|g*\0
 
 LI E> RARY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 U N IVLR.SITY 
 
 Of ILLINOIS 
 
 M.\
 
 
 
 THE 
 
 HIGHLANDERS: 
 
 A TALE. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF 
 
 1HE HERMIT IN LONDON, HERMIT ABROAD, &c, 
 
 ** WheTever I wander, wherever I roam, 
 
 My heart'* in the Highlands, uiy heart's with my home. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON 
 
 PRINTED FOR HENRY COLBURN, 
 
 NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1824.
 
 /oh don : 
 
 NMU rr ■' MUN| i.M«ivi'i-'k >-puni
 
 *23 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 
 
 
 Public favour, like sunshine, is apt to 
 weaken while it warms, and therefore the 
 wise never remain too long under its influence ; 
 nor do they forget to calculate that upon 
 man himself, as upon all his works, it must 
 one day decline. A nameless Hermit may 
 be supposed to have upon this subject 
 nothing to regret and nothing to dread ; 
 but such is not the case ; for, as the sun- 
 shine of public kindness has long cheered 
 the author of the following pages through 
 the Hermit's cloak, he would not wish that 
 the gratitude which that warmth has 
 excited, should be without a due and be- 
 coming expression. 

 
 IV PREFACE. 
 
 In appearing before the public in a new 
 form, he comes with all its attendant anxie- 
 ties, together with the added fear, lest a 
 veteran in another field, should lose in 
 the wildness of Highland scenery and cus- 
 toms and the portraiture of Highland life, 
 the laurels with which he has been hitherto 
 rewarded. All that he can say for himself 
 is, that he has observed carefully, and sketch- 
 ed honestly ; and while he hopes that hehas 
 not written aline with which the manly heart 
 cannot feel sympathy, he trusts that he has 
 not allowed to slip from his pen a word at 
 which the modest cheek can have cause t« 
 blush. In observation, in zeal, in honesty, 
 And in decorum, he hopes still to be found 
 
 THE HERMIT IN LONDON.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 By yon castle waV, at the close of the day, 
 I heard a man sing, though his head it was grey ; 
 And as he was singing, the tears fast down came : — 
 There will never be peace — till Jamie come hame. 
 
 BURNS. 
 
 It was on a fine morning in that sea- 
 son of the year, when the warmth of the 
 highland day has not abated, but when, 
 shortened by at least three or four 
 hours, it derives additional heat from 
 the condensation, that the venerable 
 
 VOL. I. B
 
 2 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Chieftain of Glenmore harnessed him- 
 self for his favourite sport on the field, 
 or in the flood, as it might happen. 
 He had summoned Duncan, his game- 
 keeper, with the two trusty dogs of 
 the genuine old Scottish breed, and 
 the double barrelled fowling-piece, 
 which in its time had done terrible 
 execution in the moors; and his hench- 
 man stood by with the three-pronged 
 Hester to transfix the pride of the ri- 
 ver; He cast a wistful glance towards the 
 boat-iiouse on the other side, and saw 
 the little ferrv-boat launched, and row- 
 ing toward the beach below his ma- 
 jestic but time-worn dwelling. The 
 glance which he cast toward the boat 
 was one of mixed anxiety and hope,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 3 
 
 and it held him rivetted to the spot, to 
 await the message of weal or of woe 
 which might be wafted across. 
 
 The Castle of Glen more is one of 
 the most picturesque in the whole ro- 
 mantic land of the North ; and though 
 different parts of it are in different 
 styles of architecture, yet that which 
 promises to last the longest, carries its 
 date beyond even the dawnings of tra- 
 dition. It stands upon a rock, over- 
 hanging one of those long and sinuous 
 arms of the sea, which, in the West 
 Highlands, are denominated lochs. 
 That rock is, in its beetling front, al- 
 together perpendicular, and both it 
 and the great tower or keep of the Cas- 
 tle, which rises from its very brow, are 
 of the primitive granite, encrusted with 
 
 B 2
 
 4 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 lichen, and hoary through time; and, 
 seen from a little distance, they ap- 
 pear as if erected by the same builder 
 and at the same instant. The rock 
 rises to the height of at least two hun- 
 dred feet, and close by its base the 
 restless waves of the Atlantic, green 
 «tnd transparent as that stone which is 
 named after them, alternately ripple 
 and thunder among the clean and va- 
 riegated pebbles. On the rock itself 
 they make no impression. It stands 
 like a man, whose story and whose 
 centre are in himself ; and who, like the 
 long line of Chieftains, of whom the 
 Castle has been the dwelling, dares all 
 external powers to do their worst. 
 You gaze upon it, — it carries you 
 back to the beginning of time, and for-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 5 
 
 ward to the end. It says, it was an in- 
 tegrant part of the globe, ere the waters 
 of Noah covered the earth ; and seems 
 to give promise that it will be an in- 
 tegrant part ofthe renovated globe, after 
 the organized remains of this one shall 
 be, like those of the former, enshrined 
 in the rock, and entombed in the bowels 
 ofthe antient hills. 
 
 By one flank of the castle dashes the 
 Awinmore, or principal stream of the 
 glen ; while the other side is separated 
 from the mountain behind, by a deep 
 ravine, the work partly of nature, and 
 partly of art. Th us situated , the Castle 
 of Glenmore was, in the olden time, 
 impregnable to the assaults of the bold 
 warriors of the mountains ; and even 
 at this day, a slender garrison could
 
 6 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 hold it for months against a host. 
 From its insulated situation, it is ma- 
 jestic, view it on which side you will. 
 Seen from the opposite shore of the 
 loch, its grey form hangs upon the 
 side of the brown mountain, in that 
 fearful and undefinable appearance 
 which the Highland bards give to the 
 spirits of departed heroes. When you 
 approach it by the ferry, it soon flings 
 its bold contour upon the sky, and as- 
 sumes, as it may well assume, the atti- 
 tude and the station of guardian senti- 
 nel to the lovely glen of which it keeps 
 the entrance. If you come near to it 
 on either of the land sides, its effect 
 is equally sublime; and when you look 
 at the loneliness with which it is now 
 surrounded, and contemplate the result
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 7 
 
 of the repeated but ineffectual attempts 
 which have been made to pull it down, 
 it stands a giant in the wilderness, un- 
 bending and uusubduable Lord of the 
 desert. The only approach to it is by 
 a rude bridge, formed of unhewn trees 
 laid across the ravine ; and in the olden 
 time, these had been contrived so as 
 that they could be drawn up or let 
 down at pleasure, thus insulating the 
 Castle or connecting it with the neigh- 
 bouring land, as emergency might re- 
 quire. 
 
 The top of the insulated mass of 
 rock was of considerable extent, of 
 such extent indeed, as that, during the 
 inroads of the Scandinavian pirates, or 
 the predatory excursions of the neigh- 
 bouring clans, when the Sliobk nan
 
 8 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 more could not keep itself with its 
 broad -sword in the remote passes, 
 every living- thing, rational or irrational, 
 belonging to the clan, could be secured 
 in the fortress of its Chief. This area 
 formed a spacious court. On the side 
 toward the ravine — the north-east one 
 — was a row of low buildings, strongly 
 arched, and loop-holed in their jutting- 
 buttresses, so as to defend the rude 
 drawbridge and the gate. At the 
 southern termination of these rose the 
 great tower or keep, the walls of which 
 were of immense thickness — so that the 
 concealments and even the sleeping- 
 apartments were in the centre of them. 
 Each floor consisted of a single hall, 
 that on the ground story serving in 
 times of need, both as the general
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. i) 
 
 kitchen and the rendezvous of the 
 serfs of the clan, while the next above 
 it was the grand hall or audience cham- 
 ber. The uppermost roof of this tower 
 was arched and paved with stones of 
 an immense thickness. It commanded 
 a view of the whole glen, and one part 
 of it had been a hearth for the beal- 
 tires, when danger came by the way of 
 the sea. Immediately adjoining this 
 tower, was the modern hali of large di- 
 mensions, having its roof of carved 
 frame work, and its floor of chequered 
 planking, both formed of the native 
 and indestructible oaks of Glenmore. 
 Adjoining to this again were the apart- 
 ments, which, in later and less perilous 
 times, had been the residence of the 
 Glenmores, their families, and the 
 
 B 3
 
 10 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 numerous visitors whom the beauty of 
 their lands, and the known hospitality 
 of their board, had constantly drawn 
 around them, not very much to the ad- 
 vantage of the patrimonial inheritance. 
 So long, however, as the feudal sys- 
 tem continued, even in its fragments, 
 Glenmore had no want but that which 
 his native ground could supply, and 
 no ambition but the welfare of his 
 people, and the honour of his name. 
 Near those latter buildings there was 
 a parade-ground, or place of observa- 
 tion, upon the summit of the rock, 
 and it was here that we left the vene- 
 rable chieftain looking down upon the 
 loch, and the little boat, while he was 
 waiting its arrival, and we were becomi ng 
 the ciceroni of the external part of his
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 11 
 
 dwelling to the reader ; and as the keel 
 of the little boat is yet some hundred 
 yards from the pebbly strand, we should 
 wish that reader just to turn with us, 
 and look down the slope towards the 
 river, upwards into the glen, and back- 
 wards to the huge brown mountain 
 which frowns on the opposite side. Let 
 him remark the lovely grounds, which, 
 though limited in extent, are yet nearly 
 boundless in beauty, and which stretch 
 to the brow of that precipice, almost half 
 the height of the rocks, which were 
 wont to repel the attacks of hostile men, 
 and are yet proof against the insidi- 
 ous underminings of the river. Here 
 were the gardens of Glenmore ; and 
 those cherry-trees, of immense size, 
 which now bear no fruit, and hardly any
 
 12 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 leaves, were at one period the gift of a 
 Papal Nuncio, when he visited the proud 
 inhabitants of this remote and almost 
 inaccessible rock. Upon this little slope 
 of ground, which does not extend to 
 above two or three acres, there are the 
 traces of at least ten generations of the 
 forest ; and one may judge, from the 
 fallen trunks and crumbling roots, of 
 the majesty in which they appeared 
 during the prosperous days of the house. 
 In the middle of this romantic garden, 
 a spring of water, as cool as ice, and as 
 clear as crystal, issues living from the 
 rock ; and in times of siege, afforded to 
 the inhabitants an ample and refreshing 
 supply, which the most daring enemy 
 could neither cut off, nor command. 
 Upwards, along the river, the glen ap-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 13 
 
 pears as a half-opened book, defended 
 oil each side by mountains, piercing 
 the clouds, and admitting of hardly any 
 entrance, save close by the Castle, and 
 by the long, tedious, and difficult moun- 
 tain-path, at the opposite extremity. 
 In so lonely a land, one could not hope 
 to see so much greenness and fertility ; 
 but in truth the whole bottom of the glen 
 seems like a velvet carpet of the liveliest 
 emerald, with the river, like a thread of 
 untarnished silver, seaming it down the 
 middle. From the mountain behind, 
 a brawling stream dances, and bounds, 
 and foams from pool to pool , and from 
 rock to rock. Now it widens into a 
 dark and dipling expanse, over which 
 the mountain-ash alternately waves its 
 white blossoms and its scarlet berries,
 
 14 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 and in which the weeping birch is ever 
 and anon laving its perfumed and pen- 
 dant branches : now it twines through 
 the gorge of the rock, in a space over 
 which a child might leap without the 
 least hazard ; and anon it shoots away 
 from the precipice in a cascade, which, 
 dashing in thunder as it falls, flings the 
 greater part of its parent stream in 
 smoke upon the atmosphere, and limns 
 the mountain-side with all the glories of 
 the rainbow : lastly, amid bushy trees, 
 and broken fragments of rock, it hides 
 its troubled waters in the soft but sweep- 
 ing flood of the Awinmore. 
 
 The prow of the little skiff touched 
 the strand ; the hardy boatman bounded 
 to the shore, hurried up the slope, 
 passed the wild bridge and the time-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 15 
 
 worn gate ; and brief space elapsed, ere, 
 bowing low, and with bonnet in hand, 
 he delivered to the Chieftain a pacquet 
 of letters. Having received his wonted 
 guerdon, he sped him back, and again 
 shot across the loch. 
 
 The Chieftain looked first at the su- 
 perscription, then at the seal, and break- 
 ing open the pacquet, devoured the con- 
 tents with more than ordinary greedi- 
 ness. A smile of unwonted satisfaction 
 lit up his features ; he eyed the glowing 
 sun upon the grey towers of his Castle, 
 as though that, and yet more the intel- 
 ligence he had received, were the omens 
 of returning glory to his declining 
 house. Turning hastily to his two 
 trusty domestics, he said : —
 
 10 THIS HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 " Uncouple the dogs ; put by the gun 
 and the spear ; let a feast be prepared ; 
 let the best of the clan be invited ; let 
 our old banners be hung out ; let the 
 piper be in readiness : run and ride ; 
 and above all, fetch over the laird of 
 Castle Craighy. Tell him I have re- 
 ceived news, which he will rejoice to 
 hear. We shall this day be merry." 
 
 The domestics hastened to obey the 
 father of their race ; and he stood ri- 
 vetted to the spot, taking a second pe- 
 rusal of his letters, the contents of which 
 seemed at first sight too delightful for 
 actual truth. 
 
 At this moment, the notes of a harp 
 resounded from the window of the an- 
 tient keep, and they were soon followed
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 17 
 
 by a voice, sweet but sorrowful, which 
 the Chieftain kuew well to he that of 
 his beloved and lovely daughter — his 
 only child — the last stay of his years — 
 and the latest depositary of his name. 
 Her notes had more of the toueh of na- 
 ture, than of the twittering of art, in 
 them ; but they, as well as the words, 
 were her own : 
 
 " The braid sea rows and the wide land spreads 
 
 Between my love and me ; 
 And the trackless hills lift up their heads, 
 
 So that him I may not see. 
 
 Yet here I'll weep, and the watch I'll keep 
 
 O'er this fond heart of mine; 
 And I'll prove true as the turtle doo, 
 
 To the lad that is over the brine. 
 
 Return, O return,— it is Flora that calls, — 
 
 Return to your own native shore, 
 Return and enliven our father's old hails, 
 
 And wander for glory no move.
 
 18 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 For, ah ! what is glory ? a rainbow at best, 
 
 Moving faster as fast we pursue : 
 The charm of the world is with friends to be blest, 
 
 Its glory— a heart that is true." 
 
 The father listened with equal plea- 
 sure to the notes and the resolution of 
 his daughter, till she had finished her 
 song, and then he called to her, — 
 
 " Flora, my love, come down to 
 your father ; I have received a messen- 
 ger of joy, and I can have none in 
 which you do not partake." 
 
 Lightly did " the bud of beauty and 
 innocence," as she was termed in the 
 fond and figurative language of the 
 Clan, skip down the ancient staircase, 
 and across the area, and fling herself 
 into the arms of her father. 
 
 81 I have a pacquet from Naples,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 19 
 
 Flora," said he ; " and our fondly ex- 
 pected may soon be in his native 
 land." 
 
 A tinge of crimson, more deep and 
 more lovely than even that which it 
 usually displayed, burned upon the 
 cheek of Flora. She turned to hide it 
 from her father, and was about to ask 
 for particulars, but he stopped her, 
 saying, 
 
 61 We must rejoice to day. I have 
 sent to invite our kinsmen ; do you 
 invite our kinswomen ; we shall dine, 
 and we shall dance in the hall to-night. 
 The tree of our name is hung out upon 
 the battlements ; let all who belong to 
 it put on its garb ; and let the Sliobk 
 nan more, though they be few and
 
 20 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 faded, yet prove themselves of the stock 
 of better times." 
 
 Flora retired, and the Chieftain en- 
 tered his hall, or, as he called it, his 
 armoury, which, like its master, told a 
 " tale of other times." It was ragged 
 and battered as the banner of a veteran 
 corps, but as upon that, the marks of 
 desolation upon it might be regarded 
 as the insignia of honour. Its richer 
 furniture had all gone, and though it 
 had many of the characteristics of for- 
 mer strength, it had few of those of 
 present opulence. Over the great 
 chimney-piece hung, upon the branch- 
 ing antlers of a red deer, that tough 
 and dinted target — of which a foe 
 had never seen the unstudded side;
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 21 
 
 that sword which had never been un- 
 sheathed in aggression, nor put up till 
 its avenging had been full ; that dirk 
 which had kept the roof-tree of Glen- 
 more from machinations and plots ; 
 and that purse, which had never re- 
 ceived the wages of bribery, or refused 
 to disburse the reward of fidelity. The 
 ornaments, if ornaments they might 
 be called, of the other parts of the 
 room, were homely: uncouth battle- 
 axes, clumsy bows, huge swords, iron- 
 hilted pistols, long and rusty spears, 
 and all the other insignia of ancient 
 and demi-savage war. Nor was it 
 without the trophies of the chace ; for 
 it contained skins of all the mountain 
 birds of prey, from the proud eagle to 
 the rapacious kite, and of all ravenous
 
 22 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 beasts, from the shaggy wolf to the 
 lank weasel. The chairs and tables 
 Mere in accordance, — such as a high- 
 land cabinet-maker could form with 
 saw and axe, and such as time chose to 
 preserve after the lapse of more than 
 one century. 
 
 Glenmore paced the oaken floor of 
 this grand but gloomy apartment with 
 augmented self-satisfaction . He thought 
 of his daughter ; he thought of his in- 
 telligence; and he thought of both in 
 conjunction. Moving up to the fierce 
 and frowning picture of Alister Mac 
 Mhic Alister, his great great grand-sire, 
 habited in a huge cuirass under his 
 plaid, and with an eagle plume loftier 
 than ever furnished the wing of the 
 bird, in his bonnet, he could not help
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 23 
 
 saying, " Abatinga little of the martial 
 air, and the martial eye, that is the 
 exact picture of my Flora." 
 
 We had almost forgotten to mention, 
 that in one part of the room, and that, 
 as it was supposed, the post of honour, 
 there was a portrait of Prince Charles 
 Edward, surmounted by a diadem, with 
 a rosette of white ribbons, which was 
 renewed on the 10th of June, annu- 
 ally ; and that in addition to Alister 
 Mac Mhic Alister, there were twenty 
 other family portraits, which were little 
 indebted to the painter, but which 
 were endeared by tradition, and now 
 very decently clad in mourning. 
 
 Such were the furnishings of that 
 part of the Castle of Glenmore, which
 
 24 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the Chieftain regarded as peculiarly his ; 
 and, like himself, they had felt the vi- 
 cissitudes of fortune and the corrosions 
 of time.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 25 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 " O spread the board in Lord Airly's hall, 
 In Lord Airly's cellar broach the wine ; 
 
 And run and ride, bid the Ogilvies all 
 
 With good Lord Airly to dance and dine." 
 
 OLD SONG. 
 
 No sooner bad the invitation of Glen- 
 more sped with the rapidity of the 
 fiery cross through the dwellings of 
 his people, than all was bustle and pre- 
 paration for the renewal of that festivity, 
 which the reverses of fortune had for 
 many days chased from the roof-tree of 
 their name. The contributions which, 
 during the two preceding days, the 
 VOL. i. c
 
 26 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 chosen huntsmen of the clan had le- 
 vied upon field and flood, took their 
 departure for the Castle, accompanied 
 by all who could assist in the prepara- 
 tion of the banquet ; and the clansmen 
 and clanswomen, eager for the enter- 
 tainment and the dance, attired them- 
 selves in their best, that is, their most 
 characteristic attire, and followed with 
 fleet limbs and willing hearts. 
 
 Meanwhile the domestic attendants 
 were mustered in what was termed the 
 library, — a ghastly apartment, which 
 had once contained a valuable collec- 
 tion of books ; but as necessity had 
 driven these towards Edinburgh, that 
 great -whale of Scottish wealth and 
 Scottish learning, there now remained 
 little else but baize, once green, but now
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 27 
 
 fallen into the " sear and yellow leap 
 — hiding empty shelves, together with 
 some Missals, the poems of Ossian 
 and Burns, Buchanan's history, copies 
 of the principal classics, a few old 
 French romances, an English dic- 
 tionary, (not compiled by Dr. Johnson), 
 and that oracle of the glen, Buchan's 
 Domestic Medicine. 
 
 The domestics were, Allan Glass, 
 who officiated in the compound capa- 
 city of henchman, seneschal, butler, 
 and valet de chambre ; and who had 
 made his debut in the family as tutor 
 to that only son, whose death yet sat 
 heavy upon the recollection of the 
 Chieftain. Next was Duncan, the 
 game-keeper, a person of stronger 
 frame, but less cultivated mind, than 
 c 2
 
 28 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the henchman. Then came Galium 
 Dhu, the piper, equally renowned for 
 the length of his wind, and his legends ; 
 and the muster was closed by an inva- 
 lid fisherman, who was a pensionary 
 of the family, and, by common consent, 
 allowed to have lived so long, as that 
 the sight, which had waxed rather dim 
 to the things of the present hour, gave 
 him a clear and distinct perception of the 
 future. The remaining member of the 
 establishment, who officiated as groom, 
 and as gardener, had ridden to fetch from 
 his little ruined tower, at the top of the 
 loch, the Laird of Castlecraighy, who 
 was prime guest at the Castle, as being 
 that branch of the family which was 
 nearest the grand stem. 
 
