the work — Impediments surmounted — 
 Opening of the new waterway — Its cost — The beneficial results 
 to Inverness-shire of these undertakings — Increase in the value of 
 property — The town of Inverness makes a new start — A great 
 record of improvement — The great wool fair established — Emi- 
 gration not stopped by the Government works — Period of sheep- 
 farming begins — Landlords begin to evict — Difference between 
 the earlier and later emigrations — The Glengarry evictions — The 
 country swept bare of the inhabitants — A tragic story at best . 247 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Agricultural progress of the county — Highland farming in the olden 
 time — The monks of Beauly and their civilising influence — The 
 pear-tree in their garden — The peasant a soldier, not an agricul- 
 turist — Considerable improvement in the beginning of the present 
 century — Comprehensive survey of the county by Dr James 
 Robertson for the Board of Agriculture — His report to be de- 
 pended on— Discusses the possibility of cultivating the moors — 
 Certain moorlands specified by him — His estimate of the pro- 
 
xvi CONTENTS. 
 
 prietors— The land-tenures existing — The houses of the pro- 
 prietors and farmers— The methods of farming— Runrig— Outfield 
 and infield— Four classes of farmers— The moral character of the 
 people— The rents payable by tenants— The relief of the poor and 
 absence of poor-rates— The implements of husbandry— The crops 
 cultivated— Planting of trees— Sheep - breeding— The kelp in- 
 dustry—The villages— Conclusions to be drawn from Dr Robert- 
 son's report— His report contrasted with that of Mr Macdonald 
 in 1872— General progress and increase in rental— Increase in the 
 number of good steadings — Character of the leases given — Im- 
 provement in agricultural implements — Extension of plantations 
 — Failure of kelp — Establishment of poor-rates — The crops 
 principally cultivated — Increase of deer forests — Present value of 
 property. 
 
 Progress in the education of the people — Education in the 
 olden time — Immense improvement caused by the Education Act 
 of 1872 — New buildings and Government grants — Secondary 
 education — Great progress of enlightenment in modern times 
 — The morality of the people shown by the returns of the 
 Registrar-General — Their attention to religious duties . . 263 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Distinguished men of Inverness-shire in civil life — Not so many as 
 in other counties, owing to the long years of turbulence through 
 which our county passed — Duncan Forbes of Culloden — His 
 family and early education — Joins the Scottish bar — Made Sheriff 
 of Mid-Lothian — Marries — Takes the side of the Government in 
 the rising in 1715 — Pleads warmly the cause of those forfeited — 
 Returned to Parliament for the Inverness Burghs — His literary 
 works — Appointed President of the Court of Session — His great 
 influence in behalf of the Government in 1745 — His eftbrts un- 
 rewarded by the authorities — His death — Charles Grant, a states- 
 man and philanthropist — His birth and early years — Goes to 
 India — His career there — The character of his policy — Becomes 
 a Director of the East India Company — His services in its behalf 
 — His association with Wilberforce — His endeavour's to promote 
 the welfare of the Highlands — His death — His distinguished sons 
 — The Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh — His birth and educa- 
 tion — Becomes a doctor of medicine — Afterwards joins the 
 English bar — His defence of ihc French RovoUuion — Becomes 
 Recorder of Umnbay — Returns home after a period of service — 
 Enters I'arliamcnl — Made a I'rivy Councillor, also a Professor of 
 Law and Lord Rector of Glasgow University — His literary and 
 philosophical celebrity — His death — James Macpherson, born at 
 Rulhven — Studies for the ministry — Pulilishes fragments i,f 
 
CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 ancient poetry — Makes a journey of literary research in the High- 
 lands — Publishes ' Ossian ' — The great controversy that ensued — 
 Made Governor of Pensacola — Appointed agent for the Nabob of 
 Arcot — Settles in Badenoch — Dies there, and is buried in West- 
 minster Abbey — Other distinguished men — Their lives and labours 
 sketched — Grant of Corrymony — Fraser of Reelick — John F. 
 M'Lennan — The literary spirit of Inverness — Robert Carruthers 
 and the ' Inverness Courier ' — Modern literary men of the county 
 — The great lawyers produced by it — Its theological poverty — 
 Distinguished Catholic divines ....... 283 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Inverness-shire rich in one species of literature : has produced many 
 bards — Ancient poems — " The Desire of the Aged Bard " — "The 
 Owl " — Ian Lorn, the Keppoch bard — Sketch of his hfe — Speci- 
 mens of his poetry — "The Day of Inverlochy " — His panegyric 
 on Sir James Macdonald — His " Lament for Glengarry" — The 
 bard of the Clanranald, Alexander Macdonald — His history — 
 The character of his poetry — Translations of some of his poems — 
 "The Sugar Brook" — "The Song of the Highland Clans" — 
 "Morag Beautiful" — "In Praise of the Kilt "—"The War-ship 
 of Clanranald " — Julian Macdonald — Her elegy on Glengarry — 
 Black John of Clanranald — His poem on " The Highland Clans " 
 — Macpherson of Strathmashie — John Roy Stewart — His life and 
 poems — Blind Alan, bard of Glengarry — Character of his efforts 
 — His " Song on Drinking " — Ewan M'Lachlan — His genius, life, 
 and early death — Specimens of his poetry — "The Melody of 
 Love" — Many other bards besides these mentioned — Estimate of 
 the Inverness-shire bards and their power of song . . . 304 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Inverness-shire of the present day — The four divisions of its history 
 — Few remnants left of the olden time — The old castles — The 
 present chiefs — Disappearance of the Macdonald faunilies of 
 Keppoch, Clanranald, and Glengarry — "The last of the chiefs" 
 — Increase in the number of proprietors and of districts given up 
 to sport — Two illustrations of the change in Inverness and the 
 wealth poured into it by sportsmen — Glengarry and Glenquoich — 
 Money spent in improvements— Rates and taxes paid by sporting 
 tenants — Railway reaches Inverness-shire — Highland and West 
 Highland lines — Lines projected — Growth and prosperity of the 
 towns — Inverness never so worthy of being called "The capital 
 of the Highlands " — Fort William — The Ben Nevis Observatory 
 — Kingussie — A great health resort — Fort Augustus the site of 
 
XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 a Benedictine monastery — Small increase in manufactures — The 
 aluminium works in Stratherrick — Fears of the beauty of Foyers 
 being destroyed — The beauty of Inverness-shire its great inheri- 
 tance — The height of its mountains and character of its scenery — 
 Its climate — The rainfall at some of its principal recording 
 stations — Its geological formation — The county interesting to the 
 geologist — The uplands of Inverness-shire — The process by which 
 the valleys were formed — The great glen a fracture — The scoop- 
 ing out of its lakes — The vast results of glacial action everywhere 
 apparent — Especially in Glen Spean and Glen Roy — The parallel 
 roads of the latter — The various theories regarding them — The 
 theory of Agassiz doubtless the correct one. 
 
 The population of the county in 1881 and 1891 — Conclusion — 
 Floreat Invernessia ! ........ 334. 
 
 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO OR PUBLISHED IN INVERNESS-SHIRE 355 
 
 LIST OF MAPS OF INVERNESS 367 
 
 INDEX 369 
 
LIST OF MAPS. 
 
 SCOTLi PROVINCI^ MEDITERRANE.E INTER ^ 
 TAUM FLUMEN ET VARARIS .5:STUA- 
 RIUM: Sunt autem Braid-Allaban, Atholia, 
 Marria superior, Badenocha, Strath -Spea, 
 
 LOCHABRIA, cum CHERSONESO qui EI AD occasum 
 PK^TENDITUR, CUM SINGULIS EARUNDEM PAR- 
 
 TIBUS. Opera Ro. Gordonii a Siraloch 
 
 From Blaeus Great Atlas, 1654. 
 
 In pocket at beghi- 
 ning of volume. 
 
 INVERNESS 
 
 From the Ordnance Su7~i'cy. 
 
 f In pocket at end 
 I of volume. 
 
INVERNESS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE EARLY ANNALS OF INVERNESS -SHIRE — THE FOUR KINGDOMS — IN- 
 VERNESS-SHIRE WITHIN THAT OF THE PICTS — THE CRUITHNE OF THE 
 NORTH— ORIGIN OF THE KINGDOM OF MORAY— ITS DISTURBED CAREER 
 — THE BATTLE-GROUND BETWEEN THE NORSEMEN AND THE SCOTS — 
 FINALLY INCORPORATED WITH SCOTLAND UNDER MALCOLM CAENMORE 
 — THE RELIGION OF THE NORTHERN PICTS — ITS CHARACTER AND 
 WORSHIP — RELICS OF THE OLD HEATHENISM STILL EXISTING — THE 
 COMING OF CHRISTIANITY TO INVERNESS-SHIRE — ST COLUMBA AT THE 
 PICTISH COURT OF KING BRUDE — THE WORK OF THE SAINT IN INVER- 
 NESS-SHIRE — HIS PREACHING AND MIRACLES — THE CHURCHES 8f THE 
 BRETHREN OF lONA THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY — SURVIVING MEMO- 
 RIALS OF PRIMITIVE INVERNESS-SHIRE. 
 
 When the light of history first breaks upon Inverness-shire 
 we find the country now called Scotland divided into four 
 kingdoms. To the south of the line of the Forth and Clyde 
 lay the kingdom of the Britons of Strathclyde, and that of 
 the Saxons of Northumbria ; to the north of that line, those 
 of the Scots and the Picts, separated from each other by the 
 mountain-chain called by the old writers Dorsum Britannise, 
 or Drumalban, the range of hills which now divides the 
 counties of Argyle and Perth. What is now Inverness-shire 
 lay wholly within the kingdom of the Picts. These were the 
 ancient Caledonians, the fierce people of whom we have 
 
 A 
 
2 THE NORTHERN PICTS. 
 
 descriptions from the Roman historians, — men of red hair 
 and long limbs, who had no walled cities, and nothing 
 deserving the name of a town ; who lived by pasturage and 
 the chase; who painted their bodies with pictures of wild 
 animals ; and who could stand for days immersed in the waters 
 of their marshes. Their language was that now known as the 
 Gaelic ; and their capital, or the seat of their king, at the 
 commencement of the Christian era, was at the mouth of 
 the river Ness, possibly on the site now occupied by the 
 capital of the Highlands. 
 
 The Picts were divided into two sections — the northern 
 and the southern Picts. The former, called by the Irish 
 annalists the Cruithne Tuath or Cruithne of the North, lay 
 to the north, and the latter to the south, of the range of 
 mountains called the Month, which now bears the name of 
 the Grampians. In the northern portion, at least, the 
 Romans effected no settlement. The geographer Ptolemy, 
 in the second century, speaks of the Varar ^stuarium or 
 Beauly Firth in describing the coast, and preserves for us 
 the ancient name of the people, Caledonii, who inhabited the 
 districts of Badenoch, Stratherrick, Glengarry, Glenmoriston, 
 Glenurquhart, the Aird, Strathnairn, Strathdearn, and Athole. 
 These Caledonians were undoubtedly Celts, ancestors of the 
 same people who now inhabit the Scottish Highlands. 
 
 The connection between the northern and the southern 
 Picts was at no time, probably, of a very intimate character. 
 The men of the Highlands and those of the Lowlands, though 
 nominally under the same sovereign, had in many respects 
 but little in common. They were separated geographically by 
 a wild mountain-chain. Their customs were different, and so 
 for a time was their religion ; and when in 843 Kenneth Mac- 
 alpine, a Scot, obtained the kingship over the southern Picts 
 those north of the Grampians took up a separate position. 
 
THE PROVINCE OF MORAY. 3 
 
 They formed themselves into a confederacy of their own, and 
 asserted their independence. The new province that emerged 
 from the severance of the north from the south was called the 
 province of Moray, and comprehended most, if not all, of 
 what is now Inverness-shire. It was far more extensive than 
 that which afterwards bore the same name, and stretched 
 from the river Spey on the one side, and from Loch Lochy 
 on the other, to Caithness. This territory was governed by a 
 sovereign, sometimes called a Maormor, a title peculiar to the 
 Gaelic people, and sometimes Ri Moreb or King of Moray. 
 
 This kingdom had a troubled existence. It was placed 
 between two fires. To the north were the Norsemen, who, 
 obtaining foothold in Orkney, had extended themselves over 
 what are now the. counties of Caithness and Sutherland. To 
 the south was the growing kingdom of Scotland, ever ambitious 
 of extending its territory. Between the descendants of the 
 vikings and the inhabitants of the southern kingdom the men 
 of Moray had but little peace. The Ri Moreb had from time 
 to time to enter into an alliance with the one power to protect 
 himself against the other. More than once the Norwegians 
 entirely conquered Moray. A mighty Norse warrior, Thor- 
 stein the Red, ruled over the province for a year. In the 
 closing years of the ninth century, Sigurd, Earl of Orkney, 
 followed in his train and overran the country, though his 
 sovereignty did not last very long. The Scottish monarchy 
 also made inroads from the south upon Moray, and King 
 Malcolm, son of Donald, King of Alban, endeavoured to 
 annex, but with small success, the northern province. He 
 slew Cellach, its maormor, but the province retained its in- 
 dependence. 
 
 The men of Moray were of a stubborn and indomitable 
 character, and they fought both their northern and their 
 southern foes with desperation. They were a fighting race. 
 
4 MACBETH. 
 
 and when not attacked by their neighbours they made forays 
 upon them. In 1020 Finlaec or Findlay, maormor of Moray, 
 entered Caithness with a large army and challenged the Norse 
 earl, Sigurd, to meet him in battle. The Norwegian, aided by 
 the men of Orkney, accepted the challenge, and the maormor 
 was defeated. Sigurd, pursuing his victorious way southward, 
 overran the provinces north of the Spey, and Moray became 
 again, and remained, it is supposed, for two years, a Norwegian 
 province. On the death of Sigurd it again resumed its inde- 
 pendence. In the end the brave little province fell into the 
 hands, not of its northern, but of its southern, neighbour. 
 
 How this was brought about, and how Moray became in- 
 corporated with Scotland, may here be briefly told. It is not 
 necessary to give details which do not immediately concern 
 our narrative. In 1003 the King of Scotland, King Malcolm, 
 died, leaving two grandsons, Duncan, and Thorfin Earl of 
 Caithness. Between the two the contest for the throne was 
 long and fiercely waged. The maormor of Moray at the time 
 was Macbeth, a name made famous by the great dramatist ; 
 and from the position of his territory, lying between the com- 
 batants, his alliance was naturally regarded as of the utmost 
 importance by both claimants. At first he sided with King 
 Duncan, and his territory suffered in consequence. Thorfin 
 and his Norsemen were victorious, and Moray was desolated 
 with fire and sword. King Duncan then collected an army 
 and hurried north, and a battle ensued at Burghead, in which 
 the Norsemen were again the victors. They drove the fugitive 
 Scots before them, and conquered the country all the way to 
 Fife. At this stage King Duncan was deserted by the maor- 
 mor of Moray, who attached himself to Thorfin. He felt that 
 his interests lay rather with his victorious northern neighbour 
 than with the Scots. 
 
 The traditional story of his murdering King Duncan is well 
 
MALCOLM CAENMORE. S 
 
 known, and, as Sir Walter Scott says, has been adopted by 
 Hollinshed, dignified by the classical Latinity of Buchanan, 
 and dramatised by Shakespeare. It is with a sigh of regret 
 that the historian has to regard the picturesque tale as utterly 
 mythical ; to remember that no such persons as Banquo and 
 Fleance ever existed, and that the famous scene in the castle 
 of Inverness never took place. All we do know is, that King 
 Duncan was slain in some conflict with Macbeth at a place 
 called Bothgowan near Elgin. The name Bothgowan means 
 a smith's house, where perhaps Duncan sought shelter when 
 the battle went against him, and where he met his fate by the 
 sword of his former ally. 
 
 Thorfin, the Norwegian, and Macbeth divided between 
 them the conquered territory. Thorfin ruled the North, 
 including the province of Moray, which thus again became 
 Norwegian. Macbeth became king of the southern dis- 
 trict beyond the Grampians, which had Scone as its capital, 
 where he ruled as King of Scotland for seventeen years. 
 At the end of that period he was dethroned. Malcolm 
 Caenmore, son of the murdered Duncan, advanced against 
 him from the south, drove him across the Month, and slew 
 him at Lumphanan in Mar. In the year in which Macbeth 
 met his fate, his ally Thorfin died, and Moray became again 
 a kingdom. Malcolm was, however, very desirous to reduce 
 it to his authority, and invaded it in 1078. He conquered 
 the hereditary ruler Maelsnectan, who escaped with his life, 
 and who died seven years after in a fortress of Lochaber in 
 which he had taken refuge. Moray thus became a part of 
 Scotland, though the power of the kings over the wild 
 northern territory was for many years more nominal than 
 real, maormors holding sway there oftener than once. 
 
 It is pleasant to turn from this troublous story of incessant 
 warfare, which preceded the absorption of Inverness - shire 
 
6 THE DRUIDS. 
 
 into Scotland — a story which historians have disentangled 
 from the accounts of Irish annalists, Saxon chronicles, and 
 Norwegian sagas — to tell of the coming of Christianity to 
 our county, and of its peaceful triumphs. 
 
 The religion of the northern Picts at the advent of Chris- 
 tianity was entirely pagan, and was apparently the same in 
 kind as that followed by their neighbours the Scots. Holding 
 a high place among both Scots and Picts was a class of men 
 called Druids. They are frequently mentioned in the lives 
 of Columba and Patrick, and in the ancient Celtic manuscripts 
 which have come down to us from Irish sources. They 
 dwelt at the residence of the kings, and exercised great powers 
 in national affairs ; but beyond that we know little about them. 
 There are no grounds for asserting that they formed a sacer- 
 dotal order. They appear to have been magicians, sooth- 
 sayers, and enchanters — workers of spells and charms — their 
 influence with the people being founded on the belief that by 
 their necromancy they could aid those who sought their as- 
 sistance, or injure those opposed to them. A favourite method 
 of divination among them was by sneezing, or by the song of 
 a bird perched upon a tree. In an old poem attributed to 
 St Columba, these and similar practices are referred to and 
 abjured. The poet thus sings : — 
 
 " Our fate depends not on sneezing, 
 Nor on a bird perched on a twig, 
 Nor on the root of a knotted tree, 
 Nor on the noise of clapping hands : 
 Better is He in wliom we trust, 
 The Father, the One, and the Son." 
 
 And in another verse of the saine poem he 
 
 sa-\s- 
 
 " I adore not the noise of birds, 
 Nor sneezing, nor lots in tlris world, 
 Nor a son, nor chance, nor woman ; 
 My Druid is Christ, the .Son of God." 
 
BELIEF IN DEMONS. 7 
 
 In another poem, in the form of a prayer, he alludes to the 
 
 magical gift of his adversaries. He recognises their power 
 
 over the elements of nature, and exclaims — 
 
 "My Druid — may He be on my side ! — 
 Is the Son of God and truth with purity." 
 
 What is called Druidism, so far as known to the Celts, was 
 a system of necromancy, like that which has ever been insep- 
 arably connected with heathenism, — a belief in men who can 
 awaken storms, and bring down rain, and bewitch fields. If 
 the Druids were in any sense the ministers of a religion, it was 
 of a debased and grovelling kind, a species of fetichism, an 
 adoration of natural objects and of the powers of the external 
 world, the rocks, the winds, the thunder. Among the pagan 
 Scots, and probably among their neighbours, pillar-stones were 
 objects of worship, and were either overthrown or were con- 
 secrated with the sign of the cross by the Christian teachers. 
 The Picts seem also to have believed in what were called the 
 Sidhe — spirits who were supposed to haunt nature and to 
 dwell underground. 
 
 St Columba seems to have had full belief in the existence 
 of these demons, which were supposed to have their dwelling- 
 places in fountains and green hillocks. He delighted in exor- 
 cising them. " While the blessed man was stopping," says his 
 biographer, " in the province of the Picts, he heard that there 
 was a fountain famous among the heathen people, which foolish 
 men, having their reason blinded by the devil, worshipped as a 
 god. For those who drank of the fountain, or who purposely 
 washed their hands or feet in it, were allowed by God to be 
 struck by demoniacal art, and went home either leprous or 
 purblind, or at least suffering from weakness, or some kind 
 of infirmity. 
 
 " By all these things the pagans were seduced, and they paid 
 divine honours to this fountain. Having ascertained this, the 
 
8 SURVIVALS OF PAGANISM. 
 
 saint one day went up to the fountain fearlessly ; and on seeing 
 this, the Druids, whom he had often sent away vanquished and 
 confounded, were greatly rejoiced, thinking that, like others, 
 he would suffer from the touch of that baneful water. The 
 saint then blessed the fountain, and from that day the demons 
 departed from the water ; and not only was it not allowed to 
 injure any one, but even many diseases among the people 
 were cured by this same fountain after it had been blessed and 
 washed in by the saint." 
 
 From such notices as these in the lives of the saint we 
 may form some idea of what was the early religion of Inver- 
 ness - shire. Many traces of this paganism survive at the 
 present day. In the belief in charms, in fairies, in witchcraft, 
 in the power of the evil eye, which still lingers in many of our 
 Highland glens, we have relics of the old Celtic heathenism 
 still existing in the midst of our present civilisation. Such 
 superstitions were treated very gently by the early Christian 
 teachers, and perhaps on that account have survived. Foun- 
 tains were blessed and became holy wells. Demonology was 
 recognised, and exorcism practised. The advice given by 
 one of the Popes to British missionaries was, that they should 
 disturb pagan practices as little as was necessary. You cannot, 
 he argues, cut off everything at once from rude natures. He 
 who would climb an ascent must climb step by step, and not 
 by leaps and bounds. On this principle the early teachers of 
 Christianity in the Highlands seem to have acted, and hence 
 the existence in our own time of traces of that paganism 
 against which they contended. 
 
 The greatest of the Christian teachers who came to our 
 northern county was St Columba, the greatest also among 
 Celtic saints. It is quite possible that he was not the first 
 pioneer of Christianity in Inverness-shire. The mountains 
 that divided Moray from Christian peoples were not impass- 
 
ST COLUMBA. 9 
 
 able by Christian teachers, and one of these, Merchard, from 
 beyond the Month, is known to have settled in Glenurquhart. 
 He may have been one among others like him. But in that 
 early time St Columba is the outstanding figure in a light 
 almost modern in its clearness. In the year 565 he made a 
 pilgrimage, accompanied by two companions, Congal of 
 Bangor and Kanneach of Achaboe, to the Court of the King 
 of the Picts. His biographer Adamnan tells in graphic lan- 
 guage of his interview with King Brude at his palace. The 
 precise spot where this was situated we do not know. All 
 that we can learn from the narrative is, that it was situated in 
 the neighbourhood of the river Ness. Some have placed its 
 site on Craigphatrick, others at Torbean, others at the place 
 where the river Ness issues from the loch bearing its name, 
 others where the castle of Inverness once stood. The last 
 may perhaps be the most likely supposition ; but the subject 
 is only one for conjecture, regarding which we have no specific 
 evidence. 
 
 When the saint arrived at the palace of the king he was 
 refused admittance. " The king, elated by the pride of 
 royalty, acted haughtily, and would not open his gates to the 
 blessed man. When the man of God observed this, he 
 approached the folding-doors with his companions, and having 
 first formed upon them the sign of the cross of our Lord, he 
 then knocked at and laid his hand upon the gate, which 
 instantly flew open of its own accord, the bolts having been 
 drawn back with great force. The saint and his companions 
 then passed through the gate thus speedily opened, and when 
 the king heard what had occurred, he and his councillors 
 were filled with alarm ; and immediately setting out from the 
 palace, he advanced with due respect to meet the blessed 
 man, whom he addressed in the most concihatory and respect- 
 ful language, and ever after from that day, as long as he lived. 
 
lO CONVERSION OF KING BRUDE. 
 
 the king held this holy and revered man in very great honour, 
 as was due." The result of the saint's meeting and inter-' 
 course with Brude was that the king was baptised, and prob- 
 ably owing to his power over his subjects the work of 
 Columba in preaching the Gospel among them was greatly 
 facilitated. 
 
 In Adamnan's life of Columba we have many notices of the 
 saint's work beyond the dorsal range of Britain, and many of 
 his miracles are recounted as taking place in Inverness-shire. 
 These accounts are too numerous to give at length. They are 
 all of the same marvellous character. Sometimes in his travels 
 he traversed the great glen of Scotland which leads to Loch 
 Ness, probably striking the glen through the pass which 
 terminates at Laggan, between Loch Oich and Loch Lochy ; 
 sometimes he followed the track which leads from Lochaber 
 into Badenoch and the valley of the Spey ; but wherever he 
 went marvels attended his footsteps. When chanting the 
 evening hymns near the fortress of King Brude, he and his 
 companions were molested by some Druids. The saint then 
 sang the 44th Psalm, his voice like pealing thunder striking 
 king and people with terror and amazement. When some of 
 his companions had taken five fish in the river Sale (Shell in 
 Moidart), they were commanded by the saint to try again, and 
 were promised a large fish. They obeyed the saint's com- 
 mand, and hauled out with their net a salmon of astonishing 
 size. 
 
 In Lochaber the saint blessed the heifers of a poor man 
 who had entertained him hospitably, and from that day the 
 five heifers increased to 150 cows. In the same country he 
 blessed a stake which killed wild beasts, but which could not 
 harm men or cattle ; and the happy peasant who possessed it 
 was plentifully supplied with animals which were impaled 
 thereon, until at the evil instigation of his wife he cut the stick 
 
THE MIRACLES OF ST COLUMBA. II 
 
 in pieces and burned it in the fire. When travelling by the 
 bank of the river Ness he saw people burying a man who while 
 swimming had been seized by some monster. He directed 
 one of his companions to swim across the river and bring 
 over a coble from the other side. The monster darted after 
 him with a terrific roar ; but, at the command of the saint, he 
 stayed his pursuit, and retired to the depths where he dwelt. 
 Broichan, the Druid of King Brude, held in captivity a Scotic 
 slave, and refused to set her free. The saint prophesied the 
 Druid's death ; but when appealed to in his illness, and being 
 assured he had freed the slave, he restored him to health by 
 causing him to drink water on which there floated a" white 
 pebble, which Columba had picked up in the channel of the 
 river Ness. On Loch Ness, " the long lake of the river 
 Nessa," he sailed in his boat rapidly against the adverse 
 wind which the Druid Broichan had raised. While walking 
 by Loch Ness, he was suddenly inspired by the Holy Ghost 
 to go and baptise a heathen ■ for whose soul angels were 
 waiting. He came to Glenurquhart, and there found an 
 aged man named Emchat, who, on hearing the Word of 
 God preached by the saint, believed and was baptised, and, 
 accompanied by angels, passed to the Lord. The saint 
 and his brethren seem to have penetrated every corner of 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 What was the monastery which formed the base of their 
 missionary operations, and to which they could retire for rest 
 and refreshment, we do not know. Probably for the northern 
 part of the county it was the Columban Monastery of Birnie in 
 Moray, and for the West the parent house of lona ; or some 
 cell among the Scots might suffice. The churches of the 
 brethren of lona are to be found everywhere throughout the 
 county. We have churches of Columba at Petty, Kingussie, 
 and Glenmoriston ; of Tolargain at Kintarlity, in the Aird ; of 
 
12 PREHISTORIC REMAINS. 
 
 Drostan in Glenurquhart ; of Baithen and Curadon in Strath- 
 glass ; of Adamnan in Urquhart, and at Inch-on-Spey ; of 
 Cainneach on Loch Laggan ; of Donnan in Glengarry ; and 
 of Finnan at the head of Loch Lochy, and in the island on 
 Loch Sheil which bears his name. Only twenty years ago the 
 bell of St Merchad was taken away from Glenurquhart. 
 That of Adamnan still remains at Inch, a purely Celtic bell, 
 which is said to have the peculiarity possessed by bells of 
 the same type, of finding its way back to the place where it 
 was originally deposited. A similar bell, that of St Finnan, 
 may still be seen on his island on Loch Shiel in Moidart. 
 
 What form of Church order was followed by these early 
 missionaries of the Cross, or what were their special theo- 
 logical doctrines, we are not called on here to inquire. We 
 leave such matters to be fought over by rival ecclesiastics. 
 We content ourselves with the certainty that they were good 
 Christian men ; and the evidence of Adamnan is sufficient, if 
 we had no more, that the foundation of Columba's preaching, 
 and his great instrument in the conversion of the heathen, 
 was the Word of God. 
 
 Of the early times in the history of Inverness-shire of which 
 this chapter tells, and of times that are probably prehistoric, 
 we have some material memorials remaining. Stone axes and 
 other instruments of the same kind have been discovered 
 in considerable numbers. Swords have been dug up in peat- 
 mosses. Brooches and other ornaments have been found, 
 beautiful specimens of art, like the brooch found at Croy, the 
 gold armlet at Cromdale, and the massi\e silver chain at 
 Craigphatrick — the last worthy to have adorned the King 
 of the Picts himself. What are called " Druidical circles," 
 though we believe they have no right to the name, abound 
 throughout Inverncss-shire. They cluster thickly in the valley 
 of the Ness and in the neighbourhood of the Highland capital. 
 
STONE CIRCLES. 1 3 
 
 Few parishes in the county are without a specimen of these 
 astonishing feats of ancient engineering. 
 
 Whether these circles are to be regarded as places of burial, 
 as temples of worship, as the meeting-places of clans, or as 
 memorials of departed heroes, are questions rather for the 
 antiquary than for the historian. Archaeologists are divided 
 in opinion on the point, and we are not called upon to inter- 
 fere in the controversy. There are artificial islands — lake- 
 dwellings, as we may call them — in most of the Inverness-shire 
 lakes, of the type of which those in Loch Lundy in Glengarry, 
 on Loch Beauly, and on the Loch of the Clans are specimens. 
 There are distributed throughout the county many of the 
 curious massive circular towers called " brochs," of which 
 those in Glenelg on the western coast are outstanding 
 specimens — fortresses into which the inhabitants could retire 
 for security, and which are justly regarded by competent 
 authorities as part of that wonderful Celtic civilisation which 
 reached so high a point of development in the centuries 
 before the eleventh. There are also what are called vitrified 
 forts, like that of Craigphatrick, of Dundardghill in Glen Nevis, 
 at Achterawe in Glengarry, and those at Arisaig in the West, 
 showing the scorified appearance which is .the result of the 
 action of fire upon masses of loose stone. Of the real 
 character of such forts little is known. These and other 
 works of a similar nature are memorials of the far-distant 
 past, of a brave and warlike race far from destitute of civilising 
 elements, and of the centuries before Inverness-shire became 
 an integral part of the kingdom of Scotland. 
 
14 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE FEUDALISED UNDER KING DAVID, HIS GRANDSON MALCOLM, 
 WILLIAM THE LION, AND ALEXANDER II.— THE COMING TO THE NORTH 
 OF NORMAN AND SAXON COLONISTS — THEIR CHARACTER AND THE 
 NATURE OF THE FEUDAL POLITY — INVERNESS-SHIRE PORTIONED OUT 
 AMONG THE STRANGERS — THREE GREAT FEUDAL INSTITUTIONS 
 PLANTED IN THE COUNTY — THE CASTLE, THE BURGH, AND THE 
 CHURCH— CASTLE-BUILDING IN EACH DISTRICT OF INVERNESS-SHIRE — 
 SUPREMACY OF THE BARON — THE POSITION OF THE NATIVES — THE 
 BURGH OK INVERNESS FOUNDED — ITS PRIVILEGES GUARANTEED BY 
 ROYAL CHARTER — ITS EARLY PROGRESS— CHANGE IN CHURCH POLITY 
 — THE BISHOPRIC OF MORAY FOUNDED — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CON- 
 VENTUAL SYSTEM — THE PRIORY OF BEAULY — THE DIVISION OP THE 
 COUNTY INTO PARISHES— THE DESPOTIC POWER OF THE FEUDAL LORDS 
 —EXTENT OF INVERNESS-SHIRE IN THOSE EARLY D.VYS. 
 
 We have to tell in this chapter of the working of new social 
 forces, which, like the blows of hammer upon hot iron, 
 welded Inverness-shire into compact and indissoluble union 
 with Southern Scotland. Armies from north and south had 
 conquered Moray, but again and again the wild Celts had 
 repelled their invaders. They were now to be brought into 
 final subjection by the introduction among them of feudal 
 institutions. 
 
 Between the death of Malcolm Caenmore and the time of 
 David I. the state of the North was one of constant insur- 
 rection. The former sovereign is generally supposed to have 
 built a castle at Inverness upon the present site, but from 
 its walls there apparently emanated but little authority. The 
 
INFLUX OF SAXON AND NORMAN COLONISTS. IS 
 
 risings of the men of Moray — " Homines inquieto semper 
 ingenio," as Buchanan terms them — were more numerous 
 than we care to chronicle. With King David, a new policy 
 was inaugurated — a policy which was carried out by his 
 grandson Malcolm, by William the Lion, and by Alexander 
 II. During the reigns of these kings the state of our 
 northern county was entirely altered. 
 
 During the twelfth century there took place in Scotland 
 what can only be regarded as a revolution, although un- 
 accompanied by the turmoil and bloodshed which have 
 generally been the concomitants of great social changes. 
 A new people began to pour across the Scottish Border 
 from the south, displacing, or predominating over, the old 
 inhabitants, encouraged by the king, and welcomed to the 
 new home they had sought for themselves. There was a 
 stream of English colonisation towards the Lowlands of 
 Scotland. It was an extraordinary emigration, not like that 
 of our Aryan ancestors, who moved in tribes, and not like 
 that caused by the pressure of an overcrowded population. 
 The new-comers belonged to the ranks of the aristocracy. 
 They were of noble birth and knightly accomplishments — 
 men of the sword, used to the court, the camp, and the 
 usages of chivalry. Some of them were Anglian, of families 
 settled long in Northumbria ; most were of the Norman race, 
 which had come over with William the Conqueror. 
 
 These emigrants were cordially received by the king. It 
 was doubtless thought that their culture and their skill in arms 
 would prove useful in developing and defending the country, 
 and it was reasonably expected that they would prove loyal 
 to the sovereign to whose generosity they owed their fortunes. 
 His generosity to them was great. They received lands from 
 him, which they held in feudal tenure ; and they settled on 
 the estates thus acquired. The natives gave way before them. 
 
l6 FEUDALISM IN SCOTLAND. 
 
 or remained under their protection. Knightly Norman and 
 Saxon lord built their castles, and gave lands to their followers 
 under a similar title to that by which they held their own ; 
 and the feudal system became stamped upon the whole 
 country. That system was a very simple one. The king 
 was regarded as the owner of the whole land of the kingdom. 
 He retained large estates in his own hands, from which he 
 derived his personal followers and his royal revenues. The 
 rest he gave to his nobles, on condition that they should 
 maintain for the defence of the kingdom a certain number 
 of armed men. These tenants of the Crown followed the 
 example of the sovereign. Each retained a portion of the land 
 in his own hand, and bestowed the rest in estates of smaller 
 or larger size on condition that each noble or knight who 
 held of him should supply a portion of the armed force he 
 was required to furnish for the royal standard. Each knight, 
 again, let his land to men of inferior degree on condition 
 .that they provided themselves with requisite arms, and as- 
 sembled under his banner for military service. 
 
 These great changes in the South were viewed with appre- 
 hension by the men of the North, who feared their appli- 
 cation to themselves. King David had only reigned six 
 years when they raised an insurrection against him, led by 
 Malcolm, a natural son of his predecessor. Following Mal- 
 colm were the men of Moray, with their maormor Angus, 
 now termed the Earl of Moray, at their head. With 5000 
 men they entered Scotia. The commander of the royal 
 army met them in battle and was victorious. He pursued 
 them into Moray, and reduced again that ancient kingdom 
 into subjection. The Irish annalists chronicle the fight : 
 " Battle between the men of Alban and the men of Moray, 
 in which fell 4000 of the men of Moray with their King 
 Oangus, son of the daughter of Lulag." The changes that 
 
ROYAL FORTRESSES BUILT. 1 7 
 
 followed this battle were rapid, and all in the same direc- 
 tion. 
 
 David proceeded to deal with the maormor's territory as 
 forfeited to the Crown. He portioned it out to men who 
 were strangers to the country, and who held their estates 
 as vassals, according to Norman usage. Their fortresses rose 
 throughout the conquered kingdom of Moray. Unlike the 
 strongholds that preceded them- — the raths, buildings of 
 wood or wattles on the top of a mound protected by earthen 
 works — these fortresses were of stone. They were not for de- 
 fence but for aggression ; each was a centre of royal authority, 
 each a menace to the rebels of the district : the Comyn, 
 a great Norman lord, held Badenoch and Lochaber with his 
 castles at Ruthven and Inverlochy. Bisset, another Norman 
 with lesser barons under him, dominated the Aird and Strath- 
 glass from his castle at Beaufort. Durward, a third, ruled 
 Glenurquhart and its neighbourhood from the royal castle 
 on Loch Ness ; whilst at Inverness itself there was a royal 
 castle, held by a sheriff in the king's name, and visited often 
 by the king in person. 
 
 The ancient inhabitants were thoroughly brought into sub- 
 jection. If we may believe Fordun, Malcolm IV. " removed 
 the whole nation of the Moravianses from the land of their 
 birth, as of old Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon had done 
 with the Jews, and scattered them through the other kingdoms 
 of Scotland, both beyond the mountains and on this side 
 thereof, so that not even one native of that land abode there, 
 and installed therein his own peaceful people." How far this 
 eviction of the old inhabitants was carried out, we have no 
 means of knowing. It was probably but partial in extent, 
 and confined to the border of the Moray Firth ; but those 
 inhabitants who remained were thoroughly under the do- 
 minion of their overlords. The nativi, as they were called, 
 
 B 
 
1 8 THE BURGH AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 were entirely their property : they were serfs, the goods and 
 chattels of their master. The castle rising in each separate 
 district of Inverness-shire proclaimed the supremacy of the 
 baron and the king. 
 
 But the castle and all it represented was not the only 
 instrument by which our northern county was brought into 
 harmony with the rest of Scotland. There were two other 
 important feudal institutions planted among its people, which 
 exercised upon them a great and beneficent influence. These 
 were the Burgh and the Church. 
 
 It was part of the policy of King David I. and King 
 William the Lion to create trading communities in different 
 parts of the kingdom — chartered corporations endowed with 
 special privileges, and living under the protection and super- 
 intendence of the king. These royal burghs, as they were 
 called, with the lands belonging to them, were his exclusive 
 property, and generally they rose under the shadow of a royal 
 castle. The inhabitants were vassals of the Crown. 
 
 The hamlet of Inverness with its noble and safe harbour 
 was in every way suited to be a commercial centre. It was 
 accordingly erected by the Crown into a burgh, and under 
 the protection of the king a number of Anglo-Saxons, Flem- 
 ings, and southern Scots settled there : the names of the 
 early citizens testify to their foreign origin. 
 
 Inverness was probably made a royal burgh by David I. ; 
 but its privileges were clearly defined and confirmed by King 
 William the Lion, who granted four charters in its favour. 
 By the first of these, the privileges of the town were extended 
 to all the king's burgesses of Moray, and it was declared that 
 burgesses were not liable to prosecution for any debt that was 
 not personally their own. The second charter, dated 1180, 
 granted land for the support of the burgh. It exempted all 
 burgesses of Inverness from all tolls and customs throughout 
 
EARLY CHARTERS OF INVERNESS. I9 
 
 the kingdom, and prohibited any one not a burgess from 
 buying or selling within the burgh or in the shire. The king 
 promised to make a fosse round the town, which the burgesses 
 were to enclose with a good paHng. The third charter con- 
 firmed to Geoffray Blund, burgess of Inverness, and his heirs, 
 and to all the burgesses of Inverness and their heirs, exemp- 
 tion from the wager of battle, — "Perpetual liberty that they 
 shall never have combat among them, nor shall any burgess 
 or any other man of our whole kingdom have combat with 
 our said burgesses of Moray, or with their heirs save on oath : 
 moreover, I have granted to my said burgesses of Moray and 
 their heirs that they make half the oath and half the forfeiture 
 which my other burgesses make in my whole kingdom, and 
 they shall be free of toll throughout my whole kingdom for 
 ever." The fourth charter appointed the Sabbath-day (Satur- 
 day) as the day for a weekly market, and granted the king's 
 peace to all who should come to it. It granted to the bur- 
 gesses all privileges enjoyed by those of other burghs of 
 Scotland. It prohibited all without the burgh from manu- 
 facturing cloths, dyed or cut, charging the Sheriff of Inverness, 
 should any such cloth be found, to seize it. It forbade buy- 
 ing or selling merchandise or keeping taverns in any place in 
 the shire except the burgh, " unless in a town where a 
 knight or laird of the town may be staying " ; and it conferred 
 on the bailies authority to enforce the observance of all its 
 stipulations. 
 
 With the privileges granted in these charters the burgh of 
 Inverness entered on its career as a commercial centre and an 
 outpost of civilisation. The establishment of a free town, 
 with privilege of trade and right of government by its own 
 laws, marked a new era in the history of the Highlands. The 
 burgh was the home of freedom. While the dwellers without 
 the walls of Inverness were but serfs — hewers of wood and 
 
20 PROGRESS OF THE TOWN. 
 
 drawers of water to those above them — those within the burgh 
 were free men ; and by the laws of the burgh, as of all burghs 
 in the kingdom, it was enacted that " if any man's thyrll 
 barouns or knikhts cumys to burgh and byes a borowage, 
 and dwels in the borowage a twelfmoneth and a dey, frorutyn 
 challenge of his lorde or his bailye, he shall be ever mare fre 
 as a burges within that kingis burgh, and joyse the freedom of 
 that burgh." 
 
 The position of the newly founded town must have been 
 long a very difficult and trying one to maintain, and it had 
 many times to suffer from the assaults of the wild tribes 
 among which it was placed. But its progress, if often inter- 
 rupted, was steady. The burgh rose slowly but surely to a 
 position of importance. In 1249, Matthew Paris, describing 
 the armament which accompanied Louis IX. on his crusading 
 expedition to the Holy Land, speaks of the great ship of the 
 Earl of St Poll and Blois — a " wonderful vessel " he calls it — 
 which had been built for the earl at Inverness. Even at that 
 early period the Celtic village on the banks of the Ness had 
 outgrown its primitive character, and had, under its new priv- 
 ileges, become the home of such labour and skill that there 
 were found in it workmen able to fit out a great ship, whose 
 beauty excited wonder and admiration amid the vessels 
 manned by the chivalry of France. 
 
 But neither the influence of the Castle nor that of the 
 Burgh affected Inverness-shire so powerfully as that of the 
 Church. 
 
 The Church planted by St Columba and his followers 
 had apparently been brought, as regarded its doctrines and 
 ceremonies, into conformity with the Church of Rome ; but 
 its general framework and polity were peculiar to itself. It 
 was a collegiate system. Its clergy lived together in com- 
 munities, and in some central position, whence they went 
 
THE PAROCHIAL CLERGY. 21 
 
 forth as missionaries to preach among the surrounding tribes. 
 With the coming of the Normans and the feudalising of the 
 North, tliis Church polity was changed. A parochial clergy 
 superseded the missionary system that had formerly supplied 
 the spiritual wants of the people. The monastic orders of 
 the Church of Rome were introduced among them, and a 
 bishop ruled over the territory which had formerly been 
 subject to the jurisdiction of the Columban monastery. 
 
 The bishopric of Moray was founded by King Alexander I. 
 in iroy, but at that time the northern part of the kingdom 
 was so disturbed that the bishop was unable to fix his resi- 
 dence there. It was not till the time of Bricius, the sixth 
 bishop, in 1203, that the bishop became resident. His 
 cathedral was at Spynie, and at his death it was transferred 
 to Elgin. A great part of what is now Inverness-shire was 
 within the diocese of Moray, and was included in the dean- 
 eries of Inverness and Strathspey. The rest of our county lay 
 within the diocese of Argyle, the bishopric of which was 
 founded in 1200; and the parishes in Inverness-shire were 
 partly within the deanery of Lorn and partly within that of 
 Morven. The whole of Inverness-shire was thus placed under 
 the parochial system. It was one that touched very closely 
 the life of the people. Each separate district had its resident 
 priest, who discharged the ofiSces of religion to those living 
 within its bounds, and who was responsible for their superin- 
 tendence. He was maintained by the tithes of the baron's 
 land, of his corn, his pastures, and his fishing. Some of 
 these parishes were erected and endowed by the Crown ; 
 others by the strangers who had settled in the country. 
 Thus Kingussie was erected by a certain Gilbert de Kathern ; 
 Kiltarlity and Kirkhill by Bisset, Lord of Beaufort ; and there 
 were other territorial magnates who were equally munificent. 
 
 The conventual system of the Church of Rome was but 
 
22 THE PRIORY OF BEAULY. 
 
 slightly represented within the bounds of Inverness-shire, 
 compared with other parts of Scotland. The monasteries 
 of Pluscarden and Kinloss, not far from its southern border, 
 and Beauly on its northern confines, were probably sufficient 
 for the needs of the inhabitants. The Priory of Beauly 
 occupied, until the Reformation, a conspicuous place in 
 Inverness-shire. It was founded by John Bysset, Lord of the 
 Aird, in 1230, and belonged to the Vallescaulians, or order 
 of Vallis Caulium. It was one of the three monasteries 
 of that order then existing in Scotland. The monks were 
 men of austere lives. All property was held in common. 
 Chapter was kept daily. Flesh-meat was forbidden in the 
 refectory. For part of the year two meals a-day were al- 
 lowed : bread, water, and pulse formed the diet for the rest 
 of the year. Sackcloth was worn next the flesh. Most of 
 their time the monks spent in reading, prayer, and con- 
 templation. They wore a white cassock with a narrow 
 scapulary, and they never went beyond the precincts of their 
 convent. The brethren were much occupied with gardening, 
 and with the cultivation of the neighbouring lands belonging 
 to them. The site of their house well deserves its name of 
 Beauly, or, as it is called in the Latin charters, Monasterium 
 de bello loco. It was placed amid the tract of alluvial soil 
 brought down by the river, open to the sunny south, look- 
 ing across to the wooded hills beyond the water, and sur- 
 rounded by level land producing the finest wheat. The 
 influence of the brethren must have been considerable among 
 the wild tribes where their lot was cast. They held up before 
 them for generations the virtues of a peaceful and self-deny- 
 ing life. They showed them what might be done in the 
 improvement and cultivation of the soil. They received 
 within their precincts the children of the neighbouring 
 barons, and gave thcni such education as they were able 
 
DOMINICAN MONASTERY IN INVERNESS. 23 
 
 to impart. The remains of their church still exist. It was 
 not a great building from an architectural point of view, 
 forming without aisles an oblong 150 feet long, with lateral 
 chapels on the sides of the east end. It was not largely 
 endowed ; but it held the churches of St Lawrence, Conveth, 
 Comar, and Abertarff, and it had a considerable revenue from 
 the salmon-fisheries of the neighbouring river. 
 
 In the town of Inverness there was founded in 1233 a 
 monastery of preaching friars of the order of St Dominic. 
 It must have been a building of importance, and it was well 
 endowed. Only a small fragment of it now remains. It 
 is said that Alexander II., when in Paris in 121 7, saw the' 
 founder of the order, and besought him to send some of his 
 brethren to Scotland in order to teach the people, promising 
 them all help and encouragement. It was in fulfilment of 
 that promise that he founded in several towns in Scotland, as 
 well as at Inverness, monasteries of the Dominican order. 
 
 Thus by the power represented by the Castle, the Burgh, 
 and the Church, Inverness-shire was entirely feudalised, and 
 Normans, Saxon Lords, and Flemings dominated the ancient 
 Celtic inhabitants. How despotic their power was is illus- 
 trated by an agreement entered into between the Bishop of 
 Moray and Comyn, the great Lord of Badenoch. ■ In this 
 agreement it is provided, in regard to the native men (naiivi), 
 that the bishop should have all the cleric and two lay native 
 men, but that all the other native men on lands in Badenoch, 
 with all their chattels and possessions, and with their chil- 
 dren and all their posterity, and the chattels of their children, 
 should belong to Walter Comyn. 
 
 It is to the period of which we are writing that we owe 
 the division of the country into counties, shires, or sheriff- 
 doms for civil purposes. In 1153 a sheriff was stationed at 
 Inverness whose authority extended all over Scotland north 
 
24 CREATION OF THE SHERIFFDOM. 
 
 of the Grampians. "Gif ane dwells byond Drumalbin in 
 Moray, Ross, Caithness, Argyle, or in Kintyre," it was enacted, 
 " he shall have fifteen days and also ane month to produce 
 his warrant before the scherif ; and gif he goes for his warrant 
 dwelland in Moray or in Ross, or in anie other of the steids 
 and places pertaining to Moray, and can nocht find or appre- 
 hend his warrant, he shall pass to the Scherif of Inverness ; 
 and the scherif sail send him the king's servants, quha sail 
 see he be righteouslie treated and handled conform to the 
 law of the land." 
 
 The shire or sheriffdom of Inverness was thus at the 
 beginning very extensive. Gradually, as the royal authority 
 was established over other parts of the northern king- 
 dom, its dimensions were curtailed. Other sheriffdoms were 
 erected, as those of Elgin, Forres, Nairn, and Cromarty, 
 and the county of Inverness by degrees assumed its present 
 proportions. 
 
25 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE DURING THE SCOTTISH WAR OF INDEPENDENCE — EDWARD 
 I. OF ENGLAND IN THE NORTH — THE CASTLE OF URQUHART A STRONG- 
 HOLD OF THE PATRIOTIC PARTY — RANDOLPH, EARL OF MORAY — HIS 
 VIGOROUS RULE — DAVID II. AT INVERNESS— GREAT SOCIAL CHANGES 
 IN THE COUNTY — ESTABLISHMENT OF THE CLAN SYSTEM — THE FRASERS, 
 GRANTS, CHISHOLMS, CAMERONS, AND OTHERS BECOME HEADS OF 
 CLANS — THE CLAN SYSTEM IN THE MAIN A DEVELOPMENT OF THE 
 NORMAN POLITY — THE FIRST NOTICE IN HISTORY OF THE CLANS 
 CONNECTED WITH INVERNESS - SHIRE — FEUD BETWEEN THE CLAN 
 CHATTAN AND THE CLAN CAMEEON— BATTLE OF INVERNAHAVON — 
 CONFLICT ON THE INCH OF PERTH. 
 
 The county of Inverness was not affected to the same ex- 
 tent as other parts of Scotland by the long struggle which 
 issued in the independence of the kingdom. It was far 
 away from the great scenes of conflict, and the contending 
 armies which traversed other counties left its soil almost un- 
 trodden. The great territorial lords among whom the shire 
 was partitioned had indeed to take part in the national con- 
 flict, and, as far as we can learn from the annals of the 
 time, they were on the patriotic side. A John of Glen- 
 urquhart and a son of John of the Aird were among the 
 prisoners taken by the English after the battle of Dunbar 
 (1296). Andrew Moray, son of Sir Andrew Moray of Petty 
 near Inverness, and of Avoch in Ross, was a close companion 
 of Sir William Wallace, and represented his interest among 
 the Highlanders. David, Bishop of Moray, was a chief sup- 
 
26 INVASIONS BY EDWARD I. 
 
 porter of King Robert Bruce, and preached throughout his 
 diocese a crusade in his favour. Names well known in 
 after-years in the history of Inverness-shire appear in the 
 historic narrative. A Simon Fraser, a John Cambron, and 
 a Mackintosh are named among the followers of the Scottish 
 monarch. At Bannockburn, it is said, as many as eighteen 
 chiefs fought on the patriotic side, and among them were 
 probably some at least from our northern county. Tradition 
 has always represented the Macdonalds as forming part of 
 the right wing of the royal army. 
 
 King Edward I. of England, having marched through 
 Scotland as far as Elgin, sent parties of soldiers into Inver- 
 ness-shire, who seized the northern strongholds and garrisoned 
 them with English troops. The castle of Inverness had 
 placed in it Sir Reginald le Chen as commandant, and 
 that of Glenurquhart on Loch Ness was put under the 
 charge of Sir William Fitz Warrine, a knight of renown. 
 The invaders had a troubled time, and at last were driven 
 out, the castles being taken by the Scots. 
 
 In 1303 the Enghsh king again appeared with an immense 
 army in the north, and, intrenching himself in the island 
 fortress of Loch-in-Dorb near Forres, brought the country 
 into subjection. The castle of Inverness yielded at once 
 to his summons, and that of Glenurquhart was taken after 
 a long siege. These castles after a time fell into the hands 
 of the Bruce, who came against them in person, and they 
 were held by him during his reign as king. 
 
 Again in 1335 the King of England, Edward III, ac- 
 companied by Edward Balliol, who had been crowned King 
 of Scotland, led an army as far as Inverness, taking the 
 castle, and wasting the surrounding district with fire and 
 sword. The castle of Urquhart, commanded by a stout 
 soldier. Sir Robert de Lauder, was defended successfully 
 
THE EARLDOM OF MORAY. 27 
 
 against its assailants, and continued a stronghold of the 
 patriotic party till peace was restored to Scotland. 
 
 The long years of warfare left some marks on Inverness- 
 shire, as well as on the rest of the country. The Comyns, the 
 great lords of Badenoch, one of whom, as all readers of Scottish 
 history know, had been murdered by the Bruce, disappeared 
 from the scene, and their lands were gifted to others. Thomas 
 Randolph, nephew of King Robert Bruce, was created Earl of 
 Moray, with the lordship of a territory which comprised nearly 
 the whole of what is now Inverness-shire. It included the 
 whole lands extending from the Spey to where Glenelg meets 
 the western sea, with its manors, townships, and thanages, and 
 all the royal demesnes, rents, and duties. All barons and 
 freeholders of the said earldom who held of the Crown, and 
 their heirs, were to render their homages, fealties, attendances 
 at courts, to Thomas Randolph and his heirs. 
 
 The new Earl of Moray thus became the most powerful 
 northern potentate, and the overlord of many barons : he was 
 a marked figure in his time ; he acted as Regent of the king- 
 dom in the minority of King David ; and we find him holding 
 court at Inverness, and dispensing justice with a firm hand. 
 An incident of his vigorous rule, which occurred in the 
 northern capital, is related by one of the early Scottish his- 
 torians. The murderer of a priest having gone to Rome and 
 procured absolution from the Pope, was brought before the 
 Regent for trial. He was, notwithstanding his plea of papal 
 absolution, tried, condemned, and executed : the Pope, the 
 Regent held, might absolve him from the spiritual conse- 
 quences of his crime, but for his offences against the law it 
 was but right that he should suffer. 
 
 Towards the close of his reign (in 1369) King David II. 
 came to Inverness in person with a considerable force, and 
 accompanied by the barons and prelates of the kingdom. 
 
28 THE LORD OF THE ISLES. 
 
 His object was to reduce to subjection certain wild Highland 
 lords who had kept the country in turmoil, had refused to pay 
 their share of taxation, and generally defied the royal authority. 
 It was the beginning of those strifes between the Crown and 
 the chiefs that went on for centuries. The head of these in- 
 surgents was the Lord of the Isles, whose family had long 
 intrigued with England against the Scottish Crown. The 
 western potentate appeared in the castle of Inverness and 
 submitted himself to the king. He supplicated the remission 
 of his late faults : he promised that he and his following would 
 keep the peace ; that he would make reparation to all good 
 men of the kingdom for such injuries, losses, and troubles as 
 had been wrought by him and his sons ; and he offered to 
 give his son, his grandson, and his natural son as hostages 
 to the king for his good behaviour. The king accepted 
 his submission, and peace reigned for a time beyond the 
 Highland borders. 
 
 Great social changes had by this time taken place in Inver- 
 ness-shire. During the disordered state of the country the 
 power and pride of the feudal lords in the north had been on 
 the increase. Isolated from the rest of the kingdom, and re- 
 siding among their mountain fastnesses, each of them had 
 become a kind of sovereign to his own vassals, and exercised 
 over them a jurisdiction almost independent of royal authority. 
 They made war with their neighbours at their pleasure, trav- 
 elled the country with military pomp, and when at home in 
 their castles lived in barbaric magnificence. It is a character- 
 istic of the Celtic race that they must have leaders, and this 
 was a feeling entirely in accordance with the notions of the 
 Normans and Saxons who had been planted among them. 
 These barons rallied round them clans of followers who bore 
 their names, looked to them as their leaders, and yielded to 
 them at all times implicit obedience. 
 
POWERFUL CLANS. 29 
 
 The Frasers or Frizells, lords of Lovat, a Norman family 
 early located in the Lothians, succeeded to the chief part 
 of the possessions of the great house of Bisset, and became 
 chiefs of a powerful clan inhabiting the Aird and the district 
 along the river Beauly. The Chisholms, also of the same 
 race, one of whom had been Constable of Urquhart Castle, 
 acquired the Erchless branch of the Bisset property, and 
 became like their neighbours the founders of a considerable 
 clan. The Grants, descendants of Sir Laurence le Grant or 
 le Grand, who had been Sheriff of Inverness in the reign of 
 Alexander III., at a time when it was highly improbable that 
 any but a foreigner would occupy that office, obtained lands 
 first in Stratherrick and afterwards by the river Spey, and 
 founded the great clan that still bears their name. The 
 Camerons were apparently also originally a Lowland family, 
 holding lands in Forfar, Perth, and Fife as early as the 
 thirteenth century. The surname of Cambron occurs no 
 fewer than seven times in the Ragman Rolls — the lists of those 
 who submitted themselves to the English king. They are 
 sometimes termed Miles and sometimes Chevalier, and are 
 designated as of the counties we have mentioned. A Hugh 
 Cambron in 12 14 held the office of Sheriff of Angus, and in 
 1261a Robert of Cambron was forester of the castle at Cluny 
 in Perthshire. During the reign of William the Lion, a Robert 
 of Cambron was a witness to a grant made to the Monastery of 
 Cambuskenneth. Very possibly the name was assumed from 
 the district or parish of Cameron in Fife, the name of which 
 in early charters is spelt Cambron. Some scion of this house 
 in all likelihood acquired lands on the shores of Loch Lochy, 
 and gathered around him the clan which bore his name. 
 Indeed we know that in 1292 a Robert de Chambroun of 
 Balligarnucht (Baligairny near Scone) was awarded 50 merks 
 of pension, according to a concession of King Alexander, from 
 
30 CLANS FOUNDED BY STRANGERS. 
 
 the rents of Inverness. This Robert from the south, who had 
 come northward to push his fortunes like so many others, may 
 have been the progenitor of the great family of Lochiel. 
 
 Probably other Inverness-shire clans were formed in like 
 manner by strangers. The tradition of most of the clans 
 speaks of their founders as foreigners, and the tradition is 
 probably correct. As we have seen, the feudalisation of 
 Inverness-shire was so complete, and the natives were so 
 thoroughly subdued, that it is difficult to believe that any 
 vestige of Celtic authority which may have existed in the old 
 province of Moray had been suffered to continue. How- 
 ever this may be, what is called the clan system became 
 thoroughly established throughout Inverness-shire. In addi- 
 tion to the clans we have mentioned, there were others equally 
 prominent, inhabiting well-defined areas. Badenoch and the 
 adjoining district were peopled by the Clan Chattan, a great 
 confederation comprising several septs, such as the Mac- 
 phersons. Mackintoshes, Farquharsons, and Davidsons. In 
 Lochaber were the Macdonalds of the Isles, who had received 
 from Balliol a grant of that district ; while another branch of 
 the same great family, called the Clanranald, held the lordship 
 of Garmorran, comprising Moidart, Knoydart, Morar, Arisaig, 
 and finally probably Glengarry. 
 
 The clan system thus established throughout Inverness-shire 
 gives the key to its history throughout succeeding centuries. 
 In its main features that system is well known, and need 
 scarcely be described. It was a paternal form of government. 
 The chief was regarded as the father of his people. Each 
 district was an independent state, each clan an isolated com- 
 munity. The people knew no one higher than the chief, and 
 no country except that of which his castle was the centre. 
 His word was absolute. He held in his hand the power of 
 life and death. His tenants followed his standard in war 
 
THE CLAN SYSTEM. 3 1 
 
 supplied his table with the produce of their labour, and their 
 whole life was but the echo of his will. 
 
 Each clan formed a little army in which there was regular 
 organisation. The chief was commander; the standard- 
 bearer carried the banner of the clan ; the oldest cadet led 
 the right wing ; the youngest the rear ; while the head of 
 every district was captain of his tribe. There was ample 
 opportunity for military prowess. The feuds between the 
 chiefs were interminable. Whatever feud was taken up by 
 the chief was espoused by the clan, and was often handed 
 down from generation to generation with increasing virulence. 
 When, at rare intervals, the clans in one part of Inverness- 
 shire were at peace, those in another part were at war, fight- 
 ing their opponents in the field — harrying their lands and 
 raiding their cattle. The history of the county is for long 
 little else than a history of rapine, bloodshed, and internal 
 disorder. There is scarcely anything to chronicle except 
 the conflicts between one clan and another, or with the Crown 
 when the king endeavoured to curb their ferocity. 
 
 The clan system of the Highlands we believe to have 
 been the Norman polity influenced by the Celtic customs of 
 those among whom it was planted. A clan beyond the 
 Grampians differed but slightly from a clan on the southern 
 Scottish Borders, at the head of which was a Norman baron. 
 The baron held of the sovereign, and the vassals held of the 
 baron. In the Highlands this was also the case, but there 
 were certain peculiarities of Highland tenure which differed 
 from that in other parts of the kingdom. When a feudal lord 
 died, "his sovereign was entitled to see him succeeded by one 
 capable of defending the fief; and if the nearest in blood was 
 a minor, an imbecile, or a woman, he might refuse to renew 
 the investiture. If a like circumstance occurred on the death 
 of a Highland chief, the clan took up the matter, and looked 
 
32 CLANS IN IRELAND. 
 
 from the nearest heir by blood to some collateral relative 
 of higher promise," to whom they gave their obedience. In 
 this respect, and also in a few minor matters, Celtic customs 
 prevailed ; but in the main the clan system differed little from 
 the feudal. 
 
 What took place in the north of Scotland has its counter- 
 part in what had previously taken place in Ireland. When 
 Henry II. went to that country in 1171, his first act was to 
 have himself acknowledged as overlord, not only by " Strong- 
 bow," but also by the Irish chiefs. The lands of all who 
 refused to submit were forfeited, and were apportioned 
 among Henry's Anglo - Norman followers, who took over at 
 the same time the headship of the clans. They became 
 powerful chiefs. Thus the Frasers and the Camerons in 
 Scotland had their counterparts in the Fitzgeralds and Butlers 
 in Ireland. In after-years these Anglo-Irish chiefs, like the 
 chiefs of Inverness-shire, were the most troublesome enemies 
 of the English rule. Both gathered round them numerous 
 followers, whom they ruled on feudal principles, and with 
 whose aid they were a standing menace to royal order and 
 authority. 
 
 The first, or almost the first, appearance of the clan system 
 on the pages of Scottish history is connected with Inverness- 
 shire: 
 
 In 1396 the attention of the Government was called to 
 the warfare between two northern clans, which kept the 
 country beyond the Grampians in a constant state of disquiet 
 and alarm. What clans these were it is not easy now to 
 determine. The references in contemporary historians are very 
 obscure, especially in regard to the names which the Lowland 
 scribes give to the septs, and which correspond to no names 
 known now. Some have supposed the contending parties 
 to have been the Clan Chattan and the Clan Cameron; 
 
BATTLE OF INVERNAHAVON. 33 
 
 Others, the Mackintoshes and the Macphersons ; others, the 
 Macphersons and the Davidsons ; others, the Davidsons and 
 the Camerons. Probably the first of these theories is the 
 true one, though it is impossible to write on the subject with 
 any degree of certainty. Between the Camerons and the 
 Clan Chattan there existed an old feud regarding the pos- 
 session of certain lands of Glenlui, and Locharkaig in 
 Lochaber, claimed by the Mackintoshes by a title granted 
 by the Lord of the Isles, which had been confirmed by the 
 Crown, but held by the Camerons at the point of the sword. 
 That feud lasted long, and, previous to the period of which 
 we are writing, was the cause of a battle between the 
 Camerons and the Clan Chattan at Invernahavon in Bade- 
 noch, when the former were defeated with great slaughter. 
 The Government sought to settle the quarrel between the 
 contending parties, whoever they were, by peaceable means, 
 and commissioners were appointed to endeavour to effect a 
 settlement. Their efforts were abortive ; the quarrel was 
 too fierce to be settled by any compromise, and ultimately a 
 proposal was made that the opponents should abide by the 
 ordeal of combat or wager of battle, a form of appeal to 
 Providence which was in special favour with the Normans. 
 
 It has been said by Sir Walter Scott, who has cast the 
 glamour of romance around this incident in the ' Fair Maid 
 of Perth,' that it " marks with equal distinctness the rancour 
 of these native feuds and the degraded condition of the 
 Government of the country." The readiness with which 
 the northern chiefs fell in with the proposal seems also to 
 indicate their familiarity with the practice of the Norman 
 race, to which they themselves probably belonged. 
 
 Thirty of each contending clan — that being the maximum 
 number of compurgators required by Norman usage to clear 
 an accused person — met on the North Inch of Perth to decide 
 
 c 
 
34 THE COMBAT ON THE INCH OF PERTH. 
 
 their quarrel by the arbitrament of the sword. It was u 
 garded as a great occasion, and many spectators were gathere 
 together. King Robert III., his queen and Court, wer 
 present, surrounded by nobles, churchmen, knights, an 
 foreign visitors. The population of the city and surroundin 
 neighbourhood trooped out in large numbers to see the shov 
 Sir Walter Scott has given so vivid a description of what too' 
 place that there is no need now to portray the scene. It i 
 for us only to tell the result. One clan being for some caus 
 short of a combatant, his place was supplied by an armoure 
 of Perth called the " Gow Chrom " or Crooked Smith. Th 
 formalities required by the laws of chivalry on such occasion 
 took place, and a murderous conflict began. At its close th 
 only survivor of the vanquished clan sought safety by swim 
 ming the river Tay, leaving on the field eleven of the victon 
 among whom was the stranger who had fought in their ranks 
 What became of the defeated clan after the fight is a matte 
 of conjecture. There is every likelihood that the feud whicl 
 it was intended to appease continued to be waged with mor 
 or less intensity. The defeated would naturally feel tha 
 their disgrace could only be wiped out by blood, and the 
 would thirst for vengeance. Certainly, if the combatant 
 were, as we have supposed, the Clan Chattan and the Clai 
 Cameron, the quarrel between them was not brought to 
 close upon the banks of the Tay, but continued to be wage( 
 for many years with ever-increasing ferocity. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANNALS OF INVEENESS-SHIRE NOW PALI, INTO TWO DIVISIONS— THE KING 
 AGAINST THE CLANS AND THE CLANS AGAINST EACH OTHER — EFFORTS 
 OF THE CROWN TO BRING THE CHIEFS INTO SUBJECTION — TWO CEN- 
 TURIES OF DISORDER — REBELLIONS OF THE LORDS OF THE ISLES^OF 
 DONALD IN 1411 — HIS DEFEAT AT HAELAW — VISIT TO INVERNESS OF 
 JAMES I. — EXECUTES JUSTICE ON THE REBELS — INVERNESS BURNT BY 
 THE ISLAND CHIEF — HIS DEFEAT IN LOCHABER AND SUBMISSION AT 
 HOLYROOD— THE RISING OF DONALD BALLOCH — THE REBELLION OF 
 JOHN OF THE ISLES IN 1451, AND OF HIS NEPHEW IN 1491 — THE LORD- 
 SHIP OF THE ISLES FORFEITED — OTHER UPRISINGS OF THE NORTHERN 
 CLANS — POLICY OF THE GOVERNMENT TO STRENGTHEN THE AUTHOR- 
 ITY OF THE CROWN IN THE NORTH — THE EARL OF HUNTLY APPOINTED 
 LIEUTENANT - GENERAL OF THE HIGHLANDS — HIS DIFFICULTIES IN 
 MAINTAINING ORDER— JOHN OF MOID ART AND THE "BATTLE OF THE 
 SHIRTS " — THE BLACK TAILOR OF THE AXE— GRADUAL EVOLUTION 
 OF ORDER- ROYAL VISITS TO THE NORTH — OF JAMES II., III., IV., V., 
 AND OF MARY OF GUISE — MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AT INVERNESS — THE 
 BURGH OF INVERNESS IN THOSE TROUBLED TIMES— HOLDS ITS OWN 
 AGAINST " CLANNED MEN " AND GROWS IN WEALTH AND PROSPERITY. 
 
 We have now come to a period when the annals of Inverness- 
 shire fall into two divisions. Under the first we have the 
 efforts of the Crown to bring into subjection its subjects be- 
 yond the Highland line when they became rebellious. Under 
 the second we have the feuds of the chiefs among themselves, 
 almost interminable, and certainly monotonous to relate with 
 any fulness of detail : they are all of the same character, and 
 any one of them may be taken as a sample of the rest. The 
 history of two centuries is little else than a history of rapine 
 and disorder. 
 
2,6 THE LORDS OF THE ISLES. 
 
 In the struggle with royal authority, the Lords of the Isles 
 were almost always those who raised the standard of revolt, 
 though they were aided and abetted by other chiefs and other 
 clans. These western magnates, after the Hebrides, which 
 formerly belonged to Norway, were annexed by Scotland, 
 seem to have cherished a strong feeling of antagonism to the 
 Scottish Government. They affected the style and title of 
 princes, maintained an army and fleet, gave charters to chiefs 
 as their vassals, intrigued and entered into alliance with 
 England, and spoke of the Scottish people as their " old 
 enemies." At every suitable opportunity during many years 
 they made efforts to maintain their independence, and to 
 throw off their allegiance to Scotland. Inverness-shire clans 
 were found ready to give them assistance. The Clanranald 
 of Garmorran were their kinsmen ; the Clan Cameron were 
 their vassals ; and the Clan Chattan, who were probably also 
 their vassals for their holding in Lochaber, powerfully sup- 
 ported their pretensions on more than one occasion. Again 
 and again the King of Scotland had to take the field against 
 them, and bring them into subjection. Though often par- 
 doned and treated with a clemency which seems surprising, 
 they returned again and again to their old courses, and 
 were a standing menace to the peace of the kingdom. 
 
 In 141 1 the Lord of the Isles was named Donald. He 
 was a chief who inherited all the warHke propensities and all 
 the proud pretensions of his forebears. Taking as a pretext for 
 hostility the rejection by the Regent of the kingdom, the Duke 
 of Albany, of his claim to the earldom of Ross, he landed on 
 the mainland a powerful army of Islesmen armed with bows, 
 pole-axes, knives, and swords. \\'ith little opposition, he took 
 possession of the territory of the earldom, his title to which 
 had been refused. Flushed with success, he gathered together 
 at Inverness all the forces that he could muster, and marched 
 
BATTLE OF HARLAW. 37 
 
 southward through Moray, bent upon the conquest of Scotland. 
 The Clan Cameron, the Clan Chattan, and the Clanranald, 
 led by their chiefs, were among his followers. For a time he 
 carried all before him ; but at Harlaw in the Braes of Buchan 
 he encountered a force commanded by the Earl of Mar, when 
 one of the bloodiest battles ensued of which we have account 
 in Scottish history. The battle was a drawn one, and neither 
 side could claim the victory. Night came down upon the 
 combatants, and when morning dawned the Lord of the Isles 
 had retreated. He was ultimately obliged to yield his claims 
 to the earldom, and after making his submission to the Crown 
 and giving hostages for his good behaviour, he received pardon 
 for his offences. 
 
 This rebellion was quelled, but was soon succeeded by 
 another. " Let God but grant me life," King James I. is 
 reported to have said on his accession to power, " and there 
 shall not be a spot in my dominion where the key shall not 
 keep the castle and the furze bush the cow, though I myself 
 should live the life of a dog to accomplish it." These were 
 brave words, and the king did his best to give effect to them. 
 The expedition of Donald of Harlaw, as he was called, showed 
 clearly the contempt for the law, and the general spirit of 
 insubordination, which prevailed throughout Inverness-shire. 
 To our county, therefore, the king came in person, determined 
 to assert authority. Accompanied by his queen, his retinue, 
 and large numbers of his Parliament, he crossed the Month on 
 horseback, and took up his quarters in the castle of Inverness, 
 There was much loyal pageantry and display in the northern 
 capital. The Highland chiefs were commanded to give 
 attendance for the purpose of consulting as to the best means 
 of maintaining peace and order. Not daring to refuse, for 
 they held their lands from the Crown, they obeyed the 
 summons, although many of them must have done so with 
 
38 DESTRUCTION OF INVERNESS. 
 
 fear and trembling. Forty of them were imprisoned, and 
 among them the Lord of the Isles. They were lured like 
 wild beasts into a trap. No sooner did they enter the hall 
 where Parliament was assembled than they were seized and 
 committed to prison. Some of them were condemned, after 
 what trial we know not, to periods of imprisonment ; others 
 were executed offhand. Alexander of Garmorran was among 
 the latter, the Lord of the Isles among the former. His im- 
 prisonment was of short duration, and on making promise of 
 good behaviour for time to come he was released. Such 
 promises were of little value, and before the king had well 
 reached Edinburgh they were broken. Smarting under the 
 indignity that had been put upon him, and the treacherous 
 treatment he had received, the Island Lord returned to the 
 West and raised his followers. At the head of several thou- 
 sand men he marched to Inverness, the scene of his disgrace, 
 burning for vengeance. The castle, which had been specially 
 strengthened after Harlaw, resisted his attack ; the town he 
 pillaged and burned to the ground. Having thus gratified his 
 vengeance, he returned to Lochaber on his way home ; but 
 ere he left that country retribution overtook him. The king 
 with wonderful activity mustered an army, placed himself at 
 its head, found his way into that remote district, and came 
 unexpectedly upon his rebellious subject. The Clan Chattan 
 and the Clan Cameron, on seeing the royal standard, left the 
 Lord of the Isles and went over to the king. The Lord of 
 the Isles was so pressed that he made proposals of surrender, 
 which were rejected. Leaving his army, he took to flight, but 
 even in his wild dominions the outlaw found no place of 
 safety. In desperation he resolved to throw himself on the 
 clemency of the king. His manner of doing this was highly 
 dramatic. On Easter Sunday the king and queen were 
 engaged in their de\otions before the high altar in the Chapel 
 
BATTLE OF INVERLOCHY. 39 
 
 Royal of Holyrood, when a wild and haggard figure cast him- 
 self before them : it was the Lord of the Isles, clothed only in 
 a shirt and drawers ; in one hand he held his bonnet, in the 
 other he held his sword by the point, and offered it to the king 
 in token of submission. Touched by the humiliating spectacle, 
 as well as influenced by the entreaties of his queen, the king 
 granted the chief his life, but ordered him to be imprisoned 
 in the castle of Tantallon. It might have been better for 
 the peace of the country if he had been more severely dealt 
 with. 
 
 Scarcely had this rebel been in ward when a third uprising 
 took place, which, like that which we have noticed, affected 
 Inverness-shire. Donald Balloch, a near relative of the im- 
 prisoned lord, enraged at the treatment of his chief, and 
 probably with his connivance, manned his galleys of war 
 with the strength of the clan, and, disembarking on the shores 
 of Lochaber, joined battle with the king's forces under the 
 Earls of Mar and Caithness. A fearful engagement took 
 place at Inverlochy, and the Islesmen were victorious. The 
 Earl of Caithness with many barons and knights were left 
 dead on the field, and the Earl of Mar with difficulty rescued 
 the remains of the royal army, and made his way by the 
 valley of the Spean into Badenoch. According to some 
 chroniclers, he abandoned his men and fled through the 
 mountains. Donald Balloch then ravaged at his leisure the 
 lands of the Clan Chattan and the Clan Cameron, who had 
 in the former fight deserted the banner of his chief Having 
 thus glutted his vengeance, he retreated with much plunder 
 to the Islands, and afterwards sought safety in Ireland. 
 
 Another rebellion took place in 145 1, headed by John, 
 Lord of the Isles, son of the man who had humbled himself 
 at Holyrood. Inverness-shire suffered much from him, as 
 it had suffered from his ancestors. He demolished the 
 
40 JOHN, LORD OF THE ISLES. 
 
 castle of Ruthven in Badenoch, seized the castles of Urquhai 
 and Inverness, and committed many outrages on the wes 
 coast of Scotland. He received for these the forgivenes 
 of the sovereign and was restored to royal favour, but wit 
 the obstinacy of his race he soon returned to his own coursei 
 Taking advantage of the weakness of the Government aft£ 
 the death of the king, he entered into a league with Englanc 
 the object of which was the conquest of Scotland. He mad 
 himself master of the castle of Inverness, and assumed in th 
 northern capital the exercise of royal authority. He seize 
 the customs of the town, and issued proclamations con 
 manding the inhabitants of the North to pay him their taxei 
 and to refuse obedience to King James. This rebellion wa 
 in time suppressed, and again the rebel had the favour ( 
 the Crown extended to him. His nephew then rebelle( 
 and in 1494, with a large body of his mainland vassals froi 
 Lochaber and Garmorran, and with the Clan Chattan and th 
 Clan Cameron, marched into Badenoch, and thence to Ii 
 verness, where they captured the castle. This achievemer 
 filled the cup of the Islesman's iniquity to the brim, an 
 brought his lordship to a close. It was forfeited and annexe 
 to the Crown. It was long, however, before Inverness-shii 
 ceased to be troubled by the descendants of the wester 
 viking. 
 
 In 1503 there was an incursion of Islesmen into Badenocl 
 which was wasted with fire and sword. This insurrect 
 was so formidable that three campaigns had to be unde 
 taken before it was quelled. In 1 5 1 3 a large force of Higl 
 landers, led by Sir Donald of Lochalsh, who claimed tl 
 lordship of the Isles, aided by Macranald of Glengarry an 
 Chisholm of Comar, seized the castle of Urquhart. Th 
 rebellion lasted five years. It was not till the middle of tl 
 sixteenth century that the western family ceased to hara 
 
LAWLESSNESS IN THE HIGHLANDS. 41 
 
 Inverness -shire, though they continued to be a constant 
 source of trouble to other parts of Scotland. 
 
 Other, but less serious, uprisings of Inverness-shire clans 
 mark this period. The lawless state of the county may be 
 judged from a royal mandate issued in 1528 against the 
 Clan Chattan for " daly raising of fire, slauchter, murther, 
 heirschippis, and wasting of the countre." The powerful 
 barons and chiefs by whom the mandate was to be executed 
 were to " pass all at anys upon the Clan quhattane and invade 
 them to their utter destruction be slauchtir, byrning, drouning, 
 and uther wayis, and lief na creatur livand of that clann ex- 
 cept priestis, women, and bairnis." The lives of the latter 
 were to be spared, because it were inhumanity to put hands 
 in their blood, but they were to be shipped out of the country 
 to Jesland, Zesland, or Norway. Fortunately for the clan 
 this terrible sentence of extermination was not carried out, 
 but it may be taken as indicating that at the time Inverness- 
 shire was a boiling caldron of disorder and rapine. 
 
 ■The Government at last adopted a distinct, though doubt- 
 ful, policy in order to strengthen its authority in the Highlands. 
 This was to commit the power of the Crown to two great 
 territorial houses, which had shown vast capacity for their 
 own aggrandisement, and which were expected, from their 
 overwhelming influence, to be able to curb the rapacity of 
 weaker clans. In the West, Argyle, whose fortunes had 
 risen with the downfall of the Lords of the Isles, was in- 
 vested with full authority. In the North, the Earl of Huntly 
 was in 1544 appointed Sheriff of Inverness and Lieutenant- 
 General of all the Highlands. The reign of the latter was a 
 troubled one. He was constantly in the field against insur- 
 gents, either in the western district of Moidart, in Lochaber, 
 or in Badenoch. In the year of his appointment he was 
 involved in a conflict which may be taken as a specimen 
 
42 A TYPICAL CLAN FEUD. 
 
 of the clan feuds of the time, and the ferocity with which 
 they were waged. 
 
 A certain Ronald Gaulda, or the foreigner, had claimed, 
 in opposition to John of Moidart, the chieftainship of the 
 Clanranald — a claim which was accompanied in the usual 
 Highland fashion with disturbance and robbery. The Earl 
 of Huntly took the side of Ronald, and with a large force 
 set out to invade the Garmorran country. A number of 
 Inverness-shire clans accompanied him, — the Frasers, who 
 were connected by marriage with Ronald, and whose lands 
 had been harried by his opponents ; the Grants, with the 
 men of Strathspey and Glenmoriston ; and the Clan Chattan 
 with 1500 men. The Macdonalds of Lochaber and Glen- 
 garry with the Clan Cameron supported John of Moidart. 
 The forces of the latter retired before Huntly, and without 
 a battle he placed Ronald Gaulda in apparent possession of 
 Moidart. On his return homewards his party divided at 
 the Water of Gloy, a stream flowing into Loch Lochy from 
 the east near its southern extremity. Huntly, the chief of 
 Grant, and the Clan Chattan took the route by Lochaber 
 and Badenoch to their respective territories. The Frasers, 
 accompanied by Ronald Gaulda and the men of Urquhart 
 and Glenmoriston, continued their journey along the Great 
 Caledonian Glen. In the narrow pass at the south end of 
 Loch Lochy they were set upon by John of Moidart and 
 his following. From the hills above the ancient church of 
 Kilfinnan the Macdonalds and Camerons swooped down like 
 birds of prey upon their enemies. A fearful hand-to-hand 
 conflict ensued, which lasted from mid-day till late in the 
 afternoon. At its close the Frasers were almost entirely 
 cut off. Lovat their chief, his eldest son Ronald Gaulda, 
 with eighty of the gentry of the Frasers, were slain. The 
 day was hot, and the combatants stripped themselves to 
 
BATTLE OF THE SHIRTS. 43 
 
 their shirts — a circumstance which led to the fight being 
 called " Blar na leinna," or " Battle of the Shirts," a name 
 which the field of battle bears to this day. The armourer 
 of the Clanranalds is said to have met in the conflict with 
 his fellow-craftsman of the Erasers. "Take that," said the 
 Macdonald, delivering a fierce blow, "from Clanranald's 
 blacksmith." The Fraser parried the thrust, saying, "And 
 thou receive this from MacShimie's [Lovat's] ' blacksmith." 
 When the fight was over, the two men were found lying 
 dead side by side. It was probably the fiercest battle ever 
 waged by the clans since that of the Inch at Perth, and 
 many traditions regarding it still linger in Highland song 
 and story. 
 
 John of Moidart returned triumphantly to his native wilds. 
 In the succeeding spring, with a host of marauding followers, 
 he swept bare Invermoriston and Glenurquhart, leaving no 
 hoof or article of value on the raided lands. He was out- 
 lawed, and his possessions were declared forfeited, but he still 
 maintained his own. Expeditions were sent against him in 
 vain. Argyle was to bombard his castle from the sea, Huntly 
 to attack it from the shore, but neither was able to disturb 
 him. The queen - regent came in person to Inverness to 
 deal with him, but he failed to appear. Lochiel and Kep- 
 poch, his allies, were seized and beheaded, but he himself 
 retained his freedom. At length, after being assured by 
 the Earl of Athole, who had been commissioned to capture 
 him, that he would be leniently dealt with, he and his sons 
 appeared before the queen -regent. They were committed 
 to prison, but they made their escape and found their way 
 back to Moidart. From this nothing could dislodge the 
 chief. The name of the notorious rebel, John Moydartach, 
 appears often in the annals of the time. The last mention 
 of him in the public records is a minute in which "my 
 
44 THE "BLACK TAILOR OF THE AXE." 
 
 Lords" are requested to report by what means John of 
 Moidart may be " dandonit." " Dandonit " the brave old 
 hero never was, and he died peacefully in his own house 
 of Castle Tirrim, forty years after the battle in which he 
 had been victor. 
 
 Perhaps no better illustration could be found, though 
 many more might be taken from the clan histories, of the 
 state of Inverness - shire during the years to which this 
 chapter relates. During this period occurred the incident 
 of the "black tailor of the axe," a story still told on the 
 banks of Loch Arkaig. It also illustrates the wild state of 
 the country, not untouched by gleams of romance. The 
 black tailor, famed for his skill in wielding the Lochaber' 
 axe, was the leader of the Camerons during the minority 
 of their chief. While out hunting, he was taken prisoner 
 by the Mackintoshes. "Were I in your place," said the 
 chief of the latter clan, "what would you do with me?" 
 " I would," replied the captive, " give you a chance of 
 escaping with your life, and if you could get free I would 
 let you go." " Then," said the Mackintosh, " I shall do the 
 same with you, that you may not say you outstripped me 
 in your generosity." A ring of armed men was formed 
 around the black tailor, and he was told to find his way 
 out. After looking around for a time to see if he could, 
 as he said, " pull a stake out of the paling," he suddenly 
 made a spring to a part of the circle ; a warrior fell beneath 
 the stroke of his axe, and darting through the opening he 
 was free, though followed closely by his late captors. The 
 fugitive came to a wide ditch, which he leapt. The Mack- 
 intosh, leaping after him, fell into the bog. The tailor, turn- 
 ing, stood over him flourishing his terrible axe above his 
 head. " I might," he said, " but I will not ; " and stretching 
 out his hand he extricated his adversary from the morass. 
 
MEASURES FOR MAINTAINING ORDER. 45 
 
 Mackintosh, impressed by hiis generosity, waved back his 
 men, and the black tailor disappeared. Strange to say, he 
 was never seen again in Lochaber. He vanished, and many 
 legends were associated with his mysterious disappearance. 
 He is now known to have gone to Cowal in Argyleshire, 
 where he took the name of Taylor ; and one of his descend- 
 ants occupies at the present time an honoured place as a 
 professor in the University of Edinburgh. His prowess was 
 long remembered ; the place where he made his famous leap 
 is still pointed out near the banks of the Caledonian Canal 
 at Gairlochy, and is called to this day " the leap of the 
 tailor." " The black tailor of the battle-axe who put defeat 
 upon the Mackintosh " is a proverbial saying throughout the 
 Highlands. 
 
 Much, however, was done during this period to make the 
 law respected, and a gradual evolution of order from chaos 
 began to take place. Besides the appointment of a lord- 
 lieutenant, there were other measures adopted to strengthen 
 the central authority. The royal castles of Inverness and 
 Inverlochy were strongly fortified. Huntly not only received 
 power to add to the fortification, but was also bound at his 
 own expense to build upon the Castlehill of Inverness a hall of 
 stone and lime upon vaults. It was to be 100 feet in length, 
 30 in breadth, and the same in height, to have a slated roof, 
 with kitchen and chapel attached. At Inverlochy he was 
 to raise a tower of strength with a barbican. These for- 
 tresses must have tended somewhat towards the mainten- 
 ance of order. 
 
 But more than any castle - building, the establishment of 
 courts of justice throughout the county must have conduced 
 to law and order. There was to be a depute-sheriff at Inver- 
 ness ; another was to hold courts at Kingussie for Badenoch, 
 and a third at Inverlochy for Lochaber. The justice dispensed 
 
46 ROYAL VISITS TO INVERNESS. 
 
 at these tribunals may have been of the roughest and the 
 readiest kind; still it was better than none, and it brought 
 home to the minds both of chief and clan the existence of 
 an authority higher than that of both. 
 
 The royal visits to the North also specially tended to bring 
 about a more settled condition of things It is a noteworthy 
 fact that, though the Inverness-shire chiefs might pay but little 
 respect to the king's laws when the sovereign was at Holyrood, 
 when he came among them in person the principles of feudal- 
 ism asserted themselves : they received him with loyalty, and 
 paid him ready submission. The visit of King James I. to 
 Inverness we have already noticed. A large portion of the 
 time of James II. appears to have been spent north of the 
 Spey, and on more than one occasion he held justice-ayres at 
 Inverness. James III., a year after his marriage, made in 
 1470 a journey there, and remained in the town from the 
 24th of July to the 24th of August. James IV. frequently 
 came to the northern capital: he was there in 1493, 1494 
 twice, in 1499, in 1501, and in 1503. James V. does not 
 appear to have gone farther north than Athole ; but he visited 
 with a large fleet the Western Isles belonging to the county, 
 and the mainland districts of Glenelg and Moidart, when he 
 seized and took south with him, among other Highland chiefs, 
 the captains of Clanranald and Glengarry. Mary of Guise, 
 queen-regent of the kingdom, accompanied by many nobles, 
 held at Inverness in 1 5 5 S a Convention of Estates, and visited 
 with " extreme and vigorous punishment " many offenders 
 against the law. The last royal visitor was Mary, Queen of 
 Scots. In 1562 she made on horseback what Randolph in 
 a letter to Cecil calls " a terrible journey." Leaving Edinburgh 
 on the nth of August, she reached InvL'mess on the nth of 
 September. She was denied admission to the castle, which 
 was held at the time by a representative of the Earl of Huntly, 
 
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS. 47 
 
 with whom the queen was at variance. The Frasers, the 
 Munros, and the Clan Chattan came to her aid, captured 
 the castle, and hanged the captain over the battlements. 
 Randolph, who was in attendance on the queen, describes her 
 visit with considerable vividness : — 
 
 " At the queen's arrival at Inverness, she, proposing to have 
 lodged in the castle, which pertaineth to herself, and the keep- 
 ing only to the Earl of Huntly (Lord Gordon), being sheriff 
 by inheritance, was refused there to have entry, and enforced 
 to lodge in the town. ' That night, the castle being summoned 
 to be rendered to the queen, answer was given by those that 
 kept it in Lord Gordon's behalf, that without his command it 
 should not be delivered. The next day the country assembled 
 to the assistance of the queen. The Gordons also made their 
 friends come out. We looked every hour to see what shall 
 become of the matter. We left nothing undone that was need- 
 ful. And the Gordons, not finding themselves so well served, 
 and never amounting to above 500 men, sent word to those 
 who were within, amounting to only twelve or thirteen able 
 men, to render the castle ; which they did. The captain was 
 hanged, and his head set upon the castle ; some others con- 
 demned to perpetual imprisonment ; and the rest received 
 mercy. In all those garbulles, I assure your honour I never 
 saw the queen merrier ; never dismayed ; nor never thought 
 I that stomach to be in her that I find. She repented noth- 
 ing, but, when the lords and others at Inverness came in the 
 morning from the watche, that she was not a man, to know 
 what life it was to lye all night in the fields, or to walk upon 
 the causeway, with a jack and knapsack, a Glasgow buckler, 
 and a broadsword. Lest your honour should speere [inquire] 
 what in this meantime I did, it may please you to know that, 
 in good faith, when so many were occupied, I was ashamed to 
 sit still, and did as the rest." 
 
48 THE BURGHERS OF INVERNESS. 
 
 Unfortunately we have had little to tell in this chapter 
 beyond the story of constant warfare. In the history of the 
 troubled years over which we have rapidly travelled, there is 
 but one pleasing feature which is worthy of notice. The little 
 burgh of Inverness held its own bravely, and presented in its 
 condition a marked contrast to the surrounding country. The 
 town had been burned to the ground, as we have seen, by the 
 Islesmen, but after a time of great hardship it recovered from 
 its forlorn condition. As years went on it grew in wealth 
 and prosperity ; it carried on trade with foreign parts, chiefly 
 with Flanders. It exported hides of cattle ; skins of marten, 
 weasels, foxes, and other wild animals ; salmon, iron, and 
 woollen cloth, spun and woven in Highland cottages, and 
 brought to the burgh market for sale. Its imports were 
 doubtless those of Scottish burghs of the period — wine, spices, 
 cloth of all kinds from buckram to satin and velvet, and 
 articles of domestic and church furniture. The growing wealth 
 of the burgh is shown by the liberality of its indwellers to the 
 Church ; they founded altars in their parish church, and 
 endowed chaplains to minister at them. The Scottish sov- 
 ereigns entertained a sincere regard for these peace - loving 
 citizens, and added by many charters to the privileges they 
 already possessed. They were a community by themselves, 
 and held no intercourse but that of trade with the tribes 
 around. The names met with in their charters — Hay, Jasper, 
 Vaus, Cuthbert, Dempster, Fleming, and the like — are un- 
 mingled with those of Macpherson, Mackintosh, Chisholm, or 
 Macdonald. 
 
 The freedom the burghers enjoyed seems to have been 
 coveted by certain of their Highland neighbours, who sought 
 to obtain holdings within the burgh. "Outlandish men," a 
 charter tells us, " of great clans not able or qualified to use 
 merchandise," obtained an influence over widows of deceased 
 
MERCHANTS AND "OUTLANDISH MEN." 49 
 
 burgesses, and thus by marriage endeavoured to become 
 possessed of property to the " hurt and skaith " of the com- 
 munity. Such Celtic intrusion could not be allowed. A law 
 was therefore passed by royal authority against the " clanned 
 men," and they were allowed neither to " scott, lott, walk, or 
 ward" with the burgesses. What the latter possessed they 
 would keep to themselves. The kilted Highlander might 
 bring to the market-place the hides of the cattle his clan 
 had raided, or the skins of the animals he had trapped among 
 the mountains. The chief might buy from the merchant 
 tuns of wine to enliven his castle hall, or satin and velvet to 
 adorn his wife. Beyond that there could be no intercourse. 
 Thus the brave little burgh kept the even tenor of its way 
 - — a centre where peace and order reigned in the midst of 
 violence. Provost and citizen could lay their heads on their 
 nightly pillow without fear of being awakened by the skirl 
 of the bagpipes or the clang of broadswords. There was no 
 other part of Inverness-shire of which that could be said. 
 
50 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE REFORMATION IN SCOTLAND— SLOW PROGRESS OF PROTESTANTISM IN 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE — CONFORMITY TO THE " NEW OPINIONS " MORE AP- 
 PARENT THAN REAL— DEPUTATION OF THE KIRK AT INVERNESS — OFFER 
 OF THE MACKINTOSH TO ' ' PLANT " MINISTERS— POSITION OF THE ROMAN 
 CLERGY IN INVERNESS-SHIRE BEFORE THE REFORMATION — MINISTERS 
 GRADUALLY SETTLED THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY — THE NEW MINISTER 
 OF KILMALLIE AND HIS DOCTRINE — TROUBLES OF THE MINISTER OF 
 AEERTARFF — THE REFORMATION IN THE BURGH — DISSOLUTION OF THE 
 MONASTERIES AND DESTINATION OF THEIR PROPERTY — HARDSHIPS 
 SUFFERED BY THE OLD CLERGY — THEIR ZEAL IN TROUBLED TIMES- 
 CHARACTER OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF INVERNESS-SHIRE— HUNTLY 
 REMAINS CATHOLIC— A PERIOD OF TERRIBLE FEUDS — THE VIGOROUS 
 RULE OF JAMES VI. — THE KING'S WRIT MADE TO RUN FREELY IN THE 
 NORTH — THE FIGHTING CHIEFS BROUGHT BEFORE THE PRIVY COUNCIL 
 — THEIR SONS ORDERED TO BE EDUCATED — THE GRADUAL CESSATION 
 OF CLAN FEUDS — A NEW EPOCH BEGINS IN INVERNESS-SHIRE. 
 
 The Reformation in Scotland may be said to date from the 
 year 1560. By the Estates of the kingdom the Confession 
 of Faith was then adopted, the Pope's jurisdiction was abol- 
 ished, and it was rendered criminal to say mass. Any 
 priest doing so was liable to confiscation of goods for the 
 first offence, to banishment for the second, and to death 
 for the third. 
 
 It was long, however, before Protestantism took any hold 
 in our northern region. In 1563 a commission was given 
 to Robert Pont, one of the Superintendents under the new 
 order, to plant kirks in the county of Inverness. He does 
 not seem to have made much progress, for five years after he 
 
THE REFORMATION. 5 I 
 
 received his appointment he was removed to a district " where 
 his labours might be more fruitful than they could be at that 
 time in Moray." Certain of the Inverness-shire chiefs out- 
 wardly accepted the Reformed faith. The chief of Grant had 
 been a member of the Parliament which had adopted the 
 Reformation. Mackintosh and Lovat appear also to have 
 been regarded as Protestant ; while Glengarry, Chisholm, the 
 Macdonalds of Lochaber, and others remained Roman Catho- 
 lic. It is generally supposed that the people accepted the 
 religion of the chief, and followed him as readily into the 
 Protestant Church as they did when he commanded a foray 
 against a neighbour. This may generally have been the case, 
 but there were exceptions. The chief of the Moidart Clan- 
 ranalds became Protestant, but his people adhered to the 
 old faith. A large part of Lovat's people also remained 
 Catholic. 
 
 In fact, conformity to the new opinions was long more 
 apparent than real in Inverness -shire. In a paper drawn 
 up by the hand of Lord Burleigh, the English statesman, 
 in 1590, we have a statement of the comparative strength 
 of Protestantism and Roman Catholicism throughout Scot- 
 land. We learn from it that all the northern part of the 
 kingdom, including Inverness - shire, adhered wholly or in 
 great part to the Roman Catholic party, being commanded 
 mostly by noblemen who secretly adhered to that faith, and 
 directed by priests who were concealed in various parts of 
 the country. Certainly large districts of Inverness-shire, so 
 far as the profession of rehgion is concerned, remained 
 Roman Catholic. 
 
 In 1597 a deputation from the Kirk came to Inverness to 
 confer with those friendly to Protestantism as to the planting of 
 the country with ministers, and as to obtaining for them suit- 
 able stipends. What progress the deputation made we do not 
 
52 ROMAN CATHOLICISM IN THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 know ; but one of their number, the Rev. J. Melville, informs 
 us in his Diary that The Mackintosh made them the following 
 speech, which he heartily commends : " Now it may be thought 
 I am liberall because na minister will come amungs us, there- 
 fore get me men and sey [try] me, and I will find sufficient 
 caution for saiftie of their persones, obedience to their doc- 
 trine and discipline, and find payment of their stipend and 
 entertainment." Such was his earnestness and zeal in the 
 cause, that the writer tells us " MakinToshie warred [excelled] 
 all the rest of the gentlemen of the North." But whatever 
 " the gentlemen of the North " may have done, the people of 
 the wide districts of Strathglass, Lochaber, Moidart, Arisaig, 
 and Knoydart are, speaking generally, Roman Catholic at 
 the present day, and have been so from the earliest times. 
 "Great and blessed Morar," runs a Gaelic proverb, "where 
 no Protestant ever preached a sermon." 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the influence of the clergy of 
 Inverness-shire over their flocks previous to the Reformation. 
 There is much reason for supposing it to have been more 
 nominal than real. In the clan histories the clergy are never 
 mentioned as taking any part whatever in repressing the 
 terrible feuds of the period, or as acting as mediators be- 
 tween contending clans. They seem to have done little or 
 nothing for the general education of the people. Except 
 that a priest now and again draws up a deed as a notary 
 public, or is mentioned in some charter regarding tithes and 
 lands, we should never know of the existence of the clergy 
 at all. Nor do the Highlanders appear to have been deeply 
 impressed by the sanctity of the Church. They raided the 
 lands of the priests, as they raided those of secular persons. 
 In 1390, the Wolf of Badenoch, as he was called, in order 
 to avenge some slight offered to him by his bishop, burned 
 to the ground the noble Cathedral of Elgin and the manses 
 
ACTS OF SACRILEGE. 53 
 
 of the canons. In 1430, at the Feast of Pahns, the Clan 
 Chattan killed, it is said, in a certain church nearly the whole 
 of the Camerons. In 148-8 the Macdonalds of Garmorran, 
 Lochaber, and the Clan Cameron made a raid into Ross-shire 
 against the Mackenzies. On a Sunday morning at Contin, 
 they found that the aged men, women, and children of the 
 district had taken refuge in the church. Without scruple 
 they ordered the doors to be closed, and set fire to the 
 building, when the priest and his congregation perished in 
 the flames. In 1603 the Macdonalds of Glengarry, on a 
 foray in Ross, surprised a party of their enemies in the 
 church of Kilchrist. They burned church and congregation 
 together, Glengarry's piper marching round the building and 
 drowning the cries of the miserable sufferers with a pibroch, 
 which became afterwards the family tune of the victorious 
 clan. These atrocious deeds of sacrilege indicate a total 
 want of that reverence for the Church and the sanctities of 
 religion which belongs to people who have emerged in any 
 degree from the darkness of heathenism. 
 
 The process of placing ministers in Inverness-shire among 
 such a people was necessarily very slow. Throughout the 
 county the parishes were generally served in the first instance 
 by a class of teachers called "Readers" and "Exhorters." 
 The readers read the Scriptures and the common prayers, but 
 exercised no other ecclesiastical function ; the exhorters were 
 allowed to baptise and perform the marriage ceremony, and to 
 preach as they had the gift. There is reason to believe that 
 some of the priests in Inverness-shire became exhorters in their 
 parishes. The priest of Urquhart, the vicar of Kiltarlity, and 
 the parson of Moy did so ; and there were others who followed 
 their example. Gradually, regular ministers were settled in 
 the parishes, but it was not till 1658 that a minister was 
 appointed to Kilmallie, the country of the Camerons, where 
 
54 MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 "he was to remain till a kirk should be built, and the people 
 brought to some comely order." It was only in 1720 that 
 Kilmonivaig, the great parish which comprehended the larger 
 part of Lochaber and the wide district of Glengarry, was 
 supplied with Protestant ministration. It is said that the 
 new minister of the first parish endeavoured to impress 
 upon his people the duty of forgiving their enemies. The 
 Camerons, who had been ordered by their chief to give 
 attendance, were greatly exercised over the new doctrine. 
 " That was strange doctrine," one of them is reported to 
 have said to another; "do you think it is right?" "The 
 minister," was the reply, "is a learned man, and he should 
 know." " That may be," said the other, " but for my part give 
 me Moses, ' an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' " 
 
 Many of the ministers settled among the clans had a very 
 difficult position to fill, and it was frequently long before 
 they made any progress in attracting people to their services. 
 Often the parishioners gathered together in the neighbours 
 hood of the church to put the stone and throw the caber, 
 while the pastor preached to empty space. The minister of 
 Abertarff reported to the brethren of his presbytery "that 
 he was so troubled by the Lochaber robbers, that are so 
 numerous and broken out, that scarce had he so much time 
 as to provide a discourse on the Sabbath-day." Occasion- 
 ally the services of the churches were broken in upon by 
 " lymaris and idle men," who turned the worship to ridicule 
 and rendered preaching impossible. Many of the ministers 
 were stalwart men, and some are said to have driven the 
 people into the church by physical force. Gradually, how- 
 ever, difficulties were overcome, and congregations were 
 gathered, often more perhaps by the compulsion of the chief 
 than by the attraction of the preacher. 
 
 The burghers of the town of Inverness seem to have adopted 
 
PROTESTANTISM IN INVERNESS. 55 
 
 the Protestant faith more readily than their Highland neigh- 
 bours. The year before the Reformation was established, 
 and when changes were imminent, the provost of the convent 
 and his chapter deposited for security their charters and valu- 
 ables with the provost and magistrates of the town. Among 
 the valuables were five chalices, silver-gilt with gold, two silver 
 spoons, a " little relic of silver," and some vestments. These 
 slender possessions never found their way back to the Church. 
 All the ecclesiastical property, altarages, and lands, which 
 belonged either to the convent or to the parish church, were 
 conveyed by royal charter to the provost and magistrates for 
 the hospitality and sustentation of the poor and orphans, and 
 of ministers within the burgh, " being situated among the 
 Highlands and undaunted people." In 1567 Thomas Howie- 
 son or Houston, who had formerly been a priest, was appointed 
 minister of the town. During the ecclesiastical troubles in 
 the reign of James VI., an eminent minister, Robert Bruce, 
 was banished to Inverness, and it is said " wonderfully illumi- 
 nated that dark and remote country." 
 
 The Monastery of Beauly, with its possessions, fell into the 
 hands of Lord Lovat. The abbot of Kinloss, who was prior 
 of Beauly, made a charter in favour of Hugh, Lord Fraser of 
 Lovat, granting to him the barony town and lands of Beauly, 
 with the different possessions and salmon-fishings owned by 
 the monks. This charter was confirmed by an Act of Parlia- 
 ment in 1584. There was a struggle between Lord Lovat 
 and the Lord of Kintail for the possession of the church 
 property in the gift of the Crown, and both went to Edin- 
 burgh for the purpose. The minister of Kirkhill gives in his 
 journal an amusing account of how the chief of the Frasers 
 got the better of his competitor. " Lovat, well acquainted 
 with the road, cuts short and arrived by a day's journey 
 before him at Edinburgh, some saying they were a night in 
 
$6 LOVAT AND THE PRIORY OF BEAULY. 
 
 one and the same lodging, or perhaps in one town, on the 
 way, unknown to one another. But be sure Lord Lovat had 
 his intelHgence of the other's motions, and made but short 
 stay in any part till he came to his journey's end; and in 
 short he secured his object and got his right to Beauly 
 through the seals, before Mackenzie came to Edinburgh. 
 The day after, they met together in the open street, and 
 the whole matter came above - board, and Kintail found 
 himself outwitted." 
 
 The possessions which Lovat thus cleverly obtained still 
 remain with the Frasers ; but the monks who had been dis- 
 possessed were treated with kindness. They were restored 
 to their cells, and a provision was assigned them for the re- 
 mainder of their days, though they were forbidden to say 
 mass in the priory church. It is supposed that certain of 
 them continued to give instruction to some of the young 
 gentry of the north, as nothing had been done to supply 
 the place of the monastic schools. 
 
 Of the priory buildings there are no remains. Those of 
 the church may be still seen. Its ancient and picturesque 
 walls, and the noble trees around it, form a pleasing feature in 
 a beautiful landscape. 
 
 The large number of people in Inverness-shire who adhered 
 to the old faith were not left altogether without the ministra- 
 tions of their religion. Priests disguised as peasants perambu- 
 lated the country in the discharge of their religious functions, 
 and at the risk of their lives. Members of the Jesuit, Bene- 
 dictine, Franciscan, and Lazarite orders planted themselves in 
 various districts among the Roman Catholic population. One 
 of the Jesuit stations in North Britain was Strathglass. Irish 
 priests also found their way into Moidart and the western 
 district, and the chief of (jlengarry obtained the services of 
 two of them for his clan. 
 
PERSECUTION OF JESUITS. 5/ 
 
 The hardships these clergymen endured in their wanderings 
 were very great. One of them who ministered in Moidart was 
 apprehended, tried in Edinburgh, banished, and threatened 
 with the penalty of death if he ventured to return. He did 
 return, was seized by English soldiers, and was thrown into 
 the dungeon of Glengarry Castle, where he perished. In the 
 neighbourhood of Castletirrira the priests' hiding-place was a 
 small cave in the hillside, like a fox's den. The records of 
 the Presbytery of Inverness are full of notices of "seminary 
 priests," who were duly excommunicated, and handed over 
 to the secular authorities. The presbytery made also strict 
 inquiry after " Popish gear." They found on one occasion an 
 image of St Finnan in a private house in Dunlichty, and 
 caused it to be burned with all solemnity at the cross of the 
 burgh. Glengarry was said to be a worshipper of the " Coan," 
 an effigy probably of the Celtic apostle St Coan, to whom a 
 church in Knoydart was dedicated. He was charged for this 
 offence before the Privy Council, and the image was brought 
 to Edinburgh and burnt at the cross. The old faith could 
 not be put down by such measures. If presbyteries were 
 active, priests were not less so. A succession of devoted men 
 laboured among their co-religionists till the day of toleration 
 came. Probably under their ministrations, and beneath the 
 ban of persecution, the people became more earnest in their 
 religion than they had been under their old parish priests. 
 There are to-day to be found no more devout and exemplary 
 people than the Catholics of Inverness-shire ; and it is pleasing 
 to add that they live, and have long lived, on terms of amity 
 and goodwill with their Protestant neighbours. 
 
 Though the great event of the Scottish Reformation did not 
 for long affect Inverness-shire religiously, it produced politi- 
 cally considerable changes. The great house of Huntly re- 
 mained Roman Catholic, and as the Reformed polity made 
 
58 THE GORDONS AND THE MACKINTOSHES. 
 
 progress, the family came into antagonism both with the 
 Government and with those chiefs who had accepted Protest- 
 antism. This gave rise to conflicts, many of which took place 
 outside of Inverness-shire, and we are not called upon to de- 
 scribe them. Those within its bounds were prolonged enough. 
 The Mackintoshes had an old feud to settle with Huntly, 
 whose grandfather had beheaded their chief in his castle of 
 Strathbogie, and they were prompt to seize the opportunity. 
 With the Grants and the Frasers they entered into alliance 
 against the Catholic earl. The Camerons, the Macphersons, 
 and the Macdonalds of Keppoch, as the Clanranald of Loch- 
 aber were now called, gave him their support. Thus nearly 
 all the Inverness-shire clans were in the field on one side or 
 the other. 
 
 It is impossible to convey a picture of the country torn by 
 such feuds as these. In 1592 the Mackintoshes "lifted" the 
 rents of the castle lands at Inverness which pertained to 
 Huntly, seized those belonging to him in Badenoch, and 
 made a raid on the Camerons. In 1593 a letter of the king 
 tells " of great incursions, fire-raising, murder of women and 
 bairns, and heirscheip of gear and goods upon the Earl of 
 Huntly by the Clan Chattan." In the same year the Mack- 
 intoshes and their allies seized 4000 head of horses and cattle 
 which Huntly had sent into Lochaber for security. " The 
 Camerons did behold the matter, but durst not encounter." 
 In 1594 Argyle with the Protestant forces besieged Ruthven 
 in Badenoch, but it was so gallantly defended by the Mac- 
 phersons that he was unable to take it. He then marched 
 through the mountains to Strathbogie, where he was defeated. 
 So the strife went on ; private feuds mixed with more public 
 interests, and the whole county was in a blaze as when the 
 heather is on fire. The conflagration at last died out. In 
 1597 Huntly made his peace with the Kirk at Aberdeen. 
 
VIGOROUS MEASURES OF JAMES VI. 59 
 
 He became an avowed Protestant, and was restored to his 
 power and his lands. The turmoil ceased for a time, but 
 it left Inverness -shire in many parts utterly desolate, and 
 whole glens almost without inhabitants. 
 
 James VI. of all the Scottish kings set himself most man- 
 fully to suppress disorder in the Highlands. His predecessors 
 had governed the North as one might ride a wild horse with 
 slackened rein, pulling it up sharply at intervals to his own 
 personal danger. James VI. kept the bridle always tightly 
 in his own hands, and let the animal he bestrode feel that 
 he was on his back. His hold over his northern subjects 
 never relaxed. He made the chiefs of the most remote dis- 
 tricts know that the strong arm of the law could reach them 
 in their fastnesses. He dealt sharply with them by fine and 
 imprisonment. He compelled them to appear personally from 
 time to time before his Privy Council in Edinburgh, and he 
 gave them to understand that the possession of their lands 
 depended upon their good behaviour. Intended raids on one 
 another's territories were often stopped before they could be 
 executed. When carried out, severe punishment followed 
 closely upon the offence. Before the victorious chief could 
 well reach his castle with his prey, he was served with a sum- 
 mons to appear before the Council. This tribunal seemed to 
 be in direct communication with the North : whatever took 
 place in Inverness-shire was at once reported at Edinburgh, 
 and the king's writ was made to run as freely in Badenoch 
 and Lochaber as in the Lothians. 
 
 The measures adopted for the pacification of the North 
 were severe, and often cruel, but they were effective. By 
 an Act of Parhament passed in 1587 chiefs of clans were 
 made to find securities to a large amount, proportioned to 
 the number of their vassals, for the peaceable behaviour of 
 those under them. If any person was injured by the members 
 
6o EDUCATION OF THE CHIEFS' SONS. 
 
 of a clan, he could proceed against the sureties, and exact 
 an amount from them proportionate to the damage he had 
 sustained. By another Act of Parliament, in 1597, all High- 
 land chiefs were called upon to appear personally at Edin- 
 burgh, and to produce within a year the titles by which they 
 held their lands. In consequence of this measure, and of 
 their failure to produce proper charters, certain chiefs lost 
 portions of their lands, which were forfeited to the Crown, 
 though the forfeiture does not appear to have been rigorously 
 pressed. The king's intention probably was to plant southern 
 colonists on his newly acquired land in the Highlands ; but 
 after the failure of an experiment of the kind made in the 
 island of Lewis, his project was abandoned. 
 
 But more than by any enactment passed by Parliament 
 or Privy Council, the Highlands were influenced by a decree 
 which enjoined that the sons of chiefs should have a liberal 
 education. " The chief principal cans," it narrates, " whilk 
 hes procurit and procuris the continuance of barbaritie, im- 
 puritie, and incivilitie within the Yilis of this kingdom hes 
 proceedit from the small cair that the chieftains and princi- 
 pall clannit men of the Yilis hes haid of the upbringing of 
 thair childrene in virtue and lerning ; who being carles of 
 thair dewtis in that poynte, and keeping thair childrene still 
 at home with thame, whair they see nothing in thair tender 
 years but the barbarous and incivile formes of the countrie, 
 thay are thairby maid to apprehend that thair is no better 
 formes of dewtie and civilitie keepit in any other part of 
 the countrie, sua that when thay come to the yeirs of ma- 
 turitie hardlie can thay be reclaimed from these barbarous, 
 rude, and incivil formes, whairas if thay had been sent to 
 the inland in thair youthe, and trainit up in vertew, learning, 
 and the Inglische tongue, thay would have been better able 
 to reforme thair countryeis and to reduce the same to godli- 
 
CLAN FEUDS. 6 1 
 
 ness, obedience, and civilitie." This was the wisest of all 
 King James's measures. Though in the first instance ap- 
 plicable only to the Islands, it was carried out throughout 
 the northern Highlands. Young Inverness-shire chiefs were 
 educated at the great seats of learning in Scotland, England, 
 and on the Continent. Nothing could have tended more 
 towards civilisation, and it is perhaps also in some degree 
 true that " the first traces of that overflowing loyalty to the 
 House of Stewart, for which the Highlanders have been so 
 highly lauded, are to be found in that generation of their 
 chiefs whose education was conducted on the High Church 
 and State principle of the British Solomon." 
 
 Our limited space prevents us from giving any detailed 
 account of the feuds which from time to time occurred in 
 Inverness-shire, even during the vigorous reign of King James 
 VI. — the Clan Cameron against Glengarry, Mackintoshes 
 against Camerons, Camerons against Macdonalds, Huntly 
 against the one or the other or both. The feud between 
 the Clan Chattan and the Earl of Moray was of the most 
 ferocious character. The Clan Chattan had been for many 
 years friends of the earl, who had granted them valuable lands 
 and possessions in return for various services they had ren- 
 dered him. Having now, as he thought, no further need of 
 their assistance, he withdrew his donations. Then arose a 
 terrible conflict. The dispossessed clan determined to recover 
 the abstracted territory. Two hundred gentlemen and 300 
 followers banded themselves together. The old historian 
 Spalding gives a picturesque account of their operations. 
 " They keeped the fields in their Highland weid, with swords, 
 bowes, arrows, targets, hagbuttis, pistollis, and other High- 
 land armour; and first began to rob and spulzie the earl's 
 tenents, who laboured their possessions of their haill goods, 
 geir, insight plenishing, horse, nolt, sheep, corns, and cattell. 
 
62 THE SUPREMACY OF THE LAW ASSERTED. 
 
 and left them nothing that they could gett within their bounds ; 
 syne fell sorning throwout Murray, Strathawick, Urquhart, 
 Ross, Sutherland, Brae of Man, and diverse other places, take- 
 ing their meat and food perforce wher they could not get it 
 willingly, frae friends alse weill as frae foes ; yet still keeped 
 themselves from shedeing of innocent blood. Thus they 
 lived as outlawes oppressing the country (besydes the casting 
 of the earl's lands waist), and openly avowed they had 
 tane this course to gett their own possessions again, or then 
 hold the country walking." In the end, the Earl of Moray 
 had the best of it. He got himself appointed the king's 
 lieutenant in the Highlands, and received power to proceed 
 capitally against his enemies. He was enabled to do so with 
 considerable success. He made peace privately with some 
 members of the clan, who betrayed the others, and having 
 by virtue of his commission tried and executed " some slight 
 louns followers of the Clan Chattan," he brought the diffi- 
 culty to a peaceful issue. The story is a slight specimen 
 of what went on at the time in every quarter of the country. 
 It is sufficient to say that the supremacy of the law was 
 always in the long-run asserted, though often very roughly, 
 and not always with perfect justice. There is a monotonous 
 simplicity in the process followed : offending chiefs had to 
 travel to Edinburgh to appear personally before the Council, 
 when they were severely fined, or put in ward, or forced to 
 " chop hands " together and swear friendship. If they did 
 not appear they were outlawed, " letters of intercommuning " 
 were issued against them, and their lands were wasted with fire 
 and sword by some neighbour to whom the Crown intrusted 
 the commission, on the principle, as- it was said, of " garring 
 ane devil dang anither," and who often used it as much 
 for his own interest as to uphold the supremacy of the law. 
 Gradually the clan feuds ceased, or at least broke out at rarer 
 
END OF THE CLAN FEUDS. 63 
 
 intervals. We enter upon a new epoch. The Highlandmen 
 of Inverness-shire came to exercise their military prowess on 
 a wider field than in strife among themselves, and in stealing 
 each other's cattle. They are heard of henceforth as actors 
 in scenes which occupy a conspicuous place in the nation's 
 history. 
 
64 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 HIGHLAND SEEKS PROPHESY TROUBLOUS TIMES IN 1644— THEIR PROGNOSTI- 
 CATIONS FULFILLED — MONTROSE BREAKS WITH THE COVENANT AND 
 JOINS THE KING — THE FIERY CROSS SPEEDS THROUGHOUT INVERNESS- 
 SHIRE — COLKITTO APPEARS IN THE COUNTY— ALARM OF THE BURGHERS 
 OF INVERNESS— CAMPAIGN OF MONTROSE IN THE NORTH — HIS GAME 
 OF "HIDE -AND -SEEK" ROUND THE GRAMPIANS — INVERNESS-SHIRE 
 CLANS JOIN HIS STANDARD — HIS DESCENT UPON ARGYLE— CAMPS AT 
 KILCHUMIN — HIS MARCH TO INVERLOCHY — THE BATTLE OF INVER- 
 LOCHY — HIS RETREAT TO INVERNESS-SHIRE AFTER PHILIPHAUGH — 
 LAYS SIEGE TO THE TOWN — DISBANDS HIS ARMY — TWO OTHER AT- 
 TEMPTS TO RETRIEVE THE ROYAL FORTUNES — THE LAST EFFORT OF 
 MONTROSE — HIS APPEARANCE AS A PRISONER AT INVERNESS — INFLU- 
 ENCE OF MONTROSE ON THE HIGHLANDERS — INSPIRES THEM WITH 
 LOYALTY TO THE STEWARTS. 
 
 In 1644 Highland seers were busy in Inverness-shire. Those 
 gifted with second - sight had visions of contending armies, 
 and those not so gifted noted with alarm occurrences which 
 appeared to them portents of coming calamity. " Prodigious 
 signs, apparitions, spectres, and strange sights presaging war 
 and revolutions — such as men fighting in the air, horse and 
 foot retreating and returning — were all visibly observed," and 
 are noted by a local historian. " Two of our fieshers," he 
 tells us, going one morning into Inverness, " saw an army, 
 foot and horse, marching before them, and heard the rattling 
 noise of their arms till they came and entered into the woods 
 of Bunchrew. Another evening, three men going to the ferry 
 of Beauly saw an army marshalled, horse and foot, the very 
 
WISE PROPHETS. 65 
 
 colour of their horses and clothes, kettle-drums and ensign, 
 apparent." This was not all : " Two prodigious whales came 
 up the firth with a high spring -tide, the one pursuing the 
 other, and fastened both upon the shallow sands. They 
 were so big and high that the people made use of small 
 ladders to reach their top. There were also two porpoises 
 that ran up the river Ness under the bridge, and reached 
 the Isle a mile above the town, where they were killed. 
 Some conjectured that the two whales were an emblem of 
 the king and Parliament pursuing one another ; but, alas ! 
 these things portended no good. Another wonderful event 
 happened above Beauly three several evenings — two parties 
 fighting, so that men saw the glistening of their swords slashing 
 at one another." 
 
 These strange prognostications found ample interpretation 
 in subsequent events that took place in Inverness - shire. 
 Southern Scotland had for some years been convulsed by 
 the strife which followed the ill-advised attempt of King 
 Charles I. to interfere with the religious convictions of his 
 Scottish subjects. The royal forces and those of the Covenant 
 were arrayed against each other, and the districts they tra- 
 versed experienced the terrible calamities of civil war. The 
 conflict, as it rose and fell, did not affect to any extent the 
 county of Inverness. Grant, Lovat, and Mackintosh were 
 Covenanters; and when in 1638 the Earl of Sutherland, 
 Lord Lovat, and others of the party came to Inverness, the 
 inhabitants of the town signed the Covenant, with the ex- 
 ception of the minister and a few others. But the greater 
 part of the people of the county held aloof from the contro- 
 versy, and took no active part either for king or for Covenant. 
 The Camerons, Macpherson, Clanranald, Glengarry, and 
 Keppoch remained peacefully within their own bounds, and 
 viewed the religious strife from afar. But their swords were 
 
 E 
 
66 ALEXANDER MACDONALD (COLKITTO). 
 
 not allowed to remain long in their scabbards, and a series 
 of events took place which called them all into the field. 
 Montrose, having broken with the Covenanters and joined 
 the king, received a commission as king's lieutenant to raise 
 the clans, and the fiery cross was soon speeding throughout 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 Early in July 1644 Alexander Macdonald — better known 
 by his patronymic of Colkitto, or among the Gaelic people 
 as Alasdair MacChoUa Chiataich — landed in Argyleshire 
 with a band of Irish soldiers, and, after capturing some 
 Argyleshire castles, came to Knoydart. Thence he marched 
 by Glen Quoich through Glengarry to Kilchumin, now Fort 
 Augustus. The burghers of Inverness, who had so lately 
 signed the Covenant, heard of his coming with alarm. "A 
 number of Irish rebels," their minutes record, "a foreign 
 public enemie, having invaded the kingdom and advanced 
 to Glengarie, being about 3000, with intention to force all 
 persons to join with them in ane black and doleful Covenant 
 just opposite to their National Covenant lately subscrivit by 
 the two kindgoras of Scotland and England. Therefore, 
 that they prove not slack or deficient to their power to 
 oppose the said public enemie in maintenance of the law 
 subscrivit thereanent, have thought it expedient that eighty 
 of the most resolute and best framed muscateers be presently 
 sent from the borough to the heights of Stratherrick. John 
 Cuthbert of Castlehill to be captain and prime commander, 
 and to follow the said Irish rebels into Badenoch." The 
 " resolute and best framed muscateers " were not able to 
 impede their progress. Accompanied by the men of Glen- 
 garry, Colkitto marched through Badenoch, where he was 
 joined by the Macphersons under the eldest son of Cluny, 
 and reached Blair Athole. There he was met by Montrose ; 
 the royal standard was solemnly unfurled, and the campaign 
 
THE SUCCESSES OF MONTROSE. 6^ 
 
 commenced which adds such lustre to the fame of the great 
 commander. 
 
 We have only to do, in these pages, with that part of the 
 campaign — certainly not the least brilliant — which took place 
 in Inverness-shire. The battle of Tippermuir, the occupation 
 of Perth, the capture of Aberdeen, followed in quick succes- 
 sion. From Aberdeen, Montrose came through Strathdon 
 and the mountain-passes of the Grampian range to Rothie- 
 murchus on the banks of the Spey : there he intended to cross 
 the river, but the Frasers and the Grants had seized the boats 
 and menaced him with an army of 3000 men. He was now 
 between two hostile forces, for the army of the Covenanters, 
 led by Argyle, was farther east in Huntly's country ; but he 
 was equal to the occasion, and he now commenced that suc- 
 cession of rapid movements which his army of hardy moun- 
 taineers were so well able to execute, and which were char- 
 acteristic of this great general. His object was to weary out 
 his opponents by long marches ere he struck a decisive blow. 
 He and they played a mutual " game of hide-and-seek " round 
 the Grampians and through their passes. One week he was 
 on the one side of the mountains and the next on the other. 
 From Rothiemurchus he went down Speyside to Abernethy ; 
 thence he returned to Rothiemurchus, and from there into 
 Badenoch. Here he was very unwell, and thought to be 
 dying ; but in a few days he was on the move again, " like 
 to one risen from the dead," and marched by Dalwhinnie to 
 Blair Athole. From this place he continued "his strange 
 and rapid orbit," Argyle and his forces crawling heavily after 
 him. He swept through Killiecrankie, passed into Angus, 
 crossed the Dee into Strathbogie, thence by the Spey into 
 Badenoch again, and from thence he led his warriors by a 
 forced march by night to Blair Athole. His enemies, now 
 thoroughly tired out, had retreated into winter quarters, and 
 
68 DEVASTATION OF ARGYLE. 
 
 he resolved to strike a decisive blow. Most of the royal 
 clans surrounded his standard, and among them were those 
 of our county — John of Moidart, chief of the Clanranald, 
 Glengarry and Keppoch, with their men. The Badenoch 
 Macphersons were there, and a detachment of the Clan 
 Cameron sent by Lochiel, who was himself too old to take 
 the field. The blow Montrose struck was daring and severe. 
 
 With his gallant following he passed down Loch Tay side 
 and by Glenorchy into the country of Argyle, which he swept 
 with fire and sword up to the doors of the castle of Inveraray. 
 Even the Highland annals contain no account of a devasta- 
 tion so terrible as that which he inflicted on the land of the 
 Campbells. To use the striking expression of Scripture, he 
 " shaved it as with a razor." Hundreds of the inhabitants 
 were put to the sword, their dwellings being given to the 
 flames, and their cattle in vast herds driven away : none 
 who were fit to bear arms were spared. " They left no 
 house or hold except impregnable strength unburnt ; their 
 corn, goods, and gear ; and left not a four-footed beast in 
 his haill lands ; and such as would not drive they houghed 
 and slew that they should never make stead." So says a 
 writer of the time. Yet bad as the spoliation was, it was 
 not worse than that inflicted by Argyle on the Braes of 
 Angus, when he swept the lands of the Ogilvies with fire 
 and sword, and burnt " the bonnie house of Airlie." 
 
 Leaving desolation behind him, Montrose came once more 
 into Inverness-shire by the Pass of Glencoe. Crossing the 
 wild muirlands that skirt Lochtreig and Loch Ossian, he 
 reached Lochaber by the pass through which the railway 
 now runs to Fort William, and then skirting the shores of 
 Loch Lochy and Loch Oich, he came to Kilchumin, or 
 Fort Augustus, where he pitched his camp at a place called 
 Leiter nan Lub. Here he remained several days, holding 
 
A FAMOUS MARCH. 69 
 
 councils of war and deliberating as to his future course. 
 This was suddenly decided. On the 30th January there 
 arrived at the camp the celebrated bard of Keppoch, Ian 
 Lorn, or John the Bare, who brought tidings that Argyle 
 had established himself at Inverlochy with an army, and was 
 spoiling the Braes of Lochaber. Instantly Montrose resolved 
 to give him battle ere he could effect a junction with the 
 Covenanting forces at Inverness. It was a hasty resolve, but 
 it was well taken. His men were in splendid condition, 
 jubilant with their successes — "well breathed by their long 
 foray in the West, and high-blooded with Argyleshire beef." 
 They were ready to encounter any foe, however formidable ; 
 to encounter Argyle, whom they hated, was a pleasant under- 
 taking. The direct way to Inverlochy from Kilchumin lies 
 by the shores of Loch Lochy and Loch Oich and the line 
 of the present Caledonian Canal ; but it was the object of 
 Montrose to take his enemy by surprise, and he therefore 
 adopted a more circuitous route. 
 
 Placing guards on the regular tracks to prevent intelligence 
 of his movements being carried to Argyle, he began his won- 
 derful march. On the 31st January 1645 his camp was in 
 motion. They ascended the bed of the river Tarfif, a rugged 
 stream that comes brawling down to Loch Ness. Then they 
 crossed the wild range of Corryarrick, and keeping well to 
 the right, they came upon the river Roy, which they followed 
 into the glen bearing its name. This they descended, passing 
 the celebrated parallel roads, and so by Bohuntin to the 
 valley of the Spean. It was a terrible march. The hills 
 were deep with snow and the water-courses swollen. The 
 journey could only have been accomplished by men inured 
 to hardship. Crossing the river Spean near Roy Bridge, they 
 probably followed the rough track by Corrychoile, Leanachan, 
 and Dounie. On the evening of Saturday the ist of February 
 
yo THE ROUT OF THE CAMPBELLS. 
 
 they were within gunshot of the enemy. Above them towered 
 the mighty Ben, in front of them were the dark towers of 
 Inverlochy shining in the moonlight. They lay upon their 
 arms all that night, exchanging occasional shots with the 
 enemy, whose scouts they had killed in their advance. When 
 the morning of Sunday the 2d February 1645 dawned they 
 made ready for the attack. The most of them had not tasted 
 a bit of bread during their two days' march. " The General 
 himself and the Earl of Airlie had no more to break their 
 fast when they went to battle than a little meal mixed with 
 cold water, which out of a hollow dish they did pick up with 
 their knives for want of spoons." The royal standard was 
 unfurled and formally saluted, the pipes, trumpets, and kettle- 
 drums sounded, and the battle began. The onslaught of the 
 clans was fierce. " The rebels," Montrose says, " could not 
 stand it, but after some resistance at first, they began to run." 
 Argyle himself had taken no part in the battle, but viewed it 
 in safety from his galley moored in Loch Linnhe. Some 
 have said he did so because he was suffering from a broken 
 arm, while others attribute his conduct to cowardice. ^Vhen 
 his men were defeated he set sail and departed, leaving them 
 to their fate. The slaughter of his people was great: 1500 
 of them lay dead on the field. Those that escaped took 
 their flight along the slopes above the present town of Fort 
 William. They were followed by the victors as they made 
 for Argyleshire as far as Lundivra, near which a cairn still 
 stands which marks the spot where the pursuit ceased. It 
 was a decisive battle. The power of the Campbells was 
 broken, and Ian Lom, who had viewed the conflict from 
 a distance, celebrated the victory over the enemies of his 
 clan in impassioned strains, which are well known to the 
 lovers of Gaelic poetry. Montrose at the conclusion of the 
 battle sent an account of it to his roj'al master. The words 
 
MONTROSE IN INVERNESS. yi 
 
 with which the letter closes are full of the exultation pro- 
 duced by victory : " Give me leave, after I have reduced 
 this country and conquered from Dan to Beersheba, to say 
 to your Majesty, as David's general to his master. Come 
 thou thyself, lest this country be called by my name." 
 
 We have little more to tell of the exploits of Montrose, for 
 his subsequent career lies beyond the limits of this story. 
 After resting his men for a few days at Inverlochy, he went 
 north by Loch Lochy and Loch Oich to Kilchumin, thence 
 through Stratherrick by Boleskine and Loch Faraline into 
 Strathnairn, then into Strathdearn, and so to Speyside, where 
 he was joined by the Grants, whence he passed into Moray- 
 shire. After his defeat by General David Leslie at Philip- 
 haugh, Montrose came again to the north to raise the clans, 
 and laid siege to Inverness. " He fixed his guns," says one 
 who witnessed the siege, "upon the old Castlehill under a 
 hawthorn-tree due east, and battered shot. The river being 
 fordable, several of his horse and foot sallied out as scouts 
 westward to the Aird, and surprised the people of Farnua 
 sowing their seed." The garrison defended themselves most 
 valiantly. Montrose, not being supported by Huntly as he 
 had expected, was forced to raise the siege, and retreated 
 as General Middleton was entering from Petty. He then 
 travelled by Strathglass and Glenmoriston, Kilchumin and 
 Stratherrick, into Strathspey, ravaging the country as he 
 went with fire and sword. The Clan Fraser had always 
 opposed him, and he now took his revenge. "Betwixt the 
 bridge-end of Inverness and Guisachan, sixteen miles," says 
 the minister of Kirkhill, " there was not left in my country 
 a sheep to bleat or a cock to crow, so severe were the depre- 
 dations." 
 
 The hopes of Montrose were now very high : he had the 
 Highlanders again at his back, and everything pointed to 
 
72 ABORTIVE RISINGS. 
 
 a campaign that would efface the defeat of Philiphaugh. His 
 hopes, however, were suddenly frustrated : he received orders 
 from the king to disband his forces and to seek refuge on the 
 Continent. When the great general next appeared in Inver- 
 ness-shire it was as a prisoner. 
 
 Two other attempts by the brave Highlanders were made to 
 retrieve the royal fortunes, which we can only glance at. In 
 1647 Huntly received a private commission from the king to 
 raise an army, and for a time he made a gallant stand. He 
 was opposed by David Leslie, and was forced to retire 
 through Badenoch into Lochaber, where he disbanded his 
 forces, and with a few friends sought refuge in flight. Leslie 
 followed closely after him, captured Ruthven, and held the 
 castle of Inverlochy. Another great general then engaged 
 in the pursuit of Huntly, following him through Glen- 
 moriston into Badenoch and other places, and he was at 
 length captured in Strathdon. 
 
 In May 1649, after the execution of Charles I., a northern 
 rising in support of the royal cause took place under Lord 
 Reay and others, which was equally abortive. At the head 
 of 1500 of their followers they entered the town of Inverness, 
 expelled the troops from the garrison, and demolished the 
 walls of the town. " They crossed the bridge of Ness," says 
 the minister of Kirkhill, " on the Lord's Day in time of divine 
 service and alarmed the people of Inverness, impeding God's 
 worship in the town. For instead of bells to ring into service 
 I saw and heard no other than the noise of pipes, drums, pots, 
 pans, kettles, and spits in the streets to provide them victuals 
 in every house. And in their quarters the rude rascality would 
 eat no meat at their tables until the landlord laid down a 
 shilling Scots upon each trencher, calling this ' argiod cagainn ' 
 (chewing-money), which every soldier got, so insolent were 
 they." This formidable body was soon afterwards defeated 
 
DEFEAT OF MONTROSE. 73 
 
 when they had crossed the Spey, 400 being killed and 1000 
 disarmed and made prisoners. The latter were conveyed 
 through Moray to Inverness, " where," says the worthy minis- 
 ter, " I saw them pass through ; and those men who in the 
 former march would hardly eat their meat without money, are 
 now begging food, and like dogs lap the water, which was 
 brought them in tubs and other vessels, in the open streets. 
 Thence they were conducted over the bridge of Ness, and dis- 
 missed every man, armless and harmless, to his own house : 
 this is a matter of fact which I saw and heard." 
 
 In the spring of 1650 the gallant Montrose made his last 
 effort in behalf of the cause which he had so long and so 
 nobly supported. He landed in Caithness with a small body 
 of men and proceeded southwards, wishing to reach Inver- 
 ness-shire, where he hoped to be joined by his old companions 
 in arms. He was opposed by an overwhelming force, and was 
 defeated. Seeking safety among the hills of Sutherlandshire, 
 he was captured by Macleod of Assynt, and delivered over 
 to his enemies. They carried him to Edinburgh in triumph. 
 From the Diary of the minister of Kirkhill, we get a 
 ghmpse of the hero as he passed through Inverness - shire, 
 and took his last look at the mountains he knew so well, and 
 had so often traversed. " I set down," says the minister, 
 " that which I myself was an eyewitness of On 7th of May 
 at Lovat, Montrose sat upon a little shelty horse without a 
 saddle, but a bundle of rags and straw, and pieces of ropes 
 for stirrups ; his feet fastened under the horse's belly, and a 
 bit halter for a bridle. He had on a dark, old, reddish plaid, 
 and a cap on his head ; a muscateer on each side, and his 
 fellow-prisoners on foot after him. Thus he was conducted 
 through the country; and near Inverness, on the road to 
 Muirton, where he desired to alight and called for a draught 
 of water, being then in the first crisis of a high fever, the 
 
74 A GALLANT PRISONER. 
 
 crowd from the town came forth to gaze. The two ministers 
 went thereupon to comfort him. At the end of the bridge, 
 stepping forward, an old woman, Margaret M'George, ex- 
 claimed and brawled, saying, ' Montrose, look above, see 
 those ruinous houses of mine, which you occasioned to be 
 burned down when you besieged Inverness ' ; yet he never 
 altered his countenance, but with a majesty and state beseem- 
 ing him, kept a countenance high. At the cross was a table 
 covered, and the magistrates treated him with wine, which he 
 would not taste till aljoyed with water. The stately prisoners, 
 his officers, stood under a fore-stair and drank heartUy. I 
 remarked Colonel Hurry, a robust, tall, stately fellow with a 
 long cut on his cheek. All the way through the streets he 
 (Montrose) never lowered his aspect. The provost, Duncan 
 Forbes, taking leave of him at the town's end, said, ' My lord, 
 I am sorry for your circumstances.' He replied, ' I am sorry 
 for being the object of your pity.' " 
 
 So the noble and gallant gentleman, with brave heart and 
 head erect, passes to his doom. 
 
 Montrose was a great power in determining the destiny of 
 the Highlanders. When the Inverness-shire clans joined him, 
 they were attracted to his standard more probably from hatred 
 to Argyle than from affection for King Charles. Gillespie 
 Gruamach, or Grim Archibald, as they called that nobleman, 
 was their dread foe. Ever since the downfall of the Lords of 
 the Isles his family had gone on acquiring territory in the 
 West, and was now threatening to add lands in Inverness- 
 shire to its possessions. Argyle had obtained the superiority 
 of Loch Eil and of Glengarry ; that of Badenoch he had re- 
 ceived from the Presbyterians. He was credited with a 
 scheme for the acquisition of all Lochaber. There was ap- 
 parently no limit to his acquisitiveness. All the Inverness- 
 shire chiefs regarded him as their enemy. Had he been on 
 
THE FIRST JACOBITE. 75 
 
 the side of the king, they would probably have been on that 
 of the Covenant. Montrose inspired them with a true feeling 
 of loyalty. They never forgot the lesson he taught them. 
 Henceforth devotion to the Stewarts became with them a 
 kind of religion. It induced them to take up the cause of 
 the king when it seemed to others hopeless. Through long 
 years their swords were always at his command. It was not 
 until Culloden had sealed the fate of the Stewarts that they 
 ceased to follow in the footsteps of Montrose. 
 
76 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 CROMWELL IN THE NORTH— HIS CONQUEST OF INVERNESS-SHIRE — BUILDS A 
 CITADEL AT INVERNESS— DESCRIPTION OF THE FORTRESS — CHURCHES 
 RAZED TO BUILD IT— A VESSEL OF WAR PLACED ON LOCH NESS— THE 
 CHIEF OF GLENGARRY PLOTS INSURRECTION — THE RISING OF 1653 
 UNDER GLENCAIRN — WONDERFUL MARCH THROUGH THE COUNTY OF 
 GENERAL MONK — FINAL DEFEAT OF GLENCAIRN— EWEN CAMERON OF 
 LOCHIEL REFUSES TO MAKE TERMS WITH THE ENGLISH— THE "ULYSSES 
 OF THE HIGHLANDS "—HIS CHARACTER, AND STRUGGLES WITH CROM- 
 WELL'S SOLDIERS— MAKES PEACE WITH MONK — ACCOMPANIES HIM TO 
 LONDON AT THE RESTORATION OF CHARLES II. — RESTORATION OF THE 
 KING RECEIVED WITH JOY IN THE NORTH — THE CITADEL OF INVERNESS 
 DEMOLISHED — INFLUENCE OF CROMWELL'S SOLDIERS ON THE PEOPLE 
 — ON THEIR DEPARTURE THE COUNTY BECOMES TURBULENT — THE 
 KEPPOCH MURDER AND THE PUNISHMENT OF THE MURDERERS — " THE 
 WELL OF THE SEVEN HEADS " — THE MACKINTOSHES INVADE LOCHABER 
 — THE OLD FEUD BETWEEN THEM AND THE CAMERONS CLOSED — THE 
 LAST OF THE CLAN BATTLES OF INVERNESS-SHIRE — THE FIGHT AT 
 MULROY — "MACDONALD TOOK THE BRAE ON THEM" — THE COUNTY 
 ASSUMES ITS PRESENT GEOGRAPHICAL AREA. 
 
 A NEW power was now to make itself felt in Inverness-shire. 
 That county, with the rest of Scotland, was to experience the 
 effect of foreign domination. After the battle of Worcester 
 the soldiers of Cromwell overran the greater part of the 
 kingdom, and established their garrisons from Berwick-on- 
 Tweed to Stornoway in the remote island of Lewis. Appar- 
 ently with little difficulty they conquered the Highlands. 
 The forces of the clans were no match for their well-dis- 
 ciplined troops. Their armies found their way into the 
 most inaccessible places, and marched unmolested through 
 
THE CITADEL OF INVERNESS. "J"] 
 
 the wildest passes. They struck terror into the hearts of 
 the Highlanders, who submitted themselves to the English- 
 men almost without resistance. Cromwell's soldiers treated 
 the people kindly, abstained from plundering, paid for what- 
 ever supplies they received, and generally exercised a civilising 
 influence on the inhabitants. 
 
 In November 1651 Colonel Fitch occupied Inverness, 
 quartering his men in the castle and " great houses betwixt 
 Spey and Loch Ness." In the spring of the next year he 
 commenced building a citadel, which was to accommodate 
 2000 men, horse and foot. " The wall," a letter from Inver- 
 ness at the time informs us, " is to be of freestone, and will be 
 of great use when finished. The ground it is to be built on is 
 by an arm of the sea, and the river Ness, over which there is 
 a bridge made. On Monday they are to begin digging the 
 grafts, which are to partake of the water of Ness." 
 
 A full account of the erection is given by the minister of 
 Kirkhill in his Diary. In 1655 he writes: "The Citadel of 
 Inverness is now on a great length, almost finished. They 
 had first built a long row of buildings made of bricks and 
 planks upon the river-side to accommodate the regiment, and 
 ramparts and bulwarks of earth in every street of the town, 
 and also fortified the castle and the bridge and the main court 
 of guard at the Cross. They bought a large plot of ground 
 from the burghers, called Carseland, where they built the 
 citadel, founded May 16, 1652, and now finished, a most 
 stately scene ! It was five-cornered, with bastions, with a 
 wide trench that an ordinary barque might sail in at full tide ; 
 the breast-work three storeys, built all of hewn stone lined 
 within, and a brick wall. Sentinel-houses of stone at each 
 corner, a sally-port to the south leading to the town, and on 
 the north a great entry or gate called the Port, with a strong 
 drawbridge of oak, called the Blue Bridge, and a stately 
 
78 A SACRILEGIOUS STRUCTURE. 
 
 Structure over the gate, well cut with the Commonwealth arms 
 and the motto ' Togam tuentur arma.' This bridge was drawn 
 every night, and a strong guard within. Ships or shallops 
 sailing in or out, the bridge was heaved to give way. The 
 entry from the bridge into the citadel was a stately vault about 
 70 feet long, with seats on each side, and a row of iron hooks 
 for pikes and drums to hang on. In the centre of the citadel 
 stood a great four-square building, all hewn stone, called the 
 magazine and granary. In the third storey was the church, 
 well furnished with a stately pulpit and seats, a wide bartizan 
 on top, and a brave great clock with four large gilded dials 
 and a curious ball. . . . North-west and north-east are lower 
 storeys for ammunition, timber, lodgings for manufactories, 
 stablings, provision and brewing houses, and a great long 
 tavern with all manner of wines, viands, beer, ale, and cider, 
 sold by one Master Benson, so that the whole regiment was 
 accommodated within these walls. All their oak planks and 
 beams were carried out of England in ships to Kessock Roads ; 
 all their fir logs and spars were sold out of Hugh Fraser 
 Struy's woods : I saw that gentleman receive 30,000 merks 
 at once for timber. Most of their best hewn stone was taken 
 from Chanonry — the great cathedral and steeple and the 
 bishop's castle were razed — also from the Church and Abbey 
 of Kinloss and Beauly, the Greyfriars' and St Mary's Chapel 
 at Inverness, and many more, so that it was a sacrilegious 
 structure, and therefore could not stand. The whole expense 
 amounted to about eighty thousand pounds." 
 
 It must have been a brave structure, and calculated to 
 overawe the neighbouring clans, as it stood there strong and 
 impregnable with its blue banner floating above with the name 
 " Emmanuel " written upon it in letters of gold. But the 
 Englishmen performed another feat of engineering, which was 
 thought at the time even more remarkable than the building 
 
AN ENGINEERING FEAT. 79 
 
 of the citadel. They constructed at Inverness a vessel, or 
 frigate, as she was called, capable of containing sixty men, and 
 carried her overground to Loch Ness. " This day," says a letter 
 from the town, " a pinnace of above forty tons was launched by 
 the understanding and exceeding pains of Captain Pestle, cap- 
 tain of the Satisfaction ; and some of his seamen, with almost 
 all the soldiers, with officers of Colonel Fitch's regiment, was 
 drawn six miles and upwards overland, to the great admiration 
 of all who were spectators; it being a work thought almost 
 impossible. Considering the bulk of the vessel, and the ill 
 way she was drawn over, I believe the like was never under- 
 taken. The men broke three cables, seven inches, with haul- 
 ing of her, yet it was incredible to see with what cheerfulness 
 she was carried through their great labour. There is appointed 
 divers soldiers and seamen to be put in her, and four pieces 
 of ordnance, and to sail up and down a standing water called 
 lough Nesse. She will do excellent service in preventing 
 the Highlanders to make their passage that way, which is 
 frequented by them." 
 
 While these brave doings were going on in the Highland 
 capital, the turbulent spirits among the clans were plot- 
 ting insurrection. The chief of Glengarry went everywhere 
 through the North trying to effect a rising among the High- 
 landers. From the letters of Cromwell's soldiers his labours 
 among the " wilde men," as they called them, were incessant. 
 " Glengarry," writes Colonel Lilburne to Cromwell, " had a 
 meeting in the Highlands about Strathglass. I perceive he 
 hath been tampering with all the chiefs of clans in and about 
 Loughaber and northward." "Their plots do ripen," he 
 writes again, " especially among the mountains ; undoubtedly 
 one from Charles Stuart has been with Glengarry, which hath 
 put a great deal of life into these kind of cattle." From Paris 
 in 1652 Charles II. sent a commission to Glengarry, Cameron, 
 
8o THE RISING OF 1653. 
 
 Laird of Lochiel, Macdonald of Keppoch, Fraser Foyers, and 
 others, constituting them a council of war. This council met 
 in the following year at Glenelg, and sent a letter to the 
 exiled King assuring him of their readiness to spend their 
 lives in his service. The result of these movements, in which 
 Glengarry was the leading spirit, was the Rising in 1653 under 
 Lord Glencairn. Glengarry brought 300 men to his banner ; 
 Cameron of Lochiel 400 ; and some of the other clans of 
 Inverness-shire were also represented, though the Badenoch 
 men refused to join. The hopes of the Royahsts were short- 
 lived. In Badenoch Lord Lorn, braving the curse of his 
 father, joined them with 1000 foot and 50 horse; but soon 
 after left them, and marched off with his forces in a huff, con- 
 ceiving himself insulted by certain of the chiefs. As his father 
 was the superior of Badenoch, he thought himself entitled to 
 command the troops. This demand was refused, and he re- 
 turned home. This was the precursor of failure. The army 
 moved northward, and at Dornoch General Middleton, who 
 had been sent by the king, took the command. Middleton 
 was an able general, but he had to contend with men of 
 greater ability. 
 
 General Monk, Governor of Scotland under Cromwell, 
 hastened northwards with an army, and his march through 
 the wildest parts of Inverness-shire is one of the most aston- 
 ishing feats of the kind ever recorded. Any one who knows 
 the country will concur in this opinion. From Ruthven in 
 Badenoch he marched on the 20th of June to Cluny, and 
 thence to Glenroy. On the 23d he met, at the south end of 
 Loch Lochy, the Marquis of Argyle and the governor of Inver- 
 lochy. On the 24th he reached Glenmoriston, and on the way 
 he met Colonel Morgan's brigade " near Glengarry's new house, 
 which had been burned by that brigade the day before.' 
 The remaining structure Monk ordered to be defaced by 
 
GENERAL MONK'S MARCH. 8 1 
 
 pioneers. On the 2Sth the army came to Glenquoich, at the 
 head of Glengarry, and encamped. On the 26th it reached 
 Kintail ; on the 27th it came to Loch Alsh ; on the 29th, 
 taking the road from Kintail to Glen Strathfarrar, it came to 
 a place called by the general Glenteugh ; on the 30th it 
 marched from this place to Brouline in Glen Strathfarrar. 
 "The way for near five miles," the general says, "was so 
 boggie that a hundred baggage-horses were left behind, and 
 many other horses bogged or tired. Never any horseman, 
 much less an army, were observed to march that way before." 
 From Glen Strathfarrar, Monk marched up Strathglass and 
 down Glenurquhart to Inverness. Thence he went south- 
 wards through Strathnairn. At Faille, in that strath, he 
 met with General Morgan, whom he sent towards Braemar to 
 watch the enemy's movements. In Argyleshire he heard that 
 Morgan had met with Middleton's forces, and had utterly 
 routed them near Loch Garry, on the northern border of 
 Perthshire, near Drumuchtar. The defeat at Loch Garry 
 ended the rising of Glencairn, and in his own words, "the 
 king's interest was broken in Scotland." 
 
 Most of the Inverness-shire chiefs now gave bonds for their 
 good behaviour to the Government of the Commonwealth, 
 and were permitted to live in peace within their bounds. 
 There was one of them, however, who for long would make 
 no terms with the English invaders. This was the chief of 
 Lochiel. 
 
 Ewen Cameron of Lochiel, known among the Highlanders 
 as Eoghain Dubh, or Black Ewen, and among Cromwell's 
 Englishmen as Macllduy, was one of the outstanding figures 
 of his time ; he was chief among chiefs. Of great strength 
 and courage, inured to hardship, skilful in the chase, and 
 brave in battle, he possessed all those physical qualities that 
 naturally command the admiration of a warUke people. He 
 
 F 
 
82 THE ULYSSES OF THE HIGHLANDS. 
 
 was also one whose moral and intellectual power were equally 
 conspicuous. He was a man of great natural wisdom, which 
 compensated for a somewhat defective education. He had 
 above all for the time a high ideal of character and life. 
 Chivalrous to a degree, he in many ways resembled Mon- 
 trose, whom he regarded as his model. He was adored by 
 his clan, who supposed him to be possessed of supernatural 
 powers. His turbulent neighbours respected him as a soldier 
 and a leader of men, and even his enemies spoke of him with 
 admiration. His Memoir reads like the life of one of Plu- 
 tarch's heroes. He has been happily called by Lord Mac- 
 aulay " the Ulysses of the Highlands." 
 
 Lochiel had been brought up under the guardianship oi 
 Argyle, whose vassal he was, but at an early age he cast in 
 his lot with the Royalists. He joined Glencairn in his insur- 
 rection, and he was one of Middleton's most trusted officers. 
 Cromwell's soldiers at Inverlochy, where they had built a fort, 
 lived in constant dread of their neighbour. The relation ol 
 his exploits in harassing the garrison there forms a large 
 portion of his Memoirs. When the soldiers of the Common 
 wealth showed themselves abroad, he constantly fell upor 
 them and defeated them. Cromwell's troopers were obliged 
 to perform their devotions as regularly as their drill, and the 
 daily prayer of an Irishman who escaped from the chiefi 
 hands is said to have been, " that God in His mercy woulc 
 be pleased to keep him out of the hands of Lochiel and hii 
 bloody crew for the rest of his life." The spot is still show: 
 near Achdalew, on the north side of Loch Eil, where the chie 
 engaged in mortal combat with an officer commanding a part; 
 from the fort. The officer, having lost his sword, closed wit) 
 his antagonist, and wrestled with him till they both fell to thi 
 ground in each other's arms. Li their struggle they rolle( 
 into the channel of a burn, which the drought of summer ha( 
 
AN HONOURABLE PEACE. 83 
 
 left dry. Their strength was so spent that neither of them 
 could stir a limb ; but at last the Englishman recovered the 
 use of his right hand, and seized a dagger that hung at his 
 belt, meaning to stab his enemy, who held him fast. In en- 
 deavouring to disengage himself to give the blow, he stretched 
 .and exposed his neck, when Lochiel jumped at his extended 
 throat, which he used to say " God had put into his mouth," 
 and bit it right through, keeping such a hold that he brought 
 away the mouthful. " This," he said, " was the sweetest bite 
 I ever had in my life." 
 
 But even Lochiel had at last, for the sake of his clan, to 
 make peace with the Englishmen. The terms he made with 
 Monk, who commanded in Scotland, were highly honourable 
 to himself. He would give no oath and no assurance but his 
 word of honour. His clan should be allowed to carry their 
 arms as before. The name of Cromwell, whom he detested 
 as a usurper, was not to be referred to. Rather than 
 acknowledge him, he would remain an outlaw and fugitive 
 all his days. He and his clan were to lay down their arms, 
 in the name of Charles II., to the governor of Inverlochy, 
 and take them up again immediately in the name of the 
 States. These terms and others most favourable to Lochiel, 
 and most creditable to the generosity of Monk, were accepted. 
 A great banquet crowned the surrender at Inverlochy, and 
 peace reigned between the Camerons and the Sassenach. 
 
 In 1660 Monk made his famous march to London, which 
 led to the Restoration of Charles II. Lochiel, whom he held 
 in great honour, rode by his side. He was received by the 
 king with marked favour, and his exploits were the talk of 
 the town. During one of his frequent attendances at Court, 
 the following strange incident is said to have occurred : The 
 chief went into a barber's shop to get his hair and his beard 
 dressed, and when the razor was passing over his throat, the 
 
84 THE RESTORATION. 
 
 chatty barber observed, "You are from the North, sir." 
 " Yes," said Lochiel, " I am. Do you know people from 
 the North ? " " No," replied the barber, " nor do I wish 
 to ; they are savages there. Would you believe it, sir, one 
 of them tore the throat out of my father with his teeth, and 
 I only wish I had the fellow's throat as near me as I have 
 yours just now ! " The feelings of the chief may be im- 
 agined. It is said he never entered a barber's shop again. 
 
 The restoration of the king was received with joy throughout 
 the Highlands, and the northern capital abandoned itself to 
 festivity. Races were held, at which most of the Inverness- 
 shire chiefs were present. Grants, Mackintoshes, Frasers, 
 and Macdonalds mingled together in the utmost cordiality. 
 The gratitude of the king towards those who had stood by 
 him in his adversity was supposed to be unbounded, though 
 it cannot be said he did much to show it. Glengarry, how- 
 ever, received a peerage, with the title of Macdonnell and 
 Aros ; and, to please the clans, the fortresses which CromweU 
 had erected to keep them in subjection were ordered to be 
 razed to the ground. The key of that of Inverlochy and its 
 buildings was given to Lochiel, and the great citadel at Inver- 
 ness was utterly demolished. 
 
 " This, of Inverness," observes the minister of Kirkhill in 
 1 66 1, "had not stood ten years. I was an eyewitness of the 
 last stone that was broken of this famous citadel, as I was 
 also witness of the foundation-stone laid." He tells, also, 
 " how the Commonwealth arms were pulled down and broken, 
 and the king's arms set up in their place ; the Blue Bridge 
 slighted, the sally-port broken, the magazine-house steeple 
 broken, and the great bell taken down. All this done with 
 demonstrations of joy and gladness, the soldiers shouting 
 ' God save the King ! ' as men weary of the yoke and 
 slavery of usurpation which lay so long about their necks. 
 
CHARACTER OF CROMWELL'S TROOPS. 85 
 
 A rare thing fell out here that was notarly known to a 
 thousand spectators, that the Commonwealth's arms set above 
 the most conspicuous gate of the citadel, a great thistle growing 
 out above it covered the whole carved work and arms so as 
 not a bit of it could be seen, to the admiration of the be- 
 holders. This was a presage that the Scots should therefore 
 eclipse." 
 
 The English troops left Inverness with regret. A few of 
 them, however, settled in the town, where their descendants 
 still remain. " Never people left a place," says the minister, 
 "with such reluctance. It was sad to see and hear their 
 sighs and tears, pale faces and embraces, at their parting 
 farewell from that town, and no wonder : they had peace 
 and plenty for ten years in it ; they made that place happy, 
 and it made them so. The citadel was slighted, and all the 
 country called in to raze it. I saw it founded. I saw it 
 flourish. I saw it in its glory and grandeur, and now in its 
 ruins. ' Sic transit gloria mundi.' " 
 
 There can be no doubt that the soldiers of Cromwell 
 exercised a civilising influence in the North, as throughout 
 Scotland. According to Dr Johnson, they first taught the 
 people of Inverness to make shoes and plant kail, and to 
 speak the English language with elegance. Some of their 
 own letters speak hopefully of their religious influence on the 
 Highlanders, and describe how the latter listened to their 
 preachers, of whom there were many in every regiment, and 
 testified their approbation by their "groans." Even the 
 Royalist minister of Kirkhill grows eloquent as he writes 
 of all they did for Inverness : " They brought such stores 
 of all wares and conveniences to Inverness that English 
 cloth was sold near as cheap as in England. The pint of 
 claret went for one shilling. They set up an apothecary's 
 shop, with a druggist ; they not only civilised, but enriched 
 
86 RENEWED TURBULENCE. 
 
 the place." One thing they certainly did, beyond all doubt — 
 they kept the Highlanders in order, and repressed with strong 
 hands those clan feuds and robberies which form so great 
 a part of northern history, and which at their departure 
 broke out with the old violence. Like hounds let loose, 
 from the leash, the robbers in every glen sprang to their 
 old work. It would be tedious to tell of their doings : how 
 reavers from Glengarry carried away cattle from the Laird of 
 Grant's tenants ; how caterans from the Clan Maclean in the 
 dead of night lifted cows belonging to The Chisholm, and 
 drove them into Badenoch ; how the great barnyards of 
 Culcabock, belonging to Inshes, were all set on fire — "it 
 made such a dreadful flame as put Inverness into a conster- 
 nation " — how Glenmoriston seized the Laird of Inshes and 
 conveyed him to his glen, where he kept him a prisoner for 
 nearly two months. 
 
 Incidents like these were common all over the county after 
 the departure of the Englishmen ; but one terrible deed, 
 which was followed by a vengeance as terrible, we must 
 mention. The young chief of Keppoch and his brother 
 Ronald were sent abroad for their education, and during 
 their absence the management of the clan and estates de- 
 volved on certain cousins, as their nearest relations. On 
 the return of the young men to their home, a feast was 
 given in their honour, and at this feast they were barbarously 
 murdered by their treacherous relatives. The bard of the 
 clan, Ian Lom, was deeply affected by their fate, and de- 
 nounced their assassins with all the power of his muse. His 
 poetry glows with fire. He used also his personal influence 
 to bring the murderers to justice, and went from one castle 
 to another crying for vengeance. His efforts after a time 
 were successful. The Government authorised Sir Alexander 
 Macdonald of Sleat to punish the criminals. Guided by Ian 
 
A SIGNAL RETRIBUTION. 87 
 
 Lom, the son of this chief made an incursion by night into 
 Lochaber, and surprised the assassins, seven in number, in 
 their beds. They were at once executed. Their heads were 
 cut off, packed in a creel, and carried on a man's back ; and 
 next morning at dawn they were laid at the feet of Lord 
 Macdonnell of Glengarry. Near the entrance to Invergarry 
 Castle is a well where the heads were washed before being 
 presented to the chief. This well is called to this day "The 
 Well of the Seven Heads " ; and above it stands a monu- 
 ment bearing an inscription, which, in Gaelic, English, Latin, 
 and French, tells of this act of retribution, and calls on the 
 passer-by to draw near and read a story of the justice of the 
 Eternal God. 
 
 Two clan feuds, one of which ended peacefully, the other 
 of which was closed in bloodshed, may here be briefly 
 noticed. During upwards of three hundred years the Mack- 
 intoshes again and again put forward their claims to the 
 lands of Glenlui and Locharkaig, and during the same period 
 the Camerons stoutly defended their possession of them with 
 the sword. After the restoration of the king, the claims 
 of The Mackintosh were strenuously pressed in the Scottish 
 Parliament, the courts of law, and the Privy Council. The 
 king did all he could to help his old friend Lochiel, and 
 there were protracted negotiations, which came to nothing. 
 In 1665 The Mackintosh determined to make a descent on 
 Lochaber, and wrest by force the disputed lands from 
 Lochiel. With 1500 men he entered in September his 
 enemy's country. Lochiel mustered his clan, which, with 
 some friendly neighbours, numbered in all a force of 1200, 
 300 of whom were bowmen, to meet his foe. There was 
 every prospect of a fierce conflict. The Mackintoshes and 
 their allies were on the north side of Arkaig Water; the 
 Camerons guarded the ford on the other side; happily, by 
 
88 THE LAST OF THE CLAN BATTLES. 
 
 the mediation of the Earl of Breadalbane, bloodshed was at 
 the last moment prevented. Lochiel offered to purchase the 
 disputed lands for a certain sum, and Mackintosh accepted 
 his offer. "The combatants drank together and exchanged 
 swords, rejoicing in the extinction of the ancient feud." The 
 feud had indeed been an ancient one. As we have already 
 shown, it probably led to the battle on the Inch of Perth 
 in the reign of King Robert III. During subsequent years it 
 was like a smouldering iire, leaping again and again into fiame. 
 Tradition asserts that, during three centuries and a half, a 
 Mackintosh and a Cameron had never spoken together. That 
 is doubtless an exaggeration ; but it serves to show how fierce 
 was the enmity between the two clans, handed down from 
 father to son with all the persistence of an Italian vendetta. 
 
 The other feud closed the list of the clan battles, and on 
 that account may be interesting to the reader, who has been 
 told of so many. 
 
 The lands of Glenroy and Glenspean had been conferred 
 on the Mackintoshes by an undoubted charter. They were 
 held by the Macdonalds of Keppoch, who declined to ac- 
 knowledge what they termed the " sheepskin title " of the 
 other clan. In 1688 Mackintosh, with 1000 men, which 
 included a party of regular soldiers from Inverness, acting 
 with the sanction of the Privy Council, marched against his 
 foe. The chief of Keppoch was well known throughout the 
 Highlands by the name of " Col of the Cows " — a name given 
 him on account of his skill in tracking and recovering stolen 
 cattle. He had every reason to detest The Mackintosh, for 
 while he was a student at the University of St Andrews, that 
 chief had caused him to be imprisoned in the common tol- 
 booth of Inverness, when he had gone north to attend his 
 father's funeral. He had been liberated by an order of the 
 Privy Council, but the insult had not been forgotten. With 
 
KEPPOCH WINS THE DAY. 89 
 
 all the men he could muster, and aided by his kinsmen of 
 Glengarry and Glencoe, and a party of Camerons, he awaited 
 with fierce joy the approach of his antagonist. At a place 
 called Mulroy the two forces came into collision. A hand- 
 to-hand conflict took place, in which the Macdonalds were 
 victorious. 
 
 A certain Donald MacBane, who had been an apprentice 
 to a tobacco-spinner in Inverness, and who had enlisted in 
 the army, gives an amusing but graphic description of the 
 fight, at which he was present : " We were no sooner in order 
 but there appears double of the number of the Macdonalds, 
 which made us then to fear the worst ; at least, for my part, 
 I repeated my former wish [that he had been spinning tobacco 
 in Inverness]. The Macdonalds came down the hill upon 
 us without either shoe, stocking, or bonnet on their head : 
 they gave a shout, and then the fight began on both sides, 
 and continued a hot dispute for an hour. Then they broke 
 in upon us with their sword and target and Lochaber axes, 
 which obliged us to give way. Seeing my captain sore 
 wounded, and a great many more with their heads lying 
 cloven on every side, I was sadly affrighted, never having seen 
 the like before. A Highlandman attacked me with sword 
 and targe, and cut my wooden-handled bayonet out of the 
 muzzle of my gun. I then clubbed my gun and gave him a 
 stroke with it, which made the butt-end to fly off. Seeing the 
 Highlandmen come fast upon me, I took to my heels and ran 
 thirty miles before I looked behind me. Every person I saw 
 or met I took him for my enemy." 
 
 The slaughter was great. The visitor to Lochaber can still 
 trace the graves that lie thick on the field of battle. The 
 banner of the Mackintosh was only saved by the standard- 
 bearer leaping over a chasm where no one dared to follow. 
 The chief himself fell into Keppoch's hands, and, it is said, 
 
90 THE COUNTY OF INVERNESS. 
 
 was compelled to yield his title to the disputed land. When 
 the captive heard the shouts of the Macdonalds welcoming 
 the " Lord of Keppoch," he said, " You are as far from being 
 Lord of Keppoch at this moment as you have been all your 
 life." " Never mind," answered the victor, " we'll enjoy the 
 good weather while it lasts." The bard of the conqueror 
 celebrated the victory in triumphant strains, telling how the 
 Macdonalds, like brave dogs, held at the mountain-cats and 
 took the mewing out of their nose, regardless of their sharp 
 claws. And the last of the clan battles, equal in ferocity to 
 any of the innumerable ones that preceded it, is still com- 
 memorated by the well-known pibroch, " Macdonald took the 
 Brae on them." 
 
 It may be mentioned here, for we have had no opportunity 
 of previously doing so, that in 1661 the county of Inverness 
 assumed its present geographical area. In that year it was 
 disjoined from Ross-shire. Caithness had been dissevered 
 from it in 161 7, and Sutherland in 1633. 
 
91 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIKE DURING THE WARS OF VISCOUNT DUNDEE — "GREAT JOHN 
 OF THE BATTLES " — TAKES UP ARMS IN FAVOUR OF jAMES VII. — COMES 
 TO INVERNESS — FINDS THE TOWN BESIEGED BY KEPPOCH— " COL OF 
 THE COWS"— HIS INTERVIEW WITH THAT FREEBOOTER — APPOINTS A 
 GENERAL MUSTER OF THE CLANS — HIS MARCH THROUGH INVERNESS- 
 SHIRE TO DALMACOMER — GATHERING OF THE CLANS— STRIKING PIC- 
 TURES OF THE CHIEFS IN THE "GRjEMIAD" — GLENGARRY, KEPPOCH, 
 LOCHIEL — THE CAMPAIGN IN BADENOCH AGAINST GENERAL MACKAY — 
 DUNDEE AT MOY IN LOCHABER — THE BATTLE OF KILLIECRANKIE AND 
 DEATH OF DUNDEE — THE INEFFECTUAL STRUGGLE OF THE CHIEFS ON 
 THE SIDE OF THE KING — THE HAUGHS OF CROMDALE— MACKAY ERECTS 
 FORT WILLIAM— THE CHIEFS SUBMIT TO GOVERNMENT — KEPPOCH AND 
 GLENGARRY NARROWLY ESCAPE THE FATE OF GLENCOE — THE COUNTY 
 AGAIN PEACEFUL — DEATH OF LOCHIEL. 
 
 The form of Church government in Scotland during the 
 reign of Charles II. was Episcopacy. In this the Inverness- 
 shire people seem to have acquiesced. While many in the 
 South regarded it as abomination, and resisted it to the 
 death, within the bounds of our county there was very little 
 religious dissension to speak of In Ross and Moray there 
 were Covenanters and conventicles, but in Inverness-shire the 
 only outstanding man who uplifted his testimony against the 
 estabhshed order of things was a Mr M'Bean, one of the 
 ministers of the burgh. He seems to have had a certain 
 following among the townsmen, but his career as a "schis- 
 matic" was a short one. He was firmly dealt with by his 
 brethren and his bishop, and was finally judicially deposed by 
 
92 CLAVERHOUSE. 
 
 the Privy Council at Edinburgh — the last case of deposition 
 under Episcopacy. It was sufficient justification to the High- 
 landers in their support of Episcopacy that it was the religion 
 the king wished established. What the king wished must be 
 right. 
 
 "A Highland Host," as we know, supported Dundee, or 
 Claverhouse, in his endeavours to put down the Covenanters, 
 and returned to their native wilds with great plunder, taken 
 from the Westland Whigs. By the Highlanders Dundee was 
 regarded, not as the " bloody Claverse," who was supposed 
 to be in league with the devil, and whose hands were im- 
 brued in the blood of the saints, but as " Ian mor nan 
 Cath" "great John of the Battles," the brave general and 
 loyal servant of the king. When Dundee, after the revolu- 
 tion which drove James VH. from his throne, took up arms 
 in favour of the deposed monarch, and against the Prince of 
 Orange, he found the Inverness-shire clans as ready to follow 
 him as they had been to follow Montrose. 
 
 The first note of the new " rising " was struck at Inverness 
 on Sunday the 28th April 1689. Macdonald of Keppoch 
 with 800 men appeared before- the northern capital and 
 threatened it with destruction. This chief, the famous 
 " Col of the Cows " already mentioned, had been chosen by 
 some of the neighbouring chiefs to meet Dundee and conduct 
 him to Lochaber. He readily undertook to discharge this 
 duty, the more so that it gave him an opportunity of gratifying 
 his love of plunder. He came up accordingly from Lochaber, 
 through the lands of The Mackintosh, which he thoroughly 
 harried — Mackintosh was the enemy whom he had previously 
 defeated at Mulroy — and then advanced to Inverness, the 
 garrison of which had assisted Mackintosh. The authorities 
 of the town were not altogether unprepared for his coming. 
 They had organised a guard of the inhabitants for their pro- 
 
"COL OF THE COWS." 93 
 
 tection ; and a body of 300 well-armed and resolute citizens, 
 under chosen captains, mustered in defence of their homes. 
 
 During the whole of the Sunday on which Keppoch appeared 
 before the town they stood under arms, ready to resist any 
 attempt he might make to effect an entrance. The ministers 
 preached that morning at the cross, "all the citizens being 
 necessitated to stand in a posture of defiance." It was a 
 trying Sabbath for the burghers, but it passed off without 
 any attack being made. The next two days Keppoch spent 
 before the town, threatening to come in and burn it, but afraid 
 to venture. He then demanded a ransom of 2000 dollars. 
 
 At this juncture, when everything pointed to a severe 
 conflict, Dundee appeared on the scene, and the whole aspect 
 of things changed. There was no longer any question of 
 burning the town. The citizens agreed to pay 1000 dollars, 
 and it is said Dundee gave his word to pay 1000 more 
 on the king's return to his own, as the town had not pro- 
 claimed the Prince of Orange. The money was collected 
 in the burgh, and the marauder ceased his threatening. 
 
 Dundee, who with some eighty troopers had reached In- 
 verness from the South, was greatly pleased to find the 
 Highlanders in arms, and wished at once to lead them 
 southward to meet the revolutionary troops, who were in 
 pursuit of him. Keppoch was received with cheers by the 
 troopers, but he was in no way disposed to join them. " Col 
 of the Cows " was more anxious to secure his plunder than 
 to aid Dundee. Some of his men, he said, were Camerons, 
 and could not march south without the express leave of 
 their master. "The king of thieves," says one who was 
 present, " basely debated the matter to and fro, and framed 
 excuses for delay. He then marched rapidly his claymores 
 to the mountains, driving before him great herds of cattle, 
 robbing villages and dwellings as he went, and pillaging the 
 
94 
 
 THE "GR^MIAD." 
 
 poorest cottages ; and then, having wrapped all in flames 
 behind him, he retired to the hills and hid himself among 
 the rocks of his inaccessible mountains. It was a bitter 
 disappointment to Dundee." 
 
 The writer whom we have quoted was standard-bearer to 
 Dundee, and accompanied him throughout his Highland 
 campaign. In an epic poem called the "Grsemiad," and 
 written in Latin, he details the achievements of his com- 
 mander. We follow him in his description of Dundee's 
 movements, for it is full of interesting local touches. The 
 reader will make all allowance for his poetic flights. 
 
 Dundee, leaving Inverness, proceeded westward, hoping 
 to be more successful with the other chiefs than he had 
 been with the mercenary Keppoch. " He passed through 
 Stratherrick, his horses scrambling over pathless mountains 
 white with perpetual frost, to where, surrounded by its gloomy 
 marshes, stands the castle of Invergarry crowning its lofty 
 rock. From thence, retracing his steps by the same route, 
 beset with vast and horrid crags, he passes on and halts 
 at the kirk of Kilchumin." From this place, now Fort 
 Augustus, Dundee went by the Pass of Corryarrick to the 
 Spey, and halted at the farm of Presmukerach, on the river 
 Truim. Here he rested for a day and wrote letters to such 
 of the Highland chiefs as were on his side, appointing a 
 general meeting of the clans to take place in Lochaber about 
 the 1 8th May. He then went southward by Dalwhinnie 
 and Athole, made a successful raid on Perth, and an un- 
 successful attempt on the town of Dundee. He returned 
 to Inverness-shire by Loch Rannoch, and followed the track 
 which leads from Kinloch Rannoch to Loch Treig, past 
 Corrour, and so on to I^ochaber. 
 