 Those chosen domestics, being mus-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS 29 
 
 tered, had severally a roster of their duty 
 given them, and were sent off to prepare 
 themselves for the important doings 
 of the day. Allan Glass was to receive 
 the guests at the door of the hall, and 
 usher them into the presence of the 
 Chief; to assign each his station at the 
 table, according to the joint at which he 
 sprouted off from the genealogical tree ; 
 and to settle to an inch the position of 
 the salt which was to separate the un- 
 mingled blood of Glen more from the 
 common kernes of his race. Further- 
 more, he was to have charge generally 
 of the feast, and to see that the whole, 
 down to the ragged boys and girls who 
 were to gnaw the bones outside upon 
 the green, had abundance to eat and 
 to drink. The gamekeeper was for the
 
 30 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 day to assume the office of butler, and 
 to bear the tass of Glenmore — made 
 of the family tree, and richly adorned 
 with silver — to all whom the Chieftain 
 might design to pledge in that capa- 
 cious cup. The piper was to clean and 
 oil the pipe more, fasten the pennon 
 of the clan to it, and see that neither at 
 dinner nor at dance, there was lack 
 of sound from drone or from chanter. 
 The department assigned for old Rory 
 Bain, was to take up the tales and 
 legends of the family, where the me- 
 mory of the Chief or that of his guests 
 might fail; and also to penetrate the 
 curtain of the future, when it became 
 too dark for their ungifted vision. 
 
 They were all instructed to renew 
 the ancient, and rather out of date
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 31 
 
 honours and decorums of the clan. 
 The piper was, till the hour of dinner, 
 to parade in front of the castle, and 
 sound, with the loudest pitch of his 
 lungs and his bagpipe, the Gathering 
 of the clan. The gamekeeper was, 
 upon the health of him from whom the 
 pacquet had been received being given, 
 to make nine discharges of the falcon , 
 or little old rusty gun, upon the battle- 
 ments, till rock and mountain should 
 echo again ; and, in short, there was 
 no ceremony performable with so short 
 a tail, to be left unperformed upon the 
 occasion. 
 
 Glenmore having issued his orders, 
 retired to habit himself in full costume 
 as Chief of his clan, and he soon re- 
 turned to the chamber of presentation,
 
 32 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 in all the pomp of an ancient High- 
 lander. The broad bandings of the 
 tartan, which had not seen the sun 
 for a year, shone out with gorgeous 
 lustre in the war-jacket, the trews, and 
 the well-braided aud sweeping plaid. 
 Two eagle's feathers, emulating those 
 in the bonnet of Alister Mac Mhic 
 Alister, upon the canvass — as far as 
 any thing in those degenerate days 
 could emulate them — rose from the 
 blue bonnet of the Chief, at a point in 
 front, where was a thistle, formed of 
 Scotch amethysts, set in silver, and in 
 the middle of a white cuckade of no 
 ordinary dimensions. The huge clay- 
 more — a genuine Ferrara, with a hilt, 
 by the celebrated blacksmith of Isla, 
 hung from the black shoulder-belt,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 33 
 
 with studded buckle ; the sporan shew- 
 ed the entire skin of a goat ; the dirk 
 upon the one side, with its hilt fan- 
 tastically carved, ornamented with 
 silver, and topped by a large cairngo- 
 rum, was exactly in the state in which 
 it had heen given to his father from 
 the hand of the Stuart ; the antique 
 pistol on the other, was the same which 
 had done such execution at Killiecran- 
 kie; the silver brooch, and the cairn- 
 gorura ring, were brought forth from 
 their concealment, and the two family 
 snuff-mulls of twisted horn, and with 
 crystal tops, set in silver, were re- 
 plenished, and lodged in the pockets 
 of the Chief. Nor did he forget the 
 gay gold chain and whistle, which, 
 though sometimes borrowed for a 
 c 3
 
 34 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 pretty obvious purpose by a kind agent 
 in Inverness, yet had somehow or 
 other found their way back again, in 
 order to sound the wine ho-hoop 
 upon this joyous occasion. In short, 
 Glenmore was invested with all the or- 
 naments and insignia of a Chief; and 
 though the display of these, at the pe- 
 riod of Highland history to which we 
 allude, had something in it like a re- 
 calling from the dead, yet Glenmore, 
 though not the vainest of men, felt not 
 a little proud of them. It is true, that 
 his glory lay more with the dead than 
 the living. His domain had been im- 
 poverished by his own bounty, and 
 the avarice of others ; his clansmen had 
 been diminished by accident and by 
 emigration ; and of those immediately
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 35 
 
 sprung from him, all that remained was 
 his favourite Flora. But there is a 
 tendency in man to fall back upon the 
 past, when the present is gloomy and 
 desolate ; and it may be, that it was 
 this tendency which made the entertain- 
 ment at Glenmore Castle a sort of re- 
 surrection in the Highlands. 
 
 Clansmen and Clanswomen arrived 
 in Kylochs, on ponies, and on foot ; 
 the banner waved from the highest 
 turret of the Castle ; and the din of the 
 piper's gathering, shook and astonished 
 the air, far and wide. Castlecreaghy 
 and the other gentlemen of the clan, 
 took their positions above the salt ; 
 Flora, in the bloom of health and the 
 blush of beauty, was seated on her fa- 
 ther's right hand ; and upon his left,
 
 36 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 stood an empty chair, having a scarf of 
 the tartan of another clan thrown across 
 it ; but still, according to its due usage, 
 furnished with its plate, its knife, and 
 its fork. Towards that chair, Flora 
 would sometimes cast an anxious 
 glance ; but her smiles and her atten- 
 tions were very generally and cour- 
 teously given to all her kinsfolks. 
 
 No man may describe the din of the 
 feast. The deafening roar of the bag- 
 pipe, the clanking of knives and forks, 
 lifted from the table above the salt, and 
 drawn from the sheath under it, — 
 the rejoicings over the viands, — the 
 pledging of healths, — the collision of 
 quaighs, — and the clatter of black-jacks, 
 drinking horns and glasses. The feast 
 was substantial, comprising every thing
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 37 
 
 that Highland land or Highland water 
 could afford, and the welcome was such 
 as a fond father gives to his dutiful 
 children. At the lower end of the 
 table, no measure was taken of the ale 
 and whisky ; and above the salt, the 
 choice old Bourdeaux wine flowed 
 freely and copiously. 
 
 When no more solids could be made 
 to disappear within the hall, the frag- 
 ments were carried to the equally joy- 
 ous f casters, who filled the area with- 
 out ; and after two or three healths, 
 never forgotton by such people on such 
 occasions, that of him whose symbol 
 was the empty chair, was given with 
 loud mirth, and amid the din of the 
 falcon on the Castle-roof. This was 
 too much for Flora ; and she retired,
 
 38 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 blushing-, bowing- to the company, and 
 leaning npon the shoulder of a fair 
 kinswoman, whom her father retained 
 in the family to cheer his daughter in 
 those hours when himself had to be 
 absent. The retreat of Flora was a 
 signal for mirth, more loud and tu- 
 multuous than would have been 
 seemly while she was present. Song 
 now followed song, tale answered to 
 tale, and legend was heaped upon 
 legend, till both the backward recoU 
 lection and the forward perception of 
 old Rory Bain were strained to their 
 utmost. High and hearty was the 
 roar of the singing, and loud and lofty 
 were the boastings of feats performed 
 on muir and mountain, by lake and 
 river, with hound and pointer, with
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 39 
 
 bow and musket. Nor were they con- 
 fined to those sylvan sports, which 
 formed, and still in part form, the oc- 
 cupation of the Highlander during 
 peace. They talked of deeds with 
 brand and with battle-axe, against rebels 
 at home, and invaders from abroad. 
 Tibbermoor, and Aldearne, had yet their 
 honour and their boast; Prestonpans, 
 its tale of victory, and hapless Culloden, 
 her note of discomfiture and of woe, 
 Nor were they confined to deeds clone 
 in the land of their fathers, but extended 
 to every age, and to every country, 
 where a Highland warrior had drawn 
 the sword, or pointed the bayonet ; for, 
 in every period, and through every 
 clime, some or other of that clan had 
 distinguished themselves under one
 
 40 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 banner or another, national or foreign : 
 the heart which beat under the tartan, 
 always kept the same time, and conti- 
 nually panted for glory, no matter how 
 hardly earned, or how dearly bought. 
 The ambition seemed not to be to have 
 overcome, but to have fought ; not to 
 have gained the victory, but to have 
 deserved it. Now, times were com- 
 pared, and the more ancient were crea- 
 ted above the more modern ; again, 
 the hardships of war were revived, — the 
 toils and dangers of the rock, the cata- 
 ract, and the all but impenetrable fo- 
 rest, were detailed ; or the ardours of 
 the sporting field served as a relief to 
 the darker recitals of battles and of 
 blood. Friend shook hand with friend, 
 and kinsman renewed the plight of his
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 41 
 
 faith to kinsman, — not, however, with- 
 out a few sad reminiscences of the 
 faded glory of their house. Then came 
 a dozen paeans ; and glorious memories 
 without number were toasted, stand- 
 ing with the glass in one hand, and 
 the dirk in the other, till the delirium 
 of excitement became so strong, that 
 the Chief, in order to mitigate its fer- 
 vour, proposed that songs should again 
 be the order of the meeting. 
 
 " Our Chief, in the first place, de- 
 serves of his true and faithful follow- 
 ers," saii) Castlecreaghy, " that we 
 should first have a tass to his health, 
 his roof-tree, the flower of his hope — 
 not forgetting ourselves, his humble 
 tail and followers : " per varias casas, 
 per tot discrimince rerum" added he,
 
 42 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 in order to shew that his fagging at 
 the King^s College of Aberdeen, in his 
 youth, had not been wholly unpro- 
 ductive. 
 
 This motion could not be seconded, 
 from the hurry with which each man 
 grasped and filled his glass, from the 
 deafening roar of the piper, and from 
 the yet louder shouting and clamour 
 below the salt, and without the hall. 
 But they were at once on their legs ; 
 at once their glasses were drained to 
 the bottom ; and at once the whole 
 were joining in one commingled and 
 * tremendous din. 
 
 Glenmore waited till it was over; 
 bowed to his clansmen without rising, 
 drained his glass to the bottom, and 
 tossing it over his shoulder, graspecj
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 43 
 
 the bands of his two kinsmen who 
 were next him, and they grasping the 
 next and so on, made it "hand to hand, 
 and heart in one," throughout the whole 
 assemblage. Perhaps Glenmore should 
 have here made a speech ; but the ar- 
 dours of the feast had left him little of 
 tongue, and his friends less of ears. 
 However, as is common with High- 
 landers, he thought more than he spoke, 
 and felt more than both. The shadow 
 of other times carried him back to the 
 substance. A hundred years were at 
 once lopped from the world's history ; 
 and Glenmore -and his people were 
 in the spirit, and with the spirits of their 
 fathers. 
 
 To calculate the extent to which this 
 boisterous expression of feeling and
 
 44 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 attachment might have been carried, is 
 beyond the power of Saxon arithmetic, 
 and as that science forms no part of the 
 original lore of the Highlands, the solu- 
 tion must for ever remain a mystery ; 
 the more especially, that it was cut short 
 by a message, such as the brave and the 
 warm-hearted can seldom resist — to 
 join with the ladies, and in the dance. 
 This was not indeed told to the Chief; 
 for any command, save his own, issued 
 in his hearing, would have been down- 
 right rebellion ; but he winked at the 
 insubordination, well knowing that it 
 came from a quarter in which he was 
 not the man to see any thing wrong. 
 His province was not to take the lead 
 in matters of mere sport, though he 
 might sometimes condescend to honour
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 45 
 
 the festivities of his people, by leading 
 a select damsel through the mazes of the 
 reel. 
 
 The younger clansmen, however, 
 gladly obeyed the summons, and 
 thronged to the dancing apartment, 
 each being more anxious than another 
 for the honour of Flora's hand ; but 
 she contrived to please all her kinsmen 
 without an undue share of flattery to 
 any. 
 
 As soon as all the company had re- 
 tired, save the Chieftain and the Laird 
 of Castlecreaghy, the former beckoned 
 the latter nearer to him, and said : 
 
 " Castlecreaghy, we are here in thank- 
 fulness for the well being of him, to 
 whom we must look for the preserva- 
 tion of our name, and our honours,
 
 46 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 when we are gone ; but before we talk 
 of that, let us lake one cup to Highland 
 hospitality, and " May the Highlander 
 never disgrace his father's door — or 
 darken that of a stranger." 
 
 They drank, drew their chairs toge- 
 ther, and while Castlecreaghy put him- 
 self in an attitude of hearing, Glenmore 
 began to unfold matters much too im- 
 portant for coming in at the end of this 
 chapter, and therefore we shall reserve 
 the recital of them for the next.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 47 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 And the Chieftains drained their goblets dry, 
 
 And the dancers had their glee, 
 And the old Seer said, 'In my boding eye, 
 
 A stranger's form I see.' 
 
 ' And its guard you weel, ye ladies fair, 
 
 O guard you weel, say I ; 
 For a false, false voice is on the air, 
 Whereat you may one day cry.' 
 
 BALLAD OF SIR NE!LL. 
 
 "It is a thrice-told tale to you, my clear 
 cousin," said Glenmore; "but where 
 should the narration of our misfortunes 
 find a hearer, but in the ear of a 
 friend ? " 
 
 " And Glenmore will speak long ere
 
 48 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Castlecreaghy weary," said his cousin, 
 nodding assent, and putting himself in 
 the attitude of listening. 
 
 Glenmore repeated the tale of the 
 fidelity of his house to the favoured but 
 fugitive Stuart, and the misfortunes 
 which their devoted attachment to his 
 hapless cause, had entailed upon them. 
 He spoke of the brave band, which, led 
 on by his father, had, upon the fatal 
 muir of Drumrossie, hewed down the 
 first line of Cumberland's army, turned 
 the second, and stood, till but the Chief 
 and three others, who could find no 
 death even on that bloody field, were 
 left remaining, to follow the fugitive 
 and tell the tale. He spoke of the cru- 
 elties perpetrated by the conqueror 
 upon the scattered, and then unoftend-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 49 
 
 ing remnants of a devoted people, who 
 had drawn their swords, not in the cause 
 of rebellion, but in that of hospitality, 
 — not in aid of a foreign invader, but 
 for him whom they considered bone of 
 their bone, and flesh of their flesh. He 
 depicted the smoking huts, and the 
 scattered and starving inhabitants, 
 that were given over to the fury of 
 those, who, while the sword was yet in 
 the hand of the clans, and their strength 
 unbroken, had sneaked, crouching and 
 cowardly, into holes and hiding places. 
 He talked of the ancient Castle, coeval 
 with the origin of his race, which had 
 been pillaged of its furniture, and 
 would have been burned to the ground, 
 if the fire itself had not refused to do 
 its cruel office. It was thus, not of 
 
 VOL. I, D
 
 50 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 will, but of necessity, that that pile was 
 saved from total destruction, and it was 
 not till other hopes and other wars had 
 occupied and blended together the dif- 
 ferent parties in the nation, — till the 
 waters of oblivion had passed over the 
 royal house, — and till necessity had 
 done that which was refused to jus- 
 tice or even to pity, that the Chieftain 
 was allowed to return from that exile, 
 in which he had been born, — in which 
 he had spent the morning of his life, 
 and in which his parents had found 
 untimely graves. He told how, return- 
 ing from this long and lonely exile, he 
 found his people persecuted, straying, 
 and .impoverished ; the house of his 
 fathers tenanted by daws and rooks ; 
 and the whole country falling backward
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 51 
 
 into a state of depopulation, poverty, 
 and misery. He touched lightly upon 
 his own efforts to readorn the house, 
 and reanimate the heritage, and give 
 to his children an education worthy 
 their rank ; and how he would have 
 fallen in the struggle, had it not been 
 for the kindness of the neighbouring 
 and kindred clan of Strathantin ; whose 
 youthful chief, having completed his 
 education and his travels, was now 
 about to return to his native country, 
 and unite the houses and the domains 
 into one heritage, by asking the hand 
 of Flora, to whom he had been long 
 attached. 
 
 " It is the prospect of his return," 
 continued he, "which has induced me 
 
 D 2 
 
 SSmO^UHO*
 
 52 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 thus to bring our friends together ; 
 and when I see my Flora safe under 
 his protection, the cares and the toils 
 of old Glen more will be ended ; and 
 he will lay himself with satisfaction in 
 the narrow house of his fathers. " 
 
 " Glenmore shall not die — he shall 
 
 not die, by " said Castlecreaghy, 
 
 filling a large bumper of wine. " Here 
 is a health to him, and may he live till 
 a better comes in his place; and that 
 will belong enough — so long, indeed, 
 that crazy Castlecreaghy will never live 
 to see it." 
 
 " Thank you, my dear cousin, " said 
 Glenmore ; " I shall live all the longer 
 for your good opinion, and my heart 
 shall feel the lighter for my having un-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 53 
 
 bosomed it to you ; but the children 
 will be looking out for me, and we must 
 go to witness their sport." 
 
 " Just one large tass, and one little 
 toast, with your chieftainship's leave," 
 said Castlecreaghy ; "and let it be of the 
 mountain dew from the mountain 
 shell." With that he staggered towards 
 the old sideboard, dislocating the legs 
 of sundry chairs as he went, brought 
 out the wooden vessel of the family, 
 filled it to the brim, and then, as well as 
 he could, pronounced his little toast — 
 " To the health, and long life, and hap- 
 piness, and welfare, of Eon Mac Alis- 
 ter Mac Mhic Allister Mhor Mhic Ra- 
 nald Mhor, of Glenmore — to all those 
 who love Glenmore — to those whom he 
 loves — to those who love him — to the
 
 84 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 friends ofGlenmore — to those who be- 
 friend the friends of Glenmore — to all 
 that are ready to standby him and his — 
 his kith and kin — his clan and clans- 
 men's kith and kin — those who ne- 
 ver turned their backs or their coats 
 — those who never disgraced the feather, 
 or stained the tartan — those who never 
 drew the dirk in a fool's cause, or put 
 it up at a fool's bidding, — to the lads 
 \?1*q 1 fear no foe, and the lassies that 
 love no stranger, — may the blessing of 
 heaven be upon all whom Glenmore 
 blesses, and the curse of hell upon all 
 whom he curses, — and may the black 
 spald, the rot foot, and the red mur- 
 rain, fall upon the substance, and the ill- 
 meeting attend the children of all the ene- 
 mies of his name — may the ill-deed be
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 55 
 
 upon thetn and their's, root and branch, 
 leaf and flower, kith and kin, seed and 
 generation, man and beast, in the house, 
 and on the hill, by day and by night, 
 on the land and on the water, while the 
 sun rides in the firmament, the Awin- 
 more runs to the sea, and the chief- 
 tain of Glen more is the glory of his 
 people." 
 
 This toast, as is sometimes said of an 
 itinerant preacher's grace, was a good 
 deal longer than the entertainment ; for 
 the same echo which repeated the last 
 word of it, caught up the sound of the 
 tass, as, after its second discharge, it was 
 slapped down upon the table ; and the 
 chieftain and his cousin, were, through 
 the abundance of their love and their 
 libations, forced to work their way to
 
 56 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the dancing-room, " shoulder to shoul- 
 der," — as true Highlanders go, when 
 they are said to beat the devil. 
 
 The entrance of the Chieftain caused 
 a momentary suspension of the sport ; 
 and the piper ushered his master to 
 that chair, which had been placed for 
 his reception ; playing the while, in his 
 loudest breath, the characteristic air of 
 " Wat you that Glenmore's coming." 
 
 " Go on, my children," said Glen- 
 more; "do not let my presence spoil 
 that which I come to enjoy." 
 
 " Och, na," said an old man with 
 hair white as snow, who was looking 
 with delight upon the lively boundings 
 of his great grandchildren — " Och, 
 na," and, in an under tone, " may be 
 Glenmore hersel, will be shakin herain
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 57 
 
 shieftain's foot. Moiiy and lang's ta 
 day, I hae seen her do't afore noo ; and 
 God grant that she may do't mony a 
 time, when Pll no* be leevin to see't." 
 
 Glenmore could not resist this ap- 
 peal to the elasticity of his limbs, al- 
 though he knew that it was an orga- 
 nized plan, and that the old man had 
 taken that upon him, which none of his 
 juniors durst venture. Castlecreaghy, 
 too, although his head and his heels 
 were, from his zeal to do honour to the 
 feast, quite unsettled which should be 
 ultimate ascendants for the night, fought 
 away at the Highland fling, if with lit- 
 tle grace or success, at least with much 
 good will and good humour. 
 
 When all had wearied themselves in 
 the dance, the seneschal again an- 
 D 3
 
 58 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 nounced a renewal of the feast, and the 
 piper led the way to the banquetting 
 hall, sounding the onset of the clan, 
 as loud as he was able. 
 
 In its abundance, the supper emu- 
 lated the dinner ; and though the " little 
 children" had retired, an accession of 
 brawny youths and buxom lassies ren- 
 dered the company to the full as nume- 
 rous. Indeed, it was rather more so ; 
 and for the first time in their lives, and, 
 as it turned out, for the last, at least 
 half a dozen, were promoted to seats 
 above the salt. The wine was now too 
 cold and thin, even for the leading men 
 of the clan, and nothing could match 
 the hearts of the company, either in fire 
 or in strength, but the unadulterated 
 dew of the mountains.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 59 
 
 Castlecreaghy vowed that he would 
 vanquish all the whisky in Glenmore ; 
 but he fell, and fell gloriously, in the 
 strife, and was borne off the field by- 
 four stout Highlanders, the piper play- 
 ing the 4 ' Lament" after him, which ra- 
 ther gave umbrage to the Chieftain. 
 It was no time for taking offence, how- 
 ever ; so, after seeing his kinsman duly 
 cared for, Glenmore returned to the 
 hall ; but finding that the new impulse 
 given to the head, had so far extended it- 
 self to the heels, as to make dancing again 
 the order of the night, he followed his 
 kindred to the dancing apartment, led 
 off the first reel with Ishbel Mackay, the 
 blooming companion and cousin of his 
 daughter, and leapt as lightly, and snapt 
 his fingers with as hearty glee, as the 
 youngest of them all.
 
 60 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 The renewed dance made many of 
 the clansmen warm, the warmth made 
 them dry, and, as nothing would do 
 now but whisky, not a few par- 
 ticipated in the fall and the honours 
 which had been awarded to Castle- 
 creaghy. 
 
 The glee of the remainder knew no 
 bounds ; and the chieftain himself, 
 throwing off the restraints of his high 
 station, which, when his blood was 
 warm, sat but heavily upon him, was 
 the most zealous and the most active. 
 In the judgment of the happy party, 
 the night, long though it was in abso- 
 lute measure, might have been squeez- 
 ed into a nutshell ; and it was not with- 
 out expressions of sorrow, that they re- 
 ceived notice through a rent in the thick 
 tartan curtains, and even a crevice in
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 61 
 
 the wall, that the sun had begun his 
 journey for another day. 
 
 " Never mind the sun," said Glen- 
 raore, looking toward the slanting 
 ray which stole in at the crevice ; 
 " if there be a breach in the roof, 
 let us have none under it. The 
 same sun which shines upon our 
 festivity, will shine upon our cairns; 
 and as the night is the time for partings 
 let us spend the day together, but let 
 each spend it in his own fashion, — we 
 may hunt, we may fish, we may 
 boast of the past, we may hope of the 
 future, and those who cannot watch 
 one night for Glenmore, may go to 
 sleep." 
 
 " If it is all the same to Glenmore," 
 said Castlecreaghy, entering the room,
 
 m THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 rubbing his eyes and shaking off his 
 last yawn, — " if it is all the same to 
 Glen more, we would rather have our 
 morning dram and our morning break* 
 fast. The sun is high and clear over 
 Benfuar, and the man that would sleep 
 till he be lost in the west, is unworthy 
 of a chieftain's board or a chieftain's 
 blessing." 
 
 "And Castlecreaghy 'ill be speak- 
 ing the truth," said old Rory Bain. 
 " It 'ill need to be watch man and watch 
 woman ; for a stranger's foot has been 
 sounding in my ear, and a stranger's 
 form flitting afore my eye the hale 
 night. I could not sleep for him now, 
 and gin wedinna a' watch foroursels, 
 and pray God to watch for us, some 
 may greet that are now laughing, and
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 63 
 
 some may repent that are now thinking 
 little about it." 
 
 " Do not alarm us with your prophe- 
 cies," said Castlecreaghy ; " the Sblioh 
 nan More never turned their backs 
 upon an enemy, or let down the latch 
 against a stranger ; and, under God and 
 the Chief, what should we fear now ?" 
 
 "Your ain will, gentlemen," said 
 Rory. u When if s done, it 'ill be done, 
 but mind I have telPd you." 
 
 It was not long ere the stranger's 
 foot was in other ears than the 
 dreaming ones of old Rory Bain. For 
 loud as were the half-exhausted roars 
 of the night's merriment, they were 
 soon lost amid a din still louder, in 
 which dogs of all breeds and breedings, 
 and want of breeding, of all depth of
 
 04 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 mouths and dissonance of yelping, set 
 up a howling, more mighty and more 
 mingled than if the whole inhabitants of 
 Babel had joined in one general scold. 
 
 " I telPt you sae," said Rory . " She's 
 comin noo, and the very dogs dinna 
 likelier ; and how can the grace o' God 
 sain that which canna be borne o' a 
 brute beast !" 
 
 " Most likely it will be somebody 
 that has gone will upon the mountain, 
 and come here for shelter," said Allan, 
 looking towards his master, as if ask- 
 ing permission to usher the wanderer 
 to the hospitalities of the house. Glen- 
 more took no notice, but sat silent with 
 his eyes fixed upon the floor, and whirl- 
 ing the one thumb about the other, as 
 if his mind were too much occupied
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 65 
 
 for knowing what his hands were doing. 
 " The blood of a Glenmore is not in 
 him, whatever he may be," said the 
 gamekeeper: "the dogs o^ Glenmore 
 ken better than to bark at their ain 
 clan." 
 
 While the domestics and guests let 
 off their wonder, in saws and proverbs 
 after his fashion, the clamour of the 
 dogs became still louder and louder, 
 and the prancing of a horsed feet was 
 heard upon the bridge, and their echo 
 under the arch of the portcullis-room. 
 
 Glenmore started from his reverie : 
 ts If it were himself now !" 
 
 " Impossible !" rejoined Flora, 
 though the word fell in an accent so 
 gentle as to escape every ear but that 
 of her father.
 
 66 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Scarcely were these words uttered, 
 when the stranger was heard in the 
 court and near to the gate of the apart- 
 ments. " Run, Allan Glass, and wel- 
 come the stranger, whoever he is, and 
 speed Donald and Duncan to take 
 charge of his horses. Flora, my love, 
 you must come with me into the ar- 
 moury, and Ishbel, my little favourite, 
 you must accompany your cousin. 
 Glenmore may be seen hand to hand 
 and heart to heart with his kinsmen, 
 but toward a stranger he must keep 
 his' state ; and even if it is he whom 
 we all wish it to be, it would be too 
 much for him to meet so many of his 
 friends together at final." Saying this, 
 Glenmore, leaving Castlecreaghy as 
 his vice, took his daughter under the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 67 
 
 one arm and his niece under the other, 
 and walked toward the armoury. Put- 
 ting them into a closet adjoining, so 
 that they might be ready if their pre- 
 sence were required, he seated himself 
 in the chair of state, under the picture 
 of Charles Edward, that he might re- 
 ceive, as became the Chieftain of Glen- 
 more, a stranger, who, from the alarm 
 he had created among the canine divi- 
 sion of the clan, promised to be some- 
 thing more than ordinary. 
 
 It was not the curiosity of those 
 quadrupeds alone which had been ex- 
 cited . The kernes of the clan had come 
 out of their beds in the old vaults, and 
 from their bivouacs in the garden, and 
 stood gazing with wide mouth, wander- 
 ing eyes, legs astride, and hands lifted
 
 68 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 up, at the unwonted costume of the 
 rider, the form and furnishings of his 
 horse, and the gaudy dresses of his 
 train. Even those who had been left 
 in the dancing-room, peopled the win- 
 dows with their heads; and though 
 Flora could not bear the stimulation 
 of hope and the anxiety of disappoint- 
 ment, which alternately agitated her 
 bosom, Ishbel Mackay was posted at the 
 lattice as a scout. Wonder held h^r mute 
 for some time, and female curiosity, 
 which usually runs to the tongue with 
 abundant swiftness, ran so fast to that 
 of Ishbel, that each word tripped up the 
 heels of another, till at least, a couple 
 of dozens were lumped into one feu 
 de joie of amazement. The strain, 
 however, was that of astonishment rather
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 69 
 
 than that of delight, and from this, 
 
 Flora concluded, and concluded rightly, 
 
 that the stranger who had arrived, was 
 
 not that stranger for whose arrival she 
 
 was most solicitous. Recovering, she 
 
 stole to the lattice, leaned upon the 
 
 arm of her cousin, and hoth gazed upon 
 
 the stranger, as he paused to dismount. 
 
 His was indeed a form upon which 
 
 ladies might have been proud to gaze, 
 
 and it was one upon which they often 
 
 had gazed, and that fondly, in the 
 
 most crowded circles of the capital ; 
 
 it was therefore no wonder that it drew 
 
 the attention of two simple girls in a 
 
 highland solitude, and sent a wistful 
 
 and wild pulse to the heart, at least to 
 
 one of them, which yet had found no 
 
 resting place among the sons of men. —
 
 70 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 The stranger sat upon his horse with 
 peculiar grace, and while he contrived 
 tomakethe noble animal paw as though 
 he had no desire to stand still, he con. 
 trived to shew himself off to no com- 
 mon advantage. He was about the 
 middle size, but of powerful, though at 
 the same time graceful mould. His 
 face was of the most perfect oval, and 
 his neck, which had the truly Grecian 
 contour, was carefully exposed. A 
 Turkish fur cap, while it added dig- 
 nity to the expression of his head, left 
 bare an expansion of brow more ample 
 than falls to the lot of common men. 
 An Albanian cloak, thrown carelessly 
 over his shoulders, was so placed, as 
 to exhibit a leg and foot very symmetri- 
 cally formed. His saddle was of more
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 71 
 
 splendid appearance than had been 
 witnessed by any one at the Castle, 
 excepting perhaps by Glenmore him- 
 self at the court of France ; and his 
 holsters (for he rode armed), were 
 richly ornamented and emblazoned 
 with crests and coronets. 
 
 " Pll wager it's- King George hersel 
 come to see Glenmore," said an old 
 clansman ; " ye a' ken that there's 
 naebody sae fit for being king, gin 
 George were to die." " And," added 
 another, " there's nae saying, but 
 there's royal blnde, the blude o' the 
 auld Stuart hersel, in the veins of Glen- 
 more ; for we a' ken whan the leddy 
 his mither was delivered o' him ; and 
 naebody wad expect that the name o' 
 a king wud dee out like that o' a puir
 
 72 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 man wha had nae house but a crazy 
 shealing, and nathing to fight for him 
 but his ain dirk." 
 
 After this fashion ran the whispers 
 of the wondering Highlanders; but, 
 partly from respect, partly from fear, 
 they were kept at a due distance ; and 
 he, attended by his own train, dis- 
 mounted his horse, was received by 
 Allan Glass, and marshalled into the 
 audience chamber of the great Glen- 
 more. 
 
 As he disappeared, the two females 
 stood wavering between the wish, 
 that he had halted a little longer, and 
 that he had not halted so long ; and as 
 he entered the gate, when there was 
 little chance of being observed by him, 
 Rory Bain, fortified by his preterna-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 73 
 
 tural agency, stepped forward before 
 the rest to reconnoitre his rear. Ob- 
 serving a discrepancy in the length of 
 his legs, and also that the boot upon 
 the one which had been turned from 
 the ladies while he was yet on horse- 
 back, was circular, Rory set up a dis- 
 mal groan, and, being a good catholic, 
 drew a circle round him with his staff, 
 and made as many signs of the cross 
 upon himself, and towards the castle, 
 and every man and beast he could 
 observe, as would, on ordinary occasi- 
 ons, have served the whole clan in de- 
 votion for a month. The astonished 
 clansmen drew round the seer, while 
 he stood within his mystic fortification, 
 anxious to know the cause why he had 
 taken such formidable precautions. 
 vol. 1. E
 
 74 THE HIGHLANDERS, 
 
 • 
 
 " Ough ! she is the deevil hersel," 
 said Rory ; " didna I saw her cloven 
 feet ? it's no a black leather shoe that 
 can keep the deeviPs feet frae the 
 sight o' Rory Bain ! But Til cross her 
 malice," — and with that he fell to re- 
 peating the abacadabra and all the 
 other untranslateable words, at the 
 sound of which the devil is said either 
 to put down his hoofs, or draw in his 
 horns. — 
 
 Seeing that the feet of the attendants 
 were formed like those of ordinary 
 men, the more hardy and incredulous 
 of the clan, showed some scepticism of 
 the seer, to which he replied : — 
 
 " Did ye no saw that their faces were 
 no the faces o' earthly creatures ? for 
 they had twa horns sticking out at ilka
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 75 
 
 side o' their nose, and Pll be bound 
 that when ye get a sight o* their heads, 
 ilka ane o' them will hae twa horns 
 there too. Och, Och, I tellt you a' 
 this, but the chief wadna believe. I 
 wish Duncan wad just try gin he 
 could shoot ane o' the men, ane o' the 
 horses, or, at ony rate, ane o' the dogs 
 wP a siller saxpence ; for Pll be 
 bound the lead is no melted out o* the 
 stane yet, that wad prick a hole in a 
 single part o' theui." — 
 
 The belief of old Rory was farther 
 confirmed by the extreme swarthiness 
 of every part of the retinue : the ser- 
 vants of the stranger being all fo- 
 reign ers of saffron complexion, and 
 with dark mustachoes, greased and 
 stiffened till the imagination of a man 
 e 2
 
 76 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 more knowing in the labours of the 
 toilet than honest Rory, might have 
 considered them as in some respect or 
 other belonging to the horned tribe. 
 The feet, however, were a little puz- 
 zling, and it was resolved that trial 
 should be made by tramping on the 
 boot of one of the strangers, to ascer- 
 tain if there were any toes in it. This 
 was done, if not with more energy 
 than was intended, at least, with more 
 than was agreeable to the object of 
 the experiment, who fell a-swearing in 
 a language, which, as the clansmen 
 knew not to be Gaelic or English, they 
 naturally concluded it to be the He- 
 brew, the tongue which the devil and 
 his emissaries are always supposed to 
 make use of, when peculiar circum-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 77 
 
 stances do not require them to use 
 another, seeing it was that in which 
 the Chief of the Clann Dhiaoul suc- 
 ceeded in tempting Eve. In the 
 course of this confirmation, another was 
 made. The cap of the toe-trodden 
 fiend tumbled off, and displayed his 
 black hair turned upward to a point at 
 each of his temples, which discovery 
 instantly confirmed the credulous part 
 of the clan in their belief of his con- 
 nection with the nether world ; and 
 produced among themselves a general 
 crossing and retreating. 
 
 The horses next were examined; 
 but their feet were found not to be di- 
 vided, and, as the sign of the cross, 
 marked upon their sleek black sides 
 with white chalk, did not shew the
 
 78 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 least symptom of disappearing, and 
 as they did not start at sacred names, 
 it was concluded that they at least were 
 things of this world, and were entitled 
 to the rites of equestrian hospitality. 
 Partly to admire their size and beauty, 
 and partly to propitiate their supposed 
 satanic masters, every serf of the clan 
 was more assiduous than another in 
 doing for them all the kind offices in 
 his power. 
 
 Allan Glass, having finished his high 
 duty of introducing the single and the 
 dignified stranger, into the audience- 
 chamber of the great Glenmore, re- 
 turned to complete his charge, by 
 bringing the attendants of the stranger 
 into the room, where the middle rank 
 of the clan were assembled. There-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 79 
 
 ception which they met with there, 
 was very different from that which 
 they had met from the superstitious 
 serfs without ; for in the full belief 
 that the master himself was Kins' 
 George, who had waited upon the 
 Chieftain to settle some mighty affair 
 of the state, and, very likely, to invest 
 the Highlander with the crown in re- 
 version, they received the valets and 
 lacqueys with as much ceremony, as 
 though they had been Ministers of 
 State. Rory, indeed, broke into the 
 apartment, to share his own fears with 
 those of the tenants ; but various facts 
 were in direct contradiction of his doc- 
 trines. The men, indeed, could hold 
 no converse with the strangers, except 
 by signs ; but oue of the latter, having
 
 80 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 occasion to pull off his boots, showed, 
 not only human feet, but human feet 
 of very respectable dimensions, with 
 toes peeping through the stockings. 
 Another, pulling off, not only his hat, 
 but his wig, showed a head to the full 
 as free of horns as any Chieftain in the 
 Highlands ; and a third, upon receiv- 
 ing the proffered glass of whisky, not 
 only crossed himself ere he drank it, 
 but pronounced the name of Jesus 
 Christ, in such a manner as to be un- 
 derstood by all present. The rumour 
 of these anti-demoniac symptoms soon 
 spread itself over the whole court 
 of the castle ; and that, in conjunction 
 with the test which the horses had stood, 
 not only made the clansmen give up 
 all belief of satanic visitation, at least,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 81 
 
 on the part of the retinue; but fall in- 
 to the more flattering opinion, that the 
 grand stranger was actually King 
 George, and that the others were his 
 henchmen, his gilly-casflue, and the 
 other component parts of his royal tail ; 
 and they attributed its shortness to a 
 conviction on his part, that muster it 
 how he would, it could not equal in 
 length, the extended caudal furnishing 
 of their renowned chief. 
 
 e 3
 
 §2 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 '* Lord Ogilvy rose up from his chair of state, 
 From his chair of state, with courtesy, 
 And he welcomed the stranger into his hall, 
 To his hall of hospitality. 
 
 And much did the lady wish to know 
 
 Of his name and his rank, and the place where 
 he stayed, 
 But the goblet must flow in Lord Ogilvy's halls, 
 
 Before to a stranger a question be made." 
 
 LORD OGILVIE'S GARLAND. 
 
 While those waves of alternate credu- 
 lity and scepticism, those ebbings and 
 flowings of opinion, were passing over 
 the clansmen, in the court of the castle, 
 and in its more common apartment, 
 the stranger was doing reverence to the 
 Chief. As lie entered the hall, the 
 courtly eye of Glenmore — for he had
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. &3 
 
 not yet forgotten the lessons taught him 
 in his youth at St. Germain's, soon dis- 
 covered that his visitor was not one of 
 that common herd of the rich vulg-ar, 
 whom a few spare weeks, and a number 
 of spare pounds, send to idle pilgrimage 
 over the Scottish mountains, — not for 
 the purposes of profiting by new views 
 of nature or of man, but to conquer the 
 ennui which hangs over them, if con- 
 demned to linger in London while 
 every body else is out of town. 
 
 The greeting was most hearty on 
 the part of Glen more, and most 
 polite, though somewhat dignified and 
 haughty, on that of his guest; and 
 there sat upon the features of the latter 
 an expression which told, that whatever
 
 84 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 might be his claims to the considera- 
 tion of either, he was not wholly at 
 peace either with man or with him- 
 self. 
 
 He apologised for his intrusion ; 
 and the honest hospitality of Glenmore 
 would have cut the apology short, had 
 not his politeness prompted him to give 
 the stranger full license in his explana- 
 tion, while the language in which that 
 explanation was delivered, afforded him 
 a feast of phrase and sentiment to which 
 he was not at all accustomed among 
 his rude neighbours. The first sight 
 of the stranger convinced him that his 
 rank was above that of ordinary men ; 
 and the frankness, the force, and the 
 freedom of his speech, afforded a similar
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 85 
 
 proof that his talents and the cultiva- 
 tion of them, were to the full as lofty 
 and as conspicuous as his rank. 
 
 He spoke of the adventures of the 
 night, rather as a tale of the history of 
 others, than any thing which had 
 brought suffering, or even inconve- 
 nience, to himself. " The mountains 
 should have known me," said he, " for 
 in my youth I Mas among them, though 
 not of them ; but a hill, like a lady, 
 has two sides, and the chance is that 
 a man will take the wrong one; I 
 have done so, and my dwelling, for a 
 few brief hours' shelter from the rain, 
 was in an edifice which, but that it 
 was not made of Gopher-wood, I should 
 have mistaken for Noah's ark. In one 
 place rested an old man, as brawny,
 
 86 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 nearly as naked, and almost as drunk, 
 as that great ship-builder himself." — 
 Glenmore stared — " Then if there were 
 not all the fowls that fly in the open 
 firmament of heaven, there were at least 
 a considerable number of four-footed 
 beasts, and very many creeping things ; 
 and if there was not every thing clean, 
 there was at least a number of things 
 unclean. I have been with the Tyro- 
 lese hunter upon the Alps, with the 
 Lazzaroni in the Neapolitan forests, 
 and with the Albanian and the Sulliote 
 in their degraded but daring country ; 
 but I know not that among the knives 
 of the first, the poniards of the second, 
 or the daggers of the third, there was 
 any thing so formidable as that dirk, 
 which, red with the blood of a sheep,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 87 
 
 most likeJy of a stolen one, lay upon 
 the heather pillow of your wild man 
 of the mountains." 
 