 The journey is graphically described by his poetic standard- 
 bearer, and any one who has ever made it either on foot or 
 
A PERILOUS MARCH. 95 
 
 by railway will recognise the truthfulness of the picture he 
 draws of his march across the northern extremity of the 
 wild Moor of Rannoch : " He led his troops through moun- 
 tains, forcing his way by plain and rock and cliff, by swelter- 
 ing bog and gully. Many of the wearied horses sink into 
 the marsh and are lost in its depth. Failing to raise them, 
 the riders place the saddles on their own shoulders and 
 pursue their way on foot. I myself, having lost my horse, 
 have to tramp by rugged path and hill and rock and river. 
 At length, by stream and marsh and quaking bog, by forest 
 blocked with uprooted trees, by precipice and mountain- 
 height, we reach Loch Treig, and there fix our lofty camp. 
 Though the glories of spring were clothing the Lowlands, 
 we have to tear our limbs from our frozen couches, and 
 our hair and beards are stiff with ice. We pursue our way 
 through regions condemned to perpetual frost, and never 
 trodden before by the foot of man or horse. By mountains 
 rising above the airy flight of birds and cliffs towering to 
 the sky, by devious paths among the time-worn rocks, our 
 march unlocks the iron bolts of Nature. Hannibal with 
 less labour clave his way by vinegar and flame across the 
 lofty Alps. Here no smoke, no sign of human dwelling 
 appears, but only the lair of the wild beast and a chaos 
 of mountain, wood, and sky. Here the sun itself scarce 
 darts a ray. At last our march is ended, and Dundee 
 plants his foot on level ground, and presses with his heel 
 the level bank as he crosses the deep waters of Glenroy. 
 Gladly Lochaber receives the Grahame into her bosom." 
 
 Dundee seems to have rested, after his arduous march, for 
 some days near what is now Roy Bridge, awaiting the general 
 muster of the clans, and sending out the fiery cross in every 
 direction. The poetic soldier gives a vivid description of 
 Lochaber. In its desolation it appeared to himself and his 
 
96 LOCHABER. 
 
 comrades to be the end of the world. "The horses," he 
 says, " were sent over the plain to swell as best they might 
 their famished flanks with the prickly shoots of the sur- 
 rounding bushes. Leaving their huts white with hoar-frost, 
 the men speed on foot through the woods and climb the 
 steeps of the cloud-capped hills to view the surrounding 
 region. There Keppoch extends towards the south, and 
 Corpach to the Irish Sea, while here Ben Nevis towers aloft, 
 raising her massive summit to the sky. Beneath their eyes 
 is seen the lake [Loch Laggan] which pours its waters into 
 the Spean, and the great waters of the Gloy and the sounding 
 streams of the Roy as they flow to the sea by separate 
 mouths. Here too they behold Lochaber parting the north 
 wind with its frozen ridges and expanding its wild fields. 
 Cliff rises above cliff, and the deep-lying straths are bathed 
 in soft light. Wherever they turn, mountain and rock and 
 river and lake, dense thickets of bramble and thorn, with 
 here and there a peasant's cot, meet the eye. The ground 
 beneath their feet is hard with frost, the air is freezing with 
 the keen north wind, and the whole region is a wilderness 
 of briar, thistle, and heather, while snow covers the mountains 
 and ice the rivers. ' Alas ! ' they cry, ' to what unknown 
 land has our fate carried us, to what uncongenial clime ? 
 'Mid wood and rock and desert we wander in regions of 
 eternal snow. Lochaber is surely the extremity of the earth. 
 When and where shall these labours cease, this unfortunate 
 journey end ? ' " 
 
 While Dundee and his troopers were awaiting the great 
 muster of the clans, and his poet was describing the wild 
 scenery of Lochaber, the enemy he was to encounter was not 
 altogether inactive. The Revolutionist army was under the 
 command of Major-General Mackay of Scourie in Sutherland- 
 shire. He was a soldier of fortune, and had had considerable 
 
A GATHERING OF THE CLANS. 97 
 
 experience in Continental warfare. He arrived at Inverness 
 between the 8th and loth of May, a few days after Dundee 
 had left the town. On his arrival he commenced to fortify 
 the burgh, which he describes as an open country town. He 
 remained there a fortnight, and before he left had the satis- 
 faction of seeing the town transformed into a sort of fortified 
 camp. He ordered Colonel Ramsay to come north with 
 600 chosen men of the three Dutch regiments in Scotland, 
 and arranged to join him at Ruthven in Badenoch on the 
 26th May. Early on the morning of that day Mackay left 
 Inverness to keep his appointment with Ramsay ; but before 
 he got half-way to Badenoch he met an express from Ruth- 
 ven with the news that Dundee was in Badenoch within ten 
 or twelve miles of Ruthven, and that Ramsay, fearing to 
 encounter him, had fallen back on Perth. 
 
 On the day that Mackay left Inverness, Dundee had arrived 
 in Badenoch at the head of a large Highland army. While 
 the former had been fortifying the town, the latter had been 
 gathering the clans. His summons to the Highlanders had 
 been largely responded to, and from every part of the West, 
 even from far-off islands in the Hebrides, the chiefs and their 
 men came to the place of meeting — a place called Dalma- 
 comer in Lochiel's country. It is beside the Falls of 
 Macomer, and close to Gairlochy, near the south end of 
 Loch Lochy. The traveller from Inverness by steamer 
 passes within sight of the field, which on that day in early 
 summer must have presented an animated appearance. 
 Many of the great chiefs of Inverness - shire were present. 
 The Mackintoshes and the Erasers absented themselves, 
 and Grant was a strong supporter of King William. The 
 Macphersons were in sympathy with Dundee, but would 
 not march without an order from their superior, the Duke 
 of Gordon. As they had not received this, they took no 
 
 G 
 
98 dalcomera's plain. 
 
 decided part in the campaign. But Keppoch, Lochiel, Clan- 
 ranald, and others were there in full Celtic pomp, with banners 
 waving and pipes playing. The poet on whose personal 
 reminiscences we have already largely drawn, pictures the 
 scene on what he terms "Dalcomera's plain" in glowing 
 language. His descriptions of some of those present are 
 photographic, and we venture to give a few of them here. 
 
 " First from his northern shores the brave Glengarry leads 
 300 illustrious youths in the first flower of vigorous manhood, 
 each of whom a tartan garb covers, woven with Phrygian 
 skill in triple stripe, and as a garment clothes their broad 
 chests and flanks. A helmet defends the temples of the 
 head. A coloured plaid veils their shoulders, and otherwise 
 they are naked. The chief himself, mounted on a foaming 
 steed and towering in glittering arms, advances into the plain 
 claymore in hand, his cloak shining with gold, and a broad 
 baldric with buckled clasp crossing his left breast. Following 
 him closely comes his brother Allan the brave, with a hundred 
 men all clothed in garments interwoven with the red stripe, 
 their brawny calves bound with the red buskins. Afar they 
 bristle with spears, and they stand firm with sword belted 
 round their loins, with shields strengthened with brazen knobs 
 protecting their bodies." 
 
 After describing M'lan of Glencoe and Sir Donald Mac- 
 donald of Sleat, the poet turns to Keppoch. The conduct of 
 " The King of Thieves " at Inverness has apparently been con- 
 doned by his appearance in full strength at " Dalcomera," and 
 indeed he seems to have made with his followers a gallant 
 show. 
 
 " His head is covered with a helmet, he flourishes his two- 
 handled sword, and his shield flashes as with love of war he 
 comes wildly on. Two hundred men of fierce aspect are 
 gathered around him, to whom life in arms alone is pleasing, 
 
SIR EWEN CAMERON. 
 
 99 
 
 and to drive the new booty is a delight : these carry the 
 hand-axe with keen point, and others the gleaming javelin, 
 and the knotty club. Others again show in their right hand 
 the spear, in their left the shield, and the brazen gun thunders 
 in the heads of them all with loud report." 
 
 Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel — he had been knighted by 
 James VII. — is next portrayed. His dark Spanish counte- 
 nance, of which tradition tells, is noticed. He was now sixty 
 years of age, but full of vigour. He brought looo men to 
 the muster, and was throughout the campaign the principal 
 adviser of Dundee. He was accompanied by Sir Alexander 
 Drummond of Balhaldy, who had married his eldest daughter. 
 
 "Here now Sir Ewen Cameron, a hero of martial fame, 
 coming from the distant shores of the northern waters, carried 
 with him to the field looo men, whom, a warlike offspring, 
 rugged Abria nourishes, chiefs unconquered in war whom it 
 ever delights to lift the recent prey and to apply themselves to 
 robbery. He himself, stiff in brazen armour, rises high above 
 his axe-bearing line, and on each side of him a faithful guard 
 of kinsmen and clansmen is gathered. With him goes his 
 son-in-law Balhaldy. The Cameron chief himself, mounted 
 on a grey horse, shines in a tri-coloured tunic trimmed all 
 round with gold lace. A helmet covers his head ; to his side 
 is girt a double-edged brand ; blood-red plumes float on his 
 crest. A cuirass of leather harder than adamant girds his 
 breast, and on his left arm hangs his shield. His tartan hose 
 are gartered around his calf, mail covers his shoulders, and a 
 brazen plate his back. All his trappings are rigid with solid 
 brass and throw back to the clouds the reflected light. His 
 very look so fierce might fright the boldest foe. His savage 
 glance and the swarthy view of his Spanish countenance, his 
 flashing eyes, his head, with moustache curled as the moon's 
 horn or as the handle of the tongs, might terrify the bands of 
 
lOO HIGHLAND CHIEFTAINS. 
 
 the half- human Sycambrians. In like arms his eldest son 
 accompanied him in the first flower of peerless youth. He, 
 the ornament of his race and guardian of his father's clan, has 
 accustomed himself to bear the hard service of the camp, and 
 holds the place in command second to his father." 
 
 Other leaders are portrayed with equal care, but the de- 
 scriptions are too long to quote in full. " Macmartin rising 
 high above the whole line, his dark locks hang around his 
 face and cover his cheeks, and his eyes shine like the stars." 
 " Stalwart Glendessary." " Eraser of Foyers, sprung from the 
 Fraser clan, than whom there was none more illustrious in 
 northern land nor any excelling him in arms." " Fraser of Cul- 
 duthel, surrounded by the flower of his warriors, all stiff" with 
 brass and shining with steel and gold." " The valiant Grant, 
 not that degenerate Grant who takes his name from Bala 
 Castle, but the bold Grant of Urquhart, bearing unstained 
 honour in a faithful breast, and keen against the foes of the 
 Caesar." " The exalted captain of Clanranald in the first flower 
 of his age, glowing from his youthful studies, showing the 
 preludes of a mind great beyond his years. While scarce the 
 first down tints his cheek, he, fired with a great love of his 
 country's glory, moved keenly to battle with his whole race. 
 He bears along, rushing into the fight, races whom the Black 
 Isle [Uist] has sent, those whom Knoydart and Moidart 
 nourish in their vast fields." 
 
 A large force streamed out of the field of Dalmacomer, 
 taking the road by Glen Roy to Badenoch. " The pipers 
 struck up the pibroch, and the clarion and bugles sounded. 
 The army, brilliant with the varied weapons of Lochaber, move 
 the standard while the pipe resounds, and the whole force in 
 marching order advances into the surrounding country. The 
 bold Glengarry, as leader of ^the first line, marches in the van, 
 accompanied by thirty horse in due order. Then the rest of 
 
TREACHERY IN THE CAMP. lOI 
 
 the chiefs advanced each in his own station and followed by 
 his own people. Swift Foyers following with his marshalled 
 clan brought up smartly the rear, and now the tartaned host 
 had poured itself out upon the fields, and forced its way 
 through rocks and rivers, and had left behind the confines of 
 Glen Roy and the lofty mountains of Garviemore. Now it is 
 over the Spey and is holding the open country." 
 
 The campaign now entered upon cannot be regarded as in 
 any way brilliant. Mackay after leaving Inverness went first 
 to Culnakyle and Belcastle or Castle Grant, and from that 
 base of operation extended his lines up Speyside until he 
 was within a few miles of Dundee, who was encamped at the 
 old castle of Raitts, near the present site of Belville. The 
 poet speaks of Mackay as " encamped at the kirk of chilly 
 Alvie " in a position difficult to attack. " In his front lay a 
 wooden bridge of vast timbers, in his rear was a ditch of roll- 
 ing water, a burn protected his right, and the woods his left." 
 Here he remained strongly intrenched, and resisting the 
 taunts of the enemy to come out and give him battle. His 
 position was a very difficult one. In addition to the paucity 
 of his forces he had to contend with treachery in his camp. 
 Some of his officers were so uncertain in their allegiance that 
 they had to be closely watched. Two of his troopers were 
 detected carrying information to Dundee. Had not the dis- 
 covery of their treachery been made, Mackay's army would 
 have been surrounded and probably cut to pieces. 
 
 Dundee, if in less embarrassed circumstances than his 
 opponent, was able to do very little. Keppoch and his 
 clan captured and burnt the castle of Ruthven, which was 
 garrisoned by a detachment under the command of a brother 
 of Forbes of CuUoden. Keppoch also distinguished himself 
 by burning the old castle of The Mackintosh, called Dun- 
 achton, near Loch Insh. This was pleasant work for the 
 
102 THE KING OF THIEVES. 
 
 Lochaber freebooter. " Keppoch," says our poet, "after he 
 had destroyed Ruthven Castle, having returned with great 
 pomp to this house, fired it, urged by the spur of revenge 
 and the love of plunder, and reduced it to ashes. The flocks, 
 the ravished wealth of the burnt houses, oxen, and the common 
 booty of the fields, were carried off. Nor was our general 
 able to restrain the violence of this savage soldier from 
 breaking out and wrapping the whole district in flames." 
 From the plundered Mackintosh we learn that Keppoch 
 carried away "all the portable goods, worth at least 40,000 
 merks, and the whole tenants and possessors thereof were 
 forced to flee, and are now with their wives and children 
 begging their bread and living on charity." It is to the 
 credit of Dundee that he was extremely angry with his 
 marauding follower, and told him in the presence of all his 
 officers that he would rather serve as a common soldier among 
 disciplined troops than command such men as he, who 
 seemed to make it his business to draw the odium of the 
 country upon him. The chief made a very humble apology 
 and promised not to repeat his conduct. He had, however, 
 secured his plunder, and the cattle of The Mackintosh were 
 by that time far on their way to Lochaber. 
 
 Mackay, afraid of treachery among his troops, and hearing 
 that Dundee was moving towards him, determined to retreat. 
 Starting at nightfall, he went down the river Spey by Ballin- 
 dalloch, closely followed by Dundee. In Banffshire he re- 
 ceived an accession to his numbers, and turned upon Dundee, 
 who retreated before him into Badenoch. Then the march- 
 ing and counter-marching ended. Dundee went back to 
 Lochaber to wait for additional reinforcements from Ireland. 
 Mackay, afraid to follow him through the mountain -passes, 
 sent part of his troops to Inverness, Elgin, and Strathbogie, 
 and went himself south to raise additional troops and to 
 
KILLIECRANKIE. I03 
 
 press upon the authorities the necessity of building a fort at 
 Inverlochy. 
 
 In Lochaber Dundee took up his abode at Moy, a house 
 on the banks of the Lochy, and there waited the arrival of 
 the soldiers from Ireland. When they came he was bitterly 
 disappointed. They only numbered 500 men, poorly armed, 
 ill-clothed, and badly disciplined. He did the best he could 
 for them in the circumstances, and after a short time marched 
 them south by Dalwhinie, accompanied by 1800 Highlanders. 
 On the 27th July 1689 the famous battle of KilHecrankie was 
 fought, when victory for King James was dearly purchased by 
 the death of Dundee. 
 
 It does not fall within our province to describe the battle 
 of KilHecrankie, or, as it is always called by the Highlanders, 
 the battle of Rinroy. We may say, however, that the Inver- 
 ness-shire chiefs greatly distinguished themselves, and many 
 traditions of their prowess have been handed down, and are 
 still repeated within the bounds of our county. 
 
 Lochiel was supposed by the Highlanders to possess the 
 gift of second-sight, and before the battle he is reported to 
 have said, "That side will win which first sheds blood." The 
 Laird of Glenmoriston — lan-a-chragain, as he was called — 
 who heard the words spoken, repeated them to a famous deer- 
 stalker from his glen, and pointed out to him an of55cer 
 mounted on a white steed who had galloped forward from 
 the lines of the enemy to survey the ground. The hunter 
 crept forward, took deliberate aim, and the officer fell to the 
 ground. There Was no longer any doubt among the High- 
 landers as to how the battle was likely to go. 
 
 The chief of the Camerons himself, who wore shoes — 
 probably, as it has been suggested, the only pair possessed 
 by the clan — not being able to keep up with his men as 
 they rushed onward, sat down by the way, cut off his shoes. 
 
I04 HIGHLAND PROWESS. 
 
 and then bounded forward, charging barefoot at the head of 
 his men. One of his sons was a captain in the Scots Fusiliers, 
 serving in the army of King William. As Mackay saw the 
 Highlanders approaching he turned to young Cameron and 
 said, " There's your father with his wild savages ; how would 
 you like to be with them ? " " It matters little," was the 
 reply, " what I would like ; but I advise you to be prepared, 
 or perhaps my father and his wild savages may be nearer 
 you before night than you would like." One of the Grants 
 of Glenurquhart having been knocked down by a ball which 
 came against his target, rose again with the remark, " Och ! 
 sure the Boddachs [old boys] are in earnest," and rushed 
 on with the rest. Another man from the same part of In- 
 verness-shire specially distinguished himself by paLSsing his 
 sword through from the left shoulder to the right loin of a 
 Hessian officer. 
 
 Glengarry was prominent in the fray. He wielded a pon- 
 derous two-handed sword, with which it is said he killed two 
 men at every step he took. Sixteen gentlemen of his clan 
 were slain, and among them his son Donald Gorm. It is 
 reported that this youth killed, before he himself fell, eighteen 
 of the enemy with his own sword, and all within such a space 
 " as it would have required a lippy of lint-seed to sow." Many 
 such tales as these are still related of the prowess of Inver- 
 ness-shire men at Killiecrankie. 
 
 The importance, however, of a victory, by whatever acts of 
 individual bravery it may be distinguished, can only be esti- 
 mated by its results, and the battle of Killiecrankie, instead 
 of advancing the cause of King James, in reality gave it its 
 death-blow. The loss of Dundee was irreparable. There was 
 no one on his own side fit to take his place. He understood 
 the Highlanders, and they understood him. He adapted him- 
 self to their manners and prejudices, and still more to their 
 
lochiel's loyalty. ios 
 
 peculiar mode of warfare. It is said he used to walk on 
 foot with the common men, sometimes with those of one 
 clan and sometimes with those of another. He amused them 
 with his humour. He showed his familiarity with their gene- 
 alogies. He was acquainted with their traditions and the 
 songs of their bards. King James himself rightly estimated 
 his loss when he wrote that it gave him a fresh occasion 
 of adoring Providence and contemplating the instability of 
 human affairs when one single shot from a routed and flying 
 enemy decided to all appearance the fate of more than one 
 kingdom. 
 
 General Cannon, who took the command on the death of 
 Dundee, was entirely unfitted for the position to which he 
 was called. He mismanaged everything. His Highland 
 followers melted away. Lochiel returned home, and Cannon 
 soon followed him to Lochaber, where he remained for the 
 winter. At a council of war held at Keppoch many of the 
 chiefs proposed to submit to King William. Lochiel stood 
 alone in opposing them. " I am an old man," he said, " yet 
 I am determined to spend the remainder of my life after my 
 old manner, among mountains and caves, rather than give 
 up my conscience and honour by submission, let the terms 
 be ever so inviting, until I have my master's permission to do 
 so. No argument or view of interest or of safety shall prevail 
 with me to change this resolution, whatever may be the 
 event." The result of Lochiel's determination was another 
 effort for the royal cause under General Buchan, whom King 
 James sent over from Ireland. Unfortunately Buchan was 
 as incompetent as his predecessor, and his attempt ended in 
 failure. On 30th April 1690 he encamped with a body of 
 1200 men on the Haughs of Cromdale, on the banks of the 
 Spey. The spot was singularly ill-chosen, being quite open to 
 attack. Sir Thomas Livingstone, an able and experienced 
 
I06 THE HAUGHS OF CROMDALE. 
 
 officer, came down from Inverness to Strathspey in search 
 of Buchan, and on arriving in that district received informa- 
 tion from the captain of Castle Grant of the position Buchan 
 had taken up. The Highlanders were reposing in fancied 
 security near Lethendy, and Livingstone could see plainly 
 from the hill above Castle Grant the fires of their camp. 
 They were, as General Mackay says in his Memoirs, "as if 
 they had been led hither by the hand as an ox to the 
 slaughter." 
 
 Livingstone having taken half an hour to refresh himself 
 and his men after their fatiguing journey, marched them 
 down under cover of night through the Glen of Auchinarrow 
 to the river Spey. At a ford below Delachaple he found 
 a detachment of loo Highlanders guarding the passage. 
 Leaving a party of dragoons and a few soldiers to keep them 
 engaged, he went on with the main body of his men to 
 another ford a mile farther down the river. This he crossed 
 at the head of three troops of dragoons and a troop of horse, 
 a body of his own Highlanders being in the van. When he 
 reached the opposite bank of the Spey he found the camp 
 of the enemy in confusion. The slumbering Highlanders 
 started from their sleep and fled for refuge to the neighbour- 
 ing hills, fighting their way across the plain. Buchan ran 
 away bareheaded and without his coat, and Cannon escaped 
 in his shirt. Happily for the fugitives a thick mist came 
 down on the mountains and hid them from their pursuers, 
 who soon gave up the chase. The Jacobites were thoroughly 
 defeated, and the victory of their opponents has been com- 
 memorated by the beautiful Scottish ballad of " The Haughs 
 of Cromdale," one of the few poetic efforts associated with 
 the victories of the Whigs. 
 
 The ballad is peculiar in this, that it mixes up with the 
 description of the battle recollections of a battle of Montrose, 
 
BATTLE OF THE BOYNE. lO/ 
 
 and places upon the Haughs of Cromdale clans that were 
 never there, but who had previously distinguished themselves 
 under the famous general. There is no doubt, however, of 
 the applicability of these verses to the defeat of Buchan : — 
 
 ' ' We were in bed, sir, every man. 
 When the English host upon us cam' ; 
 A bloody battle then began 
 
 Upon the Haughs of Cromdale. 
 
 The English horse they were sae rude. 
 They bath'd their hoofs in Hieland blude. 
 But our brave clans they boldly stood 
 Upon the Haughs of Cromdale. 
 
 But alas, we could nae langer stay, 
 For ower the hills we cam' away ; 
 And sair do we lament the day 
 That e'er we cam' to Cromdale. " 
 
 After the battle of Cromdale any hopes of success cherished 
 by the Highlanders rapidly vanished, and they were entirely 
 extinguished by the defeat of King James at the battle of 
 the Boyne. Livingstone and his dragoons at Inverness made 
 constant excursions in the neighbourhood against those still 
 in the field, and the chiefs who had taken up arms under 
 Dundee being utterly dispirited retreated to their fastnesses, 
 where they lay inactive and unable to strike a blow. Buchan 
 with a few of his officers took refuge with Glengarry ; Cannon 
 with others retired to the Western Islands. 
 
 General Mackay now determined to execute a design which 
 he had long entertained — namely, the erection of a fort near 
 Inverlochy, a place that commanded the passage along the 
 chain of lakes which now form the Caledonian Canal. He 
 sent there some ships from Greenock laden with provisions 
 and implements, and at the head of 3000 men he marched 
 first into Badenoch and then down Glen Spean. He met 
 with no resistance, and though he passed the castle of 
 
I08 FORT WILLIAM. 
 
 Keppoch, the dispirited Highlanders *did not venture to 
 obstruct his progress. He reached Inverlochy on the 3rd 
 July. 
 
 The fort he erected was on the site of that which had been 
 occupied by the troops of Cromwell. Mackay was not satis- 
 fied with the situation, as it was overlooked by a neighbouring 
 hill, but he could find no more eligible site. The work was 
 carried through with great rapidity. In eleven days a wall 
 of 20 feet was raised, with a deep fosse or ditch at its base. 
 This was palisaded round with a cliemin convert and glacis, 
 and armed with some demi - culverins from a ship of war. 
 The whole structure was of triangular form ; and in honour of 
 the king the general named it Fort William. Having placed 
 in it a garrison of 1000 men under Colonel Hill, he returned 
 south unmolested, staying a few days at Ruthven in Badenoch 
 to repair and garrison the old castle, which had been dismantled 
 by Dundee. 
 
 The Government of King William now resolved to lay out 
 a sum of money, said to have been _^2o,ooo, in conciliating 
 the Jacobite chieftains. The negotiation was intrusted to 
 the Earl of Breadalbane, who is generally allowed to have 
 been an unprincipled man, and certainly his conduct in 
 regard to his dealings with the chiefs lays him open to 
 suspicion. The money disappeared and the chiefs got none 
 of it. They had various meetings with the Earl at Achallader 
 in Glenorchy, but no satisfactory arrangement could be come 
 to. On one point they were determined. They would not 
 make submission to King William until they received per- 
 mission from King James. This permission the exiled king 
 reluctantly granted, so that the chiefs were free to do what 
 they pleased. They were not long in making up their mind. 
 On the 29th August 1691 Government issued a proclamation 
 promising an indemnity to e\-ery rebel who should swear the 
 
THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. 109 
 
 oath of allegiance in the presence of a civil magistrate before 
 the ist January 1692, and threatening with the penalties of 
 fire and sword those who held out after that day. The 
 Inverness-shire chiefs who had taken part in the late rising 
 hastened to take the oath. Clanranald, Keppoch, and Glen- 
 garry were duly sworn. Lochiel was the last of the band to 
 submit. He only received notice of King James's permission 
 within thirty hours of the period allowed by the Act of In- 
 demnity. On the very day on which the indemnity expired 
 he reached Inverary and took the oath before the sheriff 
 there ; thus making a narrow escape from sharing the fate of 
 Glencoe. 
 
 The massacre of Glencoe has left an indelible stain upon 
 the reign of King William. Papers have come to light of 
 late years which clearly prove that it was intended to have 
 dealt with certain of the Inverness - shire chiefs and their 
 people in the same fashion as Glencoe. Mr Secretary Stair 
 was in great hopes that Glengarry and Keppoch would refuse 
 to take the oath, and would afford the Government an excuse 
 for the extermination of their people. " Both Glengarry and 
 Keppoch," he writes, " are Papists, and that's the only Papist 
 clan in the Highlands. Who knows but by God's providence 
 they are permitted to fall into this delusion that they may be 
 extirpate, which will vindicate their majestys' justice and 
 reduce the Highlands without further severity to the rest." 
 Of Glengarry the secretary was specially anxious to make an 
 example, as his castle, lying midway between Fort William 
 and Inverness, would make an excellent fortification to keep 
 the country in order. On 3rd of November Stair writes : " I 
 wrote to you formerly that if the rest were willing to concur, 
 as the crows do, to pull down Glengarry's nest this winter, 
 so as the king be not hindered to draw four regiments from 
 Scotland, in that case the destroying him and his clan, and 
 
no SHORTLIVED SUBMISSION. 
 
 garrisoning his house as a middle between Inverlochy and 
 Inverness, will be full as acceptable as if he had come in. 
 This answers all ends, and satisfies those who complain of 
 the king's too great gentleness. . . . Because I breathe 
 nothing but destruction to Glengarry, Tarbet thinks Keppoch 
 will be a more proper example of severity ; but he hath not 
 a house so proper for a garrison, and he hath not been so 
 forward to ruin himself and all the rest. But I confess both's 
 best to be ruined." 
 
 Happily those projects of vengeance were baffled, but 
 these letters show how nearly the tragedy of Glencoe was 
 repeated in the valley of the Spean and by the banks of the 
 Garry. The Inverness - shire glens were now once more 
 peaceful, and were disturbed only by the cattle-liftings and 
 raids which went on at all times. There was much, however, 
 to indicate that the peace was not likely to be durable. The 
 chiefs had taken the oath to King William, but they had 
 done so under compulsion. Mr Secretary Stair showed con- 
 siderable prescience when he wrote, " Their doing so after 
 they got King James's allowance is worse than their obstinacy, 
 for those who lay down arms at his command will take 
 them up again by his warrant." The warrant was not long 
 of coming, and the men who took the oath in 1692 were quite 
 ready to break it without scruple in 1715. 
 
 The gallant Lochiel, who had been the mainspring of the 
 rising under Dundee, retired into private hfe at its close. 
 He made over the greater part of his estates to his son, 
 reserving the liferent. He was alive when the clans came 
 out again, but was infirm and stricken in years. A portrait- 
 ure of this greatest of chiefs has come down to us from one 
 who saw him in 17 16, and we may give it here : "Sir Ewen's 
 eyes retained their former vivacity, and his sight was so 
 good in his ninetieth year that he could discern the minutest 
 
A GREAT CHIEF. Ill 
 
 object and read the smallest print ; nor did he so much as 
 want a tooth, which seemed as white and close as one could 
 have imagined they were in the twentieth year of his age. 
 In this state he was when I had the good fortune to see him, 
 and so great was his strength at that time that he wrung some 
 blood from the point of my fingers with a grasp of his hand. 
 He was of the largest size, his bones big, his countenance 
 fresh and smooth, and he had a certain air of greatness about 
 him which struck the beholders with awe and respect. He 
 enjoyed perfect health from the cradle to the grave, and not 
 a drop of his blood was ever drawn except on one occasion 
 when a knife had accidentally pierced his foot." 
 
 Sir Ewen died in 1718. His gift of secondTsight is said to 
 have remained with him to the last, and when in 1 7 1 5 the 
 Chevalier St George landed at Peterhead, he is reported to 
 have called aloud from his bed that his king had arrived and 
 that his own son was with him, and ordered his clan together 
 that they might drink his majesty's health. 
 
 The limits of this work have not allowed us to do full 
 justice to the character and exploits of Lochiel, but in the 
 old annals of Inverness-shire he certainly stands out as the 
 most noble as well as the most picturesque figure, and the 
 best specimen of a Highland chief, which the county has 
 produced. 
 
112 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE AGAIN DISTURBED— DEATH OF QUEEN ANNE — PROCLA- 
 MATION OF KING GEORGE AT INVERNESS — THE CHIEFS PROMISE TO 
 SUPPORT THE KING, BUT TAKE PART IN THE RISING OF THE EARL 
 OF MAR— "OLD BORLUM " — FAILURE OF THE RISING IN I715 — PUNISH- 
 MENT OF THE CHIEFS WHO TOOK PART — GENERAL WADE RECEIVES 
 SUBMISSIONS TO THE GOVERNMENT — HUMBLE LETTERS ADDRESSED 
 TO HIM— CLEMENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT — MEASURES ADOPTED BY 
 WADE — BUILDING OF BARRACKS — DISARMING OF THE CLANS — EM- 
 BODIMENT OF COMPANIES OF LOYAL HIGHLANDERS — ERECTION OF 
 FORT AUGUSTUS — CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS THROUGHOUT THE 
 COUNTRY— FEATS OF ENGINEERING — WEAKNESS OF GENERAL WADE'S 
 POLICY— ESTABLISHMENT OF " WATCHES " — MACDONALD OF BARIS- 
 DALE — INVERNESS-SHIRE QUIET, BUT READY FOR INSURRECTION. 
 
 During the last years of the reign of Queen Anne it be- 
 came evident that some new movement was on foot among 
 the Inverness -shire Jacobites. There were secret meetings 
 among the chiefs, and gatherings of their retainers in com- 
 plete warlike array which had no ostensible or legitimate aim. 
 At huntings and funerals of outstanding men in the county 
 there were armed demonstrations at which many clans mus- 
 tered. The Tory Ministry of Queen Anne were believed 
 to be scheming to bring in the Stewarts in succession to her 
 Majesty. The queen herself was well known to cherish 
 feelings of the warmest sympathy towards the exiled family. 
 Large sums of money were distributed by the Government 
 among the Highland clans, who were to be ready, when the 
 proper moment arrived, to come out in full strength in sup- 
 
PAPIST ACTIVITY. II3 
 
 port of the cause to which they had shown themselves in past 
 years so deeply attached. 
 
 As an evidence of how firmly they were assured of the 
 coming triumph of their aspirations, the priests of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, who had hitherto received no toleration, 
 began in the North to exercise publicly the functions of their 
 office. They came out from their hiding - places, assumed 
 the dress of their profession, opened schools, and said 
 mass among the people without let or hindrance. They 
 deiied alike the fulminations of the presbytery and the per- 
 secution of the civil magistrate. "Swarms of Papists," a 
 document of the time tells us, " came daily from France into 
 Britain, whereof many were believed to be missionaries for 
 propagating that which they call the Catholic faith. It ap- 
 pears,, from the particular informations taken up and brought 
 in to the Commission of the General Assembly by the several 
 presbyteries of Scotland, that in some shires in the North 
 and Highlands there were then about forty Popish priests, 
 Jesuits and the like, in Popish orders, who were all well 
 known, appeared openly, and were so bold as to take up 
 their residence in these places and publicly to go about all 
 the parts of their function." A goodly number of these 
 Highland clergymen made their presence felt in Inverness- 
 shire, to the great dissatisfaction of the Kirk, which implored 
 the Government to prohibit them. In the list which the Kirk 
 submits to the authorities there is mention of a Mr Peter 
 Macdonald about Glengarry, a Mr Gordon about Moidart, 
 six or seven priests in the presbytery of Skye, and some about 
 Lochaber, and many more, who were travelling through the. 
 country, suspected to be priests and missionaries from Rome. 
 " In the bounds of Lochaber, Glengarie, Moydart, and Arisaig, 
 Popery daily increased to a lamentable degree, so that the 
 priests residing in these bounds said mass publicly almost 
 
 H 
 
114 THE ELECTOR OF HANOVER. 
 
 every Lord's day to swarms of their deluded proselytes. In 
 the parish of Kilmorrock, in the shire of Inverness, the priests 
 who resided there had within two years or thereby perverted 
 an hundred families to Popery : so that the Papists were the 
 far greater part of that people." The Government turned 
 a deaf ear to the supplications of the Kirk. The priests 
 were suffered to work on unmolested, and the Presbyterians 
 felt assured that there existed a secret design to tamper 
 with the Protestant succession and place a Stewart on the 
 throne. 
 
 Their fears were not at that time realised. Before the pro- 
 jects of the Jacobites were ripe, Queen Anne died suddenly, 
 and the Elector of Hanover was duly proclaimed sovereign 
 of the realm. It was a bitter disappointment to most of the 
 Inverness-shire chiefs. They knew that in the high quarters 
 where their cause had of late been secretly encouraged they 
 must now be prepared to encounter utter hostility. They 
 knew also that the British Court could no longer tolerate or 
 wink at their treasonable schemes. They felt perhaps most 
 acutely that no further secret money could come from the 
 treasury to their impoverished glens. They were obliged, 
 however, to submit with the best grace they could to see 
 the throne occupied by a " wee German lairdie " rather than 
 by a prince who inherited the blood and birthright of a long 
 line of Scottish kings. What took place at Inverness when 
 " King George " was proclaimed may be taken as an indica- 
 tion of the general feeling throughout the county. When 
 the sheriff. Sir Robert Munro, proceeded to make the proc- 
 . lamation, he was openly opposed and derided by the magis- 
 trates of the burgh. They encouraged the mob to break 
 the windows of the few Whigs who ventured to illuminate 
 their houses. \Vhen the Hanoverian Laird of Castlehill com- 
 plained of the assault upon his house they put him into 
 
A DECEITFUL LETTER. I 15 
 
 prison, and they openly in the market-place called down im- 
 precations on the king. 
 
 The chiefs whom we have so often seen in arms for 
 the Stewarts sympathised, doubtless, with the magistrates of 
 the burgh. But they acted in a more politic, if not more 
 commendable, fashion. Instead of calling down imprecations 
 on the king, they signed a letter addressed to the Earl of 
 Mar, through whom they had been in the habit of receiving 
 sums of money from the Government of Queen Anne, ex- 
 pressing their great delight at the accession of King George, 
 and their willingness to give all their support to his throne. 
 Cameron of Lochiel, Macdonnell of Keppoch, Mackintosh of 
 Mackintosh, Grant of Glenmoriston, Chisholm of Comer, and 
 Macpherson of Cluny, attached their names to this precious 
 document. " It did exceedingly comfort them," they set forth, 
 " that after so good and great a queen as Queen Anne, they 
 were to be governed by his Sacred Majesty King George, 
 a prince so brightly adorned with all royal virtues." They 
 pleased themselves with this agreeable persuasion, that his 
 Majesty's royal and kindly influence would reach them, who 
 were the most remote of all his subjects in these islands. 
 They declared to Lord Mar that as they were always ready 
 to fulfil his directions in following Queen Anne, so they 
 would now be equally forward to concur with him in faith- 
 fully serving King George. They concluded their letter by 
 entreating his lordship to advise them how they may best 
 offer their duty to his Majesty upon his coming over to 
 Britain, and be most useful to his royal Government. 
 
 Nothing could have been more deceitful than this famous 
 letter, with its expressions of attachment to a sovereign 
 whom those who signed it heartily detested. It is sup- 
 posed by some that Mar obtained it from them in order 
 to forward his own interests with the new king. It is 
 
Il6 THE STANDARD ON THE BRAES OF MAR. 
 
 conjectured by others that it was written in order to put 
 the Government off their guard, that they might carry on 
 their plots with less prospect of being interfered with. 
 Under any supposition it was a discreditable and hypo- 
 critical production, and met with the fate it deserved. King 
 George paid no attention either to their letter or to Mar 
 when he presented it, and that nobleman, after keeping up 
 for a time a show of loyalty at Whitehall, left the Court 
 secretly and in disguise for the Highlands, to raise the 
 standard of rebellion with the aid of those very chiefs who 
 a few weeks previous had been so profuse in professing 
 their allegiance to " the Hanoverian," and so earnest in 
 desiring to know how they might be most useful to his 
 Government. 
 
 The new rising of the clans began at Braemar. Many 
 Jacobites of importance had gathered there on pretence of 
 holding one of those great hunting - meetings which were 
 common in the Highlands. Glengarry was there to represent 
 the Inverness-shire clans. Whether any deer were slain we 
 do not know, but there was much treason talked, and the 
 upshot of the proceedings was the raising of the standard 
 of the Chevalier as King James VHI. on the 3rd September 
 1715, and the march of an army southward under the 
 Earl of Mar. 
 
 The Inverness- shire clans who had taken part in the 
 rising under Dundee cast in their fortunes with the new 
 enterprise, and joined the headquarters of the Earl of Mar 
 at Perth. Glengarry brought with him 500 men, Keppoch 
 300, Clanranald 500, Grant of Glenmoriston 100, and John 
 Cameron of Lochiel nearly 1000. Clanranald, the chief 
 of Moidart, who when a youth had taken up arms with 
 Dundee, was a soldier of renown. At the close of Dundee's 
 insurrection, and after the submission of the chiefs to King 
 
THE GATHERING. II7 
 
 William, he had gone abroad, and had seen much service 
 in the French army. His military experience and his know- 
 ledge of Mar's incapacity as a general led him to take a 
 gloomy view of the result of the new undertaking. When 
 he left his ancient stronghold of Castle Tirrim he gave 
 secret instructions to one of his followers who remained 
 at home to set the place on fire immediately on his de- 
 parture. " I shall never," he said, " come back again, and 
 it is better that our old family seat should be given to 
 the flames than forced to give shelter to those who are 
 about to triumph over our ruin." With this sad presenti- 
 ment he turned his face southward. By the time he 
 reached Glenfinnan the castle was in flames, and became 
 the gaunt and melancholy ruin with which those who have 
 visited Moidart are familiar, and which forms so striking 
 and weird a feature in the beautiful landscape. 
 
 In addition to the Inverness-shire clans we have named, 
 there were others that now took the same side, though on 
 the last occasion they had been inactive. Chisholm of 
 Strathglass, Cluny Macpherson, and the Laird of Mackin- 
 tosh, each brought a contingent into the field. That of 
 the last named amounted to 1000 men. On the side of the 
 Government were Lord Lovat and the Laird of Grant ; but 
 the greater portion of the Fraser clan went with Mar. 
 
 The Mackintoshes, who generally on these occasions 
 showed an inclination to stay at home, were induced to take 
 arms by the persuasion of one of their kinsmen, William 
 Mackintosh, younger of Borlum, Inverness-shire. He was 
 a most conspicuous figure in the new enterprise. "Old 
 Borlum," as he was generally called, had been a soldier 
 of fortune, and had attained distinction in the French ser- 
 vice. He was employed for some years as an agent between 
 the chiefs and the exiled royal family, and now took the 
 
Il8 DECLARATION OF WAR. 
 
 position of brigadier in the army of Mar. He was described 
 in a proclamation by the Government as "a tall raw-boned 
 man, fair-complexioned, beetle-browed, grey-eyed, and speak- 
 ing broad Scotch," and is generally supposed to have been 
 a somewhat rough-handed and unscrupulous soldier. But 
 he did his duty well ; and had the command of the army 
 been intrusted to him instead of the incompetent general 
 by whom it was directed, the issue of the campaign might 
 have been different. 
 
 We are not called upon to describe this campaign, except 
 in so far as it affected Inverness-shire. It began in that 
 county. On the 15th September the Laird of Mackintosh 
 convened his men at Farr as if he intended to review them, 
 but on the evening of that day he marched to Inverness, 
 where he came at sunrise with banners displayed. From the 
 Jacobite town he met with no resistance. He made himself 
 master of all the arms and ammunition he could find, and of 
 some money belonging to the Government. He then formally 
 proclaimed King James, and placed a garrison in the castle. 
 
 From Inverness Mackintosh proceeded to the house of 
 Culloden, and demanded all the arms and ammunition that 
 were in it. Mrs Forbes, the wife of the laird, who was from 
 home, made a gallant resistance. She refused the demand 
 made upon her, and put her house in a state of defence. 
 Some of her friends interfered on her behalf, and Mackin- 
 tosh went off with his brigade to join Mar at Perth. This 
 brigade was probably the best equipped body of men in 
 the rebel army, and distinguished itself on many occasions. 
 
 Glengarry and the Laird of Glenmoriston, with 500 men, 
 went westward into Argyleshire, in hopes of seizing Inverary. 
 Their effort was unsuccessful, and they also went south to 
 join the main army. 
 
 At the battle of Sheriffmuir victory was claimed by both 
 
SHERIFFMUIR. II9 
 
 parties. The engagement was long remembered in Inver- 
 ness-shire, for it was marked by the death of young Clan- 
 ranald. He died fighting bravely at the head of his clan. 
 The fall of their chief almost paralysed his followers, who 
 wavered for a moment as if about to retreat, when Glengarry 
 rushed up to them, waving his bonnet in the air and crying, 
 " Revenge ! revenge ! to - day, and mourning to - morrow ! " 
 Then placing himself in the position occupied by the fallen 
 chief, he led them on with such fury that the opposing 
 columns were compelled to fly 
 
 The day on which the battle of Sherififmuir was fought 
 was marked also by the defeat of the army which, under 
 Mackintosh of Borlum, had gone south into England, and 
 by the retaking of the castle of Inverness. Simon Fraser, 
 afterwards better known as Lord Lovat, had appeared in 
 his own district, and found that while the main body of 
 his clan had followed their legal head, Mackenzie of Fraser- 
 dale, to the army of Mar, no fewer than 300 men, capable 
 of bearing arms, remained at home. With that cunning by 
 which he was always distinguished, he felt that by supporting 
 King George he might become the recognised chief of the 
 clan. He mustered the 300 available men, and sent a 
 message to those of the clan in the South to return at 
 once to their native glen, threatening them with all pains 
 and penalties should they refuse at once to do so. The 
 command of him whom they regarded as their true chief was 
 at once obeyed. They deserted the camp of Mar and came 
 home. With the whole strength of the Fraser clan, and 
 assisted by the Forbeses, the Roses of Kilravock, and part 
 of the Clan Grant, Lovat proceeded to besiege Inverness. 
 Ere, however, his plans for the siege were completed, the 
 terrified garrison took to flight and crossed the Moray Firth 
 to the opposite shore. 
 
120 END OF "THE FIFTEEN." 
 
 The rising of " the Fifteen," as it is always called in the 
 North, speedily came to an end, notwithstanding the appear- 
 ance of the Chevalier himself on the scene. It was from the 
 first to the last an ill-managed enterprise. The exclamation 
 of one of the chieftains at Sheriffmuir tells not only of the 
 incompetency of their leader, but of what might have been if 
 a different man had held the command. " Oh ! " he cried, 
 " for an hour of Dundee ! " There was certainly entirely 
 wanting anything of the spirit, the ability, and the chivalry 
 which characterised the campaign of that born leader of men. 
 " The Fifteen " was throughout a mean and sordid affair. 
 Beginning in hypocrisy, impotent in its conceptions, and end- 
 ing in utter failure, its character is only partially redeemed by 
 the beautiful poetry in which it is commemorated, for with 
 " the '45 " it has its place in Jacobite song. 
 
 Many of those who took part in the rising were severely 
 dealt with. Those who were made prisoners in England were 
 tried there. Some were executed, others sentenced to long 
 terms of imprisonment, and many were shipped off as slaves 
 to the American plantations. The Inverness-shire chiefs came 
 off better than might have been expected. Glengarry was 
 pardoned, on the ground that he left the rebel forces at an 
 early period of the insurrection. Mackintosh, after a short 
 imprisonment, was liberated on the intercession of his wife, 
 " who made it plain that he was trepanned into rebellion by 
 the craft of the brigadier." John Cameron of Lochiel fled to 
 France, whence he never came back. He had made but a 
 poor figure as a soldier, and the clan which had been led by 
 Sir Ewen his father, and had fought under Montrose and 
 Dundee, regarded him with contempt. Grant of Glenmoriston 
 and Chisholm were declared traitors, and their estates were 
 forfeited to the Crown. Keppoch took himself into hiding, 
 and probably was the only one who reaped any benefit from 
 
REFRACTORY TENANTS. 121 
 
 the rising. While it was in progress he went across to Glen- 
 urquhart, and returned home with a rich booty. " Col of the 
 Cows " maintained his character to the last. 
 
 The Government derived but little benefit from the forfeited 
 estates. The commissioners who were appointed to collect 
 the rents of such estates as those of The Chisholra and Grant 
 of Glenmoriston were able to show but little for their trouble. 
 The properties they found so burdened with debts and settle- 
 ments of various kinds that they were able to extract only 
 " fractional proportions " of their value. Occasionally they 
 found that the tenants paid regularly their rents to the old 
 laird, while they had nothing for King George. In certain 
 instances rent was paid both to the king and the chief. 
 
 On one occasion, under a military escort, two Ross-shire 
 Whigs came to Invermoriston, and afterwards to Strathglass, 
 with power from Government to gather in the rents of these 
 estates. They held courts and gave judgment against de- 
 faulters, but they added very little to their treasury. On 
 their way from Strathglass to Kintail, as they passed through 
 beautiful Glen Affric, they were set upon by 300 men, headed 
 by Donald Murchison, factor for Seaforth, and aided by the 
 son of the chief of Glenmoriston and his followers. The 
 emissaries of the Government were forced to beat a retreat, 
 leaving their commission in Donald's hands. One of them 
 and his son were wounded, the latter so severely that he died 
 of his injuries. The royal factorage of the forfeited estates 
 proved a failure. They were finally put up for sale, and 
 through the good services of friends purchased and restored 
 to their former owners. 
 
 When General Wade took command of the royal forces in 
 Scotland, he had power given him to receive the submission 
 of persons attainted of high treason, and several of them came 
 to him for this purpose. " They laid down their swords on 
 
122 ABJECT PROFESSIONS. 
 
 the ground," the general reports to King George, " expressed 
 their sorrow and concern for having made use of them in 
 opposition to your Majesty, and promised a peaceful and 
 dutiful obedience for the remainder of their lives. They after- 
 wards sent me their letters of submission, copies of which 
 I transmitted to your Majesty's principal Secretary of State. I 
 made use of the proper arguments to convince them of their 
 past folly and rashness, and gave them hopes of obtaining 
 pardon from your Majesty's gracious and merciful dis- 
 position." 
 
 Very humble and full of contrition were the letters which 
 the chiefs sent in to the general. " I presume," wrote The 
 Chisholm, "to throw myself under your protection, fully 
 confident that so much goodness cannot decline representing 
 my unhappy case to the best of kings, — I meant rebellion, 
 which I now detest ; and, sir, I hope that my repentance 
 will be judged the more solid that I am now in a mature 
 age ; whereas I had not attained to the years of manhood 
 when unnaturally I allowed myself to be led to bear arms 
 against his Majesty King George." "As none of those who 
 were unhappily engaged in that unaccountable rebellion," pled 
 the Laird of Glenmoriston, " was more innocently seduced by 
 others to go into it than myself, so do I sincerely assure your 
 Excellency that no man is more sorry for his foolish error 
 than I am, and if his Majesty will be so good as to give me 
 his gracious pardon, I shall while I live behave myself as a 
 dutiful subject to King George and his royal family. I do, 
 therefore, most humbly throw myself at his ^Majesty's feet, 
 imploring his mercy, and humbly entreat of your Excellency 
 (who seem resolved to do good to all that will serve the 
 king faithfully) to obtain my pardon of his jNIajesty ; and I 
 do sincerely promise that I shall pass the remainder of my 
 days in peace and fidelity towards his Majesty and the 
 
"OLD BORLUM." I 23 
 
 Government." These were abject professions to come from 
 the bold " Ian a Chragain " (John of the Rock), whose Hfe 
 had been passed in fighting for the Stewarts. He had 
 distinguished himself at Killiecrankie, and had long refused 
 to submit to King William. He had done great deeds at 
 Sheriffmuir. But his house had been burnt, and he had 
 lived for some time in a cave in his own glen. He was 
 now an old man, and trial had somewhat tamed his spirit. 
 It is creditable to Wade that through his intercession the 
 chiefs who submitted themselves to the king received a free 
 pardon, and the Laird of Glenmoriston passed the evening 
 of his days in peace. 
 
 "Old Borlum," who was one of the outstanding men in 
 the rising, had surrendered himself to the English at Preston, 
 and was conducted to London in a kind of triumphal proces- 
 sion with other prisoners, pinioned and bound as if they were 
 criminals of the vilest kind. Borlum, however, found me:ans 
 of evading his trial. With fifteen of his fellow-prisoners he 
 broke out of Newgate, knocking down and disarming the 
 warders. Seven of those who escaped were retaken, but 
 the brigadier was more fortunate. He made his way out 
 of the country to France. He was soon back in the 
 Highlands, where he found a refuge among the Jacobite 
 clans. He took part in the engagement at Glenshiel, when 
 some Spanish troops who attempted an invasion under 
 Seaforth were defeated. After wandering some time about 
 Inverness-shire he was captured, and confined in the castle 
 of Edinburgh. In this prison he spent the rest of his life, 
 beguiling his time by writing a treatise on agriculture entitled, 
 'An Essay on Ways and Means for Inclosing, Fallowing, 
 Planting, &c., Scotland.' After a captivity of nearly a quarter 
 of a century the old warrior died in prison at the age of 
 eighty, true to the last to his Jacobite principles. 
 
124 ROYAL CLEMENCY. 
 
 The Government of King George, upon the whole, showed 
 great clemency to those who had been engaged on the Jacobite 
 side, and their conduct towards the Highlanders contrasts 
 favourably with the measures adopted by the authorities 
 after '45. "The Fifteen" was followed by no atrocities 
 similar to those perpetrated by the Government after Cul- 
 loden, and the rule of General AVade was mild compared 
 with that of the Duke of Cumberland. One thing, however, 
 the Government were determined to do, and that was to put 
 it out of the power of the Highlanders to give them trouble 
 again. The measures they adopted were suggested by General 
 Wade, who was advised by one who knew Inverness-shire well, 
 and who was perhaps the most distinguished man it has pro- 
 duced, Forbes of CuUoden. 
 
 Barracks were built at Kilchumin, Ruthven, and Glenelg, 
 and in other parts of the North, and garrisoned by regular 
 troops. An Act was passed by Parliament in 1 7 1 6 for 
 disarming the Highlanders, who were commanded to deliver 
 up all the arms in their possession, for which they were 
 to receive payment from the collectors of taxes. These 
 measures, however, produced no effect. The regular troops, 
 ignorant of the country and its inhabitants, were found use- 
 less in the wild and inaccessible places where they were 
 planted, while the Highlanders delivered up no arms except 
 such as were unfit for service. They obtained, to their great 
 joy, large prices for old broadswords and rusty firelocks. 
 They found, indeed, the arrangement so profitable that they 
 imported from Holland great quantities of broken and use- 
 less arms, for which they demanded and obtained exorbitant 
 sums. Wade states that the king paid nearly _;^i 3,000 for 
 broken and useless arms that were hardly worth the expense 
 of carriage. 
 
 In 1725 General Wade reported to the Government that it 
 
ARMED POLICE. 1 25 
 
 was necessary that more effectual measures should be taken, or 
 he could not be responsible for what might happen. His re- 
 commendations were certainly extremely wise. He advised the 
 Government that companies of such Highlanders as were loyal 
 to the king should be established under proper regulations, 
 commanded by officers speaking the language of the country, 
 subject to martial law, and under the orders and inspection of 
 the governors of Fort William, Inverness, and the officer com- 
 manding the king's forces in those parts. These companies 
 were to be employed in disarming the Highlanders, prevent- 
 ing depredations, bringing criminals to justice, and hindering 
 rebels and attainted persons from inhabiting that part of the 
 country. 
 
 By September 1725 the companies recommended by the 
 general were embodied. They formed a body of armed police 
 similar to what is now the Royal Constabulary of Ireland. 
 Lord Lovat's company was posted to guard all the passes in 
 the mountains from the Isle of Skye eastwards as far as 
 Inverness ; the company of Colonel Grant occupied the sev- 
 eral passes from Inverness southward to Dunkeld ; Sir Duncan 
 Campbell's company those from Dunkeld westward as far as 
 the country of Lorn. Three companies commanded by lieu- 
 tenants were posted, the first at Fort William, the second at 
 Kilchumin, and the third at Ruthven in Badenoch. 
 
 The instructions given to the officers commanding these 
 companies were very definite, and calculated to be effectual in 
 carrying out the purpose for which they were embodied. 
 "The passes of Strathlony, Glenniffen, Guisachan, Glen- 
 strathfarrar, the braes of Urquhart, Stratherrick, and Strath- 
 nairn," were to be specially guarded. Information was to be 
 gathered of all robberies and depredations. Cattle and other 
 stolen property were to be recovered and returned to their 
 proper owners, and the criminals to be seized in order to their 
 
126 EFFECTUAL MEASURES. 
 
 being prosecuted. Information was also to be obtained of the 
 names, haunts, and retreats of all robbers and outlaws, and 
 of any arms or warlike weapons that might be concealed by 
 persons belonging to the clans who were summoned to deliver 
 up their arms. Priests were to be specially looked after by 
 these new guardians of the peace. They were to endeavour 
 to detect all such persons who may have been sent from foreign 
 parts, or others who were employed to infect the minds of the 
 people with the pernicious principles of Popery and disaffec- 
 tion, or to seduce his Majesty's subjects from their allegiance ; 
 and when they found any such dangerous persons, they were 
 to bring them before one of his Majesty's justices of the peace 
 in order to their being prosecuted as the law directs. These 
 and other instructions given to the Highland companies show 
 how determined General Wade was to bridle and restrain the 
 restless clans. 
 
 With the aid of the new police, the general now proceeded 
 to disarm the people in a more effective way than had hitherto 
 been done. In every parish proclamation was made to the 
 clans by the general in his Majesty's name to the following 
 effect : " I do hereby strictly require and command you and 
 
 every one of you in to bring or send to all your 
 
 broadswords, targets, poynards, whingars, or durks, side pistol 
 or pistols, guns, or any warlike weapons, and then and there to 
 deliver up to me or the officer commanding all and singular 
 your arms and warlike weapons, for the use of his Majesty, 
 his heirs and successors." This imperative command was in 
 the main obeyed. The general reports regarding the chiefs of 
 Inverness-shire, that " the arms of the several clans of the Mac- 
 donalds of Glengary, Macleods of Glenelg, Chisholms of 
 Strathglass, and Grants of Glenmoriston were surrendered to 
 me at the barrack of Killjhuimen the fifteenth of September ; 
 and those of the Macdonalds of Keppoch, Moidart, Arisaig, 
 
CONSTRUCTION OF FORTS. 12/ 
 
 and Glenco, as also the Camerons and Stewarts of Appin, 
 were delivered to the governor of Fort William. The 
 M'Intoshes were summoned, and brought in their arms to 
 Inverness, and the followers of the Duke of Gordon, with the 
 clan of Macphersons, to the barrack of Ruthven." The 
 general adds that " the number of arms collected this year in 
 the Highlands amounted to 2685. At the time they were 
 brought in there was a mixture of good and bad, but the 
 damage they received in the carriage, and growing rusty by 
 being exposed to rain, they were of little more worth than 
 the value of the iron." In the opinion of Wade the dis- 
 arming of the people was complete, and " instead of durks, 
 swords, guns, and pistols, they now travel to their churches, 
 markets, and fairs with only a staff in their hands." Probably 
 he took a more hopeful view of his operation than he was en- 
 titled to. Certainly he had not swept Inverness-shire so bare 
 of weapons as he imagined. Twenty years afterwards dirks, 
 broadswords, and guns were plentiful enough among those 
 whom he represents as reduced to the use of their staffs. 
 
 The general constructed a fort at Kilchumin, close to Loch 
 Ness, which he named Fort Augustus. It had accommodation 
 for four companies of soldiers, and a line of communication 
 with the old barracks, which were able to accommodate six 
 companies. He also repaired the old castle of Inverness, 
 erecting it into a citadel, with a governor's house, magazine, 
 and chapel, and barracks to accommodate 800 troops. This 
 citadel he named Fort George. 
 
 Upon Loch Ness he placed a vessel of about thirty tons, 
 which was named the Highland Galley. She carried six or 
 eight "patteroes," and was employed to transport men, pro- 
 visions, and baggage from Inverness to Fort Augustus. Crom- 
 well's soldiers, as we have seen, sailed a vessel on Loch Ness, 
 but she was built at Inverness and transported overland. That 
 
128 GENERAL WADE'S ROADS. 
 
 of Wade was built on the banks of the lake. " When she 
 made her first trip she was mightily adorned with colours, and 
 fired her guns several times, which was a strange sight to the 
 Highlanders, who had never seen the like before." 
 
 But more than any other measure which General Wade 
 adopted for the pacification of the Highlands, the making of 
 roads through the country was the most successful. These 
 will always be connected with his name. Some of them are 
 in use to this day, and others can be easily traced. These 
 highways were regarded as among the greatest engineering 
 works of the time. They are commemorated in the well- 
 known couplet, said to have been composed by General Cauld- 
 field, an Irish soldier in command of Fort George : — 
 
 " Had you seen these roads before they were made, 
 You would lift up your hands and bless General Wade ! " 
 
 Before the General's time there was no road in Inverness- 
 shire. There were merely rough tracks through the mountains, 
 which could be traversed only with difficulty by men on horse- 
 back. They were well known, and are still used as drove- 
 roads along which cattle are driven to the southern markets. 
 It is wonderful how Montrose, Monk, Dundee, and Mackay 
 were able to find their way through the mountains, and to 
 transport from place to place great numbers of men, both foot 
 and cavalry, with baggage and camp equipage. Artillery they 
 were unable to employ in their campaigns. By the construc- 
 tion of the new roads this difficulty was overcome. 
 
 General Wade's purpose was to penetrate the fastnesses of 
 the Highlands by the construction of two great lines of com- 
 munication. The main and direct line extended from the 
 fortress of Stirling by Crieff to Dalnacardoch, crossing the Tay 
 at Aberfeldy by a bridge of five arches. A branch line took a 
 more easterly direction, extending from Perth by Dunkeld to 
 
MAIN LINES OF ROAD. 1 29 
 
 Dalnacardoch. The united line then crossed the mountain 
 summit to Dalwhinnie, along the track now followed by the 
 Highland Railway. At Dalwhinnie the road branched off in 
 two directions. One branch went down the valley of the 
 Spey, and by way of Kingussie and Carrbridge to Inverness. 
 The other turned oif to the left and reached Fort Augustus by 
 Garviemore and over the steep sides of Corryarrick. 
 
 The second main line of road was on the west coast. 
 Commencing on the south at Loch Lomond, it passed on 
 by Dalmally, Tyndrum, and through Glencoe and Balla- 
 chulish to Fort William. From Fort William a road was 
 made crossing the Spean at High Bridge, keeping along the 
 southern shore of Loch Lochy and Loch Oich to Fort 
 Augustus, and thence along the Stratherrick side of Loch 
 Ness to Inverness. 
 
 These roads were begun in 1726, and their construction 
 was carried on for eleven years, in which time two hundred 
 and fifty miles were made. Five hundred soldiers from the 
 Highland companies and other regiments took part in the 
 work. The privates were allowed 6d. a-day above their pay, 
 the corporals 8d., and the sergeants is. Officers were allowed 
 2S. 6d. a-day for extraordinary expense and maintenance. 
 
 The standard breadth of the roads was 16 feet, but in some 
 places they were wider. Being constructed for military pur- 
 poses, no attention was paid to the matter of gradient. They 
 ran on in straight lines up hill and down dale. When any 
 eminence was met with, the road went up one side and down 
 the other. If the hill was too steep to be dealt with in this 
 way, the road was carried up by a series of zigzags to the 
 summit, and by a similar arrangement to the base on the 
 other side. 
 
 The difficulties which the engineers who constructed these 
 highways had to overcome must have been very great. The 
 
 I 
 
130 ENGINEERING OBSTACLES. 
 
 work was frequently interrupted for months together by the 
 severity of the weather. Spongy moors had to be made firm, 
 precipices to be blasted, great boulders to be removed, rushing 
 torrents to be bridged, and trenches made to receive and carry 
 off the rains and melting snows. In a letter written by Mr 
 Burt at the time of their construction, a very vivid description 
 is given of the obstacles that had to be surmounted by the 
 workmen. The writer tells us that when the road along 
 Loch Ness was made, "the miners hung by ropes from the 
 precipice over the water (like Shakespeare's gatherers of 
 samphire from Dover cliffs) to bore the stone in order to 
 blow away a necessary part from the face of it, and the rest 
 likewise was chiefly done by gunpowder ; but where any part 
 was fit to be left as it was, being flat and smooth, it was 
 brought to a roughness proper for a stay to the feet, and in 
 this part, and all the rest of the road where the precipices 
 were like to give horror or uneasiness to such as might pass 
 over them in carriages, though at a good distance from them, 
 they are secured on the lake-side by walls either left in the 
 working or built up with stone to a height proportioned to the 
 occasion." 
 
 Along the edge of Loch Oich, the writer says, " the rocks 
 project over the lake, and the path was so rugged and narrow 
 that the Highlanders were obliged for their safety to hold by 
 the rocks and shrubs as they passed, with the prospect of 
 death beneath them. In many places the rocks were so steep 
 and uneven that the passenger was obliged to creep on his 
 hands and on his knees." To make a roadway in such a 
 place was no easy task, and the writer takes great pride in 
 the work carried out in the face of such diflSculties. " The 
 roads on these moors," he says, "are now as smooth as Con- 
 stitution Hill, and I have galloped on some of them for miles 
 together in great tranquillity, which was heightened by reflec- 
 
LOCAL DISSATISFACTION. 131 
 
 tion on my former fatigue, when for a great part of the way I 
 had been obhged to quit my horse, it being too dangerous or 
 impracticable to ride, and even hazardous to pass on foot." 
 
 He tells an amusing story of the wonder with which the 
 natives of Inverness-shire regarded the feats of the engineers : 
 " The first design of removing a vast fallen piece of rock was 
 entertained by the country people with great derision, of which 
 I saw one instance myself. A very old wrinkled Highland 
 woman upon such an occasion, standing over against me when 
 the soldiers were fixing their engines, seemed to sneer at it, 
 and said something to an ofiScer of one of the Highland com- 
 panies. I imagined she was making a jest of the undertaking, 
 and asked the officer what she said. ' I will tell you her 
 words,' said he. ' " What are the fools a-doing ? That stone 
 will lie there for ever, for all of them " ' ; but when she saw 
 that vast bulk begin to rise, though by slow degrees, she set 
 up a hideous Irish yell, took to her heels, ran up the side of 
 a hill just by like a young girl, and never looked behind her 
 while she was within our sight. I make no doubt she thought 
 it was magic and the workmen warlocks." 
 
 According to this writer, the chiefs of Inverness-shire and 
 their followers regarded the making of the roads with consider- 
 able dissatisfaction. Probably what he says is much exagger- 
 ated, but it may be taken as a whole to exhibit the general 
 opinion of the people of the county at the time in regard to 
 those improvements : — 
 
 "Those chiefs and other gentlemen complain that thereby 
 an easy passage is opened into their country for strangers, who 
 in time, by their suggestions of liberty, will destroy or weaken 
 that attachment of their vassals which it is so necessary for 
 them to support and preserve. That their fastnesses being 
 laid open, they are deprived of that security from invasion 
 which they formerly enjoyed. 
 
132 wade's SUCCESS. 
 
 " That the bridges in particular will render the ordinary 
 people effeminate and less fit to pass the waters in other places 
 where there are none. 
 
 " The middling order say the roads are to them an incon- 
 venience instead of being useful, as they have turned them out 
 of their old ways ; for their horses being never shod, the gravel 
 would soon whet away their hoofs, so as to render them 
 unserviceable; whereas the rocks and moor -stones, though 
 together they make a rough way, yet considered separately, 
 they are generally pretty smooth on the surface where they 
 tread, and the heath is always easy to the feet. . . . 
 
 " The lowest class, who many of them at some times cannot 
 compass a pair of shoes for themselves, allege that the gravel 
 is intolerable for their naked feet ; and the complaint has ex- 
 tended to their thin brogues. It is true they do sometimes 
 for these reasons go without the road, and ride or walk in very 
 incommodious ways. But why do the black cattle do the 
 same thing? Certainly for the ease of their feet." 
 
 General Wade had now carried out his programme for the 
 subjugation and opening up of the Highlands, and especially 
 of our county. He had disarmed the people, built forts, and 
 made roads. He had established in the very heart of the 
 unruly clans bodies of disciplined soldiers, speaking the 
 language and wearing the dress of the country, and trained 
 to mountain warfare. He had put down depredation and 
 robbery. There had only been, he states in his final report, 
 but one single instance where cattle had been stolen without 
 being recovered and returned to their proper owners. The 
 general was a strong man, and had done wonderful things. 
 Another rising seemed to be out of the question. Dissatisfac- 
 tion there was, indeed, on the part of the people and their 
 leaders. But they could only grumble and submit. 
 
 The weakness of the general's policy — though for that he 
 
A POLICY OF REPRESSION. 133 
 
 may not have been responsible — was that it was only a policy 
 of repression. Nothing was done for the enlightenment of 
 the inhabitants, nothing to ameliorate the hard conditions 
 of their lives, nothing to establish bonds of affection and 
 gratitude between them and the Government. They were 
 treated with contempt as a conquered people, and kept down 
 by the strong hand. When that hand was removed they were 
 ready to return to their old courses. 
 
 In the year 1740 the Highland companies which Wade had 
 embodied and planted in detachments throughout the county 
 were disbanded, and the garrisons were occupied by small 
 parties of soldiers drawn from the regular army. No reason 
 was given for this step. It certainly was the most foolish 
 possible that the Government could have taken. Cattle-lifting 
 and robbery began whenever the military police were with- 
 drawn, and the last state of Inverness-shire was worse than 
 the first. 
 
 In Badenoch and along Speyside farms were regularly 
 harried by freebooters from Lochaber and Argyle. So great 
 was the evil that at the request of the tacksmen of the country 
 Ewen Macpherson of Cluny established a " watch " or band 
 of men for their protection and to guard the passes. These 
 " watches " were common over the county. In general they 
 levied blackmail, receiving sums of money from people for 
 giving them protection, while they robbed and stole from those 
 who did not pay this tax. There is no reason whatever for 
 supposing Cluny to have been a blackmailer, for he is said to 
 have been " much out of pocket by his generous undertaking." 
 Others who commanded "watches" were not so particular. 
 
 Macdonald of Barasdale, in the west of Inverness-shire, 
 "a gentleman of polished behaviour, fine address, and fine 
 person," and a cadet of the family of Glengarry, was a close 
 imitator of the famous Rob Roy. He is said to have carried 
 
134 THE STORM BREWING. 
 
 out the art of plunder to the highest pitch of perfection. 
 " Besides exerting all the common practices, he imposed that 
 article of commerce they called blackmail to a degree beyond 
 what was ever known by his predecessors." He forced an 
 extensive neighbourhood to pay him a very considerable sum 
 yearly for their protection, and raised an income of ;^5oo 
 a-year by this tax. " He behaved with genuine humour in 
 restoring on proper consideration the stolen cattle to his 
 friends. He observed a strict fidelity towards his own gang, 
 and yet was indefatigable in bringing to justice any rogues 
 that interfered with his own. He considered himself in a 
 very high light, as a benefactor to the public and preserver of 
 general tranquillity." 
 
 Such was the lawless and disordered state to which the 
 county was reduced after the disbandment of the Highland 
 companies. Matters went back very much to what they were 
 before " the Fifteen." Emissaries from the Court of the 
 Stewarts came across the water to visit the chiefs and spy the 
 land. Boxes of arms were secretly conveyed into the country 
 by the ships which brought wine and other commodities from 
 the Continent. The clans became as well armed as they were 
 ever before. The Government had relaxed their vigilance, 
 and they paid the penalty. The eve of 1745 found Inver- 
 ness-shire ripe for insurrection, and the chiefs as ready as they 
 had ever been to engage in any desperate venture that came 
 their way. 
 
I3S 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 SOCIAL STATE OF INVERNESS - SHIEE BEFORE THE DESTRUCTION OF THE 
 FEUDAL SYSTEM — SOURCES OF INFORMATION — REPORTS OF LOVAT AND 
 OF GENERAL WADE — BURT'S LETTERS — THE TOWN OF INVERNESS— ITS 
 BUILDINGS AND CONDITION — DESCRIPTIONS OF MACKEY AND BURT — 
 FORT WILLIAM — THE CHIEFS, THE TACKSMEN, AND THE COMMON PEOPLE 
 — THEIR MODE OF LIFE — HOUSES, CUSTOMS, AMUSEMENTS, AND POSI- 
 TION GENERALLY — CUSTOMS AND MANNERS OF THE PERIOD ILLUS- 
 TRATED BY LIFE OF LORD LOVAT — THE LEADING MAN IN THE COUNTY. 
 
 We may pause at this stage of our narrative to take a slight 
 survey of the state of Inverness-shire socially and otherwise 
 before the great event which so completely changed the 
 condition of its inhabitants. We have reached the divid- 
 ing line between the old and the new. On the one side 
 is the clan system, with all its influences for good or evil ; 
 on the other we have the beginning of that state of things 
 which exists to-day. The difference between the Inverness- 
 shire of 1745 and that of 1897 is very marked. Except 
 that the physical features remain the same, there is hardly 
 any resemblance between them. The character of the people, 
 manners, modes of living, education, personal freedom, are 
 all changed. Not more marked is the contrast between the 
 old and crumbling ruin of Castle Urquhart on Loch Ness 
 and the noble mansion in its neighbourhood, or between 
 the railway that passes through the wilds of Badenoch and 
 those mountain - tracks which the passenger sees as he is 
 
136 'LETTERS FROM THE NORTH. 
 
 borne swiftly along, on which clansmen drove their raided 
 cattle, and Montrose and Dundee led their Highland fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 We are not without considerable material to enable us 
 to form some idea at least of how men lived in Inverness- 
 shire in the olden time, and up to the eve of the collapse 
 of the feudal system. Well-authenticated reports from com- 
 petent persons as to the state of the Highlands generally, 
 and Inverness -shire in particular, have come down to us. 
 Such are those of Lord Lovat, General Wade, and others. 
 There are incidents recorded in the clan histories, and in- 
 serted in the almost continuous record of battle and robber)-, 
 which shed considerable light on social conditions. And 
 there are also the narratives of such travellers as at that 
 early period visited Inverness -shire. They were not num- 
 erous, and their references to what went on at the time 
 were sparse. One of them, however, Mr Burt (or Birt), has 
 in his ' Letters from the North ' ^ given his impressions with 
 considerable fulness. In these Letters he makes such mis- 
 takes as an Englishman transported suddenly from London to 
 Inverness would naturally be led into, and perhaps also he 
 shows traces of a desire to astonish his correspondent by 
 telling him things calculated to shock and amaze him. But 
 on the whole there is no reason to doubt the general truth- 
 fulness of his descriptions, or to deter us from believing 
 them, especially when established by evidence from other 
 sources. Burt wrote his Letters about 1725-26, though they 
 were not published till long afterwards. He was employed 
 by General Wade in some civil capacity, either as a surveyor 
 or accountant. He resided chiefly in the town of Inverness, 
 
 ' Letters from a gentleman in the North of Scotland to his friend in 
 London, containing an account of the Highlands, with the customs and 
 manners of the Highlanders. 
 
INVERNESS BEFORE 'THE FORTY-FIVE.' 1 37 
 
 but he appears to have travelled from time to time in out- 
 lying parts of the county. 
 
 Guided by the sources of information which we have re- 
 ferred to, and such others as are available, we begin our 
 sketch of Inverness-shire in the olden time by putting on 
 record anything we can glean about its capital, the burgh of 
 Inverness.^ 
 
 Inverness at the period of which we are writing was a 
 town of between 2000 and 3000 inhabitants. The number of 
 houses in the burgh was probably between 400 and 500. In 
 the centre of the town was the cross, which stood on the 
 Exchange. Here converged four streets — East Street to the 
 east. Bridge Street to the west. Castle Street to the south, and 
 Kirk Street to the north. East Street extended from the cross 
 to the Eastgate, while Bridge Street was its continuation west- 
 wards to the river. Castle Street, which then as now ran along 
 the escarpment on the east side of the Castlehill, did not run 
 quite so far south as it now does ; while Kirk Street practically 
 ended at the parish church. At the chapel - yard were the 
 butts, where the citizens congregated with their arms in times 
 of danger, or for inspection and exercise. Still farther to the 
 north was the pier and what remained of the disused and 
 partially dismantled fort of Oliver Cromwell. At the foot of 
 Bridge Street the river Ness was spanned by a handsome 
 stone bridge. On the west side of the river was a scattered 
 hamlet of humble dwellings, which formed part of the burgh 
 though they could hardly be said to be in it. 
 
 Of public buildings there were very few. The principal 
 was the Castle, which stood on the site of the present building. 
 It had been put in good repair and had been strongly fortified 
 by General Wade, and commanded the town and the bridge 
 
 ^ I am much indebted to a description by Mr K. M 'Donald, the present 
 town-clerk of the burgh. 
 
138 PUBLIC BUILDINGS. 
 
 over the Ness, the only bridge leading from the southern to 
 the northern side of the Great Glen. Next in importance 
 was the parish church, which stood on the present site. In 
 its session-house the council met once a-year to elect magis- 
 trates — a ceremony which was, according to what was described 
 as the ancient and laudable custom of the burgh, preceded by 
 " prayer and supplication to God for a blessing on the work." 
 A carpet was solemnly carried to the session-house on this 
 important day in each year, that the city fathers might have a 
 draped floor while performing the important duty of electing 
 their provost, bailies, treasurer, and dean of guild for the en- 
 suing year. When the ceremony was over, the carpet was as 
 solemnly carried back to its ordinary resting-place, wherever 
 that might be. 
 
 Near the cross, at the top of Bridge Street and Kirk 
 Street, was the tolbooth, comprising the court-house and gaol. 
 At the ground-level under the tolbooth stair were two shops. 
 The tolbooth had a steeple with bells and a clock. The 
 steeple was taken down and rebuilt in 1691, part at least 
 of the cost being met out of money collected to buy off 
 Coll Macdonald of Keppoch when he threatened the town. 
 The kind of building the tolbooth was may be gathered 
 from the fact that it had no chimney until the steeple was 
 rebuilt. 
 
 At the bridge end up to 1 709 was the Laigh Council House, 
 where the ordinary meetings of the council were held, and 
 where the town clerk resided, or at all events had his offices. 
 In that year the town purchased for 2700 merks a house called 
 Lord Lovat's, and on the site so acquired a new town-house 
 was built at a cost of 10,000 merks. The council then as now 
 numbered twenty-one. Once in each year five of them retired, 
 and the remaining sixteen proceeded to elect the council for 
 the following year — usually electing themselves and the bulk 
 
TRADES. I S9 
 
 of the retiring five as well. On rare occasion after a national 
 crisis the whole council was dismissed by the Crown, or ceased 
 to exist by neglecting to re-elect itself on the proper day. 
 Then a new council had to be elected by a poll of the 
 burgesses. 
 
 For the size of the town its trade was considerable. The 
 greater part of the ground between Church Street and 
 Academy Street was covered with malt-kilns and barns. A 
 large and important business was done in malting. The 
 privilege of engaging in this business was confined to guild 
 brethren. The malt was sold to the people of the surround- 
 ing districts and paid for in hides, in the tanning and export 
 of which another large section of the trade of the town con- 
 sisted. In addition to the various branches of the building 
 trades, and those necessary for supplying the everyday wants 
 of the people, there were burgesses engaged in the trades 
 of armourer and glover, which have long since ceased to be 
 carried on in the town. Many of the merchants took part 
 in transactions of considerable magnitude, and were men of 
 substance. The well-known names of Cuthbert, Duff, Inglis, 
 Robertson, and Forbes, familiar in local history, were those of 
 Inverness merchants who acquired estates in the neighbour- 
 hood of the town, and some of whose representatives are still 
 Inverness-shire proprietors. 
 
 At the period of "the '45" the town was considerably 
 impoverished. The fiscal policy of the Government had 
 inflicted serious injury on its trade. Its main industry, 
 "malting," had declined, and other trades suffered from the 
 consequent depression. Its import and export trade seems, 
 on the other hand, to have kept up ; for in 1738 a new quay, 
 called the Citadel Quay, was built, which could at high 
 tides receive vessels of 150 tons. The expense of erecting 
 this quay was ;£2-jgo, defrayed by a heavy excise on ale and 
 
I40 REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE. 
 
 beer used in the town, the collection of which excited great 
 dissatisfaction among the inhabitants. 
 
 In 1692 the royal burghs of Scotland were visited by 
 instructions of "the Convention of Royal Burghs." The 
 visitors were ordered to give " ane exact accompt " of the 
 common good of each burgh, and how it was expended. 
 That of Inverness amounted to ;^i645, ^°^- ^'^- Scots, and 
 was made up from " the peck and toll money of the 
 bridge, the weighhouse and salt measure, the flesh stocks 
 and shambles, the anchorage and shore dues, the few-duties 
 yearly, and what is paid to the town by the waivers." On 
 the other hand, the disbursements of the town amounted to 
 ^3030, 15s. 8d. Scots, expended on salaries to the ministers, 
 to the master of the grammar-school, the drummer's salary, 
 the provost and four bailies' salaries, the executioner's salary, 
 rent of a cellar for a meal-market, &c., the balance between 
 the charge and discharge being raised by cess on the in- 
 habitants of the burgh. 
 
 Mr John Mackey, whose travels through Scotland were 
 published in 1723, and who visited the burgh probably about 
 171 7, gives a pleasing account of Inverness. He speaks 
 of it as "a pretty town situated at the mouth of the river 
 Ness, which runs from a lake of that name full twenty-three 
 miles long. There are two very good streets in this town, and 
 the people are more polite than in most towns in Scotland ; 
 they speak as good English here as at London and with an 
 English accent, and ever since Oliver Cromwell was here they 
 are in their manners and dress entirely English. Here are 
 coffee-houses and taverns as in England. Here are the ruins 
 of an old castle, and indeed the place deserves to be well 
 fortified, for it is one of the most considerable passes between 
 the low country and the Highlands." 
 
 Mr Burt, who wrote after the visit of this traveller, is not 
 
BURT'S DESCRIPTION. 141 
 
 SO complaisant in his remarks. He has nothing to say of the 
 beauty of the situation of Inverness, and indeed is anything 
 but flattering in his description of its streets and buildings. 
 He tells how greatly Mr Mackey was held in esteem by the 
 inhabitants for calling it the " pretty town of Inverness," and 
 how often he had heard the words quoted by them with 
 pleasure, but he himself is apparently determined to give 
 no satisfaction of the same kind. We must, however, allow 
 him to tell his own tale. 
 
 "Inverness," he tells us, "is one of the royal boroughs 
 of Scotland, and jointly with Nairn, Forres, and Chanonry, 
 sends a member to Parliament. The town has a military 
 governor, and the corporation a provost and four bailies, a 
 kind of magistrate little differing from our mayors and alder- 
 men. Besides whom there is a dean of guild, who presides 
 in matters of trade, and other borough offices, as in the rest 
 of the corporate towns of the country. It is not only the 
 head borough or county town of the shire of Inverness, which 
 is of large extent, but generally esteemed to be the capital 
 of the Highlands ; but the natives do not call themselves 
 Highlanders, not so much on account of their low situation as 
 because they speak English. Yet though they speak Eng- 
 lish, there are scarce any who do not understand the Irish 
 tongue; and it is necessary they should do so to carry on 
 their deaUngs with the neighbouring country - people, for 
 within less than a mile of the town there are few who speak 
 any EngHsh at all." 
 
 " The bridge," he says, " is about 80 yards over, and a 
 piece of good workmanship, consisting of seven arches, built 
 of stone, and maintained by the toll of a bodle, or the sixth 
 part of a penny, for each foot-passenger with goods, a penny 
 for a loaded horse, &c." 
 
 He does not appear to have a great opinion of the criminal 
 
142 CRIMINAL ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 administration of the burgh. " From the tolbooth or county 
 gaol," he tells us, "the greatest part of the murderers and 
 other notorious villains that have been committed since I have 
 been here have made their escape, and I think this has mani- 
 festly proceeded from the furtherance or connivance of the 
 keepers, or rather their keepers. When this evil has been 
 complained of, the excuse was, the prison was a weak old 
 building, and the town is not in a condition to keep it in 
 repair ; but, for my own part, I cannot help concluding from 
 many circumstances that the greatest part of the escapes have 
 been the consequence either of clan interest or of clan terror. 
 As, for example, if one of the magistrates were a Cameron, 
 the criminal Cameron must not suffer if the clan be desirous 
 he should be saved." 
 
 It is not probable that any of the magistrates of Inverness 
 would belong to the clan of Lochiel, but doubtless the peace- 
 loving citizens had their own reasons for not offending any of 
 the clans by which they were surrounded. Their town at this 
 period was almost undefended, and it might be better for the 
 magistrates to allow any captive Highlandman to effect his 
 escape than to incur the wrath of some offended chief and 
 his following. 
 
 The town hall he represents as " a plain building of rubble, 
 and there is one room in it where the magistrates meet upon 
 the town business, which would be tolerably handsome, but 
 the walls are rough, not whitewashed or so much as plastered, 
 and no furniture in it but a table, some bad chairs, and alto- 
 gether immoderately dirty." 
 
 The merchants and other men of business met at the cross 
 for the transaction of their affairs. " They stand in the middle 
 of the dirty street, and are frequently interrupted in their 
 negotiations by horses and carts, which often separate them 
 from one another in the midst of their bargains." "Near the 
 
WANT OF CLEANLINESS. 143 
 
 extreme part of the town toward the north are two churches, 
 one for the English and the other for the Irish tongue, both out 
 of repair and much as clean as the other churches I have seen." 
 
 Dirt is the continual complaint of this Englishman. It 
 meets him everywhere — in the houses, churches, streets. The 
 last he allows to be well paved, but when he asked the 
 magistrates one day when the dirt was almost above his shoes 
 why they suffered the town to be so excessively dirty and did 
 not employ the people to clean the streets, the answer was, 
 " It will not be long before we have a shower." 
 
 The houses appear to have been built end on to the streets, 
 with a staircase outside which led to each floor. The lowest 
 stage of the building had a door towards the street which 
 served for a shop or a warehouse. The suburbs of the town 
 were made up of " most miserably low dirty hovels, faced and 
 covered with turf, with a bottomless tub or basket in the roof 
 for a chimney." 
 
 Of the shops, or, as they were called, warehouses, our 
 visitor thought very little. " There is indeed," he says, " a 
 shop up a pair of stairs which is kept by three or four mer- 
 chants in partnership, and that is pretty well stored with 
 various sorts of small goods and wares mostly from London. 
 This shop is called by way of eminence the warehouse here 
 (for the purpose). A hat which with you would cost thirteen 
 or fourteen shillings, goes by the established name of a guinea 
 hat, and other things are much in the same proportion." To 
 call such a place a warehouse, or its proprietor a merchant, 
 evidently gives our narrator considerable amusement. " On 
 this side the Tweed many things are aggrandised in imitation 
 of their ancient allies (as they call them) the French. A 
 peddling shopkeeper that sells a pennyworth of thread is a 
 merchant, the person who is sent for that thread has received 
 a commission, and bringing it to the sender is making a report. 
 
144 APPEARANCE OF THE TOWNSFOLK. 
 
 A bill to let you know there is a single room to be let is called 
 a Placard ; the doors are Ports ; an enclosed field of two acres 
 is a Park, and the wife of a laird of fifteen pounds a-year is a 
 lady and treated with — Your Ladyship." 
 
 His description of the passers-by on a street of the town is 
 graphic enough, though probably overdrawn. " In one part 
 the poor women, maid-servants, and children, in the coldest 
 weather, in the dirt or in the snow, either walking or standing 
 to talk with one another, without stockings or shoes. In 
 another place you see a man dragging along a half-starved 
 horse, little bigger that an ass, in a cart about the size of a 
 wheelbarrow. One part of his plaid is wrapt round his body 
 and the rest is thrown over his shoulder, and every now and 
 then he turns himself about to adjust his mantle when blown 
 off by the wind or fallen by his stooping, or to thump the 
 poor little horse with a great stick. The load in his cart, if 
 compact, might be carried under his arm ; but he must not 
 bear any burden himself, though his wife has perhaps at the 
 same time a greater load on her loyns than he has in his cart. 
 I say on her loyns, for the women carry fish and other heavy 
 burdens in the same manner as the Scots pedlars carry their 
 packs in England. The poor men are seldom barefoot in the 
 town, but wear brogues, a sort of pumps without heels, which 
 keep them little more from the wet and the dirt than if they 
 had none, but they serve to defend their feet from the gravel 
 and stones." 
 
 The better class of the citizens, he says, were dressed in 
 a more comfortable fashion : " The gentlemen, magistrates, 
 merchants, and shopkeepers are dressed after the English 
 manner, and make a good appearance enough according to 
 their several ranks. Their women of fashion go seldom 
 abroad, but when they appear they are generally well dressed 
 in the English mode." 
 
LAZINESS AND POVERTY. 1 45 
 
 Inverness was the only market-town in the county. " There 
 are four or five fairs in the year, when the Highlanders bring 
 their commodities to market. But, good God ! you could not 
 conceive there was such misery in the island. One has under 
 his arm a piece of coarse plaiding ; these are considerable 
 dealers. But the merchandise of the greatest part of them 
 is of a most contemptible value, such as these — viz., two or 
 three cheeses, of about three or four poundweight apiece ; 
 a kid, sold for sixpence or eightpence at the most ; a small 
 quantity of butter in something that looks like a bladder, and 
 is sometimes set down in the dirt upon the street ; three or 
 four goatskins ; a piece of wood for an axle-tree to one of the 
 little carts, &c. With the produce of what each of them sells 
 they generally buy something — viz., a horn or wooden spoon 
 or two, a knife, a wooden platter, and suchlike necessaries for 
 their huts, and carry home with them little or no money. 
 You may see one eating a large onion without salt or bread, 
 another gnawing a carrot, &c. These are rarities not to be 
 had in their own parts of the country." 
 
 - Dirt, laziness, and poverty meet our visitor in every direc- 
 tion he turns. Notwithstanding, however, his beggarly estimate 
 of what he saw, there is no reason for believing Inverness was 
 less deficient in the comforts of life than other Scottish, and 
 even perhaps English, country towns of that period. There 
 were, we know, men of good substance and education among 
 its inhabitants, and there was a society into which it is evident 
 Mr Burt was not allowed to enter. He had no military rank 
 and no social position as a gentleman. He tells us himself 
 that he was regarded as a spy. Perhaps, indeed, his exclusion 
 from the hospitality of the well-to-do citizens has something to 
 do with the contempt which he so freely expresses. But his 
 descriptions are amusing, and the contrast between the Inver- 
 ness he saw and the beautiful town of the present day cannot 
 
 K 
 
146 ABUNDANT CREATURE COMFORTS. 
 
 but be gratifying. One thing he does allow to be worthy 
 of praise. The Englishman was a man who evidently loved 
 good living, and the materials for that were plentiful enough. 
 " Salmon and trout just taken out of the river, and both very 
 good of their kind. Partridge, grouse, hare, duck, mallard, 
 woodcocks, snipes, &c., each in its proper season. . . . 
 Wholesome and agreeable drink, I mean French claret, which 
 is to be met with almost everywhere in public-houses of any 
 note. French brandy very good, about three or four shillings 
 a gallon. In quantities from hovering ships on the coast it 
 has been bought for twentypence. Lemons are seldom wanting 
 here, so that punch for those that like it is very reasonable ; 
 but few care to drink it, as thinking claret a much better 
 liquor. The little Highland mutton when fat is delicious, 
 and certainly the greatest luxury, and the small beef when 
 fresh is very sweet and succulent. Mutton and beef are 
 about a penny the pound. Salmon, which was at the same 
 price, is by a late regulation of the magistrates raised to two- 
 pence a pound, which is thought by many to be an exorbitant 
 price. A fowl which they call a hen may be bought for two- 
 pence or twopence-halfpenny. Pork is not common with us, 
 but what we have is good." It is evident our writer found 
 Inverness a good place to stay in, and the abundance of 
 creature comforts which he describes, and their moderate 
 cost, might well detract to some extent from the sweeping 
 criticisms in which he so freely indulges. 
 
 There was only one other town in the county besides Inver- 
 ness at this period. This was what is now the flourishing and 
 picturesque town of Fort William. " It was erected," Burt 
 tells us, " into a barony in favour of the governor of the fort 
 for the time being, and into a borough bearing the name of 
 Queen Mary. It was originally designed as a sutlery to the 
 garrison in so barren a country, where little can be had for 
 
CHARACTER OF THE CHIEFS. 1 47 
 
 the support of the troops. The houses were neither to be 
 built with stone or brick, and are to this day composed of 
 timber, boards, and turf. This was ordained, to the end 
 they might the more suddenly be burnt or otherwise de- 
 stroyed by order of the governor to prevent any lodgement 
 of an enemy that might annoy the fort in case of rebellion 
 or invasion." 
 
 The inhabitants of the county outwith the two towns of 
 Inverness and Fort William or Maryburgh were divided into 
 three classes — the chiefs, the tacksmen, and the common 
 people. The chiefs were the great men of Inverness-shire. 
 They were all men of culture and education. They had all 
 been trained at universities either at home or abroad. They 
 could all speak English, Gaelic, and French with equal fluency. 
 Their character and mode of living present us with a strange 
 combination of culture and barbarity. A man like Sir Ewen 
 Cameron, who could take his place in the Court of the king 
 with grace, could yet head a pack of marauders to the South 
 and return at the tail of a drove of lifted cattle. Keppoch, 
 who had been trained at the university of St Andrews, was 
 chiefly celebrated for his skill in tracking stolen cows. 
 Chiefs possessed of a great degree of personal refinement 
 and courtesy would without scruple indulge at will in deeds 
 of lawlessness and ferocity. They seem to us to have been 
 by turns cultured and courtly gentlemen, and wild savages 
 bent on rapine and bloodshed. As their power depended 
 on the number of their followers, it was their constant object 
 to swell the ranks of their retainers and to keep alive among 
 them the use of arms. When an English guest asked Mac- 
 donald of Keppoch the amount of his income, his laconic 
 reply was, "I can raise 500 men." The importance and rank 
 of each chief depended on the number of armed followers he 
 could lead into battle. 
 
148 FIGHTING STRENGTH OF THE CLANS. 
 
 The fighting strength of the Inverness-shire clans has been 
 variously estimated. Probably the account given by General 
 Wade in his report to the king may be taken as the most 
 accurate. Lord Lovat could command 800 men, the Laird 
 of Grant 800, Forbes of Culloden 200, Glengarry 800, Clan- 
 ranald 800, Lochiel 800, Keppoch 220, Mackintosh with the 
 Farquharsons 800, Chisholm of Strathglass 150, the Macpher- 
 sons 220. 
 
 The chiefs lived in considerable state. Each had a numer- 
 ous household. A select bodyguard defended his person, and 
 his visits were paid with much pomp and ceremony. He was 
 accompanied by his henchman, his bard, his spokesman, his 
 sword-bearer, the man who carried him over fords, the leader 
 of his horse, his baggage-man, his piper and piper's attendant. 
 Mr Burt gives an amusing account of his meeting one of these 
 Inverness-shire magnates in one of his journeys. " On my 
 way," he says, " I met a Highland chieftain with fourteen 
 attendants. When we came, as the sailor says, almost broad- 
 side and broadside, he eyed me as if he would look my hat 
 off; but as he was at home and I a stranger in the country, I 
 thought he might have made the first overture of civility, and 
 therefore I took little notice of him and his ragged followers. 
 On his part he seemed to show a kind of disdain at my being 
 so slenderly attended, with a mixture of anger that I showed 
 him no respect before his vassals ; but this might be my sur- 
 mise, yet it looked very like it." 
 
 The dwellings of the chiefs had little to boast of in the way 
 of grandeur or convenience. Some of them still resided in 
 their square towers or castles four or five storeys high, of which 
 we have a specimen in the old castle of Glengarry. In such 
 a rude retreat the Lord Lovat of the period of which we are 
 writing is said to have entertained 400 people. Most of the 
 Inverness-shire chiefs, however, had removed from their ancient 
 
PROFUSE HOSPITALITY. 149 
 
 fastnesses to houses built of stone and lime. These were, 
 according to Mr Burt's account, " not large, except some few, 
 yet pretty commodious." 
 
 In their homes the chiefs exercised unbounded hospitality. 
 The provisions of life were abundant. Of butcher-meat there 
 was ample store. His hills afforded the chief every variety of 
 game, and his rivers abundance of fish. In an account of the 
 housekeeping of Lord Lovat in 1590 we are told that the 
 weekly expense of provisions in his household was seven bolls 
 of meal, seven of malt, and one of flour. Each year seventy 
 beeves were consumed, besides venison, fish, poultry, kid, 
 lamb, veal, and all sorts of feathered game in profusion. The 
 same abundance of good things existed in all the households 
 of the Inverness-shire chiefs. Claret was both plentiful and 
 good. It was imported from France. The consumption by 
 Clanranald's house was twelve hogsheads a-year. In that of 
 Culloden the libations were of the most copious description. 
 The custom of the house was to remove the top of each suc- 
 cessive cask of claret and place it in the corner of the hall to 
 be emptied in pailfuls. On the occasion of a marriage or a 
 funeral the profusion was almost unbounded. The funeral of 
 a chief was specially an event which called together people 
 from far and near — all were made welcome, and all were 
 sumptuously entertained. When The Mackintosh died in 1 704 
 the funeral feasts and entertainments were kept up for a whole 
 month. When The Chisholm died in 181 7, his body lay in 
 state for several days in an inn in Inverness, where wines and 
 refreshments were laid out for all visitors. A banquet was 
 held in a granary close to Beauly Priory, where he was buried. 
 Those of " gentle kindred " occupied the upper room, while 
 the commons caroused in the lower storey. Claret, it is 
 said, "ran like ditch-water," and the old women of the village 
 brought pails to carry off the superfluous whisky, and are said 
 
150 DESPOTIC GOVERNMENT. 
 
 to have kept public-houses for six months afterwards on the 
 rehcs of the feast. At the burial of Mrs Forbes of CuUoden, 
 her two sons and their friends drank so hard that when the 
 company arrived at the churchyard they found they had for- 
 gotten to bring the coffin. 
 
 The government of the clan by the chief was despotic, 
 though tempered by the patriarchal relations between him and 
 his people. Most probably all of the Invemess-shire chiefs 
 had hereditary powers of jurisdiction. They could try and 
 punish offenders against the law. Courts were regularly held 
 and presided over by a person called a bailie, whose jurisdiction 
 was absolute. He could fine, imprison, banish, and sentence 
 to death. The places of execution in each district of Inver- 
 ness-shire can still be pointed out. The tenantry of the dis- 
 trict were obliged to attend the court of the locality, which 
 was conducted with much pomp and formality. 
 
 The chief, though generally remitting the administration of 
 justice to his bailie, often exercised his power to punish with- 
 out the intervention of that official. When Mr Burt complained 
 of incivility which he had received from some members of a 
 clan, the chief at once said that if he would give him their 
 names he would send him " their heads. A Catholic priest 
 having mentioned to Glengarry that he had occasion to re- 
 buke and punish a well-known thief, that chief said the punish- 
 ment was not sufficient. He ordered the offender to be cast 
 into the dungeon of his castle and starved to death, a sentence 
 which would have been carried out but for the intercession of 
 the clergyman. Clanranald sentenced a woman who had stolen 
 some money in his house to be tied by the hair to the seaweed 
 on the rocks till the tide came in and drowned her. When 
 ships about to sail for the AVest Indies came to Inverness, the 
 neighbouring chiefs sent off'enders from their various districts 
 to be transported as slaves. No power but the strong hand 
 
WILD SPORTS. 151 
 
 could keep the people in order, and that power was freely 
 exercised by their superiors. 
 
 When not engaged in looking after his estates and their 
 management, the chief had other occupations. The chase was 
 his favourite amusement. Red deer were plentiful in the hills, 
 and other wild animals also were keenly sought for. Wolves 
 had been at one time numerous, but were now extinct. The 
 last seen in Scotland is said to have been killed in Lochaber 
 by Sir Ewen Cameron of Lochiel in 1680, but there is a tra- 
 dition that it was slain in the parish of Inverness not far from 
 the house of Kinmylies. There is also another tradition that 
 it was killed by a woman in Strathglass. Wild cats, foxes, and 
 badgers still abounded. The deer were not stalked as they 
 are now, but were driven into a limited space, where they were 
 killed by the chief and his friends with their broadswords. 
 Sir Ewen Cameron entertained some gentlemen, whom he had 
 made prisoners, with a hunting after this fashion at the head 
 of Loch Arkaig. He was met, his biographer tells us, at the 
 head of the loch by some hundreds of men whom he had 
 ordered to be convened for the purpose. "These people, 
 stretching themselves in a line along the hills, soon enclosed 
 great numbers of deer, which, having driven to a place ap- 
 pointed, they guarded them so closely within the circle which 
 they had formed round them that the gentlemen had the 
 pleasure of killing them with their broadswords, which was a 
 diversion new and uncommon to them." 
 
 But dearer to the chief than the pleasure of the chase was 
 the raid made on some far-off country in search of spoil. To 
 take a prey from the Lowlands was regarded as an innocent 
 and healthful amusement. At the period of which we are 
 writing the chiefs seldom ventured personally to lead a foray, 
 for the restraints of the Government were very stringent. But 
 most of them connived at their sons and the men of their clan 
 
152 CATTLE-LIFTING. 
 
 engaging in the laudable pursuits of their ancestors, and shared 
 without scruple in the proceeds of any successful venture. 
 The Inverness - shire clans " most addicted to rapine and 
 plunder," General Wade informs us, were the Camerons and 
 the Macdonalds of Keppoch. They " go out," he tells us, " in 
 parties from ten to thirty men, traverse large tracks of moun- 
 tains till they arrive at the lowlands where they design to com- 
 mit these depredations, which they choose to do in places 
 distant from the glens they inhabit. They drive the stolen 
 cattle in the night-time, and in the day remain on the tops of 
 the mountains or in the woods with which the Highlands 
 abound, and take the first occasion to sell them at the fairs or 
 markets that are held annually in many parts of the country. 
 Those who are robbed of their cattle follow them on the track, 
 and often recover them from the robbers by compounding for 
 a certain sum of money ; but if the pursuers are in numbers 
 superior to the thieves, and happen to seize any of them, they 
 are seldom or never prosecuted. The encouragement and 
 protection given by some of the chiefs of clans is reciprocally 
 rewarded by allowing them a share in the plunder, which is 
 sometimes one-half or two-thirds of what is stolen." 
 
 After the chiefs the class of people deemed most important 
 in the county were the tacksmen. They were generally rela- 
 tions of the chief, and held, Mr Burt tells us, "pretty large 
 farms, perhaps twenty or thirty pounds a-year, and they again 
 generally parcel them out to under-tenants in small propor- 
 tions." The tacksmen were usually at this time men of 
 some education. They were beginning to build for them- 
 selves stone houses, but many of them lived in turf huts not 
 much better than those inhabited by the common people. 
 
 The state of the people generally, in comparison with those 
 of southern Scotland, was of the most miserable description. 
 Their number greatly exceeded the means of subsistence 
 
HOUSES OF THE COMMON PEOPLE. 153 
 
 afforded by the lands they occupied. The author of an 
 able pamphlet entitled 'An Enquiry into the Causes that 
 facilitate the Use and Progress of Rebellions in Scotland' 
 calculates that there was not at this period employment for 
 more than one-half the number of people in the Highlands : 
 of the remainder he says, "Many are supported by the bounty 
 of their acquaintances and relations, others get their living by 
 levying blackmail, and the rest gain their subsistence by steal- 
 ing or robbery and committing depredations." This account 
 may be exaggerated, but there can be no doubt of the 
 wretched condition of the people compared with that of their 
 more southern neighbours, though doubtless it had its allevia- 
 tions. Their wants were few, from their infancy they were 
 inured to hardship, and they were in the main treated kindly 
 by their landlords. Eviction for non-payment of rent was 
 unknown. Though we may pity their state, they themselves, 
 enjoying their freedom, did not envy those dwelling beyond 
 their glens and mountains, and would have been sorry to 
 change places with them. 
 
 Their houses were of a very humble description. They 
 were built of round stones without any cement, thatched with 
 sods and sometimes heather. Generally, though not always, 
 they were divided by a wicker partition into two apartments, 
 in the larger of which the family lived. In the middle of this 
 room was the fire, made of peat, over which, suspended by an 
 iron hook, was the pot for cooking. There was seldom a 
 chimney, and the smoke found its way out by the roof and 
 door. The other end of the house was reserved for the cattle 
 and poultry. A Highland town, Burt informs us, was com- 
 posed of a " few huts for dwellings, with barns and stables ; 
 and both the latter are of a more diminutive size than the 
 former ; all irregularly placed some one way, some another ; at 
 any distance they look like heaps of dirt." 
 
154 A MISTAKEN CRITIC. 
 
 The family grew a little corn sufficient to yield them meal, 
 which was their chief article of food; but they were often 
 reduced to severe privations, and it was no uncommon thing 
 for them in the winter season to be driven to support life by 
 bleeding their cattle, mixing the blood with a little oatmeal, 
 and frying the whole into a sort of cake. Their great depend- 
 ence for a livelihood was not so much on their tillage as on 
 their cattle. Great herds of black cattle roamed in the 
 mountains. Each township had its own herd who looked 
 after them. They had a few sheep of a small breed. Droves 
 of horses belonging to the tacksmen and tenants were every- 
 where to be met with among the hills. They were hardy 
 animals of small size, and were often allowed to run wild 
 among the mountains till they were eight or ten years old, 
 when they were hunted down and captured with difficulty. 
 The people disposed of their stock to drovers, who collected 
 their herds and drove them to markets and fairs in the Low- 
 lands of Scotland and north of England. 
 
 Mr Burt seems to think that the people led a dull and 
 melancholy existence : " They have no diversions to amuse 
 them, but sit brooding over the fire till their legs and thighs 
 are scorched to an extraordinary degree ; and many have sore 
 eyes, and some are quite blind. This long continuance in 
 the smoke makes them almost as black as chimney-sweepers, 
 and when the huts are not water-tight, which is often the 
 case, the rain that comes through the roof and mixes with 
 the sootiness of the inside, where all the sticks look like 
 charcoal, falls in drops like ink." This seems cheerless 
 enough, but we know that the Englishman was not correct 
 in depicting the life of the people as dull. On the contrary, 
 it was full of cheerfulness. When in the summer months 
 they removed to their distant shielings, or in winter crowded 
 round the blazing hearth, they passed their idle hours joining 
 
DRINKING EXCESSES. 155 
 
 in the dance and listening to the song. They recited the 
 legendary tales that came down from a far-off past. They 
 sang the songs of their bards. They rehearsed the brave 
 deeds of their ancestors, and they danced long and late to 
 the music of the pipes. The Highlander of that time was 
 far livelier, and his life was in some respects, notwithstanding 
 its privations, brighter and more festive, than that of the High- 
 lander of the present day. 
 
 The liquor of the tacksmen and people was ale, as that of 
 the chiefs was claret. But whisky was beginning to be drunk, 
 and stills were at work in many districts, tending to the 
 demoralisation of the people. "The buddiell or aqua vit» 
 houses," says a report of the time — "that is, houses where 
 they distil and retail aquavity — are the bane and ruin of 
 the country. These houses are everywhere, and when the 
 price of barley is low, all of them malt and distil in great 
 quantities." According to Mr Burt, the Highland gentlemen 
 were immoderate drinkers of whisky, even three or four 
 quarts at a sitting. In general the people that could pay for 
 it drank it without moderation. In 1744 the town council of 
 Inverness passed strong resolutions against smuggling, and 
 against the use of tea and brandy, articles which they said 
 had only begun to be used in this country, and threatened 
 to destroy the health and morals of the people. The mem- 
 bers bound themselves to discontinue the use of these ex- 
 travagant and pernicious commodities. 
 
 The common dress of the people of Inverness-shire, and 
 of the Highlands generally, has been fully described by Mr 
 Burt. It is what he saw daily on the streets of Inverness 
 and wherever he travelled about. "The dress consists of 
 a bonnet made of thrum without a brim, a short coat, a 
 waistcoat longer by five or six inches, short stockings, and 
 brogues, or pumps without heels. Few besides gentlemen 
 
IS6 DRESS. 
 
 wear the irowse — that is, the breeches and stockings all of 
 one piece and drawn on together ; over this habit they wear 
 a plaid, which is usually three yards long and two breadths 
 wide, and the whole garb is made of chequered tartan and 
 plaiding : this with the sword and pistol is called full dress, 
 and to a well-proportioned man with any tolerable air it 
 makes an agreeable figure. The common habit of the 
 Highlander is far from being acceptable to the eye. With 
 them a small part of the plaid, which is not so large as the 
 former, is set in folds and girt round the waist, to make of 
 it a short petticoat that reaches half-way down the thigh, and 
 the rest is brought over the shoulder and then fastened before 
 below the neck. The stocking rises no higher than the thick 
 of the calf, and from the middle of the thigh to the middle of 
 the leg is a naked space. This dress is called the quelt." 
 Our Englishman makes remarks on this apparel which are 
 particularly disparaging. But it is evident that no dress could 
 have been better suited to the life the Highlanders had to 
 lead. When they were obliged to lie out in the hills, in their 
 hunting-parties, or in tending their cattle, or in war, the plaid 
 served them both for bed and covering. The freedom of 
 their limbs also enabled them to undertake long journeys 
 and to climb the mountains much better than if they were 
 clothed in modern apparel. 
 
 The common people of Inverness-shire were at this time 
 almost entirely uneducated. There was a grammar-school at 
 Inverness, but the Acts of Parliament ordaining that there 
 should be a school in every parish had remained a dead 
 letter. In 1709 the Society for the Propagation of Christian 
 Knowledge in the Highlands was incorporated, and a few 
 schools were planted here and there — one at Abertarff in 
 1 71 1, and one at Cilenmoriston in 1726. The progress of 
 enlightenment is slow. It was specially so in this case, where 
 
SECOND-SIGHT. 1 57 
 
 only English was taught. It was long before any impression 
 was made on the dark state of the county. Below the rank 
 of tacksman there was probably no one in Inverness-shire who 
 could sign his name or read a printed line. 
 
 We know but little of the religious character of the people. 
 Ministers were in every parish, and kirk-sessions were active 
 in maintaining discipline. The records of these bodies show 
 how zealous they were in summoning offenders against morals, 
 fining them for their shortcomings, and occasionally handing 
 them over to the civil magistrates to be imprisoned or set 
 in the pillory. There were only Irish Bibles used in the 
 Highlands, and even these the people could not read. They 
 were dependent for religious instruction on their preachers, 
 who were few, and, it is to be feared, not of a high order. 
 
 But if reUgion lay light on the shoulders of the Inverness- 
 shire man of the period, he was a firm believer in those things 
 which are now termed superstitions. There were many in 
 Inverness-shire at this time who were supposed to possess the 
 mysterious gift of second-sight. Such were to be found in 
 every parish. Witchcraft was also another article of Celtic 
 faith. In 1690 the magistrates of Inverness applied to the 
 Privy Council for a commission to try witches, and when Mr 
 Burt at the table of an Inverness-shire chief ventured to 
 argue with a minister against the probability of witchcraft 
 being true, he was set down at once as an atheist. As late 
 as 1704 two men were in durance at Inverness, "alleged 
 guilty of the horrid crimes of mischievous charms by witch- 
 craft and malefice, sorcery or necromancy." A commission, 
 consisting of Forbes of Culloden, Rose of Kilravock, and 
 some others, was ordered to take them on trial, and they 
 were afterwards executed under care of the magistrates of 
 Inverness. Fairies were still seen by the belated hunter, and 
 every family of importance in the county had its special ghost. 
 
IS8 SIMON FRASER, LORD LOVAT. 
 
 Perhaps this sketch of Inverness-shire immediately before 
 1745 may give our readers some idea of the general state of 
 society in the county ere everything became changed and old 
 things passed for ever away. 
 
 We will conclude this chapter by giving a short account 
 of one who was at this time the most prominent man in 
 Inverness- shire. His life illustrates in many particulars the 
 customs and manners of the period. Simon Fraser, after- 
 wards Lord Lovat, was born about 1667. He was educated 
 at the University of Aberdeen, where he took his degree in 
 1683. He was an accomplished classical scholar, and in- 
 tended to take up the study of civil law after leaving college. 
 Circumstances, however, led him to change his determination, 
 and he accepted a commission in a regiment raised in the 
 service of William and Mary. His chief, Lord Lovat, having 
 to go to London to be presented at Court, Simon accom- 
 panied him, and so ingratiated himself in his favour that 
 Lovat promised to leave him all his estates in case he should 
 die without male issue. He did die soon after, leaving his 
 estates to Simon's father, who assumed the title of Lord 
 Lovat, Simon himself taking that of Master of Lovat. This, 
 however, did not pass undisputed. The late lord had left a 
 daughter, who was heiress by his marriage-contract, and who 
 assumed the title of Baroness Lovat. Simon, to make his 
 position secure, arranged to elope with this young lady, and 
 a clansman, Fraser of Fenechiel, conducted the lady forth one 
 winter night in such haste that she is said to have walked 
 barefoot. The elopement, however, was frustrated, and Lord 
 Saltoun, who represented a branch of the clan, ventured on 
 her behalf into Inverness-shire to arrange matters with the 
 people and induce them to submit to her as their head. Simon 
 gathered together a few armed followers, and in the woods of 
 Bunchrew captured Saltoun and his followers. He took them 
 
A VIOLENT WOOING. 159 
 
 first to the tower of Fanellan, where, when they looked out 
 in the morning, they beheld a huge gallows erected. They 
 were afterwards taken to Ellanaigus, where they were con- 
 fined in a "creel-house" and treated with great indignity. 
 They were afterwards liberated, Simon having in hand projects 
 of a still more outrageous character. As he was unable to 
 get possession of the heiress, he determined to marry her 
 mother, the dowager Lady Lovat. He seized Castle Downie, 
 where the lady resided ; and then followed this outrage, 
 which is thus fully described in legal proceedings afterwards 
 taken : — 
 
 "He and his said accomplices make the lady close 
 prisoner in her chamber under his armed guard, and there 
 come upon her with Mr Robert Munro, minister of Aber- 
 tarff, and three or four ruffians, in the night-time, about two 
 or three in the morning, and having dragged out her maids, 
 
 Agnes M'Bryar and Fraser, he proposes to the lady 
 
 that she should marry him, and when she fell lamenting and 
 crying, the great pipe was blown up to drown her cries, and 
 the wicked villains ordered the minister to proceed. And 
 though she protested with tears and cries, and also afforded 
 all promises of anything else, and declared she would sacrifice 
 her life sooner than consent to their proposal, nevertheless 
 the said minister proceeds and declares them married persons, 
 and Hugh Fraser of Kilmonavic and Hutcheon Oig, both of 
 them thieves and murderers, are appointed for their waiting- 
 maids. And though she often swarved [fainted], and again 
 cried most piteously, yet no relenting. But the bagpipe 
 is blown up as formerly, and the aforesaid ruffians rent off her 
 clothes, cutting her stays with their dirks, and so thrust her 
 into her bed." 
 
 For this offence Simon was outlawed, and "letters of 
 intercommuning " were issued against him. By the aid of the 
 
l6o LOVAT TURNS JESUIT. 
 
 Stratherrick men he held his own and defied his enemies. 
 Some of the latter he captured, and administered to them the 
 following oath on their dirks : " They renounced their claims 
 in Jesus Christ and their hopes of heaven, and devoted them- 
 selves to the devil and all the torments of hell, if ever they 
 ventured into the territories of Lord Lovat or occasioned him 
 directly or indirectly the smallest mischief" ! 
 
 After a time Simon found the country too hot to hold him, 
 and fled to France, where he was well received at the exiled 
 Court of St Germains, whence in 1 703 he returned to Scotland 
 on a Jacobite mission. While in France he adopted the Ro- 
 man Catholic faith. In the Highlands he had interviews with 
 Lochiel and several of the chiefs, who confided to him their 
 plans of a general rising. These he betrayed to the Duke of 
 Queensberry, hoping by his treachery to gain favour with 
 the Government. He then hastened back to France to act 
 the part of spy among the Jacobites. His duplicity was dis- 
 covered, he was seized and sent to the Bastille, only obtaining 
 his liberty in 1708 by entering the Jesuit College of St Omer. 
 He is believed to have become a priest and acquired consider- 
 able popularity as a preacher, and is reported to have said 
 that if he had remained in orders he would at least have been 
 an archbishop, if he did not fill the chair of St Peter. 
 
 Meantime the heiress of Lovat had married Mackenzie of 
 Fraserdale, had obtained possession of the estates in Inverness- 
 shire, and assumed the title of the Baroness Lovat. To many 
 of the Frasers this was a disappointment, and they resolved to 
 send one of their number, a Major Fraser, to France to find 
 Simon, whom they regarded as their natural chief. The 
 mission of the major was successful. He and Simon escaped 
 to England, and after various strange adventures returned to 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 The time of his return was critical. The husband of the 
 
A CHIEF'S COURT. l6l 
 
 baroness was away with Mar during the rising of 1 7 1 9, and 
 had the greater portion of the Clan Fraser with him. Simon 
 resolved to take the side of the Hanoverians. As we have 
 seen, he had been enabled to render the Government signal 
 service. At his command the men of the clan who had 
 followed Mackenzie at once returned home, and with these 
 and the clansmen who had not gone out he captured Inver- 
 ness and broke the neck of the rebellion in the North. Suc- 
 cess now attended his steps. He obtained the forfeited estates 
 of Lovat from the Government, had honours conferred upon 
 him, and finally received by a decree of the Court of Session 
 the title of Lord Lovat. He was made Sheriff of Inverness, 
 and became the great man of the county. 
 
 At Castle Dounie or Beaufort he kept a sort of rude court. 
 " His table," says Sir Walter Scott, " was filled with Frasers, 
 whom he called his cousins, and took care that the fare with 
 which they were regaled was adapted, not to their supposed 
 quality, but to the actual importance of his guests." At the 
 head of a long table were the neighbouring chiefs or distin- 
 guished strangers, and here claret and French cookery graced 
 the board. Lower down were the duihnewassels, who enjoyed 
 beef and mutton, with a glass of some humbler wine. The 
 commoners of the clan occupied the next range, feeding on 
 sheep-heads, and drinking whisky or ale. Clustering on the 
 castle green in sunshine, or cowering in the outhouses in foul 
 weather, were congregated the rufifians of the clan, to gnaw the 
 bones and devour the offal. The provisions brought in for 
 each day were all consumed by nightfall, and a stranger arriving 
 in the evening could find nothing with which to break his fast. 
 Lovat exercised his power over his vassals with the utmost 
 severity, and a visitor to the castle tells us he saw sometimes 
 three or four, sometimes half-a-dozen, hung up by the heels 
 for hours on the few trees round the mansion. 
 
 L 
 
l62 DOUBLE-DEALING. 
 
 Lovat's first marriage he regarded as a youthful frolic, and 
 afterwards married twice while his first unfortunate wife was 
 still alive. The character and previous conduct of the man 
 do not seem to have in any way diminished his popularity. 
 " You know," wrote the Duke of Queensberry, " Lord Lovat 
 is one for whom I have with good reason the greatest esteem 
 and respect." The king himself became godfather to one of 
 his children, and Lord President Forbes, a man held in highest 
 esteem, constantly corresponded with him on the most friendly 
 and affectionate footing. 
 
 About 1736 this extraordinary man began to support the 
 Government with less ardour. John Roy Stewart, a celebrated 
 Jacobite, it is said with his connivance as sheriff, broke out of 
 gaol at Inverness and went to live for six weeks at Lovat's 
 house, and " was charged from him with a message to the 
 Pretender." From 1737 Lovat was at the head of an associ- 
 ation of the Highland chiefs for the restoration of the exiled 
 family. Outwardly, however, he professed himself to be a firm 
 supporter of the Government. When spoken to on the sub- 
 ject by Lord Islay he was loud in his professions of loyalty. 
 " He said my house was a Jacobite house," says Lovat him- 
 self, " that the discourse of those in my house was of Jacobit- 
 ism, and that I conversed with nobody but Jacobites. He 
 told me that the First Minister had intelligence from abroad 
 of my correspondence with the Pretender. I answered his 
 lordship with a little warmth that those stories were damned 
 calumnies and lies, and that I did not for many years write a 
 letter to a person beyond sea, which indeed is true." 
 
 The Government were not deceived by these unblush- 
 ing falsehoods. They treated him with suspicion and cold- 
 ness, and deprived him of his sheriffship of Inverness. His 
 wrath at losing this appointment was unbounded. At Castle 
 Dounie he openly entertained those known to be disaffected. 
 
THE LEADING MAN IN INVERNESS-SHIRE. 163 
 
 His intrigues with the Jacobite chiefs were unremitting, while 
 he wrote the Lord Advocate that " no hardship or ill-usage that 
 I meet with can alter or diminish my zeal and attachment for 
 his Majesty's person and Government." He wrote to a friend 
 to persuade Glengarry to take the oaths. " I know," he said, 
 " he has no regard for them, so he should not stand to take a 
 cartload of them, as I would do to serve my friends ; " and 
 denouncing the Government for the treatment he had received 
 from them, he said, " If Kouli Khan had landed in Scotland, 
 that would have justified him to have joined him with his 
 clan, and he would have done it." 
 
 Such was the leading man in Inverness-shire on the eve of 
 the '45. This rapid sketch of his strange career sheds more 
 light on the condition of the county at that time than any 
 amount of description can do. 
 
164 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE COUNTY PREPARING FOR A RISING — EMISSARIES FROM FRANCE AT 
 WORK — PRINCE CHARLES STEWART LANDS IN MOIDART — THE DIE CAST- 
 HEROISM OF YOUNG MACDONALD OF KINLOCH MOIDART — DESCRIPTION 
 OF THE PRINCE BY ONE WHO WAS PRESENT — LOCHIEL PREVAILED TO 
 JOIN THE ENTERPRISE — THE FIRST BLOODSHED IN THE NEW RISING 
 — THE STANDARD RAISED IN GLENFINNAN — GENERAL COPE MARCHES 
 NORTHWARD— MAKES FOR INVERNESS — PRINCE CHARLES CROSSES COR- 
 RYARRICK AND CAMPS AT DALWHINNIE — THE CLANSMEN WHO WERE 
 WITH HIM — THE CUNNING POLICY OF LOVAT — THE HIGHLAND ARMY 
 MOVES TO THE SOUTH — THEIR RETURN TO INVERNESS-SHIRE — THE 
 "AFFAIR OF MOY" — LOUDON ABANDONS INVERNESS — THE HIGHLAND 
 ARMY DESTROYS FORT GEORGE — THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND ARRIVES 
 AT NAIRN — PRINCE CHARLES CAMPS ON CULLODEN MOOR — FAILURE OF 
 THE PROJECTED ATTACK ON THE HANOVERIAN CAMP — THE BATTLE OF 
 CULLODEN— THE MACDONALDS STAND ON THEIR DIGNITY AND REFUSE 
 TO FIGHT — THE LAST CHARGE — BRAVERY OF THE HIGHLANDERS— JOHN 
 MOR M'GILLVRAY — ESCAPE OF LOCHIEL — THE SAVAGE TREATMENT OF 
 THE WOUNDED AND PRISONERS — THE DUKE OF CUMBERLAND MOVES TO 
 INVERNESS— FAILURE OF THE HIGHLANDERS TO RETRIEVE THEIR POSI- 
 TION — THE MEETINGS AT RUTHVEN AND MUIRLAGAN — INVERNESS-SHIRE 
 ABANDONED TO THE ENEMY — "MOURNING, LAMENTATION, AND WOE." 
 
 During the years that succeeded the rising of the Earl of Mar 
 in 1715, communications were frequently passing between 
 the Inverness-shire chiefs and the exiled family at the Court 
 of St Germains. Emissaries from France were continually 
 finding their way into the Highlands and consulting with the 
 leaders of the Jacobite clans. These were still loyal in their 
 attachment to the cause for which they had suffered so much, 
 but they expressed themselves as unable to do anything further 
 to support it without foreign assistance. Their followers were 
 
THE LANDING OF THE PRINCE. 165 
 
 to some extent disarmed. Forts had been erected and supplied 
 with soldiers to keep them in check. Roads had been made 
 throughout their country along which troops and artillery 
 could be swiftly conveyed from the South. They were closely 
 watched by the Government. To make any attempt to over- 
 throw the present order of things, they all felt would be hope- 
 less. One thing alone could render such an attempt success- 
 ful. If a foreign army landed on the coast well supplied with 
 the munitions of war, and led by a leader like Montrose 
 or Dundee, something might be done. The Inverness-shire 
 Jacobites — Lovat now among them — waited patiently for 
 such an opportunity, but they waited with little hope of it 
 ever arising. It was therefore with feelings of the utmost 
 consternation that they heard of the arrival of Prince Charles 
 Edward Stewart in Scotland without money, arms, or men. 
 Their feelings, which were to them as a religion, prompted 
 them to cast in their lot with him, but their judgment told 
 them that in doing so they were entering on an enterprise 
 almost certain to end in ruin to them all. History affords no 
 truer instance of the claims of what was supposed to be duty 
 triumphing over those of self-interest and self-preservation 
 than was exhibited in the '45. 
 
 On the 25th July 1745 Charles Stewart landed in Inver- 
 ness-shire, on the southern shore of Loch-na-Nuagh, a rocky 
 bay between Moidart and Arisaig. He had come thither in a 
 French ship of war named the Doutelle, after touching at one 
 of the Outer Hebrides. The ship had anchored opposite the 
 present house of Roshven. On the arrival of the vessel 
 Charles had sent for young Clanranald, who came on board 
 accompanied by his kinsman Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart 
 and some other gentlemen of his clan. They found a large 
 tent had been erected for their reception, plentifully supplied 
 with wine, spirits, and other refreshments. While the rest of 
 
l66 THE CASTING OF THE DIE. 
 
 the party were partaking of these, Clanranald and Macdonald 
 of Kinloch Moidart were engaged in earnest conversation with 
 Charles, who conjured them to help him in this his hour of 
 utmost need. They expressed to him frankly the feelings en- 
 tertained by their Jacobite brethren of the hopelessness of his 
 engaging in a formidable contest without an army at his back, 
 and begged of him to give up the enterprise and to return to 
 France. To all their expostulations Charles turned a deaf 
 ear : he had resolved to go on, and nothing would turn him 
 back. As the party walked backwards and forwards along 
 the deck in excited argument, a younger brother of Kinloch 
 Moidart, Ronald by name, stood near enough to hear their 
 conversation. To him the hesitation of Clanranald and Kin- 
 loch Moidart was unworthy of their clan and their name. 
 That the son of their lawful king should appeal to them in 
 vain for aid seemed to him treason and disloyalty. Charles 
 in passing the youth guessed with quick instinct what were 
 his thoughts, and, turning suddenly to him, with extended 
 hand cried, " You at least will not forsake me." " I will 
 follow you to death," was the eager reply, " were there no 
 other to draw a sword in your cause." This expression of 
 attachment moved Charles to tears, and the Macdonalds, 
 carried away by the enthusiasm of the moment, declared they 
 would oppose him no longer. The die was cast. Nothing 
 now remained but to see the affair out to the end. 
 
 An enthusiastic Highlander who was present at this striking 
 scene describes Prince Charles as "a tall youth of a most 
 agreeable aspect, in a plain black coat, with a plain shirt not 
 very clean, and a cambric stock fixed with a plain silver 
 buckle, a fair round ring out of the buckle ; a plain hat with 
 a canvas string, having one end fixed to one of his coat 
 buttons. He had black stockings, and brass buckles in his 
 shoes. At the first appearance of this pleasing youth," says 
 
THE SEVEN MEN OF MOIDART. 1 67 
 
 the narrator, " I felt my heart swell to my throat." Charles 
 was disguised as an English clergyman. During his enterprise 
 he generally wore the Highland dress. He was accompanied 
 by a retinue of seven persons, afterwards called "the Seven 
 Men of Moidart." With this slender following he took up 
 his abode in the house of Borradale, where he remained 
 some days, sending messengers to such chiefs as he believed 
 to be his friends. 
 
 Lochiel at once obeyed his summons, but he came deter- 
 mined to persuade him to return to France. " If such is your 
 purpose, Donald," his brother, Cameron of Fassiefern, had 
 said to him, " write to the Prince your opinion, but do not 
 trust yourself to the fascination of his presence. I know you 
 better than you know yourself, and you will be unable to 
 refuse compliance." It was good advice, but it was not taken, 
 and the result showed the truthfulness of the prophecy. " I 
 have come hither," said Charles in his reply to Lochiel's 
 arguments, " with my mind made up to reclaim my rights 
 or to perish. Be the issue what it may, I am determined to 
 display my standard, and to take the field with such as may 
 join it. Lochiel, whom my father esteemed the best friend 
 of our family, may remain at home and learn his Prince's fate 
 from the newspapers." The better judgment of the chief gave 
 way before this appeal. " Not so," he replied. " If you are 
 resolved on this rash undertaking, I will go with you, and so 
 shall every one over whom I have influence." He then left 
 Borradale to summon his clan and those of his neighbours 
 most likely to join him. 
 
 The first blood in the new rising was shed in Inverness- 
 shire. On the 1 6th August the governor of Fort Augustus, 
 hearing rumours of some new movement among the people 
 of his neighbourhood, thought it prudent to reinforce the 
 garrison of Fort William by sending there a detachment under 
 
l68 THE FIRST BLOOD SHED. 
 
 the command of a Captain Scott. This oflficer and his head 
 men reached High Bridge, which crosses the Spean, and 
 still stands a picturesque ruin, when they were set upon by 
 a party of Keppoch's men, and two of their number were 
 taken prisoners. Scott deemed it best to retreat by the way 
 he had come. All along the side of Loch Lochy he was fired 
 upon by his pursuers from the heights above, and when he 
 reached the narrow strip of land between that lake and Loch 
 Oich he saw the Macdonnells of Glengarry coming down upon 
 him from the rocks above Kilfinnan. With an enemy in front 
 and behind, he was compelled to surrender. Lochiel, who 
 came up with a party of Camerons, took the detachment to 
 Achnacarry as prisoners, and Captain Scott was sent on parole 
 to Fort Augustus to obtain the aid of a surgeon to attend on 
 the wounded. 
 
 On the 1 1 th August Prince Charles left Borradale and 
 crossed by boat to the Moidart shore. On landing at 
 Glenuig he was met by a crowd of natives, some of whom 
 danced a reel in the exuberance of their joy. This reel is 
 still known by the name of "The Eight Men of Moidart.' 
 Crossing Glenuig on foot to Caolas, he took boat again and 
 came to Kinloch Moidart, where he remained a few days. 
 The beautiful avenue between the house of Kinloch Moidart 
 and the shore bears still the name of " The Prince's Walk." 
 
 It had been arranged that the clans should assemble at 
 Glenfinnan, at the north end of Loch Shiel, on the 19th 
 August. On the i8th Charles left Kinloch Moidart for 
 Dalelea, and sailed by boat from there to Glenaladale, where 
 he spent the night. Next morning by the same conveyance 
 he reached Glenfinnan. 
 
 The position of Glenfinnan as it opens on Loch Shiel is 
 strikingly picturesque. Four glens converge on a piece of 
 level ground, one side of which is washed by the waters of 
 
THE STANDARD UNFURLED. 169 
 
 the lake. The sides of the hills are covered with pine 
 and birch. It is a lonely spot, silent and deserted. When 
 Charles arrived here at mid - day only a few Macdonalds 
 occupied the ground. He had expected to find the valley 
 alive with men, and his heart sank within him. For two 
 hours he remained in the utmost anxiety listening for the 
 sounds of the pibroch and the tramp of armed men. Then 
 his fears were set at rest. Lochiel and his men, marching in 
 two lines, with some of the prisoners they had taken between 
 them, crossed the crest of a neighbouring hill and took their 
 stand on the level ground. 
 
 On the arrival of the Camerons Charles commanded the 
 standard to be unfurled. The Marquis of Tullibardine, 
 tottering with age, supported by an attendant on each side, 
 performed this duty, and the banner, which was of red silk 
 with a white spot in the centre, floated on the mountain breeze. 
 Then the enthusiasm of the Highlanders burst forth. " Such 
 loud huzzas and schimming of bonnets up into the air, appear- 
 ing like a cloud, was not heard of for a long time." When 
 the enthusiasm had abated, Tullibardine read aloud the 
 manifesto of James and his commission of regency to Prince 
 Charles, who then stepped forward and addressed his followers. 
 His address was short, but calculated to stir greatly the hearts 
 of those who heard it. He had preferred, he told them, to 
 land in Scotland rather than in England or in Ireland, knowing 
 that he would find there a population of brave men who would 
 be as willing to live or die with him as he was resolved to 
 conquer or perish. Among those present as an unwilling 
 spectator was a Captain Sweetenham, who had been taken 
 prisoner by the Keppochs while travelling from Badenoch to 
 Fort William. " Go," said Charles to him at the close of his 
 address, " to your general, say what you have seen, and add 
 that I am coming to give him battle." 
 
lyo FUTILE TACTICS OF COPE. 
 
 On the 1 9th August — the same day that the standard of 
 Charles was unfurled at Glenfinnan — General Cope and his 
 army left Edinburgh for the North. On the 2 6th they reached 
 Dalwhinnie, where they camped for the night. Here the 
 general on the morning of the 27 th held a council of war. 
 His original intention had been to go from Dalwhinnie by 
 Corryarrick to Fort Augustus, and meet the insurgents in that 
 neighbourhood, on the other side of the mountains ; but it 
 was reported to him that if he attempted such a thing he 
 would be cut to pieces, as the Highlanders were waiting him 
 at Snugborough, one of the most dangerous passes on the 
 Corryarrick road, where all the advantage was on their side, 
 and to meet them there would be his certain destruction. 
 After deliberation the council of war decided they should 
 make for Inverness. At a place which is still called " Cope's 
 Turn " the royal army altered its route and made its way 
 towards Ruthven, leaving the pass to the low country open to 
 their foes. Any course more fatuous than was thus taken by 
 the English general can hardly be imagined. Cope reached 
 Inverness on the 29th August, when, finding his tactics had 
 been completely frustrated, he assembled his men and marched 
 them to Aberdeen, where they were shipped for the South. 
 
 On the 22nd August Prince Charles left Glenfinnan and 
 encamped at Kinlochiel. On the 23rd he lodged at Fassiefern; 
 from thence, by a detour to keep out of sight of Fort William, 
 he came to Moy, the place, it will be recollected, where Dundee 
 stayed for some time. On the 26th he crossed the river Lochy 
 and reached Aberchalder, within three miles of Fort Augustus, 
 where his army halted for the night, he himself going to the 
 house of Invergarry in the neighbourhood. Here it was he 
 received a message from Lord Lovat by a kinsman, Fraser of 
 Gortuleg. Fraser asked Charles to excuse the absence of his 
 chief on account of his age. Lovat wished a patent of a 
 
CLUNY MACPHERSON. I/I 
 
 dukedom that had been promised him, and an order em- 
 powering him to seize the Lord President Forbes, dead or 
 alive. The patent had been left behind with some baggage, 
 but an order to seize the person of the President was given, 
 and with this Gortuleg returned to his chief, who was at this 
 very time assuring the Government of his unshaken loyalty, and 
 ridiculing to his friend and correspondent the President, whom 
 he wished to seize, the silly hopes of the insurgents. 
 
 On the 27 th August, the day on which Cope changed his 
 route, Charles arrived at the foot of Corryarrick. He fully 
 expected to meet the English general at the summit of this 
 mountain. Pulling on a new pair of brogues, he said with 
 glee, " Before I throw these off I shall meet with Mr Cope." 
 It was fully believed that the two armies would come into 
 collision at mid-day. To the astonishment of Charles and his 
 men, as they climbed cautiously the southern slope of Corry- 
 arrick, they were unmolested. They were still more amazed 
 when from deserters they learnt of the resolve Cope had taken. 
 The Highlanders threw their bonnets up into the air in their 
 joy, drank healths to the Prince, and wished to follow the 
 English general and compel him to fight. A council of war 
 was called, and it was resolved not to take this course, but to 
 make a descent upon the Lowlands, which were open to them 
 and unprotected. Two days after the Highland army had 
 crossed Corryarrick they encamped at Dalwhinnie, on the 
 same ground that Cope had previously occupied. There a 
 party which had made an unsuccessful attempt on Ruthven 
 brought into camp as a prisoner Cluny Macpherson. Cluny 
 was an officer in the Hanoverian army, though at heart a 
 Jacobite. He soon became one of the Prince's most enthusi- 
 astic followers, and left his army on the march south, to bring 
 in the Macphersons to his aid. 
 
 On the 30th August the Highland army left Dalwhinnie on 
 
172 A HEROIC LADY. 
 
 their march south. There we are not called in our narrative 
 to accompany them. The Camerons, Clanranalds, the Glen- 
 garry men, the Keppochs, and the Grants of Glenmoriston 
 were with them. The Macphersons, 600 strong, joined them 
 after the battle of Prestonpans. On the Prince's return from 
 England the Mackintoshes also joined his standard at Stirling. 
 The Mackintosh himself was an officer in the Royal army, 
 and though at one time on the point of joining Prince 
 Charles, he finally resolved to hold aloof His heroic wife, 
 however, was a true Jacobite : she embodied her husband's 
 clan, and placing them under the command of M'Gillvray of 
 Dumnaglass, who had seen service abroad, sent them off to 
 the war. 
 
 The part played by Lord Lovat was quite in keeping with 
 his character. In the beginning of September he wrote to 
 Lochiel : " I fear you have been ower rash in going ere affairs 
 were ripe. You are in a dangerous state. The Elector's 
 general Cope is in your rear, hanging at your tail, with 3000 
 men, such as have not been seen here since Dundee's afiair, 
 and we have no force to meet him. If ye Macphersons 
 would tak' the field, I would bring out my lads to help yer 
 wark, and 'twixt ye twa we might cause Cope to keep his 
 Christmas here." At the same time he writes the Lord 
 Advocate asking for 1000 stand of arms, for if he had arms 
 and other accoutrements he could bring 1200 good men into 
 the king's service. The battle of Prestonpans, fought on the 
 2 1 St September, was the turning-point in the policy of the 
 old villain. Bumpers were drunk at Castle Downie to the 
 confusion of the house of Hanover. The fiery cross was 
 sent out to summon the Frasers. Seven hundred men were 
 drilled on the green of the castle, with white cockades and 
 sprigs of yew in their bonnets. The clan went joyfully south 
 under the command of the Master of Lovat. "I send my 
 
lovat's lies. 173 
 
 eldest son," he wrote the secretary of the Prince, " the hope 
 of my family and the darling of my life, a youth about nine- 
 teen years old, who was just going abroad to finish his studies 
 and education after having learned with applause what is 
 taught in our Scots universities, and was graduate Master of 
 Arts. But instead of sending him abroad to complete his 
 education, I have sent him to venture the last drop of his 
 blood in the glorious Prince's service." To the Lord Presi- 
 dent he told a different tale. He solemnly protested that 
 since his son was determined on " that mad foolish project, 
 he always flew in his face like a wild cat when he spoke to 
 him against any of his distracted opinions." When his son 
 had gone off with the clan, he mourns over his infatuation. 
 " The consequences of his doing so are terrible beyond ex- 
 pression, though I declare I could not have done more to save 
 my own life and the lives of the clan, as well as the estate 
 of Lovat, than Ij have done by smooth and rough usage to 
 detain him at home." With Lovat lying had reached the 
 dignity of a fine art. 
 
 In the early days of February 1746 Prince Charles was 
 back in Inverness-shire with a division of his army. He en- 
 tered the county by Dalwhinnie. The other part of his forces, 
 under Lord George Murray, took their route to the North by 
 Aberdeen and Peterhead. On the i6th February the Prince 
 reached Moy Castle, the seat of The Mackintosh, capturing 
 the castle of Ruthven on his way. The chief's lady received 
 him with great hospitality and entertained him munificently. 
 Here he made a narrow escape from being captured. Lord 
 Loudon with 1700 troops lay at Inverness, some twelve miles 
 distant from Moy, and hearing that Charles was residing there, 
 accompanied by only a slender retinue, he determined to sur- 
 prise him. With 1500 men he set out in the night from In- 
 verness for Moy. His design, however, was frustrated. Lady 
 
174 A NARROW ESCAPE. 
 
 Mackintosh received timely intimation of his visit from a girl 
 whose father kept a public-house at Inverness, and who in 
 waiting upon his customers had heard hints of the midnight 
 raid. The lady acted at once on the information she received. 
 She sent some of her men, headed by a blacksmith, to wait 
 in the woods through which the road from Inverness passed. 
 On the approach of Loudon and his men the vassals of The 
 Mackintosh fired upon them, and by imitating the war-cries of 
 the Camerons, the Macdonalds, and other clans, led them to 
 believe that the strength of the whole Highland army was 
 present. Fearing an ambuscade, Loudon and his troops beat 
 a hasty retreat, and never halted till they reached the gates of 
 Inverness. 
 
 Their panic lasted after their arrival there. Believing that 
 the whole Highland army was encamped at Moy, and that they 
 could not defend the town against them, Loudon and his 
 army left Inverness by Kessock Ferry, and the day after 
 their departure, the 17 th February, Charles and his followers 
 entered the town. Here they remained till the middle of 
 April, the Prince being hospitably entertained by the Dow- 
 ager Lady Mackintosh in her house in Church Street — the 
 only house, it is said, in Inverness which had a room without 
 a bed in it. 
 
 After a siege of two days Fort George, the citadel of 
 Inverness, fell into the hands of the Highlanders, and was 
 blown up. On the sth March Fort Augustus was also taken 
 by a party of 300 men sent from Inverness under Brigadier 
 Stapleton. This party, with the assistance of the IMacdonnells 
 and the Camerons, afterwards endeavoured to reduce Fort 
 William ; but the garrison made a stout defence, and the 
 assailants, unable to prevent the arrival of supplies and 
 reinforcements by sea, were eventually forced to raise the 
 siege. 
 
AN ABORTIVE SURPRISE. 1/5 
 
 While the Highland army was lying at Inverness, and 
 enjoying such comforts as the town could supply, the Han- 
 overian general, the Duke of Cumberland, was marching 
 northw£u-ds by Aberdeen and the Spey. On the 12 th April 
 he crossed that river. On the 14th he reached Nairn, where 
 he was only sixteen miles from his enemy. It was evident 
 that a pitched battle was inevitable. 
 
 Charles left Inverness on the day that his opponent reached 
 Nairn, and took up his abode at Culloden House, the resi- 
 dence of Lord President Forbes. During his stay in the 
 town he had manifested outwardly every confidence in his 
 success, and had kept up a bold and cheerful front to those 
 around him. In the morning he hunted in the neighbour- 
 hood, and in the evening attended concerts and balls. In- 
 verness had never seen more gaiety than during his residence 
 there, and when he left, with pipes playing and banners 
 flying, the inhabitants with loud huzzas wished him good 
 luck and a speedy and glorious return. 
 
 On the 15 th April Charles drew his army up on Culloden 
 Muir to await the approach of the enemy, but none appeared. 
 The Duke of Cumberland rested his troops on that day, 
 which was his birthday, an event celebrated with considerable 
 rejoicing by his men. It was proposed by the Prince and 
 Lord George Murray to take advantage of this festivity by 
 making a night-attack on the Hanoverian camp at Nairn. 
 Injunctions were issued to recall stragglers who had gone to 
 Inverness ; but before the muster could be completed it was 
 eight o'clock in the evening, and two o'clock in the morning 
 was the hour appointed for the attack. The Highlanders, 
 however, set out in two columns, each at some distance from 
 the other. Keeping clear of the public road, they toiled on 
 through boggy ground, the difficulty of traversing which was 
 so great that many of the men fell down exhausted with 
 
176 PREPARING FOR BATTLE. 
 
 fatigue. When the hour arrived at which the attack was to 
 have taken place the first column had only reached the house 
 of Kilravock, four miles from the Duke of Cumberland's camp. 
 Dawn of day was near, a halt was called, and finally it was 
 decided to retrace their steps, and the party arrived at Cul- 
 loden Muir utterly broken down and dispirited. 
 
 This abortive night march was a bad preparation for a 
 general action, but indeed all the circumstances were against 
 the Highlanders. Many of their adherents under Cluny, 
 Lord Cromarty, and the Master of Lovat had not yet joined. 
 Those encamped had been for a considerable time without 
 food except of the coarsest description. On the morning of 
 the memorable i6th of April Charles could find no better 
 refreshment than a morsel of bread and a glass of whisky. 
 Some of the foraging parties at length returned with a supply 
 of provisions, but before they could be cooked the enemy 
 were seen in the distance advancing across the plain. The 
 whole force marshalled together amounted to about 5000 men, 
 famished and fatigued. The force they were to encounter was 
 one of nearly double their number, in good physical condition, 
 and well supported by horse and artillery. It needed no seer 
 to foretell the issue of a combat so unequal. 
 
 The story of the battle of Culloden has been often graphic- 
 ally told, and we have little to relate which has not been 
 better related elsewhere, yet the continuity of our narrative 
 demands some notice of the fight. The Highlanders were 
 drawn up in two lines. On the right was the first line, 
 commanded by Lord George Murray, which consisted of the 
 Athole men, the Camerons, the Stewarts, the Frasers, the 
 Mackintoshes, the Farquharsons, and some other clans. On 
 the left was the second line, commanded by Lord John 
 Drummond, composed of the Macdonalds of Clanranald, 
 Keppoch, and Glengarry. The right was to some extent 
 
HIGHLAND PRIDE. 177 
 
 protected by some park walls, and the left by a piece of 
 boggy ground. Four pieces of artillery were placed at the 
 extremity of each line, and the same number in the centre. 
 On the right of the first line and on the left of the second 
 line was a troop of horse. There was also a reserve of a 
 regiment of foot-guards and some horsemen. 
 
 The Hanoverian army was arranged in three lines. There 
 was a body of cavalry on each wing, and two pieces of 
 artillery between every two regiments in the front line. Such 
 Highlanders as supported the Hanoverians were told off to 
 guard the baggage. 
 
 There was considerable dissension in the Highland army. 
 The Macdonalds had always claimed the privilege of being on 
 the right of the army. Their being placed on the left gave 
 them deep offence. "We of the clan Macdonald," wrote 
 one of their officers, "thought it ominous we had not this 
 day the right hand in battle as formerly at Gladsmuir and 
 Falkirk, and which our clan maintain we had enjoyed in all 
 our battles and struggles since the battle of Bannockburn." 
 It was a fine instance of Highland pride, but the cherishing 
 of it at such a time was deeply disastrous. 
 
 The battle commenced with a cannonade from the High- 
 landers, which was entirely ineffective, and was sharply re- 
 turned from the other side. Gaps began to appear in the 
 Highland lines. A well-aimed shot ploughed the ground at 
 the feet of Charles and covered him with dust, killing an 
 attendant who was leading a spare horse close by him. 
 For nearly half an hour the English artillery kept playing 
 upon the ranks of their enemy. The Highlanders stood this 
 badly, and clamoured to be allowed to make an onslaught. 
 A message was sent to Charles begging permission to attack, 
 but before the answer came the Mackintoshes rushed wildly 
 on against the English centre, followed by the whole of the 
 
 M 
 
178 THE MACDONALDS REFUSE TO FIGHT. 
 
 Highland right line. For a time they swept all before them 
 in their impetuous rush. The ranks of the enemy were 
 broken, and it seemed as if the successful tactics of Killie- 
 crankie were to be repeated. The Highlanders had, how- 
 ever, only broken one line to find themselves confronted with 
 another. A bristling wall of bayonets opposed them, and 
 when they neared this dense living wall they received volley 
 after volley, so murderous at close quarters that they are said 
 to have been found afterwards in layers 3 and 4 feet deep. 
 In vain they hurled themselves against their foes. Lochiel, 
 severely wounded, was carried by two clansmen to the rear. 
 Almost every man in the front rank was killed. Those who 
 survived were driven in confusion from the field, which was 
 covered by heaps of slain. The terrific rush of the right 
 wing had spent itself in vain. 
 
 There remained to retrieve this disaster the left wing, and 
 had those who composed it acted with the courage of their 
 comrades the issue of the day might perhaps have been 
 changed. But the Macdonalds stood sullen and motionless, 
 cutting the heather with their broadswords. They would 
 rather suffer a defeat than forgive the insult they thought 
 had been put upon them. Glengarry's regiment was com- 
 manded by the Duke of Perth, a brave and fearless man. 
 In vain he cried " Claymore." In vain he called to the men 
 to convert the left wing into the right. In vain he said he 
 would call himself Macdonald for the rest of his life. The 
 angry clansmen refused to move. Nor was one of their own 
 born chiefs more successful. Keppoch with a few followers 
 rushed forward, but his own clan remained where they were. 
 He fell pierced by musket-balls, exclaiming, " My God ! have 
 the children of my tribe forsaken me ? " but they showed no 
 disposition to avenge his death. As the enemy came nearer 
 they turned their backs and marched out of the field in good 
 
DISASTER. 179 
 
 order without striking a blow. Their conduct displayed Celtic 
 pride in its most infatuated form. 
 
 There remained now only the reserve line of the Prince's 
 army. It had been reinforced by the remains of the right 
 line, and showed some disposition to make a stand, but 
 Charles felt that nothing they could do could retrieve the 
 disasters of the day. It was hopeless. The Highlanders 
 began to disappear from the field. A portion of the reserve 
 line made their retreat in good order, with colours flying and 
 pipes playing ; ■ others sought their own safety as best they 
 might. The battle was over, and the hopes of the Stewarts 
 were over with it. 
 
 The fight had been a brave one, though it only lasted 
 about forty minutes. Many stories of personal prowess have 
 come down to us. There are still tales told in every In- 
 verness - shire glen of hand - to - hand fights between single 
 Highlanders and the foes by whom they were finally 
 overpowered. A major of the Mackintoshes, John Mor 
 M'Gillvray, was seen a gunshot past the enemy's cannon 
 surrounded by the English soldiers ; he killed a dozen men 
 with his broadsword while some of the halberts were run 
 through his body. Another member of the same clan killed 
 seven of the English with the tram of a peat-cart before 
 he was overpowered and killed. A Highlander of pro- 
 digious strength, Golice Macbane, too badly wounded to 
 fly with his comrades, placed his back to a turf wall and 
 defied for a long time his enemies. Though assailed by a 
 large force of dragoons, he held his own against them with 
 claymore and target. " Save that brave fellow," cried some 
 English officers, as they saw the unequal combat ; but the 
 dragoons, maddened by the injuries he had inflicted upon 
 them, succeeded in cutting him down, though not till thirteen 
 of their number lay dead around him. If personal bravery 
 
l8o NO QUARTER. 
 
 could have changed the issue of the fight, it certainly was 
 not wanting. 
 
 Marvellous stories also are still told of how men escaped 
 with their lives from the dreadful carnage. Lochiel, severely 
 wounded in both ankles, was carried from the field by two 
 brave henchmen. He was borne on men's shoulders across 
 the river Nairn to a place of safety. Others, after l)dng 
 the whole night on the plain, crawled away to some friendly 
 shelter. Single Highlanders making for the glens fought 
 their way with their broadswords and got free, some of them 
 carrying on their backs the property they had taken from 
 their slain enemies. Those who were wounded on the field 
 received no quarter. The English soldiers went among them 
 stabbing them with their bayonets and cutting them down 
 with their swords. They splashed and dabbled each other 
 with blood for their amusement. One of their own side 
 speaks of them as resembling " an army of butchers." The 
 road from Culloden to Inverness was strewn thick with the 
 dead. On the day after the battle search was made in 
 the neighbouring woods for any fugitives who had sought 
 refuge there, and all that could be found were murdered 
 without mercy. A number of them were discovered in a 
 miserable cabin, which was surrounded and set on fire 
 Thirty-two blackened corpses were found among the ruins. 
 
 Any prisoners who were spared — and among them were 
 some men of rank — were treated with appalling cruelty. 
 Some were thrown into the prison of Inverness, and those 
 whom its narrow limits could not contain were confined 
 in the church. No attention was paid to the wounded. 
 Many of them were stripped of their clothing ; all of them 
 were almost starved for want of food. They were then put 
 on board transports to be conveyed to London. Their 
 sufferings on board these vessels were indescribable. In 
 
THE BUTCHER. l8l 
 
 one vessel 150 prisoners were confined in the hold; of 
 these only 49 were alive at the end of the voyage. 
 
 It was a dreadful business altogether. No more de- 
 grading idea can be obtained of the character of the Duke 
 of Cumberland and his officers than that which comes from 
 the perusal of the narratives of what followed the battle 
 written by his own side. The name of the victor will always 
 be covered with infamy, and the man himself remembered 
 by the title of " The Butcher," which he well earned by 
 his barbarity. 
 
 When the battle was over he went to Inverness, where 
 he occupied the same lodging in Church Street that Charles 
 had lived in before. " I've had two kings' bairns," after- 
 wards said Lady Mackintosh, to whom the house belonged, 
 " and to tell you the truth, I wish I may never have 
 another." 
 
 After Culloden the Highlanders never rallied again to any 
 purpose. Had they done so, though they might not have 
 retrieved the disaster they had suffered at Culloden, they might 
 have been able to make terms with their enemies and saved 
 themselves and their property from the destruction that 
 threatened them. They could have retreated, as in the days 
 of Montrose and Dundee, to the fastnesses of their mountains, 
 where no regular troops could follow them, and by maintaining 
 a guerilla warfare have forced the invaders to admit them to 
 honourable capitulation. Their leaders seemed to have enter- 
 tained this idea, but unfortunately it was not carried out. 
 Two days after the great battle a considerable party of the 
 Jacobites found their way to Ruthven in Badenoch, a place 
 associated with much Inverness-shire history. Among them 
 were the Duke of Athole, Lord George Murray, the Duke of 
 Perth, Lord Ogilvie, and other chiefs of clans, with about 
 4000 or 5000 Highlanders. They were keen for renewing 
 
1 82 THE prince's DECISION. 
 
 hostilities, and were far from considering their chances desper- 
 ate. Lord George sent a messenger to inform the Prince of 
 their gathering. The Highlanders, he said, were full of ardour 
 and eager to be led against the enemy. The Grants and other 
 clans which had hitherto remained neutral were disposed to 
 declare themselves on their side. The clans who had received 
 leave of absence would assemble in the course of a few days, 
 and instead of 5000 or 6000 men — the number who had 
 fought in their ranks at CuUoden — 8000 or 9000 men might 
 be counted upon. Every one present earnestly entreated 
 Charles to come and put himself once more at the head of an 
 army of enthusiastic followers. Two days passed and the 
 answer from Charles came. It was short, but to the point — 
 " Let every man seek his own safety in the best way he can." 
 Charles, who began his enterprise with seven men, abandoned 
 it when he might have been the leader of as many thousands. 
 One who was present at Ruthven, a Chevalier De Johnstone, 
 who had fought as a soldier of fortune in the Jacobite cam- 
 paign, tells us how bitter was the disappointment to the brave 
 men who were again ready to peril their fortunes for the cause 
 of the man who now refused to lead them. " The answer of 
 the Prince," he says, " was heart-breaking to the brave men 
 who had sacrificed themselves for him. However critical our 
 situation, the Prince ought not to have despaired. On occa- 
 sions when everything is to be feared, we ought to lay aside 
 fear ; when we are surrounded with dangers, no danger ought to 
 alarm us. With the best plans we may fail in our enterprise, 
 but the firmness we display in misfortune is the noblest orna- 
 ment of virtue. This is the manner in which a Prince ought 
 to have conducted himself who, with an unexampled rashness, 
 landed in Scotland with seven men." 
 
 The visitors to the old keep of Ruthven, near the bright 
 little town of Kingussie, or the traveller who sees its grey walls 
 
A FINAL ATTEMPT. 183 
 
 as lie is borne by railway rapidly through Badenoch, may well 
 recall the touching scene that ensued when these chivalrous 
 men there took leave of one another ; " Our separation at 
 Ruthven," says De Johnstone, " was truly affecting. We bade 
 one another an eternal adieu. No one could tell whether the 
 scaffold would not be his fate. The Highlanders gave vent 
 to their grief in wild bowlings and lamentations ; the tears 
 flowed down their cheeks when they thought that their 
 country was now at the discretion of the Duke of Cumber- 
 land, and on the point of being plundered, whilst they and 
 their children would be reduced to slavery and plunged with- 
 out resource in a state of remediless distress." Few scenes 
 in the story of Inverness-shire, are more full of pathos. 
 
 One more attempt was made by the Highlanders to save 
 themselves from impending destruction. On the 8th of May 
 several of the Inverness-shire chiefs and other gentlemen 
 met together at Muirlaggan, a spot about two miles from the 
 western end of Loch Arkaig. Lochiel, young Clanranald, 
 Barrisdale, John Roy Stewart, Cameron of Dungallon, Lord 
 Lovat, and others, were present. After protracted consulta- 
 tion they resolved on united action. Lochiel, Clanranald, 
 Glengarry, Keppoch, Barrisdale, and others, with their men, 
 were to rendezvous on the isth May at Achnacarry, the place 
 of tryst being kept secret. The Frasers, the Mackintoshes, 
 and the Macphersons were to meet the same day at some 
 convenient place in Badenoch. Other clans were to meet 
 in the Braes of Mar. They were all to take up arms, and 
 none were to lay them down or make a separate peace with- 
 out the general consent of the whole. 
 
 The plan was well organised, and had it been carried out 
 much trouble to the Highlands, and especially to Inverness- 
 shire, might have been saved. Money was not wanting for 
 the projected enterprise — ;^3o,ooo of gold in six casks had 
 
1 84 DESOLATION. 
 
 arrived from France for the use of the Jacobite clans, and with 
 that sum much might have been done. But though money 
 was plentiful, men were wanting. The clansmen could not 
 be roused. Clanranald's men would not leave their own 
 country. Glengarry's people had been to a great extent dis- 
 armed. The Government troops had already begun to scour 
 the country. The Erasers could not be mustered. When 
 Lochiel with 300 men came to the place of rendezvous he 
 found few there to meet him, and he himself and the few 
 who did meet him were nearly taken prisoners by a detach- 
 ment of the enemy. Nothing could now be done except to 
 leave the county and people to their fate. Their fate was 
 indeed a cruel one. For many months together Inverness- 
 shire was ravaged and desolated from one end to the other. 
 Its annals at this period are like the scroll of the ancient 
 prophet, " written within and without with mourning, lamen- 
 tation, and woe." 
 
i8s 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 CHARLES EDWARD STEWART AFTER CULLODEN — ARRIVES AT GORTULEG — 
 MEETS WITH LOVAT — REACHES INVERGARRY— STARTS FOR THE WEST — 
 AT GLEN PEAN, MEOBLE, AND LOCH MORAR— CROSSES THE MOUNTAINS 
 TO GLENBOISDALE— RESOLVES TO PROCEED TO THE ISLANDS— SETS SAIL 
 FROM BORRADALE WITH DONALD MACLEOD — RETURNS AFTER MANY 
 ADVENTURES AND ESCAPES TO THE MAINLAND— AT LITTLE MALLACK — 
 REACHES BORRADALE FOR THE THIRD TIME — PASSES THROUGH A COR- 
 DON OF SOLDIERS— STAYS WITH THE SEVEN OUTLAWS OF GLENMORISTON 
 — MOVES AGAIN WESTWARD— WELCOMED BY FRIENDS IN LOCHARKAIG 
 — MAKES FOR EADENOCH — ^JOINS LOCHIEL AT MELLANUIR — IN A SHIELING 
 ON BEN ALDER — THE CAGE AND ITS INMATES — HEARS OF THE ARRIVAL 
 OF TWO FRENCH VESSELS IN LOCH-NA-NUAGH — TRAVELS TO BORRADALE 
 AND EMBARKS FOR FRANCE— ATROCITIES PERPETRATED ON THE INHABI- 
 TANTS OF INVERNESS-SHIRE BY THE HANOVERIANS — SICKENING DETAILS 
 — REBEL-HUNTING — RACES AT FORT AUGUSTUS —FATE OF THE INVER- 
 NESS-SHIRE CHIEFS — ESCAPE OF CLUNY AND YOUNG CLANRANALD — 
 COLONEL MACDONALD OF BARRISDALE — THE APPREHENSION OF LOVAT 
 —TAKEN TO LONDON — HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION — DR CAMERON THE 
 LAST VICTIM OF THE '45 — ACTS OF PARLIAMENT PASSED AFTER THE IN- 
 SURRECTION — THE ACT OF CLEMENCY — THE ACT FOR DISARMING THE 
 HIGHLANDERS AND ABOLISHING THEIR DRESS — THE ACT ABOLISHING 
 HERITABLE JURISDICTIONS — ITS IMPORTANT RESULTS — THE ROMANCE 
 OF THE COUNTY ENDS — A NEW ORDER OF THINGS BEGINS. 
 
 The wanderings of Charles Edward Stewart after CuUoden 
 form a romantic episode in the history of Inverness-shire, 
 and must to some extent be narrated in these pages to make 
 that history complete, though we can only give an outline of 
 the story. It is a story of which our county may be proud, 
 for it illustrates as nothing else could do the high feeling 
 of honour and loyalty which lived in the hearts of the 
 humblest of its people, who gave shelter and hospitality to 
 
1 86 SPLENDID LOYALTY. 
 
 the unfortunate fugitive at the risk of their lives. They 
 scorned to betray him when to do so would have brought 
 them fortune beyond their wildest dreams. The ;^3o,ooo 
 which the Government set upon his head was within the 
 reach of hundreds of men ground down to the dust by pov- 
 erty and suffering, yet every one of them disdained to take it. 
 History records no such perfect instance of loyalty to a person, 
 and of splendid fidelity to a fallen cause. 
 
 Charles, from the eminence on which he stood on the field 
 of Culloden, saw with dismay the ruin of his army and the 
 failure of his ambitions. Two of his friends, Sheridan and 
 Sullivan, who were near him, believing that all was lost, seized 
 his horse by the bridle and forced him from the field. Riding 
 by the Water of Nairn, he and his friends came to Tordaroch, 
 which they found deserted ; thence they came to Aberarder, 
 where also they got no access. They then passed by Faraline 
 to Gortuleg or Gorthlick, where they halted. At this place 
 the Prince met for the first time Lord Lovat. Regarding the 
 interview which took place between them the accounts given 
 are conflicting. According to one account the chief embraced 
 Charles with great cordiality ; according to another, he over- 
 whelmed him with reproaches. In the intervals of his parox- 
 ysms of rage he rushed about the house exclaiming, " Chop oft 
 my head ! chop off my head ! " Whichever story is the true 
 one, the interview between the two was but brief. Charles, 
 after changing his dress and taking a glass or two of wine, left 
 the house at ten o'clock at night for Fort Augustus. Here a 
 ball was extracted from his horse, and he continued his journey 
 to Invergarry House, where he arrived at two o'clock in the 
 morning. The chief was absent, and the place deserted and 
 destitute of furniture. Charles threw himself, overcome by 
 fatigue, on the floor, and slept till far on in the next day. On 
 his awaking, his faithful servant Ned Burke provided for him a 
 
THE prince's hardships. 1 87 
 
 breakfast, having caught two salmon in the river Garry with a 
 net which he had found. This repast finished, Charles pre- 
 pared to start for the west, and took leave of all his com- 
 panions, with the exception of Sullivan, O'Neil, and Burke. 
 Dressed in the clothes of Burke, he pressed on till he arrived 
 at Glen Pean, at the head of Loch Arkaig, where he stayed all 
 night at the house of Donald Cameron. He arrived here 
 about nine in the evening, and was so fatigued that he fell 
 asleep while Burke was undoing ' his spatterdashes. Next 
 morning he and his friends went still farther west to Meoble, 
 not far from Loch Morar, where he passed the night and was 
 kindly entertained. The hardships of his journey now com- 
 menced. He had to abandon his horse and travel on foot. 
 Leaving Meoble, the party reached Oban, at the head of Loch 
 Morar, where they stayed the night in a shieling near a wood. 
 Next day, Sunday, 20th April, they crossed the mountains to 
 Glenboisdale in Arisaig, not far from the spot where nine 
 months previously he had landed to begin the enterprise which 
 had ended in such miserable failure. At Glenboisdale several 
 fugitives joined the party, and long and anxious were the con- 
 sultations as to what course the Prince should pursue. Gov- 
 ernment vessels were cruising among the Western Isles, while 
 detachments of infantry were guarding all the fords and passes 
 on the mainland. The situation was full of peril. After much 
 deliberation it was decided that Charles should proceed to the 
 Islands on the chance of finding a vessel which might convey 
 him to France. There happened to be in the neighbourhood 
 of Kinloch Moidart an old Highlander, Donald Macleod, who 
 was well acquainted with the navigation of the Hebrides. He 
 was sent for to meet the Prince at Borradale. The account 
 of the interview taken down from Donald by the faithful 
 chronicler of the Jacobites, Bishop Forbes, is extremely inter- 
 esting, and strikingly Celtic. When the Highlander came 
 
1 88 IN THE HEBRIDES. 
 
 to Borradale the first man he met was the Prince walking 
 moodily by himself in a wood. 
 
 "Are you Donald Macleod of Quatergill in Skye?" he 
 asked. 
 
 "Yes," said Donald, "I am the same man, may it please 
 your Majesty, at your service. What is your pleasure wi' 
 me?" 
 
 " Then," said the Prince, " you see, Donald, I am in distress. 
 I therefore throw myself into your bosom and let you do with 
 me what you like. I hear you are an honest man and fit to 
 be trusted." 
 
 "When Donald was giving me this part of the narrative," 
 says the bishop, " he grat sare, the tears came running down 
 his cheeks, and he said, 'Wha the deil could help greeting 
 when speaking on sic a sad subject ? ' " 
 
 On the evening of the 24th April, under the guidance of 
 this faithful Highlander and skilful pilot, Charles set out from 
 Borradale, on Loch-na-Nuagh, to seek for safety in the Islands. 
 Of his numerous adventures among the Hebrides, the perils 
 he encountered, his hairbreadth escapes, and above all, of 
 the faithful friends, especially the heroic Flora Macdonald, 
 who succoured him, it does not fall within our province to 
 tell. Early on the morning of the 5 th July he landed again 
 on the mainland of Inverness-shire at a place called Little 
 Mallack, on the south side of Loch Nevis, and from this 
 point we once more take up his story. 
 
 The change from the Islands to the mainland did not seem 
 to offer greater safety to the fugitive Prince. The whole 
 district was in the hands of the king's soldiers, and was well 
 watched in every part. For three days and three nights 
 Charles and his companions, among whom was the Laird 
 of Mackinnon in Skye, and a John Mackinnon of the same 
 
FURTHER WANDERINGS. 1 89 
 
 clan, durst not stir from the place where they landed, but lay 
 concealed among the heather under the open sky. On the 
 fourth day they rowed along the shore of Loch Nevis, hoping 
 to find some cave where they could obtain shelter from the 
 inclement weather. As they passed round a point they ran 
 against a boat moored to a rock, and saw standing on the 
 shore a party of men, the red crosses on whose bonnets told 
 them that they belonged to the militia. They were ordered 
 to pull ashore for examination. This they did not do. 
 " Pull for your lives," said Mackinnon to the boatmen, and 
 away they sped down the loch. They were pursued by the 
 soldiers, and for some time the pursuit was keen ; but at 
 length they distanced their followers, and coming to a place 
 where the woods came down to the shore, they shot their 
 boat into a little bay. Charles landed, and from a hill saw 
 the militiamen returning from the pursuit. The fugitives 
 again embarked after a few hours' rest, and reached a small 
 island, where they took refuge. 
 
 Old Clanranald happening to be in the country, John 
 Mackinnon was sent to him requesting his assistance. This 
 the chief declined to give : he had suffered much in the 
 cause, and would not run any further risk. Mackinnon left 
 him in a passion and returned to Charles, who received 
 the news of his failure resignedly. "Well, Mackinnon, 
 there is no help for it, we must do the best we can for 
 ourselves." 
 
 From Little Mallack, to which they returned, they travelled 
 to the house of Macdonald of Morar, at the head of the loch 
 of that name, and reached it at an early hour in the morning. 
 It had been burned by the military, but they found the owner 
 and his family in a bothy which had been erected close by. 
 Mrs Macdonald, who was the sister of Lochiel, gave the party 
 
190 LOYAL FRIENDS. 
 
 a kindly reception, and at the sight of the poor prince she 
 was so affected that she burst into tears. Her husband also 
 appeared no less hearty in his welcome. He would, he said, 
 go and see young Clanranald and enlist his services. When 
 he returned his manner was changed. His enthusiasm had 
 departed. He had not, he said, been able to find the 
 young chief, and had evidently been dissuaded from giving 
 any further assistance. To a touching appeal made to him 
 by Charles he remained unmoved, and the poor fugitive 
 feeling himself deserted and in the toils of the enemy, 
 exclaimed, " O God Almighty ! look down upon my cir- 
 cumstances and pity me, for I am in a most melancholy 
 situation." 
 
 His circumstances were indeed melancholy enough. Escape 
 seemed hopeless, but his friends the Mackinnons stood 
 true to him and would not allow him to despair. " I never," 
 cried the old chief, " will leave your Royal Highness in the 
 day of danger, but will, under God, do all I can for you, 
 and go with you wherever you order me." "With the help 
 of God," said John, " I will go through the wide world with 
 your Royal Highness." Accompanied by these brave men 
 Charles reached Borradale for the third time. The house 
 that had welcomed him at his first landing had been burnt 
 down, and Angus Macdonald, the proprietor, was living in a 
 small hut. He at once gave the Prince his promise to pro- 
 tect him, and he remained hidden with him three days in a 
 wood. He now bade an affectionate farewell to his Skye 
 friends, who returned home. 
 
 Borradale was not long a place of safety. Intelligence 
 reached Charles that he had been traced from Skye, and his 
 pursuers were even now on his scent. A Government ship had 
 entered Loch-na-Nuagh. Again the hunted man had to shift 
 
WITH THE OUTLAWS. I9I 
 
 his quarters. He resolved to move more into the interior 
 of the country, but it was difficult for him to do so. A 
 cordon of soldiers had been drawn from the head of Loch 
 Shiel to Loch Hourn. The sentinels along this line were 
 posted so close to one another that in the daytime no one 
 could pass without being seen by them. At night fires were 
 lighted, and the soldiers passed and repassed from fire to fire. 
 After wandering some days in the neighbourhood of Arisaig, 
 where he met with friends, Charles by good fortune fell in 
 with Donald Cameron of Glen Pean, a man who was well 
 acquainted with all the passes and paths of the district. 
 Guided by him he was able to slip through the line of 
 watchers, and after many narrow escapes, and suffering in- 
 credible hardships, among the mountains that border Loch 
 Arkaig, he found himself on the night of July 28 in the Braes 
 of Glenmoriston, when his only shelter was " a small cave, 
 the limits of which were so narrow and the narrow floor so 
 rugged as almost to rob him even of the luxury of sleep." 
 
 In this region were seven men who had served in the 
 Jacobite army, and were now living the life of outlaws 
 amid the wild passes that lie above Glenmoriston. Their 
 houses had been burnt, and they had been themselves pro- 
 scribed. They were animated by intense hatred to the Duke 
 of Cumberland and his men, and they harassed the royal 
 troops on every possible occasion, constantly attacking them 
 as they went on their errands, and cutting off many of them 
 by volleys suddenly fired from behind the rocks. They 
 were the constant terror of the troops at Fort Augustus when- 
 ever they went beyond the limits of their garrison. 
 
 With these brave outlaws Charles enjoyed a welcome 
 repose of nearly three weeks, during which they watched over 
 his safety and supplied his wants. They took solemnly an 
 
192 ROUGH HOSPITALITY. 
 
 oath " that their backs should be to God and their faces to 
 the devil, that all the curses the Scriptures did pronounce 
 might come upon themselves and all their posterity if they did 
 not stand firm to the Prince in the greatest dangers, and if 
 they should discover to any person — man, woman, or child 
 — that the Prince was in their keeping, till once his person 
 should be out of danger." So faithfully did they keep this 
 oath that they never spoke of Charles having been with them 
 till a twelvemonth after he had left Scotland. With them 
 the fugitive enjoyed comforts to which he had been long a 
 stranger. His food was plentiful though coarse, and he could 
 sleep in peace, well guarded by faithful friends. His enter- 
 tainers did everything they could to cheer him. They for- 
 aged for him. Distressed at his mean apparel, they shot 
 down some servants carrying baggage for the oflScers at the 
 barracks, that he might be better clothed. They ventured to 
 the fort to buy bread for him, and on one occasion brought 
 him with joy a pennyworth of gingerbread, which to them 
 seemed the greatest dainty that he could possibly enjoy. 
 
 Accompanied by these good friends, the Prince wandered 
 for some time among the mountains of Glenmoriston and 
 Strathglass. He was in Glen Cannich and at Fasnakyle on 
 the 19th August. Hearing that Glenmoriston and Glengarry 
 were clear of soldiers, he moved again towards the west. With 
 his friends he passed from Glenmoriston into Glen Loyne, 
 and coming to the river Garry somewhere near Inchlagan, 
 forded it breast-high, and made his way through the opposite 
 mountains to Achnasaul, near the east end of Loch Arkaig. 
 In this neighbourhood he met with friendly people, who con- 
 ducted him to a wood at the foot of Loch Arkaig, where he 
 and his party passed a night. The Glenmoriston men now 
 parted from him and returned to their own country. One 
 of them, however, remained for a few days, to be the bearer 
 
THE CAGE. 193 
 
 of twenty-four guineas to his companions as an acknowledg- 
 ment of their fidelity. 
 