 " I know well where you have been," 
 said Glenmore : " Donald Kennedy, or, 
 as we call him, JDonuil Dim na y 
 JBidag, is a far safer man for a stranger 
 than for a neighbour. You must 
 know, that one of our Scottish kings 
 sent his race from the Lowlands, for the 
 purpose of civilizing us savages of the 
 mountains; but that they began by 
 being thieves, and euded by being 
 hanged, with the exception of this in- 
 dividual and his familv, Who still live 
 as a sort of freebooters, and seldom 
 spend two weeks in the same habita- 
 tion. We — that is, we who were once 
 the friends of him who is not — have a
 
 88 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 sort of love for Donald ; for though his 
 father ultimately forfeited his life at 
 Inverness, for stealing from the sheriff 
 of the county a cow not worth forty 
 shillings, he not only disdained to give 
 the Stuart up to his enemies, but ac- 
 tually gave him safe keeping for many 
 days, and safe convoy for many miles, 
 when the price set upon his head might 
 have purchased for Donald the Castle 
 which is now honoured by your pre- 
 sence, together with the whole patri- 
 mony of Glenmore, and all the vassals 
 and wadsetters of his house,— which 
 often happened to be in the market — 
 inconsequence of what others called the 
 rebellion, and we called the true loyalty 
 of him, whose son, heir, and unworthy 
 representative, now receives you under
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 89 
 
 his decayed, and, I had almost said, 
 his degraded roof." 
 
 " Nothing from without can degrade 
 any man," said the stranger ; " and 
 nothing within will ever degrade a 
 Highlander. I knew from the goodli- 
 ness of the branch, which I stept across 
 during the night, that the tree which 
 the morning shewed to me could 
 shelter one more worthy than myself." 
 
 Glenmore bowed — " He's not of our 
 tree, and yet I wish it may never bear 
 worse fruit." 
 
 " Some say that the tree is known 
 by its fruit," said the stranger ; " but I 
 would turn the aphorism the other 
 way, and say that the fruit is known by 
 its tree." 
 
 " De gustibus non dispntandum
 
 00 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 est" said Glenmore, summoning up 
 his learning to cover the retreat of a 
 random twinge of offence which stole 
 across him at this additional sporting, 
 on the part of the stranger, with that 
 which himself had never been taught 
 to regard as an object of sport ; and, 
 before the stranger could pluck out of 
 the reproof, the sting, which, gentle 
 though it was, he evidently perceived 
 in it, breakfast was announced, and the 
 Chieftain led his guest to the hall of 
 refreshment. 
 
 Glenmore ushered his guest into the 
 apartment, and introduced him to the 
 gentlemen of the clan, who played off 
 their best bows upon the occasion. 
 The stranger bowed and smiled again 
 and again to all, and again and again
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 91 
 
 he pressed the hand of his noble-hearted 
 entertainer. The stranger felt the 
 honest and unstudied benevolence of 
 the Chieftain ; and it so far overcome 
 him, as to produce an oral, or rather a 
 professional gratitude ; but a slight 
 observance by any other person than a 
 hospitable and unsuspecting High- 
 lander, would have found out that this 
 was repugnant to his ordinary course 
 of acting. 
 
 The horses, the attendants, and the 
 baggage of the stranger, were provided 
 for in the best style that the Castle could 
 afford — although sundry shifts, not of 
 the most convenient kind, had to be 
 resorted to for this purpose. The va- 
 rying opinions of the satanic, the 
 regal, and the lordly rank of the
 
 02 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 stranger, flitted among the wondering 
 domestics and the astonished clans- 
 men ; but old Rory persisted in saying, 
 that " if she was na' jeust the grant 
 Dhiaoul herseP, surely she was some- 
 thing no canny ; an* like ane wha 
 wad bring the black murrian upon some 
 o'the kith an' kin' o* Glenmore, though 
 the Chief herseP, God bless her, might 
 be sained frae the skaith." 
 
 Even to an acute person within 
 the hall, there might have appeared, in 
 the purpose of the stranger, if not in 
 the object and direction of that pur- 
 pose, something to corroborate the 
 prognostic of the old seer. He smiled 
 and he bowed ; but high pride and 
 haughty disdain sat upon his lowering 
 forehead ; contempt for man hung
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 93 
 
 upon his upturned lip ; and his pierc- 
 ing and inquiring, but inscrutable and 
 incomprehensible eye, seemed to keep 
 watch upon all around him like a sleep- 
 less and restless sentinel. The old 
 crimson velvet chair, which had been 
 kept through many viscissitudes, was 
 set for him, but the air with which he 
 sunk into it seemed as though he 
 scorned himself for mingling in the 
 hospitalities, or being seen in the com- 
 pany of other men. Nor did he regard 
 the piles of Highland fare, under which 
 the breakfast-table groaned, with one 
 jot more of favour. This was not 
 indeed the aversion of the fop, who 
 quarrels with the kind or the cooking 
 of the food, but rather a sort of Timon- 
 like misanthropy, which scowled
 
 94 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 because he was constrained to eat with 
 other men, and even because he was 
 constrained to eat at all. Though his 
 strange dress did set off his person to 
 very great advantage, it did not seem 
 as if at all intended for that purpose ; 
 and, in short, he appeared as though 
 he held in the most sovereign con- 
 tempt all those passions and gratifi- 
 cations about which the mass of human 
 beings are occupied. Passion, indeed, 
 seemed the leading part, if not the 
 whole of his being and his character ; 
 but it was passion sublimed from the 
 common dross, and either raised 
 immeasurably above, or sunk immea- 
 surably below, that of mankind. Still, 
 however, his conduct toward the Chief 
 and his kinsmen was that of the most
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. £5 
 
 finished politeness, and every remark 
 which he made, was so plausible in 
 its logic, and so powerful in its expres- 
 sion, that it instantly gained the belief, 
 and drew forth the admiration of the 
 party. He glanced around the hall, 
 and saw, with unaltered features, the 
 massy carving of the pannels, and the 
 time-mutilated state of the tapestry, 
 representing battles and hunting- 
 matches — in which the universal, but 
 silent destroyer, had disposed of more 
 heads and limbs, than brand, and bow, 
 and battle-axe. 
 
 " Your current has run long, to run 
 still so clear/' said he, turning to Glen- 
 more ; " there are few men who can 
 look upon the roll of their ancestors, 
 or can bear to have themselves looked
 
 96 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 upon by those who come after ; but I 
 have at last found one of the number. M 
 
 Glenmore bowed, the clansmen were 
 delighted, and Castlecreaghy would 
 have run over the whole family history 
 instanter, only it was rather long for 
 a man who had not got his morning's 
 dram ; and that he durst not take till 
 it was offered to him by the Chief. An 
 opportunity did, however, present it- 
 self, which the Laird could not resist, 
 even though he went upon his duty 
 with, as himself would have said, " an 
 empty heart" The stranger, casting 
 a very ambiguous glance towards a 
 huge pair of antlers over the chimney- 
 piece, asked how long they had been in 
 the family. 
 
 Glenmore's cheek was slightly red-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 97 
 
 dened, but all offence was cut off at 
 the very springing, by Castleereaghy's 
 tumbling before the company (or ra- 
 ther before the stranger, for all the rest 
 knew it well enough before) the whole 
 genealogical history of the Clan more, 
 from Eachan Dhu ; who, in the days of 
 Moses, had stolen one of the maids of 
 honour of Pharaoh's daughter: when 
 the great Brute had carried off the 
 princess, having let his compass fall 
 overboard about Tunis, he was drifted 
 through the strait of Gibraltar; and 
 instead of making Madeira, as he in- 
 tended, had his land-fall upon the west 
 coast of Argyllshire, and there found- 
 ed at once the city of Berigonium,and 
 the empire of the Celts. Upon this 
 favourite topic, the Laird went on for 
 vol. 1. F
 
 98 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the space of ten minutes, in so con- 
 densed and continuous a way, that no 
 man (or even devil) could reduce it to 
 print, there not being room for either 
 a comma or m quadrat in the whole. 
 He had, however, just got his foot upon 
 thg buck, and was proceeding to ..cut 
 off the antlers, to bring them home in 
 triumph, and place them in that situa- 
 tion where they had arrested the stran- 
 ger's attention, when something more 
 attractive than houses and pedigrees 
 arrested his tongue, or rather withdrew 
 the attention of his hearers. 
 
 Flora and her cousin entered the 
 apartment. The former was cast in 
 the mould of symmetry itself, and the 
 simple tartan morning-dress, in which 
 she was wrapped, shewed off her figure
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 99 
 
 to more advantage than if it had been 
 hung with all the flouncings and fur- 
 belows, and frosted with all the lace of 
 a damsel of the most expensive fashion. 
 Her height was the maximum, allowed 
 to handsome women ; her neck was 
 beautifully turned ; her waist finely 
 tapered ; and her limbs had at once 
 the firmness and the fleetuess of those 
 of the mountain roe. Her profusicn 
 of dark brown glossy locks was snooded 
 up in a simple bandeau of tartan, upon 
 the side of which was stuck a little 
 white rosette, not more emblematic of 
 her Clangs warm attachment to the 
 exiled house, than of her own spotless 
 innocence. Her forehead was high 
 and polished. You could not call it 
 alabaster, for even upon it there went 
 f 2
 
 100 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 and came a touch of peach-blossom, 
 although too delicate for being per- 
 ceived by a distant observer. Her 
 eyes, — large, full, and of the deepest 
 hazel, were set in beautifully fringed 
 eye-lids, and overhung by brows, which, 
 though finely arched in their placid 
 position, yet moved like lightning, 
 either in the bending of dignity, the 
 tension of thought, or the fall of me- 
 lancholy. Her nose was such as a 
 Grecian sculptor would have chosen 
 for his model ; and her mouth had an 
 expression at once of conscious dignity 
 and inconceivable sweetness. Her 
 beauty was heightened, as well by that 
 confusion which a fond daughter ever 
 feels, when she has to do the honour of 
 her father's table before an illustri-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 101 
 
 ous guest, as by a tone of melan- 
 choly, which was perhaps natural to 
 it, and a twinge of disappointment, 
 which had been imparted on the pre* 
 sent occasion. 
 
 Ishbel Mackay was of shorter sta- 
 ture and fairer complexion ; and her 
 light-blue eyes, plump and blooming 
 cheeks, and smiling lips, shewed that 
 her heart was unchained by sentiment, 
 and her peace unruffled by care. In 
 air and in dress, she was much gayer 
 than her companion, but to the eye 
 of discernment, she was not half so 
 attractive. 
 
 At the entrance of the ladies, the 
 whole company rose from their seats ; 
 and their presence seemed for a mo- 
 ment to have chased the moody pride
 
 102 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 and the man-contemning sneer from 
 the face of the stranger. They were 
 introduced to him, the one as the 
 daughter, and the other as the niece, of 
 his entertainer ; and the seating of one 
 of them on his right hand and the other 
 on'Jhis left, acted upon him with a pow- 
 er far beyond either the courtesy of 
 Glen more, the communicativeness of 
 Castlecreaghy, or the abundance which 
 awaited him, after the hazard and hun- 
 ger of a night on the mountains. 
 
 For a time he seemed to strive with 
 himself; but beauty had a control 
 over him which he could not quell, and 
 perhaps did not altogether comprehend ; 
 and so, in as far as his situation in 
 which he was placed, and his external 
 haughtiness allowed, he was the devoted
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 103 
 
 slave of the two specimens before him. 
 But although his external and volun- 
 tary attentions were pretty equally 
 shared by both, it was not so with those 
 attentions, which, having their original 
 and permanent seat in the heart, come 
 not for a time abroad, so as to act upon 
 the tongue or the hands. To both 
 the ladies he devoted an equal portion 
 of his conversation, and to both of them 
 he offered an equal quantity of all the 
 dainties within his reach ; but his eye 
 told that it wished to enter into a con- 
 versation with the daughter of the- 
 Chief, in which her cousin was not in 
 the mean time to be a sharer. But even 
 his eagle glance could discover in the 
 eye or on the features of Flora, no indi- 
 cation of a wish to enter into that con-
 
 104 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 versation. The former, generally bent 
 downwards in native modesty, was oc- 
 casionally raised in perfect tranquillity, 
 except from a lurking perturbation 
 which had lasted longer than a day ; 
 and though the latter glowed with a 
 bl ush every ti me they were looked upon , 
 that blush was an omen against, rather 
 than in favour of, his scrutiny. 
 
 Still the stranger was not a man who 
 could be looked upon with indifference. 
 The antique simplicity of his costume, 
 and its novelty and peculiarity, the per- 
 fect symmetry of his features, the great 
 eloquence of his words, the greater elo- 
 quence of his looks, the high and com- 
 prehensive, and, as it seemed at times, su- 
 perhuman mind which animated him, 
 and even the trace of languor from
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 105 
 
 the fatigue of the night, with which he 
 struggled, — all tended to make him an 
 object of the most intense interest. 
 That interest was heightened by the vi- 
 sible curiosity of all present, to ascer- 
 tain who and what he was ; but, as the 
 hospitality of the house forbade any 
 question, or even hint, upon these sub- 
 jects, while a single right that could 
 conduce to the removal of hunger and 
 fatigue, was unpaid, no allusion what- 
 ever was made to the subject. 
 
 He became the sole object of atten- 
 tion ; and the side-long glances which 
 he darted towards Flora, were repaid 
 back upon himself by her cousin. The 
 only person in the company who 
 seemed not quite at his ease, was Cas- 
 tlecreaghy, whose recital had been cut 
 V 3
 
 106 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 off at the very point, where, in his opi- 
 nion, it was of the very first impor- 
 tance 5 and, under the rose, he would 
 have seen both the Sassenach and the 
 ladies far enough ; the former, because 
 he had not sought a renewal of the im- 
 portant history, and the latter, because 
 they had drawn the attention of the 
 stranger from the recital of the heroic 
 deeds of men, to the mere appearance 
 of women. He even wished to divert 
 their attention to other matters, in 
 order that that of the stranger might 
 be left open for a renewal of his attack ; 
 but he was disappointed, and relapsed 
 into a sullen silence, except when it was 
 broken by a remark to one or other of 
 the clansmen upon the important 
 achievements of their race.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 107 
 
 Breakfast was concluded ; and the 
 stranger, after a most courteous invita- 
 tion to rest for the day, and an assurance 
 that such humble fare as the Castle 
 could afford, would be waiting him at 
 a time of the evening, later by two 
 hours than the ordinary period of 
 dinner, he was conducted to the best 
 chamber by the Chief, and consigned 
 to the care of his valet and his repose.
 
 108 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 Whence bis name 
 
 And lineage long, it suits me not to say j 
 Suffice it, that perchance they were of fame, 
 And had been glorious in another day. 
 
 CHILDE HAROLD. 
 
 No sooner had the great stranger 
 been escorted to his chamber by the 
 chief, and his train showed to their 
 resting-places by the renowned Allan 
 Glass, the only member of the establish- 
 ment who could favour them with a 
 single word of which they could at all 
 guess the meaning, than the clansmen 
 sallied forth to reconnoitre the horses, 
 the furnishings, and the baggage. It 
 was instantly pronounced by Castle-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 109 
 
 creaghy, that the horse rode by the 
 stranger, beat that which, while he 
 attended College at Aberdeen, gained, 
 upon the links or downs near that 
 city, the duke of Gordon's prize of forty 
 pounds Scots (3/. 6s. Sd. sterling), 
 though that was a seven years' talk, 
 and a seven years' wonder, throughout 
 the northern counties ; and the chief 
 himself admitted that no charger of 
 finer appearance was to be found in the 
 train even of le grand Monarque 
 himself. 
 
 " She's King George hersel, and 
 naebody doots it," said one of the 
 serfs, pointing to the coronet upon the 
 holsters, and comparing it with the 
 stamp upon a piece of money which
 
 110 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 one of the lacqueys had awarded for 
 his zeal in the service of the Castle. 
 
 11 Try her wP the sign o' the cross, " 
 said Rory, looking to the money; "they 
 say the deiPs siller wunna stand that f* 
 but the half-crown went through the 
 ordeal, without the least sign of black- 
 ening ; and Glenmore, having feasted 
 his own eyes, and permitted his clans- 
 men to feast theirs, gave orders for a 
 renewal of the banquet. 
 
 Immediately, gun and dog, spear and 
 drag-net, were summoned to go a-cam- 
 paigning by field and by flood, and, 
 for the honour of the roof-tree of Glen- 
 more, an abundant supply was brought 
 into the Castle in good time to be 
 dressed for dinner. To prepare for
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. Ill 
 
 this general levy upon the ferce natures, 
 the clansmen of Glenmore required no 
 sleep ; for, in times of emergency, the 
 mountain dew was to them not only 
 food and clothing, but also repose ; 
 and that which has thrown many a 
 lowlander and sassenach off his legs, 
 only set them the more firmly upon 
 theirs. 
 
 It had produced nearly the same ef- 
 fect upon the stranger's lowest servant, 
 — a sort of half Briton, half foreigner, 
 —who, during the march, took charge 
 of the heavy baggage ; and hardly were 
 the hunters and fishers gone, when he 
 threw the whole court into a state, if 
 not of hostility, at least of uproar. In 
 his cups he had offered some indignity 
 toward one of the Janets of the clan,
 
 112 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 which was resented by a Highlander, 
 who held her mountain charms in 
 great esteem. The semi-sassenach 
 called Donald, a " breech less High- 
 land rascal ;" and Donald laid his 
 hand upon his dirk, swearing that he 
 would " spit her like a plover." And 
 the first clamour was en creased by an 
 attempt, on the part of the other clans- 
 men, to prevent the execution of this 
 summary and Celtic justice. 
 
 That clamour brought down another 
 of the stranger's attendants, who, in 
 language as English as he could make 
 it, asked who had dared to draw a 
 weapon against one of my Lord's men. 
 A single combat was demanded on the 
 part of the demi-Briton ; who, pul- 
 ling off his coat, put himself in that
 
 THE HIGHLAxNDERS. 113 
 
 attitude of defence, which is peculiar 
 to a species of duelling, called manly in 
 England, and blackguard every where 
 else over the world . But, though the ser- 
 vant mustered all the legs and arms 
 he possessed in battle array, and sound- 
 ed the onset by swearing that he would 
 " serve out" his opponent ; yet Do- 
 nald, who stood hesitating between 
 the dirk as the weapon of a " shen- 
 tleman," and the toe of his brogue as 
 the fit chastiser of an underling, ap- 
 peared the most likely to gain the day, 
 and doubtless would have gained it, 
 but that another antagonist laid the 
 enemy flat, ere Donald's brogue could 
 reach him. The whisky, which had 
 raised the courage of the man, also 
 contrived not only to lay that, but also
 
 114 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 to lay himself fairly upon his back, in 
 the stupor of intoxication. 
 
 Glenmore, who had heard the cla- 
 mour, came into the court enquiring 
 what was the matter. 
 
 " Dat sauvage there has put de in- 
 sult upon one of Milor's men, vich 
 I vill not suffer from any sans-culotte 
 in de land of de barbaritie." 
 
 The man did not at first perceive 
 that he spoke to the master of the Cas- 
 tle ; and though the discovery was fol- 
 lowed by fifty bows, and as many apo- 
 logies, these did not altogether satisfy 
 the Chieftain, who had, in the mean- 
 time, learned that the primary cause of 
 the disturbance, was an insult offered 
 to a female domestic, by the menial 
 who now lay slain of the mountain
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. H5 
 
 dew. " Who is your Lord ?" said he. 
 " Milor Gerald de Brook, veri much 
 at votre service," said the man, bow- 
 ing again, and promising that his fel- 
 low-servant should make " one grand 
 apologie to madame, as soon as he 
 came out of de liquors." At the same 
 time he begged that no notice might 
 be taken of the matter to his Lordship, 
 who was so "verie particulate," that 
 he would without fail discharge the 
 servant. Glenmore Castle was not 
 a place at which resentment was har- 
 boured either for high or for low, and 
 so the request of the apologist was 
 granted ere it was asked ; but the 
 Chieftain could not help hinting, that 
 there was some impropriety in servants
 
 116 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 thus making a noise, which might 
 awaken their master when he had so 
 much need of rest. He went softly to- 
 ward the apartment of his guest, to as- 
 ascertain whether this had been the 
 case. 
 