 Among friends on the bank of Loch Arkaig, where he was 
 more than once in imminent peril, Charles remained from the 
 20th August until near the end of the month, when he 
 received a message from Lochiel and Cluny, who were in 
 hiding in Badenoch, requesting him to join them. He seems 
 to have made his way thither by the valley of the Spean, and 
 on the 30th August reached Mellanuir, near Ben Alder, where 
 Lochiel was living with four other persons. Lochiel gave him 
 an enthusiastic welcome, and Charles, as he partook of the 
 cheer afforded him and ate minced coUops out of a sauce-pan, 
 exclaimed, " Now, gentlemen, I live like a prince." 
 
 Cluny joined the party at this place, and the day after his 
 arrival they shifted their quarters to a Highland shieling on 
 Ben Alder called Uiskchiha, which is said to have been 
 " superlatively bad and smoky." Thence after two or three 
 days they removed to " a romantic and comical habitation 
 called the Cage," on the shoulders of Ben Alder, and not far 
 from the western end of Loch Ericht. 
 
 This last refuge of the Prince is in one of the wildest parts 
 of Inverness-shire. A graphic description of it is given by one 
 of those who shared its shelter : " The habitation called the 
 Cage was within a thick bush of wood. There were first 
 some rows of trees laid down in order to level a floor for the 
 habitation, and as the place was steep, this raised the lower 
 side to equal height with the other, and these trees in the way of 
 joists or planks were entirely well levelled with earth and gravel. 
 There were betwixt the trees growing naturally on their own 
 roots, some stakes fixed in the earth, which, with the trees, 
 were interwoven with ropes made of heath and birch-twigs all 
 to the top of the cage, it being of a round or rather of an oval 
 shape, and the whole thatched and covered with logs. This 
 
 N 
 
194 A WILD HIDING-PLACE. 
 
 whole fabric hung, as it were, by a large tree, which inclined 
 from the one end all along the roof to the other, and which 
 gave it the name of the Cage ; and by chance there happened to 
 be two stones at a small distance from each other, next the preci- 
 pice, resembling the pillars of a bosom chimney, and here was 
 the fire placed. The smoke had its vent out there, all along a 
 very stony part of the rock, which and the smoke were so 
 much of a colour that no one could have distinguished the 
 one from the other. The Cage was only large enough to con- 
 tain six or seven persons, four of which number were frequently 
 employed in playing cards, one idle looking on, one baking, 
 and another firing bread and cooking." 
 
 The place where this singular habitation stood can still be 
 identified. It is about 200 yards above a rough burn which 
 runs into Loch Ericht. The " Cage " itself has disappeared, 
 but the huge stones which formed the chimney still remain, 
 and go by the name of " Prince Charlie's Cave." A wilder 
 and more solitary spot can scarcely be found in Scotland. 
 To the left the visitor looks down on the blue waters of Loch 
 Ericht and the yellow strands that bound its western extremity ; 
 beyond stretches the wild moor of Rannoch, with Ben Doran 
 and the hills of the Black Mount forest in the distance. To 
 the right are those of the forest of Corour ; above, steep and 
 strewn with great white boulders, is the shoulder of Ben 
 Alder. No sound is heard but that of the wind as it rushes 
 through the corries, or the murmur of a hundred little streams 
 as they force their way through their rocky channels. Few 
 places are more lonely and desolate. 
 
 Here it was that Charles received the joyful news that two 
 French vessels sent to take him away had anchored in Loch- 
 na-Nuagh. He instantly began to make preparations for his 
 departure, and when messengers from Cluny arrived to guide 
 
SAFELY EMBARKED. I9S 
 
 him to the vessels, they found him ready to begin his journey 
 at a moment's warning. On the 13th September he left the 
 Cage, travelling by night by Glen Roy, Achnacarry, and the 
 head of Loch Arkaig. On the 19th September he reached 
 Borradale for the last time, and next day embarked on board 
 the French man-of-war L'Heureuse, accompanied by Lochiel, 
 Sullivan, Sheridan, and about a hundred others. Thus ended 
 his Highland adventures, which complete the episode of " the 
 Forty-Five." The whole tale reads like a chapter in the 
 romances of chivalry, and will ever reflect honour upon the 
 Highlanders, and especially on those of our northern county. 
 As we think of their fidelity and disinterestedness we recall 
 the words of Shakespeare — 
 
 '"Tis wonderful 
 
 That an invis'ble instinct should frame them 
 
 To loyalty unlearned, honour untaught, 
 
 Civility not seen from others ; valour 
 
 That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop 
 
 As if it had been sowed." 
 
 While Charles was wandering among the islands and moun- 
 tains of Inverness-shire, the inhabitants of that county were 
 suffering the most fearful hardships. Atrocities so dreadful 
 were perpetrated among them by the royal troops, that if they 
 were not fully vouched for by good authority they could not 
 be believed. The Duke of Cumberland, to use his own words, 
 regarded the Highlands "as a nest of rebels," and that nest 
 he determined to crush beneath his heavy heel. After 
 Culloden he transferred his headquarters to Fort Augustus, 
 and from his camp there sent out parties of soldiers to scour 
 the neighbouring country and to inflict upon the inhabitants 
 the utmost extremities of war. No mercy was shown in carry- 
 ing out his orders. The patriotic President Forbes, who 
 ventured to expostulate with him on the enormities perpe- 
 
196 UNSPEAKABLE ATROCITIES. 
 
 trated by his soldiers, and made mention of the " laws of the 
 country," received for reply, " The laws of the country ! My 
 lord, I'll make a brigade give laws, by God ! " And he after- 
 wards referred to the President as " that old woman who spoke 
 to me of humanity " ! 
 
 Certainly no feeling of humanity was shown by those who 
 carried out his orders. Within a compass of fifty miles round 
 Fort Augustus all was soon ruin and desolation. The houses 
 of Lochiel, Glengarry, Keppoch, Kinloch Moidart, and Cluny 
 were burnt. The houses of the peasantry shared the same fate. 
 Cattle were driven away, townships given to the flames, women 
 outraged, whole families turned out of their homes to perish 
 by starvation and exposure. Such men as were captured were 
 shot without trial. The details are sickening, and are almost 
 unparalleled in the annals of civilised warfare. Pestilence 
 followed close on these atrocities, and decimated those whom 
 the conquerors had spared. 
 
 The men of Glenmoriston and Urquhart were told that if 
 they delivered up their arms at Inverness their lives would be 
 spared. Relying on this promise, made to them by no less a 
 person than the chief of Grant, they marched to Inverness 
 and laid down their arms. They were immediately made 
 prisoners, sent by sea to London, and those who survived the 
 treatment to which they were subjected were transported 
 to the plantations. No faith was kept with the "rebels." 
 " Rebel-hunting " was the term adopted by the royal officers 
 to designate their bloody work, and it was engaged in as a 
 pleasant amusement. 
 
 Various attempts have been made to free the Duke of 
 Cumberland from the charge of inhumanity. He was dis- 
 charging, it has been said, a painful duty, and he did so 
 with as much lenience as he could venture to show. The 
 following order issued by him at Fort Augustus is suf- 
 
A SAVAGE ORDER. 1 97 
 
 ficient to prove the severity with which he carried out his 
 
 measures : — 
 
 " Fort Augustus, July %th. 
 
 " There is no meal to be sold to any persons but soldiers ; their 
 wives are not allowed to buy it. If any soldier, soldier's wife, or 
 any person belonging to the army, is known to sell or give any 
 meal to any Highlander or any person of the country, they shall 
 first be whipped severely for disobeying this order, and then put 
 on meal-and-water in the Provost for a fortnight." 
 
 The inhumanity displayed by this order is too apparent. 
 
 Sometimes as many as 2000 cattle reached Fort Augustus 
 in one drove. They had been plundered from the wretched 
 inhabitants, and were afterwards sold to drovers from the 
 South, the proceeds being divided among the soldiers. The 
 fort was surrounded by crowds of wretched beggars, mostly 
 women, begging for the offal, or even to be allowed to lick 
 the blood of the cattle slain for the use of the army. 
 
 The people seem to have offered no resistance, or to have 
 in any way revenged the infamous treatment they received. 
 No sword was drawn or gun fired. Their spirit was broken. 
 One instance, and only one, of retaliation has come down to 
 us. A Glengarry man on returning home found his house 
 had been burnt, his wife violated, and his property destroyed. 
 Maddened by his wrongs, he vowed vengeance on the officer 
 who had committed the outrage, and who, he was told, was 
 mounted on a white horse. Some weeks afterwards, by the 
 side of Loch Arkaig, he saw an officer who answered the de- 
 scription, and, lurking in the recesses of a wood, he shot him 
 dead. He found afterwards that he had killed the wrong 
 man, and is said to have destroyed his gun and renounced 
 the vow of vengeance he had taken. 
 
 Inverness-shire more than any other part of Scotland 
 suffered from the vengeance of the Hanoverians, and in many 
 of its glens stories are still told of the misery inflicted upon 
 
198 HANGING HAWLEY. 
 
 the people. At last the time of fearful trial came to a close. 
 By the end of June there were no more houses left to burn 
 or property to devastate. The reign of cruelty and murder 
 came to an end. The fire went out for want of fuel. The 
 Duke of Cumberland thus pleasantly records his impression 
 of what had been done during his visit : " I am sorry to leave 
 this country in the condition it is in ; for all the good that we 
 have done has been a little blood-letting, which has only 
 weakened the madness but not cured it, and I tremble for 
 fear that this vile spot may still be the ruin of this island and 
 of our family." 
 
 There was clearly no compunction for the miseries they had 
 inflicted upon the unfortunate people experienced either by 
 the duke or his officers. Their barbarities had been entirely 
 congenial employment. When the work of outrage and 
 butchery was finished they turned to other amusements. 
 His Royal Highness instituted horse and foot races at Fort 
 Augustus, and did not think it beneath him to make the 
 peasant women of the neighbourhood, or, as some say, the 
 followers of the camp, strip in front of the army and ride 
 races in perfect nudity. General Hawley — " Hanging Haw- 
 ley," as he was called — who had been foremost in every cruelty, 
 took a leading part in these disgusting amusements. Nothing 
 could possibly be more degrading to humanity than the story 
 of what took place in Inverness-shire after Culloden. It is a 
 shameful page in British history. 
 
 Some of the Inverness-shire chiefs who had been engaged 
 in the insurrection made good their escape. Lochiel accom- 
 panied Prince Charles to France. Cluny remained hidden 
 among the mountains of Badenoch for nine years, during 
 which he met with many strange adventures. He lurked in 
 caves, vaults, and huts, supplied with all necessaries, and 
 even comforts, by his own clansmen, who paid their rents 
 
A SINGLE TRAITOR. 1 99 
 
 both to the Government and to their chief. One of the most 
 secure of his hiding-places, and which still is to be seen, was 
 a vault under the house of Dalchully, three miles from his 
 own castle. It is about 8 feet square and 7 feet deep, wain- 
 scoted with deal planks, and entered by a trap-door in the 
 floor above. In 1755 Cluny effected his escape to the Con- 
 tinent, and died at Dunkirk in 1764. Young Clanranald 
 managed to get on board a vessel on the east coast of Scot- 
 land, sailed in her to London, and without challenge crossed 
 from there to Paris. Other Inverness-shire chiefs were not so 
 fortunate. Glengarry was apprehended, taken to London, 
 and committed to the Tower, where he suffered a long im- 
 prisonment. Macdonald of Kinloch Moidart was executed 
 at Carhsle. 
 
 One prominent Inverness-shire man, Coll Macdonald of 
 Barrisdale, who had taken considerable part in the Jacobite 
 campaign, demands special mention. His fidelity to the cause 
 after Culloden was suspected by his companions. When 
 Prince Charles sailed for France, he was seized and carried 
 with him, with a view to his being tried in that country 
 as an informer. Some steps seem to have been taken to 
 that end, but they do not appear to have been seriously 
 followed up. Barrisdale and his son were confined to prison, 
 from which they effected their escape to Scotland. The 
 son was seized and condemned to death, though afterwards 
 pardoned, and old Coll passed the rest of his days in confine- 
 ment. The State Papers show that there is no doubt of 
 Barrisdale being a traitor to his friends. While the poverty- 
 stricken people of his district scorned to betray Prince 
 Charles, he wrote to the Duke of Cumberland promising 
 to discover the whereabouts of the Prince provided his 
 Royal Highness would intercede for him. The duke agreed 
 to the bargain, which happily Barrisdale was unable to 
 
200 THE END OF LOVAT. 
 
 fulfil. Among the whole of the Highlanders he stands alone 
 as a traitor. 
 
 The fate of Lord Lovat, whose strange history we have 
 noticed more than once in this narrative, is well known. 
 With the cunning which was his great characteristic, he 
 had prepared for himself, in case of the fortune of war 
 going against the Jacobites, a place of refuge on an island 
 on Lochamhulin, among the mountains of Glen Strathfarrar. 
 Thither he was carried in a litter after his parting with the 
 Prince on the day of the battle. From a hill-top on his way 
 to this distant retreat he is said to have seen his castle burned 
 by Cumberland's soldiers, illuminating the darkness with 
 flames. After a time he shifted his quarters from his lair in 
 Glen Strathfarrar to another similar hiding-place on an island 
 on the lake of Morar, in Arisaig. Here he was apprehended 
 by a party from a vessel of war, commanded by a Captain 
 Fergusson, which had been sent to search the west coast. 
 It is said that he was discovered in a hollow tree, in which 
 he was able to stand upright. He had entered by an orifice 
 below, through which the sailors were astonished to see what 
 appeared two human legs muffled in flannel. 
 
 The old lord, now past eighty, was carried in a litter to 
 Fort William, and thence by easy stages, by Edinburgh and 
 Berwick, to London. There he was tried by the House of 
 Lords and condemned to be executed. On the 9th April 
 1747 he was beheaded on Tower Hill. Almost the last 
 words he spoke was the well-worn quotation from Horace — 
 
 " Dulce et decorum est pio patria mori. " 
 
 He could scarcely have chosen one more inappropriate to his 
 own career. As Sir Walter Scott has remarked, Lovat was a 
 strong example of the truth of the observation that it is easier 
 to die than to live well. 
 
THE LAST VICTIM. 20I 
 
 Many of humbler rank than this great Inverness-shire chief, 
 and from the same county, shared his fate. In the lists of 
 those put upon their trial at Southwark, Carlisle, and York 
 we come on many names with the words " shire of Inverness, 
 gentleman," attached to them. Few of that rank escaped the 
 last penalty of the law. Crowds of others were transported. 
 
 The last man of note who suffered for his share in the 
 rising belonged to our county. This was Dr Archibald 
 Cameron, the grandson of Sir Ewen Dubh, and brother of 
 the "gentle Lochiel" of the '45. He was a distinguished 
 physician as well as a brave soldier, and had been during 
 the campaign as assiduous in the cause of wounded prisoners 
 as of those belonging to his own side. He had escaped with 
 Charles and his brother to France. In 1753, believing that 
 the severities with which his people were prosecuted were 
 over, he ventured back to Scotland. He was apprehended 
 at the house of Gordon of Glenbucket, an old Jacobite, taken 
 to London, and tried under an old attainder, and condemned 
 to be executed. In the words of Sir Walter Scott, his execu- 
 tion, so long after hostilities were over, " threw much reproach 
 upon the Government, and even upon the personal character 
 of George II. as sullen, relentless, and unforgiving." He died 
 like a good and brave man, and a monument to him — the 
 last victim of the '45 — may still be seen in the Savoy Chapel, 
 London, where he was buried. 
 
 After the bloody work of " stamping out the rebellion " was 
 accomplished, laws were passed by Parliament with a view to 
 the " settlement of the Highlands." The first Act, passed in 
 1747, was one of mercy. It granted a pardon to all who had 
 been engaged in the insurrection, with the exception of eighty 
 persons who were exempted. Among the eighty were Glen- 
 garry, Grant of Glenmoriston, Chisholm of Comer, Fraser of 
 Foyers, Fraser of Gortuleg, and some other Inverness-shire 
 
202 ACTS OF REPRESSION. 
 
 men. Those persons also were excepted who had formerly 
 been named in what was called the Act of Attainder. Among 
 these were Dr Archibald Cameron, Cameron of Dungallon, 
 young Clanranald, Alexander Macdonald of Keppoch, Archi- 
 bald Macdonald, son of Barrisdale, and Ewen Macpherson of 
 Cluny. After the passing of the Act of Indemnity many of 
 those who had been detained in prison were liberated, and 
 returned home. Among them were some from our county 
 who had been apprehended for taking part in the escape of 
 Charles. 
 
 Another Act was passed "for the more effectually disarming 
 the Highlands in Scotland, and for the more effectually restor- 
 ing the peace of the Highlands, and for restraining the use of 
 the Highland dress." The attempt to disarm the Highlanders 
 after the rising of 1 7 1 5 had not been, as we have seen, very 
 effectual ; but the Act now passed was most thoroughly carried 
 out. The severest penalties were imposed on those who failed 
 to deliver up their weapons by a certain date. A second 
 offence was punished by transportation for seven years. 
 
 The enactment against wearing the national dress seems to 
 us utterly ridiculous, as all sumptuary laws are ; but it was, for 
 a time at least, very strictly enforced. Any person, man or 
 boy, who " should on any pretence whatever wear or put on 
 the clothes commonly called Highland clothes — namely, the 
 plaid, phihbeg, trews, shoulder-belts, or any part of the High- 
 land garb — or should use for greatcoats, or for upper coats, 
 tartans or party-coloured plaid or stuff, should be imprisoned 
 without bail for six months ; and on being convicted for 
 a second offence, should be liable to be transported to any of 
 his Majesty's plantations abroad for seven years." 
 
 The oath which was administered to the people by those 
 to whom the enforcement of this wanton exercise of power 
 was committed has come down to us : " I, A. B., do swear, 
 
END OF THE CLAN SYSTEM. 203 
 
 and as I shall answer to God at the great day of judgment, I 
 have not, nor shall have, in my possession, any sword, gun, or 
 pistol, or arm whatsoever ; and never use tartan, plaid, or any 
 part of the Highland garb ; and if I do so, may I be cursed in 
 my undertakings, family, and property. May I never see my 
 wife and children, father, mother, or relations. May I be 
 killed in battle as a coward, and lie without burial in a strange 
 land far from the graves of my forefathers and kindred. May 
 all this come across me if I break my oath." 
 
 The devices by which the people sought to retain, without 
 breaking the law, something resembling their former dress are 
 still remembered throughout Inverness - shire. Some wore 
 pieces of blue, green, or thin red cloth tied round the waist 
 and reaching down to their knees ; others carried the breeches 
 they were ordered to wear over their shoulders, the law not 
 having particularised on what part of the body they were 
 to be worn. Many sewed up their kilts in the middle, trans- 
 forming them into a kind of wide trousers. This was a fav- 
 ourite device, and those employing it were solemnly held by 
 courts of justice to have given obedience to the law of the 
 land. We may here mention that in 1782 this ridiculous 
 Act, so far as it related to the Highland garb, was repealed. 
 
 Another Act was passed in 1747, which affected the county 
 much more deeply than the taking away of guns and dirks or 
 the abolition of kilts and sporrans. It changed the conditions 
 of life, broke up the feudal system, and destroyed for ever the 
 spirit of clanship. The polity which came ' in with the Nor- 
 man settlement in Inverness-shire, and which with its Celtic 
 adjuncts had lasted so many hundred years, was by a single 
 stroke swept away. Heritable jurisdictions were abolished. 
 The Highland chiefs were deprived of their judicial powers, 
 and their retainers could only be tried by the regularly autho- 
 rised judges of the Crown. "All heritable jurisdictions of 
 
204 A NEW ORDER OF THINGS. 
 
 justiciary, all regalities and heritable bailieries and constabu- 
 laries, were dissolved, and the powers formerly vested in them 
 were ordained to be exercised by such of the king's courts 
 as these powers would have belonged to if the jurisdictions 
 had never been granted." The jurisdictions exercised by the 
 Highland proprietors were bought up and invested in sheriffs 
 appointed by the Crown. The right of ward-holding, by 
 which landlords commanded the military services of their 
 tenants, was also done away with. 
 
 The effect of this Act upon the Highlanders was very far- 
 reaching. The despotism of the chiefs, which there is reason 
 to believe was often arbitrarily exercised, at once ceased. 
 Their vassals were as free as themselves. No Keppoch, Clan- 
 ranald, or Lochiel could demand their assistance, or adjudge 
 them in case of contumacy to be executed with scant form of 
 law. They were no longer thirled to their native glens, they 
 could go where they pleased without asking the permission of 
 their superior. The chief himself became henceforth no more 
 than an ordinary landed proprietor, though doubtless still 
 honoured on account of the name he bore and the race to 
 which he belonged. 
 
 From the passing of this Act the history of Inverness-shire 
 takes a new departure. Its romance, indeed, may in some 
 sense be said to have ended with Culloden and " Bonnie 
 Prince Charlie." But modern Inverness-shire contains those 
 elements of civilisation and prosperity which were conspicu- 
 ously absent from the Inverness-shire of the '45, and which 
 largely compensate for the loss of the romance of feudalism, 
 whether in peace or war. What seemed at the time to 
 be the utter destruction of the social conditions of life in 
 the county proved its regeneration. Before the graves on 
 Culloden heath became green a new and better order of 
 things began to be evolved. 
 
205 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 TRAVELLERS IN INVERNESS-SHIRE AFTER THE 45 — VISIT OF GENERAL JAMES 
 WOLFE IN I75I — HIS DESCRIPTION OF THE TOWN AND PEOPLE — GOES 
 TO CULLODEN AND FORT GEORGE — ATTENDS AN ASSEMBLY — CULLODEN 
 COMMEMORATED AT INVERNESS — REPORTS OF HANOVERIAN OFFICERS 
 QUARTERED IN THE COUNTY — A CAPTURED PRIEST — ENDEAVOURS OF 
 THE PEOPLE TO EVADE THE ACT PREVENTING THE HIGHLAND DRESS 
 — VISIT OF BISHOP POCOCKE IN 1760 — HIS INTEREST IN ANTIQUITIES — 
 DESCRIBES FORT WILLIAM — REACHES FORT AUGUSTUS BY LOCH LOCHY 
 — COMES TO INVERNESS AND CULLODEN — HIS DESCRIPTION OF BEAULY 
 PRIORY AND OF THE AIRD — VISIT OF PENNANT IN 1769 — HIS DIS- 
 PARAGEMENT OF PRINCE CHARLES — HIS PRAISE OF INVERNESS — RES- 
 TORATION OF THE LOVAT ESTATES — ADMINISTRATION OF FORFEITED 
 PROPERTY IN THE COUNTY — A FAIR AT INVERNESS — LOCH NESS AFFECTED 
 BY AN EARTHQUAKE — LOCHABER DESCRIBED — BREAK UP OF THE CLAN 
 SYSTEM — VISIT OF DR SAMUEL JOHNSON AND BOSWELL IN I773 — AT 
 FORT GEORGE — SPENDS A SUNDAY IN INVERNESS — THE EPISCOPAL 
 CHAPEL — RIDES BY GLENMORISTON TO GLENELG — HIS VIEWS ON 
 EMIGRATION AND DISAPPEARANCE OF THE TACKSMEN — GENERAL CHAR- 
 ACTER OF HIS OBSERVATIONS — VISIT OF COLONEL THORNTON IN I784 — 
 SETTLES DOWN AS A SPORTSMAN IN BADENOCH — HIS INTEREST IN THE 
 PEOPLE AND SCENERY— RESTORATION OF CLUNY MACPHERSON TO HIS 
 ESTATES — A BADENOCH FEAST — DYING OUT OF JACOBITE FEELING — 
 "GEORGE III., AND LONG MAY HE REIGN!" DRANK EVERYWHERE — 
 WHAT MAY BE LEARNED FROM THE ACCOUNTS OF THESE TRAVELLERS 
 — THEY SHOW AN EXTRAORDINARY CHANGE TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE. 
 
 We may at this stage break the continuity of our narrative 
 by noticing the impressions of travellers who visited Inver- 
 ness-shire between 1745 and the beginning of the present 
 century. They were not numerous. Inverness was then re- 
 garded as a very far-distant part of Great Britain. To reach 
 it involved a long and expensive journey. No public con- 
 
206 LETTERS OF GENERAL WOLFE. 
 
 veyances existed, and the adventurous tourist had to make 
 his way either on foot or horseback, or by hired vehicle. 
 The travellers who did so were not many, or at least not 
 many have given us in print the benefit of their observa- 
 tions. Still, what we do have from their narratives is in- 
 teresting. It was a transition time in Inverness-shire, as in 
 the Highlands generally; and the ghmpses of things given 
 us by these passers-by help to supply the want of more 
 detailed record. Apart also from this, it is always instruc- 
 tive to see ourselves as others see us. 
 
 General James Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, whose tragic 
 death in the hour of victory will be long remembered, was 
 in Inverness in 175 1. In his letters he gives us his im- 
 pressions of the place and of the people. They are not 
 very favourable — indeed we could not expect they would be. 
 Wolfe was a young officer quartered in an enemy's country, 
 and engaged in the unpleasant task of keeping in order its 
 inhabitants. He had fought at Culloden five years previously, 
 and was imbued with all the bitterness of feeling enter- 
 tained by the victors towards those whom they regarded as 
 " rebels." But he was a man who even at that time showed 
 somewhat of that noble and honourable character which after- 
 wards distinguished him as a soldier. It is said that when 
 riding over the field of Culloden after the battle with the 
 Duke of Cumberland, a Highlander, severely wounded, sat 
 up and smiled defiance at his companion. "Wolfe," said 
 the duke, " shoot me that Highland scoundrel who thus 
 dares, to look on us with such contempt and insolence ! " 
 "My commission," replied the manly officer, "is at your 
 Royal Highness's disposal, but I can never consent to be- 
 come an executioner." 
 
 Wolfe's letters from Inverness are by no means so detailed 
 as those of Burt, but they are even more full of contempt for 
 
FORT GEORGE. 207 
 
 the people of the place. " A little while," he says, " serves to 
 discover the villanous nature of the inhabitants, and brutality 
 of the people in its neighbourhood." It was natural, perhaps, 
 that he should feel thus towards those he regarded as enemies, 
 but he is quite as severe in his opinion of the Highland 
 Hanoverians : " Those who pretend the greatest attachment 
 to the Government seem to distinguish themselves for 
 greater rudeness and incivility than the open and professed 
 Jacobites." 
 
 On his journey to Inverness he had a look at the new fort 
 which the Government were then engaged in constructing, 
 and which we know to-day as Fort George. " I turned aside 
 to look at the new fort of Ardersier or Fort George, and find 
 a vast quantity of earth thrown up for ramparts, and the 
 counterscarp and glacier finished. But I believe there's still 
 work for six or seven years to do. When it is finished one 
 may venture to say, without saying much, that it will be 
 the most considerable fortress and best situated in Great 
 Britain." 
 
 Our traveller made an excursion to renew his acquaintance 
 with the field of CuUoden, which he tells his correspondent 
 he surveyed with "great exactness." He seemed to feel — 
 and he frankly says so — that the glory of the victors was 
 not a little tarnished. " The actors," he says, " shine in 
 the world too high and bright to be eclipsed ; but it is 
 plain they don't borrow much of their glory from their 
 performance on that occasion, however they may have dis- 
 tinguished themselves in later events." But he excuses the 
 massacre of the wounded after the battle : " You would not 
 have left these rufiSans the only possible means of conquest, 
 nor suffer multitudes to go off unhurt with the power to 
 destroy." Altogether he appears to consider CuUoden, from 
 a military point of view, as a very poor affair. 
 
2o8 AN UNGALLANT OFFICER. 
 
 He groans profoundly over the hardships of his situation at 
 Inverness, though regarding them heroically as part of the 
 training of a military life. " The winds," he says, " some- 
 times drive the snows with such violence that the roads are 
 utterly impassable, and again when it thaws the rivers swell so 
 prodigiously that there is no less danger and difficulty on that 
 side. I can have no measure of diversion out of my room, 
 unless to shoot woodcocks at the risk of rheumatism. It 
 would be unmanly and very unbecoming a soldier to com- 
 plain of little evils such as bad food, bad lodging, bad fire." 
 Dreary as his situation was, he was not altogether without 
 compensations. Inverness was not without gaiety, and the 
 gloom which fell upon it after CuUoden had partly cleared 
 away. There was in the town a ball once a-fortnight, and of 
 this entertainment our writer gives an amusing account : " We 
 have an assembly of female rebels every fortnight, entirely 
 composed of Macdonalds, Frasers, and M'Intoshes. I had 
 the honour to dance with the daughter of a chieftain who was 
 killed at Culloden, the Laird of Kippock. They are perfectly 
 wild as the hills that breed them, but they lay aside their 
 principles for the sake of sound and movement. They make 
 no converts, which I chiefly attribute to a strong dialect of 
 the Erse that destroys the natural softness of their notes." 
 
 While Wolfe was in Inverness the magistrates of the town 
 invited his commanding officer. Lord Bury, and his regiment 
 to an entertainment on the birthday of the Duke of Cumber- 
 land. It was a friendly offer, and showed a desire for amicable 
 relations. Lord Bury suggested that they should postpone 
 the celebrations till the day following, the anniversary of Cul- 
 loden. Nothing could have been in worse taste than the 
 suggestion. The officials, after consulting their friends, ex- 
 pressed politely their regret that his request could not be 
 complied with ; and no wonder, for there were few in Invar- 
 
ROMAN CATHOLICISM PROSCRIBED. 209 
 
 ness to whom the anniversary was not sad. Lord Bury 
 repHed that he was sorry, but that he had mentioned the 
 matter to his soldiers, and that he could not answer for their 
 conduct under the disappointment, which he feared would 
 provoke them to some outrage in the town. The veiled 
 threat produced the desired effect, and under compulsion the 
 " battle of Culloden " was celebrated in Inverness. It was 
 truly a bad balm for a closing wound. 
 
 From the reports of officers stationed in different parts of 
 Inverness-shire during Wolfe's sojourn in the Highland capital 
 we get some glimpses of the state of the country. Troops 
 seem to have been placed in the most remote and out-of-the- 
 way places. Captain Alexander Trapaud was stationed at 
 Laggan Achadrom, on the neck of land between Loch Lochy 
 and Loch Oich. He describes the " hardships of married 
 soldiers " with young children, owing " to the scarcity of meal 
 and fuel." He also gives the price of provisions : " Sheep, 
 when to be had, three or four shillings ; goat, the same ; lamb, 
 sixteen to eighteen pence ; butter, fourpence a pound ; eggs, 
 three-halfpence a dozen." 
 
 Roman Catholic priests after '45 had a very hard time. They 
 were treated as rebels and their offices proscribed. Many in 
 Inverness-shire underwent great hardships. Trapaud in one 
 of his reports tells that " the sergeant stationed at Knockfin 
 apprehended on Sunday the i sth instant one John Farquhar- 
 son, a Popish priest, dressed in all his sacerdotal vestments, 
 as he was preaching to about three hundred persons in a great 
 barn at the bridge of Cannich in Strathglass. He was brought 
 to me, and I sent him with a party and the witnesses, together 
 with his vestments and all the altar furniture, to the Sheriff of 
 Inverness-shire, who committed him to gaol. The next day 
 he was bailed out. The sergeant ran a great hazard of his 
 life in taking the above priest, as he was disguised, by a small 
 
 o 
 
2IO PHILIBEG OR PETTICOAT. 
 
 sword and two soldiers with their bayonets, the people making 
 an attempt to rescue the priest." 
 
 We have seen how the Highland dress was proscribed. 
 An officer reports to his commander that " he took a fellow 
 wearing a blanket in the form of a philibeg." He took him 
 to the sheriff-substitute, who refused to commit him because 
 the blanket was not tartan. On the officer's return he met a 
 man similarly clothed ; so, as he found it needless to take him 
 before a magistrate, he took the blanket philibeg and cut it to 
 pieces. This deed of valour is, however, excelled by the 
 exploit of Captain John Beckwith, stationed at the head of 
 Loch Arkaig, who gravely informs his superior, " On the 24th 
 last month one of my men brought me a man to all appear- 
 ance in a philibeg ; but on close examination I found it to be 
 a woman's petticoat (which answers every end of that part of 
 the Highland dress). I sent him to the sheriff-substitute, 
 who dismissed him." 
 
 These are some gleanings from the Life of General Wolfe, 
 which, slight as they are, cast a side-light on the state of the 
 country at the time. After a residence of nine months at 
 Inverness, during which he went to kirk every Sunday, and 
 studied mathematics under a local celebrity, Mr Barber, he 
 took his departure. If he said hard things of the High- 
 landers when among them, he had good cause afterwards to 
 think better of them. They fought bravely under his com- 
 mand. He led many of them to victory, and they bitterly 
 avenged his death. 
 
 A visitor who passed through our county in 1760 — nine 
 years after Wolfe — was a very different kind of man from that 
 distinguished soldier. Bishop Pococke was an ecclesiastic of 
 the Church of Ireland who had acquired fame by his travels in 
 Egypt and Palestine. He was interested mainly in antiquities. 
 What he calls " druidical circles " or ruined churches were 
 
POCOCKE'S travels. 211 
 
 carefully noted • by him and described, but he has little to 
 say of the social condition of the people. He entered our 
 county by Fort William, which he tells us had been built to 
 bridle the Highlanders. " It is a weak fortress," he says, 
 " but they have put high palisadoes along the passes, which 
 would prevent any sudden assault." The village which had 
 grown up beside the garrison he describe as a " very poor 
 town." After a short description of Inverlochy, which he 
 tells us " was formerly a place of trade and was destroyed by 
 the Danes and Norwegians," he pursued his journey by the 
 military road to High Bridge over the river Spean, " which 
 here falls beautifully down the rocks." In passing he saw the 
 ruins of Achnacarry, the site of Lochiel's house, " which was 
 destroyed after the rebellion was suppressed." The road along 
 Loch Lochy he describes as "very pleasant, being adorned 
 with wood above and below." He also expresses his admira- 
 tion for the " beautiful narrow lake called Loch Oich, with 
 two or three small islands in it covered with clumps of 
 trees." He notices in passing the castle of Glengarry, a 
 corner of which was blown up by the Duke of Cumberland, 
 and "a new house built near it." 
 
 At Fort Augustus, " a very handsome, regular building, 
 consisting of four bastions, which had been repaired at a cost 
 of ;^io,ooo," our traveller was entertained by Mr Trapaud, 
 the governor, and next day set out with that gentleman in 
 the boat or galley belonging to the fort for Inverness. In 
 passing Glenmoriston he noticed the laird's house, which had 
 been burnt but had been rebuilt, and a very fine linen manu- 
 factory built out of 'the forfeited estates. " They teach forty 
 girls for three months to spin, and then they take in forty 
 more. They buy flax and employ six looms. They buy also 
 yarn from the country-people, who raise a large quantity of it. 
 It consists of the principal building and an office, for the 
 
212 A GOOD TOWN OF TWO STREETS. 
 
 manufactures on each side." This factory had been erected 
 by the Trustees for Manufactories and Fisheries in 1756, when 
 it was thought necessary by Government to do something to 
 give employment to the Highlanders and to prevent them 
 leaving the country. It does not appear to have been a suc- 
 cess, and was closed in 1791. 
 
 From Glenmoriston the Bishop came to Foyers, and is full 
 of admiration of the fall ; thence, passing Castle Urquhart, 
 of which he gives a drawing, he came to the end of Loch 
 Ness, where he was met by the Governor's postchaise, and 
 drove to the town, passing " a druid temple." Of Inverness 
 he speaks kindly. It is "on a flat below the high grounds, 
 and all that flat ground is very rich. It is a pretty good town 
 of two streets. They have a trade in imports, and an export 
 of salted salmon caught in the river Beauliew, and also near 
 the town in the river Ness. They had an export of malt to 
 Holland, but it is at an end and all the malt-houses are in 
 ruins. The salt salmon of Scotland is sent in great quantities 
 to London, and a new trade is lately opened of exporting it 
 to the East Indies." 
 
 After describing some of the buildings of the town, our 
 traveller has next to tell of Fort George, where he went in 
 company with General Poole. Though begun eleven years 
 before, it was not quite finished. The houses of the governor 
 and depute governor were still to be built, and also " sluices 
 to let in the sea-water and make it an island " ; but the bishop 
 admires all that he saw, and expresses the opinion that though 
 " a thousand men may defend it for some time, it would take 
 two thousand for a long siege." 
 
 From Fort George he came to CuUoden, which he leisurely 
 surveyed, and describes, with somewhat of the air of a mili- 
 tary expert, the plan of the battle and its execution. He 
 saw " for half a mile the graves where the slain fell. They 
 
BEAULY PRIORY. 213 
 
 were all instantly stripped by the women, who went loaded 
 with spoils to Inverness, and the bodies were soon naked 
 over the field." Probably this is as new to the reader as it 
 was to the bishop. His reverence was a strong Hanoverian, 
 and closes his description with the words, " Thus ended this 
 day of such consequence to the British dominions, and 
 crowned the duke with immortal laurels." This last assertion 
 is somewhat strong even for a Whig bishop. 
 
 After crossing the Moray Firth to Ross-shire, and taking a 
 tour in that county and in Sutherland and Caithness, our 
 traveller again entered Inverness-shire by Beauly. He de- 
 scribes the priory, "pleasantly situated on the river Beauliew." 
 In the church, " the shell of which remains entire," he saw a 
 tomb belonging to one of the Earl of Seaforth's family, in 
 which was the body of a lady. " Part of the skin remains 
 entire like leather, and the hand is also entire and dried like 
 a mummy." He also notices the remains of the kitchen of 
 the priory, " with a chimney as wide as the room." From 
 Beauly he came to Kirkhill, where he is much struck by the 
 richness and beauty of the country. The Aird was then, as 
 now, fertile and well cultivated, like a garden. Reelick the 
 bishop admired, a very pretty box built on the side of a 
 hill by Mr Fraser, the author of the life of " Koulikan, who 
 purchased that estate after he had made a small fortune in the 
 East Indies." There does not appear to have been much 
 difference in what the Aird was then from what it is now. 
 There was "agreeable variety of wood," and "beautiful fields 
 up the side of the hills " had a most charming effect in the 
 prospect. Bunchrew, "in a most delightful situation, was a 
 fine, well-timbered estate." The same may still be said after 
 the lapse of a hundred years. 
 
 Pennant, a distinguished naturalist and traveller, came to 
 the north of Scotland in 1769, nine years after the bishop. 
 
214 pennant's tour. 
 
 He entered Inverness -shire from Nairn, and came first to 
 Fort George and Culloden. Of these he has nothing new to 
 tell. He is contemptuous and most untrue in what he says 
 of Prince Charles, who, according to him, " never came into 
 action, but fled ingloriously to the old traitor Lovat " ! Of 
 the barbarities perpetrated upon the Highlanders he speaks 
 lightly : " Let a veil be hung over a few excesses consequential 
 of a day productive of so much benefit to the United King- 
 dom." 
 
 Of Inverness he has nothing but good to say. It is " large 
 and well built ; the winter residence of many of the neighbour- 
 ing gentry ; the present emporium, as it was the ancient, of 
 the north of Scotland." He tells of its imports—" groceries, 
 haberdasheries, hardware, and other necessaries from London." 
 A new import he also mentions — " six to eight hundred hogs- 
 heads of porter annually." The exports are salmon and her- 
 rings, and "cordage and sacking." Of late years, he says, "the 
 linen manufacture of the place saves it above three thousand 
 pounds a-year, which used to go to Holland." We gather 
 from his observations that the prosperity of the to^vn had 
 already begun to revive. The poverty of the surrounding 
 district after '45 had exercised upon it a depressing influence, 
 not compensated by the residence of the troops quartered 
 there ; but with the settlement of the country things had 
 begun to look brighter for the burgh. 
 
 Pennant visited Castle Downie, the seat of the Lovats. It 
 was at this time in ruins, having been burnt by the orders 
 of the Duke of Cumberland. The country around was 
 "fertile, well cultivated, and smiling." The son of the Lord 
 Lovat who was executed had received a grant of the forfeited 
 estates. He had greatly distinguished himself as an oflficer in 
 the royal army, and was thus rewarded. An Act of Parliament 
 had been passed for this purpose, and our traveller says "no 
 
A UTOPIAN PROJECT. 21 5 
 
 patent for nobility conveyed greater glory to any one than the 
 preamble to the Act has done to this gentleman." He has 
 also something to say on the administration of the property 
 forfeited in Inverness-shire to the Crown after the insurrection. 
 The rents were lodged in the hands of trustees and spent in 
 the improvement of the country. The revenue was applied 
 " for the founding of schools for the instruction of children in 
 spinning. Wheels are given away to poor families and flax-seed 
 to farmers. Some money is given in aid of the roads and 
 towards building bridges over the torrents, by which means 
 a ready intercourse is made to parts before inaccessible to 
 strangers." It is doubtful whether as much was done in this 
 way as our traveller imagines. Any improvement made at 
 this time by the Government was but slight. One thing, how- 
 ever, was done which was worthy of all praise. The factors 
 on the forfeited estates were instructed to improve them by 
 planting trees, which was done to a considerable extent, and 
 the expenses incurred were paid out of the rents. It was a 
 good example to proprietors, and in after -days was largely 
 followed. An experiment was, according to our traveller, 
 made by Government which apparently ended in failure. 
 The attempt to colonise the Highlands by planting in them 
 communities of strangers was, as we have seen, a favourite 
 project of James VI. It was repeated under more favour- 
 able auspices, but with as little success. "In 1753," Pennant 
 tells us, "a large sum was spent on a Utopian project of 
 establishing colonies [on the forfeited estates] of disbanded 
 soldiers and sailors. Comfortable houses were built for them, 
 land and money given, and some lent ; but the success by no 
 means answered the intentions of the projectors." This 
 scheme of plantation has left no trace behind it, though it 
 probably swallowed up a good deal of money at the time. 
 After a tour in the more northerly counties our traveller 
 
2l6 LOCH NESS AND THE LISBON EARTHQUAKE. 
 
 came back to Inverness, where he describes one of the usual 
 fairs of the place. "The commodities were skins, various 
 necessaries brought in by the pedlars, coarse country cloths, 
 cheese, butter, and meal " — the last in goatskin bags — " the 
 butter lapped in cawls or leaves of the broad alga or tang, and 
 great quantities of birch-wood and hazel cut in lengths for 
 carts, and which had been floated down the river from Loch 
 Ness." At this fair he saw specimens of the Highland dress, 
 which he minutely describes. The Act which proscribed it 
 had not been yet formally repealed ; but it was apparently 
 falling into desuetude, and the people were returning to their 
 old apparel. Plaids and philibegs were plentiful at the fair 
 of Inverness, but those who wore them carried no weapons in 
 the time of Burt. " Since the Disarming Act they are scarcely 
 to be met with. Partly owing to that, partly to the spirit of 
 industry now rising among them, the Highlanders in a few 
 years will scarce know the use of any weapon." 
 
 Mr Pennant pursued his journey from the Highland capital 
 by the side of Loch Ness to Fort William. Like all travellers 
 since, he was much impressed by the beauty of the scenery 
 through which he passed, and especially by the grandeur of 
 the Fall of Foyers, that " vast cataract in a darksome glen of 
 a stupendous depth." He gives an interesting description of 
 an occurrence the memory of which still remains, and which 
 was much discussed at the time. On the occasion of the 
 great earthquake at Lisbon, ist November 1755, '^e waters 
 of Loch Ness were " affected in a very extraordinary manner. 
 They rose and flowed up the lake from east to west with 
 vast impetuosity, and were carried above 200 yards up the 
 river Oich, breaking on its banks in a wave near 3 feet high, 
 then continuing ebbing and flowing for the space of an hour ; 
 but at eleven o'clock a wave greater than any of the rest 
 came up the river, broke on the north side, and overflowed 
 
DISPERSION OF THE CLANS. 217 
 
 the bank for the extent of 30 feet. At the same time a little 
 isle in a small loch in Badenoch was totally reversed and 
 flung on the beach." Pennant was an enthusiastic naturalist, 
 and doubtless made full inquiry before he penned his descrip- 
 tion, which has been fully corroborated. 
 
 Lochaber, through which he passed by Low Bridge and 
 High Bridge, seemed to our traveller a poverty-stricken dis- 
 trict. He saw scarcely any arable land, and what little there 
 was for tillage let at i os. an acre. He notices, what we learn 
 from other scources, that rents were being raised by the 
 proprietors to such an extent as to force the people to leave 
 the country. Emigration from Inverness -shire was already 
 beginning : " The rage of raising rents has reached this 
 distant country. In England there may be reason for it 
 (in a certain degree), where the value of lands is increased 
 by accession of commerce, and by the rise of provisions ; 
 but here, contrary to all policy, the great men begin at the 
 wrong end with squeezing the bag before they have helped 
 the tenant to fill it by the introduction of manufactures. This 
 already shows its unhappy effects, and begins to depopulate 
 the country, for numbers of families have been obliged to give 
 up the strong attachment the Scots in general have for their 
 country, and to exchange it for the wilds of America." 
 
 We learn also from Pennant that the old clan system 
 which had so long dominated the Highlands had been 
 thoroughly broken up. The Highlander no longer remained 
 all his life an inhabitant of the same glen, which he was 
 unable to leave without the special permission of his chief. 
 The old tie between the vassal and his lord had almost been 
 entirely severed even at the time of which our traveller writes : 
 "The Highlanders mix more with the world, and become 
 daily less attached to their chiefs ; the clans begin to disperse 
 themselves through the different parts of the country, finding 
 
21 8 BOSWELL AND JOHNSON. 
 
 that their industry and good conduct afford them better pro- 
 tection (since the due execution of their laws) than their 
 chieftain can afford ; and the chieftain, tasting the sweets of 
 advanced rents and the benefits of industry, dismisses from 
 his table the crowds of retainers, the former instruments of 
 his oppression and freakish tyranny." When we compare 
 the state of things these words describe with that portrayed 
 by Burt before 1745, we can see how entirely new conditions 
 of life and of society were already beginning to take root in 
 Inverness-shire. 
 
 A more celebrated traveller than those we have noticed 
 came to our northern county in 1773. This was the famous 
 Dr Samuel Johnson, who was accompanied by his equally 
 famous friend and biographer, Mr Boswell. It was thought 
 at the time a wonderful undertaking for the great lexicographer 
 to attempt a journey to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. 
 It was as if, living in our day, he should propose a visit to the 
 river Congo. When Boswell mentioned the intended tour to 
 Voltaire at Ferney, the great philosopher regarded him with 
 amazement, " as if he had talked of going to the North Pole." 
 "You do not insist," said Voltaire cynically, "on my accompany- 
 ing you ? " " No, sir." " Then I am very willing you should 
 go " ! The tour, however, was successfully accomplished, and 
 with few, if any, of those hardships which were anticipated by 
 the southern friends of the travellers, and the record of the 
 tour itself has become almost an Enghsh classic. Some of 
 the observations of Dr Johnson were keenly resented by 
 the Highlanders, and a Highland minister published a work, 
 almost equal in size to the ' Tour,' with the object of showing 
 the doctor ignorant, bigoted, and spiteful. He is represented 
 as hating Scotland and everything Scottish, and as having 
 chosen a time of the year for his tour (August) when every- 
 thing looked at its worst. Two great offences are particularly 
 
HOSPITALITY AT FORT GEORGE. 219 
 
 charged against him : he denied the authenticity of Ossian, 
 and would not allow that there were any trees to be seen in 
 his travels. But apart from these dreadful mistakes, the 
 'Tour' and its accompanying record by Boswell may, we 
 think, be taken as a fair picture of what the travellers really 
 saw. They had no intention at any time of conveying a 
 wrong impression, and the prejudices shown occasionally by 
 the great doctor were only such as might naturally be ex- 
 pected from one who had long lived in London, and who 
 carried the associations of Fleet Street into the wilds of 
 Glenmoriston and Skye. 
 
 The doctor entered Inverness-shire by way of Fort George, 
 where he was entertained in a sumptuous manner by Sir Eyre 
 Coote, the commandant. His companion could not help 
 being struck with admiration at finding " on this barren sandy 
 point such buildings, such a dinner, such company ; it was like 
 enchantment." But the doctor replied, " It did not strike him 
 as anything extraordinary. Here was a large sum of money 
 expended in building a fort ; here was a regiment. If there 
 had been less than we had found, it would have surprised him." 
 He, however, vouchsafed to say at his departure, " I shall 
 always remember this fort with gratitude." In the evening the 
 travellers drove to Inverness. 
 
 The day after their arrival was Sunday. Fortunately for 
 Johnson there was an " English chapel " in the town, for he 
 made a point of never countenancing Presbyterian worship. 
 It had been built in 1772 out of the burgh funds and a loan. 
 It was a poor edifice. " The altar was a bare fir table, with a 
 coarse stool for kneeling on, covered with a piece of thick 
 sail-cloth, doubled by way of cushion." The clergyman, Mr 
 Tait, " read prayers well, though with a Scotch accent." The 
 number attending the service, Boswell says, was small; but 
 the doctor says, " there was a very decent congregation." At 
 
220 A HIGHLAND HUT. 
 
 Inverness the latter was impressed by a noticeable change in 
 the manners and customs of the people : " The appearance of 
 life began to alter. I had seen a few women with plaids at 
 Aberdeen, but at Inverness the Highland manners are com- 
 mon." Here the travellers made preparation for their journey 
 westward by engaging two men-servants, John Hay and Lauch- 
 land Vass, with three horses, two for the doctor and his com- 
 panion, and one for their baggage. It must have been a 
 somewhat comical sight to see the ponderous form of {he 
 doctor astride a Highland sheltie. He seems, however, to 
 have " rode very well," and his admirer proudly remarks, " As 
 I saw him now for the first time on horseback, jaunting about 
 at his ease in quest of pleasure and novelty, the very different 
 occupations of his former laborious life, his admirable pro- 
 ductions — his 'London,' his 'Rambler,' &c. — immediately 
 presented themselves to my mind, and the contrast made a 
 strong impression on my imagination." 
 
 The tourists took their way along Loch Ness to Fort 
 Augustus. The doctor was pleased with his servants. " Both 
 of them were ready and civil. Civility seems part of the 
 national character of Highlanders. Every chieftain is a mon- 
 arch, and politeness, the natural product of royal government, 
 is diffused from the laird through the whole clan." He was 
 pleased also with General Wade's military road : " We went 
 upon a surface so hard and level that we had little care to hold 
 the bridle, and were therefore at full leisure for contemplation." 
 On this road he made his first acquaintance with a regular 
 Highland hut, "ranged for the most part with some ten- 
 dency to circularity. It must be placed where the wind can- 
 not act upon it with violence, because it has no cement ; and 
 where the water will run easily away, because it has no floor 
 but the naked ground." The old woman who lived in this 
 habitation, " with the true pastoral hospitality, asked them to 
 
FALLS OF FOYERS. 221 
 
 sit down and drink whisky." In return for her kindness the 
 doctor gave her a shilling. " She begged snuff, for snuff is 
 the luxury of a Highland cottage." She sent her visitors away 
 with many prayers in Erse. The doctor was evidently in good 
 humour with his reception at this humble abode. " Its in- 
 habitants," he says, "possessed such property as a pastoral 
 poet might exalt into riches." 
 
 They dined at the " General's Hut," then " a house of en- 
 tertainment for passengers. We found it not ill stocked with 
 provisions." They were deprived of the pleasure they ex- 
 pected from the Fall of Foyers, owing to a long continuance of 
 dry weather, and could only imagine " the effect of a thousand 
 streams poured from the mountains into one channel, strug- 
 gling for expansion in a narrow passage, exasperated by rocks 
 rising in their way, and at last discharging all their violence 
 of waters by a sudden fall through the horrid chasm." At 
 Fort Augustus Mr Trapaud, the governor, treated them " with 
 that courtesy which is so closely connected with the military 
 character." With him they passed a very agreeable evening. 
 
 Between twelve and one next day they set off for the west 
 coast by way of Glenmoriston. At Anoch, in that glen, they 
 dined and stayed all night ; the house " in a glen or valley 
 pleasingly watered by a winding stream." The doctor remarks 
 that " this country, however it may delight the gazer or please 
 the naturalist, is of no great advantage to its owners " ; and he 
 mentions that the laird — we suppose of Glenmoriston — " had 
 raised his rents, to the danger of depopulating his farms, and 
 by exerting every act of augmentation has obtained a yearly 
 revenue of four hundred pounds, which for a hundred square 
 miles is three-halfpence an acre." He found in the humble 
 house of Anoch culture and civility that surprised him. The 
 young woman that waited was "not inelegant in mien or 
 dress. Her conversation, like her appearance, was gentle and 
 
222 CHARACTERISTIC OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 pleasing. We knew that the girls of the Highlands are all 
 gentlewomen, and treated her with great respect, which she 
 received as customary and due, and was neither elated by it 
 nor confused." The gallant traveller was so pleased with the 
 young lady that he presented her with a book, which Boswell 
 informs us was a copy of Cocker's Arithmetic. It was at this 
 place Johnson first heard of "the general dissatisfaction which 
 is now driving the Highlanders into the other hemisphere," 
 and when he asked his host " whether they would stay at 
 home if they were well treated, he answered with indignation 
 that no man willingly left his native country." 
 
 From Glenmoriston the travellers came to Glenshiel and 
 Glenelg, whence they crossed to Skye. The country through 
 which they passed was mountainous, and on the scenery the 
 doctor makes many of his characteristic observations : " An 
 eye accustomed to flowery pastures and waving harvests is 
 astonished and repelled by this wide extent of hopeless 
 sterility. The appearance is that of matter incapable of form 
 or usefulness, dismissed by Nature from her care and dis- 
 inherited of her favours, left in its original elemental state, or 
 quickened only with one sullen power of useless vegetation." 
 
 We will not follow our distinguished tourist to the Heb- 
 rides ; we will only notice that his remarks here and there give 
 us a very vivid picture of what was taking place in Inverness- 
 shire at the time of his visit. He was told how many of the 
 tacksmen were going to America rather than comply with the 
 demands made upon them by the chiefs for increase of rent. 
 Their places were filled by a number of poor people who had 
 lived under them, properly speaking, as servants, the pre- 
 decessors of the crofters of the present day. This migration 
 Dr Johnson deplored. It seemed to him that the chiefs 
 should have identified themselves more with their people than 
 they did. The replacing the old " tacksmen by strangers 
 
RAPACITY OF THE CHIEFS CENSURED. 223 
 
 appeared to him a great misfortune. The stranger whose 
 money buys him preference considers himself as paying for 
 all that he has, and is indifferent about the laird's honour or 
 safety. The commodiousness of money is indeed great, but 
 there are some advantages which money cannot buy, and 
 which therefore no wise man will by the love of money be 
 tempted to forego." 
 
 The tacksmen seemed to the doctor the strength of social 
 life in the country. " As the mind governs the hands, so in 
 every society the man of intelligence must govern the man of 
 labour. If the tacksmen be taken away, the people must be 
 given up to grossness and ignorance ; the tenant for want of 
 instruction will be unskilful, and for want of admonition will 
 be negligent." The modern factor, according to his view, 
 could never take the place of the tacksman : " having no 
 dignity attached to his character, he can have little authority 
 among men taught to pay reverence only to birth, and who 
 regard the tacksman as their hereditary superior. Nor can 
 the steward have equal zeal for the prosperity of an estate 
 profitable only to the laird with the tacksman who has the 
 laird's income involved in his own." 
 
 The doctor severely censures the rapacity of the chiefs in 
 driving away the people and letting the land to strangers. 
 He thought that the landlords should be restrained by law 
 from making extortionate demands. His views are in great 
 part those of a Highland agitator of the present day. It 
 was, according to him, folly in the Government to allow the 
 chiefs to dispossess the people : " To hinder insurrection by 
 driving away the people, and to govern peaceably by having 
 no subjects, is an expedient that argues no great profundity 
 of politics. To soften the obdurate, to convince the mis- 
 taken, to mollify the resentful, are worthy of a statesman ; 
 but it affords a legislator little self - applause to consider 
 
224 COLONEL THORNTON. 
 
 that where there was formerly insurrection there is now a 
 wilderness." 
 
 It is difficult for the unbiassed reader of the famous 'Tour' 
 to understand the resentment on the part of Highlanders 
 which its publication called forth. The doctor is full of 
 sympathy for the hardships of their lot and for what seemed 
 to him their oppression at the hands of their lairds. He 
 admired their civility and hospitality at home, and their 
 bravery as soldiers in the army abroad. Bigoted Episcopalian 
 as he was, he found their ministers whom he met worthy of 
 his highest esteem. As the great traveller and writer took no 
 offence when asked by a haughty chief whether he was of the 
 Johnstones of Glencoe or of Ardnamurchan (!), so it becomes 
 his readers to take none though he is doubtful about Ossian 
 and thinks Gaelic the rude speech of a barbarous people. 
 
 Late in the last century — in 1784 — another traveller 
 came to the county whose object in visiting it was different 
 from those we have mentioned. Colonel Thornton of Thorn- 
 ville Royal in Yorkshire was a sportsman. He may be con- 
 sidered the pioneer of that numerous class who, as the autumn 
 comes round, yearly make their appearance in the North. 
 On this account, if on no other, the story of his adventures 
 is of considerable interest. He hired the house of Raitts in 
 Badenoch from Mrs Mackintosh of Borlum, with grass and 
 provisions for twenty horses. He provided himself with tents 
 which he could move readily from one place to another. He 
 engaged an artist, Mr Gerard, to accompany him and take 
 drawings of the scenery, and carried with him provisions for 
 three or four months. Boats, camp-equipage, and all things 
 necessary were transported by a sailing-vessel from Hull to 
 Forres, and carted thence to Raitts. He himself and his com- 
 panion made their journey overland in a gig with two horses 
 driven tandem. 
 
AN APPRECIATIVE TRAVELLER. 225 
 
 The colonel was a thorough sportsman, and was much 
 given to hospitality. He entertained the gentlemen and 
 ladies of the district in most generous fashion, went to kirk 
 every Sunday, and made himself thoroughly at home among 
 the people. His days were spent on the hill shooting, and 
 fishing, chiefly for pike, in the lochs of the district. He 
 carried his tent and boats to the wildest spots among the 
 Badenoch mountains. He astonished the natives by hawking 
 on the moors. He seems to have been confined by no 
 marches, but wandered anywhere he chose to go over the 
 wide district from Rothiemurchus to Loch Laggan. 
 
 Unlike other tourists, he makes no complaint as to accom- 
 modation or fare. Wherever he went he met with politeness 
 and hospitality. " Everything," he says, " for the comfort of 
 life may be had in the Highlands at least nine months in the 
 year, superior, if not to all, to most countries. Nature has 
 given to the face of the country a large proportion of barren 
 heath, but in the valleys every luxury of animal food, and 
 that of the most excellent kind, abounds during the winter 
 months." The scenery was to him full of beauty. He had 
 to " rough it " considerably as he went from place to place, 
 but anything like hardship seems only to have added zest to 
 his enjoyment. Whether he spent the night in a bothy or in 
 a gentleman's house, nothing can excel his appreciation of the 
 kindness he received and the goodwill of those who proffered it. 
 
 The colonel's book is in the main a delightful chronicle of 
 sport, but there are in it references to the people and their 
 social life which are worthy of notice. Emigration had taken 
 place in Badenoch as in other parts of the county. The best 
 mechanics, the colonel was told, had gone abroad. Many of 
 the tacksmen still remained. They were gentlemen of culture 
 and education, and the sportsman found in them genial com- 
 panions. Some of them had been in the American war, and 
 
 p 
 
226 THE RESTORATION OF CLUNY MACPHERSON. 
 
 amused him with the story of their adventures. Recollections 
 of the '45 were still fresh in the district. A " Captain M'P. 
 had been a captain in the year 1745, and amused me," he 
 says, " with genuine accounts of what had passed in the rebel 
 army; and as I had just been reading an account of that 
 horrid period, he threw several new lights on confused parts 
 of the history of those times. He himself was long a pris- 
 oner, and narrowly escaped with his life, evidence only being 
 wanted against him." 
 
 We gain a pleasing impression of the social state of the 
 district from the gallant colonel's narrative. Though the clan 
 system in other parts of Inverness-shire had become a mere 
 nominal relationship, in Badenoch its best features still re- 
 mained unbroken. Macphersons and Mackintoshs were on 
 every side of him. Cluny Macpherson was still a venerated 
 chief. " The lenity shown to those who had been out in the 
 '45 had been well rewarded by the services they or their 
 posterity had rendered to their country." 
 
 While the colonel was in Badenoch an event occurred which 
 gave great joy throughout the district. This was the restora- 
 tion of Cluny Macpherson to the estates of his ancestors, 
 which had been forfeited. It was celebrated with much re- 
 joicing, and the colonel received a polite invitation from 
 Colonel Macpherson and the clan "to be present at the 
 festivities. It was a hearty and enthusiastic gathering, and 
 was held at Pitmain. On our arrival we found a large party 
 of gentlemen assembled, and the area full of the lower class of 
 the clan Macpherson. Other gentlemen were likewise con- 
 tinually ushering in from all parts, some of whom came above 
 sixty miles. No words can express the joy that was exhibited 
 on every countenance. The ladies too — not that I think it 
 singular — seemed to enter if possible more heartily into the 
 joys of the day than the men." The genial Sassenach was 
 
A JOYOUS GATHERING. 22; 
 
 quite at home among the Highlanders, and entirely in sym- 
 pathy with the occasion. Strong Hanoverian though he and 
 his family had always been, the return of the chief to his own 
 gave him the greatest satisfaction. " At most public meetings 
 there are some discontented mortals who rather check than 
 inspire mirth : the case was here quite the reverse. With that 
 perfect innocence which abounds in the Highlands, joined to 
 clannish regard, not totally removed by luxury and knowledge 
 of the world, every individual added something and exerted 
 himself to promote the common cause." 
 
 The feast was worthy of feudal times. " The table was 
 covered with every luxury the vales of Badenoch, Spey, and 
 Lochaber could produce. And a very substantial entertain- 
 ment it was — game of all kinds and venison in abundance." 
 The gallant gentleman was specially struck by the charms of 
 the ladies. They were " dressed in all their Highland pride, 
 each following her own fancy and wearing a shawl of tartan : 
 this, contrasted by the other parts of the dress at candlelight, 
 presented a most glaring coup d'osil." 
 
 The colonel was evidently pleased with the loyalty of the 
 clan. There was no mention of " the king over the water." 
 The old Jacobite feelings had died out. " George the Third, 
 and long may he reign ! " was drunk with as much unfeigned 
 loyalty as ever it was in London, " and echoed by the inferiors 
 of the clan in the area around us," not a few of whom had 
 probably marched in the ranks of Prince Charlie's army and 
 fought at Culloden. A ball concluded the festivities, when 
 a great number of different reels were danced with true High- 
 land spirit, while every hill and mountain in Badenoch blazed 
 with bonfires of " wood, peat, and dry heather." 
 
 This joyous gathering was a survival of the olden time, and 
 the old clan feeling still held full sway in Badenoch. But in 
 neighbouring districts the colonel noticed that it was dying 
 
228 THE END OF JACOBITISM. 
 
 out. Even at such a great feudal centre as Castle Grant, which 
 he had previously visited, he was " astonished to observe how 
 very much all ranks of people were changed in their manners 
 in the course of ten or twelve years. Luxury and effeminacy 
 have proportionably found their way hither, and, through the 
 facility of intercourse with the South by means of the high 
 military roads, have almost totally destroyed the power of the 
 chieftains. The existence of a new condition of things alto- 
 gether had become apparent before the close of the century. 
 Even a sportsman like the colonel, intent as he was on his 
 own peculiar pastime, could not fail to notice it. 
 
 The travellers at whose tours in our county we have 
 rapidly glanced in this chapter, take us over a period of 
 between forty and fifty years. When we put together their 
 impressions, we can form a very fair idea of what was the 
 history of that time. Severity and repression and the strong 
 hand of the law were the chief features of the first decade after 
 Culloden. Then things almost suddenly changed. Many of 
 the Highlanders enlisted in the army ; many emigrated to 
 other countries. Those that remained were rack-rented. 
 The chiefs came back to their old estates to find a different 
 state of things from what they left. The number of their 
 followers no longer constituted their wealth. They had in- 
 deed no followers, only tenants, from whom it behoved them 
 to get for their own support and dignity all that they could. 
 If the tenants could not pay, they must be replaced by those 
 who could. All Jacobite feeling had entirely died out or lived 
 only in the songs of the bards. The toast which Colonel 
 Thornton listened to with so much approval in Badenoch 
 — " George the Third, and long may he reign ! " — would be 
 drunk with equal loyalty in the Braes of Lochaber and the 
 Glens of Moidart. It was an extraordinary change in so 
 short a time. 
 
229 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE SULLEN DISCONTENT OF THE PEOPLE AFTER CULLODEN — BROKEN BY A 
 CALL TO ARMS — THE PEOPLE ENLIST LARGELY IN THE ARMY — HIGHLAND 
 REGIMENTS BEFORE '45 — LORD CHATHAM ORDERS REGIMENTS TO BE 
 RAISED ON AN EXTENSIVE SCALE— HIS CELEBRATED SPEECH IN PRAISE 
 OF HIGHLAND SOLDIERS — INVERNESS-SHIRE A PRODUCTIVE RECRUITING- 
 GROUND— THE HON. SIMON ERASER RAISES A REGIMENT IN I757 — MANY 
 GENTLEMEN OF THE COUNTY JOIN — THE ERASER HIGHLANDERS AND 
 THEIR CAREER — REGIMENT RAISED IN 1759 UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF 
 THE HOUSE OF GORDON — MACDONALD'S HIGHLANDERS RAISED IN I778 — 
 THE GORDON HIGHLANDERS RAISED IN I794 — THE VARIOUS FENCIBLE 
 EEGHifENTS — THE 79TH RAISED BY CAMERON OF ERRACHT — SKETCH OF 
 HIS HISTORY AND THAT OF THE CAMERON HIGHLANDERS— EFFECT ON 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE OF THIS GREAT OPENING UP OF MILITARY SERVICE — 
 EVERY MAN PROUD TO BE A SOLDIER — INVERNESS-SHIRE MEN WHO HAVE 
 DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES IN THE ARMY : SIR COLQUHOUN GRANT AND 
 HIS SERVICES— JOHN CAMERON OF FASSIEFERN — HIS GALLANT CAREER — 
 KILLED AT QUATRE ERAS AND BURIED IN LOCHABER — SIR JOHN CAMERON 
 OF CULCHENNA — SIR ALEXANDER CAMERON OF INVERAILORT — SIR 
 JAMES MACDONNELL OF GLENGARRY — SIR HERBERT MACPHERSON — 
 TWO GREAT NON-COMBATANTS : SIR JAMES MACGREGOR, M.D. — JOHN 
 CAMERON, WAR CORRESPONDENT — MEN LIKE THESE MAINTAIN THE 
 MARTIAL SPIRIT OF THEIR ANCESTORS — THIS SPIRIT GENERALLY DEAD 
 THROUGHOUT THE COUNTY — FEW INVERNESS MEN JOIN THE ARMY. 
 
 The sullen discontent into which the Inverness-shire people 
 sank after the fatal field of Culloden, and the hardships by 
 which it was followed, were first broken by a call to arms. 
 Such calls had hitherto come to them from their chiefs, and 
 in aid of the Stewarts : this new summons reached them from 
 the Government, and enlisted them in large numbers in the 
 cause to which they had hitherto been opposed. Within little 
 
230 CALLS TO ARMS. 
 
 more than ten years after the battle of CuUoden hundreds of 
 Inverness-shire men were fighting in the ranks of the royal 
 army. There was scarcely a glen throughout the county 
 which did not send out its quota of recruits to serve under 
 the banner of King George. 
 
 Two Highland regiments had been raised before '45 which 
 had in their ranks many both of officers and men from Inver- 
 ness-shire. The independent companies formed in 1730 for 
 the purpose of preserving order in the Highlands were in 1740 
 united under the name of the 43rd Regiment of the line, 
 since changed to the 42 nd, and best known by the original 
 designation of the " Black Watch." The distinguished career 
 of this regiment is part of the history of the country. Lord 
 Loudon, who commanded the royal forces in the North, was 
 able also, by his exertions among the clans which supported the 
 Hanoverian interest, to raise a regiment of 1250 men, of whom 
 750 were embodied at Inverness. Many of them fought at 
 CuUoden under the Duke of Cumberland. This regiment did 
 gallant service in Flanders, but on the restoration of peace in 
 1748 it was disbanded. 
 
 The successful raising of these regiments, and the good ser- 
 vices effected by them, naturally suggested the employment of 
 the Highlanders to a still greater extent in the service of the 
 country; and when the bitter memories of the '45 began to die 
 down the attempt was made, and made with conspicuous suc- 
 cess. Lord Chatham, then Mr Pitt, ordered regiments to be 
 raised in the Highlands on an extensive scale, and he enlisted 
 many Highland gentlemen in whom the people had confidence 
 to take part in his enterprise. He gave these gentlemen 
 commissions and sent them to the Highlands to invite the 
 people to serve under them. The invitation was largely 
 responded to by those to whom it was addressed. They 
 were men trained to the use of arms, and were glad to resume 
 
A JUSTIFIABLE BOAST. 23 1 
 
 the weapons which had been taken from them, and the dress 
 to which they had been long accustomed. They had confi- 
 dence in the gentlemen of their own clan who asked them to 
 enlist. Nowhere could better soldiers be found than among 
 the mountains. It was with justifiable pride that Lord Chat- 
 ham in his celebrated speech on the commencement of the 
 American war thus expressed himself: "I sought for merit 
 wherever it was to be found. It was my boast that I was the 
 first Minister who looked for and found it in the mountains of 
 the North. I called it forth, and drew into your service a 
 hardy and intrepid race of men, who had gone nigh to have 
 overturned the State in the war before last. These men 
 in the last war were brought to combat on your side, and 
 fought with valour and conquered for you in every part of 
 the world." 
 
 Inverness-shire proved a most productive recruiting-ground. 
 In 1757 the Hon. Simon Fraser, son of the famous Lord 
 Lovat, and who had himself served in the army of Prince 
 Charles, received a commission to raise a regiment among 
 his clan. Though the ancient castle of Downie was in ruins 
 and the Lovat estates forfeited, such was the attachment of 
 the people to the son of their old chief that in a few weeks 
 he raised a body of 800 men among them. To this were 
 added 600 others raised by gentlemen of the country, and 
 especially by those who had obtained commissions. Among 
 these were many well-known Inverness- shire men, such as 
 John Macpherson of Cluny ; Donald Macdonald, brother of 
 Clanranald ; Alexander Cameron of Dungalton ; James Fraser 
 of Belladrum ; Ranald Macdonnell, son of Keppoch ; Ewen 
 Cameron of the family of Glennevis, and others. The men 
 wore the full Highland dress, with musket and broadsword. 
 Eraser's Highlanders, as they were called, distinguished them- 
 selves in many battles, and took part in the siege of Quebec 
 
232 INVERNESS-SHIRE REGIMENTS. 
 
 under General Wolfe, when that great soldier was killed. At 
 the conclusion of the war many of the officers and men 
 settled in North America. The rest returned to Scotland 
 and were disbanded ; but on the war of the American 
 Revolution breaking out, Eraser's Highlanders were again 
 revived. Two battalions were raised by Colonel Fraser in 
 1776, who on account of his distinguished services received 
 a grant of the Lovat estates. This body of men was con- 
 stantly in action during the war, and on its termination 
 returned to Scotland and was discharged in 1783. 
 
 Another regiment connected with Inverness-shire was that 
 raised in 1759 under the influence of the house of Gordon. 
 Many of the men came from Badenoch and the valley of 
 the Spey. The 76th Regiment, raised in 1778, or, as it was 
 called, Macdonald's Highlanders, was also largely recruited in 
 our county, especially in Glengarry. It also did brave service 
 in the American revolutionary war. Its men were taken 
 prisoners on the surrender of Lord Cornwallis's army. Many 
 attempts were made by their emigrant countrymen to induce 
 them to join the cause of American independence, but all of 
 them stood true to their allegiance. This regiment was dis- 
 banded on its return to Scotland in 1784. We may mention 
 also that the Gordon Highlanders, still known as the 92nd 
 Regiment, raised by the Marquis of Huntly in 1794, num- 
 bered among its officers and men many Inverness - shire 
 soldiers from Badenoch and Strathspey. 
 
 Besides the regiments we have just noticed, there were 
 bodies of Fencibles, as they were called, raised entirely in the 
 Highlands. The following were specially connected with In- 
 verness-shire : The Grant or Strathspey Fencibles were raised 
 in 1793; the Inverness-shire Fencibles in 1794; the Fraser 
 Fencibles in 1794; the Glengarry Fencibles in 1794; the 
 Lochaber Fencibles in 1799. These fencible regiments were 
 
SIR ALAN CAMERON. 233 
 
 chiefly employed in garrison duty, but from their ranks many 
 men passed into the regular army. 
 
 These notes, necessarily brief, may serve to show to what a 
 large extent the men of Inverness-shire took service under 
 Government before the close of last century. But there is 
 one Highland regiment which we have not yet mentioned, 
 but which must not be forgotten by us, as in a very special 
 manner it had its origin in Inverness-shire. This is the 79th 
 Regiment, which has had a most distinguished history, and 
 which still bears the name of the "Cameron Highlanders." 
 This splendid regiment was raised by Cameron of Erracht 
 in Lochaber, afterwards Sir Alan Cameron. He was con- 
 nected with the family of Lochiel. His father had been out in 
 the '45, and his family, like many others, had been subjected 
 to the cruelties and indignities which followed that period. 
 Alan was a man of herculean build and of a fiery but chivalrous 
 disposition, whereby he early acquired considerable influence 
 among the Highlanders of his native glens. AVhen sixteen 
 years of age he had the misfortune to kill a gentleman of his 
 own clan in a duel, and to avoid the consequences was forced 
 to fly to America. On the breaking out of the War of In- 
 dependence he obtained a commission in a local cavalry corps 
 raised by loyalists for the service of the Crown. AVhilst on 
 detached duty he was taken prisoner by the Provincials, 
 and confined at Philadelphia for nearly two years. In an 
 attempt to escape he severely injured himself, but managed 
 to elude the pursuit of his enemies. Ultimately he re- 
 turned home as a lieutenant on half-pay of Tarleton's Light 
 Dragoons. 
 
 Towards the close of the century the hostile attitude of the 
 French Republicans rendered a considerable addition to the 
 land forces of Great Britain imperative, and the Government 
 decided to raise several new regiments. Alan Cameron 
 
234 THE queen's own CAMERON HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 offered his services to recruit men in his native county. His 
 offer was accepted, and he received a " letter of service," dated 
 17th August 1793, authorising him to raise a Highland regi- 
 ment, of which he was appointed major commandant. The 
 men were to be engaged without any limitation as to the 
 period of their service. They were to receive no allowance 
 of "levy-money," and they were not to be drafted into any 
 other regiments. 
 
 With this " letter of service " Alan went down to Lochaber, 
 to which he had long been a stranger. When he arrived he 
 was received with acclamation. He came to Fort William at 
 the time of the market, and all present at that gathering gave 
 him an enthusiastic reception. His mission was crowned 
 with success. His brother had already enlisted a company, 
 and from all parts of Lochaber and the neighbourhood men 
 flocked in to tender their services. Within less than two 
 months 750 men were collected at Fort William. On a 
 winter's morning they were paraded close by the fort, and 
 marched to Stirling with their pipers playing before them, 
 amid the cheers of the people of the district. At Stirling 
 they were formally embodied, and passed as effective by the 
 inspecting officer, and designated the 79th. A few days after 
 their arrival Major Cameron received orders to increase the 
 establishment of the new regiment to 1000 rank and file. 
 He returned to Lochaber, and within five-and-twenty days 
 brought back the needed number of men. All the officers 
 of the regiment with scarcely an exception were Highland 
 gentlemen. The uniform of the regiment was sairkt with 
 green facings ; the kilt was of the Erracht Cameron tartan. 
 It was specially designed by Alan Cameron's mother, and has 
 ever since been worn by the regiment. The 79th at its em- 
 bodiment was called the " Cameronian "Volunteers"; after- 
 wards it became the " Cameronian Highlanders " ; and finally 
 
A DISTINGUISHED SOLDIER. 235 
 
 received the name of " The Queen's Own Cameron High- 
 landers," by which it is now called. 
 
 This regiment has always been specially regarded as the 
 Inverness-shire regiment, and its headquarters are still in the 
 county. Its history is one unbroken record of gallant achieve- 
 ments in every part of the world, and to give an account of 
 them would almost be to write the history of the British army 
 in modern times. 
 
 Alan of Erracht had a most distinguished career as a 
 soldier. He accompanied his regiment to Holland in 1794, 
 and to the West Indies in 1795. In 1799 he commanded 
 the 79th in a second expedition to the Low Countries, and 
 was severely wounded at Egmont-op-Zee. He commanded 
 the regiment during the expedition to Ferrol and Cadiz in 
 i8oo, through the Egyptian campaign of 1801, and at the 
 capture of Copenhagen in 1807. Returning to England after 
 Moore's expedition to Sweden, he was immediately ordered 
 with the 79th to Portugal. After holding the post of British 
 commandant at Lisbon, Brigadier Cameron — to which rank 
 he had been advanced — joined Sir Arthur Wellesley's army 
 and commanded a brigade at the battles of Talavera and 
 Busaco. At Talavera he had two horses shot under him. 
 For his services in the Peninsula he received a gold medal 
 and his K.C.B. After Busaco he was compelled to resign his 
 command and to return home on account of ill-health. He 
 died on the 9th March 1828. During his connection of 
 fifteen years with the 79th he brought his regiment to a high 
 state of efficiency. He took a fatherly interest in his men, 
 by whom he was regarded with the deepest affection. His 
 familiar name among them was " Old Cia mar th'a thu ? " 
 (How-are-you ?), a question he was constantly putting to them 
 in Gaelic as he asked after their welfare. The pride he took 
 in his soldiers was that of an old chief in his clan. It is said 
 
236 A COUNTY OF SOLDIERS. 
 
 that when he was told by the commander-in-chief that the 
 regiment would probably be drafted into others, and so lose 
 its individuality, he characteristically replied, "You may tell 
 the king from me that he may send us to h — 1 if he likes, and 
 I will go at the head of them, but he daurna draft us." His 
 son succeeded him in command of the regiment, but as its 
 head had a short though gallant career. He was killed at 
 Fuentes d'Onor, and when his men heard that " Cia mar 
 th'a's " son had fallen, they raised in Gaelic cries for vengeance 
 and dashed onwards in a charge that carried all before it. 
 
 The effect upon the population of Inverness-shire by this 
 great opening of military service in the closing years of the 
 last century was very great, more indirectly perhaps than 
 directly. The Highland people became acquainted with 
 other countries than their own. Many of them as early as 
 1765 received grants of land in America and settled there. 
 Those who came back recounted round the peat-fires of their 
 homes tales of their adventures and of the Colonies across the 
 sea with their mighty forests and unoccupied prairies, and many 
 Highlanders were thus induced to seek a home in other lands 
 and among the friends who were already there before them. 
 A warlike spirit was also fostered among the people which 
 was long of dying out. An Inverness-shire man was in those 
 days proud to be a soldier. During the Peninsular war, from 
 every little hamlet throughout the county men were recruited 
 for the army. Every family of importance within its bounds 
 had a son or sons in the service. The very children used in 
 their play to form themselves into regiments. The writer of 
 these pages is old enough to remember a time when every 
 other farm in a wide district was tenanted by a veteran officer, 
 who had gone through the Peninsular campaign, and from 
 whom he heard tales of the lines of Torres ^'edras and of the 
 battle of Waterloo. 
 
SIR COLQUHOUN GRANT. 237 
 
 To give anything like a detailed account here of those 
 Inverness-shire men who have distinguished themselves in the 
 military service of the country would be impossible. They 
 are too numerous. But there are some who were so cele- 
 brated, and attained so great a reputation, that in a county 
 history like this they should at least be mentioned. 
 
 Sir Colquhoun Grant, of the family of the Grants of Gar- 
 tonbeg, achieved great distinction as a soldier, and fully 
 maintained the military prestige of his clan. He was born 
 in 1764, a period when Inverness-shire men were inspired 
 with an intense desire to serve their country in the field. 
 He saw considerable service with the 36th and 25th Light 
 Dragoons in India, and took part in the capture of Serin- 
 gapatam. In 1802, after serving in two dragoon regiments 
 with distinction, he became for a time lieutenant-colonel of 
 the 72nd Highlanders, and was wounded at the head of his 
 men at the Cape of Good Hope in 1806. He afterwards 
 joined the isth Hussars, and in the Peninsular war distin- 
 guished himself as a dashing and adventurous soldier. He 
 commanded a brigade at Morales, and was wounded both 
 there and at Vittoria. At Waterloo he was in the thick of 
 the fight, and had several horses killed under him. He was 
 regarded by the whole army as a fine specimen of a High- 
 lander, and on several occasions led his men to victory 
 against forces that far outnumbered his own. He was the 
 recipient of many honours. Was made K.C.B., and had be- 
 stowed on him the foreign orders of St Vladimir of Russia 
 and William the Lion of the Netherlands. After long military 
 service he entered Parliament, and died in England in 1835 
 full of years and honours. 
 
 John Cameron of Fassiefern is still remembered in the 
 county as a soldier of renown. He was born at Inverscaddle 
 in Argyleshire in 1771, where his family happened to be 
 
238 JOHN CAMERON OF FASSIEFERN. 
 
 residing, but by clanship and association he must be regarded 
 as an Inverness-shire man. He was brought up at Fassiefem 
 on Locheilside, was educated at the school of Fort William 
 and afterwards at the University of Aberdeen. He was a 
 thorough Highlander, imbued with the spirit of Highland 
 tradition and the achievements of his clan. In 1793 his 
 father purchased for him a commission in the 26th Cameron- 
 ian Regiment, which he does not appear to have joined ; but 
 a year afterwards he entered the Gordon Highlanders, accom- 
 panied by a band of Lochaber men. After serving for a time 
 in Ireland he was ordered with his regiment to Holland to 
 form part of the expedition under Sir Ralph Abercromby, 
 where he was under the command of the famous Sir John 
 Moore. In the battle of Egmont-op-Zee he was wounded. 
 He served in Egypt under Sir Ralph Abercromby in 1801. 
 After the battle of Mandora he received his majority, and took 
 a conspicuous part in the battle of Alexandria, when he was 
 again wounded. After serving in England and Ireland he 
 took part as lieutenant-colonel in the unfortunate Walcheren 
 expedition. Towards the close of 1810 he joined the British 
 army in the Peninsula at the head of the 92 nd, and fought 
 at the battle of Fuentes d'Onor and the capture of Badajos. 
 He shared in the victory at Salamanca in 18 12, and after- 
 wards was with Hill's division in the retreat of Burgos, where, 
 he wrote, " he passed through the most wretched and distress- 
 ing occurrences of his military life." 
 
 In command of the first brigade of Hill's division, he took 
 a leading position in the battle of Vittoria, when the French 
 power was broken in Spain. At the Rock of Maya he received 
 three wounds, and for his distinguished conduct was permitted 
 by the king to bear the name " Maya " on his shield. After 
 recovering from his injuries he rejoined his regiment. At its 
 head he was the first to cross the Nivelle when the battle of 
 
A HERO OF QUATRE BRAS. 239 
 
 that name was fought. In all the battles of this time he and 
 his Highlanders were always to the front. At Aire he so dis- 
 tinguished himself that he was authorised to bear " above the 
 cognisance of Lochiel a representation of the town of Aire, in 
 allusion to his glorious services." 
 
 After the Peace of Paris, Cameron returned home with 
 visions of settling down at Fassiefern, but was again called 
 into the field in 1815. At Brussels eight battalions were 
 placed under his command, and he marched to Quatre Bras, 
 where he died "like the offspring of Lochiel." No more 
 gallant soldier ever breathed, and his loss to the army was 
 alluded to in touching terms by the Duke of Wellington in his 
 despatch after Waterloo. As his life-blood was ebbing away 
 he inquired how his beloved Highlanders had acquitted them- 
 selves. When he .heard they had been victorious, " I die 
 happy," he said, "and trust my dear country will beheve that 
 I have served her faithfully." His body was removed to In- 
 verness-shire and buried in the churchyard of Kilmallie, where 
 there are few graves not belonging to the Clan Cameron. His 
 funeral was attended by 3000 Inverness - shire men. His 
 father, in acknowledgment of his son's services, was created 
 a baronet. A monument to this most distinguished soldier 
 was afterwards erected at Kilmallie. On it are written the 
 words of Sir Walter Scott, who more than once alludes to him 
 as the bravest among the brave : — 
 
 " Proud B'enevis hears with awe 
 How at the bloody Quatre Bras 
 Brave Cameron heard the wild hurrah 
 Of victory as he fell. " 
 
 There were two other great soldiers connected with Inver- 
 ness-shire belonging to the Clan Cameron who emulated in mod- 
 ern times the brave deeds of Sir Ewen of Lochiel. Sir John 
 Cameron was the son of John Cameron of Culchenna, and was 
 
240 SIR JOHN CAMERON. 
 
 born in 1773. His mind in his early years was filled with 
 recollections of the martial deeds of his clan, and his great 
 desire was to see service in the army. His ancestors had 
 fought on the side of the Stewarts in a cause that had proved 
 hopeless. His one wish was to show equal valour in the ranks 
 of the king's army. A commission was purchased for him in 
 the 43rd Regiment, which he joined in 1787, and from that 
 date his sword was but rarely in its scabbard. His career 
 throughout was an active one. In the expedition of Sir 
 Charles Grey he took part in the capture of the islands of 
 Martinique, St Lucia, and Guadaloupe. In the Peninsular 
 campaign he saw much fighting. He was at the battle of 
 Vimiera, fought in the advance to Salamanca, and took 
 part in the retreat of Corunna. In the Walcheren expedition 
 he was at the head of the first battalion. He distinguished 
 himself in a marked way at the battle of Busaco, of Fuentes 
 d'Onor, and in the sieges of Badajos, Salamanca, Vittoria, San 
 Sebastian, and Bayonne. He was one of the most trusted 
 officers in the British army. He fully maintained the char- 
 acter of the Clan Cameron given to them by an ancient 
 writer as " the fiercest among the fierce." He received many 
 honours. In 18 15 he was one of the first on whom the title 
 K.C.B. was conferred. He was a Knight also of the Tower 
 and Sword of Portugal. In more peaceful times he com- 
 manded in Canada and elsewhere. He was lieutenant-general 
 in 1837. He handed on his military genius to his son. 
 Sir Duncan Cameron, who fought at the head of the Black 
 Watch at Balaclava, and afterwards commanded the Highland 
 Brigade in the Crimea. 
 