 Lord Gerald had been awakened, 
 but not by the noise of the servants. 
 To him, sleep, like man, seemed an in- 
 convenience, — a thing, which, though 
 not wholly avoidable, was yet to be 
 indulged in as little as possible. He 
 had slept one short hour. He had 
 heard the noise, but his haughty mind, 
 and the object with which it was now 
 occupied, prevented him from taking 
 any notice of it. Glenmore opened 
 the door of his chamber very softly ;
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 117 
 
 but, upon perceiving that he was 
 already dressed, and busily occupied 
 at his writing-desk, the Chief apolo- 
 gised as if for a mistake, and withdrew, 
 in order that himself, his household, 
 and his entertainment, might give a fit 
 reception to Lord Gerald at the 
 appointed hour of dinner. Time waits 
 for no man, and least of all for the 
 busy ; and so it soon brought round 
 the hour at which this great personage 
 was again to meet the Highland family. 
 Lord Gerald's personal habits were 
 those of one who neglects dress, but, 
 on the present occasion, he had, either 
 by design or by accident, been a little 
 more attentive to the graces of appear- 
 ance and decoration than was customary 
 with him. His wish to please was
 
 118 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 evident ; and he wore a suavity of man- 
 ner, which his hearing on his arrival, 
 and even the lines of his countenance, 
 showed to be somewhat put on ; but in 
 spite of those contradictions, of which 
 the warfare could not be altogether 
 concealed, his manner was soft, gentle 
 and insinuating, and his language 
 humble and silvery to such a degree, 
 that the menials of the family began 
 now to rank him among the inhabi- 
 tants of an end of creation the very 
 opposite of that which they had allotted 
 him at the beginning ; and even his 
 own servants could not help expres- 
 sing, by their looks, a little surprise 
 at his unusual deportment. He was 
 again seated between the two young 
 ladies, and though his marked prefer-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 119 
 
 ence of Flora over her cousin could not 
 be concealed, yet still there was a wish 
 to attract both in all he looked, all he 
 said, all he did, and apparently all he 
 meant. 
 
 In the course of the dinner, the spe- 
 cific object for which the festivities had 
 on the preceding day been begun, could 
 not keep itself entirely out of the notice 
 of the clansmen. The favourite of their 
 Chief — the hope of their clan — was 
 nearer their hearts than ten Lord Ge- 
 ralds de Brook, and forty black Arabian 
 horses, with all the et cceteras of the 
 train which had occasioned them so 
 many conjectures ; and so they could 
 not help frequently mentioning the 
 name of Strathantin. Thev did this 
 first in whispers at the lower end of
 
 120 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the table ; but as the joys of the feast 
 began to operate upon their hearts and 
 tongues, it became louder, and ascend- 
 ed higher; and the cloth had not been 
 long removed, before a bumper was 
 craved to Strathantin's health. 
 
 Lord Gerald's ear caught the sound 
 with an expression different from that 
 of mere curiosity ; and, turning to the 
 Chief, he asked who might be that 
 happy man who dwelt so much upon 
 the hearts of the great Clan-More ? 
 
 " Happy, indeed !" exclaimed Castle- 
 creaghy, and was about to reveal at 
 once the story of Strathantin, but Glen- 
 more darted towards him the look of a 
 Chief's injunction, which, as a vassal, 
 though a favourite one, he durst not 
 break. It was, however, partly re-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 121 
 
 vealed in another quarter, and to a 
 sense of his Lordship, which was in the 
 mean time to the full as much on the 
 alert. A deep blush played across the 
 face of Flora, which for a moment 
 ruffled all the placidity of his Lord- 
 ship ; but the ruffling, and she whose 
 emotion had occasioned it, were gone 
 in an instant. — Lord Gerald resumed 
 his prepossessing expression of coun- 
 tenance, and Flora retired, leaning 
 upon the arm of her cousin. 
 
 As soon as the ladies had withdrawn, 
 the health of the titled stranger was 
 repeated in a full bumper by all pre- 
 sent, and accompanied by that sort of 
 look from the clansmen, which told his 
 Lordship that they would be glad to 
 know something more of him than the 
 
 VOL. I. G
 
 122 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 mere name which they had learned by 
 accident, and almost by stealth. As 
 the communicating of this information 
 suited the secret purpose of his Lord- 
 ship himself, he was not slow in grati- 
 fying them. Having previously thanked 
 his host again and again for his hospi- 
 tality, and the clan for their attention ; 
 praised their warm-heartedness, their 
 loyalty, and all those qualities for which 
 they most value themselves, and having 
 proved his fondness for the Highlands, 
 by calling for a bumper to the tartan, 
 in its own native nectar, he repeated 
 his name, told them his rank, and 
 explained the object of his visit to 
 the land of the North. He was an 
 admirer of lofty mountains, and lofty 
 minds, — loved the warm shelter of the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 123 
 
 Highland glens, and yet warmer shelter 
 of Highland hospitality, — sick of the 
 heartless trifling of great cities, where 
 even Lords have no kinsmen and no 
 clan, he was proud to be in a country 
 where a family extended over a circum- 
 ference of many miles, and comprised 
 many thousand children. As for him- 
 self, he had, during the life of his mo- 
 ther, been a spoiled child ; and though 
 the simple and martial attire, and the 
 single attendant of the Highlander, 
 would be far more congenial to him 
 than the train of idle lacqueys, and the 
 lumber of state, which custom forced 
 upon him, yet he could not at once 
 break away from these follies of art, 
 and enjoy the manly and heart-pleasing 
 simplicities of nature. " I have these 
 
 G 2
 
 124 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 fellows, collected from different nations, 
 about me," said he, " but they are to 
 me no better than so many mere uten- 
 sils, and I speak not to them except 
 when 1 command." 
 
 The Highlanders stared ; and each 
 of the servants in the room glanced 
 their eye toward the Chief, to perceive 
 if there was in him any thing in unison 
 with the haughtiness of his guest ; 
 but Glenmore, to convince them that 
 he was still their father as well as their 
 master, turning to Allan Glass, said in 
 
 Gaelic, " Allan, my cousin, bring 
 
 » 
 me our family cup ; your father and my 
 
 father have emptied it together in times 
 
 of trouble ; may your son and my son 
 
 empty it together in times of peace." 
 
 The cup was brought, tasted by the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS, 125 
 
 Chieftain, handed to the stranger, and 
 the pledge went through every clansman 
 in the room down to the lowest menial. 
 Lord Gerald looked arrogant in the 
 extreme, and turned his eye ashamed 
 from the reality of that Highland hos- 
 pitality of which he had so recently 
 praised the name ; but, ere this was 
 perceived, he mastered his features, 
 drilled them into a smile, and went on 
 to compliment, in very powerful and 
 touching strains, the picturesque 
 scenery of the Highlands, and the ro- 
 mantic attachment of the Highlanders 
 to their country and to each other. 
 Glenmore said a thousand civil things 
 in return, and these led to the pro- 
 posal of a bumper to Lord Gerald de 
 Brookes "fire-side and clan." His 
 Lordship refused the honour.
 
 126 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 " I have," said he, " no fire-side, in 
 your sense of the term : clan I have 
 none, and, except as I find them id 
 these mountains, I have no friend. It 
 is true I have relatives, because no 
 man can come into the world without 
 them ; it is also true I have acquaint- 
 ances, because no man can help being 
 at times fastened on by fools ; and 
 it is true I have followers, for a man, 
 at whom fortune throws a title, never 
 fails to have abundance of sycophants 
 thrown along with it. I may say, with 
 Childe Harold,— 
 
 " And none did love him — tho' to hall and bower, 
 He gathered followers from far and near ; 
 
 He knew them flatterers of the festal hour, 
 The heartless parasites of present cheer." 
 
 " Instead, therefore, of my fire-side and 
 clan, which are really unknown to
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 127 
 
 myself, aud of those with whom I 
 associate, who are really unworthy the 
 notice of hearts, possessing so much 
 honour as Glenmore and his friends, I 
 would beg leave to substitute what is 
 worthy of all attention — a bumper to 
 the all elegant, accomplished, and en- 
 chanting Flora." 
 
 This was of course accepted : the 
 chief felt nattered, the clan felt honour- 
 ed, and as for Castlecreaghy, he felt 
 elevated not only in his mind, but in 
 his person, for he got upon his legs 
 and began a regular set speech, calling 
 Flora, " the snow-drop of innocence — 
 the violet of retiring modesty — the 
 rose of all roses — the flower of all the 
 Highlands," till his imagination and
 
 128 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 his words fairly broke down under the 
 influence of his feelings. 
 
 " I admire the ardour of your friend- 
 ship and your eloquence in expressing 
 it," said Lord Gerald, giving his hand 
 to Castlecreaghy ; but there lurked a 
 bitter sneer in his curling lip as he 
 spoke ; at the same time he reverted to 
 the subject of Strathantin, in which he 
 appeared to take an incomprehensible 
 interest: but his gratification was 
 again disappointed, by an announce- 
 ment, that his favourite black charger 
 was indisposed, very seriously indeed. 
 
 " Let him be shot," said Lord 
 Gerald, filling up his glass with non- 
 chalance, as his servant retired with a 
 look of perfect obedience ; " and now,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 129 
 
 if you please, we will drink to the me- 
 mory of — if not of my relation, at least 
 one of my best friends/' The High- 
 landers were astonished, first at the 
 stern and summary command which 
 his Lordship had given for the death 
 of an animal, which had in the 
 morning been the object of so much 
 praise ; and, secondly,atthe sacrilegious 
 proposal of bestowing upon a horse, 
 however fine, an honour which they 
 reserve for great men. 
 
 Perceiving that the clansmen, in 
 their turn, hung fire, he concluded, and 
 concluded rightly, that both his pur- 
 pose and his proposal had given 
 offence, and, as offence was not his cue, 
 
 he set himself tO the WOrk of explain- 
 er 8
 
 130 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 ing it away, which, with his powers, 
 and the warm-hearted credulity of his 
 hearers, was an easy matter. 
 
 " Why, as to the horse," said he, 
 " he has been indisposed for some time. 
 I saw that his malady was gaining on 
 him ; and I would not that so noble an 
 animal should suffer pain. It is suffi- 
 cient that man add to his native suffer- 
 ings the artificial sufferings of the 
 doctor, and pray for life even at the 
 expense of the paleness and pain of 
 a sick-bed. That may be a fit retri- 
 bution for his sins; but, as a horse 
 knows no sin, he should feel no sor- 
 row. He should die without languish- 
 ing, just as your countrymen and 
 kinsmen have fallen in battle, and I
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 131 
 
 may add, as he serves man and they 
 man's masters, it is a good riddance 
 to both." 
 
 The flattering- touch to the national 
 pride, which had regained the favour 
 of the Highlanders, was completely 
 neutralised by the disloyalty couched 
 under the expression which followed ; 
 and so Lord Gerald gained, upon the 
 whole, but little by his explanation. 
 Nor did the execution of his command 
 gain him more renown in the court, 
 than the issuing of it did in the Cas- 
 tle, though in both places an idea of 
 haughty and ungovernable power was 
 inculcated. As the noble animal, 
 whose disease was indeed incurable, 
 was led forth to execution, a murmur 
 of horror ran through the serfs of
 
 132 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Glenmore; and old Rory, who was 
 first in all cases of fear or foresight, 
 instantly pronounced that the black 
 meeting was prepared for the Chief, 
 the red fire for his roof, and that ere 
 morning the bodach glas would rap 
 rudely at the Castle gate, and give 
 them all an invitation to the narrow 
 house. 
 
 After this affair of the horse, Glen- 
 more's guests slipped off one by one ; 
 — even Castlecreaghy himself, casting 
 a last look at the wine, as much as to 
 say, " were it not for this stranger, I 
 should have another trial with you, for 
 overcoming me last night/' made his 
 retreat ; aud Lord Gerald was left tete 
 d tete with his hospitable landlord. 
 
 The generous heart of the latter
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 133 
 
 conspired with the wine, and the ha- 
 bits of his countrymen, to make him 
 disclose to his guest all the secrets of 
 his bosom, and to make him reveal to 
 him all the connections, concerns and 
 prospects of his family. When he 
 came to that point which touched upon 
 the approaching return of Strathantin, 
 and his union with Flora, the internal 
 feelings of Lord Gerald, fairly over- 
 came the external expression. His 
 countenance first turned pale as ashes, 
 then it curled into a sneering purpose, 
 as much as to say, Ci I have it ;'V anon 
 the storm was over — his brow resumed 
 its tranquillity — his eye its mildness, 
 and, replenishing his glass, and grasp- 
 ing the hand of Glenmore, he said, — 
 " Hospitable entertainer of an un-
 
 134 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 worthy guest, (for what is the empty 
 title bestowed by a King, to the high 
 honour of being the father of a people ?) 
 I rejoice at the return of prosperity to 
 a house which has suffered so much, 
 so nobly and yet so undeservedly." 
 
 Glenmore was not sure about the 
 idea of slighting an honour bestowed 
 by a King, but still the other part of 
 the sentence was so flattering, and so 
 cordial, that he replied, "Lord Ge- 
 rald, I hope, I entreat, if I durst say, 
 I command (for you must know that 
 we Chiefs command every body within 
 our territory,) that you remain here 
 until my son, that is to be, return, and 
 our happiness be complete." 
 
 Lord Gerald bowed, but was silent; 
 and Glenmore, naturally enough, tran-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 135 
 
 slating the bow into an acquiescence, 
 proceeded : " Yes, ray Lord, you shall 
 be an eye-witness to all our felicity." 
 
 The cloud was again upon the fea- 
 tures of Lord Gerald ; and he " looked 
 daggers," but the look was transient 
 and un perceived by the Chief. 
 
 " Let us adjourn to the ladies," said 
 Lord Gerald ; " the conversation natu- 
 rally leads us there." Glenmore yielded 
 for once the right of command, but not 
 till after three last glasses had been dis- 
 cussed, in the way of tightening the nas- 
 cent friendship, by a thorough wetting. 
 
 Upon Lord Gerald's entering the 
 room, Flora suddenly changed counte- 
 nance. The feeling was momentary, 
 yet Castlecreaghy perceived it, although 
 the chief did not ; who, bv this time,
 
 136 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 had his vision so much increased, as to 
 see two Floras, two Ishbels, two kins- 
 men, two Lord Geralds, double happi- 
 ness, double prospects of fortune, and 
 almost a double self. To the pointed 
 anii polished attentions of Lord Gerald, 
 Flora was cold, though civil ; but as the 
 crumbs were bestowed upon her cousin, 
 her cheek burned, and her pulse danced 
 with very considerable and very visible 
 joy. The evening- was passed in the 
 recital of long legends by Castlecreaghy , 
 in which as many battle-axes were 
 broken, broad swords drawn, bucks slain 
 and ghosts raised, as would have filled 
 a reasonable county. The Chief was in 
 excellent talking humour, though some- 
 times a little wide of the mark. Lord 
 Gerald was the most polite and playful
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 137 
 
 being in the universe ; and, after he had 
 retired, which was rather at an early 
 hour for him, the family could not re- 
 frain from congratulating one another, 
 that chance had sent them so noble and 
 so engaging a guest. 
 
 Just before they retired to rest, a 
 single rap was given to the outer gate, 
 which echoed through the Castle, like 
 a peal of thunder. 
 
 " The bodach glas!" exclaimed 
 Rory Bain, who had, for that night, 
 taken up his abode in the entrance hall. 
 " I knew it would be this, when the 
 cruel Sassenach Lord would be shoot- 
 ing the bonnie black horse. The ill 
 meeting to him ; there will be sair 
 heads and cauld hearts, afore he leave 
 the Hielands."
 
 138 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 "Peace, you old fool," said Glenmore, 
 whom the noise had brought to the hall; 
 " you are always prophecying some non- 
 sense or other ; and now you cross us 
 with your abominable predictions, at 
 the very threshold of our happiness." 
 
 " A man may fa' at the threshold wha 
 has keepit his feet a' the journey," said 
 Rory ; " and gin the bodach glas will 
 clap at the door, Glenmore hersel canna 
 keep her out." 
 
 " Then I shall let her in," said Glen- 
 more, lifting the latch, (for bolting of 
 doors was no part of the Highland sys- 
 tem, lest some stranger exposed at night 
 on the hill, should be precluded from 
 the shelter of the house.) 
 
 The bodach glas, to which Rory 
 alluded — that mysterious being, who
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 139 
 
 comes to bid men to their last repose, 
 and never makes his appearance till 
 that be near at hand, did not appear ; 
 but the visitor was in appearance, size 
 excepted, as near a counterpart to him 
 as this world could afford. It was 
 black Kennedy of the Cave, with 
 whom Lord Gerald had passed part 
 of a night, and who now delivered a 
 pacquet for his Lordship, which, he 
 said, had been brought to him by he 
 knew not whom, and departed, refusing 
 the wonted guerdon of a hornofwhiskey. 
 The gate was closed ; the family re- 
 tired, and the bodach glas did not 
 renew his visit.
 
 140 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 " O ride with the tidings to the Lady Lindesay's bower, 
 And tell her to sigh till her heart it be sore ; 
 Apd tell her to weep till her days shall be o'er, 
 For a tale of such woe she ne'er heard of before." 
 
 BALIAD OF LORD LINDESAY. 
 
 The morning had not. been far gone, 
 when a circumstance was revealed to 
 the Glenmore family, which would 
 have gone far to confirm a less credu- 
 lous people in the belief of old Rory's 
 vision of the bodachglas. Thepacquet, 
 which Kennedy had brought, was car- 
 ried to Lord Gerald's apartment as soon 
 as his Lordship was astir, and he was, 
 as we have said, no lingerer in bed. It
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 141 
 
 had not been long with him, ere he sent 
 notice to Glen more, that he felt too 
 much indisposed for waiting upon his 
 worthy entertainer, but would he happy 
 if the Chief would immediately honour 
 him with his presence, adding, that 
 he had something to communicate 
 which was of the deepest importance. 
 Glenmore obeyed the summons ; 
 and, upon entering the room, he found 
 Lord Gerald perusing the last line of a 
 letter which seemed to give him great 
 mental affliction ; and which, upon 
 Glenmore's entrance, he crushed to- 
 gether and put in his pocket. Glen- 
 more, struck with his disturbed appear - 
 ance> stept up to him, and taking him 
 by die hand, said, •■ My Lord, do not 
 afflict yourself over-much : We are all
 
 142 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 born to sorrows, and bound to alleviate 
 them ; and whatever comfort the Castle 
 of Glen more can afford, is at your 
 command. " 
 
 " Keep your philosophy to yourself, 
 my gallant Chief," said Lord Gerald ; 
 " it is likely now to be your only con- 
 solation, and I would not deprive you 
 of that." 
 
 " What !" said Glenmore, unable 
 to finish the sentence, but his looks 
 spoke a volume. 
 
 " Enough to drain your patience and 
 my pity to the very dregs," replied 
 Lord Gerald. " You would perceive 
 that when the name of Strathantin was 
 mentioned, I was eager to ascertain 
 your interest in him ; and you may 
 have perceived the agitation of my
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 143 
 
 mind when you communicated to me 
 the intended alliance between him and 
 your matchless daughter." 
 
 Glenmore again attempted to inter- 
 polate a question ; but again he stopped 
 at the word " what." 
 
 " Be calm," said Lord Gerald ; — 
 " painful as it is to recite, and more 
 painful as it must be to hear, the com- 
 munication is imperious. When you an- 
 nounced to me this anticipated happy 
 event, I had my fears that there was a 
 bar in the way more fatal than mortal 
 hands could remove, and those fears 
 are now confirmed by a pacquet which 
 I received this morning. 
 
 This prefatory hesitation, which 
 might have borne the construction of 
 fitting Glenmore for the main recital,
 
 144 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 only served to stretch his feelings upon 
 that most cruel of all racks — suspense. 
 Floundering among the thousand half- 
 formed ideas which the uncommu- 
 nicated intelligence had crowded into 
 his mind, he stumbled upon one, and 
 put the question, " Is he false ?" 
 
 " Be patient and we shall arrive at 
 the result," replied his Lordship, still 
 sporting with the outworks of the 
 communication. " Patience, my dear 
 Guardian, (for in the mean time I will 
 call you that), — you will need patience, 
 and you will need fortitude. Disap- 
 pointment is the lot of man — dire dis- 
 appointment and deep disgust have 
 been mine ; therefore, whatever it may 
 be mine to tell you, think not that you 
 alone are wretched ; nay, rather hope —
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 145 
 
 believe, that relief and comfort may in 
 the end spring from the source, whence 
 thev are in the mean time the least 
 expected. But to proceed, and the 
 way to the end of my sad tale is but 
 short, — he in whom the hearts of your 
 clansmen are bound up — he in whom 
 the fondest hopes of your heart are 
 centred — he to whom the hand of your 
 lovely daughter was, and, no doubt, 
 in your fond expectation so soon to 
 
 be given, is no — is not." Here 
 
 he paused — " He is not for the bower 
 or the bridal chamber — he is for obli- 
 vion and the worms. " 
 
 These were fearful words for the ear 
 of a father. He slapped both his hands 
 on his forehead, as if rousing his mind 
 to the very bent of its strength. " Fate, 
 
 VOL. I. H
 
 146 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 do what thou wilt now !" said he, and 
 in a moment continued his enquiry, in 
 a voice which would have been manly, 
 had feeling allowed, and womanly, had 
 not his manhood been great. " Con- 
 tinue your narrative, my Lord," said 
 he ; " it cannot touch me now. Glen- 
 more has seen and suffered much, and 
 what he has yet to see and suffer he 
 cannot tell ; but he has a tough heart, 
 else it had been broken ere now ; and 
 as your Lordship put it to the proof 
 at the outset, the details will fall the 
 lighter." 
 
 cc i regret," answered the other, 
 " that it has fallen upon me to tell you 
 this; but the fact is, your secluded 
 situation and unsuspecting heart have 
 held you in a delusion, the breaking
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 147 
 
 of which is medicinal, though, like all 
 medicines, it be bitter. The fact and 
 the circumstances of this young man's 
 death have been before the world for 
 some time. Look at your letters, and 
 you will find the date distant. Next 
 mail would have brought you the same 
 news which I communicate ; and the 
 new fact furnished to me by this morn- 
 ing's pacquet, did not bear upon the 
 truth of this statement, but upon the 
 identity of the person, and that it has 
 placed beyond doubt. Yes, I say the 
 very next pacquet would to a certainty 
 have brought you a circumstantial 
 account of his untimely end." 
 
 " How ? where ? when ?" cried the 
 half-frantic Glenmore. 
 
 " You forget your promise of calm- 
 
 H2
 
 148 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 ness," rejoined his Lordship; " but the 
 narrative must have its way. Pray, 
 have you no recollection of an account 
 which lately appeared in all the news- 
 papers, of a young- Englishman being 
 murdered in the streets of Naples ?" 
 
 " I do recollect the circumstance/' 
 said Glenmore, hope rekindling in his 
 eye ; " but the victim there was an 
 Englishman, and he was said to be 
 killed in a gaming-house brawl ; and 
 young Evan of Strathantin, was not 
 an Englishman, neither would he brawl 
 in a gaming-house." 
 
 " All Britons are Englishmen abroad, 
 and there is gaming in all houses at 
 Naples," replied Lord Gerald. " As 
 to the man, it is but too true, — as to the 
 circumstance, there is a little mistake.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 149 
 
 It was no common gaming transaction, 
 but, I am sorry to say it, one which 
 has blasted the happiness of the first 
 blood in that country : The woman 
 must have been an artful woman ; it 
 could have been no fault of the poor 
 young man." 
 
 The words of the last sentence, and 
 vet more the tone of interrogation in 
 which they were put, cut to the heart 
 of Glenmore like a knife; and in a 
 mixture of agonies, he exclaimed, 
 " Explain, explain." 
 
 " Why, then, since you are calm," 
 said the narrator, obviously sneering 
 at the effect he had produced, — " the 
 fact is one of common occurrence, — a 
 little affair of a Neapolitan Princess. 
 A certain worthy Principessa, the
 
 150 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 adored of a weak and an accommo- 
 dating spouse, spread the ample meshes 
 of her charms, and fairly caught this 
 promising young fly, which you have 
 so fondly cherished as your Evan of 
 Strathantin." [The dawn of anger was 
 on the brow of the Chief, as a storm is 
 in its gloomy cloud.] " The intrigue, 
 though successfully carried on for some 
 time, was at length discovered ; proof 
 was unequivocal, for the Principe as- 
 sailed your Evan in the very bed- 
 chamber of the Principessa ; dragged 
 him into the street, all confused as he 
 was ; and there, in a parpxysm of jea- 
 lousy and rage, stabbed him to the 
 heart !" 
 
 During this communication, Glen- 
 more had stood still and rivetted as a
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 151 
 
 post, his hands were twined around 
 each other, as if each meant to wring 
 its fellow from the wrist ; his foot was 
 beating time as if to music ; and his 
 eye glared dimly on vacuity. At last 
 he started, manned himself, took three 
 strides across the room, and putting 
 on — it was but put on — an air of de- 
 fiance, he said " Well, he met with his 
 desert, — I do not regret him, — perish 
 he — perish his name — perish every 
 one who dishonours his neighbour's 
 couch. " [The dart which Lord Ge- 
 rald had thrown, here recoiled, and 
 struck itself up to the very barb in his 
 own heart ; and it was well that Glen- 
 more was in no mood for observing]. 
 "Yes, let Strathantin's name perish, 
 as mine is lost, and my hope faded,
 
 152 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 for ever. I would weep for no man. 
 I will not be sorry for him — but Flora 
 — poor Flora — how shall we commu- 
 nicate it to her, and how can she bear 
 it when it is communicated !— Your 
 advice here, my good Lord Gerald." 
 
 " My advice," said his lordship, " is, 
 that you should keep this intelligence 
 from your daughter as long as possible ; 
 that you should first communicate it to 
 your most trusty kinsman, in order to 
 relieve your own mind ; and that it 
 should come to her in rumours gradu" 
 ally more and more distinct, preparing 
 her for the event, by making known to 
 her the circumstances which led to the 
 catastrophe, thereby breaking the force 
 of that catastrophe itself; and as, in 
 the mean time, you can have little dis-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 153 
 
 position to come abroad, and as, if 
 you do, the sad truth is too new to sit 
 comfortably upon your memory, you 
 had better take some time for private 
 meditation and mustering your philo- 
 sophy. I, in the mean time, will im- 
 pute the message I sent you, to melan- 
 choly news of some relation of my own, 
 and I will ascribe your absence to 
 slight indisposition,— say, for instance, 
 a twinge of the gout, though that be 
 but a stranger in your active solitudes/* 
 
 " Any thing, my dear Lord/' replied 
 the chief; " any thing, and I am sure 
 your penetration and kind heart .will 
 not think it labour to smooth, for my 
 poor daughter, the approach to this 
 dismal pitfall of woe." 
 
 "You may depend on that," said 
 h 3
 
 154 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 his lordship, offering his arm, and 
 leading the chief to his apartment, where 
 he threw himself on a couch, and, as 
 soon as Lord Gerald had gone, felt, to 
 his bitter experience, that what he suf- 
 fered was no slight twinge of indispo- 
 sition. 
 
 Lord Gerald, having presented the 
 cup of bitterness to the lips of Glen- 
 more, and made him quaff it to the 
 very bottom, left him to its effects, and 
 sallied out, with a face expressing ex- 
 ultation wrapt in woe, to find Flora and 
 her cousin. He saw them in the gar- 
 den. Their conversation was of him- 
 self. He listened and heard distinctly 
 the terms of high admiration which 
 were bestowed on him by the latter. 
 Flora did not contradict her cousin ;
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 155 
 
 but she seemed more anxious to know 
 why the stranger had sent her father so 
 pressing an invitation, and why they 
 had been so long together, than to 
 profit by that muster of his perfec- 
 tions which Isabella was piling moun- 
 tain-high. 
 
 When he judged the moment most 
 fit, he made his approach, with his coun- 
 tenance hung in sackcloth for the occa- 
 sion. 
 
 Flora bowed and blushed ; " You 
 have been long with my father, Lord 
 Gerald; you have not brought him 
 with you ; and you look vexed. No- 
 thing serious to him — to any body, I 
 hope ?" 
 
 Lord Gerald gave no direct reply ;
 
 15(3 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 but hinted that her father was slightly 
 indisposed, and that, as for himself, 
 though he had received news, which 
 were rather distressing, it was what man 
 must submit to, and bear alone, unless 
 when lovely woman consented to bear 
 it with him ; and then, by bearing only 
 a little part, she could turn the remain- 
 ing woe into joy." 
 
 Isabella could not help pulling her 
 cousin by the arm, and whispering that 
 this was very fine ; but Flora was more 
 anxious to discharge her duty to her 
 father, whatever might be his affliction, 
 than to admire the most flattering speech 
 that the tongue even of a Lord Gerald 
 could frame. He saw this, and it 
 mortified him not a little ; but he bore
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS 157 
 
 it Avith dignified though affected pla- 
 cidity. 
 
 Before she went, she turned and put 
 a paper into his hand, saying, " Your 
 Lordship must have dropped this letter ; 
 I return it to you, sorry that I had not 
 an earlier opportunity of doing so ; but 
 I hope your politeness will pardon this 
 seeming neglect." A strong emphasis 
 being laid on the word " seeming," it 
 produced a momentary and rather puz- 
 zling pause on the part of his Lordship, 
 During that pause, he framed his stu- 
 died and courtly reply. " You can 
 err in nothing. You may be trusted 
 even to trifles. I thank you for the 
 care you have taken of this letter, which 
 regards my private affairs, though it is 
 now of less importance to me than when
 
 158 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 it was written. Then it had a deep in- 
 terest ; but the hope of that interest has 
 been extinguished by information com- 
 municated to me by your worthy and 
 honourable father." 
 
 Flora took her leave silently, but 
 heightened in grace from the agitation 
 into which she had been thrown by 
 the mention of her father's indisposition, 
 which, however slight, was to her a 
 subject of the deepest interest — at least 
 the deepest of which she could give any 
 external indication. 
 
 Lord Gerald looked after her with a 
 twinge of severity, which went off as he 
 turned his glance upon Isabella. That 
 glance touched her vanity, if it went 
 no deeper. The practised nobleman 
 saw the emotion with triumph ; but he
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 159 
 
 was too practised for displaying that 
 triumph. He talked of indifferent 
 matters — of the morning — the weather 
 —the mountains-— the heart of woman 
 — and upon each he suited his words, 
 as nearly as he could judge, (and that 
 was very nearly,) to the feeling and 
 fancy of his hearer. The heart of 
 man, he said, was like a rock, solid and 
 sublime, yet hard to be moved ; but he 
 knew well that the heart of woman, 
 whether she be an inhabitant of the black 
 mountain or the fertile plain, of the 
 rugged cliff or the level shore, of the 
 dingy city, or the delightful solitude, is 
 of no rocky substance ; and he felt con- 
 vinced, that that of Isabella was suscepti- 
 ble even to weakness, and with that 
 weakness he resolved farther to sport.
 
 160 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 The round of compliments which he 
 paid to the unsuspecting Isabella, plant- 
 ed in her bosom a tree of vanity, which 
 soon shooting up to more than ordinary 
 height, bore the accustomed fruits of 
 passion on the one side, and jealousy on 
 the other. Her own admiration of Lord 
 Gerald de Brook, produced by the first 
 of these, was, by the second, transferred 
 to her cousin, from whom her affections 
 were in an instant alienated. She even 
 went the length of wishing Glenmore 
 a long, though not a serious illness, in 
 order that Flora might be out of the 
 way ; and she prayed for a fire or a mur- 
 rain among the sheep of Castlecreaghy, so 
 that her friends, finding occupation 
 elsewhere, might leave her to complete 
 the conquest of his Lordship in her own
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 161 
 
 way. He having made short work in 
 the gaining of her affections, made as 
 short work of their morning pro- 
 menade.
 
 162 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 '* Miseries, like men, are most easily lost in a 
 crowd." 
 
 THE PAR60N OF CULT. 
 
 Although it was impossible long to 
 conceal from Flora the tidings of Stra- 
 thantin's death, yet her father, upon 
 second consideration, would not con- 
 sent to usher it in with the preparation 
 which Lord Gerald had suggested ; 
 for though he himself felt shocked at 
 the idea of his intended son-in-law's 
 depravity, yet he saw no reason either 
 for tarnishing the honour of a respect- 
 able clan, or lacerating the heart of a
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 163 
 
 favourite child, bv a recital of that 
 which could now do no good. He 
 therefore requested of Lord Gerald to 
 allow the vice, or, as his Lordship was 
 pleased to term it, the folly of Evan to 
 be buried with him in the grave ; and, 
 to substitute accidental death by the 
 hand of a bravo, for retribution at the 
 hand of a husband, however worthless 
 the wife. He gave directions for 
 smoothing the avenue, by which the 
 sad event was to find its way to his 
 daughter's breast. But in spite of all 
 the solicitude of a father, — in spite of 
 the fondling of her relatives, and the 
 flattery of her clan, — in spite of the 
 glowing speeches of Lord Gerald de 
 Brook, — and haply not in spite of the 
 drop of gall, which that personage
 
 164 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 contrived to squeeze into his cup of con- 
 solation, — the shock was still too much 
 for poor Flora, and its effect was, after 
 a brief struggle between her feelings 
 as a woman, and her firmness as a 
 Chiefs daughter, to throw her on a bed 
 of sickness, exhausted, dejected, un- 
 hinged, and brought to the very brink 
 of the grave. In this state she lay for 
 a considerable time, — her looks wild 
 and varying, — her speech incoherent, 
 — her face alternately pale as snow, and 
 flushed with a hectic, rivalling, in its in- 
 tensity, the utmost bloom of youth. 
 Her malady was a malady of the heart ; 
 and the blood, retreating to strengthen 
 that citadel, left her brain, her organs 
 of sense, and her limbs wild, without 
 power, without government, and, at in-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 165 
 
 tervals, without strength. True, her 
 bosom was a stranger to even the idea 
 of guilt, but it was not on that account 
 the less a stranger to peace. Sleep 
 shunned her eye-lids ; repose was no 
 where to be found ; her imagination 
 was ever wandering and ever wakeful ; 
 the image of her departed lover dogged 
 it at every step, and if in one fleeting 
 moment an infant hope was born, its 
 swathing band was a sepulchral man- 
 tle, and the grave received it ere it yet 
 looked on the light. Her state was, 
 in short, such as some may feel, but 
 none can describe, — the hopes, the 
 joys, the anticipations, which one little 
 " he is dead," had whelmed in utter 
 and irreversable oblivion, were with 
 her things not of experience but of
 
 166 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the very phantasy of the imagination ; 
 and as is the case with some saint, 
 dreaming of the unseen joys of the 
 celestial world, they were magnified 
 beyond all powers of utterance. In 
 proportion to the height of the bliss 
 which had been swept away, was the 
 depth of the misery that remained. 
 There was no escaping the pit : Flora 
 sunk in it, from misery to misery, 
 from woe to woe. The hopes of her 
 father, the happiness of her people, 
 and her own fond joys, nearest the 
 heart though farthest from the tongue, 
 had sped away like thistle-down be- 
 fore the wind of autumn, and her old 
 father, and herself, seemed left alone 
 in cold and in desolation, to be pelted 
 by the storm.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 167 
 
 " The balsam of life," says the pro- 
 verb, " is at the bottom of the pitcher 
 of death ; and the crown of joy lies 
 under the lowest rag of misery ;" but 
 the life is only at the bottom, and the 
 crown only under the lowest rag, and 
 it was not until Flora came to these, — 
 till anguish had wrung every chord of 
 her heart, and racked every faculty of 
 her mind, and till its concomitant dis- 
 ease had nipped every bloom on her 
 countenance, and reft her form of every 
 grace, that the spoilers staid their des- 
 troying hands, and, glutted of their 
 ravage, said to each other, " Hold, it is 
 enough." 
 
 But, as the struggle had been dread- 
 ful, and as the parting of those two 
 fellest of human foes had seemed almost
 
 168 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 fatal, so the cessation of their positive 
 hostility was the signal for a springing 
 up of life, as rapid as it appearedto be un- 
 sought for. It seems to be the lot of man, 
 and also that of woman, that that which 
 we grasp at most eagerly speeds the 
 fastest from our wishing bosoms and our 
 grasping fingers. Many would live; but 
 death only clutches them the faster for 
 the wish : Flora, bating one little 
 silken thread of love which bound her 
 to her father, would have died, but the 
 bony king shut his gates upon her ; — 
 life clasped her in his arms, and 
 brought her back to re-visit the sun 
 and the sky ; the rose of life returned 
 to her cheek — her lip found its lost 
 ruby — the beam of her eye shone out 
 asrain as a star when the cloud has
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 169 
 
 passed ; and, from the violence of a fit, 
 which had been the counterfeit of death, 
 sheawoke, herself again ; and, conscious 
 of what she was doing, a tear of grati- 
 tude from her embracing parent fell 
 upon, and obliterated the hand-writing 
 of despair, ere its last and blackest ink 
 was dry. 
 
 There was now nothing but joy in 
 the Castle of Glenmore, and a Flora is 
 recovering," was repeated by a count- 
 less number of tongues a countless 
 number of times every day. Still 
 those hopes were a little clouded, and 
 that recovery a little impeded, by that 
 calm and settled grief for the first and 
 only object of her affections, which had 
 succeeded to the more feverish parox- 
 ysms of that subduing passion, and 
 
 VOL. I. I
 
 170 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 boding apprehension of that adversity 
 which she dreaded would be the por- 
 tion of the author of her existence. 
 Isabella kept up a semblance of atten- 
 tion ; but, as Flora was now released 
 from her pre-engagement, every charm 
 that re-opened its blossom, and every 
 grace which returned to its native 
 abode, was considered by that doating 
 and jealous girl, as aiming a dagger at 
 the heart of her fondest expectations ; 
 the circumstance of the returned letter 
 was a mystery to her, and the state of 
 Flora's health still precluded the 
 putting of any question which could 
 clear it up ; and much as Isabella liked 
 to be in the company of Lord Gerald, 
 and anxiously as she listened to the 
 compliments which he paid her, she
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 171 
 
 could not venture to question him on 
 any subject, far less upon one where 
 her own fears whispered to her that the 
 truth might be mortifying. 
 
 What, however, gave her the deep- 
 est uneasiness, was, the repeated pro- 
 posal of Lord Gerald to quit Glen more 
 Castle and the Highlands ; " leave the 
 paradise of nature," as he said, and 
 bury himself in the moving sepulchre 
 of the fashionable world, which, at the 
 Court-end of London was as tainted 
 without, and fully as rotten within, as 
 any sepulchre in the world. The Chief 
 uniformly resisted those proposals ; and 
 as his lordship had practised, with no 
 common success, the art of making 
 himself agreeable, (an art in which his 
 attendants displayed hardly less suc- 
 i 2
 
 172 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 cess among the clan's folks,) he had 
 become, as it were, if not a necessary 
 element of the domestic establishment, 
 at least an agreeable adjunct, in allevi- 
 ating its present sufferings and repel- 
 ling the anticipated picture of those 
 which were to come. As he professed 
 to have nothing to do elsewhere, but 
 to be miserable, and acknowledged 
 great happiness where he was, the 
 chief pressed him to continue and afford 
 to a family, which had so much need 
 of them, that consolation and wiling of 
 them from their woes, of which they 
 stood so much in need. He consented 
 to remain for an indefinite time, and 
 his attentions to the convalescent Flora 
 and her blooming kinswoman, tended 
 not a little to avert the sorrows of the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 173 
 
 former, and encrease ihe hopes, not 
 without an occasional embittering of 
 the fears, of the latter. He hunted with 
 the Chief, drank healths with the vi- 
 sitors, escorted the ladies on all their 
 visitings and promenades, read books 
 and recited poetry to them, played on 
 the lute, described the fashions and 
 follies of the beau monde,and, in short, 
 did every thing which was calculated 
 to please, and so nicely did he balance 
 his petits soins between the two, that 
 neither the one nor the other could dis- 
 cern that she was the peculiar object of 
 his esteem. There was this difference, 
 however, that Flora regarded his atten- 
 tions to her cousin as a relief, and the 
 cousin considered his attentions to 
 Flora as a robbery.
 
 174 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 In the midst of this domestic hap- 
 piness, or rather beguiling of domestic 
 misery, old Rory, who had before been 
 perplexed with the actual appearance 
 of the Devil, and annoyed by visions of 
 the bodach glas, was disturbed by a 
 dream. This dream, he, in virtue of 
 his assumed office and prerogative, 
 would needs tell to the Chief. The 
 purport of it was, that the stranger had 
 set fire to the castle, Flora and her 
 cousin were involved in the smoke, 
 and carried off, and a black spirit, of gi- 
 gantic size and unsightly form, hovered 
 over the ruins, portending and commu- 
 nicating death and destruction to the 
 whole Clanmore. Firmly impressed 
 with the speedy fulfilment of this 
 dream, he in the most earnest manner
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 175 
 
 begged of the Chief to get rid of his 
 guest ; but as that would not only have 
 been an infraction of the established 
 laws of Highland hospitality, but a 
 breaking 'of the Chief's own promise, 
 and an abridgement of the pleasures of 
 his family, at a time when they were * 
 but few, the counsel of the dreamer 
 was not only disregarded, but the seal 
 of authority was set upon his lips, lest 
 he should alarm the ignorant and cre- 
 dulous portion of the clan. 
 
 Post day followed post day, and won- 
 der after wonder expired, and still 
 there was not one syllable farther from 
 Naples as to the particulars of Strath- 
 antin's death, nor did the Edinburgh 
 agent of that gentleman give any reply 
 to the anxious enquiries of Glenmore
 
 170 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 as to the fate of the young Chief, or to 
 his hints and inuendos respecting* the 
 disposal of his property. While hope 
 was thus gradually sinking, like a ves- 
 sel which has received one blow on 
 the rock, ruin reared his front, like a 
 precipice against which that vessel was 
 to be broken to shivers. The only 
 hope of Glenmore had been the union 
 of his family with that of Strathantin, 
 and that seemed now for ever lost. 
 