 The other Cameron, Sir Alexander of Inverailort, was born 
 in 1 7 8 1 , and, like the two former warriors we have mentioned, 
 maintained on many a hard-fought field the reputation of his 
 ancestors. After serving in the Breadalbane Fencibles and the 
 
SIR ALEXANDER CAMERON. 24I 
 
 92nd Highlanders, he became heutenant in the Rifle Brigade, 
 and was present at the taking of Copenhagen. Afterwards he 
 took part in hard fighting with his old regiment the 92 nd in 
 Egypt, when he was severely wounded. Like those Inverness- 
 shire men whom we have noticed, he achieved great distinc- 
 tion in the Peninsular war. He was at the battle of Vimiera, 
 took part in the retreat of Sir John Moore, and fought bravely 
 at Corunna. Cameron was always to the front. On one 
 occasion he held a bridge with only two companies against the 
 French army until he received assistance. Many similar and 
 equally gallant deeds are credited to him. During the siege 
 of Torres Vedras he was in responsible command. At the 
 siege of Almeida, the battle of Fuentes d'Onor, at Ciudad 
 Rodrigo, at Badajos, Salamanca, and Vittoria, he and his 
 Rifles were always in advance. At the last engagement he 
 was severely wounded and had to return home. When the 
 war broke out in 1 8 1 5 he went to Belgium. He was in the 
 thick of the fight at Quatre Bras and Waterloo, where he was 
 again wounded. His latter years were spent peacefully among 
 his native hills. He was made K.C.B. in 1838, and attained 
 the rank of lieutenant-general. At Inverailort "the General," 
 as he was always called, passed his last days, honoured and 
 respected. He died there 26th July 1850. The eulogium 
 passed upon him by a great military authority was a very high 
 one. He was " one of the best ofi5cers ever trained by Moore 
 and employed by Wellington." 
 
 The fighting clan of Glengarry have sent many brave men 
 into the army, but none more distinguished than Sir James 
 Macdonnell, the third son of Duncan Macdonnell the chief. 
 He entered the service in 1793. In 1795 he was captain in 
 the 17th Dragoons. In 1804 a second battalion was formed 
 for the 78th Ross-shire Buffs, and he was appointed one of the 
 majors. He served with this battalion in Naples, Sicily, and 
 
 Q 
 
242 SIR JAMES MACDONNELL. 
 
 the descent on Calabria in 1806, and took part in the battle 
 of Mandora and in the expedition to Egypt in 1807. Here 
 he distinguished himself by capturing a Turkish battery at 
 Alexandria. It was a gallant affair, and marked Macdonnell 
 as a daring officer. He became colonel of the 78th in 1809. 
 In 1 8 1 1 he exchanged into the Coldstream Guards, and served 
 with them in the Peninsula. He fought at Salamanca, Vittoria, 
 Nivelle, and Nive, and was made C.B. in 1815. His great 
 achievement, for which he is honourably mentioned in military 
 annals, was performed on the night before Waterloo, and 
 notably contributed to the success of the famous battle. With 
 some regiments he obtained possession under heavy fire of 
 the chateau of Hougomont, the key to the French position, 
 and held it with great determination. For this deed of arms 
 he received the approbation of Wellington. At one time, 
 when the French were making their way into the courtyard of 
 the chateau, the brave Glengarry man, with the help of some 
 soldiers, closed the gates against the enemy by sheer physical 
 strength. In peaceful times he served in Ireland and in 
 Canada. He became lieutenant-general in 1854, was made 
 G.C.B. in 1855, and died in 1857. 
 
 These military heroes of our county achieved their fame 
 in the Napoleonic wars. The one we are about to notice 
 showed in more modern times that he was equally animated 
 by the spirit of his race. Sir Herbert Macpherson, V.C, 
 K.C.B., K.S.I., was born at Ardersier in 1827, of a dis- 
 tinguished military family. He received his education at 
 the Nairn Academy, and in 1845 obtained a commission in 
 the 78th Regiment, of which his father had at one time been 
 in command. He was engaged in the Persian war, 1856-57, 
 under Sir James Outram, and also during the Indian Mutiny, 
 when by his brave conduct at the relief of Lucknow he won 
 the Victoria Cross. AVhen his regiment was ordered home 
 
SIR HERBERT MACPHERSON. 243 
 
 a Goorkha regiment and saw much service in the Looshai 
 expedition. At the first advance into Afghanistan he com- 
 manded a brigade under Sir Samuel Brown, and so dis- 
 tinguished himself that he was made C.B. He achieved 
 great fame by his conduct in the Khyber Pass, and was 
 with General Roberts in his march to Candahar. For his 
 services in this campaign he was made K.C.B., and on his 
 return to Inverness - shire he received the freedom of the 
 burgh of the county. In the Egyptian campaign under 
 Wolseley he took a prominent part, especially in the famous 
 battle of Tel-el-Kebir, and for his services there and many 
 gallant actions was created Knight of the Star of India. 
 On his return home he received an ovation from his fellow- 
 countymen in Inverness-shire. He was entertained at a 
 public banquet and presented with a Highland claymore. 
 In 1886 he, on his return to India, was appointed com- 
 mander-in-chief of the Presidency of Madras ; and after the 
 first expedition to Burmah had failed, he was sent to that 
 country at the head of a large force to bring about its settle- 
 ment. With a large flotilla of boats he ascended the river 
 Irawaddy. At Mandalay on the river he contracted fever and 
 had to return to Rangoon. He died on board the steamer 
 by which he was being brought back, on 20th October 1886. 
 His life from first to last was one succession of gallant deeds. 
 Without influence or fortune he reached the front rank of the 
 British army. He was beloved by those who served under 
 him, and in the words of Sir Garnet Wolseley was regarded 
 " as a pillar of strength to any army with which he may be 
 connected." He was as fine a specimen of a Highland soldier 
 as our county ever produced. 
 
 Two notices of men who were non-combatants, but who 
 yet distinguished themselves in connection with the army, 
 may conclude this chapter. 
 
 Sir James MacGregor, Bart., M.D., was born at Lethendry, 
 
244 SIR JAMES MACGREGOR. 
 
 in Strathspey, and was educated as a doctor in the University 
 of Aberdeen. He joined the army as a surgeon, and saw 
 much miUtary service in various parts of the globe, especially 
 in the Peninsular campaign. His eminence as an army 
 medical officer caused him to be appointed afterwards 
 Deputy Inspector of Hospitals, and finally Director-General 
 of the Army Medical Department. In this high office he 
 gained great reputation for his zeal and administrative ability. 
 He was in high favour with the Duke of Wellington, and 
 with the officers charged with the administration of the dif- 
 ferent military departments. Numerous honours were con- 
 ferred upon him. He was made a Knight Commander of 
 the Tower and Sword of Portugal, and was permitted by the 
 sovereign to wear the Turkish Order of the Crescent for the 
 part he bore in the Egyptian campaign. In 1831 he was 
 created a baronet, and in 1850 was invested with the Order 
 of a Knight Commander of the Bath. After fifty-seven years 
 spent in active employment he died at London in 1858. 
 
 John Cameron was a native of Inverness, and of the 
 family of Kinlochiel. He was a bank clerk in the county 
 town ; afterwards he went out to India, where he was in 
 the employment of a mercantile firm in Bombay. He soon 
 began to contribute articles to the ' Bombay Gazette,' and was 
 for a time acting editor of that paper. The Afghan War of 
 1879 required a special correspondent in the field for the 
 ' Bombay Gazette,' and Cameron accompanied the first cam- 
 paign in the expedition to Kabul. His letters, from their 
 great descriptive power, attracted much attention ; and in the 
 following year, on the renewal of the Afghanistan War, he 
 joined, as correspondent of the London ' Standard,' the 
 column for the relief of Candahar. Journeying night and 
 day, he reached Quetta in seven days after leaving Bombay, 
 having ridden up the Bolan Pass from Lebe in thirty-six hours. 
 
JOHN CAMERON, WAR CORRESPONDENT. 245 
 
 He was the first to ride with the news of General Roberts's 
 
 victory to the nearest telegraph-post, beating his competitors 
 
 and the Government couriers by a day and a half. Then, 
 
 returning with great rapidity to Candahar, he accompanied the 
 
 first party who went out to the battle-field of Maiwand, and 
 
 sent home a description of the scene and the fighting which 
 
 established his reputation as one of the best journalists of his 
 
 class. Soon after his return to Bombay the Transvaal War 
 
 broke out. He at once crossed to Natal, arriving there before 
 
 correspondents from England could reach the spot. He was 
 
 present at the battles of Laing's Nek and Ingogo, and at the 
 
 fatal fight on Majuba Hill, when he was knocked down and 
 
 taken prisoner by the Boers, but contrived on the following 
 
 day to send home his account of the battle. After peace was 
 
 concluded in the Transvaal he came to England, but in June 
 
 1882 left for Egypt, and was present at the bombardment of 
 
 Alexandria. He continued with the British forces, describing 
 
 every engagement that took place with his graphic pen. After 
 
 service as a journalist in Madagascar and Tonquin, he heard 
 
 on his way home from the latter place of the threatening of 
 
 Suakin by the forces of Osman Digna. Leaving his ship at 
 
 Suez, he made his way to Suakin and accompanied the British 
 
 expeditionary force, witnessing and describing the battles of 
 
 El Teb and Tamanieb. After a few weeks' stay in England 
 
 he started once more for Egypt, and pushed up the Nile with 
 
 the advanced boats of Lord Wolseley's expedition. On the 
 
 19th January 1885 he was shot in the Arab attack on Sir 
 
 Herbert Stewart's advanced brigade on the march from Abu 
 
 Klea. His death was much lamented both in journalistic 
 
 and military circles. He was a true Highlander, as brave as 
 
 he was clever, fearless of danger, and full of pride in his 
 
 profession. Such as he maintain, even in our time, the 
 
 martial spirit by which Inverness-shire men in all periods of 
 
246 DECAY OF THE MILITARY SPIRIT. 
 
 our county's history have been animated. It must be con- 
 fessed, however, that much of that spirit has now died out. 
 There are not many Inverness-shire men at present in the 
 ranks of the army, though there are still some who keep up 
 the fighting name of their forebears. The crofter will readily 
 serve in the militia, but he holds aloof from the regular army. 
 The recruiting parties that pass with pipes playing through 
 our glens find few to follow them. Few indeed of the clans- 
 men are there, and those few are not like their progenitors, 
 who were men of war "from their youth upwards." 
 
247 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 CHANGES IN THE COUNTY AN© AMONG ITS PEOPLE — RENTS OF THE TACKS- 
 MEN RAISED — LARGE NUMUERS LEAVE INVERNESS-SHIEE FOR THE 
 COLONIES — PROGRESS OF THE PROCESS OF DEPOPULATION — THE STRONG 
 TIDE OF EMIGRATION TO AMERICA— GOVERNMENT INDUCED TO TRY 
 TO STOP IT — SEND MR TELFORD, ENGINEER, TO REPORT ON THE BEST 
 MEASURES TO BE TAKEN — HIS RECOMMENDATIONS — STRONGLY ADVISES 
 GIVING THE PEOPLE WORK IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND A 
 CANAL — CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS AND MAKING OF THE CALEDONIAN 
 CANAL BEGUN IN 1804— THE DIFFERENT LINES OF ROADS DESCRIBED, 
 AND THEIR COST — THE EXCAVATING OF THE CANAL — DIFFICULTY 
 OF THE WORK — IMPEDIMENTS SURMOUNTED — OPENING OF THE NEW 
 WATERWAY — ITS COST — THE BENEFICIAL RESULTS TO INVERNESS-SHIEE 
 OF THESE UNDERTAKINGS — INCREASE IN THE VALUE OF PROPERTY — 
 THE TOWN OF INVERNESS MAKES A NEW START — A GREAT RECORD 
 OF IMPROVEMENT — THE GREAT WOOL FAIR ESTABLISHED — EMIGRATION 
 NOT STOPPED BY THE GOVERNMENT WORKS — PERIOD OF SHEEP-FARMING 
 BEGINS — LANDLORDS BEGIN TO EVICT — DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 
 EARLIER AND LATER EMIGRATIONS — THE GLENGARRY EVICTIONS— THE 
 COUNTRY SWEPT BARE OF THE INHABITANTS — A TRAGIC STORY AT 
 BEST. 
 
 While men from every part of Inverness-shire were embodied 
 in the military forces of the country, and many of them were 
 gallantly fighting in distant lands, a great change was taking 
 place among the people at home. As we have already noticed, 
 society in Inverness-shire and the Highlands generally was 
 divided into three great classes. First there were the land- 
 owners or superiors, then the tacksmen or wadsetters, and 
 lastly the subtenants holding their lands from the middlemen 
 and paying them their rent. These subtenants corresponded 
 
248 A PROCESS OF DEPOPULATION. 
 
 to the crofters of the present day. The laird received his rent 
 from the middleman, and could depend on his service in time 
 of war. He was generally an officer of the clan, and in most 
 cases also a relative of the landowner. He lived in consider- 
 able comfort, and drew rents from the subtenants. 
 
 With the opening up of the country and the consequent rise 
 in the price of cattle the landlord began to improve his posi- 
 tion, either by increasing the rents of the tacksman, or by 
 dispensing with him altogether and drawing his rents directly 
 from the subtenants. Wadsets were in many cases redeemed, 
 while leases as they expired were not renewed. Thus the 
 middlemen were obliged to find a new home for themselves. 
 They emigrated in large numbers to America and elsewhere, 
 taking with them in most cases many of those of the humbler 
 class who had hitherto been their dependants and followers. 
 This emigration on the part of the latter was not in conse- 
 quence of what in our day is termed " eviction." It was spon- 
 taneous, and was stoutly opposed at first by the lairds. But 
 it was widespread, whole districts were depopulated, and sheep- 
 farmers from the South began to take possession of the 
 vacated lands. Where they appeared on the scene most of the 
 small tenants who had not emigrated were forced to remove 
 to the seashore, to take refuge in the towns and villages, or 
 to follow their former neighbours to other lands. 
 
 The process of depopulation began as early as 1759, when 
 many from the western parts of Inverness-shire emigrated to 
 North Carolina. That province became so thoroughly Celtic 
 in some of its parts that many of the negroes acquired Gaelic 
 and attended the ministrations of the Gaelic-speaking ministers. 
 It is said that one of the early emigrants, being addressed on 
 arriving in Gaelic by a black man, exclaimed in tones of horror 
 in the same language, " God of grace ! will we all become 
 like him ? " 
 
WIDESPREAD EMIGRATION. 249 
 
 As time went on, other districts besides North Carolina were 
 chosen by the departing Inverness-shire Highlanders for their 
 new home. In 1773 a newspaper informs us that three 
 gentlemen of the name of Macdonnell, with their families and 
 400 Highlanders from Glengarry, Glenmoriston, Glenurquhart, 
 and Strathglass, embarked for America, having obtained a 
 grant of land in Albany. In the same year a vessel left Fort 
 William for America with 425 men, women, and children from 
 Knoydart, Lochaber, Appin, Mamore, and Fort William. A 
 few days previous to their departure 250 emigrants sailed from 
 Fort George, and 308 of the Macdonnells of Glengarry em- 
 barked at Fort William for America. The son of The Glen- 
 aladale, who had been out in the '45, sold his lands, and with 
 his tenantry set out for Prince Edward's Island. In 1786 a 
 devoted priest, the Rev. Alexander Macdonald, of the family of 
 Scotos, who had laboured in Canada, reached Quebec with a 
 party of nearly 600 men from the Glengarry estate. Later on 
 they were followed by many others from the same district, and 
 founded a new Glengarry in Upper Canada, calling their farms 
 by the names of places in the old glen. In i8oi three vessels 
 left the west coast for Pictou with 799 emigrants from the 
 Aird, Strathglass, Urquhart, Glengarry, Knoydart, Arisaig, 
 Moidart, and Lochaber. In 1803 eleven vessels left different 
 ports for the same destination. 
 
 These statistics are sufficient to show how strongly the tide of 
 emigration flowed from the North of Scotland to the American 
 continent towards the end of the last and the beginning of the 
 present century. This nomadic movement was viewed by 
 many with alarm. That patriotic body the Highland Society 
 of London took into careful consideration the process of de- 
 population, and by their influence the Government were in- 
 duced to take steps to stay if possible — we quote from the 
 report of a committee of the House of Commons — "that 
 
2 so TELFORD'S REPORT. 
 
 emigration which will deprive the country of its hardiest and 
 bravest protectors, who have distinguished themselves most 
 conspicuously on sea and land." The first proceeding of the 
 Government was to appoint Mr Telford, the celebrated en- 
 gineer, to report on the state of the Highlands, to ascertain the 
 causes of emigration and the means of preventing it, and the 
 best methods of opening up and improving the country. Ac- 
 cordingly Mr Telford came down to the North, and in 1803 
 he made a very complete and exhaustive report. He amply 
 corroborates what we have said as to the extensive emigration. 
 About 3000 persons, he tells us, had left the Highlands in 
 1802, and three times that number were preparing to go in the 
 year in which he writes. The most powerful cause of emi- 
 gration, in his opinion, was " the converting large districts of the 
 country into extensive sheep-walks. This not only requires 
 much fewer people to manage the same tract of country, but 
 in general an entirely new people who have been accustomed 
 to this mode of life have been brought from the southern part 
 of Scotland." 
 
 Mr Telford, however, enters with considerable hesitation on 
 the question of whether Government should interfere to pre- 
 vent emigration. He states the two views on the subject with 
 which we are familiar at the present day, but is particularly 
 careful not to state his own. On the one hand, he points out 
 that it is the interest of the empire that this district be made 
 to produce as much human food as it is capable of doing at 
 the least possible expense, and this may be done by stocking 
 it chiefly with sheep; and though some temporary incon- 
 veniences may arise, yet upon the whole matters will in the 
 end adjust themselves. On the other hand, he points out that 
 it is a great hardship, if not a great injustice, that the inhabi- 
 tants of an extensive district should all at once be driven from 
 their native country to make way for sheep-farming, which is 
 
PUBLIC WORKS BEGUN. 251 
 
 likely to be carried on to an imprudent extent ; that in a few 
 years this excess will be evident, but before it is discovered 
 the country will be depopulated, and the race of people which 
 has maintained so honourable a share in the operations of our 
 armies and navies will be no more. Having stated these 
 opposite views temperately enough, he presses upon the 
 Government a project about which there could, he thought, 
 be no dispute. Public works would prove beneficial to the 
 country whether it was to be inhabited by men or by sheep. 
 If anything could stop emigration, plenty of work at home 
 would do so. The building of bridges, the making of roads, 
 and, above all, the construction of the Caledonian Canal, 
 which had often been projected, would give employment to 
 large numbers of people, and would accomplish "all the lead- 
 ing objects which can reasonably be looked forward to for the 
 improvement and future welfare of the country." 
 
 It was fortunate for our shire that Mr Telford's practical 
 suggestions commended themselves to the Government. In 
 1804 the construction of the Highland roads and bridges 
 and of the Caledonian Canal was begun simultaneously. 
 General Wade had done much for Inverness - shire in the 
 way of road - making, but Mr Telford and his subordinates 
 far excelled that celebrated officer. Main lines of roads 
 were successively constructed, branching westward at right 
 angles to the great Caledonian Glen, from Fort William to 
 Arisaig on the west coast, from Invergarry through Glengarry 
 to Loch Hourn head on the west, and from Invermoriston 
 through Glenmoriston to Glenshiel and Loch Duich. On 
 the east side of the Caledonian Glen a line of road was 
 constructed from Fort William up Loch Laggan side to join 
 the military road at Pitmain ; also a road from Grantown 
 on the east side of the Spey, with a new iron bridge across 
 the river at Craigellachie. On the east side of Loch Ness a 
 
252 COSTLY UNDERTAKINGS. 
 
 line of road was made through Inverfarigaig, and the High- 
 land road was altered and a new road constructed from Moy 
 to Inverness and from Inverness to Dingwall, with a branch 
 from Beauly up the valley of Strathglass. 
 
 The traveller who is smoothly carried along these splendid 
 highways can have little idea of the cost and labour expended 
 in constructing them. The works were spread over a wide 
 extent of country where there were no inns or habitations of 
 any kind, and where those engaged were exposed to a rude 
 and boisterous climate. The cost was great. The expen- 
 diture on new roads and bridges amounted to ^^540,000, 
 of which ;^267,ooo was furnished by the Government, the 
 balance being contributed by the counties and by indi- 
 viduals. Of this sum a goodly portion came to Inverness- 
 shire. The work of construction went on for about seventeen 
 years, and in 182 1 it was brought to a close. The benefit to 
 the country has been incalculable. 
 
 The feasibility of making a canal through the Great Glen of 
 Albyn and uniting the Moray Firth with Loch Linnhe had 
 often been discussed before Telford took the matter in hand. 
 A famous Highland seer in the beginning of the seventeenth 
 century is said to have prophesied, " The time will come, and 
 it is not far off, when full-rigged ships will be sailing eastward 
 and westward by Muirton and Tomnahurich." Mr Burt in 
 his famous Letters, in describing the Great Glen and its chain 
 of lakes, alludes to the possibility of a canal being some day 
 constructed. To him it seemed "an incredible expense to 
 cut fourteen navigable miles in so rocky a country"; and 
 there was, to his mind, even a stronger objection than the 
 expense ; " The whole opening lies in so direct a line, and 
 the mountains that bound it are so high; the wind is confined, 
 as it were, in the nozzle of a pair of bellows, so that, let it 
 blow from what quarter it will without the opening, it never 
 
THE CALEDONIAN CANAL. 253 
 
 varies much from east to west. This would render navigation 
 so precarious that hardly any would venture on it." Mr 
 Pennant also in his 'Tour' decides against the possibility 
 of the undertaking : " It is supposed to be practicable, but 
 at a vast expense — at an expense beyond the power of N. 
 Britain to effect, except it could realise those sums which 
 the wishes of a few of its sons had attained in idea." The 
 doubters, however, had little conception of the marvels which 
 modern engineering, backed by the resources of the national 
 Exchequer, are capable of effecting. 
 
 Mr Telford and a gentleman associated with him, Mr 
 William Jessop, began their work in 1804 and prosecuted 
 it vigorously to its close. It was proposed by Mr Telford 
 that the intended canal should be formed of a size to admit 
 the largest class of British and American traders, or such as 
 on occasions of emergency a 32 -gun frigate fully equipped 
 could pass along. In order that this might be done, it was 
 contemplated that a uniform depth of 20 feet of water would 
 be necessary, with locks measuring 170 feet long by 40 feet in 
 width. Mr Telford's estimate for executing the work on this 
 scale amounted to no more than ^350,000, and the period of 
 its completion was computed at seven years. 
 
 The length of the canal is sixty miles forty chains, of which 
 forty miles are lakes. The summit level of Loch Oich, the 
 central lake, is 100 feet above the sea at high-water mark at 
 Inverness and Fort William. The canal was constructed no 
 feet wide at top and 50 feet at bottom, with a permanent 
 depth of 20 feet of water throughout, having a basin of 20 
 acres in extent at Inverness, with storage and warehouse 
 accommodation. The summit level is passed by the con- 
 struction of twenty-eight locks 170 feet, and, when two or 
 more are contiguous, 180 feet long, 40 feet wide, and 28 
 feet deep. 
 
254 DIFFICULTY OF CONSTRUCTION. 
 
 The difficulties experienced by the constructors were great, 
 and it was only by skill and perseverance that they were finally 
 overcome. Perhaps the chief difficulty was the regulating 
 and controlling the great rivers and innumerable streams 
 that pour into the three lakes forming part of the waterway. 
 The drainage area extends to about 1200 square miles of 
 mountainous country, with extended valleys like that of Glen- 
 garry, containing vast lakes to the right and left of it. From 
 these valleys at times heavy floods come down with terrible 
 violence. These water - courses had to be controlled and 
 regulated, and to do so required no small foresight and 
 calculation. 
 
 Loch Lochy, ten miles long, had to be raised permanently 
 9 feet, and a new passage for the river cut through the solid 
 rock. Loch Oich, three and three-quarter miles, and Loch 
 Dochfour, had to be dredged and made of the required depth 
 of 20 feet. At the west end a large stream had to be brought 
 under the canal by three arches. Inlets and outlets for streams 
 had to be constructed at different parts. Great embankments 
 and cuttings had often to be made in mossy and gravelly 
 ground, and the difficulty of rendering them water-tight in the 
 gravelly and sandy soil peculiar to some of the localities was 
 very great. At Fort Augustus the gravel was found to be so 
 open that the lock, which was to be 24 feet under the loch- 
 level, was impossible, and the river had to be diverted and the 
 canal locks built on the rocks where the river formerly ran. 
 
 The construction of the locks, particularly at the entrance 
 to the sea and the lakes, was a matter of considerable diffi- 
 culty. At the western end the lock was formed by a coffer- 
 dam on the solid rock, so as to give the clear waterway of 
 20 feet throughout the canal. About two miles from this 
 entrance a series of nine locks was constructed, elevating the 
 canal 72 feet in height, which Telford christened "Neptune's 
 
COST OF THE UNDERTAKING. 255 
 
 Staircase," and which still bears that name. The most diffi- 
 cult feat of all was the construction of the sea-lock at Inver- 
 ness. To obtain the required depth of 20 feet at all times, it 
 had to be extended into the sea about 900 yards ; and there, 
 on an artificial mound over a bed of mud 60 feet deep, it was 
 founded and built. 
 
 These technical engineering details, for which we are chiefly 
 indebted to the late Mr Joseph Mitchell, C.E., who was 
 closely connected with the work, may serve to show how 
 much of skill and patient labour were expended on it. The 
 expense far exceeded the original estimate. An enormous 
 rise, owing to the war with France, had taken place in the 
 prices of all descriptions of commodities as well as of food, 
 and consequently of labour and workmanship. From the 
 year when the canal works were commenced to the years 
 18 1 2 and 1 81 3 the difference in many articles had increased 
 to 50, 70, and even 100 per cent. Labourers, whose wages 
 in 1803 were from is. 6d. to is. 8d. per day, received in 1814 
 2S. 4d. and 2s. 6d. Native timber rose from lod. to i4d. 
 per foot, and finally to 3s. 6d. per cubic foot ; Baltic timber 
 from 2S. 6}^d. to 7s.; oak from 5s. to 10s. and 12s. This 
 rise immensely increased the cost of the undertaking. 
 
 Another source of unlooked-for expenditure is to be attrib- 
 uted to the great extent of dredging, a process hitherto un- 
 tried on so large a scale. It was on the Caledonian Canal 
 that steam-power was first applied to this operation. The 
 excavation of Loch Oich in particular was most difficult, from 
 the vast number of oak-trees, some of them 10 feet to 12 feet 
 diameter, that had in the course of ages been carried down 
 by the river Garry and were embedded in the bottom of the 
 lake, forming a network of trees and branches difficult to 
 penetrate. 
 
 Many unforeseen difficulties occurred to prevent the canal 
 
2S6 OPENING OF THE CANAL. 
 
 being opened until several years after the time originally contem- 
 plated. The first passage from sea to sea was accomplished 
 in a steamboat on the 23rd and 24th October 1822 in thirteen 
 hours. On this occasion a large party of county magnates 
 — the magistrates of Inverness and others — made the voyage. 
 The vessel started amid music and the firing of guns. A 
 grand display took place in Lochaber. " A large bonfire was 
 lit, and a plentiful supply of whisky was given by the gentle- 
 men of Fort William, who with genuine Highland enthusiasm 
 prolonged the festivities of that memorable evening." 
 
 Though the canal was opened for traffic in 1822, it was by 
 no means completed. Up to that time the cost had been 
 ;^645,ooo. It was not till 1843 '^^t the work was really 
 finished as it stands to-day. The disbursements in connec- 
 tion with the undertaking had then reached the enormous 
 sum of ^^jTi, 300,000, while the whole revenue up to that date 
 was only about _;^8o,ooo. 
 
 Though the canal had been by no means a profitable 
 undertaking so far as shown in the profits reaped by the 
 Government, it certainly benefited the Highlands generally. 
 Relays of nearly 3000 Highlanders received employment 
 during the time of its construction. The making of the 
 roads, which went on at the same time, must have given 
 occupation to probably as many more. The lairds who owned 
 the lands through which the canal passed received consider- 
 able sums of money. 
 
 The results of these great undertakings were well sum- 
 marised in a report to Government in 1828 by Mr Joseph 
 Mitchell, who with his father had taken a chief part in carry- 
 ing on the works. He shows that a great change had been 
 already effected in the North, and especially in Inverness- 
 shire, perhaps unparalleled in the same space of time in the 
 history of any country. Before the commencement of the 
 
COACHING FACILITIES. 25/ 
 
 present century no public coach or regular vehicle of convey- 
 ance existed in the Highlands. In the year 1800 it had been 
 attempted to establish coaches between Inverness and Perth, 
 and between Inverness and Aberdeen ; but from the state 
 of the roads at that period, and the little intercourse that then 
 took place, it had been necessary to discontinue them after 
 a short trial. It was not until 1806 and 181 1 that coaches 
 were regularly established in these directions. After the com- 
 pletion of the parliamentary works, they began to run from 
 and to Inverness with great frequency. Forty-four coaches 
 arrived at, and the same number departed from, Inverness 
 every week. Postchaises and other modes of travelling in- 
 creased proportionally. Instead of five postchaises, which was 
 the number kept in Inverness about the year 1803, there were 
 in 1828 upwards of a dozen, besides two establishments for 
 the hire of gigs and horses, all of which found sufiScient 
 employment. 
 
 The number of private carriages at Inverness and its 
 vicinity increased. In 1715 the first coach or chariot seen 
 in Inverness is said to have been brought by the Earl of Sea- 
 forth, and was an object of wonder and veneration to the 
 inhabitants. In 1760 the first postchaise was brought to 
 Inverness, and was the only four - wheeled carriage in the 
 district. Soon after the roads were finished there were four 
 manufactories for coaches in the burgh. 
 
 With facilities for travel, inns were established on all the 
 principal roads, and in the remotest parts of the county the 
 traveller found accommodation and the means of continuing 
 his journey. Regular carriers for the conveyance of goods 
 passed at all seasons of the year from one place to another. 
 A postal service reaching to the extremes of the county was 
 also established. 
 
 A great increase in the value of property took place almost 
 
25 8 RENEWED PROSPERITY. 
 
 immediately on the completion of these improvements. In 
 Inverness and its vicinity the increase was in several cases 
 tenfold. The lands of Markinch, situated between the town 
 and the canal, were rented at the beginning of the century 
 for ^^o and ^?>o ; in 1828 their rental amounted to ;^6oo. 
 The estates of The Chisholm rose from ^^700 in 1785 to 
 ;^5ooo per annum. When the chief of Glengarry died in 
 1788 his yearly income did not exceed _^8oo ; the same 
 lands in 1828 yielded from _;^6ooo to _;^7ooo a-year. 
 
 The town of Inverness specially benefited by the works 
 completed by the Government. It received an impetus to 
 its prosperity the force of which has not yet slackened. The 
 prosperity of the burgh may be said to date from 1785, when 
 Mr Inglis, the provost, a man of ability and public spirit, 
 carried out improvements of considerable importance, tending 
 much to the wellbeing and civilisation of the people. In 
 1791 the Royal Academy was erected by voluntary subscrip- 
 tion, many sons of Inverness in the colonies contributing 
 large sums. In the same year the gaol was built at an 
 expense of ;^335o, a theatre was erected, and the streets 
 were paved. 
 
 Steamboat communications were established between In- 
 verness and the west coast and Glasgow, as well as between 
 Inverness and Leith on the east coast. " The increasing 
 wants of the inhabitants of Inverness," says Mr ^litchell in 
 1825, "sufficiently prove their increasing wealth. Since 
 their closer connection with the southern counties a rapid 
 change has taken place in the general state of society. 
 The manufacture of hempen and woollen cloths was com- 
 menced, churches and chapels of various sects were built. 
 Missionary and Bible Societies established, schools endowed, 
 an infirmary erected, reading-rooms established, subscription 
 libraries set on foot, two newspapers instituted weekly, and 
 
THE ANNUAL WOOL MARKET. 259 
 
 a horticultural, a literary, and various other professional and 
 philanthropical institutions were founded. Two additional 
 banks were likewise instituted, three iron-foundries and three 
 rope and sail manufactories commenced, an additional bridge 
 was constructed, the harbour was enlarged and improved, the 
 town was lighted with gas, and all within the last twenty-five 
 or thirty years." 
 
 This is a great record, and shows a wonderful change in 
 the brave little burgh from the time when Col of the Cows 
 threatened it with destruction. It shows also how the open- 
 ing up of the country, and the bringing North and South 
 into close connection, had proved a source of wealth. One 
 item of improvement is specially noticed in the report to 
 which we have been referring : " In no instance is the benefit 
 arising from facility of communication more apparent than in 
 the establishment in 1 8 1 7 of the great annual sheep and wool 
 market at this central point of the Highlands, to which all the 
 sheep-farmers resort from the remotest parts of the country. 
 Here the whole fleeces and sheep of the north of Scotland are 
 generally sold or contracted for in the way of consignments, 
 and in 1818 upwards of 100,000 stones of wool and 150,000 
 sheep were sold at very advanced prices. This circumstance 
 affords a striking proof of the advantage of lines of communi- 
 cation in facilitating the exportation and sale of the staple 
 commodities of the country." 
 
 The great works of the Government certainly brought 
 wealth to Inverness-shire and to its capital, but they had not 
 the result their construction was primarily intended to produce. 
 They were undertaken principally to prevent the depopulation 
 of the country, and that they certainly did not do. They 
 scarcely retarded it at all. While the roads were being 
 made and the canal was being dug the hive still continued to 
 swarm, and vessels came to western lochs and to the Moray 
 
26o THE BEGINNING OF EVICTIONS. 
 
 Firth and spread their sails with their living freight for lands 
 beyond the sea. 
 
 It is probable, indeed, that the wealth the public works 
 brought into the country, and the employment they gave the 
 inhabitants, would have in the end induced the people to 
 remain at home, and might have stemmed the outgoing tide 
 had not other forces come into operation. The landlords 
 began to compel the people to go, and the period of evictions 
 began. The early emigrants were in many instances men of 
 means. They emigrated with the view of acquiring a position 
 of independence abroad which they did not expect to obtain 
 at home. The outgoing band was generally headed by a 
 man in whom they had confidence. Many of them went 
 to join colonies of friends and relations on the other side of 
 the Atlantic. They were buoyant with hope. The earlier 
 emigrations were to a certain extent comparatively cheerful. 
 When Glengarry tried to keep his people at home, the poet 
 Burns denounced him as a tyrant, and the Highland Society 
 as in league with Beelzebub in preventing the people from 
 making their escape from the slavery of their lords and 
 masters. Those who left Inverness-shire in those days went 
 forth bravely in search of freedom and independence. But 
 the later emigrants had none of the spirit and the enthusiasm 
 of the pioneers. They were the crofters whom the tacks- 
 men had left behind, who were dependent directly on the 
 laird, and when he forced them to emigrate they left their 
 native land with heavy hearts. 
 
 We are not called, fortunately, to write in full the final 
 clearing out of the Inverness-shire people from their native 
 glens. It is a painful story, and it would be painful to narrate 
 it. The Glengarry evictions in 1853 are still fresh in the 
 remembrance of many. The estate was possessed by a minor, 
 and his mother, the widow of the late chief, who managed it, 
 
THE GLENGARRY EVICTIONS. 26 1 
 
 determined to evict every crofter on her property and make 
 room for sheep. They were all served with summonses of 
 removal, a message being sent to them that they would be 
 conveyed to Australia. Finally, as it was not convenient to 
 transport them to that country, they were told that they would 
 be taken to North America. Scenes of the most heartrend- 
 ing description ensued. Some who refused to go had their 
 houses burnt and levelled to the ground ; no mercy whatever 
 was shown them. Whole families were left exposed to the 
 weather without shelter of any kind. The district they in- 
 habited is to-day to a large extent a wilderness where only 
 sheep and wild animals are to be met with, with the few 
 keepers and shepherds needful for their management. 
 
 Other evictions took place — unaccompanied, so far as we 
 know, by the cruelty inflicted on the people of Glengarry. 
 At one time only two of the ancient native stock remained 
 in possession of an inch of land on the estate of Chisholm, 
 which in the olden days was the abode of a numerous clan. 
 In 1849 more than 500 souls left Glenelg at once. Glen 
 Dessary and Loch Arkaig side were swept bare. So the 
 clearing of the glens went on, and sheep took the place of 
 men over a wide district of Inverness-shire. 
 
 It is not for us, who are not writing philosophy or political 
 economy but history, to moralise on this great change. Un- 
 doubtedly there is something tragic in the story. It may be 
 true that the people could not exist in comfort in their own 
 wilds, and were subject to periodic visitations of famine, and 
 that in other lands those who emigrated have found ample 
 means of sustenance, and in many cases have exchanged 
 poverty for wealth ; but it must be remembered that it was 
 not to promote their comfort that they were sent away, but 
 too often to satisfy the greed of those who dispossessed 
 them, and in not a few instances they were evicted from 
 
262 DISAPPEARANCE OF THE OLD PEASANTRY. 
 
 lands fertile enough to have sustained them in comparative 
 comfort. 
 
 The few of the original stock of Inverness-shire peasantry, 
 descendants of the old clans, who still remain as crofters, have 
 had much done for them in our own time, and legislation has 
 ameliorated their condition and given them security in their 
 holdings. On many estates they are treated with kindness, 
 and derive a comfortable subsistence from their industry. 
 But those one sees to-day are only the fag-end, the poor 
 remnants of a great people, the vestiges of a soldier race 
 for ever passed away. Political economy has been sarcas- 
 tically termed "the dismal science." If it be invoked to 
 defend what has been done in Inverness-shire its dismalness 
 appears to be beyond a doubt. 
 
263 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PROGRESS OF THE COUNTY —HIGHLAND FARMING IN THE 
 OLDEN TIME — THE MONKS OF BEAULY AND THEIR CIVILISING INFLUENCE 
 — THE PEAR-TREE IN THEIR GARDEN — THE PEASANT A SOLDIER, NOT 
 AN AGRICULTURIST — CONSIDERABLE IMPROVEMENT IN THE BEGINNING 
 OF THE PRESENT CENTURY— COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE COUNTY 
 BY DR JAMES ROBERTSON FOR THE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE — HIS 
 REPORT TO BE DEPENDED ON — DISCUSSES THE POSSIBILITY OF CULTI- 
 VATING THE MOORS— CERTAIN MOORLANDS SPECIFIED BY HIM — HIS 
 ESTIMATE OF THE PROPRIETORS — THE LAND-TENURES EXISTING — THE 
 HOUSES OF THE PROPRIETORS AND FARMERS — THE METHODS OF FARM- 
 ING — RUNRIG — OUTFIELD AND INFIELD — FOUR CLASSES OF FARMERS — 
 THE MORAL CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE — THE RENTS PAYABLE BY 
 TENANTS— THE RELIEF OF THE POOR AND ABSENCE OF POOR-RATES — 
 THE IMPLEMENTS OF HUSBANDRY — THE CROPS CULTIVATED— PLANTING 
 OF TREES— SHEEP-BREEDING — THE KELP INDUSTRY — THE VILLAGES- 
 CONCLUSIONS TO BE DRAWN FROM DR ROBERTSON'S REPORT — HIS REPORT 
 CONTRASTED WITH THAT OF MR MACDONALD IN 1872— GENERAL PRO- 
 GRESS AND INCREASE IN RENTAL — INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF GOOD 
 STEADINGS — CHARACTER OF THE LEASES GIVEN — IMPROVEMENT IN 
 AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENTS— EXTENSION OF PLANTATIONS— FAILURE 
 OF KELP — ESTABLISHMENT OF POOR-RATES— THE CROPS PRINCIPALLY 
 CULTIVATED — INCREASE OF DEER FORESTS — PRESENT VALUE OF 
 PROPERTY. 
 
 PROGRESS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE PEOPLE— EDUCATION IN THE 
 OLDEN TIME — IMMENSE IMPROVEMENT CAUSED BY THE EDUCATION ACT 
 OF 1872— NEW BUILDINGS AND GOVERNMENT GRANTS — SECOND.iRY 
 EDUCATION — GREAT PROGRESS OF ENLIGHTENMENT IN MODERN TIMES 
 —THE MOR.\LITY OF THE PEOPLE SHOWN BY THE RETURNS OF THE 
 REGISTRAR-GENER.\L — THEIR ATTENTION TO RELIGIOUS DUTIES. 
 
 Inverness-shire can hardly be said, either in past or present 
 times, to take a high place as regards agriculture. In its 
 population it stands as about the tenth county in Scotland, 
 and it is doubtful whether its agricultural produce would 
 
264 THE MONKS OF BEAULY. 
 
 entitle it to a higher position. Yet agriculture has made 
 considerable progress in Inverness-shire since the beginning 
 of the present century, and especially since the making of 
 the Caledonian Canal and those roads spoken of in our last 
 chapter. Of that progress it is right something should here 
 be said. 
 
 The first Inverness-shire agriculturists were probably the 
 monks of Beauly. The monastic orders devoted much of 
 their time to agriculture. Their lands were always the best 
 tilled in Scotland. The approach to a monastery anywhere 
 in the kingdom could be always traced by the fertile fields 
 around it. The woods, enclosed and protected, were of 
 loftier growth, the meadows and corn-lands better cultivated. 
 The population inhabiting the Church lands were more active, 
 industrious, and prosperous than those on the lands either of 
 the Crown or of the feudal nobility. The monks of Beauly 
 were no exception to the general rule. It was probably to 
 them — to their labours and their teaching — that the neigh- 
 bourhood of the Priory and the Aird of Inverness-shire 
 owed that beauty and fertility which still distinguish those 
 districts, and which is noticed by our earliest travellers. One 
 of the few traditions of the conventual life on the banks of 
 the Beauly that have come down to us tells of the fame of 
 the brotherhood as horticulturists. They often, it is said, got 
 six chalders of good fruit oif their orchard , and the old min- 
 ister of Kirkhill, writing in 1662, tells us that "he heard old 
 men declare that one tree in the orchard paid the teind — 
 that is, carried ten bolls of pears, which were shaken and 
 measured in pecks and firlots, good ripe fruit." We may be 
 sure that like labour and skill to that with which they tended 
 their apple and pear trees were also spent on the land of which 
 they were the owners. 
 
 But though the neighbourhood of the monastery was always 
 
NEGLECT OF AGRICULTURE. 265 
 
 an object-lesson to the rest of the county, it does not seem 
 to have produced much effect. The clansman dwelling among 
 the mountains was certainly no agriculturist. He was a soldier, 
 and the sword came more naturally to his hand than the 
 plough or the reaping-hook. The conditions of his life, not to 
 speak of the character of the soil, prevented him giving much 
 attention to the tillage of the fields. Glenurquhart, like the 
 Aird, was always fertile and cultivated, but other valleys had 
 little in this respect to boast of. A scanty and imperfect 
 cultivation of corn was limited to detached patches of arable 
 ground among the rocks. Cattle were the main resources 
 of the tribe, and the acquisition of these the great object of 
 their forays. Their precarious crops gave them wherewithal 
 to bake their oaten cakes and distil their ale or whisky, and 
 they sought nothing more. Their corn was produced with 
 or without manure, as that could or could not be procured. 
 When the land had been scourged by a repetition of grain 
 crops till it could bear no longer, it was allowed to go waste 
 till it gained what was called heart enough to allow it to be 
 cultivated again. 
 
 When peaceful times came to Inverness-shire more attention 
 was bestowed on the tillage of the land, and at the beginning 
 of the present century considerable improvement had been 
 made. In 1795 a Board of Agriculture and Internal Improve- 
 ment for Scotland was instituted. In the years immediately 
 succeeding surveys of the different counties were made by com- 
 petent persons ; and in 1 8 1 3 a very comprehensive report was 
 sent in to the Board and published, giving " a general view of 
 the agriculture of Inverness, with observations on the means 
 of its improvement." The author of this report was the Rev. 
 James Robertson, minister at Callander. He seems to have 
 been as familiar with the processes of agriculture as with 
 the doctrines of theology. He was a practical farmer, well 
 
266 REV. JAMES ROBERTSON. 
 
 acquainted with the Highlands, and speaking the Gaelic 
 language. Though his style is somewhat Johnsonian, and his 
 ideas of turning the moors into fertile fields Utopian, yet his 
 report, on the whole, may be depended upon. It was evidently 
 the result of careful and personal examination. Dr Robertson 
 visited every part of the county from Fort George to Moidart 
 and Arisaig. He went to most inaccessible places, and on 
 one occasion he and his guide had to sleep all night in pour- 
 ing rain under the shelter of some friendly rocks. The picture 
 he gives of the agricultural state of the county is not without 
 considerable interest, if only that we may contrast it with the 
 state of things at the present day. 
 
 After a general description of the county, its divisions, 
 climate, and soil, Dr Robertson takes up and discusses the 
 possibility of cultivating the moors which have a favourable 
 climate — " the low-lying ground covered with a short heath, 
 which grows upon a thin stratum of peat-earth, with a subsoil 
 of gravel or till." These moors he found both numerous 
 and extensive, and he believed them to be capable of being 
 brought under cultivation. He specifies particularly those on 
 the sides of the Lochy and the Spean rivers ; the low ground 
 between Loch Oich and Fort Augustus ; at the entrance into 
 Urquhart from Invermoriston ; above Loch Meikle in the 
 Braes of Urquhart ; at the western entrance into the Aird ; 
 betwixt the church of Kiltarlity and the house of Beaufort, a 
 most inviting plot of ground just at the proprietor's door; 
 betwixt Inverness and the nearest end of Loch Ness ; in the 
 parish of Croy, the extensive moor of CuUoden, and west- 
 ward to Stratherrick, and many miles in that strath and in 
 Strathnairn. Many of the moors he mentions are now cul- 
 tivated, others remain still as they were. At Cantray great 
 improvements were already in progress, " affording ocular and 
 decisive evidence of what can be made of such moors, to 
 
A SCHEME OF RECLAMATION. 26/ 
 
 what account they may be turned, and what beauty our 
 other black and barren spots may by human industry be 
 made to display." The reporter believed that when ren- 
 dered productive they would support two-fifths of the present 
 population. 
 
 Of the deep mosses that abound in the county he was not 
 so hopeful, though he was sanguine enough to believe that 
 even they might be so treated as to furnish a good return for 
 money laid out upon them ; and he mentions the fact that 
 Colonel Fraser of Belladrum had a deep moss at the time 
 under a state of progressive improvement. 
 
 Of the proprietors of Inverness-shire he formed a high 
 opinion, both as to their intelligence and their desire to benefit 
 their tenantry : " They were distinguished no less by their im- 
 proved talents and the politeness of their manners than by the 
 opulence of their fortunes. For the most part they have filled 
 high oflSces in the army, and now enjoy rural ease, equally 
 respected by their sovereign and beloved by their country. 
 They were full of desire to cultivate and adorn their proper- 
 ties." He divides the proprietors into five classes. There 
 were five with estates exceeding ^3000 Scots valuation, three 
 with estates from _;^iooo to ;^3ooo, twelve from ;^4oo to 
 ;^iooo, seventeen from ^100 to ^^400, and seven under 
 ;^ioo. This shows that a considerable portion of the county 
 had been broken up into properties of more moderate size 
 than those of the old feudal chiefs, many of whom still con- 
 tinued to reside in the county. 
 
 The land-tenures were of three kinds : Baronial rights, which 
 were reserved by ancient families over their vassals under the 
 name of superiorities ; twenty-six estates which were held of 
 the Crown, and acknowledged no superiors ; and a third class 
 held of a subject upon condition of paying a stipulated feu- 
 duty in money, victual, or other articles. Wadsets, which 
 
268 STATE OF DWELLINGS. 
 
 at one period were numerous, had become almost extinct, 
 and had been changed into ordinary leases. 
 
 The houses of the proprietors were large and elegant, and 
 generally of modern construction ; but Castle Grant in Strath- 
 spey, and The Chisholm's castle at the confluence of the 
 Glass and the Farrar, were of older date, and instead of 
 being deserted, which is the fate of many others, were in 
 high repair, enlarged and ornamented. The farmhouses and 
 offices were not so admirable. Those dwelling-houses built 
 for gentlemen or the wealthier sort of tenants were well con- 
 structed and substantially built, but those of the poorer tenants 
 were in most places " mean beyond description. The inhabi- 
 tants were too poor for the most part to build them properly, 
 and the landlord cared nothing about the matter, his only 
 object being to gratify the cravings of luxury and to secure 
 his rent." 
 
 Wherever good houses were built for the accommodation of 
 the farmer's family, the offices were in the same style of ex- 
 cellence. There was hardly a district of the county where a 
 certain number of these were not to be found, in some more, 
 in others less. The offices attached to the proprietors' houses 
 were for the most part excellent, and those of Newton and 
 Belladrum receive special commendation. Those of the farms 
 were very indifferent. " The fact is," says Dr Robertson, " and 
 it must give pain to a feeling heart, that there is too great an 
 interval between the higher and the lower order of tenantry. 
 The former are very comfortable in all their accommoda- 
 tions, very intelligent in their conversation, polite in their 
 manners, and hospitable in their houses ; the latter are de- 
 prived of these comforts, but have an understanding to dis- 
 cern and an acuteness to feel their wretchedness, which fills 
 them with anguish." 
 
 The methods of farming were not such as generally com- 
 
AN ANCIENT SYSTEM OF FARMING. 269 
 
 mended themselves to Dr Robertson. A number of farmers 
 working together about the same ploughgate of land, their 
 houses huddled together in the same group, all their ground 
 in alternate ridges, and their possessions without enclosures, 
 betokened, in his opinion, a low state of agriculture. From 
 this condition the southern counties had emerged, but in 
 Inverness-shire much remained to be done to change this 
 feudal aspect of the county. In many parts the change from 
 alternate ridges, called runrig, had only been lately introduced. 
 In some places it had not been yet adopted ; and in one dis- 
 trict the practice from time immemorial had been for every 
 farmer to hold his share of infield during a very limited period, 
 generally three years, which then passed into the possession of 
 another. The denominations of outfield and infield still pre- 
 vailed over one-half of the arable land of the county. The 
 outfields were manured by the dung of the cattle confined in 
 folds overnight during the summer and autumn, and then 
 cropped while the land could produce any grain. The infields 
 got all the house-dung, and were cropped alternately with 
 barley and oats, or frequently with two crops of oats after the 
 barley. According to this ancient system all the contiguous 
 tenants of the same landlord used their hill-grass in common 
 through the whole year. 
 
 Our agriculturist deeply deplored this primitive system of 
 farming, though it was some comfort to him that in a few 
 districts the "dawn of improvement" had begun to ap- 
 pear. It certainly was very faint yet, but his hope was 
 that when the light of knowledge in rural affairs began to 
 be diffused things might become greatly changed for the 
 better. 
 
 There were at this time four classes of farmers in the 
 county. A few, but very few, were technical-bred farmers who 
 had been regularly instructed in farming from their youth. 
 
270 MORAL CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 and who followed no other employment. A second class 
 consisted of gentlemen who had no landed property, but 
 who took farms partly for pleasure and partly for profit. 
 Many of them had been in the army and navy, and wished 
 to pass the remainder of their time in the enjoyment of the 
 pleasures of rural life. The most numerous class by far 
 were those whose fathers and grandfathers for generations 
 followed the plough. Having never left their native country, 
 nor seen the practice of agriculture superior to their own, 
 they seldom or never attempted to improve their farms 
 or amend their circumstances. Besides these classes there 
 were others who possessed an arable farm in one district 
 and a grazing in another. Such men were of an active and 
 enterprising disposition. 
 
 Dr Robertson speaks highly of the moral character of the 
 people. It had greatly improved. The crimes of bloodshed, 
 rapine, and plunder carried on during the feuds of former 
 ages were never heard of. The domestic and social virtues 
 were now revered and cultivated by all ranks, and the comforts 
 of life were enjoyed by the higher orders as much as in any 
 country. Even the condition of the lower ranks in these 
 respects was never so happy, " were it not the frenzy which 
 had seized the common people to emigrate." The law was 
 everywhere dominant. Single individuals travelled unarmed 
 in all directions throughout the Highlands to purchase cattle, 
 with thousands of pounds in their pockets, without dread or 
 annoyance. 
 
 Rents had risen considerably. Near the county town, 
 where ground was measured and for the most part enclosed, 
 land which was formerly let at p<^i sterling per acre yielded a 
 rent of ^4. The pasture of a full-grown sheep in the grazing 
 district, which formerly used to be valued at is., was esti- 
 mated at 3s. or 4s. In the best cultivated provinces, from 
 
CONDITION OF THE POOR. 27 1 
 
 the head of the Beauly river along the coast to Fort George, 
 the rent of farms in general was from ;^io to _;^2oo. In 
 some places of Strath Lochy, Glen Spean, and Badenoch, 
 where the arable and grazing systems were combined and 
 the farms extensive, the disproportion in the size of farms 
 was carried a greater length, the rents of the great tacksmen 
 being higher in proportion to that of the small tenants in 
 their neighbourhood. While the former paid from ^^300 to 
 ;^5oo, the rents of the latter ran from ^^5 to ^20. 
 
 There was no such thing as poor-rates. The poor were 
 provided for from the charitable collections of the people 
 at church, the interest of sums bequeathed for their use by 
 pious and wealthy persons, occasional donations by benevolent 
 people, certain dues for the proclamation of banns, fines for 
 breaches of decorum, and the charge for use of the mortcloth 
 at funerals. Those funds were managed by the minister of the 
 parish and his elders under the control of the heritors of the 
 parish. The poor had an honest pride and reluctance to 
 accept alms. Many of them preferred to suffer the most 
 terrible distress, to the very danger of perishing, rather than 
 become mendicants. In Dr Robertson's travels through In- 
 verness-shire not more than ten beggars solicited charity from 
 him on the public road. 
 
 The duration of leases in the county differed in various 
 districts and estates. Some were of only seven years' dura- 
 tion, while others were prolonged to thirty. Nineteen years 
 was more general than any other term, and that mostly on 
 grazing possessions. The greater part of the small tenants 
 had no leases. The landlords of the estates believed the 
 people would be more submissive in such dependence than if 
 their possessions were warranted by a valid agreement for a 
 term of years. 
 
 The implements of husbandry were for the most part of a 
 
2/2 PRIMITIVE IMPLEMENTS. 
 
 primitive character. In the western part of the county the 
 caschrom, or spade with the crooked handle, was in general use. 
 Harrows with wooden teeth ; cart-wheels unshod with iron ; 
 tumblers, currans or currachs, to carry home corn and hay ; 
 baskets for carrying out dung, another kind of basket for 
 carrying home peats ; sledges for particular carriages, and 
 many instruments of the same rude construction, were used 
 in various districts of the county. On gentlemen's farms 
 harrows for breaking coarse ground, drill-barrows, threshing- 
 machines, and carts of various construction, might be found ; 
 but very few of the common tenantry showed any inclination 
 to adopt the style of dressing their ground which rendered 
 these implements necessary. Horses or oxen were employed 
 promiscuously in the plough; sometimes as many as eight 
 oxen were yoked to one plough. 
 
 Potatoes were extensively cultivated, and every householder, 
 from the highest to the lowest orders of the people, had 
 potatoes for his family. On the west coast the seaware was 
 collected most industriously, for the purpose of manuring. 
 Wheat was grown to some small extent, chiefly in the parish 
 of Kirkhill. In the Aird a few beans were cultivated. 
 At Keppoch Mr Macdonald had an excellent crop of peas, 
 and at Aberchalder, near Loch Oich, and in general east 
 from the great valley of the Caledonian Canal except Bade- 
 noch, pease constituted a part of the farmer's crop. Barley 
 or here was generally sown. Of all the grains, oats were by 
 far the most abundant. Flax was not much cultivated except 
 in Badenoch. Turnips were grown, and every person who 
 wished to be thought an improver of land sowed more or less 
 field turnips. Rye was cultivated in a few districts, and the 
 poor, who adhered to old modes of farming, sowed a good 
 deal when they despaired of the land making any return even 
 in oats. 
 
DOMESTIC MANUFACTURES. 273 
 
 The planting of trees had made great progress. The 
 planted firs and larches of Strathspey, besides the natural 
 firs, were supposed to extend over 7000 acres, and at Kin- 
 rara, Invereshie, Belville, Cluny, and other parts of Badenoch, 
 and in many other places, plantations were both extensive and 
 thriving. 
 
 Sheep, as we have seen, were largely bred. The old in- 
 digenous sheep — small, fine-wooUed, and altogether white — 
 were very numerous. Stocks of Cheviot sheep were gaining 
 ground, introduced by the sheep-farmers from the South who 
 had taken up the cleared grounds. 
 
 There was no regular deer-forest in all the county when 
 Dr Robertson made his survey, except that of Lochiel. The 
 great forest of Gaick, the property of the Duke of Gordon, 
 had been lately dismantled and turned into a sheep-walk. 
 
 Kelp was largely made on the coast, and brought in a large 
 revenue. Public manufactures were inconsiderable. But the 
 domestic manufacture of the county was large. Upwards 
 of 60,000 of the inhabitants out of a population of 74,000 
 might be said to be clothed by their home-spun and home- 
 wrought stuffs of various kinds. 
 
 The principal village in the county was Maryburgh, or, as 
 it is now called. Fort WiUiam. It contained about 2000 souls, 
 and, owing to the dispossession of the people in the adjacent 
 Highlands, its population was growing. The houses were built 
 on feus from the Duke of Gordon, and many of them were 
 two storeys high. The village of Campbeltown, near Fort 
 George, was next in importance. Its population was about 
 350. Kingussie was a village lately begun in Badenoch, and 
 promised to rise fast into consequence owing to the en- 
 couragement given to settlers and "the richness of the ad- 
 jacent country." A village had also been established at 
 Beauly by Mr Fraser of Lovat. The tenements were not feus, 
 
 s 
 
274 THRIVING VILLAGES. 
 
 but given under a contract of thirty-eight years for £,2, 8s. of 
 yearly rent. Such villages as these, Dr Robertson hoped, 
 would be largely planted throughout the county, especially 
 along the line of the Caledonian Canal, then being made, and 
 on the coast, where the poorest person able to work for his 
 bread might find an asylum ; and he points to the village of 
 Grantown to show what might be effected in this way. In 
 this village were more than 200 families, tradesmen of various 
 kinds, shops well furnished, schools, and a post-office. 
 
 Altogether, the impression we derive from the report we 
 have so largely drawn upon is that Inverness-shire, though 
 extremely primitive in regard to its agriculture, was being at 
 the beginning of the present century very considerably im- 
 proved. Changes of a progressive nature had already com- 
 menced. New methods were being imported from the South, 
 and the county was becoming gradually assimilated in regard 
 to agriculture with the rest of Scotland — a process which has 
 gone on from that time to the present day. 
 
 It is interesting to contrast a careful report on the agri- 
 culture of the county made in our own day with that made in 
 the early days of the century, such as we have had under 
 review. In 1872 the Highland and Agricultural Society of 
 Scotland published an elaborate essay on the agriculture of 
 Inverness-shire by Mr William Macdonald, a gentleman con- 
 versant with such matters. It is quite as carefully done as 
 that by Dr Robertson, and the comparison of the two is 
 instructive. There has been no material change since Mr 
 Macdonald wrote. He shows that agriculture in various ways 
 has made considerable progress in Inverness-shire since the 
 beginning of the present century, and especially since 1845. 
 The population of the county has been on the decrease since 
 1 84 1, while, on the other hand, the rental has increased 
 immensely. The total rental, which in 1674 was only 
 
MR MACDONALD'S REPORT. 275 
 
 ;^6o99, in 1871-72 was ^296,353, i8s. sd. In 1895-96 
 it was ;^32 7,979. This increase, however, has been in great 
 part owing to the large amount of property used for grouse- 
 shootings and deer-forests. The number of landed pro- 
 prietors had also increased. In 1808 the number of landed 
 proprietors whose rents amounted to ;^ioo and upwards 
 yearly was eighty-three ; there are now more than a hundred 
 such landowners in the county. 
 
 The most extensive, and at the same time most rugged, 
 mountainous, and unproductive portion of Inverness-shire is 
 still, as it was when Dr Robertson wrote, the district lying to 
 the south-west of the Caledonian Canal. On the parishes 
 of Inverness, Petty, Ardersier, Dores, Kirkhill, Kilmorack, 
 and Kiltarlity, Inverness - shire mainly depends for its agri- 
 cultural reputation. 
 
 Good commodious slated farm - steadings, Mr Macddnald 
 shows, have increased considerably year by year. Offices 
 and houses of modern construction are everywhere taking the 
 place of old hovels. In some cases the tenant has improved 
 his buildings without the assistance of the laird. In the 
 majority of instances the proprietor defrayed the cost, the 
 tenant commonly paying 5 or 6 per cent interest per annum. 
 In the uplands of Inverness-shire the inhabited houses re- 
 main still of a primitive nature. In Badenoch, and especi- 
 ally in the Laggan district, not only the huts in which the 
 cattle are sheltered, but also the dwelling-houses of some of 
 the people, are constructed of at least three parts of turf. In 
 the West Highlands it is no rarity to meet with the kitchen, 
 parlour, bedrooms, byre, barn, stable, pigsty, and poultry- 
 house all under one roof and in a very small compass. 
 
 Leases have been very generally given since 1830. All 
 except the mere crofters rejoice in the privilege, and some of 
 those on the mainland have received a five, ten, or fourteen 
 
276 AGRICULTURAL IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 years' lease, and are increasing their cultivated possessions. 
 The most common duration of lease is nineteen years. 
 
 The five-shift course of cropping is most common and 
 most popular in the county, though there are rather more 
 leases than there are farmers working the five-shift course. 
 The principal proprietors, as a rule, specify the five -shift 
 course in their leases, but they do not enforce it in every 
 case. When the soil and other circumstances demand a 
 deviation from this rule the landlord sometimes gives way, 
 and allows the tenant to adopt the course which experience 
 points out as the best calculated to secure the heaviest crops 
 without deteriorating the condition of the soil. 
 
 In no department of agriculture has Inverness-shire made 
 more progress than in implements for tillage. Twenty-five 
 years before Mr Macdonald's survey there was scarcely what 
 could be called a good plough in the county, there were few 
 grubbers, and not very many drill-ploughs. These and other 
 improved implements are everywhere to be met with. Carts 
 have generally taken the place of the old " back-creels." The 
 number of threshing-machines is every year increasing. 
 
 In the lowland and middle parishes of the county much 
 waste land has been brought under cultivation. In 1854 
 the total arable acreage amounted to 44,242. In 1869 the 
 acreage under all kinds of crop was 80,174 ; in 1870, 83,061 
 acres. Surface -draining has been largely executed in Bade- 
 noch, Lochaber, Glenelg, Glengarry, and other high parts 
 of the county, with a view to improve the sheep -pasture. 
 Many miles of stone dikes have been erected, chiefly in the 
 lower districts, while wire - fencing is everywhere to be met 
 with. 
 
 The planting of trees has gone on rapidly. Since 1845 
 in Strathspey alone several thousands of acres have been 
 planted. Along the route of the Caledonian Canal, and in 
 
DECLINE OF THE KELP INDUSTRY. 277 
 
 the valleys of Glengarry, Glenurquhart, and Glenmoriston, 
 the landscape has been beautified by large plantations. Be- 
 tween 1845 and 1872 the area planted is estimated at 
 15,000 acres. 
 
 The kelp industry has entirely ceased. It formerly was 
 a source of great wealth to the proprietors of the west coast, 
 and Clanranald is said to have derived an income of ;^3o,ooo 
 a-year from the manufacture. Owing to the abolition of the 
 tax on Spanish barilla in 1823 it could no longer be carried 
 on at a profit, and its cessation reduced many of the proprietors 
 from comparative affluence to poverty. 
 
 The exaction of poor-rates is another feature in which 
 the Inverness-shire of to-day differs from the Inverness-shire 
 surveyed by Dr Robertson. In all the parishes an assess- 
 ment is now made for the support of the poor. The average 
 assessment per pound made in 1896 in the parishes was 
 IS. 7j^d. In one of the parishes of the mainland it was 
 as high as 2 s. 4d. per pound. The old independent spirit 
 which refused public support is wellnigh extinct. Relief is 
 not received as a gratuity, but claimed as a right. 
 
 Wheat is largely sown in the Aird and Beauly districts. 
 The average yield in some of these districts is occasionally 
 40 bushels per acre. The county also grows good bere 
 and barley, and under these commodities there is more 
 than triple the area that is set down as wheat-producing. 
 As an oat -growing county Inverness -shire has gready im- 
 proved, and takes a fair position in Scotland, The area 
 under oats is the largest north of Banff"shire. Turnips are 
 generally grown, the area under this crop being about 9 per 
 cent of the ground under rotation. There is no county in 
 Scotland that has a higher percentage of its arable land allot- 
 ted to potatoes than Inverness-shire. 
 
 Great attention has been paid to the breeding of cattle, of 
 
278 DEER-FORESTS. 
 
 which every variety is to be found within the limits of the 
 county. Sheep-farming has been brought to great perfection, 
 perhaps more than in any other part of Scotland. 
 
 There is one great change that has taken place in Inver- 
 ness-shire since the beginning of the century. Then sheep 
 were taking the place of the inhabitants, but now to a large 
 extent sheep have been dispossessed by deer. The greater 
 part of the hill-grounds of Inverness-shire have been made 
 deer-forests. At the time of Dr Robertson's survey there 
 was, as we have seen, only one regular forest. In the year 
 in which we write there are thirty-nine. In 1871 the ap- 
 proximate yearly rental of the deer-forests on the mainland 
 of Inverness-shire was ;^i2,57i. In 1896 it was ;^37,ooo. 
 This foresting of the county has immensely increased the 
 value of property ; and if it has put money into the pockets 
 of the proprietors, it has also in many ways benefited the 
 people. Into the economic question of sheep versus deer 
 we are not called upon to enter. 
 
 Whilst in its agricultural affairs Inverness-shire has pro- 
 gressed during the present century, it has specially done so in 
 connection with a cognate subject, the education and general 
 enlightenment of the people. Shaw, the historian of Moray, 
 born upwards of two hundred years ago, and educated at 
 Ruthven, Kingussie, says in his History : " I well remember 
 when from Speymouth (through Strathspey, Badenoch, and 
 Lochaber) to Lorn there was but one school — namely, at 
 Ruthven in Badenoch, and it was much to find in a parish 
 three persons who could read or write." Things were better 
 at the beginning of the present century ; for in addition to the 
 ordinary parochial schools, many schools had been planted by 
 the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge throughout 
 the county. Still the educational condition of the people was 
 
EDUCATIONAL ADVANCE. 279 
 
 very backward. In 1826, according to statistics carefully 
 prepared by the " Inverness Society for the Education of 
 the Poor," there were within the bounds of the Presbytery 
 of Inverness 377 families in which no person could read ; 
 within those of the Presbytery of Abernethy 59 families ; 
 within those of the Presbytery of Abertarff 86. There is 
 probably to-day no person within these districts who cannot 
 read and write. 
 
 Educational advance has been gradual. With the exception 
 of the parochial schools, there were previous to 1843 very few 
 schools of an efificient character. Here and there was" to be 
 seen the school of a Society for Propagating Christian Know- 
 ledge, of a Gaelic Society, or other school maintained by the 
 Church, where pupils were taught to read, write, and cipher. 
 Lads desirous of advancing beyond that stage had to attend a 
 parish school, and in order to do that not a few walked great 
 distances, sometimes eight miles, with the usual peat under 
 their arm, which was sorely needed to heat the clay-floored 
 room. A considerable number of teachers were licentiates of 
 the Church, and scholarly men, during the first forty years of 
 the present century. Although unable to instruct satisfactorily 
 all the pupils under their charge — a number which by modern 
 regulations would require two or three teachers — they in- 
 variably paid great attention to pupils of "pregnant pairts," 
 not a few of whom went in those days direct from our country 
 parish schools to the universities. 
 
 The Disruption of 1843 left a majority of the parish 
 churches vacant. The filling up of these created vacancies in 
 not a few schools, and it was found difficult to supply the 
 places of the teachers who had got parish churches. The 
 result was that men much inferior in scholarship and culture 
 succeeded them, and the cause of education suffered. After 
 the Free Church was supplied with places of worship it com- 
 
28o THE EDUCATION ACT OF 1872. 
 
 menced the erection of school buildings, but unfortunately, 
 in many instances, placed them in the vicinity of the parish 
 schools, and so limited their usefulness. 
 
 The passing of the Education Act in 1872 proved a great 
 boon to the county. Schools are now placed within easy 
 reach of most of the children, the few exceptions being the 
 children of shepherds and gamekeepers in the outlying glens. 
 New schools have been built in all the districts of the county, 
 which are a great contrast to those by which they were pre- 
 ceded. We remember a schoolhouse midway between Dal- 
 whinnie and Newtonmore which was in existence thirty years 
 ago, and was a type of many in the county. The walls and 
 roof were formed of turf. The fire was in the centre of the 
 room. There was no chimney. The rents in the walls and a 
 single broken four-paned window competed with a hole in the 
 roof for the exit of the peat-smoke. There was a single desk, 
 at which only three out of twenty pupils could write at a time. 
 Instead of such buildings there are now substantial, well-venti- 
 lated schoolrooms, with comfortable dwelling-houses for the 
 teachers, throughout the mainland of Inverness-shire. 
 
 Towards the erection of sixty-eight schools and dwellings, 
 containing accommodation for 6103 pupils, _^52,47i, 14s. sd. 
 was paid by the Education Department soon after the passing 
 of the Act to the school boards in building grants, a sum 
 equal to ^8, iis. 6d. per sitting. About ^20,000 additional 
 was borrowed from the Government for school building pur- 
 poses at moderate interest, which amount will be almost all 
 repaid — capital and interest — in about fourteen years. The 
 teaching in those schools has been annually improving, and 
 is now, with ,1 few exceptions, excellent. Since the Trust for 
 Education in the Highlands and Islands commenced paying 
 grants of 5s. to teachers for passes made by their senior pupils 
 in Gaelic reading, more attention has been paid to Gaelic in 
 
SECONDARY EDUCATION. 28 1 
 
 several of the schools, and a considerable number of the children 
 are now able to read the Scriptures in that language to parents 
 and grandparents who cannot do so themselves. 
 
 ■Secondary education has been greatly encouraged during the 
 last four years by the appointment of Secondary Education 
 or County Committees, and the grants paid by Government to 
 these committees. The scheme of the Inverness-shire County 
 Committee is acknowledged to be one of the best in operation 
 in Scotland, and has worked well to promote the object in 
 view. Besides allowing grants for merit and leaving certificates 
 to the managers of any schools in which these certificates may 
 be gained, it allows grants of ^40 to each of the six following 
 schools on the mainland : Fort William, Glenurquhart, Beauly, 
 Abernethy, Gorgask in Laggan, and Kingussie. The last has 
 become famous as a central school in gaining university leaving- 
 certificates, and for the number of pupils it annually sends 
 direct to the Scottish universities. 
 
 This chapter has been in the main statistical. What has 
 been said, however, may be sufficient to show that, both in 
 regard to the cultivation of the soil and the cultivation of the 
 mind, much has been effected since the beginning of the 
 century. The Inverness-shire peasant knows how to till his 
 land on the most approved methods, and when his day's toil 
 is over he can improve his mind in a manner utterly unknown 
 to his forefathers. The newspaper published in Glasgow or 
 Edinburgh reaches all except the most outlying parts of Inver- 
 ness-shire on the same day on which it leaves the press. The 
 crofter in his hut is as conversant with the news of the day 
 and the politics of the time as the laird in his mansion. 
 There are few visitors to the county on purposes either of 
 business or amusement who have not been struck by the 
 intelligence and culture possessed by many in the humblest 
 ranks of its people. 
 
282 HIGH STANDARD OF MORALITY. 
 
 The rural population in Inverness-shire, it may be also 
 added, maintain a high standard so far as morals are con- 
 cerned, and the quarterly returns of the Registrar-General in- 
 variably show the illegitimacy rate in the county to be among 
 the lowest in Scotland. The people are strictly attentive to 
 the outward duties of religion, and are regular in their at- 
 tendance on its ministrations. In few parts of Scotland are 
 the churches to which the bulk of the people belong— 
 Protestant and Catholic — more regularly attended. 
 
283 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DISTINGUISHED MEN OF INVEENESS-SHIKE IN CIVIL LIFE— NOT SO MANY AS 
 IN OTHER COUNTIES, OWING TO THE LONG YEARS OF TURBULENCE 
 THROUGH WHICH OUR COUNTY PASSED— DUNCAN FORBES OF CULLODEN 
 — HIS FAMILY AND EARLY EDUCATION — JOINS THE SCOTTISH BAR — 
 MADE SHERIFF OF MID-LOTHIAN— MARRIES— TAKES THE SIDE OF THE 
 GOVERNMENT IN THE RISING IN 1715- PLEADS WARMLY THE CAUSE OF 
 THOSE FORFEITED — RETURNED TO PARLIAMENT FOR THE INVERNESS 
 BURGHS — HIS LITERARY WORKS — APPOINTED PRESIDENT OF THE COURT 
 OF SESSION — HIS GREAT INFLUENCE IN BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 
 IN 174s — HIS EFFORTS UNREWARDED BY THE AUTHORITIES — HIS DEATH 
 —CHARLES GRANT, A STATESMAN AND PHILANTHROPIST— HIS BIRTH 
 AND EARLY YEARS — GOES TO INDIA — HIS CAREER THERE — THE CHAR- 
 ACTER OF HIS POLICY — BECOMES A DIRECTOR OF THE EAST INDIA 
 COMPANY — HIS SERVICES IN ITS BEHALF — HIS ASSOCIATION WITH 
 WILBERFORCE — HIS ENDEAVOURS TO PROMOTE THE WELFARE OF THE 
 HIGHLANDS — HIS DEATH — HIS DISTINGUISHED SONS — THE RIGHT HON. 
 SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH — HIS BIRTH AND EDUCATION — BECOMES A 
 DOCTOR OF MEDICINE — AFTERWARDS JOINS THE ENGLISH BAR— HIS 
 DEFENCE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION — BECOMES RECORDER OF BOM- 
 BAY — RETURNS HOME AFTER A PERIOD OF SERVICE — ENTERS PARLIA- 
 MENT — MADE A PRIVY COUNCILLOR, ALSO A PROFESSOR OF LAW AND 
 LORD RECTOR OF GLASGOW UNIVERSITY — HIS LITERARY AND PHILO- 
 SOPHICAL CELEBRITY — HIS DEATH — ^JAMES MACPHERSON, BORN AT RUTH- 
 VEN— STUDIES FOR THE MINISTRY — PUBLISHES FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT 
 POETRY — MAKES A JOURNEY OF LITERARY RESEARCH IN THE HIGH- 
 LANDS — PUBLISHES 'OSSIAN' — THE GREAT CONTROVERSY THAT EN- 
 SUED—MADE GOVERNOR OF PENSACOLA — APPOINTED AGENT FOR THE 
 NABOB OF ARCOT — SETTLES IN BADENOCH — DIES THERE, AND IS 
 BURIED IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY — OTHER DISTINGUISHED MEN — THEIR 
 LIVES AND LABOURS SKETCHED — GRANT OF COREYMONY — ERASER OF 
 REELICK— JOHN F. M'LENNAN — THE LITERARY SPIRIT OF INVERNESS 
 —ROBERT CARRUTHERS AND THE ' INVERNESS COURIER ' — MODERN 
 LITERARY MEN OF THE COUNTY— THE GREAT LAWYERS PRODUCED BY 
 IT— ITS THEOLOGICAL POVERTY — DISTINGUISHED CATHOLIC DIVINES. 
 
 Inverness - SHIRE was for centuries a county of soldiers. 
 With the exception of the peace-loving citizens of the burgh, 
 
284 DISTINGUISHED MEN OF THE COUNTY. 
 
 few could rise to distinction except in warfare. In other parts 
 of Scotland there were many avenues by which men could 
 attain celebrity. In our county there was but one. It was not 
 till long after 1745, when the last vestiges of the feudal system 
 had passed away, that Inverness - shire men began in any 
 numbers to be distinguished in any profession other than that 
 of arms. Though the county has not for this reason contrib- 
 uted anything like the same proportion of outstanding men 
 to the civil walks of life with some other counties of Scot- 
 land, it yet has given some whose names take high place in 
 history, and whose career may be properly noticed in these 
 pages. 
 
 Perhaps the greatest man, taking all things into considera- 
 tion, that Inverness-shire has produced is Duncan Forbes 
 of CuUoden. Bishop Warburton calls him "one of the 
 greatest men that Scotland ever bred as a judge, a patriot, 
 and a Christian." This is high praise, and justly bestowed. 
 Forbes exercised much influence in his time, and had it not 
 been for his great exertions the Jacobite rising in '45 might 
 have had a very different result. He may, indeed, be said to 
 have saved the Hanoverian throne. Forbes was the second 
 son of the proprietor of the estate of CuUoden, and was born 
 at Bunchrew, another estate belonging to the family, on the 
 loth November 1685. His family had come from the South 
 in the seventeenth century ; one of them had been Provost of 
 Inverness. They were strong Presbyterians, and active friends 
 of revolution principles. His father, Duncan Forbes, was 
 member in the Scottish Parliament for the county of Nairn. 
 His mother was Mary Innes, a daughter of the Laird of Innes, 
 a Morayshire baronet. Forbes, after obtaining his early edu- 
 cation at Inverness, was sent to the University of Edinburgh 
 when nineteen years of age. His father died the same year. 
 
DUNCAN FORBES OF CULLODEN. 285 
 
 and was succeeded in his estates by his son John, the elder 
 brother of the subject of our sketch. From Edinburgh 
 Forbes went to Leyden, in Holland, where he studied law 
 and oriental languages. He returned home from Holland 
 after two years, passed as an advocate in Edinburgh, through 
 the influence of the Duke of Argyll was appointed Sheriff 
 of Mid-Lothian, and married Mary, a daughter of Mr Rose 
 of Kilravock. The rising under the Earl of Mar brought 
 him into prominent notice. With his elder brother he was 
 actively engaged in the civil war in Inverness-shire, and was 
 in close association with Simon, Lord Lovat, in the task of 
 suppressing the insurrection. When that had been achieved 
 — greatly through his exertions — he used his utmost en- 
 deavours to obtain the clemency of the Crown for his 
 unfortunate countrymen. He showed kindness in mitigating 
 the fate of the wretched prisoners, who were treated with 
 the utmost rigour by the Government. He collected money 
 for their defence, and publicly remonstrated with the authorities 
 for the cruelty they displayed. Some time after, he proposed 
 the plan, afterwards adopted by Pitt, by which their forfeited 
 estates were restored to the chiefs, and by which the people 
 were employed as soldiers in the service of the country. 
 It would have been well for Inverness -shire if his humane 
 views had been carried out when in after days a conquered 
 and defenceless people were left at the mercy of the victors. 
 The insurrection being overcome, he pleaded that it was not 
 the way to make the Scottish Jacobites peaceful and contented 
 subjects to execute until the hangman was exhausted, and to 
 proscribe for ever as outcasts those who were spared from 
 death. With solemn earnestness he showed that extirpation, 
 if it be sharper and more horrible, is a more effective remedy 
 than proscription, and in the end not so cruel. "If," he 
 says, "all the rebels, with their wives and children, could be at 
 
286 ELECTED LORD ADVOCATE. 
 
 once rooted from the earth, the shock would be astonishing ; 
 but time would commit it to oblivion, and the danger would 
 be less to the constitution than when thousands of inno- 
 cents, punished with misery and want for the offences of 
 their friends, are suffered to wander about the country sigh- 
 ing out their complaints to heaven, and drawing at once 
 the compassion and moving the indignation of every human 
 creature." 
 
 In 1722 Forbes was returned to Parliament as member for 
 the Inverness district of Burghs, and three years afterwards 
 he was raised to the office of Lord Advocate. While in 
 Parliament, he was on intimate terms with Sir Horace Walpole 
 and with Lords Mansfield and Hardwicke, and was a member 
 of the Literary Society, adorned by Swift, Pope, and other 
 intellectual celebrities of the time. In 1734 his elder brother 
 John died, and he succeeded to the family estates. He re- 
 sided at Culloden as often as his public duties would ad- 
 mit, and made an admirable laird, doing much to improve 
 his property and to promote the happiness of his tenants. 
 He also made contributions to theological literature. In 
 1732 he pubhshed 'A Letter to a Bishop concerning some 
 Discoveries in Philosophy and Theology,' a book of no great 
 merit in itself, but which was much thought of at the time 
 and passed through three editions. In 1735 he wrote a 
 book more ambitious in its character, called ' Some Thoughts 
 concerning Religion natural and revealed, and the manner 
 of understanding Revelation,' tending to show that Chris- 
 tianity is indeed nearly as old as the Creation. These 
 treatises were very popular, and are evidences of the deep 
 piety of their writer — a piety we of our day find diflScult alto- 
 gether to reconcile with his conviviality. He was a hard 
 drinker, and the libations of claret at Culloden were even 
 in his time famous throughout the North. 
 
PRESIDENT OF THE COURT OF SESSION. 287 
 
 In 1737 Forbes was appointed President of the Court 
 of Session, the highest ofSce to which a Scottish lawyer can 
 aspire. He was much respected as a judge, and filled his 
 position with dignity and ability, raising the court Over 
 which he presided to a state of efficiency it has never sur- 
 passed. A very fine portrait statue in marble of Forbes, 
 attributed to Roubillac, is one of the chief ornaments of the 
 Hall of the Parliament House in Edinburgh. 
 
 The rising of the '45 brought the President into great 
 prominence, and he will always be remembered chiefly for 
 the ability he displayed at that critical juncture. He had 
 a warm sympathy with the Highlanders, and did all in his 
 power to keep them from being tempted to break with the 
 Government. On hearing of the landing of Prince Charles 
 he at once set off to Inverness. He was intimately ac- 
 quainted with the Northern chiefs, and his talents and emi- 
 nent position gave him weight and influence even among the 
 turbulent spirits of the Jacobites. His whole efforts were put 
 forth to keep the clans from joining in the rising. Through 
 his influence the great Skye clans of Macdonald and Macleod, 
 who could have brought to the standard of the Prince 8000 
 men, were kept at home. He also kept the clans of Ross- 
 shire from taking the field. For a length of time anything 
 done in Scotland to save the country to the reigning family 
 was the work of Forbes. For weeks he concentrated in him- 
 self the whole elements of government in the North. "I 
 found myself," he says, describing his position at the time, 
 " almost alone : without troops, without arms, wthout money 
 or credit; provided with no means to prevent extreme folly 
 except pen and ink, a tongue, and some reputation, and if you 
 except Macleod, whom I sent for from the Isle of Skye, sup- 
 ported by no man of common-sense or courage." With the 
 resources at his command he certainly worked wonders. 
 
200 CHARLES GRANT, 
 
 His great efforts in the Hanoverian cause were unrewarded. 
 His gentle spirit was lacerated by the memorable cruelties 
 which followed the battle of Culloden. His endeavours on 
 behalf of his suffering countrymen were treated with con- 
 tempt. The money he had raised on his own responsibility 
 to meet the emergency was never repaid. No gratitude was 
 ever expressed for his energetic and indomitable efforts. The 
 treatment he received so preyed upon his mind that it is 
 said to have hastened his death. He died on the loth 
 December 1747, pressed by creditors whose claims he was 
 unable to meet, but leaving a name which is held in greater 
 honour by none than by his own countrymen of the North. 
 
 Charles Grant was, like Forbes, a statesman and a phil- 
 anthropist, though his energies were exerted in a wider 
 sphere. He was born at Aldourie, in the parish of Dores, 
 on the i6th April 1746, the memorable day on which the 
 battle of Culloden was fought. A few hours after his birth 
 his father, Alexander, was killed on the fatal field fighting for 
 Prince Charles. Grant received his education in Elgin, and 
 in 1767 proceeded to India in a military capacity, but on his 
 arrival was taken into the employ of Mr Richard Becher, a 
 member of the Bengal Council. In 1772 he was appointed 
 a writer on the Bengal establishment, and commenced a civil 
 career that became more and more distinguished. Three 
 years later he was selected for the office of secretary to the 
 Board of Trade at Calcutta, and in 1 7 8 1 as commercial 
 resident at Maldah, one of the most important posts of the 
 service. In 1784 he obtained the rank of senior merchant, 
 and in 1787 had conferred on him by Lord Cornwallis the 
 office of member of the Board at Calcutta in consideration of 
 his distinguished abilities and approved integrity. In this 
 high office he continued till 1790, when family circumstances 
 
CHAIRMAN OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY. 289 
 
 compelled him to return to England. His early promotion 
 to stations of trust and employment had enabled him to 
 acquire a considerable fortune, and he hoped at home to use 
 his influence in promoting the welfare of the natives of India, 
 in whose prosperity he had come to take deep interest. He 
 had on a voyage made the acquaintance of the celebrated mis- 
 sionary Schwarz, and this led him ever afterwards to identify 
 himself with missionary enterprise, and to do all in his power 
 to promote it. 
 
 After his return home he was in 1794 elected a director of 
 the East India Company, and from this time till his death 
 took a leading part in the administration of our Indian empire. 
 In 1802 he was elected M.P. for Inverness, and shortly after- 
 wards became chairman of the Board of the Directors of the 
 East India Company. This was a great position, and he is 
 universally acknowledged to have filled it with conspicuous 
 success. It was through him that a college was established 
 for the education of young men destined for the Company's 
 service, and he watched over its interests with anxious solici- 
 tude. His great desire was the establishment of an empire in 
 India founded rather upon character than upon force. Acting 
 upon this view, when Parliament arraigned the administration 
 of the Marquis Wellesley, he took a leading part in the dis- 
 cussions, opposing with all his might what he called " military 
 government," which he defined to be pursuing conquest for 
 the sake of the extension of territory. The character of 
 Grant's policy was eloquently set forth by himself in a great 
 speech in which he spoke of what had been the policy of 
 other conquering nations : " None of these nations sought to 
 establish themselves in the affections of their acquired subjects, 
 or to assimilate them to their manners ; and those subjects, 
 far from supporting them, rejoiced in their defeats. Some 
 attempts they made to instruct the natives which had their 
 
 T 
 
290 THE CLAPHAM SECT. 
 
 use, but sordid views overwhelmed their efforts. It remains 
 for us to show how we shall be distinguished from those 
 nations in the history of mankind, — whether conquest shall 
 have been in our hands the means not merely of displaying a 
 Government unequalled in India for administrative justice, 
 kindness, and moderation ; not merely of increasing the 
 security of the subject and prosperity of the country, but 
 of advancing social happiness, of meliorating the moral state 
 of men, and of extending a superior light farther than the 
 Roman eagle ever flew." 
 
 Grant was a man of deep piety, and did everything in his 
 power to raise the low moral tone of Indian society. He 
 exerted himself greatly to advance the cause of missions. 
 Through him the augmentation of the ecclesiastical establish- 
 ment of British India and the institution of a bishop's see at 
 Calcutta were brought about, and especially the privilege was 
 granted to European missionaries, hitherto denied, of enjoying 
 access to the natives of the country in their ministrations. 
 He fought hard to obtain this permission, and was so 
 strongly supported by public opinion that the concession of 
 greater liberty to Christian missions in the East was at last 
 reluctantly given. 
 
 Charles Grant was closely associated with Wilberforce and 
 other great philanthropists of his time, and with the band of 
 religious men known by the name of the " Clapham Sect." 
 The welfare of his native Highlands lay very close to his heart. 
 He was a zealous member of the Society for Promoting Chris- 
 tian Knowledge in the Highlands and Islands, and helped it 
 largely by his contributions. He was proprietor of the estate 
 of Waternish in Skye. Through his influence civil or military 
 appointments were obtained in India by many Inverness-shire 
 young men. From every part of the county promising youths 
 went out to that country to seek their fortunes. He was one 
 
SIR JAMES MACKINTOSH. 29I 
 
 of the greatest benefactors Inverness-shire ever had, and in 
 recognition of his services the county voted a portrait of him 
 by Sir Henry Raeburn to be painted, which still hangs in the 
 county hall. He died in London 3rd October 1823. His 
 eldest son. Sir Robert Grant, became Governor of Bombay. 
 His son Charles, born in India, rose like his father and 
 brother to great eminence in political life. He occupied the 
 high ofifices of Secretary for Ireland, President of the Board of 
 Trade, and Colonial Secretary, and was raised to the peerage 
 under the title of Lord Glenelg. He also succeeded his father 
 as M.P. for Inverness on his retirement from that office in 
 181 9. He was a Liberal in politics, an eloquent speaker, and 
 a pure-spirited statesman. He died in 1866. 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir James Mackintosh was an Inverness- 
 shire man whose career as a philosopher, politician, and his- 
 torian reflects credit on the county of his birth. He was born 
 at Aldourie, on the banks of Loch Ness, on the 24th October 
 1765. His father, John Mackintosh, was Laird of Kyllachie. 
 Mackintosh received his early education at a school in Fortrose, 
 where he was a devoted reader, especially of history, and where 
 he otherwise gave promise of his afterwards distinguished career. 
 In 1780 he went to King's College, Aberdeen, and during his 
 course there showed that taste for moral and metaphysical 
 studies which was always a marked feature in his character. 
 After taking the degree of Master of Arts he went to Edinburgh 
 to study medicine. Here he took a leading part in the Philo- 
 sophical and Medical Societies connected with the university. 
 On taking his diploma as doctor of medicine he went to 
 London, but after long waiting saw no prospects of a profes- 
 sional settlement. He took considerable interest in poli- 
 tics, and acted for a time on the staff of a paper called the 
 ' Oracle,' where he superintended the foreign news. Finally 
 
292 'VIND1CI.E GALLICyE. 
 
 he determined to abandon medicine and to study for the bar. 
 In his new profession he attained considerable eminence, 
 and was specially notable for his brilliant defence in the trial 
 of Peltier, who was charged with a libel on Bonaparte. What 
 brought him into prominence was not so much his forensic 
 ability as his reply to Burke's condemnation of the French 
 Revolution. That great historic movement found in him a 
 warm defender, and his book, ' Vindicise Gallic^,' published in 
 1 791, was greatly admired even by Burke, whose principles it 
 impugned. In this book he advocated Liberal views which 
 would not be thought very advanced in our day, but which at 
 that time were almost new, though they had been somewhat 
 anticipated in Paine's ' Age of Reason.' He discusses at 
 length the expediency and necessity of a revolution, and de- 
 fends it on the theory of the British Constitution. Before the 
 French could obtain the inestimable blessings of the freedom 
 Britons enjoyed, it was necessary that there should be such an 
 upturning as had excited the wonder of the world. The chains 
 of tyranny were broken, and reason had triumphed over auth- 
 ority and prejudice. He considers at length the conduct of 
 the actors in the great upheaval, and vindicates them so far as 
 the result was manifested in the new Constitution of France. 
 He defends the annexation of ecclesiastical revenues, and lays 
 down — probably for the first time — the axiom which has since 
 been very generally recognised, that "Church property is 
 public property." 
 
 The book is a statement in a philosophical form of the 
 principles of Liberalism, and Mackintosh was through its pub- 
 lication brought into association with Fox and the leading 
 Whigs of tlie day, who recognised in him a recruit to their 
 party likely to bu useful. Under their auspices he delivered 
 a course of lectures on the " Law of Nature and of Nations " 
 in the hall of Lincoln's Inn, which were attended by many 
 
A DISTINGUISHED CAREER. 293 
 
 prominent men, and were distinguished by great philosoph- 
 ical power. He seemed marked out for political advance- 
 ment, and was on familiar terms with the literary men of 
 London society ; but the office of Recorder of Bombay being 
 offered to him, he accepted it, and was for nine years in 
 India. 
 
 On his return to England in 181 2, entering into po- 
 litical life, he was elected member of Parliament for the 
 county of Nairn. He did not acquire much political dis- 
 tinction, but was respected as a statesman. His speeches 
 were more philosophical and forensic than popular, and he 
 never altogether accommodated himself to the atmosphere 
 of the House of Commons. He was made a Privy Coun- 
 cillor and a member of the Board of Control, and in 18 18 
 became " Professor of Law and General Politics " in the 
 East India Company's College at Haileybury, which had 
 lately been founded by his countyman Charles Grant. This 
 was a congenial sphere of work, and he was enabled to give 
 full scope to the philosophical bent of his mind. In 1819 
 he was elected member of Parliament for Knaresborough, 
 and in 1823 Lord Rector of the University of Glasgow, 
 when he delivered an address to the students of great elo- 
 quence and thoughtfulness. He was a frequent contributor 
 to the ' Edinburgh Review,' and the author of a ' History 
 of England.' Macaulay speaks of him with much respect ; 
 and Lord Jeffrey, who was one of his intimate friends, says 
 of him that "his range of study and speculation was nearly 
 as large as that of Bacon, and there were, in fact, but few 
 branches of learning with which he was not familiar." It 
 is chiefly as a philosophical writer that Mackintosh will be 
 remembered. His 'Dissertation on the Progress of Ethical 
 Philosophy,' contributed to the 'Encyclopaedia Britannica,' 
 in which he summarises the speculations of ancient and 
 
294 JAMES MACPHERSON. 
 
 modem ethical philosophers, was much admired at the time 
 of its publication, and still holds a useful place in the liter- 
 ature of its department. In this book Mackintosh takes up 
 a philosophical position to a great extent his own. He 
 expresses and defends his opinion that the affections usu- 
 ally called benevolent are properly described as disinterested. 
 He contends earnestly for the independent existence and 
 supremacy of conscience or the moral faculty. He assents 
 to the theory of the formation of our passions and affections, 
 and even of our sentiments of virtue and duty, by means 
 of the association of ideas. He also lays down a " theory 
 of conscience" which he elaborates at great length. Many 
 of his views had been anticipated by Bishop Butler, though 
 he amplified them and worked them out to their legitimate 
 conclusions with much acuteness as well as lucidity. He 
 died in London on the 30th May 1832. 
 
 James Macpherson was perhaps, so far as literature is 
 concerned, the best known man connected with Inverness- 
 shire. He was born at Ruthven, in the parish of Kingussie, 
 in 1736, and was the son of Andrew Macpherson, a tacksman, 
 nephew of the chief of the clan. He was educated at Inver- 
 ness, and at the universities of Aberdeen and Edinburgh. 
 At the latter university he studied divinity with a view to 
 the ministry of the Church of Scotland. He was also for a 
 time schoolmaster at his native place. In 1758 he published 
 a poem called ' The Highlander,' followed by ' Death ' and 
 the 'Hunter,' none of which evinced poetic merit. In 1759 
 he became tutor in the family of Graham of Balgowan, and 
 it was during this time he met Mr Home and submitted to 
 him short translations from poems in the Gaelic language. 
 Mr Home brought these to Edinburgh and showed them to 
 Dr Blair, Adam Ferguson, and Principal Robertson, all of 
 
OSSIAN. 29s 
 
 whom greatly admired them. In 1760, at the desire of 
 Home and Blair, he published ' Fragments of Ancient Poetry 
 collected in the Highlands of Scotland.' These fragments 
 excited much attention, and an earnest desire to recover 
 other remains of Gaelic poetry which were said to exist in 
 the Highlands. A liberal subscription having been made 
 to defray his expenses, Macpherson was induced to under- 
 take a journey of research throughout the Highlands. Dur- 
 ing his tour he occasionally wrote to Dr Blair informing him 
 of his progress in collecting poems either in manuscript or 
 from recitation. He arrived in Edinburgh in 1761, and 
 took lodgings immediately below Dr Blair, to whom he often 
 repeated parts of what he was engaged in translating. The 
 result of his labours was the appearance in 1762 of ' Fingal, 
 an Ancient Epic Poem in Six Books, together with several 
 other Poems composed by Ossian, the son of Fingal. 
 Translated from the Gaelic Language by James M.' In 
 the following year appeared ' Temora, an Epic Poem in 
 Eight Books.' 
 
 These publications created a great sensation in the literary 
 world, and occasioned a controversy which has not yet 
 ceased. By many Macpherson was hailed as a genius, by 
 others he was denounced as a literary forger. Among the 
 latter was Dr Johnson, whose abuse was of the strongest 
 kind. " Macpherson had," according to him, " only found 
 names and stories and phrases, being passages in old songs, 
 and with these blended his own compositions, and so made 
 up what he gave to the world as translations of an ancient 
 poem." Johnson's vituperation so irritated the proud High- 
 lander that he sent the great man a challenge by a friend. 
 Johnson purchased a stout oak stick and replied that " he 
 would repel violence, and not desist from any fear of the 
 menaces of a ruffian." 
 
296 A FAMOUS CONTROVERSY. 
 
 If the great sage was bold in his attack upon Macpherson, 
 that gentleman did not want for able defenders. A strong 
 array of eminent men — Blair, Lord Kames, Sir John Sinclair, 
 Home, and others — mustered in defence of the genuineness 
 of the poems, the success of which was great. Within a year 
 after their publication they were translated into the languages 
 of France, Germany, Italy, Denmark, and Poland, while edition 
 after edition was called for at home. The poems were the 
 admiration of Goethe and Byron, and were carried about by 
 Napoleon in his campaigns. It is not within our province to 
 enter into the controversy that has raged around these remark- 
 able productions. It is perhaps sufficient to say that modern 
 researches and Celtic criticism have amply vindicated the 
 reputation of Macpherson from the attacks made upon him 
 as a forger. The publication in our own time of the ' Book 
 of the Dean of Lismore ' has shown the existence of ancient 
 Gaelic poetry such as Macpherson collected. It contains 
 many heroic ballads, nine of which are attributed to Ossian. 
 Gaelic scholars have shown that tradition is quite capable of 
 preserving such fragmentary compositions as Macpherson 
 received from recitation, and that such fragments were well 
 known to men who knew nothing of his labours. That such 
 fragments were pieced together by Macpherson there is little 
 doubt, but to what extent he inserted lines of his own com- 
 position as connecting links — if he inserted any — it is im- 
 possible to say. Gaelic scholars have been unable to point 
 out any piece of new cloth sewn on to the old. The same 
 heroic spirit pervades the whole. Certainly, if the poems 
 were either in part or whole the work of Macpherson, it is 
 remarkable that he never afterwards wrote any to be com- 
 pared with them even in the remotest way. " If he created 
 Ossian," as it has well been said, "he was an athlete who 
 
"FAIR JAMES." 297 
 
 made one surprising leap and was palsied ever afterwards— a 
 marksman who made a centre at the first shot but who never 
 afterwards could hit the target." His subsequent incur- 
 sions into the realm of literature may almost be said to be 
 failures ; they are certainly destitute of any spark of the fire 
 of genius which glows throughout ' Fingal ' and ' Temora.' 
 
 If Macpherson never wrote another 'Ossian,' he had suc- 
 cesses of a different kind, which probably compensated him 
 for any rough handling he had received. Through the kind 
 offices of the Earl of Bute he received a civil appointment at 
 Pensacola, in North America, and returned to London two 
 years afterwards with a pension of ^^200 a-year, to act as a 
 political writer in behalf of Government. His ' Introduction 
 to the History of Great Britain and Ireland ' appeared in 
 1 7 7 1 ; a ' Prose Translation of Homer '■ — a thin and watery 
 affair — in 1773; a 'History of Great Britain from the Res- 
 toration to the Accession of the House of Hanover' in 1773, 
 for which he is said to have received _;^3ooo. In 1780 he 
 was appointed agent for the Nabob of Arcot, and returned 
 to Parliament for Camelford. From his various labours he 
 amassed a considerable fortune, which enabled him to purchase 
 the estate of Raitts, the name of which he changed to Belle- 
 ville, near Kingussie. Here he built an elegant mansion, to 
 which he retired to spend the evening of his life. In his new 
 capacity as a Highland laird he was honoured and respected. 
 He was liberal to the poor, and went among his people by the 
 name of "Fair James." Through his influence with the 
 Government he obtained the restoration to his chief of the 
 property which had been forfeited after the '45. This made 
 him popular with all his neighbours, towards whom he exer- 
 cised generous hospitality. He was regarded by them as 
 a fine specimen of a true and chivalrous Highlander. He 
 
298 JAMES GRANT. 
 
 died at Belleville in 1796, and was buried in Westminster 
 Abbey, near the Poets' Corner. 
 
 Though those we have iBentioned are the great literary 
 figures of our county annals, these are not without others who 
 are worthy of remembrance. James Grant of Corrymony was 
 a Scottish advocate, and when he died was the oldest member 
 of his profession. He was born in 1743, and had a reputa- 
 tion in his time both as a politician and man of letters. 
 He was prominently distinguished as a supporter of Liberal 
 principles at a time when in Scotland there were not many 
 such. He was a personal friend of Henry Erskine, Jeffrey, 
 Mackintosh, and other reformers of the same class, and was 
 a frequenter of the literary circles of Edinburgh. Two works 
 of his were much thought of when they appeared : the one 
 ' On the Origin of Society, Language, Property, Government, 
 Jurisdiction, Contracts, and Marriage'; the other 'On the 
 Origin and Descent of the Gael, with an Account of the 
 Picts and Scots, and Observations relative to the Authenticity 
 of the Poems of Ossian.' These books show considerable 
 learning and research, and though modern philological in- 
 quiries have greatly diminished their value as contributions 
 to science, they are still worthy of being read both for the 
 learning they display and the ingenuity of the author in 
 making good his conclusions. Grant was a stout Highlander, 
 and with him all that was worthy was derived from the Gael. 
 The Gaelic language was the common parent of both the 
 Greek and Latin. The identity of the Greeks and Romans 
 with the Highlanders could be gathered from their stature 
 and complexion, their manners and customs, their modes of 
 living, their dress, their weapons, their religion, and their 
 language. In arguing in favour of these propositions, Grant 
 
JAMES BAILLIE ERASER. 299 
 
 displays intimate acquaintance both with classic writers and 
 with the language and literature of his own country. He 
 died in 1835 at the advanced age of ninety-two. His grand- 
 son, also James Grant, was a popular writer of fiction. 
 
 James Baillie Fraser, born at Reelick on the nth 
 June 1783, was well known as a traveller and man of letters. 
 After a distinguished career, like many Invernessians, in India, 
 he made a tour in the Himalayas and penetrated as far as 
 the sources of the Jumna and the Ganges. This was an 
 achievement which at the time attracted much notice, and 
 he gave the results of his explorations to the public in a 
 volume of travels. He subsequently made several expeditions 
 into remote parts of the East, in which he displayed a daring 
 and adventurous spirit. In 182 1 he travelled through Persia 
 dressed as a native, afterwards writing a full account of 
 his wanderings. He gave to the public many volumes of 
 travels in such remote regions as Kurdistan, Mesopotamia, 
 and Assouan, countries of which at that time little was 
 known. He also essayed fiction, and wrote several novels, 
 such as 'The Highland Smugglers,' 'Tales of the Caravan- 
 serai,' and others. He was an elegant writer, and his literary 
 efforts were much admired. In latter years, like many of 
 his countrymen, he came back to his native county, and 
 spent the evening of his days at Reelick, where he died in 
 1856. 
 
 John F. M'Lennan was one whom we must not forget in 
 this sketch. He was born in Inverness, where his father was 
 an insurance agent, and after receiving his early education in 
 that town, was a student at the University of Aberdeen, where 
 his mathematical talent won him much distinction. He com- 
 
300 JOHN F. M'LENNAN. 
 
 pleted his education at Cambridge, and passed in 1853 in the 
 list of Wranglers. After doing literary work in London he 
 came to Edinburgh, where he became a member of the 
 Scottish Bar. His natural sympathies were literary and scien- 
 tific rather than legal, and he was highly esteemed in Edin- 
 burgh among those with tastes similar to his own. He wrote 
 the article on " Law " in the ' Encyclopaedia Britannica,' and 
 while doing so was much struck by the forms of marriage 
 ceremonies, for which, it seemed to him, the usual explana- 
 tions were insufficient. His investigations were pursued with 
 great tenacity, and in 1865 he produced his book on 'Primi- 
 tive Marriage.' This book attracted much attention as a new 
 departure in sociological inquiry. It was, as it has well been 
 said, " a shaft sent right into the darkest part of primitive 
 history." It changed entirely the prevalent conceptions of 
 early society. Others have taken up the line of investigation 
 which M'Lennan began, but which he was not spared to fully 
 carry out. His work bore the undoubted stamp of original 
 genius, and his speculations placed him high in rank among 
 the scientific men of this century. He died in 1881. 
 
 We have mentioned the names of some of the outstanding 
 men whom our county has given to literature, though the list, 
 we are aware, is by no means complete. There have been also 
 many Inverness-shire men connected with the Press who have 
 been well known in journalism, like the war correspondent we 
 have already noticed, and John Cameron Macdonald, born 
 in Fort William, who died manager of the ' Times ' newspaper, 
 and was the inventor of the famous Walter Press. Of late 
 years there has been a distinct revival of a literary spirit in 
 Inverness-shire, and especially in the town of Inverness. In 
 1826 Robert Carruthers became editor of the 'Inverness 
 
ROBERT CARRUTHERS. 
 
 301 
 
 Courier,' and will long be affectionately remembered as a 
 powerful personality in the promotion of culture from the time 
 of his coming to Inverness until his death in 1878. Not only 
 was he an eminent man of letters himself, but he awakened 
 literary aspirations in others. He was to many young men 
 "guide, philosopher, and friend." It was in the columns of 
 the ' Inverness Courier ' that Hugh Miller began his literary 
 career, and others besides that distinguished man have had 
 occasion to look back with gratitude to its editor. The 
 impetus which he gave to culture and intellectual life in the 
 North has not ceased. In no town of its size is there more 
 cultivated society than in that of Inverness, and no county 
 has had more done to illustrate its history, language, and 
 customs than Inverness-shire. The painstaking antiquarian 
 researches of Mr Fraser- Mackintosh, the elaborate clan 
 histories of Mr Alexander Mackenzie, the admirable local 
 histories of Mr William Mackay and Mr Alexander Mac- 
 pherson, the philological works of Mr Alexander MacBain, 
 the deeply interesting ' Reminiscences of the late Joseph 
 Mitchell, C.E.,' and the ' Transactions ' of the Gaelic Society 
 and of the Field Club, have cast a flood of light upon the 
 history of Inverness-shire, its traditions, folk-lore, and poetry, 
 and the social condition of its people in ancient and modern 
 times. To the painstaking researches of those whom we have 
 mentioned, as well as to others of kindred spirit, a very 
 hearty tribute of thanks is due from the writer of this book, 
 who has been much indebted to their labours. 
 
 The profession of the law has apparently been that to which 
 Inverness-shire men have taken most kindly after that of arms. 
 To the names already mentioned others might be added. 
 Besides President Forbes, another lawyer from the county. 
 
302 EIV;[INENT THEOLOGIANS. 
 
 William Mackintosh, who takes the title of Lord Kyllachy, 
 has reached the judicial bench of the Supreme Court of 
 Scotland. The late Lord Gordon of Drumearn had also 
 a distinguished forensic and judicial career. Born at In- 
 verness, loth April 1814, Edward Strathearn Gordon, 
 after his education in his native town and at the universities 
 of Edinburgh and Glasgow, was called to the Bar in 1835. 
 In after years he held the offices of Lord Advocate and Dean 
 of Faculty, and was member of Parliament for the universities 
 of Glasgow and Aberdeen. In 1876 he was made a Lord of 
 Appeal, with a life peerage and the title of Baron Gordon. He 
 was held in high respect for his judicial capacity. He died at 
 Brussels, 21st August 1879. 
 
 Inverness-shire has not produced many eminent theo- 
 logians. . Of popular preachers in the English and Gaelic 
 languages, and of faithful pastors, it has had many in all its 
 various Protestant churches, but none have been famous beyond 
 their own district, either for their eloquence, capacity in eccle- 
 siastical administration, or contributions to theology. One 
 only seems to have reached the office of Moderator of the 
 General Assembly. This was Dr Thomas Maclauchlan, 
 who was born at Moy in 1816, and became Moderator of the 
 General Assembly of the Free Church of Scotland in 1876. 
 He was also a prominent Celtic scholar, and published, among 
 other works of interest, the ' Book of Lismore,' with a trans- 
 lation into English and Modern Gaelic. In the Church of 
 Rome many Inverness-shire priests have attained high ecclesi- 
 astical positions. Not a few have become members of the 
 hierarchy at home and abroad, and have been professors in 
 different foreign colleges. Two sons of the well-known 
 family of Glenaladale are at present members of the Roman 
 
REASON OF A PAUCITY OF GREAT NAMES. 303 
 
 episcopate in Scotland — the one Bishop of Aberdeen, and the 
 other Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh. 
 
 This list of outstanding Inverness-shire men may appear 
 slender and the names few, but those who remember the 
 feuds and turbulent state of the county until the eve of modern 
 times will wonder, not that its men of distinction should be 
 so few, but that they should be so many. 
 
304 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE RICH IN ONE SPECIES OF LITERATURE : HAS PRODUCED 
 MANY BARDS — ANCIENT POEMS — "THE DESIRE OF THE AGED BARD "— 
 "THE owl" — IAN LOM, THE KEPPOCH BARD — SKETCH OF HIS LIFE- 
 SPECIMENS OF HIS POETRY — " THE DAY OF INVERLOCHY " — HIS PANE- 
 GYRIC ON SIR JAMES MACDONALD— HIS "LAMENT FOR GLENGARRY" — 
 THE BARD OF THE CLANRANALD, ALEXANDER MACDONALD — HIS HIS- 
 TORY — THE CHARACTER OF HIS POETRY — TRANSLATIONS OF SOME OF 
 HIS POEMS — "the SUGAR BROOK" — "THE SONG OF THE HIGHLAND 
 clans" — "mORAG beautiful"—"™ PRAISE OF THE KILT "—" THE 
 WAR-SHIP OF CLANRANALD" — JULIAN MACDONALD — HER ELEGY ON 
 GLENGARRY— BLACK JOHN OF CLANRANALD — HIS POEM ON "THE HIGH- 
 LAND CLANS" — MACPHERSON OF STRATHMASHIE— JOHN ROY STEW ART— 
 HIS LIFE AND POEMS— BLIND ALAN, BARD OF GLENGARRY— CHARACTER 
 OF HIS EFFORTS— HIS "SONG ON DRINKING" — EWAN M'LACHLA.V— HIS 
 GENIUS, LIFE, AND EARLY DEATH — SPECIMENS OF HIS POETRY— " THE 
 MELODY OF LOVE " — MANY OTHER BARDS BESIDES THESE MENTIONED — 
 ESTIMATE OF THE INVERNESS-SHIRE BARDS AND THEIR POWER OF SONG. 
 
 There is a species of literature belonging to the Highlands 
 of which Inverness-shire has its full share — namely, the work 
 of the Gaelic bards. Their poems, some of them transmitted 
 orally through many generations, occupy a place of their own 
 in the hearts of the Highland people. It is right that some 
 notice should be taken here of those bards belonging to the 
 mainland of Inverness-shire, though it is exceedingly difficult 
 to convey a true idea of their power to those unfamiliar with 
 the language in which they wrote. An English translation 
 of these poems gives at best but a feeble reflection of their 
 
EARLY GAELIC POETRY. 305 
 
 Strength and originality, yet it is only through such a medium 
 that we can bring them before our readers. 
 
 Inverness-shire has produced many poets. Some of them, 
 perhaps, belong to prehistoric times, others to more modern 
 days. Every glen in the county has its own bards, and in 
 every cottage their songs are sung. The minstrelsy of Loch- 
 aber, Glenmoriston, and Glenurquhart alone would fill, if col- 
 lected, many volumes. The songs are of varied character. 
 They are of war and the chase, of the beauties of nature and 
 the delights of love. Often they glow with the spirit of 
 patriotism, the affection of the Highlanders for the Stewart 
 race ; often they tell of the exultation of the warrior in the 
 hour of battle and in pursuit of his foes. Not unfrequently 
 they are tinged with that deep melancholy which belongs 
 to a race whose glories are mainly in the past. The history 
 of the Inverness -shire people is reflected in their songs as 
 clearly as their mountains are mirrored in the lakes at their 
 feet. 
 
 One of the earUest Gaelic poets, so far as we can judge 
 from the fragment of his muse which has escaped oblivion, 
 belonged to Inverness - shire. " The Desire of the Aged 
 Bard," as his poem is called, has in it references to Loch 
 Treig, to Scuir Eilt at the head of Loch Leven, and to Ben 
 Nevis, which he terms Ben Ard, or the High Mountain. Its 
 scene is evidently laid in Lochaber. It bears marks of high 
 antiquity : it speaks of the elk, an animal now extinct. It 
 apparently belongs to a time before the brethren of lona had 
 converted the Northern tribes to Christianity. The heaven 
 to which the ba:rd aspires is not the heaven of Scripture, but 
 the " Isle of Heroes " — the halls where dwell Ossian and 
 Daol — " the dwelling of the bards upon Ardven, from which 
 there is no return." 
 
 u 
 
306 "THE DESIRE OK THE AGED BARD." 
 
 The poem begins with a wish on the part of the bard to 
 pass away amid the scenes of nature which he loved : — 
 
 " O place me by the little streams that flow softly witfi gentle steps, 
 Under the shade of spreading branches lay my head ; 
 And, O thou sun, be kind to me. 
 Lay softly my side on the grass upon the bank of flowers and gentle 
 
 breezes, 
 My feet bathed in the wandering stream that slowly winds along the 
 
 plain. 
 Let the pale primrose, grateful in hue, and the little daisy surround 
 
 my hillock. 
 Greenest when bedewed." 
 
 In scenes like these he would recall the vanished days ere 
 he took his last journey. He would hear in his solitude 
 the hunter's step and the song of his dogs on the mountains, 
 and as he listened the days of his youth would come back 
 to him : — 
 
 ' ' The marrow of my bones shall awake when I hear 
 The noise of horns, of dogs, and of bowstrings ; 
 When the cry is heard, ' The stag is fallen ! ' 
 My feet shall leap with joy along the mountain-heights." 
 
 Upon his mind there rushes the recollection of the time when 
 he too followed the chase among the hills and far-spreading 
 moorlands that lie between Ben Nevis and the Black Mount, 
 of the prowess of his old companions, and of the faithful dog 
 that bore him company : — 
 
 ' ' I see, methinks, the hound by my side 
 That followed me early and late. 
 The hills I loved to travel. 
 The rocks that echoed the hunter's horn. 
 
 The smoke of the deer-feast arose. 
 Our drink from Treig, the wave our music, 
 ('.hosts might shriek and mountains roar; 
 Reclined in our cave, peaceful was cur rest. 
 
"THE DESIRE OF THE AGED BARD." 307 
 
 I see Ben Ard of beauteous hue, 
 The monarch of a thousand hills ; 
 The dreams of stags are in his locks, 
 His head is in the bed of clouds. 
 
 I see Scuir Eilt on the brow of the glen. 
 Where the cuckoo first sweetly calls ; 
 The beautiful green hill of thousand firs, 
 Of plants, of roes and elks." 
 
 So his dreams move on in long procession, bringing back days 
 of joy to his memory. Love mingles also in his visions with 
 the delights of the chase : " Happiness to thy soul, virgin of 
 the curling locks." " Her hand of snow among her locks of 
 gold, and her mild rolling eye on the youth of her love." 
 Then the dream passes and his pulses beat slow. Death is 
 near, and he must face it : — 
 
 " Hast thou forsaken me, O pleasant dream ? 
 Return yet — one little step return. 
 Thou wilt not hear me. Alas ! I am sad. 
 Mountains of my love, farewell ! " 
 
 But he will meet the inevitable with a brave heart and in a 
 manner worthy of his forefathers. The closing verses are the 
 death-song of the old pagan : — 
 
 ' ' Turn my ear to the roar of the waterfall 
 That bursts in thunder from the rock ; 
 Let a harp and a shell be by my side, 
 And the shield that defended my sires in battle. 
 
 Then come friendly over the sea, 
 
 Low whisper that moveth softly ; 
 
 Bear my shade on the wing of thy swiftness, 
 
 Make thy way to the Isle of Heroes, 
 
 Where those who passed of old 
 Are in deep slumber without sound of music. 
 Open the hall where dwell Ossian and Daol. 
 The night shall fall, the bard shall not be found. 
 
308 DONALD MACDONALD. 
 
 But oh, before it comes, ere my shade retire 
 To the dwelling of the bards upon Ardven, 
 Whence there is no return, 
 Give me my harp and shell for the road ; 
 Then, my harp and beloved shell, farewell ! " 
 
 There is another poetic fragment, not so old as that we have 
 referred to, yet still very ancient, which also belongs to Inver- 
 ness-shire. It is supposed to have been composed by a famous 
 hunter and poet of Lochaber, Donald Macdonald, or, as he 
 was called, Donald Macdonald, the son of Finlay of the Songs. 
 The title of the poem is " The Owl." Donald, it is said, 
 married when an old man a young woman who treated him 
 with much indignity, and who, to show her contempt for her 
 husband, brought home an old and enfeebled owl, which she 
 presented to him as a fit companion for his declining years. 
 The ancient hunter, with a philosophy which does him credit, 
 accepted the gift, and entered into a long conversation with 
 the bird of wisdom, worthy of .^sop. This conversation is 
 the subject of the poem. It opens with an expression of pity 
 on the part of the hunter for one aged and decrepit like 
 himself : — 
 
 " Poor owl of Srone, 
 Sorrowful to-night is thy bed. 
 If thou hast lived since the days of Donnaghall, 
 No wonder though thy spirit is heavy." 
 
 The owl replies by saying that his age is as that of the oak. 
 He has seen many generations pass away. He has known the 
 heroes of former years, though he is to-day the poor owl of 
 Srbne ; and then ensues an outpouring of the reminiscences of 
 the past. Some of the verses are very plaintive : — 
 
 "I am sitting on the fairy hill of the mountains. 
 Gazing at the head of Loch Treig ; 
 Craiguaine, sacred to the chase, 
 The sunny height where dwell the deer. 
 
"THE OWL." 309 
 
 I see the crest of wooded Bidean, 
 The side nearest of Scuir-a-li, 
 Scuir-a-chointich of slender stags. 
 Dear to me to-day is all I see. 
 
 I see Strathfarsuin of the cattle, 
 
 Where loudest is the bay of gallant hound ; 
 
 And the rocky corry of Mam, 
 
 Where oft my hand struck down the brown stag. 
 
 My blessing to Ben Alta, 
 
 The honoured among all mountains ; 
 
 And to Loch Erroch's side, where dwell the deer — 
 
 Well I loved to be there." 
 
 Then comes the mourning of the aged hunter over departed 
 days. Old age had brought feebleness both to himself and 
 the dog, his companion in the chase : — 
 
 " Dismal and heavy is my heart. 
 For age has wounded my foot. 
 No more will I climb the hill of the deer. 
 Never again let loose my dogs. 
 
 Me and thee, my white hound, 
 
 Sad for us to-day is all we have left ; 
 
 We have lost the baying voice and the song, 
 
 Though once our condition was lofty. 
 
 The wood from thee has taken the roe, 
 The heights from me have taken the stag; 
 But there is no shame in that, my hero, 
 Since age has settled on us both." 
 
 Lochaber, to which the bards we have noticed belonged, 
 has ever been famous for its poets ; but among them none has 
 attained a higher reputation than Ian Lom, or John the 
 Bare. He has already been noticed in these pages. He, as 
 we have seen, guided Montrose in his wonderful march through 
 the mountains from Kilchumin to Inverlochy. After the 
 famous battle there, he celebrated the victory of the Great 
 General. We have also seen how, through his unwearied 
 
3IO IAN LOM, OR JOHN THE BARE. 
 
 efforts, the Keppoch murderers were brought to justice. John 
 the Bare was related to the Keppoch family, and, like his chief, 
 was a devoted Royalist. He celebrated in his verses the 
 prowess of Dundee, and accompanied him in his march to 
 Killiecrankie. The poet was a man of considerable humour 
 and ready wit, of which many stories are told. When Alastair 
 Colquitto said to him that he was, in honour of his services, 
 to take prominent part in the battle of Inverlochy, John, who 
 had no taste for fighting, replied, " If I go along with thee 
 to-day, who will sing thy praise to-morrow ? Go thou, Alastair, 
 and exert thyself as usual, and I shall sing thy feats and 
 celebrate thy prowess in martial strains." He then betook 
 himself to a place of safety. 
 
 After the affair of Inverlochy, irritated beyond measure 
 by the poet's satires, Argyll is said to have offered a consider- 
 able reward for his head. John the Bare, relying on the 
 sanctity of person which belonged to the office of a bard 
 as of a priest, went himself to the castle of Inverary and 
 demanded the reward. " Give it to me," he said to Argyll, 
 "for here I am, produced by myself!" " Grim Archibald," 
 to his credit, received him courteously and conducted him 
 over the castle. On entering a room hung round with the 
 spoils of the chase, and especially with the heads of black- 
 cocks, he said to his guest, "Did you ever, John, see so 
 many blackcocks in one place?" "I have," said John. 
 " Where ? " " At Inverlochy," was the reply. " Ah, John," 
 replied the nobleman, "will you ever leave off gnawing at 
 the Campbells ? " "I am only sorry," was the bard's remark, 
 " that I cannot swallow them " ! 
 
 The steward of the castle, to whom the poet was sent for 
 entertainment, does not appear to have had the same respect 
 for him as his master, and set before him very meagre fare. 
 All he gave him for his repast was a dish of boiled whelks 
 
"THE DAY OF INVERLOCHY." 31 1 
 
 gathered on the shore of Loch Fyne. The bard, sitting 
 down on the floor, loosened the gold pin with which his 
 plaid was fastened, and proceeded to extract the meat from 
 the shell - fish, pouring forth as he ate extempore verses 
 descriptive of his dinner as a specimen of the hospitality of 
 the Argyleshire chief and of the fare given to strangers at 
 Inverary. The steward at last, alarmed lest these verses 
 should gain currency to the discredit of his master, removed 
 the whelks and set before the poet more substantial fare. 
 
 The most spirited of the poems of John the Bare is that 
 called "The Day of Inverlochy." He describes the fight 
 as seen by him from the battlements of the castle, though 
 that he was ever there is highly improbable. Nothing can 
 exceed the contempt which he pours upon the Campbells, 
 whom he pictures in full flight, swimming the water of Nevis, 
 or with " cloven skulls " " stretched to rot upon the heather." 
 
 The rendering we give of part of this spirited poem is that 
 of Mr Napier in his ' Memoirs of Montrose.' It is by no 
 means literal, yet it may give the English reader some idea 
 of the verve and vigour of the verses : — 
 
 " Heard ye not ! heard ye not how that whirlwind the Gael 
 To Lochaher swept down from Loch Ness to Lochiel ; 
 And the Campbells, to meet them in battle array, 
 Like the billow came on and were broke like its spray ? 
 Long, long shall our war-songs exult in that day. 
 
 'Twas the Sabbath that rose, 'twas the feast of St Bride, 
 When the rush of the clans shook Ben Nevis's side. 
 I, the bard of the battle, ascended the height 
 Where dark Inverlochy o'ershadowed the fight, 
 And saw the Clan Domhnuil resistless in might. 
 
 Through the land of my fathers the Campbells have come, 
 
 The flames of their foray enveloped my home ; 
 
 Broad Keppoch in ruins is left to deplore, 
 
 And my country is waste from the hill to the shore. 
 
 Be it so ! By St Mary ! there's comfort in store. 
 
312 JOHN THE BARE. 
 
 Though the Braes of Lochaber a desert be made, 
 And Glen Roy may be lost to the plough and the spade ; 
 Though the bones of my kindred, unshrouded, unurned, 
 Mark the desolate path where the Campbells have burned. 
 Be it so ! From that foray they never returned. 
 
 Fallen race of Diarmid ! disloyal, untrue, 
 
 No harp in the Highlands will sorrow for you ; 
 
 But the birds of Lochiel are wheeling on high, 
 
 And the Badenoch wolves hear the Camerons cry, 
 
 Come feast ye ! come feast ye ! where the false-hearted lie." 
 
 John the Bare turned his muse to other subjects besides 
 
 battles. His boat-song, which begins " On my rising in the 
 
 morning early," is in praise of the vessel of Sir James 
 
 Macdonald of Sleat, the chief through whose influence the 
 
 Keppoch murderers were brought to justice. In it he skilfully 
 
 mingles admiration for the ship with admiration for its owner, 
 
 though perhaps his best effort is in the former direction. 
 
 Here is his description of the vessel : — 
 
 " ' The Dubh Cnoydeartach,' swarthy. 
 Broad, high-shouldered, tight. 
 With many spears and iron blades in her bosom. 
 
 It is not the riders of fleet horses 
 That could take the prize of the race from thee 
 When on high thou spreadest thy sails 
 Over the sea ; 
 
 When aloft are the bellying sails 
 Over the proud ocean. 
 And waves without number are spouting 
 Beneath thy keel. " 
 
 From the vessel he passes to the chief, whom he praises 
 
 in more exuberant fashion. "Great is my love to thee," 
 
 he begins, " though I will not make a display of it," which 
 
 he immediately proceeds to do : — 
 
 " Beloved of the women of Loch Treig 
 And Strath Ossian of pleasant meadows, 
 A band would rise with thee from Roy 
 With the bent yew on their shoulders ; 
 
"LAMENT ON THE CHIEF OF GLENGARRY." 313 
 
 And from the cold hills of Cairn na lairge 
 Many a youthful hero, 
 With the quiver behind his shield, 
 Will come to thee from the shoulder of Meal na lairg, 
 That would answer thy call 
 Without fear, without sorrow, 
 When thou raisest aloft for deeds of valour 
 The cross of fire." 
 
 Ian Lom's poem on the Keppoch Murder, his " Lament 
 for Montrose," his " Lament on the Chief of Glengarry," are 
 full of tenderness. From the last of these poems we may 
 give one or two verses translated by an able Celtic scholar : — 
 
 " Not safe were they who rashly met 
 
 Thy warriors stern and true, 
 When the proud heather badge was set 
 
 In all their bonnets blue. 
 When thy brave banner waved on high, 
 
 And thou thyself wert seen, 
 With battle kindling in thine eye. 
 
 To draw the broadsword keen. 
 Then, then 'twas time for Albin's foes 
 To fly their fierce, their deadly blows. 
 
 That praise, that early praise was thine. 
 
 And spread thy well-known fame afar ; 
 Thou didst on all occasions shine, 
 
 The wisest leader in the war. 
 No serried redcoats daunted thee. 
 
 Although their well-aimed volleys rolled 
 Upon thy ranks from nmsketry 
 
 That oft in deadly slaughter told. 
 Thy just distinctions ever were 
 The wise to lead, the bold to dare. 
 
 Thy lineage is, for blood and length, 
 
 In Albin's councils unexcelled. 
 And formed of chieftains famed for strength. 
 
 Who in the deadly charge compelled 
 Steeds fierce and fleet that harnessed shone 
 
 Like meteors coursing through the sky ! 
 While on their selles, as on a throne, 
 
 They towered m their war panoply. 
 And none of them has been constrained 
 To deeds that have that lineage stained." 
 
314 ALEXANDER MACDONALD. 
 
 The translation gives a feeble idea of this lament. In the 
 Gaelic the words sometimes sound like the roll of thunder. 
 One hears the tramp of armed men mingled with the wail of 
 the clan and the sound of the bagpipe as the great chief of 
 Glengarry is borne to his burial : — 
 
 " The manly leader of the race 
 
 Who own the Garrian glen 
 Is off to his last resting-place, 
 
 Borne high by sorrowing men ; 
 The chieftain, lofty, true, and bold. 
 Who never his allegiance sold." 
 
 The greatest of the Inverness-shire bards, who holds, 
 indeed, a place in the foremost rank of Celtic poets, was 
 Alexander Macdonald, or, as he was called, "Allastair, 
 the son of Master Allistair." He was born in the beginning 
 of the eighteenth century and lived in troublous times. His 
 father was minister of Ardnamurchan during the establish- 
 ment of Episcopacy, and was famous among his people as 
 much for his great physical strength as for his religious influ- 
 ence. His son Alexander, it is said, was destined for the 
 ministry, and sent to pursue his studies at the University of 
 Glasgow ; but he married before he finished his college course, 
 and had to turn to other employment. For a time he acted 
 as schoolmaster in Ardnamurchan, where he compiled a 
 Gaelic and English vocabulary which was published by the 
 Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge. When 
 the chiefs resolved to take up the cause of Prince Charles 
 Stewart, he threw himself into the Jacobite movement with 
 the utmost zeal. He abandoned the farm by which he added 
 to his scanty allowance as a teacher, and received a commis- 
 sion in the Jacobite army. By his songs he did all in his 
 power to inspire the people of his district with enthusiasm. 
 He became a Roman Catholic, after having been first an 
 
AN ARDENT JACOBITE. 315 
 
 Episcopalian and afterwards a Presbyterian. After CuUoden 
 he found shelter in the wilds of his native district, between 
 Kinloch Aylort and Moidart, and from his hiding-places sent 
 forth songs denouncing " the Hanoverian usurper." His 
 Gaelic songs in praise of Prince Charlie are quite in the spirit 
 of those English Jacobite ballads which are still regarded as 
 beautiful, and his address to the Prince under the guise of 
 " Morag " is the Celtic counterpart of " Bonnie Charhe's o'er 
 the main." His love for the Prince is only exceeded by the 
 contempt he pours upon the Hanoverians. His poems after 
 Culloden breathe rebellion in every line. He denounces the 
 king as " the son of a German sow," whose only care for the 
 Highlander was that of the raven for its bone. He prays the 
 Lord of the universe to take from them " the pig " and his 
 yoke, with his "leprous, scabbed, swinish progeny"; and his 
 devout aspiration for the Duke of Cumberland is that the 
 " Butcher " may have a rope tied round his neck and be made 
 to swing from it. Fortunately for him, the language in which 
 his invectives were couched was not generally understood by 
 his enemies, else he would surely have had the fate meted 
 out to him which he so ardently desired for the " Butcher." 
 He was permitted, however, to spend the evening of his days 
 in peace. After acting as tutor to certain Jacobite families 
 in Edinburgh, he retired to Moidart, and afterwards to 
 Knoydart. He died at Sandaig, near Arisaig, at a good old 
 age, and was carried by his clansmen to his grave in Eillan 
 Finnan on Loch Shiel. 
 
 Many of Macdonald's poems are coarse and indecent. It 
 has been truly said of him that, "like Nebuchadnezzar's 
 image, he was gold above and coarse clay below." He had, 
 however, an intense appreciation of the beauty of nature. 
 Like most Gaelic poets, he has no feeling of the spiritual 
 suggestions of scenery, and of "those thoughts that lie too 
 
3l6 THE "SUGAR BROOK." 
 
 deep for tears " ; but he has great love for the beauty of nature 
 in itself, its harmony and grandeur, and great command of lan- 
 guage in describing it. A little burn, called the " Sugar Brook," 
 which flowed past his cottage, is the theme of much loving 
 and delicate description. In the "fragrant summer morning" 
 the azure dew lies grey upon the grass " like rosaries." The 
 blue-backed cuckoo proudly tosses her head, cuckooing on 
 the branch. The blithesome brown wren has music of her 
 own. The linnet tunes up its choicest strain, and the moor- 
 hen hoarsely responds to the croaking of the blackcock. 
 After these slight touches, the poet paints the stream itself : — 
 
 " The trout kept leaping nimbly 
 
 With merry plunge and play, 
 Dimpling the burn with sprightly tricks, 
 
 Warm in the summer ray. 
 Their blade-blue backs and spotted gills 
 
 Gleamed with their gem-like scales, 
 When with a dash they snapt the fly 
 
 That careless wandering sails." 
 
 The poet describes with very delicate touch the sights and 
 sounds that greet him as he wanders by the burnside — the 
 hum of bees, the lowing kye, the beauty of the simple 
 flowers that border the streamlet : — 
 
 " O dainty is the graving work 
 
 By Nature near thee wrought, 
 Whose fertile banks with shining flowers 
 
 And pallid buds are fraught. 
 The shamrock and the daisy 
 
 Spread o'er thy borders fair 
 Like new-made spangles, or like stars 
 
 From out the frosty air. 
 
 O lily, king of flowers, thou 
 
 The new rose hast undone ; 
 In bunches round, of tender hue 
 
 And white crown, like the sun, 
 
"THE SONG OF THE HIGHLAND CLANS." 317 
 
 To keep the Sugar brook from harm, 
 
 As amulets are given, 
 Such stars to sparkle where it winds. 
 
 Like guiding lights from heaven." 
 
 The " Ode to Summer " and the " Ode to Winter," the 
 "Welcome to the Mainland," and other descriptive poems, 
 show the poet's love for nature and his deep feeling of her 
 beauty. It is, however, ip his patriotic songs that he shows 
 most of his power. The song which he is said to have 
 sung all through the Highlands, calling on the people to 
 rise and join Prince Charles — "The Song of the Highland 
 Clans," as it is called — carries in its verses an impassioned 
 appeal that English is powerless to convey : — 
 
 ' ' O loved and loyal kindred ! 
 
 Choice homage now give ye ; 
 Let no mote cloud your eyesight, 
 
 Your heart from care keep free. 
 The health of James Stewart 
 
 With welcome send it round ; 
 Without reserve receive it, 
 
 This holy pledge we sound. 
 
 Now fill a draught for Charlie, 
 
 Rogue ! let this cup o'erflow. 
 Ha ! 'tis a balm to heal our hearts, 
 
 Revive us when we're low. 
 Yea ! should death's hand be laying us, 
 
 Weak, wan, beside the grave, 
 O Universal King ! return, 
 
 Return him o'er the wave ! " 
 
 The famous fulling song, called " Morag Beautiful," may 
 still often be heard sung in alternate verses by women en- 
 gaged in fulling cloth as they roll it backward and forward 
 and from side to side. In this song the Prince is represented 
 under the guise of a young maiden, Morag, with flowing locks 
 of yellow hair floating over her shoulders. Every two lines 
 
3l8 "MORAG BEAUTIFUL." 
 
 is followed by an impassioned chorus. We give some of 
 the verses in literal translation : — 
 
 " Graceful Morag of the curling ringlets, 
 Thy love is the cause of my anxiety. 
 
 If thou art gone from us over the sea, 
 May thy return be speedy. 
 
 Remember to bring with thee. a band of maidens 
 Who w'M tightly full the reti cloth. 
 
 And shouldst thou come again to my country. 
 Death alone, my love, will separate us. 
 
 I will adhere to thee as closely 
 As the limpet to the sea-rock. 
 
 I would follow thee to the extremity of the world, 
 Shouldst thou come, my love, to invite me. 
 
 Many are the warriors high-blooded, stately. 
 That would draw their swords for thy love. 
 
 Two thousand would come from Sleat, 
 And a regiment from Glengarry. 
 
 The Gael will all close round thee, 
 
 Let those who will, come or remain away. 
 
 King ! but they were good at fullering the cloth 
 And shaping it with their blades. " 
 
 Many such patriotic songs came from our poet in the de- 
 pressed days of the Jacobites, breathing love for the Prince, 
 and striving in vain to keep alive the loyalty of his adhe- 
 rents. At the time when the Highland dress was proscribed, 
 he was bold enough to put forth a song in praise of the garb 
 of the Gael. In it he dilates on both its beauty and adaptive- 
 ness, and abuses the king who suppressed it. " He expected 
 to have blunted the zeal of the noble Gael, but instead of 
 
IN PRAISE OF THE KILT. 319 
 
 doing SO, he put them on their mettle," and made them 
 "keen as a razor's edge": — 
 
 " Although they should tear open our bosoms 
 And drag our hearts out of us, 
 They will not extract Charles 
 While the vital spark remains." 
 
 Some of our readers, in these days when the kilt has become 
 fashionable, will perhaps like to hear what this old Highlander 
 has to say of its merits. Our translation is by the late Pro- 
 fessor Blackie : — 
 
 " Give me the plaid, the light, the airy, 
 Round my shoulder, under my arm, 
 Rather than English wool the choicest. 
 To keep my body tight and warm. 
 
 Who is so trim as a kilted laddie ? 
 
 Tight his gear, and light his adorning, 
 With only a buckle his belt to fasten. 
 
 When he leaps to his feet in the morning. 
 
 Thou art my joy in the charge of battle, 
 When bright blades are flashing o'er me ; 
 
 When the war-pipe is sounding, sounding, 
 And the banners are flapping o'er me. 
 
 Good art thou in the stalking of deer. 
 
 When peaks are red with the young day dawning ; 
 
 Mild art thou with sober cheer. 
 
 When going to church on Sunday morning. 
 
 I with thee would lie on the heather, 
 
 Closely wrapt to keep me warm. 
 Safe within thy folds defying 
 
 Batter of rain and bray of storm." 
 
 Macdonald's greatest poem is undoubtedly that called the 
 " Launching of the Biorlinn," or war-ship of Clanranald. It is 
 a poetic sea-piece. Its conception is original and its execu- 
 tion masterly. It is one of the longest Gaelic poems not 
 
320 THE "LAUNCHING OF THE BIOKLINN." 
 
 Ossianic, and therefore any extracts from it can give but little 
 conception of the whole. The poem begins with the blessing 
 of the ship, and a noble invocation to the persons of the Holy 
 Trinity to take the bark under their protection and guidance. 
 Then comes the blessing of the arms — the swords, " our keen 
 grey brands of Spain," the dirks and pistols — and every kind 
 of warlike gear which the vessel holds. The next part is a call 
 to row to the place of embarkation ; " to bring the galley so 
 black and shapely to the sailing-point ; " to stretch and pull 
 and bend in the rowlocks with " their sinewy arms so brawny, 
 knotted, and hairy," that will rise and drop together with one 
 motion. This is followed by a boat-song supposed to be sung 
 by Malcolm, son of Ronald of the Ocean, with a spirited 
 chorus. The arrival at the sailing-point is then described. 
 Every man is ordered to go to his own special post — the 
 helmsman, the man set apart for the sheet and the foresheet, the 
 look-out man at the bow, the man at the halyards, the baler, 
 those ordered to haul the backstays in case the sails might be 
 carried away by the roughness of the weather, the six chosen 
 as a reserve in case any of those named should fail or be 
 carried overboard. These sailors and the duties allotted to 
 each of them are described with great minuteness and vigour. 
 Then comes the story of the voyage, and any one familiar with 
 the Hebrides will feel that the description is drawn directly 
 from personal experience. We give some lines which speak 
 for themselves ; — 
 
 " The sun bursting golden yellow 
 
 From his cloud husk ; 
 Then the sky grew tawny, smoky, 
 
 Full of gloom : 
 It waxed wave-blue, thick, buff-speckled, 
 
 Dun, and troubled ; 
 Every colour of the tartan 
 
 Marked the heavens. 
 
A HOMERIC DESCRIPTION. 32 1 
 
 A rainbow "dog" is seen to westward, 
 
 Stormy presage ; 
 Flying clouds by strong winds riven, 
 
 Squally showers. 
 They lifted up the speckled sails, 
 
 Towering, tight ; 
 And they stretched the rigid shrouds up, 
 
 Tense and stiff. 
 To the tall and stately masts ; 
 
 Red and resiny. 
 They were tied so taut and knotty 
 
 Without blunder. 
 Through the eyelet-holes 
 
 And the round blocks 
 They fixed every rope of rigging 
 
 Quick in order, 
 And each man at his place sat down 
 
 To watch smartly." 
 
 Then comes this marvellous description of the storm in the 
 Western Sea. It is Homeric : — 
 
 ' ' Opened then the windows of the sky, 
 
 Spotted grey-blue. 
 For blowing of the gurly wind 
 
 And the storm-bands ; 
 And the dark-grey Ocean all around him 
 
 Drew his mantle — 
 His rough woolly robe of dun-black. 
 
 Horrid, flowing : 
 It swelled up in mountains and in glens 
 
 Rough and shaggy. 
 Till the tumbling sea was roaring 
 
 All in hills up. 
 The blue deep opened up its jaws 
 
 Wide and threatening, 
 Pouring out against each other 
 
 In deadly struggle. 
 A man's deed it was to look at 
 
 The fiery mountains, 
 Flashes of wildfire sparkling 
 
 On each summit. 
 In front the high hoary surges 
 
 Came fiercely raving, 
 X 
 
322 THE BEST OF THE BARDS. 
 
 And the hind seas, onward swelling, 
 
 Hoarsely bellowed. 
 Every time we rose up grandly 
 
 On the wave-tops. 
 Need was then to lower sail 
 
 Quick and smartly. 
 When we sank into the glens 
 
 With a gulp down, 
 Every stitch of sail she had 
 
 Was hauled to mast-top. 
 The high, broad-skirted, heaving waves 
 
 Came on raging ; 
 Before ever they were near us 
 
 We heard them roaring. 
 Sweeping bare the smaller waves 
 
 As with scourges. 
 Making one deadly sea 
 
 Dire for steering." 
 
 This description of a storm in the West Highlands even 
 our English readers will allow to be powerful and poetic. 
 The poem does not end with the extract we have given, 
 but goes on through many verses to describe the perils of 
 the voyage and the battle with the storm, until the vessel, 
 shaping her course through the sheltering Sound of Islay, 
 arrives safe at Carrickfergus. Though " not a knee or 
 timber in her but was loosened," not a tiller was unsplit 
 or helm unbroken ; though every stick in her was creaking, 
 the " waves cried peace on them at last," and the sea, " a 
 smooth white table," "ceased from barking." 
 
 Macdonald was certainly the best of the Inverness-shire 
 bards, and, perhaps more than any of the others, his verses 
 lend themselves to translation. The extract just given is from 
 the translation by the late Alexander Nicolson, as true a Skye 
 man as ever lived. It is literal, and gives in no small degree 
 much of the force and strength of the original. 
 
 Ian Lom and Allasdair Macdonald are the chief bards of 
 the mainland of our county, but there were others also of whom 
 
SICELY MACDONALD. 323 
 
 something needs to be said. We are indebted considerably 
 to the great authority on the Celtic bards, Mackenzie, in his 
 ' Beauties of GaeUc Poetry.' 
 
 SiCELY or Julian Macdonald was a daughter of the chief 
 of Keppoch, and lived from the reign of Charles II. to that of 
 George II. She was a fervent Royalist, and a bitter enemy 
 to the house of Hanover. Her husband was a cadet of the 
 house of Lovat, and one of her poems is an elegy for him. It 
 is a bitter outpouring of grief, in which she compares herself 
 to a boat " broken on the shore, without rudder, sail, or oar." 
 In her latter days she turned her muse to sacred topics and 
 composed hymns, some of which are still remembered in the 
 North. Her finest verses are those in praise of the chief 
 of Glengarry, written after his death. In this elegy, after 
 telling how the clansmen had lost the grey . old oak that 
 shielded them, as the branches of the tree give shelter alike 
 to the capercailzie and the strong blue-eyed hawk, she bursts 
 into a fervent eulogy on the departed chief, and compares 
 him to everything great and precious : — 
 
 "Thou wert the red flame to burn up thy foes, 
 Thou wert the battle-axe that hewed them to then- heels, 
 Thou wert the strong shoulder to wage the battle, 
 Thou wert the hero with no timidity of hand. 
 
 Thou wert the salmon in the spring water, 
 Thou wert the glad fountain of health to many. 
 Thou wert Ben Nevis above each height, 
 Thou wert the rock that could not be climbed. 
 
 Thou wert the copestone of the castle, 
 Thou wert the broad paving-stone of the road, 
 Thou wert the bright jewel of all virtues, 
 Thou wert the precious gem of the ring. 
 
 Thou wert the yew-tree in the wood, 
 Thou wert the strong stalwart oak, 
 Thou wert the green holly, the rough thorn, 
 Thou wert the blossoming apple-tree." 
 
324 JOHN MACDONALD. 
 
 This eulogium may perhaps appear somewhat overdone, but 
 in the original every metaphor is made to tell. It was a song 
 highly appreciated in the North, and was the model on which 
 others of a similar character were framed. 
 
 John Macdonald, or, as he was called, Black John, the 
 son of John the son of Allan, belonged to the family of Clan- 
 ranald, and had the position of a gentleman in the district of 
 Moidart. He was born about 1665, was well educated, and 
 shows his culture in his poems. These are highly pohshed 
 compositions, and perhaps on that account wanting somewhat 
 in the fire and exuberant fancy which are generally displayed 
 by the northern bards. His best poem is one on " The High- 
 land Clans." In this song he takes one clan after another, 
 and gives in elegant and classical Gaelic the characteristics 
 of each of the various septs — Monroes, Frasers, Camerons, 
 Grants, and others. He begins by telling that a time was at 
 hand when the stability of the Government would be tried. 
 " The men of Alba had risen in their vigour and might." Every 
 true fighting man was mustering "in his clean new armour" 
 to fight for the restoration of the Crown. The good and true 
 men of the Lowlands had risen. The spoiling of the English 
 was at hand. The French in their array would be soon after 
 them. After this prologue he tells what the Highlanders 
 would do when they joined in the fray. First he gives the 
 place of honour to his own clan : — 
 
 " Clan Donnuil will rise 
 Like lions enraged ; 
 
 They will come down like live thunderbolts. 
 Tall and stout are these heroes ; 
 These are the men to stand by the right, 
 Whose cognisance is the red hand. " 
 
 The Camerons would not be for behind the Clan Donald 
 when the hour came to strip for the battle : — 
 
LAUCHLAN MACPHERSON. 325 
 
 ' Many are the warriors 
 Of Ewen of Lochiel ; 
 Rough, broad men, 
 Famous for their prowess, 
 Sweeping on to battle 
 Like the spring-tide or mountain torrent. 
 Well know I that at stripping-time 
 They will not hold back from the onslaught." 
 
 The whole poem has a fine martial ring about it, and 
 closely resembles the Latin poem " The GrEemiad," which we 
 have noticed, and which describes the gathering of the clans 
 on the field of Macomer to follow the banner of Dundee. 
 
 Mr Lauchlan Macpherson of Strathmashie, in Badenoch, 
 was, like the last poet we have named, of gentle birth and 
 assured position. He was born in 1723, received a good 
 education, and in his latter years assisted James Macpherson 
 in the translations of the Gaelic poems which compose 
 'Ossian.' He was an accomplished Celtic scholar, and had 
 large knowledge of Gaelic poetic manuscripts. He was also 
 a poet himself, though not one by profession. He seemed 
 to have turned off verses more for his own amusement than 
 for any other reason. He was a great humourist, and, except 
 his "Lament" for the departure of his chief to France after 
 the '45, his verses are of a sprightly and occasionally even 
 ridiculous character. Such is his song, "The Fellowship of 
 Whisky," which has something of the ring of Burns about it, 
 as the poet sings in merry verses the praise of that by which 
 "heroes are often felled to the ground without any sword 
 being drawn." Of the same character is his somewhat inde- 
 cent satire called "The Grey Breeks." In it he lampoons 
 the Hanoverian Government for their attempt to abolish the 
 Highland garb, and turns to ridicule the Highlanders mas- 
 querading in trousers. 
 
326 JOHN ROY STEWART. 
 
 John Roy Stewart, or John Stewart the Red, was a 
 great warrior, and was famous for his prowess as well as for 
 his poetry. He was born at Knock, in Badenoch, in 1700. 
 He was well educated, and on his attaining manhood became 
 quartermaster and lieutenant in the Scots Greys. After a time 
 he retired from the king's service and was largely employed 
 as a Jacobite agent. He was constantly coming and going 
 between the exiled royal family and the Highland chiefs, and 
 had a share in all the political plots and intrigues of his time. 
 In 1736 he was apprehended as a dangerous person and im- 
 prisoned at Inverness, but with the connivance of Lord Lovat 
 he broke out of gaol and escaped to France, where he was as 
 much at home as in his own Gountry. He was sent to Rome 
 on an important mission, and he fought at Fontenoy. On 
 the march south of Prince Charles he joined the army at 
 Blair. He raised and commanded the Jacobite "Edinburgh 
 Regiment," which distinguished itself on many occasions 
 under his leadership. From his courage and resource, his 
 gift of song, and his experience as a soldier from having 
 served in France, he was a great favourite with the Prince, 
 by whom he was familiarly termed " The Body." At Cul- 
 loden he fought with much bravery, and attracted the notice 
 of the Duke of Cumberland, who asked who he was. ^^^len 
 he was told it was John Roy Stewart, " Good God ! " he 
 exclaimed, " the man I left in Flanders doing the butcheries 
 of ten heroes ! Is it possible he can have dogged me 
 here ? " 
 
 After CuUoden, Stewart had a hard time. A price was set 
 upon his head, and many attempts were made to capture 
 him. He had frequent hairbreadth escapes, but though his 
 hiding - places in Badenoch were known to many he was 
 never betrayed. It was when resting with a sprained ankle 
 beside a waterfall in Rothiemurchus, with his foot in the 
 
HIS "PSALM." 327 
 
 Stream, that he composed in English the verses, long held in 
 high esteem by the Jacobites, called " John Roy Stewart's 
 Psalm " :— 
 
 " The Lord's my targe, I will be stout, 
 With dirk and trusty blade ; 
 Though Campbells come in flocks about, 
 I will not be afraid. 
 
 The Lord's the same as heretofore, 
 
 He's always good to me ; 
 Though redcoats come a thousand more, 
 
 Afraid I will not be. 
 
 Though they the woods do cut and burn. 
 
 And drain the waters dry, 
 Nay, though the rocks they overturn, 
 
 And change the course of Spey : 
 
 Though they mow down both corn and grass 
 
 And seek me under ground ; 
 Though hundreds guard each road and pass, 
 
 John Roy will not be found." 
 
 Found he was not. He joined the Prince in Lochaber, and 
 accompanied him to France, where he died about 1752. 
 
 The English doggerel — for it is little better — that we have 
 quoted from his pious effusion gives little idea of the strength 
 of his Gaelic poetry. His songs are still popular in the High- 
 lands, and breathe in every Hne the intense love he bore for 
 the cause to which he gave the best part of his life. His two 
 poems on " The Day of Culloden " are a very wail of sorrow. 
 In one of them he charges Lord George Murray with treachery, 
 compares him to Achan, and pours forth, as it has well been 
 said, "torrents of invective and revenge." In the other he 
 sets forth his deep love for Prince Charles, " the true heir of 
 the crown," a wanderer " he knew not whither." He enumer- 
 ates with sorrow, yet with pride, one after another of those who 
 had fought on his side, and praises their valour, and then 
 
328 ALAN BALL. 
 
 expresses fervently the hope, never to be reahsed, that the 
 " wheel of fortune would come round," when the false Hano- 
 verian would receive the wages of iniquity ; when William the 
 son of George would be "as a blighted tree without root, 
 branch, or leaf," and the faithful clansmen, young and old, 
 would gather under the shadow of their chosen king. His 
 elegy on Lady Mackintosh of Moy, who entertained the Prince, 
 is also a plaintive and tender poem. 
 
 Alan Dall, or Blind Alan, born 1750, was the last of 
 those family bards who were attached to the household of a 
 chief. Most of his songs were composed at Inverlochy, and 
 a selection of them was published which spread his fame 
 throughout Inverness-shire. They attracted the attention of 
 Ranaldson Macdonnell of Glengarry, who still kept up in 
 comparatively modern times something of the style of a 
 chief. About 1795 he brought Alan to Glengarry and 
 made him his family bard, and many of his effusions are 
 in praise of his patron. He was a man of sharp wit, and 
 knew well how to please his benefactor, to whom a little 
 flattery was always agreeable. On one occasion, after the 
 Glengarry games were over, and when, according to usual 
 custom, the bard was to give an exhibition of his powers, 
 the chieftain came forward and said, " Now, Alan, I will give 
 you the best cow on my estate if you sing the doings of this 
 day without once mentioning my name." Alan's reply was 
 instantaneous, and is often still quoted : — 
 
 ' ' Sooner the day without the sun, 
 Or without salt the sea, 
 Than a song from me, most honoured chief, 
 Without the praise of thee." 
 
 Doubtless Alan got his cow ! His poems are often coarse in 
 fibre, and those in praise of his patron are fulsome in the 
 
A JOVIAL POET. 329 
 
 extreme, but his satire is sharp. His verses on the shepherds 
 from the Lowlands, whom he hated, are full of venom. When 
 he was in good humour, which was as often as he could obtain 
 a sufficient quantity of whisky, he sang songs of a genial and 
 rollicking character which are often very diverting. Such are 
 his songs on " Whisky " and on " Drinking." They are far 
 from being such as would commend themselves to an advo- 
 cate of temperance, but they exhibit well the jollity of the 
 convivial Highlander. Here is his experience of a jovial night 
 and subsequent repentance. The translation is literal : — 
 
 " When we sat in the public-house, 
 The stoups went beyond counting ; 
 Quickly — not lingeringly coming — 
 They raced towards us. 
 
 No thought had I of the flight of time, but constantly paying, 
 And drinking the health of the Prince, 
 Jly heart with pleasure leaping high, 
 For Ronald was praising me. 
 
 But when I arose to go home 
 
 I became weak in the knees ; 
 
 I tacked hither and thither, not seeing rightly 
 
 From the many conceits in my eyes. 
 
 Pressing along through the night with scarcely a blink of light, 
 
 I made prostrations which doubled me up, 
 
 And I fear indecent exposures : 
 
 My friends were much dissatisfied. 
 
 When I arose next morning 
 
 My mind was little disposed to merriment. 
 
 My head was without power, my bosom on fire, 
 
 My eyes polluted and red. 
 
 The ' son of the malt,' it was that laid me low 
 
 In a bed uncomfortable ; 
 
 That wrestler subdued me. 
 
 And left me bruised and weak. 
 
 Bad trades are rhyming and blethering. 
 Idiotic conduct it is 
 
 To be sitting at a table calling for drink 
 And turning pockets inside out ; 
 
330 EWAN M'LACHLAN. 
 
 Scattering money vaingloriously, 
 And stealing kisses in sly corners. 
 But while my money lasted 
 No landlord turned his back on me." 
 
 The poem concludes with the most solemn resolutions to 
 turn over a new leaf, and " doubly to repent " and to " eschew 
 drink " for the future, " for a moneyless man can only make 
 his bread by the sweat of his brow." It is to be feared these 
 resolutions were like too many others made in similar circum- 
 stances. 
 
 EwAN M'Lachlan was a poet of education and learning, a 
 scholar of no mean order, but a true Highlander, fond of the 
 mountains and the language of his people. He was born in 
 Lochaber 1775, was educated at the grammar-school of Fort 
 William, and spent some years as a tutor in the neighbourhood 
 of that town. In 1798 he entered King's College, Aberdeen, 
 where he distinguished himself by his proficiency in classics. 
 After taking the degree of A.M. with honours, he entered the 
 Divinity Hall and completed his theological studies, but instead 
 of entering the ministry of the Church of Scotland, he became 
 assistant libraria!n of King's College and headmaster of the 
 grammar-school of Old Aberdeen, positions which he occupied 
 till his death in 1822, in the forty-ninth year of his age. He 
 was a distinguished classic scholar and philologist, and was 
 specially famous as a Gaelic scholar. He was the compiler of 
 the Gaelic -English part of the Highland Society's Gaelic 
 Dictionary, a work of immense labour, and an abiding 
 monument of his intimate acquaintance not only with the 
 Gaelic language, but also with Arabic, Chaldean, Hebrew, 
 Persian, and other oriental languages. He had in his time 
 considerable reputation as a poet. His Greek and Latin 
 odes are said to be second only to those of George Buchanan ; 
 
A SCHOLARLY POET. 33 1 
 
 and his translation of Homer's ' Iliad ' into Gaelic, a work on 
 which he was engaged at his death, has been pronounced by 
 competent scholars to be faithful to the original and imbued 
 with its spirit. He died at Aberdeen from overwork, in the 
 prime of life, when much was expected from his genius. He 
 was buried in his native Lochaber with every mark of sorrow 
 and respect. A conspicuous monument to him stands near 
 the town of Fort William. His Gaelic poems are cultured 
 productions, as might be expected. They all display great 
 love of nature. Those on Summer, Autumn, and Winter 
 show close observation of the effects of the changing seasons. 
 The same familiarity with the varied beauty of the Highland 
 landscape pervades the allegorical composition called " The 
 Mavis of Clan Lachluin," in which the poet assumes the 
 character of that song-bird : — 
 
 " The sun is on his flashing march, his golden hair abroad ; 
 It seems as on the mountain-side of beams a furnace glowed. 
 Now melts the honey from the flowers, and now a dew o'erspreads 
 (A dew of fragrant blessedness) all the grasses of the meads. 
 Not least in my remembrance is my country's flowering heather, 
 Whose russet crest nor cold nor sun nor sweep of gale may wither ; 
 Dear to my eye the symbol wild, that loves like me the side 
 Of my own Highland mountain that I climb in love and pride." 
 
 This extract is a translation from the Gaelic, and, though 
 
 literal enough, is but a tame copy of the original. With one 
 
 lilt of M'Lachlan's, translated by himself, we may close our 
 
 attempts to bring the poetry of our Inverness-shire bards 
 
 within the comprehension of our Saxon readers. It is called 
 
 "The Melody of Love," and is a song that is still most 
 
 popular in the Highlands. It is sung to a lively air and has 
 
 a spirited chorus : — 
 
 "Not the swan on the lake, or the foam on the sliore, 
 Can compare with the charms of the maid I adore ; 
 Not so white is the new milk that flows o'er the pail, 
 Or the snow that is showered from the boughs of the vale. 
 
332 MARY MACKELLAR. 
 
 As Ihe cloud's yellow wreath on the mountain's high brow, 
 The locks of my fair one redundantly flow; 
 Her cheeks have the tint that the roses display 
 When they glitter with dews on the morning of May. 
 
 As the planet of Venus that beams o'er the grove, 
 
 Her blue rolling eyes are the symbols of love; 
 
 Her pearl-circled bosom diffuses bright rays, 
 
 Like the moon when the stars are bedimmed with her blare. 
 
 The mavis and lark when they welcome the dawn 
 Make a chorus of joy to resound through the lawn ; 
 But the mavis is tuneless, the lark strives in vain. 
 When my beautiful charmer renews her sweet strain. 
 
 When summer bespangles the landscape with flowers. 
 While the thrush and the cuckoo sing soft from the bowers. 
 Through the wood-shaded windings with Bella I'll rove, 
 And feast unrestrained on the smiles of my love." 
 
 There are some other GaeHc poets of the past whom we 
 might have mentioned had our space permitted. There are 
 also Inverness-shire poets of the present day who emulate, and 
 not without considerable success, the efforts of their prede- 
 cessors. It is only a few years since Inverness-shire lost one 
 who in an eminent degree possessed the bardic spirit. This 
 was Mrs Mary Mackellar or Cameron, a native of Fort William. 
 She wrote English poems, some of which are not without con- 
 siderable merit ; but her Gaelic poems are full of spirit, and 
 are likely to be long remembered. Of her and of other min- 
 strels, well known to the northern people, who have well 
 maintained the continuity of Inverness-shire song, we cannot 
 now write. 
 
 It has been a difBcuIt task to make a presentation in any 
 comprehensible form of these Inverness-shire poets. In doing 
 so we have supplemented our own knowledge of Gaelic with 
 such translations by competent scholars as were within our 
 reach. While the productions of our county poets may not 
 
A POETRY OF CHIVALRY AND DEEP FEELING. 333 
 
 excite the admiration of our southern readers, and may even 
 seem to some of them not only rough and primitive, but feeble 
 and commonplace, others will feel that it is remarkable to 
 find among our wild and remote mountains, and often among 
 an uneducated people, so deep and long-continued an expres- 
 sion of fine feeling, chivalry, and love for all that is highest 
 and best as the work of these bards presents to us. 
 
334 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE OF THE PRESENT DAY— THE FOUR DIVISIONS OF ITS HIS- 
 TORY — FEW REMNANTS LEFT OF THE OLDEN TIME — THE OLD CASTLES 
 — THE PRESENT CHIEFS— DISAPPEARANCE OF THE MACDONALD FAM- 
 ILIES OF KEPPOCH, CLANRANALD, AND GLENGARRY — "THE LAST OF 
 THE CHIEFS" — INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF PROPRIETORS AND OF 
 DISTRICTS GIVEN UP TO SPORT — TWO ILLUSTRATIONS OF THE CHANGE 
 IN INVERNESS AND THE WEALTH POURED INTO IT BY SPORTSMEN- 
 GLENGARRY AND GLENQUOICH — MONEY SPENT IN IMPROVEMENTS — 
 RATES AND TAXES PAID BY SPORTING TENANTS — RAILWAY REACHES 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE — HIGHLAND AND WEST HIGHLAND LINES— LINES PRO- 
 JECTED — GROWTH AND PROSPERITY OF THE TOWNS — INVERNESS NEVER 
 SO WORTHY OF BEING CALLED "THE CAPITAL OF THE HIGHLANDS" — 
 FORT WILLIAM — THE BEN NEVIS OBSERVATORY — KINGUSSIE— A GREAT 
 HEALTH RESORT— FORT AUGUSTUS THE SITE OF A BENEDICTINE MON- 
 ASTERY—SMALL INCREASE IN MANUFACTURES— THE ALUMINIUM WORKS 
 IN STRATHERRICK— PEARS OF THE BEAUTY OF FOYERS BEING DESTROYED 
 — THE BEAUTY OF INVERNESS -SHIRE ITS GREAT INHERITANCE —THE 
 HEIGHT OF ITS MOUNTAINS AND CHARACTER OF ITS SCENERY — ITS 
 CLIMATE — THE RAINFALL AT SOME OF ITS PRINCIPAL RECORDING 
 STATIONS — ITS GEOLOGICAL FORMATION — THE COUNTY INTERESTING 
 TO THE GEOLOGIST — THE UPLANDS OF INVERNESS-SHIRE — THE PROCESS 
 BY WHICH THE VALLEYS WERE FORMED — THE GREAT GLEN A FRACTURE 
 — THE SCOOPING OUT OF ITS LAKES — THE VAST RESULTS OF GLACIAL 
 ACTION EVERYWHERE APPARENT — ESPECIALLY IN GLEN SPEAN AND 
 GLEN ROY — THE PARALLEL ROADS OF THE LATTER — THE VARIOUS 
 THEORIES REGARDING THEM — THE THEORY OF AGASSIZ DOUBTLESS THE 
 CORRECT ONE. 
 
 THE POPULATION OF THE COUNTY IN 1881 AND 189I— CONCLUSION — 
 FLOREAT INVERNESSIA ! 
 
 We have now come in our narrative to the Inverness-shire 
 of the present day. Of its condition and prospects it is not 
 necessary that much should here be said. They are well 
 known to every one who has visited our beautiful county. 
 
FOUR EPOCHS OF THE HISTORY. 335 
 
 The history we have endeavoured to bring before our 
 readers naturally falls into four great epochs or divisions. 
 The first was the annexation of the kingdom of Moray to 
 Scotland, the coming of the southern lords, and the subse- 
 quent establishment by these strangers of the Norman polity, 
 modified in some measure by the peculiar customs and 
 traditions of the Celtic people among whom it was planted. 
 The second was the cessation of the clan feuds, which had 
 long desolated the country and rendered life and property 
 everywhere unsafe, by the banding of the clans together in 
 a common attachment to the house of Stewart. The third 
 was the change which took place after Culloden. The old 
 feudal system was swept away, hereditary jurisdiction and 
 the arbitrary powers of the chiefs abolished, the people emi- 
 grated in vast numbers to other lands, and the county they 
 inhabited was almost entirely devoted to pastoral purposes. 
 The fourth is that under which Inverness-shire now exists. 
 The county has become mainly a place for sport and recrea- 
 tion. Large stretches of it are devoted to deer-forests, and 
 thousands annually visit it attracted by sport or by the beauties 
 of its scenery. This is the outstanding feature of the Inver- 
 ness-shire of the present day. There are still in some parts 
 of it agricultural and pastoral industry. In the west there 
 are large sheep-farms, and in the east many acres under 
 tillage ; but the wealth derived from these sources is small 
 in comparison with that poured into the county by the 
 sportsmen who rent its forests, grouse-moors, and rivers, 
 and the multitude of tourists who in the summer-time crowd 
 its hotels. 
 
 There are few features in the Inverness-shire of the present 
 day which link it with the Inverness-shire of the olden time, 
 of which we have had so much to tell in these pages. The 
 old castles of Glenurquhart, Inverlochy, Invergarry, Castle 
 
336 LINKS WITH THE PAST. 
 
 Tirrim, Castle Downie, and other great strongholds of the 
 feudal time, still stand uninhabited and deserted, telling of 
 the old days when "might was right." But the. clansmen 
 who dwelt under their shadow are nearly all gone, and the 
 few who remain have lost in great part the martial spirit of 
 their ancestors. Instead of the old keeps where dwelt the 
 feudal magnates, we have elegant mansions, like those of 
 Achnacarry, Beaufort, Balmacaan, Glengarry, and also many 
 others to which attach no historical interest, and whose 
 owners for the most part bear no historic names. From 
 one end of the county to the other, from the southern 
 border of Badenoch to the rough bounds of Moidart, these 
 mansions are to be met with every few miles, evidence in 
 themselves of the vast change that has come over Inverness- 
 shire. 
 
 Most of the old chiefs of whom we have written so much 
 are still represented in their descendants. A Lochiel is still 
 at Achnacarry, a Grant in Glenmoriston and Strathspey, a 
 Fraser at Beaufort, a Chisholm in Strathglass, a Mackintosh 
 at Moy, and a Macpherson at Cluny ; and several other 
 families also remain in the county whose ancestors took a 
 conspicuous part in the olden days. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance that the only great clan families 
 who have disappeared are those of the Macdonalds. We have 
 no longer a Keppoch in the Braes of Lochaber, a Clanranald 
 in Moidart, or a Glengarry in the glen that bears his name. 
 
 The Keppochs, who had little or no legal title to their lands, 
 naturally soon disappeared. When sheep-skins became more 
 powerful than swords as instruments of possession, the descen- 
 dants of brave "Col of the Cows" became only tenants of 
 their holding, and finally vanished from Lochaber. 
 
 The grandson of Clanranald of the '45, it is said through 
 association with the Prince Regent and his foolish and extrav- 
 
THE DECAY OF THE MACDONALDS. 337 
 
 agant companions, was brought to absolute ruin. One after 
 another, large parts of the family property were cut off and 
 sent into the market. Of the splendid inheritance, once like 
 a principality, there only remains to the descendants of a long 
 line of chiefs the roofless walls of Castle Tirrim, standing gaunt 
 and bare by the Western Sea. 
 
 The family of Glengarry had almost as sad an ending. 
 The fifteenth chief, Alasdair Ranaldson Macdonnell, may be 
 said to have been the last of the old race who was a conspicu- 
 ous figure in Inverness-shire. It was the aim of his life to 
 carry into modern times the pomp and surroundings of an 
 ancient chief. He always wore the Highland dress, lived as 
 much as possible after the manner of his ancestors, exercised 
 unbounded hospitality, and maintained a household modelled 
 upon that of feudal times. He went about, like his forebears, 
 with a bodyguard, which was called his "tail." He had his 
 piper and his bard. When George IV. visited Scotland, Glen- 
 garry came to Edinburgh with the gentlemen of his clan, and 
 was in great prominence during the royal visit. During the 
 time of the Peninsular war he commanded a regiment called 
 the Glengarry Fencibles, who wore the Highland costume and 
 the little cap called the Glengarry bonnet. He had all the im- 
 petuousness of the old chiefs of his race, and was sometimes 
 hurried by his fiery temper into' acts of a most serious 
 kind. On one occasion he unreasonably quarrelled with an 
 officer at Inverness : a duel was the result, and Glengarry 
 killed his man. He was tried for his life, but escaped through 
 the eloquence of Henry Erskine. 
 
 This chief, said to be the prototype of Fergus Maclvor in 
 'Waverley,' was killed in 1828 in leaping off a steamer which 
 had drifted on some rocks near Fort William. He was suc- 
 ceeded by his son, a boy of ten years old, and the estate came 
 under trust. The trustees found that the Habilities of the late 
 
338 CLUNY MACPHERSON. 
 
 chief amounted to about ^80,000, and resolved to sell the 
 greater portion of the estate. That which was unsold was 
 parted with by the young chief on coming of age. There are 
 20,000 Macdonalds in Glengarry in Canada, but few in the 
 beautiful glen at home. The once famous family own to-day 
 only their burying-place in the ancient church of St Finnan, 
 and the ruined castle that casts its dark shadow on the waters 
 of Loch Oich. 
 
 We had almost said that the chief we have mentioned was 
 the last of the old lords of Inverness-shire, but that would 
 not be altogether correct. There was one who, without the 
 absurdities which distinguished Glengarry, displayed in our own 
 time all the best qualities of an ancient chief. Cluny Mac- 
 pherson — grandson of the Cluny who was exiled after 1745 — 
 will always be remembered by those who had the pleasure 
 of knowing him as the embodiment of all that was best in 
 the old patriarchal chief. He possessed his ancestral estates 
 for the long period of seventy years. He maintained with 
 dignity the name he bore, and inherited all the martial 
 ardour of his ancestors. Of wonderful courtesy and chival- 
 rous feeling, he carried into all his duties a flavour of the 
 olden time. In the Highland dress, surmounted by the 
 bonnet and eagle's feather of the chief, with his fine erect 
 athletic figure, no more graceful specimen of a Highlander 
 could be seen. He died in 1885, "the last of the chiefs," 
 who so long, in very different times from his own, controlled 
 the destinies of Inverness-shire. 
 
 The change in the county occasioned by the breaking up 
 of large properties like those of Clanranald, Glengarry, and 
 others, has been very marked. Proprietors are numerous : 
 according to a return made in 1892-93, they number 1867. 
 Districts given up to sport are many. Any one who happens 
 to be at Inverness on the days preceding the 12th of August 
 
BREAKING UP OF LARGE PROPERTIES. 339 
 
 will wonder at the army of sportsmen who arrive in detach- 
 ments from the South, and who from the northern capital 
 branch off to their residences in remote glens, to remain 
 there until the approach of winter calls them to return to the 
 regions whence they came. 
 
 As an illustration of the change produced in Inverness- 
 shire and the wealth poured into the county by the new 
 condition of things, we may refer to two estates with which 
 all who love the beauty of Highland scenery are familiar — 
 namely, those of Glengarry and Glenquoich. They are typical 
 of many more. 
 
 Glenquoich was purchased by the late Right Hon. Edward 
 Ellice from Mr Ranaldson Macdonnell — the last chief of the 
 doughty Macdonnells who possessed the ancestral estates of 
 Glengarry, Glenquoich, and Knoydart — in 1840 at the price 
 of _;^3 2,000, while the Glengarry portion was acquired by 
 Mr Ellice from the late Earl of Dudley in i860 for the sum 
 of _;^i20,ooo. Lord Dudley having twenty years before pur- 
 chased Glengarry from the Macdonnell family for ^^9000. 
 
 These estates afford a fair illustration of the enormous 
 harvest which during the past half- century the county of 
 Inverness has reaped from its adaptability to meet the needs 
 of those persons — now a numerous class — of wealth and 
 station who pour into the Highlands every autumn in search 
 of health and recreation. 
 
 From evidence regarding these estates which was laid 
 before the Royal Commission of 1892-94 appointed to in- 
 quire into the condition of crofters and other smaller tenants, 
 it appeared that during the previous thirty years there had 
 been expended by the proprietors of Glengarry — namely, Mr 
 Ellice above mentioned, his son, the late Edward Ellice, so 
 long the well-known member of Parliament for the St Andrews 
 Burghs, and the widow of the latter, Mrs Ellice, the present 
 
340 GLENQUOICH. 
 
 proprietor — no less than ^274,749 upon their property, and 
 that by far the greater portion of this expenditure had gone 
 to local tradesmen and labourers for services rendered to the 
 estate. 
 