 One morning, after an absence of 
 several days, Castlecreaghy called at an 
 earlier hour, and with a more business- 
 weeded face than was usual. He craved 
 a private audience with the Chief, and 
 told him that he had just been at 
 Inverness, where Mr. Mac Skinner, 
 the great lawyer — the terror and con-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 177 
 
 sumer of Highland lairds, — who frigh- 
 tened them as the rattlesnake does the 
 little birds, but like him charmed them 
 within his deadly fangs, and their 
 estates into his ever-craving maw — 
 had read him, from the newspapers, 
 a paragraph of the following im- 
 port : — 
 
 " The eccentric Lord Gerald de 
 Brook has been for sometime a hunting 
 on the Scottish moors, and the choice 
 game he has bagged is a Highland 
 lady of interminable pedigree, inde- 
 scribable beauty, and undiscovered 
 fortune. Report says, that he is to lead 
 this paragon of pedigree, prettiness, 
 pride and poverty, to the Hymeneal 
 altar. We shall believe it when it 
 happens. " 
 
 13
 
 178 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Castlecreaghy described this para- 
 graph as forming the whole subject of 
 conversation at Inverness (no great 
 wonder to those who know the num- 
 bers and nous of the inhabitants), and 
 he further declared, that the whole 
 blood of the Highlands — meaning the 
 un-shed part of it — would be forth- 
 coming in wrath, were Flora so soon to 
 forget one who was regarded as the pride 
 of the Highlands, for a Sassenach Lord, 
 who, whatever might be his blood, was 
 ascertained to have none of the great 
 follower of Brute in his veins ; but 
 was really a sort of hy-brid between the 
 fag-end of a Norman family of England, 
 and a Norse family from the sources of 
 the Don. He concluded, by entreating 
 the Chief to remonstrate with his
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 179 
 
 Lordship, send a gilly to London 
 forthwith to dirk the fabricator of this 
 slanderous piece of intelligence ; and, 
 in short, do summary and complete 
 vengeance, according to the good old 
 times, when every Chief planted his 
 own gallows for all who had attempted 
 to cut a notch in the stem of the 
 great Clan-more. 
 
 Glenmore saw the affair in a light 
 somewhat different from that in which 
 it was seen by his cousin ; and while 
 he promised that every thing should 
 be done for the honour of the clan, he 
 could not help hinting, that he, as well 
 as they, in the mean time stood in need 
 of something else than blood — that, in 
 fine, a man of Lord Gerald's fascinat- 
 ing manners and reputed wealth, might
 
 180 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 " carry the branch," and transmit the 
 stem, with perfect honour to the tree, 
 although his blood were a compound 
 of an Edinburgh writer to the Signet 
 and the daughter of an exciseman- 
 persons, who, in the opinion of Castle- 
 creaghy, and many other of his coun- 
 trymen, once stood, and still stand, 
 some deservedly and others not, at the 
 very worst end of the catalogue of two- 
 legged existences. 
 
 At this resolution on the part of the 
 Chief, Castlecreaghy was silent; al- 
 though his silence was not acquiescence, 
 but rather astonishment, or even hor- 
 ror ; as he knew not the strong impulse 
 of necessity which would have goaded 
 on Glenmore thus to sacrifice the blood 
 for the saving of the flesh ; and he
 
 THE HIGBLANDERS. 181 
 
 took his leave with less satisfaction 
 than usual. Glen more was clannish, 
 hut he loved his clansmen as men, and 
 therefore he was anxious to bring 
 about an alliance in his family which 
 would promote their interest as such ; 
 although he had resolved in his own 
 mind, that, in the event of a marriage 
 l>et\veen Flora and his Lordship, which 
 he then saw in vision for the first time, 
 though he wondered why he had not 
 seen it before, she should be Chief in 
 her own right of Bhan Tigherna 
 during her life-time, and be careful to 
 provide two sons, whereof the second 
 should wield the whole titles and tail 
 of Alister Mbic Mac Alister, without 
 the smallest admixture of Sassenach 
 honours or Sassenach appellation.
 
 182 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 The first favourable opportunity of 
 questioning Lord Gerald was em- 
 braced ; and the attack, though carried 
 on under a mask of anger at the in- 
 sulting paragraph, had for its ultimate 
 object the reconnoissance, if not the 
 reduction, of Lord Gerald himself. 
 But he, too, was a masker of far more 
 experience than the open-hearted Chief, 
 who had put on his mask very awk- 
 wardly, and as a last attempt for the 
 honour of his clan, and the advantage 
 of his daughter • and so his Lordship's 
 answer might be translated, either capi- 
 tulate or retreat, according to the wish 
 of whoever heard it. 
 
 " The idle gossips of the town," 
 said he, " marry me to somebody at 
 least once a month ; and, whatever
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 183 
 
 may have been their former awards, 
 they have, in the present instance, done 
 infinite honour both to my judgment 
 and my taste." 
 
 Glenmore felt the force of the com- 
 pliment, and thought he had fastened 
 in Lord Gerald de Brook the hook, 
 which in the mean time grappled only 
 himself. But, like every man who 
 does a cunning thing for the first time, 
 he imagined he had " done his do," 
 and so he resolved to rest for a little, 
 till time should mature and develope 
 an attachment, to which, under his 
 circumstances, he could see no reason- 
 able objection.
 
 184 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 '.' Plague on those warrants— the curse of poor old 
 Scotland for these hundred years." 
 
 ROB ROY. 
 
 Although the kind of warrants here 
 alluded to had, for several years previ- 
 ous to the date of this history, ceased to 
 be the plague of the Highland lairds ; 
 yet, other warrants, less sounding in the 
 name, and less heroic in the opposition, 
 hut quite as efficient, if not against their 
 lives, at least against their goods and 
 chattels, had begun to be pretty fami- 
 liar. We already hinted at the diffi- 
 culties in which the Glenmore estate 
 was involved, and those difficulties 
 now became urgent, in pioportion as
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 185 
 
 the hope of relief by the Strathantin 
 match faded away. The Chief not 
 only groaned Under the pressure of 
 what, in that country, is known by the 
 nameof" original sin/ 3 — an hereditary 
 mortgage, and his was for one yet 
 owing to the representatives of the 
 York Buildings Company, who had 
 purchased the lands of Glenmore from 
 the commissioners of the forfeited 
 estates — but he had added sundry 
 " actual transgressions" of Tiis own, 
 having dipped the remaining items of 
 the estate pretty deeply, in order to 
 keep up an establishment, educate his 
 daughter, maintain his poor relations, 
 and keep up appearances worthy of that 
 rank of which he was, for one genera- 
 tion, life-renter. Not only this; but
 
 186 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 his kindness, and sometimes his vanity, 
 had induced him to become security 
 for the debts of others ; and now that 
 there was no absolute certainty of 
 money coming in by the door of alli- 
 ance, the Chief, and also his creditors, 
 were thrown into no small alarm. It 
 was but too plain, indeed, that the first 
 demand of any considerable magnitude 
 would produce a change at the Castle; 
 as there was nothing remaining, by the 
 sale of which its edge could be turned, 
 — the furniture of the Castle being- 
 worth very little in the opinion of any 
 person save the proprietor ; the fir wood 
 in the balloch being so situated as 
 that he could not pay the expense of 
 land-carriage, and the old trees about 
 the Castle being good for little or
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 187 
 
 nothing. It was this impending dan- 
 ger, which made Glenmore think of 
 the possibility of an union between his 
 daughter and Lord Gerald ; and the 
 probability is, that had it not been for 
 the strong restraint of pride, he might 
 have made as warm advances as deco- 
 rum would well bear. 
 
 The first overt act which threw the 
 Castle into alarm, or rather which 
 threw the Chief into alarm, as he kept 
 it pretty much to himself, was a very 
 mild and oily letter from Messrs. Mac- 
 Skinner, and Mac-Fleecer, writers to 
 his Majesty's signet, in Great King 
 Street, Edinburgh ; the which oily 
 letter from persons of their craft and 
 description, might very fairly be com- 
 pared to one of those treacherous hal-
 
 188 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 cyon clays, that wile unskilful mariners 
 out to sea, in order that they may be 
 cast away in the storm, of which the 
 said treacherous day is the sure harbin- 
 ger. Messrs. Mac Skinner and Mac 
 Fleecer, couched their epistle to the 
 great Glenmore in these terms: — 
 
 •• Great King Street, Edinburgh. 
 HONOURED SIR, 
 
 It gave us the liveliest and most 
 heartfelt satisfaction to learn from our 
 Mr. Mac Skinner's father, Mr. Mac 
 Skinner, sen., that you and your fair 
 daughter had been reinstated in your 
 wonted health and spirits ; and that 
 both you and she had happily recover- 
 ed from the shock of that dire and 
 awful calamity, which so lately afflicted 
 your noble house. This calamity is
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 189 
 
 the more deeply to be deplored, seeing 
 that we had looked towards that joyful 
 union and matrimonial alliance as the 
 means of paying off some of those in- 
 cumbrances, of which Mr. Mac Skin- 
 ner, sen. has advised us by letter, 
 which now hamper the lands of Glen- 
 more ; and more particularly we would 
 allude to. the Wadset Proper, which was 
 assigned a few days ago by Murdoch 
 Mac Quirk Esq. of that Ilk to Mr. 
 Mac Skinner, sen., conform to dispo- 
 sition and assignation in favour of the 
 latter ; and which is now hereby in- 
 timated to you. By a letter, received 
 by last night's post from Inverness, 
 we think it our boundenduty towards 
 you and Mr. Mac Skinner, sen. to 
 state that the term of payment has been
 
 190 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 long past ; and although we would, on 
 no possible account, put you to the 
 slightest inconvenience in the payment 
 of principal, or annual rent due thereon ; 
 yet as money at present is very scarce, 
 and times are but precarious, we would 
 feel highly honoured by a draft for the 
 amount now, as on the 12th instant, 
 as per state of debt annexed. In the 
 mean time it may be proper to mention, 
 that we have thought it our duty, for 
 mutual behoof, to sue out a form of 
 diligence, called Literce Cornuationis, 
 together with another consequentthere- 
 on, styled a Captio, or Liters Car- 
 ceris, both of which steps of procedure 
 are needful and proper under the cir- 
 cumstances of the case. If you would 
 rather prefer an adjudicatio in imple-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 191 
 
 mentatum, advise us per return of post. 
 We both beg most respectful compli- 
 ments to Miss Flora and your worthy 
 self; and, hoping all good things, 
 
 We have the honour to be, 
 With due respect, 
 Honoured Sir, 
 Your very obedient, humble servants, 
 
 H. Mac Skinner, W. S. 
 H. Mac Fleecer, W. S. 
 
 Glenmore of Glenmore, 
 Glenmore Castle. 
 
 This symptomatic epistle was not 
 the only thing which alarmed Glen- 
 more ; for as the attentions which Lord 
 Gerald paid to Flora were visible to 
 the clansmen, they soon spread over 
 the country, and roused the pride of
 
 192 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the Highland Lairds, one or two of 
 whom had paid unsuccessful add. ?sses 
 to that lady. These and their relations 
 cried shame, at the idea ofStrathantin's 
 being so soon forgotten, while others 
 spoke about the taint which the blood 
 of the Glenmores would receive from 
 this mixed alliance. 
 
 In the midst of these perplexities, the 
 twelfth of the month came round, and 
 with it came old Mr. Mac Skinner, 
 together with Mr. Mac Fleecer, the 
 doer, and two " most particular friends" 
 of the latter gentleman. Nothing could 
 equal the civility, nay, even the obse- 
 quiousness, which the first two of these 
 personages practised toward Glen more ; 
 and the other two stood dangling their 
 hats, as if too modest for entering a
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 193 
 
 castle upon any pretext whatever. It 
 was obvious, however, that the little 
 ferret's eye of Mac Skinner, as it 
 squinted out from the broad expanse 
 of his dark and cadaverous face, took 
 very suspicious measure of the Castle 
 and every thing within it, and that the 
 doer exchanged some very significant 
 Jeers both with him and with his own 
 two friends. 
 
 Glenmore, with that frankness natu- 
 ral to himself and his countrymen, asked 
 the four to dinner, which invitation 
 they readily accepted. In the mean 
 time, however, Mac Fleecer hinted 
 that, just for the sake of form, and to 
 save Glenmore from trouble at the 
 hands of any one else, it might be as 
 well, since they were there at any rate, 
 
 VOL. I. K
 
 194 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 to take an inventory or list of his move- 
 able gear and effects. This was rathe? 
 more than a chieftain could altogether 
 relish ; but as he could not see how a 
 scratch, even of an Edinburgh doer's 
 pen, could transfer the said goods 
 either to that city or to Inverness, he 
 submitted with the best grace possible, 
 and as the " particular friends" lent 
 their kind assistance in this labour of 
 civility, the whole was completed in 
 good time for their all assembling at 
 the festive board. 
 
 The new guests did not seem to suit 
 exactly the taste of the old one, for 
 Lord Gerald drew back from the prof- 
 fered fist of Mac Skinner, not only 
 with a scowl which sent the whole 
 posse half way back to the door, but
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 1Q5 
 
 with a remark, loud enough to be heard 
 by all present, that, in such company, 
 each had best shake his own hand. 
 
 The bowels of the four worthies, 
 however, seemed to yearn more toward 
 the dinner which was now on the 
 table ; and so they took their seats, the 
 chief having mentioned them to his 
 guest as Mr. Mac Skinner of Inver- 
 ness, Mr. Mac Fleecer of Edinburgh, 
 with two most particular friends of the 
 latter. 
 
 Lord Gerald again disconcerted them 
 a little by his looks, and a little more by 
 saying, that he thought the gentlemen 
 would, like Falstaff, be all the better if 
 they knew where " a commodity of 
 good names" could be purchased. The 
 only shield which they lifted aga 
 k 2
 
 196 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 this attack was a spoon a piece, which 
 they thrust into a rich soup, that, being* 
 prevented from steaming by a sort of 
 cream on the top, gave no external sign 
 of the surcharge of caloric that was 
 below, until the " two particular friends," 
 at one and the same instant, transferred 
 a large shovel-full of it into their dusky 
 mouths. But the sensation which it 
 produced was so powerful, as to occasion 
 a gnashing of the teeth, and a sending 
 of the liquid, in a burning torrent, 
 through these and the nostrils, till it 
 bespattered all their corner of the table. 
 This exhibition rather disturbed the 
 muscles of the whole company, with the 
 exception of Lord Gerald, who, putting 
 on a face of the most sympathising na- 
 ture, went up to the sufferers with a
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 197 
 
 large mustard-pot in his hand, recom- 
 mended a copious application of it to 
 take out the fire, and, ere any of the 
 company could interpose, he had them 
 discharging a very reasonable allowance 
 of that, by the same orifices which had 
 emitted the soup, and roaring in all the 
 agonies of premature damnation. Thus 
 tormented, the " most particular friends" 
 declined all future attack on the viands 
 above the salt, and were fain to console 
 their grilled palates with a bason of water 
 gruel, prepared at the express injunc- 
 tion of the benevolent Allan Glass. 
 
 In the course of the dinner, Mac 
 Skinner who was seated near Glen- 
 more, was extremely polite and atten- 
 tive. Every thing which the chief said, 
 was the most wise ; every thing he pro-
 
 198 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 posed, the most correct ; every smile 
 that Flora put on, the most exquisite, 
 and, as Mac Skinner would needs smell 
 a rat, even Lord Gerald's wicked ap- 
 plication to " the most particular friends" 
 was set down a master-stroke of inno- 
 cent amusement. 
 
 Mac Skinner had not much mercy 
 upon Glenmore's wine, which also had 
 a share of his admiration, and he con- 
 trived that Glenmore himself should 
 have still less ; and when he found that 
 the heart of the chief had been won and 
 warmed to the proper extent, he pro- 
 posed that the chief should set off for 
 Inverness next morning, in company 
 with himself, Mac Fleecer, and one 
 of the " most particular friends ;" that 
 they should remain there till Glenmore's
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 199 
 
 affairs were settled to his own satisfac 
 tion, and, as soon as this was done, they 
 would return, and, along' with the other 
 M most particular friend," spend another 
 day at Glenmore Castle, and see that all 
 its inhabitants were happy, after they 
 had done for them such kind offices, as 
 were in the power of persons so very 
 much their inferiors. This sage coun- 
 sel sounded w ell ; and so Mac Fleecer 
 saddled his ass, and the whole rode 
 off by the grey dawn of the next morn- 
 
 ing. 
 
 As the chief had left his Castle in such 
 good company, and as the henchman 
 and the good wishes of the whole clan 
 went along with him, there was little 
 alarm in the Castle for the first five 
 days, — that is, two days for the journey
 
 200 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 there, one day to rest, and two days for 
 the henchman to return. During the 
 interim, the distance between Lord 
 Gerald and the " most particular friend" 
 waxed daily greater and greater ; and 
 the friend was indeed so curious in his 
 examination of all the furniture and 
 chattels about the Castle, that the whole 
 inhabitants became curious to know 
 his quality. His reply was, that he 
 was a probationer in holy orders, mean- 
 ing a parson who had not yet been in- 
 ducted to a Church living. Sunday 
 was the last of the days, during which 
 no message had come, and, on the morn- 
 ing of that day, Lord Gerald, tossing 
 down a guinea to the stranger, in the 
 most authoritative and even contemp- 
 tuous manner, said, " Mr. Parson, there
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 201 
 
 is your fee, and I insist that you forth- 
 with assemble the inhabitants of this 
 Castle to divine service." 
 
 It was in vain that the man pleaded 
 his ignorance of the Gaelic: Lord Ge- 
 rald maintained that it was doubly 
 imperious on him to exercise his sa- 
 cred function, as all the serfs of the clan 
 were Catholics, and had to be won 
 from that damnable heresy ; while he 
 himself had been thirsting after the 
 word for many days. Even this, how- 
 ever, might not have proved enough, 
 if Lord Gerald had not put two auxi- 
 liary arguments, of very considerable 
 force. The first was, that four of his 
 own mustachioed foreigners stood under 
 the windows with a blanket, into which 
 his Lordship threatened to pitch the 
 k3
 
 202 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 reluctant parson, and have him shaken 
 till the costive divinity was loosened ; and 
 the second, and perhaps the more power- 
 ful one, was a demand of restitution of 
 the guinea. 
 
 Finding that he had no alternative, 
 the poor stranger was forced to go up- 
 on the duties of his real or assumed 
 functions ; the ladies, however, refused 
 to be present at the exhibition ; and 
 there had well nigh been a mutiny 
 among the servants of the castle, be- 
 cause of the indignity offered to a guest 
 of Glenmore's, in his absence. This 
 last, however, was dispelled by the re- 
 sponse of old Rory, the oracle upon all 
 such occasions, who replied to the in- 
 triguing clansmen: " Ough, let the 
 Saxon deevil tak her nain will o'
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 203 
 
 the other deevil's bairn ; for Pll be 
 bound that they baith came to Glen- 
 more's castle, without being sent for, 
 and the'll baith leav't without being 
 sorrowed after." Thus admonished, 
 the clansmen encircled round as spec- 
 tators of the coming exhibition, and 
 even the women, though sorely scan- 
 dalized at the profanation, could not 
 help peeping out at windows, and round 
 the corners of walls. 
 
 When the supposed parson had 
 been hoisted into an empty oatmeal 
 cask — the readiest substitute for a pul- 
 pit — he made his last, and, as he 
 thought, most powerful fetch, by de- 
 claring that he had no bible. 
 
 " No bible !" said Lord Gerald ; " why 
 man, you are worse than a Turk ! for a
 
 204 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Turk, if he get a scrap of paper up- 
 on which there are any written or 
 printed characters, no matter in what 
 language, it will suggest to him not 
 only all the Koran, but all the com- 
 mentaries of the Mufti. There's an 
 old letter for you ; and, as you may 
 probably not understand the language 
 in which it is written, it will not dis- 
 turb your meditations/' 
 
 " Na, Na," said the man, " 'gin I 
 maun preach without a bible. I maun 
 hae some bit of paper that I can under- 
 stand, at ony rate;" and with that 
 he lugged out of the breast pocket of 
 his coat a greasy piece of sheep's-skin ; 
 and out of that again he took a tole- 
 rably sized bundle of papers, which 
 a scholar might have mistaken for
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 205 
 
 Hebrew — as he instinctively turned 
 to the last page. Having conned it for 
 a little, he began to read, " In the 
 name of — in the name of — Amen — I, 
 Thomas Touchit, mes — parson — 
 at arms — (" You are a member of 
 the church militant, eh!" said Lord 
 Gerald) — by virtue of a horn — ("A 
 guinea," said Lord Gerald) — horning, 
 do, in authority of his Majesty King- 
 George" — " Treason to Glenmore," 
 said one of the clansmen, drawing his 
 dirk, but Lord Gerald's eye rebuked 
 him — " In the name of God — do not 
 murder me — do command and charge 
 to make payment of the sum of — *— " 
 " The sum of the deeviPs meeting 
 to you," said the henchman, who at 
 this moment entered the court-yard,
 
 206 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 and, applying his cudgel to the hinder 
 parts of the parson, made him and his 
 cask spin half-way down the garden ; 
 and had it not been that they were ar- 
 rested by one of the old cherry-trees, 
 they would have gone over the preci- 
 pice. " Why do you meddle with the 
 parson, fellow }" said lord Gerald. 
 
 " Parson !" replied the henchman ; 
 "she's a thief, a limmer, an arms at 
 messenger, cum to teuk the Castle, and 
 sell her at Edinbro 5 , and the Chief 
 hersel is i' the prison at Inverness, a' 
 by that filthy deevil, Mac Skinner." 
 