 An even more remarkable instance of the same kind, which 
 we quote from the report we have mentioned, is the outlay 
 upon the adjoining estate of Glenquoich. It is the more 
 striking from being the case of a tenant, having no pro- 
 prietary interest in the estate, voluntarily expending, out of 
 his love for the place and the pleasure he derives from his 
 residence upon it, a very large sum. It was shown that in 
 twenty years Lord Burton, the tenant referred to, had ex- 
 pended the great amount of /^22^,2'j2, consisting to a great 
 extent of payments to the resident and local population as 
 wages, and for materials for extensive works. " Not less than 
 a hundred and thirty miles of roads," says the report, "and 
 paths, fifty miles of fences, and many new houses and other 
 buildings, have been constructed, which have afforded well- 
 paid employment to a large number of workpeople, chiefly of 
 the crofter class." 
 
 What may be called the sporting interests of Inverness-shire 
 have been instrumental not only in contributing to the pros- 
 perity and wealth of the people through the employment and 
 wages they have directly received; it must also be remembered 
 that in a very marked degree they have lessened the pres- 
 sure of rates and taxes in many parishes, and have thus 
 benefited all classes. While the rents of pastoral farms have 
 gone down greatly, and agriculture generally has been in the 
 Highlands, as elsewhere, depressed for a good many years, the 
 demand for shootings and sporting-places in the Highlands 
 has suffered little or no abatement to the present day. Their 
 annual values or rents have also not appreciably receded. 
 From this it can readily be seen that the great rents often 
 
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPORTING RENTS. 34I 
 
 obtained for shootings must materially increase the rateable 
 basis of taxation, and correspondingly keep down the rates. 
 
 Evidence of what we have said has from time to time been 
 brought out by various parliamentary inquiries into Highland 
 affairs. It has been shown that over the whole Highland area 
 25 per cent of rates and taxes is raised from shooting and 
 fishing rental, while in not a few parishes, including several 
 parishes in Inverness-shire, the proportion reaches 35, 40, and 
 even 50 per cent. What the withdrawal of this burden from 
 parishes with an otherwise impoverished rental would entail 
 on the ratepayers can be easily imagined. The withdrawal 
 or destruction of interests so beneficial would be embittered 
 by the reflection that generally these were interests which 
 might and did exist without detriment to any other concern, 
 and which were in fact almost the only profitable use to which 
 such possessions could be put. 
 
 We have probably said enough on this subject, but if any 
 of our readers desire further proof of the invaluable im- 
 portance to our northern county of its sporting rents, they 
 will find it in abundance in many a blue-book and official 
 document. We would specially mention as of deep interest 
 the reports following the two inquiries of the Royal Commis- 
 sion in 1883-84 and 1892-94 into the condition of the 
 Highlands and Islands. These furnish most instructive read- 
 ing to all interested in Northern history. 
 
 The attractions of the Scottish Highlands, the marvellous 
 natural beauty of their scenery, and the health and vigour 
 derived from a visit to their bens and glens, will doubtless 
 long continue to draw many to the North. Their visits, it is 
 pleasant to think, are being rendered every year easier and 
 less costly by the wisdom of the Government in providing 
 increased postal and telegraphic facilities, and by a remark- 
 able development of railways through private enterprise. 
 
342 THE HIGHLAND RAILWAY. 
 
 On the sth November 1855 the "iron horse" first reached 
 Inverness, and that town was connected by railway with 
 Nairn. In 1858 the line was extended to Keith, and direct 
 communication with the South by Aberdeen established. On 
 the 9th September 1861 what is now called the Highland 
 line was opened. The idea of such a line was at first ridi- 
 culed on account of the engineering difficulties it presented, 
 but these were successfully overcome, mainly by the ability 
 of Mr Joseph Mitchell, C.E., who gives in his reminiscences 
 a full history of the undertaking. There are few travellers 
 who are not familiar with this route to the Northern High- 
 lands. It passes through the most beautiful mountain scenery 
 in Scotland, and the passenger who leaves London at night 
 is landed early in the forenoon of next day at Inverness. 
 
 Another line of railway also reaches our county from the 
 South. Starting from the Firth of Clyde, by the shores of 
 Loch Lomond, through the solitudes of the Black Forest, 
 across the Moor of Rannoch, and by the valley of wild Loch 
 Treig, the West Highland Railway finally debouches into the 
 valley of the Spean, by which it arrives at Fort William. This 
 railway was opened in 1894. 
 
 Other railway projects have received the sanction of Parlia- 
 ment. A line is to be made from Fort William to the western 
 border of the county at Mallaig. Another is to run from 
 Fort William to Fort Augustus. Connection between this 
 place and Inverness is likely to be soon effected, and when 
 this is done all parts of our county will be brought into 
 close communication. As it is, crowds of travellers during the 
 summer months come to Inverness-shire either by the railway 
 routes or by the excellent line of steamers which pass through 
 the Caledonian Canal. Our county, once so inaccessible, is 
 now perhaps better known to the southerner and the foreigner 
 than any other district of Scotland. 
 
THE PRESENT TOWN OF INVERNESS. 343 
 
 One result of the opening up of Inverness-shire to the rest 
 of the world has been, as might be expected, the increase and 
 prosperity of its various towns. The burgh, founded by King 
 David I., and to which William the Lion granted privileges, 
 is now one of the most beautiful and flourishing towns in 
 Scotland of its size. It has lost the primitive character 
 which distinguished it through many centuries, when it had 
 to struggle for very existence in the midst of wild and 
 hostile tribes. Its ancient castle and fort have disappeared. 
 Where the former stood rises the imposing and castellated 
 structure which contains the county buildings. Many hand- 
 some buildings beautify the town. Among them is specially 
 noticeable the Cathedral of St Andrew, belonging to the 
 Episcopal Church of Scotland, built in 1866, and occupying 
 a commanding position by the waters of the Ness. The 
 town is also distinguished by the many elegant residences 
 by which on every side it is surrounded. Its amenity is 
 remarkable. There are few views in Scotland or anywhere 
 else exceeding in beauty that which is commanded from the 
 upper heights of the town, when the spectator looks down 
 on the wooded islands of the river, the blue waters of the 
 Moray Firth, and sees bounding his view the Ross-shire hills 
 and those of the Beauly valley. 
 
 The business and trade of Inverness have been on the 
 increase since the opening of the Caledonian Canal. The 
 tonnage of the port in 1840 was 8000, which has since been 
 more than doubled. In 1831 the population of the town 
 and parish was 14,324; at the last census it was 19,215. It 
 is the centre and emporium of a large and prosperous dis- 
 trict, and is more worthy to-day than at any previous time 
 of the name so frequently given to it — the capital of the 
 Highlands. 
 
 Fort William, which in Burt's time was a collection of 
 
344 BEN NEVIS. 
 
 hovels under the protection of the fort, is now a considerable 
 town of 1870 inhabitants. It is under municipal government, 
 has handsome shops, hotels, churches, and dwelling-houses, 
 and is becoming year by year attractive as a place of residence. 
 The old fort has been swept away, and there is little to re- 
 mind the visitor of the days when the place was a military 
 stronghold. 
 
 On the summit of Ben Nevis, in the neighbourhood, is the 
 famous observatory, visited annually by many thousands. 
 The ascent of the mountain is a great attraction to travellers, 
 and it is easily effected. During the summer and autumn of 
 1893 a road was made to the top of the hill and the obser- 
 vatory equipped for meteorological observations at a cost of 
 about _;^4ooo. Here work is carried on night and day, and 
 the results have been of the greatest importance to meteoro- 
 logical science. 
 
 Kingussie, on the banks of the Spey, which, as we have 
 seen, was founded shortly before 1795, has not behed the 
 promise with which at that early time it was regarded. It is 
 a centre of education, and a much frequented place of summer 
 residence. The beauty of the scenery by which it is sur- 
 rounded, as well as its other attractions, in the way of recrea- 
 tion and amusement, draw hither year after year crowds of 
 strangers, and few who have been there once fail to return 
 again. It is fast becoming one of the great health-resorts of 
 Scotland. 
 
 Fort Augustus as a military station has disappeared, and 
 where the fort stood is a magnificent and well-endowed Bene- 
 dictine abbey. Lord Lovat purchased from the Government 
 the fortress and farm attached to it for the sum of _;^5ooo 
 The old buildings were cleared away and the present mon- 
 astery erected at a cost of ;^4o,ooo. It was opened with 
 imposing ceremonial in August 1878. The monastic com- 
 
FORT AUGUSTUS. 34S 
 
 munity numbers twenty-five, with a staff of professors for the 
 training of the youths who are sent there for their education. 
 The abbey is doubtless a great source of strength to the 
 Roman Catholic community of Inverness-shire, which, as we 
 have seen, is large. 
 
 Inverness-shire has not made much progress in manufac- 
 tures. Two breweries at Inverness, a woollen factory, some 
 meal and flour mills, and various distilleries in different parts 
 of the county, mainly represent this branch of industry. 
 Lately, however, there has been a new departure. The British 
 Aluminium Company have set up works at Foyers for the 
 manufacture of their special product. They employ perma- 
 nently at this place a hundred hands, and possess 7500 acres 
 of land, with water rights over lochs, rivers, and streams 
 within an area of about 100 square miles, which has cost 
 them upwards of ^^7 8,000. What may be the results of 
 this new industry it is impossible to determine. It has been 
 feared that it may lead to the destruction of the famous and 
 beautiful Fall of Foyers, and of the wooded scenery by which 
 it is framed. That it may not do so will be the earnest wish 
 of all who, like the poet Burns, have stood where 
 
 ' ' Among the heathy hills and ragged woods 
 The roaring Foyers pours his mossy floods." 
 
 The beauty of our county is an inheritance of which it is 
 not likely to be ever deprived. Other districts of Scotland 
 may be richer in mineral and industrial wealth, but none 
 can surpass Inverness-shire in the grandeur and loveliness 
 of its scenery. It is especially the " land of the mountain 
 and the flood." Its mountains present every variety of form. 
 Within its bounds are the highest and grandest of Scottish 
 hills. The Grampians form its southern boundary, rising 
 in Ben Nevis, the highest peak in Great Britain, to a height 
 
346 THE SCENERY OF THE COUNTY. 
 
 of 4406 feet. Other heights are Cairngorm (4090), Ben 
 Alder (3757), Mam Siul (3862), Mealfourvounie (2730). 
 From the borders of Arisaig to those of the Moray Firth 
 one mountain rises behind another like the billowy waves of 
 a tempestuous sea, sometimes clothed with heath, sometimes 
 with forests of pine and fir, sometimes bare and verdureless, 
 but always grand and impressive. 
 
 Water everywhere blends with rock to soften the asperity 
 of the landscape. The rivers of the county — the Spey, the 
 Nairn, the Findhorn, the Beauly, the Foyers, the Spean— and 
 the Great Lakes of Lochy and Ness, of Garry, Laggan, Ericht, 
 and many others, vary the wildness of the scenery. Nor must 
 we forget the great arms of the sea by which the west coast of 
 the county is indented, reaching far up among the mountains. 
 Loch Linnhe, Loch Eil, Loch Aylort, and Loch Moidart rival 
 in their beauty and picturesqueness the Norwegian fiords. 
 
 The main arteries of travel — the Highland and West High- 
 land Railways, and the Caledonian Canal — have made many fa- 
 miliar with the scenery of Inverness-shire. There is, however, 
 much varied and impressive scenery which these beaten tracks 
 do not touch. The road from Loch Eil to Arisaig, from the 
 Spean along Loch Laggan to Kingussie, from Beauly through 
 Strathglass and the Chisholm's Pass, from Invergarry to Loch 
 Hourn, and from Glenmoriston to Loch Duich, are routes 
 unfamiliar to many, but which for attractiveness are unequalled 
 in Scotland. No county can compare with Inverness-shire for 
 varied beauty. It is not surprising that so many annually 
 visit it, nor is it wonderful that its inhabitants, as it has been 
 truly said, " should be touched with deep romantic feehngs 
 at once tender, melancholy, and wild, and that the recollection 
 of their own picturesque native dwellings should haunt them 
 to their latest hours." 
 
 The climate of Inverness-shire is in one respect similar to 
 
CLIMATE AND RAINFALL. 347 
 
 that of the rest of Scotland. The rainfall on its western side 
 is very great. On the east the heaviest rains are from the 
 German Ocean, but they are less incessant than in the dis- 
 tricts adjacent to the Atlantic. It is generally said that the 
 annual number of rainy days at the Inverness end of the 
 Great Glen is about sixty days less than at Fort William, its 
 western extremity. 
 
 The following is the mean annual rainfall at some of the 
 principal recording stations in the county : Glen Strathfarrar, 
 59-04 inches ; Fort William, 80-91 ; Invergarry, 60-70 ; Glen- 
 quoich, 104-62; Glenfinnan, 106-35; Inverie, 79-11; Kin- 
 loch Moidart, 64-44. These figures tell of a terribly moist 
 climate. But though the rainfall is great the temperature is 
 mild. Winter is genial, and there is little frost or snow, 
 especially on the west coast. It is a common proverb that 
 "west coast rain doesn't hurt," and it is surprising with what 
 indifference the inhabitants, and visitors who have become 
 acclimatised, regard the frequent downpour. 
 
 The geological formation of Inverness-shire is of varied 
 character. The prevailing rocks are gneiss and granite, espe- 
 cially the former, of which the greater part of the county is 
 composed. In the neighbourhood of Inverness and along the 
 southern shore of Loch Ness is a band of red sandstone. 
 Mealfourvounie, on the northern side of the loch from where 
 the band terminates, is one of the most elevated masses of old 
 red sandstone in Scotland. 
 
 To the geologist there are two features presented by the 
 county which are of very special interest. In no county of 
 Scotland is shown more clearly the process by which its 
 numerous and deep valleys have been formed, and the result 
 of glacial action in bringing about its present striking con- 
 figuration. 
 
348 GEOLOGICAL FEATURES. 
 
 The tourist who ascends Ben Nevis sees not only the varied 
 character of the country beneath him — mountain rising beyond 
 mountain, far as the eye can reach — he sees also from that 
 elevation what has been truly called the "tableland of the 
 Highlands." As it has been well put by the celebrated geolo- 
 gist Sir Archibald Geikie, " Along the skyline the wide sweep 
 of summits undulates up to a common level, varied here by a 
 higher cone and there by the line of some strath or glen, but 
 yet wonderfully persistent round the whole panorama. If, as 
 sometimes happens, a bank of cloud with a level under-surface 
 should descend upon the mountains, it will be seen to touch 
 summit after summit, the long line of the cloud defining, like 
 a great parallel ruler, the long level line of the ridge below." 
 This long level ridge tells the onlooker what was in far distant 
 ages the general contour of the country — a wide undulating 
 plain, once the bottom of an ancient sea. 
 
 Another elevation in Inverness-shire where the mountain 
 tableland can be clearly seen is from the hills to the north- 
 ward of Dalwhinnie. Here another great view may be had of 
 the sea of mountains between Strathspey and the Great Glen 
 as well as the higher Grampians. The mountains present one 
 unbroken line of upland. No one could imagine that the 
 great undulating plain was broken by many a deep glen and 
 rocky gorge. 
 
 This undulating plateau represents the general submarine 
 level. The valleys which break into it have been caused not 
 by eruptive forces, but by the powers of waste. They have 
 been all dug out in the course of ages by water and frost. 
 If it were possible to fill in these valleys with what has 
 been swept out of them by these agencies, the traveller 
 might walk from Dalwhinnie to Ben Nevis along a surface 
 almost as level as a table and unbroken in its flatness. 
 This is an interesting feature of the geological structure 
 
EVIDENCES OF GLACIAL ACTION. 349 
 
 of the county, but there is perhaps one even more 
 striking. The results of glacial action are everywhere 
 apparent. Everywhere the rocks are striated, scratched, 
 and grooved by the great mass of ice as it moved along 
 the surface of the land. Everywhere also may be seen 
 large boulders of stone that have been lifted by ice-power 
 from their original site and deposited where they lie by the 
 glacial mass as it glided seawards. 
 
 The great lakes have been dug out by the same agency. 
 The Caledonian Glen which divides the county is probably 
 the result of an ancient fracture in the crust of the earth. 
 Loch Ness is still agitated during earthquakes, showing that 
 yet underground movements tend to reveal themselves along 
 the old line of disturbance. After the fracture had been 
 made it became subjected to a continual process of denuda- 
 tion, and to account for the great depths of its two principal 
 lakes we have to go back to the Ice Age. " In old times," 
 it has been clearly shown, "a larger amount of ice probably 
 flowed into the Great Glen than into any other valley in 
 Scotland. From the west came the great glaciers of Loch 
 Eil, Loch Arkaig, Glenmoriston, and Glenurquhart ; from 
 the east those of the glens of Lochaber, and those which 
 descended from the north-western flanks of the Monadhliadh 
 Mountains. The sides of the valley show everywhere the 
 flowing rounded outlines that mark the seaward march of 
 the ice ; and its rocky bottom, where visible, bears the same 
 impress. That it has been ice-worn is thus rendered plain. 
 The lake basins of the Great Glen have been scooped out 
 by ice." 
 
 But the most striking instance probably of glacial action in 
 Scotland is presented to us in the valley of the Spean, and 
 by the celebrated parallel roads of Glen Roy. In the former 
 valley the glacier which came down from the glen of Loch 
 
350 GLEN SPEAN. 
 
 Treig has left many traces. It appears to have gone right 
 across Glen Spean and ascended the hills opposite the side 
 whence it came. Agassiz, who visited Inverness-shire in 1840, 
 describes the profound impression made upon him as he 
 stood in Glen Spean. " I shall never forget," he says, " the 
 impression experienced at the sight of the terraced mounds 
 of blocks which occur at the mouth of the valley of Loch 
 Treig where it joins Glen Spean : it seemed to me as if 
 I were looking at the numerous moraines of the neighbour- 
 hood of Tines in the valley of Chamounix." Nowhere, in- 
 deed, can the result of glacial action be studied better than 
 along the banks of the Spean. It is seen everywhere. How 
 vast it must have been, if there be truth in the estimate of 
 Jamieson that "the ice in Glen Spean must have been two 
 miles broad at the surface, and at least 1300 feet deep" ! 
 
 The parallel roads of Glen Roy have long formed one of 
 the remarkable sights of the county, and are visited annually 
 by many travellers. It is almost unnecessary to describe 
 them. On the opposite sides of the glen, and at exactly 
 the same levels, are three well-defined terraces, as marked 
 as the terraces of a country mansion. They extend for 
 several miles, and are easily recognisable at a great distance. 
 The lowest terrace is 862 feet above sea -level, the second 
 is 1077 feet, and the third is 1155 feet. The height of the 
 terrace on one side of the glen is exactly the same as that 
 opposite it on the other. The terraces are each from 60 
 to 70 feet broad. 
 
 These " roads " were in ancient times supposed to have 
 been made by human hands. At one time they were be- 
 lieved to be the hunting roads of the Fingalian heroes, at 
 another those of the ancient Scottish kings. Along them 
 deer were driven- by crowds of men and killed by the hunters 
 with bow or broadsword. The legendary origin of these 
 
THE ROADS OF GLEN ROY. 351 
 
 wonderful formations has long ago vanished before scientific 
 inquiry, though it is only in comparatively recent times a satis- 
 factory solution of the phenomena has been reached. The 
 greatest geologists of the century tried to solve the problem. 
 Darwin, Agassiz, Nichol, and Milne Home have all pro- 
 pounded their theories. A literature of its own belongs to 
 this remote glen, down which Montrose made his celebrated 
 march to Inverlochy. All the theories put forward suggest 
 water in some form as the cause, for no other agent could 
 have produced the exact parallehsm — not only on one side 
 but on both sides of the valley. Darwin held the theory, 
 and in this he was supported by Nichol, that the terraces 
 were old sea-beaches. It was supposed that an arm of the 
 sea, like one of the western lochs, at a remote period pene- 
 trated far inland. These beaches of different levels were 
 formed as the sea receded from the land. This explanation 
 was not deemed, however, satisfactory. Were it true, the 
 levels in the neighbouring valleys — in Glen Spean and in 
 Glen Gloy — would be the same as those in Glen Roy, but 
 they are not. 
 
 Another theory was put forward by Mr Milne Home, an 
 accomplished Scottish geologist, who devoted much labour 
 to the subject. Briefly, his conclusion was that the roads 
 were the successive margins of fresh - water lakes supported 
 on gravel. Many existing lakes, it was pointed out, are 
 formed in this manner, and the result here was the same 
 as had occurred elsewhere. The difficulty in the way of 
 accepting this theory was that of explaining how the enor- 
 mous natural dams, the lowest of them 862 feet above 
 the sea, could have been swept away from their contiguous 
 valleys. 
 
 The theory of Agassiz is that which is now generally 
 accepted. He goes back to the Ice Age, when every valley 
 
352 VARIOUS THEORIES. 
 
 had its glacier. The roads were, according to him, the 
 margins of fresh-water lakes supported on ice. As the tem- 
 perature in the latitude of Scotland rose, the ice barriers 
 were gradually reduced to a lower level. The existence of 
 the three parallel beaches shows that the process of melting 
 was arrested at different periods, during which the three 
 successive beaches were formed ; and as the difference be- 
 tween the third and second beach is only 78 feet, while that 
 between the second and the lowest is 215 feet, the natural 
 inference is that the thawing proceeded nearly three times as 
 rapidly during the latter period as during the earlier. " The 
 parallel roads of Glen Roy," to quote the words of Agassiz, 
 "are intimately connected with the occurrence of glaciers, 
 and have been caused by a glacier from Ben Nevis. The 
 phenomenon must have been precisely analogous to the 
 glacier lakes of the Tyrol and to the event that took place 
 in the valley of the Bagne." 
 
 The views of Agassiz have been generally adopted by 
 scientific men. His theory was accepted by Jamieson in 
 1863, and by the late General Sir Henry James, who wrote 
 an interesting paper on the phenomenon in 1894, which is 
 now regarded as the standard opinion on the subject. Sir 
 Henry has pointed out that the Margilensee in Switzerland 
 was an existing example of a fresh-water lake supported on a 
 glacier in precisely the same way as were the old lakes in the 
 glens of Lochaber, according to the theory which he supports. 
 The roads, therefore, long supposed to have been artificially 
 formed, are shown beyond all doubt to have been the result 
 of natural forces — " the shores, as it were, of a phantom lake 
 that came into being with the growth of the glaciers, and 
 vanished as these melted away." 
 
 Perhaps what we have said is sufficient to show that our 
 county presents a fine field for geological research, and brings 
 
DECREASING POPULATION. 353 
 
 before the observant mind in a vivid and striking manner the 
 story of ages reaching far back into the past. 
 
 The population of Inverness-shire has, on the whole, been 
 decreasing, as the census shows. In 1881 it was 90,454; 
 in 1891, 89,317. That of the islands in 1881 was 35,523; 
 in 1S91, 34,307 ; of the mainland in 1881, 54,931 ; in 
 
 1891, 55.°i°- 
 
 With these statistics we close our story, with the expression 
 of a hope that a county with so striking a history and so 
 admirable a people may yet have a great future before it ; 
 and may go on year by year increasing in all those elements 
 that constitute its prosperity. Floreat Invernessia I 
 
LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 OR PUBLISHED IN 
 
 INVERNESS-SHIRE. 
 
 AGRICULTURE. 
 
 Carmichael, Alexander. Grazing and Agrestic Customs of the 
 
 Outer Hebrides. Crofters Commission Report, 1884. 
 Macdonald, William. On the Agriculture of Inverness - shire. 
 
 Transactions of the Highland Society, 2nd series, vol. iv., 
 
 1872. 
 Robertson, Rev. James, D.D. General View of the Agriculture of 
 
 Inverness. London, 1812. 
 
 ARCH/EOLOGY. 
 Antiquaries of Scotland, Proceedings of the Society : — 
 
 Aberhethy, Strathspey, Notice of Flint Flakes found at. By 
 Arthur Mitchell, M.D. Vol. vi. p. 251. 
 
 Alvie, Notice of Artificial Cave in the parish of. By Sir D. 
 Brewster. Vol. v. p. 119. 
 
 Arisaig, Description of Stockaded Remains recently discovered 
 at. Vol. iii. p. 516. 
 
 Arisaig, Notice of some Fragments of Sculptured Monu- 
 mental Slabs in the Churchyard of. By Col. Lumsden. 
 1883-84. P. 211. 
 
 Ballachulish, Notice of a FUnt Arrow-head found at, and 
 
3S6 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 another at Boleskine. By Dr R. Christison. 1888-89. 
 
 P. 93- 
 Balnalick, Glen-Urquhart, Notice of the opening of Sepulchral 
 
 Cairn at. With Notes on Cup-marked Stones. By Angus 
 
 Grant. 1887-88. P. 42. 
 Beauly Priory, Church of By Captain White. Vol. viii. p. 430. 
 Beauly Valley, Notes on Ancient Remains in. By Thomas 
 
 Wallace. 1885-86. P. 134. 
 Clanchattan, Notice of the Names of. By John M'Pherson. 
 
 Vol. X. p. 112. 
 Clanranald, Notice of the Ancient MS. termed the Little Book 
 
 of. By D. F. Skene. Vol. i. p. 89. 
 Corran Ferry, Inverness-shire, Notice of the discovery of a 
 
 Cist, with Urn and Strike-light, at. By Donald Campbell, 
 
 M.D. 1889-90. P. 436. 
 Croy, Mains of, Notice of the discovery of portions of Two 
 
 Penambular Brooches of Silver, with Beads of Glass and 
 
 Amber, and Silver Coin of Caenwulph, King of Mercia, 
 
 at. Vol. xi. p. 588. 
 Fyres, Inverness-shire, Notes on a Human Skull found at. By 
 
 W. Turner, M.D. Vol. vi. p. 266. 
 Glenelg, Kirkton of, Notice of Urn found near. By Arthur 
 
 Mitchell, M.D. Vol. vi. p. 372. 
 Glenelg and Kintail, Notes on some Prehistoric Stones in. By 
 
 Lockhart Bogle. 1894-95. P- 'So. 
 Glen Urquhart, Notice of the opening of a Sepulchral Cairn 
 
 in. By Angus Grant. 1887-88. P. 42. 
 Glen Urquhart, Notice of Two Sculptured Stones in. By 
 
 WiUiam Mackay. 1885-86. P. 358. 
 Grant, Laird of. Notice of Unpublished Letter from General 
 
 Mackay to. By Joseph Robertson. Vol. iii. p. 336. 
 Inch, Notice of Celtic Bell at. By Joseph Anderson. 1879-80. 
 
 P. 102. 
 Inverness, burgh of, On Cup - marked Stones in the. By 
 
 William Jolly. 1881-82. P. 300. 
 Inverness, neighbourhood of, Notice of Cup-marked Stones in 
 
 the. By William Jolly. 18S0-81. P. 329. 
 Keppoch, Notice of Highland Charm Stone. By Re\-. D. 
 
 Stewart. 1889-90. P. 157. 
 Keppoch, Notice of Original Letter of King James II. to 
 
 Macdonald of, after the battle of Killiecrankie. By John 
 A. Smith. Vol. iii. p. 248. 
 Lochaber, Mid, Jottings in. By Professor Duns. 1881-82. 
 
 P. 49- 
 
INVERNESS. 357 
 
 Onich, Lochaber, Notice of the Clach a chara, a Stone of 
 
 Memorial at. By James Dmmmond. Vol. vi. p. 328. 
 Strathnairn, Notice of Ancient Circular Dwellings, Hill Forts, 
 
 and Burial Cairns of. 1881-82. P. 288. 
 Strathspey, Notice of the discovery of an Undescribed Sculp- 
 tured Stone with Inscribed Symbols in. By Sir Arthur 
 Mitchell. 1888-89. P- 87. 
 Gaelic Society of Inverness Transactions. 19 vols. 1871. Still 
 
 being" issued. 
 Inverness Field Club Transactions. 3 vols. 1875-96. Still being 
 
 issued. 
 Logan, James. The Scottish Gael. New edition. By Dr Stewart. 
 
 Inverness, 1876. 
 Macpherson, John, D.D., Sleat. Critical Dissertation on the Origin, 
 
 &c., of the Ancient Caledonians. Dublin, 1768. 
 Northern Scientific Society's Transactions, i vol. 1881-87. 
 Stewart, Rev. Alex., LL.D.— 
 
 Nether Lochaber. Edinburgh, 1883. 
 
 'Twixt Ben Nevis and Glencoe. Edinburgh, 1885. 
 
 BIOGRAPHY. 
 
 Adam, John (the Mulbuie Murderer), Life and Trial of Inverness, 
 1888. 
 
 Burton, John Hill. Lives of Simon, Lord Lovat, and Duncan 
 Forbes of CuUoden. London, 1847. 
 
 Chisholm, The, Memoirs of Alex. William. 1842. 
 
 Clerk, Rev. A., LL.D. Memoir of Colonel John Cameron, 
 Fassifem. Glasgow, 1858. 
 
 Drummond, John, or Macgregor. Memoirs of Sir Ewen Cameron 
 of Lochiel. Abbotsford Club, 1842. 
 
 Fraser, Rev. James, of Brae, Memoirs of. New edition. Inver- 
 ness, 1889. 
 
 Gordon, Pryse Lockhart (of Ardersier), Personal Memoirs of. 
 London, 1836. 
 
 Grant, J. P. Memoir and Correspondence of Mrs Grant of 
 Laggan. London, 1844. 
 
 Grassie, James. Legends of the Highlands of Scotland. Inver- 
 ness, 1843. 
 
 Hay, A. Penrose. Post-Ofifice Recollections. Inverness, 1885. 
 
 Kennedy, Rev. J. Memoirs and Letters of Revs. F. and A. Cook. 
 Inverness, 1895. 
 Second edition. Inverness, 1897. 
 
3S8 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 Lord Lovat — 
 
 Memoirs of the Life of. London, 1746. 
 
 A P'ree Examination of a Modern Romance, entitled Memoirs 
 
 of the Life of London, 1746. 
 Life and Adventures of Simon. London, 1746. 
 Memoirs of the Life of, written by himself in the French 
 language, and now first translated from the original 
 manuscript. London, 1797. 
 Macdonald, Flora, The Life of By her Granddaughter. London, 
 
 1875. 
 Macgregor, Rev. A. The Life of Flora Macdonald. Inverness, 
 
 1882. 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, Memoirs of 2 vols. London, 1835. 
 Maclean, John (the Inverness Centenarian) — 
 
 Historical and Traditional Sketches of Highland Famihes. 
 Dingwall, 1848. 
 
 New edition. In%'erness, 1895. 
 Reminiscences of a Clachnacuddin Nonagenarian. Inver- 
 ness, 1842. 
 
 New edition. Inverness, 1886. 
 Maclennan, Farquhar (Fearchair-a'-Ghunna), Life and Sayings of 
 
 Inverness, 1881. 
 Macleod, Hugh (the Assynt Murderer), Life and Trial of 
 
 Inverness, 1889. 
 Macpherson, Cluny, The Golden Wedding of Edinburgh, 1883. 
 Miller, Hugh. John Forsyth, a Merchant of Cromarty. 
 Mitchell, Joseph, C.E. Reminiscences of my Life in the High- 
 lands. London, 1883. Privately printed. 
 Seafield, Ian Charles, Earl of: In Memoriam. Inverness, 1884. 
 
 FICTION. 
 
 Black, William— 
 
 In Far Lochaber. 3 vols. London, 188S. 
 
 The Wise Women of Inverness. London, 1885. 
 
 Cameron, Miss M. E. The House of Achendarroch. London, 
 1878. 
 
 Inverness, The Witch of, and the Fairies of Tomnahurich. Inver- 
 ness, 1891. 
 
 Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, Bart. — 
 
 The Wolfe of Badenoch : An Historical Romance of the 
 
 Fourteenth Century. London, 1863. 
 Highland Legends. London, 1S41. 
 
 Mackenzie, Emma Rose. Tales of the Heather. Inverness, 1802. 
 
INVERNESS. 359 
 
 HISTORY AND GENEALOGY. 
 
 Anderson, Isabel H. Inverness before Railways. Inverness, i88c. 
 Anderson, John — 
 
 Historical Account of the Family of Fraser or Frysel. Edin- 
 burgh, 1825. 
 State of Society and Knowledge in the Highlands of Scotland. 
 Edinburgh, 1827. 
 Batten, E. C. Charters of the Priory of Beauly. London, 1877. 
 
 Grampian Club. 
 Burt. Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his 
 Friend in London. 
 
 First edition. 2 vols. 8vo. London, 1754. Second edition. 
 8vo. London, 1759. New edition, with notes. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 London, 1815. 
 Another edition. With facsimiles of the original engravings. 
 With an Introduction by R. Jamieson, F.S.A. And the 
 History of Donald the Hammerer, from an Authentic 
 Account of the Family of Invernahyle: a MS. communi- 
 cated by Sir Walter Scott. 2 vols. 8vo. Edinburgh, 
 1876. 
 Cameron, Alexander. History and Traditions of the Isle of Skye. 
 
 Inverness, 1871. 
 Campbell, Duncan. Book of Garth. Inverness, 1888. 
 Carruthers, Robert, LL.D. The Highland Note-Book. Edin- 
 burgh, 1843. 
 CuUoden Papers. London, 1815. 
 
 Ferguson, Colonel. Major Eraser's Manuscript. Edinburgh, i88g. 
 Franck, Richard. Northern Memoirs, 1694. 
 
 New edition. By Sir Walter Scott. Edinburgh, 1821. 
 Fraser Family, Annals of such Patriots of the, Frysell, &c., as have 
 signalised themselves in the Public Service of Scotland. Edin- 
 burgh, 1795. 
 Fraser-Mackintosh, Charles, LL.D. — 
 
 Dunachton, Past and Present. Inverness. 
 
 Antiquarian Notes. Inverness, 1865. 
 
 Invernessiana. Inverness, 1875. 
 
 Yachting and Electioneering in the Hebrides. Inverness, 
 
 1887. 
 Letters of Two Centuries. Inverness, 1890. 
 Antiquarian Notes. 2nd series. Inverness, 1897. 
 Fraser, Sir William. Chiefs of Grant. 3 vols. Edinburgh, 1883. 
 Grant, Francis J. The Grants of Corrimony, &c. Lerwick, 1895. 
 
360 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 Grant, Rev. John, and Rev. William Leslie. A Survey of the 
 Province of Moray, Historical, Geographical, and Political. 
 Elgin, 1798. 
 
 Gregory, Donald. Western Highlands and Isles. Edinburgh, 
 1836. 
 
 Inverness, History and Description of the Town of. Inverness, 
 
 1847- 
 Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, Bart., Account of the Morayshire 
 
 Floods. Edinburgh, 1830. 
 Lumsden, Mathew. Genealogy of the Family of Forbes. Inverness, 
 
 1819. 
 Macaulay, Rev. K. History of St Kilda. London, 1764. 
 Macdonald, D. Memorabilia of Inverness. Inverness, 1822. 
 
 Second edition. Inverness, 1887. 
 Macdonald, Rev. A., Killearnan, and Rev. A., Kiltarlity. Clan 
 
 Donald. Vol. i. Inverness, 1896. Vol. ii. in the press. 
 Macdonald, Rev. Charles. Moidart ; or, Among the Clanranalds. 
 
 Oban, 1889. 
 M'Donald, Rev. M., D.D. The Covenanters of Moray and Ross. 
 
 Second edition. Inverness, 1892. 
 Mackay, William. Urquhart and Glenmoriston. Inverness, 1893. 
 Mackenzie, Ale.xander — 
 
 History of the Clan Mackenzie, with Genealogies of the Prin- 
 cipal Families. Inverness, 1874. 
 Second edition. Inverness, 1894. 
 History of the Macdonalds and Lords of the Isles. Inverness, 
 
 1881. 
 History of the Mathesons, with Genealogies of the various 
 
 Branches. Inverness, 1882. 
 History of the Camerons, with Genealogies of the Principal 
 
 Families of that Name. Inverness, 1884. 
 History of the Macleods, with Genealogies of the Principal 
 
 Families of that Name. Inverness, 1889. 
 History of the Chisholms, with Genealogies of the Principal 
 
 Families of that Name. Inverness, 1891. 
 History of the Frasers of Lovat, with Genealogies of the 
 Principal Families of that Name, to which is added those 
 of Dunballoch and Phopachy. Inverness, 1896. 
 Mackintosh of Raigmore. Invernessicus : Objects interesting to 
 the Highlands of Scotland, and particularly to Inverness and 
 Inverness-shire. Edinburgh, 1814. 
 Mackintosh, Sir JEnnas. Notes, Descriptive and Historical, prin- 
 cipally relating to the Parish of Moy in Strathdearn. Privately 
 printed. 1892. 
 
INVERNESS. 361 
 
 Macpherson, Alexander. Church and Social Life in the Highlands. 
 
 Edinburgh, 1893. 
 Martin, M. A Voyage to St Kilda. 1818. 
 Nairne, D. Memorable Floods in the Highlands during the 
 
 Nineteenth Century. Inverness, 1895. 
 Registrum Episcopatus Moraviensis. Bannatyne Club. 1837. 
 Shaw, Alexander Mackintosh. Historical Memoirs of the House 
 and Clan of Mackintosh and of the Clan Chattan. London, 
 1S80. 
 Shaw, Rev. Lauchlan. History of the Province of Moray. Edin- 
 burgh, 1775. 
 
 Second edition. Elgin, 1827. 
 
 New edition by Rev. J. F. S. Gordon. Glasgow, 1882. 
 Sinclair, Rev. Allan. The Grants of Glenmoriston. Edinburgh, 
 
 1887. 
 Stewart, General, of Garth. Sketches of the Character, Manners, 
 and Present State of the Highlanders of Scotland. Edin- 
 burgh, 1822. 
 
 Abridged edition. Inverness, 1885. 
 Sutter, James. Memorabilia of Inverness, republished from the 
 'Inverness Courier.' Inverness, 1822. 
 New edition. Inverness, 1887. 
 TuUoch, Major - General A. B. The Forty -Five. Inverness, 
 
 1896. 
 Wimberley, Captain Douglas — 
 
 The Hospital of Inverness and Dunbar's Hospital. Inverness, 
 
 1893. 
 Memorials of Four Old Families (Campbell of Kilmartin, 
 Gordon of Lesmoir, Irvine of Drum, and Wimberley of 
 South William). Inverness, 1894. 
 
 MIS CELL A NE US. 
 
 Book of Common Prayer (Gaelic). Inbhernis, 1819. 
 
 Brown, Rev. W. Wallace. Letters from Sunny Shores. Inver- 
 ness, 1896. 
 
 Ellis, John. Lectures on Freemasonry. Inverness, 1886. 
 
 Grant, Mrs, of Laggan — 
 
 Superstitions of the Highlanders of Scotland. London, 181 1. 
 Letters from the Mountains. 2 vols. London, 1845. Sixth 
 edition. 
 
 MacGregor, Rev. Alexander. Highland Superstitions. Inverness. 
 
362 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 Mackenzie, Alexander — 
 
 The Isle of Skye in 1882-1883. Inverness, 1883. 
 
 History of the Highland Clearances. Inverness, 1883. 
 
 The Prophecies of the Brahan Seer (Coinneach Odhar). In- 
 verness, 1878. 
 M'Niel, Nigel. Literature of the Highlanders. Inverness, 1892. 
 Ross, Alexander. Freemasonry in Inverness. Inverness, 1877. 
 Smith, Alexander. A Summer in Skye. London, 1866. 
 Stewart, William Grant — 
 
 The Popular Superstitions and Festive Amusements of the 
 Highlanders of Scotland. London, 185 1. 
 
 Lectures on the Mountains. London, i860. 
 
 NATURAL HISTORY. 
 
 Craig, Archibald. The Scenery and Bird Life of Glen Urquhart, 
 
 Inverness. 
 Fraser, Alexander. History of the Salmon. Inverness, 1833. 
 Miller, Hugh. On the Herring Fishery. Inverness, 1829. 
 
 PHILOLOGY. 
 
 Cameron, Rev. Alexander, LL.D. Reliquiae Celticas. Edited by 
 Alexander MacBain and John Kennedy. Vol. i. Inverness, 
 1892. 
 Vol. ii. Inverness, 1894. 
 Grant, James, of Corrimony — 
 
 Essay on the Origin of Society, Language, Property, and 
 
 Government. London, 1785. 
 Thoughts on the Origin and Descent of the Gael. Edinburgh, 
 1814. 
 MacBain, Alexander — 
 
 Personal Names and Surnames of the Town of Inverness. 
 
 Inverness, 1895. 
 An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language. Inver- 
 ness, 1896. 
 Macbean, Lachlan — 
 
 Guide to Gaelic Conversation and Pronunciation. Inverness, 
 
 1884. 
 Elementary Lessons in Gaelic. InAerness, 1876. 
 Second edition. Inverness, 1879. 
 
INVERNESS. 363 
 
 POETRY AND MUSIC— ENGLISH AND GAELIC. 
 
 Buchanan, Dugald. Gaelic Hymns. Inverness, 181 i,,i8i3, 1820. 
 Cameron, Margaret. Songs (Gaelic). Inverness, 1805. 
 Carey, David. Craig Phadric, &c. Inverness, 181 1. 
 Choice Collection of Scotch Songs, with Gaelic Translations. 
 
 Inverness, 1829. 
 Collection of Original Poems, Songs, &c. (Gaelic). Inverness, 
 
 1821. 
 Couper, Dr R. Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Language. Inver- 
 ness, 1804. 
 Grant, Archibald (Bard of Glenmoriston). Poems and Songs 
 
 (Gaelic). Inverness, 1863. 
 Grant, Mrs, of Laggan. Poems. 1803. 
 Grant, Peter. Gaelic Hymns. Inverness, 1827. 
 Inverness Book of Scottish Song. Inverness, 1875. 
 Inverness Collection, Gaelic Songs, &c. Inbhernis, 1806. 
 Logan. Inverness Collection of Gaelic Songs, with English 
 
 Translations. Inverness. 
 Loudon, Duncan. Songs (Gaelic and English). Inverness, 1780. 
 M'Callum, Duncan. Collection of GaeUc Songs, with Notes Bio- 
 graphical, Critical, and Explanatory. Inverness, 1821. 
 Macdonald, Alexander. " Coinneach 'us Coille." Inverness, 
 
 1895. 
 Macdonald, David. The Mountain Heath. Inverness, 1838. 
 Macdonald, John. Songs (Gaelic). Inverness, 1802. 
 Macdonald, Rev. Archibald. The Uist Collection. Glasgow, 
 
 1894. 
 Macdougall, Allan. Songs (Gaelic). Inbhernis, 1829. 
 Mackay, Alexander. Songs and Poems (English and Gaelic). 
 
 Inverness, 1821. 
 Mackay, Robert, or Donn. Songs and Poems. Inbhernis, 1829. 
 Mackay, William — 
 
 The Highland Minstrel : A Collection of Gaelic Songs. In- 
 verness, 1873. 
 
 Fraser of Knockie. Highland Music. New edition. Inver- 
 ness, 1874. 
 Mackenzie, George. Highland Day Dreams. Inverness, 1887. 
 
 New edition, 1897. 
 Maclachlan, Ewen. Metrical Effusions. Aberdeen, 1816. 
 Macleod, Donald. Songs (GaeHc). Inverness, 181 1. 
 Macpherson, James. Poetical Works. With the Life of the 
 
 Author. Edinburgh, 1802. 
 
364 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO 
 
 Macrae, John. Poems and Songs. Inverness, 1816. 
 
 Miller, Hugh. Poems written in the Leisure Hours of a Journey- 
 man Mason. Inverness, 1829. 
 
 Rodclie and Macbean. Popular Gaelic Melodies, with English 
 Translations. Inverness, 1878. 
 
 Spiritual Songs, with an Account of John Mackay and Dugald 
 Buchanan (Gaelic). Inverness, 1835. 
 
 Stewart, W. G. Songs of Glen Urquhart. 4to. 185 1. 
 
 Stuart, John Sobieski and Charles Edward. Lays of the Deer 
 Forest. Edinburgh, 1848. 
 
 RELIGION AND ECCLESIASTICAL AFFAIRS. 
 
 Brown Rev. W. Wallace. Sundays in the Highlands. Inverness, 
 
 1896. 
 Craven, Rev. J. B. History of the Episcopal Church in the 
 
 Diocese of Moray. London, 1889. 
 Eraser, Hugh. Allein's Saints' Pocket-Book (Gaelic). Inverness, 
 
 1823. 
 Eraser, James — 
 
 Bunyan's Barren Eig-Tree (Gaelic). Inverness, 1824. 
 
 Controversy between Protestant and Papist (Gaelic). Inver- 
 ness, 1823. 
 Eraser, William. On Baptism (Gaelic). Inverness, 1828. 
 Lang, Rev. Gavin. The Holy Gospel in Continuous Narrative. 
 
 Inverness, 1884. 
 Macalister, Rev. John. Gaelic and English Sermons. Edited by 
 
 Rev. J. Kennedy Cameron. Inverness, 1896. 
 MacBain, Alexander. Celtic Mythology and Religion. Inverness, 
 
 1885. 
 Macdonald, Angus. Sermon by Thomas Boston, and History ot 
 
 Hugh M'Kail and James Renwick (Gaelic;. Inverness, 
 
 1863. 
 Macdonald, Robert — 
 
 Bunyan's Badman CGaelic). Inverness, 1824. 
 
 Bunyan's Sighs from Hell (Gaelic). Inverness, 1S29. 
 Mackay, William. Records of the Presbyteries of Inverness and 
 
 Dingwall, 1643-88 (Scottish Histor>' Society). Edinburgh, 
 
 1896. 
 Mackenzie, D., M.A. The Catechism of the Church (Gaelic). 
 
 In\ernes5, 1821. 
 
INVERNESS. 365 
 
 Mackintosh, Donald. Waldo's Lord's Supper (Gaelic). Inverness, 
 
 1826. 
 Macmillan, John. Uavies on the Church of England (Gaelic). 
 
 Inverness, 1828. 
 Owen, Rev, John, D,D. Christology. Translated into Gaelic by 
 
 Alexander Macdougall. Inverness, 1884. 
 Psalms of David — 
 
 Rev. A. Macfarlane's Gaelic Version. Inverness, 1774, 1804, 
 1813, 182/. 
 
 Rev. Dr Smith's Gaelic Version. Inverness, 1821, 1824, 1826. 
 Rose, Hew, Meditations on Interesting Subjects, 1660. Pub- 
 lished at Inverness, (761. 
 Rose, John. Brooke's Apples of Gold (Gaelic). Inverness, 1824, 
 Smith, John, D,D. AUein's Alarm (Gaelic), Inverness, 1807. 
 
 New edition, 18 tj. 
 The Shorter Catechism (Gaelic). Inverness, 1778, 1804, 1813, 
 
 1821. 
 
 STATISTICS. 
 
 Fraser, Hugh, Land Statistics of the Shires of Inverness, Ross, 
 
 and Cromarty, Inverness, 1872, 
 Moral Statistics of the Highlands, compiled from Returns received 
 
 by the Inverness Society for the Education of the Poor, 
 
 Inverness, 1826. 
 Statistical Account of Scotland. Edited by Sir John Sinclair. 
 
 Edinburgh, 1791. 
 New Statistical Account of Scotland, Edinburgh, 1845, 
 
 TOPOGRAPHY. 
 
 Anderson, Peter. Guide to CuUoden Moor. Inverness, 1867. 
 Beaton, A. J, Illustrated Guide to Fortrose and Vicinity. Inver- 
 ness, 1885, 
 Illustrated Guide to Inverness and District, Inverness, 1894, 
 Longmuir, John, LL,D, Speyside, Aberdeen, i860. 
 New Guide to Inverness and Vicinity, Inverness, 1892. 
 
366 LIST OF BOOKS RELATING TO INVERNESS. 
 
 NEWSPAPERS. 
 
 The Inverness Journal and Northern Advertiser. 1807-48. 
 
 The Inverness Courier. 1817. Still pubUshed. 
 
 The Inverness Herald. 1836-46. 
 
 The Inverness Spectator and Clachnacuddin Record. 1840-41. 
 
 The Inverness and Northern Agriculturist. 1845-46. 
 
 The Inverness Advertiser. 1849-85. 
 
 The Inverness Times. 1855-59. 
 
 The Inverness Reformer. 1856-58. 
 
 The Highland Sentinel. 1861-63. 
 
 The Highlander. 1873-82. 
 
 The Northern Chronicle. 1881. Still published. 
 
 The Highland News. 1883. Still published. 
 
 The Scottish Highlander. 1885. Still published. 
 
 The Highland Times. 1895. Still published. 
 
 PERIODICALS. 
 
 The Northern Mirror, or Inverness Magazine. 1830. 
 
 Caraid nan Gaidheal, or the Highland Friend. 1853. One part 
 
 only published. 
 Merrilees' Pictorial Monthly Magazine. 1857-58. 
 The Institutional Gazette (monthly). 1857-58. 
 The Auctioneer. 1874. 
 The Celtic Magazine (monthly). 1875-88. 
 Fraser's Illustrated Monthly Magazine. 1878. 
 The Invernessian (monthly). 1880-81. 
 The Inverness Frolic. 1882-83. 
 The Highland Monthly. 1889-93. 
 The Northern Evangelist. 1896. Still published. 
 The Nessian-Inverness Collegiate School Magazine. Occasionally 
 
 issued. 
 
367 
 
 LIST OF MAPS OF INVERNESS. 
 
 Scotis Provinciae Mediterranea; inter Taum flumen et Vararis 
 asstuarium : Sunt autem Braid - Allaban, Atholia, Marria 
 superior, Badenocha, Strath-Spea, Lochabria, cum Cherson- 
 ese qui ei ad occasum praetenditur, cum singulis earundem 
 partibus. Opera Ro. Gordonii a Straloch. 
 
 A description of the inland provinces of Scotland lying 
 between Tay river and Murra fyrth, conteyning Braid-Allaban, 
 Brae of Mar, Badenoch, Strath-Spey, Lochabyr, w' all ye 
 lands which ley west from Lochabyr, w' all their parts con- 
 teyned under them. Printed in Blaeu's Atlas, 1654. 
 Skia vel Skiana. The Yle of Skie. Blaeu's Atlas. 
 Vistus Insula, vulgo Viist, cum aliis minoribus ex jEbudarum 
 munero ei ad meridiem adjacentibus. Aitctore Timotheo Pont. 
 Blaeu's Atlas. 
 The East Part of the Shire of Inverness with Badenoch, which is 
 
 part of it. By H. Moll. 1725 (?). 
 The West Part of Inverness, contains Lochaber with all the Terri- 
 tories west from it. By H. Moll. 1725 (?). 
 J. Thomson's Atlas of Scotland. 1832. Inverness-shire in 4 
 sheets, viz. : — 
 
 Skye Island, &c., from actual surveys, and compared with 
 
 the Government Sun^eys. By William Johnson. 
 Western Isles, from actual surveys. 
 
 Northern Part of Inverness-shire. By William Johnson. 
 Southern Part of Inverness-shire. By William Johnson. 
 Inverness, County. (Lothian's County Maps of Scotland.) Edin- 
 burgh, 1835. 
 Inverness-shire, in the ' New Statistical Account of Scotland.' 
 
 1845- 
 Inverness-shire, in i-inch Ordnance Survey Maps. 1874-1896. 
 Royal Scottish Geographical Society's Atlas of Scotland. By J. 
 
 G. Bartholomew. 1895. Where a full Bibliography of Atlases 
 
 of Scotland is given, pp. 16-18. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Aberdeen, coaching between Inverness 
 and, 257. 
 
 Achnacarry, Jacobite rendezvous at, 
 183. 
 
 Act of Parliament, for disarming 
 the Highlands, 202 — for depriving 
 Highland chiefs of judicial powers, 
 203. 
 
 Agassiz, theory of, as to parallel 
 "road" formations, 351. 
 
 Agriculture, state of, 264, 270 — report 
 on, by Rev. James Robertson, 266 
 — land tenures, 267 — methods of 
 farming, 269. 
 
 Aird, emigration from the, 249. 
 
 Alexander I. founds the bishopric of 
 Moray, 21. 
 
 Alexander II., changes in the High- 
 lands effected by, 15. 
 
 Appin, emigration from, 249. 
 
 Argyle, Earl of, authority given to, 
 41 — in command against Montrose, 
 67 — defeated by Montrose at Inver- 
 lochy, 70 — hatred of the Inverness- 
 shire clans to, 74 — acquisition of 
 territory by, ib. 
 
 Argj'leshire, invasion of, by Alexander 
 Macdonald, 66 — laid waste by Mon- 
 trose, 68. 
 
 Arisaig, emigration from, 249. 
 
 Athole, Duke of, Jacobite zeal of, 
 182. 
 
 Badenoch, incursion of Islesmen into, 
 40 — Viscount Dundee in, 97 — free- 
 booters in, 133 — primitive condition 
 of present houses in, 275. 
 
 Balloch, Donald, rebellion of, 39. 
 
 Beauly, priory of, 22. 
 
 Birnie, monastery of, 11. 
 
 "Black tailor of the battle-axe," the, 
 45- 
 
 2 
 
 "Black Watch," the, when raised, 
 230. 
 
 Blackie, Professor, translation of Alex- 
 ander Macdonald's poem on the 
 kilt by, 319. 
 
 "Borlum, Old." See Mackintosh, 
 WiUiam, 
 
 Borradale, Prince Charles in, 167, 188, 
 
 195- 
 
 Braemar, rising of the clans at, 116. 
 
 Breadalbane, Earl of, arbitrates be- 
 tween King William and Highland 
 chiefs, 108. 
 
 " Brochs" in Inverness-shire, 13. 
 
 Buchan, General, leads the Highlanders 
 in a campaign for King James, 105. 
 
 Burghead, battle of, 4. 
 
 Burt, Mr, 'Letters from the North' 
 ^y-> 136 — description of Inverness 
 by, 141, 146 — account of Inverness- 
 shire chiefs by, 147-150 — on wild 
 sports, 151 — a mistake by, 154 — on 
 Highland dress, 156 — on second- 
 sight, 157. 
 
 " Cage, the," Prince Charles Edward's 
 hiding - place, 193 — picturesqueness 
 of, ib, 
 
 Caledonian Canal. See Canal. 
 
 Caledonian Glen, geological construc- 
 tion of the, 349. 
 
 Cameron, Sir Alan, 233 — raises the 
 Cameron Highlanders, 234 — dis- 
 tinguished career of, 235— pride in 
 his soldiers of, ib. — death of, 236. 
 
 Cameron, Sir Alexander, distinguished 
 career of, 240. 
 
 Cameron, Dr Archibald, disgraceful 
 execution of, 20T. 
 
 Cameron, Donald, of Lochiel, decides 
 to persuade Prince Charles to return 
 to France, 166 — is prevailed upon 
 
 A 
 
370 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 to side with Prince Charles, ib.— 
 wounded at CuUoden, i8o— taken 
 prisoner at Achnacarry, 184— joined 
 by Prince Charles at Mellanuir, 193 
 
 — accompanies Prince Charles to 
 France, 198. 
 
 Cameron, Sir Ewen, of Lochiel, one 
 of the outstanding figures of his 
 time, 82 — character of, ib. — exploits 
 against Cromwell of, ib. — desperate 
 struggle between Ironside officer 
 and, ib. — makes terms with General 
 Monk, 83 — accompanies Monk to 
 London, ib. — dispute between The 
 Mackintosh and, 87 — poetic descrip- 
 tion of, 99 — second -sight at the 
 battle of Killiecrankie, 103 — bravery 
 of, 104 — refuses to submit to King 
 William, 105 — retires into private 
 life, iro — old age of, iii. 
 
 Cameron, John, of Fassiefern, 237 — 
 distinguished career of, 239 — at 
 Quatre Bras, z'-^.— last words of, ib. 
 
 Cameron, John, of Lochiel, with Mar 
 in rising of "the Fifteen," 117 — 
 makes poor figure as a soldier, 120 
 — escapes to France, ib. 
 
 Cameron, John, war correspondent, 
 career of, 244, 245 — graphic quality 
 of correspondence of, 244. 
 
 Cameron, Sir John, active military 
 career of, 240. 
 
 Cameron Highlanders, the, where 
 raised, 233 — uniform of, 234. 
 
 Camerons, the. Lowland origin of, 29 
 — proneness to rapine and plunder 
 of, 152. 
 
 Canal, Caledonian, the, when begun, 
 253 — extent of, ib, — difficulties of 
 constructing, 254, 255 — opened for 
 traffic, 256. 
 
 Cannon, General, incapacity of, as 
 successor to Dundee, 105. 
 
 Carruthers, Robert, work as editor of 
 the 'Inverness Courier,' 301 —im- 
 petus given to culture in the North 
 by, ib. 
 
 Charms, belief in, 8. 
 
 Charters granted by William the 
 Lion to Inverness, 19. 
 
 Chatham, Lord, orders regiments to 
 be raised in the Highlands, 230 
 
 — speech in prnise of Highland 
 soldiers, 231. 
 
 Chattan, clan, feud between the 
 Camerons and, 33 — royal mandate 
 issued against, 41. 
 
 Chiefs, retinue of, 148 — dwelling- 
 houses of, ib. — hospitality of, 149 — 
 despotic governnicnt of, 150— sports 
 of, 151 — rnids of, //'., 152 — last of 
 the old race of, 338. 
 
 Chisholm, The, contrition of, after 
 " the Fifteen," 122. 
 
 Chisholms, territory of the, 29. 
 
 Church, the, influence of, in the 
 North, 20. 
 
 Clan system, the, first appearance of, 
 28 — despotic government of the 
 chief in, 150 — end of, 203. 
 
 Clanranald, chief of, lacks confidence 
 in Mar, 117 — burns Castle Tirrim, 
 ib. — decay of the family possessions 
 
 of. 337. 
 
 Coaching begun in the Highlands, 
 257. 
 
 Colkitto. See Macdonald, Alexander. 
 
 *' Coll of the Cows." See Macdonald 
 of Keppoch. 
 
 Columba, St, belief in demonology 
 by, 7 — a story of, 8 — pilgrimage to 
 the court of King Brude by, 9 — 
 King Brude's reception of, ib. — 
 Adamnan's stories of, 10, 11 — 
 monasteries of, 11 — churches of, 
 ib. — church polity of, 20. 
 
 Comyns, territory of the, 27. 
 
 Cope, General, futile tactics of, 170 — 
 at Inverness, ib. 
 
 "■ Cope's turn," 170. 
 
 Cromdale, battle on the Haughs of, 
 105. 
 
 Cromwell in Inverness - shire, 76 — 
 builds a citadel at Inverness, 77. 
 
 Cruithne of the North, the, 2. 
 
 Culloden, battle of, 176 — inequality of 
 the contest, ib. — arrangement of the 
 armies, ib., 177 — desperate charge 
 of the Highlanders, 177 — stubborn 
 pride of the Macdonalds at, 17S — 
 stories of personal prowess at, 
 179. 
 
 Cumberland, Duke of, in command 
 of the Hanoverian army, 175 — in- 
 humanity of, after the battle of Cul- 
 loden, 181. 
 
 Customs, 149, 161, 227. 
 
 " Dalcomera's plain," gathering of the 
 clans on, 98 — poetic descriptions of 
 chiefs at, ib.^ 100. 
 
 Dall, Alan, songs of, 328. 
 
 David I., insurrection against, t6 — 
 forfeits the territory of Moray, 17. 
 
 David II. in Inverness-shire, 27. 
 
 De Johnstone, Chevalier, account of 
 Prince Charles after Culloden by, 
 182, 183. 
 
 Deer-forests, 273, 278. 
 
 Demonology, belief in, 8. 
 
 " Desire of the Aged Bard," the, 305- 
 308 — scene of, 305 — bears marks 
 of liigii antiquity, ib. — character- 
 istics of, 306-308. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 371 
 
 Disruption, effects of the, in Inverness- 
 shire, 279. 
 
 Divination among the Druids, 6. 
 
 Dominican monastery in Inverness, 
 23- 
 
 Donald, Lord of the Isles, 36 — at- 
 tempts to seize the Scottish throne, 
 37 — Inverness - shire followers of, 
 ib. — defeat of, ib. — pillages Inver- 
 ness, 38 — submits to the king, 39. 
 
 Dress, the Highland, 155 — proscribed 
 by Government, 202. 
 
 Druidical circles, 12. 
 
 Druidism in the North, 7. 
 
 Druids, the, great influence of, 6 — 
 divination among, ib. — debased re- 
 ligion of, 7 — St Columba and» 8. 
 
 Drumalban, the range of, i. 
 
 Education in Inverness - shire, 278- 
 281 — low state of, two hundred 
 years ago, 278 — work done by the 
 Society for Propagating Christian 
 Knowledge, ib. — advance of a 
 gradual kind, 279 — effects of the 
 Disruption upon, ib. — the Act of 
 1872 and, 280— a primitive school 
 building, ib. — secondary education, 
 281 — scheme of the Inverness-shire 
 County Committee regarding, ib. 
 
 Edward I. in Invemess-shire, 26. 
 
 Edward III. in Inverness -shire, 26. 
 
 Emigration from Inverness-shire, 248, 
 249, 
 
 Episcopacy in Inverness-shire, 91. 
 
 Evictions in Glengarry and Glenelg, 
 260. 
 
 Evil eye, belief in the, 8. 
 
 Fairies, belief in, 8. 
 
 Farming, methods of, 269. 
 
 Fencibles, Highland, where raised, 
 232. 
 
 Feudal institutions in Inverness-shire, 
 18. 
 
 Feuds, clan, 61-63, 87-90. 
 
 "Fifteen, the," rising of, 116-120 — 
 an ill-managed enterprise, 120 — 
 Invemess-shire chiefs in, ib. — results 
 of, ib., 121, 
 
 Flanders, trade between Inverness 
 and, 48. 
 
 Flemings in Invemess-shire, 23. 
 
 Forbes, Duncan, of CuUoden, 284 — 
 great influence of, ib. — support to 
 the Hanoverian cause by, 285, 287 
 —elected Lord Ad\ ocate, 286— writ- 
 ings of, ib. — appointed President of 
 the Court of Session, 287 — harshly 
 treated by the Government, 288. 
 
 Forbes, Mrs, of Culloden, gaUant 
 conduct of, 118. 
 
 Fort Augustus, erection of, 127 — 
 captured by the Jacobites, 174 — 
 monastery at, 344. 
 
 Fort George, erection of, 127 — blown 
 up by the Jacobites, 174 — rebuilding 
 of, 207. 
 
 Fort William, or Maryburgh, Mr 
 Burt's description of, 146 — Dr 
 Robertson's description of, 273 — 
 attractions of, 344. 
 
 "Forty-five, the," casting of the die 
 in, 166 — first blood in, 167 — the 
 standard unfurled in Glenfinnan, 
 168 — campaign against Cope, 170- 
 172 — battle of Culloden, 175-181. 
 
 Eraser, James Baillie, travels of, 299 — 
 novels by, ib. 
 
 Fraser, Simon, Lord Lovat, where 
 educated, 158 — marriage schemes 
 of, ib. — outlawed, 159 — flees to 
 France, 160 — betrays Jacobite plans, 
 ib. — imprisoned in the Bastille, ib. — 
 becomes a Jesuit priest, ib. — escapes 
 to England, ib. — takes the Han- 
 overian side, 161 — made Sheriff of 
 Inverness-shire, ib. — high domestic 
 state maintained by, ib. — popularity 
 of, 162 — joins the Jacobite party, ib. 
 — deprived of his sheriffship, ib. 
 
 Fraser - Mackintosh, Mr, antiquarian 
 researches of, 301. 
 
 Eraser's Highlanders, 231. 
 
 Erasers, territory of the, 29. 
 
 Gaelic bards, works of, 304-333 — one 
 of the earliest of, 305 — Donald 
 Macdonald, of Lochaber, 308 — Ian 
 Lorn, 309 — " The day of Inver- 
 lochy," 311 — "Lament for the Chief 
 of Glengarry," 313 — Alexander 
 Macdonald, 314 — the "Sugar 
 Brook," 316 — the "Song of the 
 Highland Clans," 317 — " Morag 
 Beautiful," ib. 31S — " Launching of 
 the Biorlinn," 319-322 — Sicely or 
 Julian Macdonald, 323 — John Mac- 
 donald, 324 — Mr Lauchlan Mac- 
 pherson, 325 — John Roy Stewart, 
 326 — John Roy Stewart's "Psalm," 
 327 — Alan Dall, 328 — Ewan 
 M'Lachlan, 330-332 — Mary Mac- 
 kellar, 332. 
 
 Gaulda, Ronald, claims the chieftain- 
 ship of Clanranald, 42 — defeated by 
 John of Moidart, 43. 
 
 Geology of Inverness-shire, 347. 
 
 Glen Dessary, evictions in, 261. 
 
 Glen Roy, parallel " road " formations 
 of, 349-352. 
 
 Glen Spean, geological formation of, 
 350. 
 
 Glenelg, emigration from, 261. 
 
372 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 GItinfinnan, picturesqueness of, i68 — 
 gathering of the clans at " the Forty- 
 five" in, 169. 
 
 Glengarry, chief of, foments insurrec- 
 tion against Cromwell, 79 — poetic 
 description of, 98— bravery of, at 
 Killiecrankie, 104 — imprisoned in 
 the Tower, 199— decay of the family 
 of, 336 — the last of the old race of, 
 
 337- 
 Glengarry evictions, 261. 
 Glenmoriston, Prince Charles in, 191, 
 
 192. 
 Glenquoich, extensive outlay upon the 
 
 estate of, 340. 
 Gordoa Highlanders, the, 232. 
 Gordon, Lord, 302. 
 "Grsemiad," the, 94. * 
 
 Grant, Sir Colquhoun, career of, 237. 
 Grants, territory of the, 29. 
 
 Harlaw, battle of, 37. 
 
 Hawley, General, inhuman conduct 
 nf. 198. 
 
 Highlanders, the, at the battle of Cul- 
 loden, 176-178 — prowess of, at Cul- 
 loden, 179 — eager to continue the 
 struggle for Prince Charles, 181 — 
 Dr Johnson's sympathy with, 224. 
 
 Highlands, the, the clan system in, 31-- 
 Act to secure the settlement of, 201 
 — Act for disarming, 202 — enact- 
 ment against the national dress in, 
 ib, — benefit of the Caledonian 
 Canal to, 256, 
 
 Home, Mr Milne, on the parallel 
 **road" formations in Inverness- 
 shire, 351. 
 
 Ian Lom, bard of Clanranald, poem 
 on Montrose's victory at Inverlochy, 
 70 — efforts by, for vengeance upon 
 the murderers of his chief's sons, 87 
 — poem in praise of Montrose by, 
 309. 
 
 Implements, primitive, 272 
 
 Inverlochy, battle of, 39 — fortification 
 of the castle of, 45. 
 
 Invernahavon, battle of, 33. 
 
 Inverness, excellent situation of, 18 — 
 probably erected into a burgh by 
 David I., ib. — charters granted by 
 William the Lion to, 19 — steady 
 prosperity of, 20 — shipbuilding at, 
 ih. — monastery of St Dominic in, 23 
 —burnt by Donald, Lord of the 
 Isles, 38 — besieged by Montrose, 71 
 — occupied by Cromwell's soldiers, 
 77 — siege of, 92, 93 — magistrates 
 deride the proelamalion of King 
 George, 114 — captured by the 
 Jaeobilcs, 118 — retaken by the 
 
 Royalists, 119— extent of, at "the 
 Forty-five," 137 — the castle of, ib. — 
 the tolbooth, 138 — the Laigh Coun- 
 cil House, ib. — trade of, 139— Mr 
 Burt's description of, 141-156 — 
 criminal administration in, 142 — 
 want of cleanliness in, 143 — appear- 
 ance of townsfolk, 144 — abundant 
 food-supply in, 146 — Prince Charles 
 Edward in, 173 — described by Pen- 
 nant, 214 — Dr Johnson in, 219 — 
 steamboat communication estab- 
 lished between Glasgow and Leith 
 and, 258 — increasing wealth of, ib, 
 —handsome buildings of, 343 — scen- 
 ery of, ib. —increase of business and 
 trade in, ib. 
 Inverness-shire, in the time of the 
 Picts, 2 — coming of Christianity in- 
 to, 6 — early rehgion of, 8 — pre- 
 historic relics in, 12 — the Church in, 
 20, 21 — slight evidence of the con- 
 ventual system in, 21 — sheriffdom 
 of, 24 — not greatly affected by the 
 War of Independence, 25 — Edward 
 I. in, 26 — Edward III. in, ib. — 
 David II. in, 27 — social changes in, 
 28 — clans of, ib.^ 29 — appearance of 
 the clan system in, 32 — rebellions of 
 clans in, 37-41 — clans support 
 Ronald Gaulda, 42 — fortification of 
 castles in, 45 — feudal spirit among 
 the chiefs of, 46 — slow appearance 
 of Protestantism in, 51 — character 
 of the clergy of, 52 — church plant- 
 ing in, 53 — political changes caused 
 by the Reformation, 57 — feuds in, 
 61 — stories of Highland seers in, 
 64 — campaign of Montrose, 67-75 
 — Cromwell in, 76-79 — General 
 Monk's march through, 81 — indus- 
 tries taught by Cromwell's soldiers, 
 85 — chiefs at the battle of Killie- 
 crankie, 103 — chiefs take the oath 
 of allegiance to King William, 109 
 — continued Jacobite disturbances 
 in, 112 — Roman Cathohc priests in, 
 T13 — disappointment among chiefs 
 as to the Hanoverian succession, 
 114 — great changes in, between 
 1745 and the present day, 135 — 
 former social state of, 136-163 — 
 division of inhabitants of, 147 — 
 character of the chiefs, ib. — fighting 
 strength of the clans in, 148— pro- 
 fuse hospitality exercised in, 149 — 
 wild sports of, 151 — miserable slate 
 of the common people, 153 — drink- 
 ing excesses in, 155 — dress of in- 
 habitants, //'.— superstitions of, 157 
 — atrocities after Culloden in, 195 — 
 chiefs omitted from the Act of Par- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 373 
 
 don after Culloden, 201 — travellers 
 in, 205 — hardships endured by the 
 Romish priests after "the Forty- 
 five," 209 — a productive recruiting- 
 ground, 231 — soldiers of, in the 
 British army, 232— effect of military 
 service upon the population of, 236 
 — results of emigration, 248, 249 — 
 natives in North Carolina, 248 — Mr 
 Telford's report on results of emi- 
 gration, 250 — construction of the 
 Caledonian Canal and other works 
 in, 251, 253-256 — increase in the 
 value of property, 258 — evictions in, 
 260, 261 — disappearance of the old 
 peasantry, 262 — agricultural pro- 
 gress of, 264-273 — land tenures in, 
 267 — former state of dwellings, 268 
 — ancient system of farming in, 269 
 — moral character of inhabitants of, 
 270 — rents in, ib. — condition of the 
 poor, 271 — primitive implements, 272 
 — vegetable products, ib, — breeds 
 of sheep, 273 — deer-forests, ib., 278 
 — domestic manufactures, 273— Mr 
 W. Macdonald on the agriculture 
 of, 274-278 — education in, 278-282 
 — effect of the Education Act of 
 1872 in, 280 — distinguished civilians 
 of, 284-303 — poets of, 304-333— 
 geology of, 347. 
 
 Jacobites, movements among the, 112 
 
 — gather at Braemar, 116. 
 James II. in Inverness-shire, 46. 
 James IV. in Inverness-shire, 46. 
 James V., visit to the Western Isles 
 
 by, 46. 
 James VI., vigorous measures of, (o 
 
 suppress disorder in the Highlands, 
 
 59-61. 
 James, General Sir Henry, theory of, 
 
 regarding the parallel "roads" of 
 
 Glen Roy, 352. 
 Jessop, Mr, associated with Mr Telford 
 
 in the construction of the Caledonian 
 
 Canal, 253. 
 Johnson, Dr, tour to the Hebrides of, 
 
 218 — in Inverness, 219 — deplores 
 
 emigration from the Highlands, 222 
 
 —sympathy with the Highlanders 
 
 shown by, 224. 
 
 Kelp industry, decline of the, 277. 
 
 Keppochs, the, join the army of 
 Prince Charles, 172 — disappearance 
 of, 336. 
 
 Killiecrankie, the battle of, 103 — 
 Inverness - shire chiefs at, ib. — 
 second - sight of Lochiel at, ib. — 
 bravery of Lochiel at, ib. — Glen- 
 garry's prowess at, 104 — the death- 
 
 blow to the cause of King James, 
 ib. 
 Kingussie, excellent higher - class 
 school at, 281 — as a health resort, 
 
 344- 
 Kinloch Moidart, Prince Charles at, 
 
 166. 
 Knoydart, emigration from, 249. 
 Kyllachy, Lord, 302. 
 
 Laggan, primitive condition of present 
 
 houses in, 275. 
 " Lament on the Chief of Glengarry," 
 
 313- 
 "Launching of the Biorlinn," the, 
 
 319-323. 
 ' Letters from the North,' 136. 
 Livingstone, Sir Thomas, defeats 
 
 General Buchan, 106. 
 Lochaber, stories of St Columba's 
 
 work in, 10, 11 — prehistoric relics 
 
 of, 12 — description of, 96 — raising 
 
 of the Cameron Highlanders in, 234 
 
 — poets of, 309. 
 Lochiel. See Cameron, Sir Ewen, 
 
 and Donald. 
 Lochy, Loch, changes upon, due to 
 
 the construction of the Caledonian 
 
 Canal, 254. 
 Lord of the Isles. See Donald, Lord 
 
 of the Isles. 
 Lords of the Isles, revolts by the, 36. 
 Lovat, Lord. See Eraser, Simon. 
 
 MacBain, Mr Alexander, philological 
 works of, 301. 
 
 Macbeth, King of Moray, 4— mythical 
 character of Shakespeare's story of, 
 5— death of, ib. 
 
 Macdonald, Alexander, poems of, 314- 
 324 — where educated, 314 — Jacobite 
 zeal of, ib. — songs in praise of 
 Prince Charlie by, 315- fierce de- 
 nunciation of the Hanoverians by, 
 ib. — " Morag Beautiful" by, 317 — 
 the "Launching of the Biorlinn" 
 
 byj 3'9- 
 Macdonald, Alexander (Colkitto), raid 
 
 by, 66. 
 Macdonald, Coll, tried by the Jacobites 
 
 as an informer, 199 — a traitor, ib. 
 Macdonald, Donald, poems of, 308. 
 Macdonald, John, poems of, 324. 
 Macdonald, John Cameron, of the 
 
 ' Times,' 300. 
 Macdonald of Barasdale, an imitator 
 
 of Rob Roy, 134. 
 Macdonald, Sicely, poems of, 323. 
 Macdonald, Mr W., essay on the 
 
 agriculture of Inverness-shire by, 
 
 274. 
 Macdonald of Keppoch, chosen to 
 
374 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 guide Viscount Dunduc to Lochaber, 
 92 — lays siege to Inverness, ib.— n 
 "king of thieves," 93— at Sheriff- 
 muir, 120. 
 
 Macdonalds, the, said to have formed 
 part of the Scottish right wing at 
 Bannockburn , 26 — stubborn pride 
 of, at Culloden, 178. 
 
 Macdonnell, Sir James, distinguished 
 military career of, 241, 
 
 MacGregor, Sir James, career of, 
 
 243- 
 
 Mackay, General, fortifies Inverness, 
 97 — campaign against Viscount 
 Dundee, loi — defeated at KiUie- 
 crankie, 103 — builds a fort at Inver- 
 lochy, 107. 
 
 Mackay, Mr W., local histories by, 
 301. 
 
 Mackellar, Mrs Mary, poems of, 332. 
 
 Mackenzie, Mr Alexander, clan his- 
 tories by, 301. 
 
 Mackey, Mr John, account of Inver- 
 ness by, 140. 
 
 Mackinnons, gallant support to Prince 
 Charles by the, 190. 
 
 Mackintosh, Sir James, career of, 291 
 —reply to Burke on the French Re- 
 volution by, 292 — at Haileybury, 
 293— contributions to the press by, 
 ib. — the ' Dissertation ' by, ib. 
 
 Mackintosh, William, of Borlum, sides 
 with Mar, 117 — soldierly qualities 
 of, 118 — breaks out of Newgate, 
 123 — imprisoned for life in Edin- 
 burgh Castle, ib. 
 
 Mackintoshes, the, raids by, 58 — feud 
 between the Camerons and, 87 — 
 feud between the Macdonalds and, 
 88 — ^join the army of Prince Charles, 
 172. 
 
 M'Lachlan, Ewan, literary works of, 
 330 — poems of, 331. 
 
 Maclauchlan, Dr Thomas, literary 
 works of, 302. 
 
 M'Lennan, John F., volume on 
 ' Primitive Marriage ' by, 300. 
 
 Macpherson, Mr Alexander, local 
 histories by, 301. 
 
 Macpherson, Cluny, joins the army of 
 Prince Charles, 172 — restored to his 
 estates, 226. 
 
 Macpherson, Cluny {d. 1885), the "last 
 of the chiefs," 338. 
 
 Macpherson, Sir Herbert, V.C., dis- 
 tinguished military career of, 242. 
 
 Macpherson, James, career of, 294- 
 298 — literary works of, 294 — poems 
 of " Ossian," 295 — Dr Johnson and, 
 //'. — defenders of, 296 — civil appoint- 
 ments of, 297 — respected as a pro- 
 prietor, lb. — death of, 298. 
 
 Macpherson, Lauchlan, poems of, 
 
 325- 
 
 Malcolm Caenmore, defeat of Macbeth 
 by, 5- 
 
 Mamore, emigration from, 249. 
 
 Maormor, the title of, 3. 
 
 Mar, Earl of, memorial from Inverness- 
 shire chiefs to, 115 — raises the stan- 
 dard of James VIII. at Braemar, 116 
 — Inverness-shire clans with, ib. — 
 Clanranald's wantof faith in military 
 capacity of, 117 — fights the battle of 
 Sheriffmuir, 119. 
 
 Mary, Queen of Scots, at Inverness, 
 46. 
 
 Maryburgh. See Fort William. 
 
 Memorial of Inverness-shire chiefs on 
 the accession of King George, 115. 
 
 Mitchell, Mr Joseph, C.E., statistics 
 by, regarding the construction of 
 the Caledonian Canal, 255, 256 — 
 ' Reminiscences' of, 301. 
 
 Moidart, John of, claims the chicfrain- 
 ship of Clanranald, 42 — defeats 
 Ronald Gaulda, 43 — outlaw ry of, 
 ib. 
 
 Moidart, Prince Charles in, 168 — 
 emigration from, 249. 
 
 " Moidart, the Eight Men of," 16S. 
 
 Monk, General, great march by, 80. 
 
 Montrose, Marquis of, campaign of, 
 67-75 — devastates Argyle, 68 — de- 
 feats Earl of Argyle, 70 — lays siege 
 to Inverness, 71 — capture of, 73 — in- 
 fluence of, 74 — the first Jacobite, 75. 
 
 Moor of Rannoch, description of, 95. 
 
 " Morag Beautiful," 317, 
 
 Moray, Earl of, territory of, 27— vigor- 
 ous rule of, ib. 
 
 Moray, the province of, 3 — troubled 
 condition of, ib. — conquered bv 
 Norwegians, ib. — character of the 
 men of, 4 — made a Norwegian pro- 
 vince, ib. — incorporated with South- 
 ern Scotland, ib. — rebellions in, 15 — 
 the bishopric of, 21. 
 
 Mountains of Inverness-shire, 345. 
 
 Moy, Prince Charles at, 173. 
 
 Muiroy, battle of, 89. 
 
 Murray, Lord George, in command of 
 Prince Chaiies's forces, 176. 
 
 Napier, Mr, translation of Ian Lom's 
 " Day of Inverlochy" by, 311. 
 
 Ness, Loch, how affected by the 
 Lisbon earthquake, 216. 
 
 Nicolson, Alexander, translation of 
 Alexander Macdonald's " Launch- 
 ing of the Biorlinn " by, 322. 
 
 Oath administered to the Highlanders 
 after Culloden, 202. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 375 
 
 Oich, Loch, deepening of, 254, 255. 
 
 " Ossian," Macpherson's, 295 — sensa- 
 tion caused by, ib. — denounced by 
 Dr Jolinson, ib. — admirers of, 296 — 
 hardly Ukely to have been a forgery, 
 ib.^ 297. 
 
 Peninsula, Highlanders in the, 236. 
 
 Pennant, Mr, travels of, in Inverness- 
 shire, 213-218 — untruthfulness of, 
 regarding Prince Charles, 214 — de- 
 scription of Inverness by, ib. — ac- 
 count of an Inverness fair by, 216 — 
 impressed with the scenery near 
 Fort William, ib. — in Lochaber, 
 217 — on the old clan system, ib. 
 
 Perth, Duke of, in command at Cul- 
 loden, 178. 
 
 Perth, the combat on the North Inch 
 
 of. 34- 
 
 Picts, the, divisions of, 2 — confederacy 
 by northern section of, 3 — religion 
 of, 6. 
 
 Pococke, Bishop, travels of, in Inver- 
 ness-shire, 210 — opinion of Fort 
 William, 211 — at Fort Augustus, ib. 
 description of Inverness by, 212 — 
 at Fort George, ib. — at Beauly, 213. 
 
 Pont, Robert, commissioned to plant 
 kirks in Inverness-shire, 50. 
 
 Protestantism, slow growth of, in 
 Inverness-shire, 50. 
 
 Railways of Inverness-shire, 342. 
 
 Rainfall in Inverness-shire, 347. 
 
 Rannoch, moor of, description of, 95. 
 
 Reay, Lord, rising of the Highlanders 
 under, 72. 
 
 " Rebel-hunting," ig6. 
 
 Reformation, Inverness - shire little 
 affected by the, 50. 
 
 Regiments, Highland, raised before 
 "the Forty-five," 230 — levied in 
 Inverness-shire, 231, 232. 
 
 Rents, 270. 
 
 Rivers of Inverness-shire, 346. 
 
 Roads, made by General Wade, 128— 
 main lines of, ib. — military pur- 
 poses of, 129 — opinions of chiefs 
 upon the making of, 131 — further 
 making of, 251. 
 
 Robertson, Rev. James, report on the 
 agriculture of Inverness-shire by, 
 266-270 — moors he believed capable 
 of cultivation, 266 — high opinion of 
 the proprietors of Inverness-shire 
 formed by, 267 — on land tenures, 
 ib. — on house buildings, 268 — dis- 
 approval of methods of farming, 269 
 — speaks highly of the moral charac- 
 ter of the people, 270— on domestic 
 manufactures, 273. 
 
 Roman Catholic priests in Inverness- 
 shire, 113 — activity of, ib. — hard ex- 
 periences of, after CuUoden, 209. 
 
 Roman Catholicism, the prevalent re- 
 ligion in Inverness-shire, 51. 
 
 Scott, Sir Walter, on the feud between 
 Clan Chattan and Clan Cameron, 
 33, 34. 
 
 Secondary education in Inverness- 
 shire, 281. 
 
 Second-sight, 157. 
 
 Seers, visions of Highland, 64, 65. 
 
 Sheep, breeds of, 273. 
 
 Sheriffdom of Inverness-shire founded, 
 24. 
 
 Sheriffmuir, battle of, 118— death of 
 young Clanranald at, ib. — Glen- 
 garry's vengeance at, ib. 
 
 " Shirts, battle of the," 43. 
 
 Sigurd, Earl of Caithness, overruns 
 Moray, 3 — defeats the king of 
 Moray, 4. 
 
 Society for the Propagation of Chris- 
 tian Knowledge, schools planted in 
 Inverness-shire by, 278 — advocated 
 by Charles Grant, 290. 
 
 "Song of the Highland Clans," the, 
 
 317- 
 Songs of Inverness-shire, 305. 
 Spean, glacial action in valley of the, 
 
 35°- 
 
 Sporting rents, 340. 
 
 Sports, wild, in the Highlands, 151. 
 
 Spynie, ancient seat of the bishopric 
 of Moray, 21. 
 
 Stair, Secretary, and insubordinate 
 Highland chiefs, 109. 
 
 Steamboat communication established 
 between Inverness and Glasgow and 
 Leith, 258. 
 
 Stewart, Prince Charles Edward, lands 
 at Loch-na-Nuagh, 165 — advised to 
 return to France, 166 — personal ap- 
 pearance of, ib. — discusses his pro- 
 spects with Lochiel, 167— returns to 
 Inverness-shire, 173 — before Cul- 
 loden, 175 — decision after the battle 
 of Culloden, 182 — wanderings after 
 his overthrow, 185-195 — at Borra- 
 dale, 187 — adventures of, in the 
 Hebrides, 188 — melancholy circum- 
 stances of, 190 — in Glenmoriston, 
 191 — falls in with Lochiel, 193 — 
 seeks refuge in the " Cage," ib.~ 
 embarks for France, 194. 
 
 Strathglass, emigration from, 249. 
 
 Superstitions, 157. 
 
 Tacksmen, important social position 
 
 of, 152 — Dr Johnson on, 223. 
 Thornton, Colonel, travels of, in 
 
376 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Inverness - shire, 224-228 — sports- 
 man-like characteristics of, 225 — 
 full of praise of the people and dis- 
 trict, ih. — at Cluny Macpherson's 
 home-coming from exile, 226, 227 — 
 notes decline of the old clan system, 
 228. 
 
 Trade of Inverness, 139. 
 
 Trapaudj Captain, reports of hard- 
 ships endured by Roman Catholic 
 priests in Inverness-shire, 209. 
 
 Trees, planting of, 273, 276. 
 
 TuUibardine, Marquis, unfurls Prince 
 Charles's standard at Glenfinnan, 
 169. 
 
 Urquhart, castle of, a stronghold of 
 Robert Bruce, 26 — emigration from, 
 249. 
 
 Wade, General, policy of repression in 
 the Highlands by, 125, 126 — the 
 making of roads through the High- 
 lands by, 128 — weak point in policy 
 of, 133- 
 
 Waste lands, reclamation of, 276. 
 
 " Watches," establishment of, 125. 
 
 William the Lion, changes in the 
 Highlands effected by, 15 — grants 
 charters to Inverness, 19, 
 
 Witchcraft, belief in, 8. 
 
 Wolf of Badenoch, the, 52. 
 
 Wolfe, General, in Inverness -shire, 
 206 — story of, at CuUoden, ib. — 
 letters of, regarding the people of 
 Inverness-shire, id. — at Fort George, 
 207 — revisits the field of CuUoden, 
 id. 
 
 Wool-produce, 259, 
 
 PRINTED IIV WII.I.IAM lU.ACKWOOll ANU SON<;