 The note of sorrow sped fast over 
 the clan, and was instantly answered 
 by the note of vengeance. 
 
 " Hang her up at the Castle-gates !" 
 was the cry ; and the threat would,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 207 
 
 perhaps, have been put in execution ere 
 Lord Gerald could have prevented it, 
 had not the terror-excited messenger 
 clambered to the top of the old tree 
 with the celerity of a cat. It was some- 
 time ere Lord Gerald could make the 
 clansmen understand the danger to 
 which this rash conduct, on their part, 
 would expose both themselves and their 
 Chief; and he could not accelerate 
 their conviction by an application to 
 Flora, as some delicacy would be re- 
 quired, even for his own purposes, in 
 breaking to her the unpleasant news 
 of her father's captivity. The clans- 
 meu were, however, at last appeased, 
 and it was agreed, that for the honour 
 of the clan, this officer should be al- 
 lowed to depart under his assumed
 
 208 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 character of parson ; and as such it 
 was deemed prudent to give him safe 
 convoy under the escort of one of Lord 
 Gerald's servants, who kept him from 
 the dirks, although not from the curses, 
 of the Clan-More.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 209 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 On Cannaby links the trooper was bauld, 
 
 And his braid sword saw the air ; 
 But in Carlisle Castle his blood was cauld,— 
 
 He had time to bethink him there. 
 
 " O where have ye ridden, my merry merry men, 
 
 And where be ye drivin, the deer ? 
 And where be ye, too, my friends o' the glen ? 
 
 O will naebody speak to me here ?" 
 
 JOHNNY MAXWELL'S LAMENT. 
 
 Somewhat analogous to those of the 
 trooper, were the ejaculations of Glen- 
 more, as he paced his cold and ill- 
 furnished cell, of eleven feet by seven, 
 in the dark, dirty, and comfortless jail 
 of Inverness. But we beg the reader's
 
 210 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 pardon ; we forgot to tell how lie got 
 there. 
 
 The letter of H. Mac Fleecer, esq. 
 writer to his Majesty's signet, was, 
 as many a letter of the kind has 
 before and since been, precisely analo- 
 gous to the setting of a pointer, by 
 which the birds are made to sit till the 
 fowler be ready with his net, or the 
 slaughterer with his gun. It was in- 
 tended to lull the credulity of the Chief, 
 and yet to expedite the steps of the law, 
 so as that the Mac Skinner should 
 have the first pounce at him ; and the 
 friendly visit of the elder Mac Skinner 
 and Mac Fleecer, with their two 
 " most particular friends," (who, by the 
 bye, were, as our readers must have 
 already discovered, neither more nor
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 211 
 
 less than two of that fraternity, of whom, 
 according to Phillips, the names are 
 not known in heaven, but who are " of 
 men, yclept catchpoles," — that is to say, 
 two of the worthies, whom the law, in 
 its mercy, saves from the gaol or the 
 gallows, to be the immediate instru- 
 ments of any thing cruel which it has to 
 perform, and which would, in the per- 
 formance, be too much for the feelings 
 of tender doers and W. S.'s, or haply, 
 according to the right reading, too 
 little for their ever-craving pockets,) — 
 was for the real purpose of ascertaining 
 whether as many of the effects of the 
 Laird could be poinded, and poinded 
 with safety, as would satisfy the claim 
 of Mac Skinner, sen., and pay the ex- 
 pense incurred in obtaining that satis-
 
 212 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 faction. As the poind, however, ap- 
 peared to be of little value, and as the 
 lifting of it might have been attended 
 with danger, which these learned per- 
 sons could ill meet, and as the distance, 
 to which the few goods that were in 
 the Castle must have been carried for 
 sale, rendered the poind an unadvisable 
 step, the wily lawyers took the other 
 horn of the dilemma, and keeping the 
 function of their " most particular 
 friends" more secret from the family of 
 the Castle than we have been able to do 
 from the reader, induced the Laird to 
 accompany them, and said not one 
 word about their purpose till they had 
 him safe in the Celtic capital. 
 
 When they had arrived safe there, 
 instead of going to the house with Mac
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 213 
 
 Skinner, as had been originally pro- 
 posed, they adjourned to the inn, and 
 while the two lawyers were taking some 
 refreshment, at the expense of the Chief, 
 the " most particular friend," who had 
 previously separated from them, return- 
 ed with his staff of office and his con- 
 currents, and, without much ceremony, 
 intimated to the Chief that he was a 
 prisoner, in the name of our Sovereign 
 Lord King George, and at the instance 
 of C. Mac Skinner, esq., solicitor, of 
 Inverness, to whom the said King had 
 sent greeting for that especial purpose. 
 At this intimation, the Chief felt in- 
 stinctively for his dirk, but it had been 
 left in another apartment ; and though 
 the fists of the henchman, who had 
 taken the alarm, levelled one of the
 
 214 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 concurrents ; yet the catchpole disarm- 
 ed all opposition, by breaking his staff 
 of office, and swearing he was deforced ; 
 whereupon the learned baillie Mac 
 Verger, haberdasher and tea-dealer 
 to Glenmore, of Glenmore, at a very 
 decent percentage, consigned the 
 poor henchman to twelve hours' soli- 
 tary confinement in the rat-cellar, under 
 the prison-house of the Borough. Nor 
 was the henchman allowed to have 
 any intercourse with his master, al- 
 though the gentle-hearted baillie, out 
 of pure love for the Chief as a customer, 
 graciously permitted him to be the 
 bearer of a dispatch. 
 
 Nor was this the only act of kind- 
 ness shewn to Glenmore by the magis- 
 trate ; for that worthy person waited
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 215 
 
 upon him in limbo, and after many 
 bows and speeches, as unctuous as the 
 appearance of his face, intimated to 
 him, that he, the said baillie Mac Ver- 
 ger, standing- creditor to the Laird in 
 the sum of thirteen pounds, five shillings 
 and fourpence halfpenny, would be very 
 glad to dispose of any trinket or valua- 
 ble property which the Laird might 
 have about him, unknown to the incar- 
 cerating cred i tor ; and , after retai n ing for 
 his own use the above-mentioned sum, 
 to pay over to Glenmore himself, the 
 balance, if any, towards his maintenance, 
 during the time of his captivity. 
 
 The tender-hearted baillie Mac 
 Verger, was not the only personage 
 who offered Job's consolation to Glen- 
 more in the days of his trouble. For
 
 216 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 one morning, the gaoler, bowing lowly, 
 and entering the apartment stern -fore- 
 most, introduced a gentleman who ap- 
 peared to have earned at least the fame 
 of the Rhodian, in " eating many an 
 ox, and drinking many a flagon of 
 wine," and, having discharged this 
 duty, he retired. " What, my dear 
 fellow," said the stranger, grasping the 
 chieftain by the hand — " what the 
 devil has brought you to this shop ? 
 Doubtless the Highland blood has 
 been up, and there has been some 
 broken head, some fellow thrown out 
 of a window, or some hostility between 
 clan and clan, and you are standing 
 out ; but come, come, do not be so stub- 
 born ; we must all yield a little to the 
 law ; say that you will sign a bond to
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 217 
 
 keep the peace, and I will be — no, egad, 
 that would not be so safe — I will not 
 be your security, but we will beat the 
 bushes, and find half a score of Mac- 
 rories and Mackrosteys, who will un- 
 dertake any thing for a chief of your 
 tail. Hey-day, Glenmore in limbo; 
 why the deuce — it beats Macpherson 
 at the gallows' tree to sticks." 
 
 Glenmore did not relish the levity 
 of this speech, though his own pride, and 
 a sense of propriety, prevented him 
 from checking the current of it. 
 During the course of it, he had folded 
 his arms and knitted himself into an 
 attitude of mingled contempt and in- 
 dignation, and, at its close, he stood 
 wistful what to reply. We shall im- 
 prove his silence by giving the reader 
 VOL. i. l
 
 216 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 a glimpse of the character of him by 
 whom that silence was occasioned. 
 
 The stranger was the son of a mer- 
 chant, and had, in early life, been met 
 by Glenmore on the continent, and 
 even introduced by him at the French 
 court. The stranger was then profuse 
 in money, and a leader in all sorts of 
 dissipation. But one morning tidings 
 came, not only that his father was a 
 bankrupt and ruined, but that himself 
 was involved in some part of the trans- 
 actions which had rather a fraudulent 
 aspect. Glenmore relieved him from 
 his temporary embarrassments; se- 
 creted and supported him as long as 
 the first was necessary, carried him 
 with him, first to London and then to 
 the Highlands; entertained him hos-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 219 
 
 pitably there, and ultimately fitted him 
 out for the West Indies, where he had 
 amassed a very considerable fortune, 
 with which he had returned to spend 
 the evening of his days in Britain. 
 An estate in the neighbourhood of In- 
 verness advertised for sale, had been 
 recommended to him as a good 
 bargain ; he had come down to enquire 
 after it, and he had called upon Glen- 
 more, expecting that he could be useful 
 in giving him information. Such was 
 the friend, who, in his youth, had owed 
 every thing to Glenmore, that now 
 came into his prison chamber, with so 
 very incoherent and improper a speech ; 
 and no wonder that the consideration 
 of the man and the speech were for a 
 
 L 2
 
 220 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 few minutes, too much even for Glen- 
 more. 
 
 " I am no brawler," said the Chief; 
 " I am here for debts — burdens, which 
 I have imposed on my estate, with the 
 intention, if not the effect, of serving 
 others." 
 
 Either there was something emphatic 
 in the last two words, or it had this ef- 
 fect upon the stranger. He felt a mo- 
 mentary twinge of compunction, and 
 had it continued, it might have ripened 
 into compassion. It was, however, but 
 a twinge and away. 
 
 " Tell me the amount of your em- 
 barrassment," said he. " One of your 
 retired and plain habits, cannot owe 
 much, and you must have something 
 owing to you."
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 221 
 
 Glenmore bowed ; and the stranger 
 would have coloured, only his natural 
 hue was deeper than that of any re- 
 corded blush. 
 
 " The sum for which I am here," 
 replied Glenmore, " is five hundred 
 pounds ; and if I could get six hundred 
 (for which, indeed, I could not now 
 grant any thing but personal security) 
 I think I could, as we say in the High- 
 lands, win the shelter stone, and wait 
 till the wind wearied." 
 
 " Six hundred pounds!" said the 
 other ; " Six hundred pounds is money, 
 as the world goes. Let me see — I can- 
 not lift that twenty thousand pounds, 
 because I may not get such interest 
 again. I cannot touch the fifteen 
 thousand pounds; there's twenty thou-
 
 222 THE HIGHLANDERS* 
 
 sand pounds at Coutts's— fifteen thou- 
 sand pounds at Morland's— but let me 
 see — this estate — twenty-five thousand 
 pounds — five thousand pounds for 
 plate and furniture, two thousand 
 pounds for an equipage—and one can-* 
 not be altogether empty handed. Well, 
 well, never mind; I shall consult my so- 
 licitor. But how stands it with the 
 lands of Glen more ? Are they afloat? 
 Are they free, or are they entailed? 
 Perhaps they Would suit me ; and I 
 could come down with the price in- 
 stantly, if not too high. I shall send 
 Mr. Catchclause to you this instant." 
 
 " You may spare yourself and me 
 all trouble on that subject," said 
 Glenmore, turning on his heel ; and 
 in the mean time he heard no more of
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 223 
 
 the friend of his youth ; and thereby 
 furnished another proof of the truth of 
 the adage, " If you would have a man 
 serve you, promise ; if not, do."' 
 
 Sueh visitors did not tend to recon- 
 cile the haughty, though kind-hearted 
 Glenmore, to his humiliating situation ; 
 a situation to him the more humili- 
 ating, that in the whole chain of cir- 
 cumstances which had brought him to 
 it, there was not one in which he could 
 accuse himself of having squandered 
 for his own personal gratification. 
 True, he had kept state as became a 
 Chief, when his means would have 
 squared better with the establishment 
 of a vassal ; but the Chiefship, in all 
 its pomp and circumstance, had been 
 transmitted to him from the beginning
 
 224 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 of time, or at least of tradition, and he 
 deemed that it so became him to trans- 
 mit it to the end. His situation was, 
 indeed, abundantly gloomy. The lord 
 of fifty mountains and a hundred rivers 
 — he who could chase the roe from 
 dawn to dusk upon his own soil — he 
 who could angle for the little trout in 
 the mountain brook, and drag the sea 
 shore for the salmon, had his peregri- 
 nations circumscribed by four walls, 
 and the whole of his lakes and streams 
 bottled up in a single carqffe, scantily 
 supplied for use ; he, who strutting 
 along the halls of his fathers, looked 
 upon the portraits of plumed chiefs, 
 and mailed warriors, now had nothing 
 wherewithal to feast his eyes, save the 
 memorials of his predecessors in cap-
 
 .THE HIGHLANDERS. 225 
 
 tivity, traced in charcoal upon the 
 walls, or engraved with a hot poker upon 
 the wainscoat. His name formed the 
 last of a list which might have carpeted 
 the whole High street of Inverness, and 
 so he could not brook the idea of its 
 being added to this dingy catalogue. 
 For the first day or two, he fumed, fret- 
 ted, and stormed ; butasthe heart of Alis- 
 ter Mackeylock was of iron, as well as 
 his face, : the wrath of the chief produced 
 not the smallest impression upon either. 
 In the end, however, it produced an 
 impression upon himself, or rather, his 
 pride made him scorn his own indig- 
 nation ; and, if he stood not with sub- 
 mission in the presence of those who 
 had brought him there, he became 
 respectful to himself, and as he could 
 l 3
 
 226 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 not make of the world what he wished, 
 he condescended to allow it to have 
 that scope peaceably, which it was evi- 
 dently taking, reckless of all the resist- 
 ance he could offer. In this frame of 
 mind, he wrote to the Castle — detailed 
 to his daughter the circumstances of his 
 captivity — admonished her to bear up 
 under it as became her rank and her 
 name ; and begged of Lord Gerald to 
 remain during his absence, and afford 
 to his family and his clan that protec- 
 tion which, in the mean time, they 
 could not receive at his own hands. 
 
 Poor Flora, notwithstanding all her 
 father's admonition, received the sad 
 news as a woman — as a fond daughter, 
 who, now that her heart was returned 
 from one who had held it, felt herself
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 227 
 
 bound to give it all to the author of 
 her being. Still, the doing of the ho- 
 nours of the house to a titled stranger 
 now lay wholly upon her, except when 
 Castlecreaghy, or any of the chief men 
 of the clan, came to her assistance ; and 
 as there was little congeniality of man- 
 ner and feeling between them and Lord 
 Gerald, they came as seldom as civility 
 and clanship would admit. Flora was 
 therefore left much alone ; and that so- 
 litude which had braced up the firm- 
 ness of the father, completed the daugh- 
 ter in grief. Many of her secret hours 
 were given to weeping ; the tint of 
 health again fled from a cheek which 
 was a sure index to the heart; and 
 brief space elapsed ere the partially-re-
 
 228 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 covered Flora was again stretched on 
 a bed of sickness. 
 
 It would be settling a point rather 
 dangerous for casuists of the human 
 heart — namely, whether affection for 
 a lover or a father be the stronger of 
 the two — to decide, whether the recent 
 or the present indisposition of Flora 
 was the most severe in its origin ; but, 
 without cutting this Gordian knot in 
 female psychology, we may be per- 
 mitted to say, that the second sickness 
 had some adjuncts of woe, peculiar to 
 itself: there was now no father's bo- 
 som, upon which to repose either her 
 confidence or her head ; and what was 
 perhaps, during its momentary im- 
 pulse, as galling, there was no kind-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 229 
 
 hearted cousin to dry her eyes, or weep 
 in concert, according to the tone and 
 touch of her misery. Glenmore was 
 in a distant prison-house ; and Isa- 
 bella ' Mackay, the companion of her 
 youthful steps — the dependant on her 
 father's bounty, whose lively disposi- 
 tion had long- animated her hopes, and 
 whose kindness had, on the late occa- 
 sion, done much to assuage her grief, 
 seemed now to visit her sick-chamber 
 with reluctance, and to hurry from it 
 with more eagerness than was con- 
 sistent with the decorum even of a hire- 
 ling nurse. 
 
 The reader must have already seen 
 the cause of this : Lord Gerald had 
 been playing with the warm heart of 
 the giddy and unsuspecting girl ; all
 
 230 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 unawares, she had lost it during the 
 play ; and she now sought opportuni- 
 ties of being, though guardedly, in his 
 presence, either to ask it back again, 
 or to put him in mind that he had it. 
 The passion of love, when it is excited 
 in the bosom of the young and inno- 
 cent, is continually shaping every ob- 
 ject in a rival to its own hopes. It 
 does this the more readily, the more 
 nonsensical it is in itself, and the more 
 airy that these hopes are ; and there- 
 fore there is no wonder, though Isa- 
 bella saw a rivalship in Flora, whose 
 personal attractions, mental accom- 
 plishments and rank, were all so much 
 superior to her own. This jealousy 
 was increased, by the attention which 
 Lord Gerald paid to Flora, previously to
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 231 
 
 her confinement in her chamber, and 
 also by the kind enquiries that he made 
 after her during the time she was there. 
 Upon all the nine points (our female 
 readers know well what they are) of 
 female partiality, Isabella saw cause to 
 love Lord Gerald ; and seeing this, dis- 
 like, if not absolute hatred, of her cou- 
 sin, followed by no very remote con- 
 sequence. 
 
 But his Lordship, though not so 
 ardent or so open a gamester as Isa- 
 bella, was yet a little deeper ; and, as 
 gamesters say, he took " the odds both 
 over and under ;" for, while he kept 
 amusing himself with the affections of 
 Isabella, he resolved to make his attack 
 upon Flora in more measured terms, — 
 as he judged that these would accord
 
 232 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 best with the state of her mind. For 
 this purpose he wrote her, during her 
 convalescence, a second letter. We 
 need hardly tell the reader, that the 
 letter which Flora found was a first 
 one ; nor need we copy it, as the lady 
 herself gave it no very careful perusal. 
 But the second is worthy of a glance. 
 
 " MADAM, 
 
 If, upon my first having the plea- 
 sure of seeing you — a pleasure which, 
 not in degree only, but in kind, proved 
 to me altogether new, I could not re- 
 frain from addressing to you that letter, 
 which, under the existing circumstances, 
 you very properly returned to me, 
 how can I now resist making a similar 
 application ? My vanity would wil- 
 lingly ascribe your conduct then to a
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 233 
 
 feeling which does infinite honour to 
 you, and makes you much more wor- 
 thy ; but the cause of that feeling, un- 
 happily for you, though I would fain 
 add happily for me, has yielded to the 
 common frailty of all human engage- 
 ments. I respected the strength of 
 your attachment; I did honour to 
 your grief; and it is only now that 
 I may have the pleasure of stepping in, 
 and offering such assistance as the best 
 of fathers merits on his own account, 
 as well as on that of the most lovely of 
 daughters, that I now thus obtrude my- 
 self upon your notice. Do not imagine 
 that I can have the least wish to ruffle 
 for you, either by recollections or anti- 
 cipation, that pillow, which, could 
 prayers smooth it, should be smoother
 
 234 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 than the pillow of a queen ; but as I 
 would entreat of you not to decide my 
 fate too rashly ; and as I could not bear 
 to look upon you while tortured in the 
 agony of suspense, I have sent you this 
 at such a time as will enable you to re- 
 flect maturely upon it That I have sent 
 it to you at all, is a proof of my anxiety 
 to elect you as the chosen one of your 
 sex. Bid me not despair, and you may 
 consider the present difficulty of your 
 reverend father, and indeed all the 
 difficulties of your house as being at an 
 end. Consider, therefore, of how many 
 persons, leaving my insignificant self 
 altogether out of the question, the hap- 
 piness hinges upon the answer which 
 you return. God give me speed, and 
 you and yours prosperity. 
 
 De Brooke."
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 235 
 
 This billet-doux^ somewhat lengthy, 
 but pretty well adapted to the circum- 
 stances, was folded up, sealed with the 
 impression of a heart transfixed by an 
 arrow, with the motto, " Je cheris ma 
 peine," and conveyed to Florals apart- 
 ment, unknown to her cousin or any 
 of the family. 
 
 After having thus furnished morn- 
 ing's meditations for one of the ladies, 
 he proposed that the other and himself 
 should walk up the bank of the rivulet, 
 and feast their eyes with the majestic 
 scenery of the loch. As they journeyed 
 along, his lordship contrived to say a 
 numbeh of those soft things which are 
 more pleasing to silly girls than to 
 sage readers ; and, though Isabella so 
 far got the better, both of her fears and
 
 236 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 her discretion, as to hint at her par- 
 tiality for his supposed rival, he con- 
 trived to silence yet to keep alive the 
 suspicion. He hinted that the house 
 had strong claims on his sensibility,. — 
 that Flora might resent his neglect 
 upon one whom he held dear. The 
 time, however, would come when she 
 might feel herself elevated in rank and 
 in property, far above even the Clan- 
 More. 
 
 Isabella understood this, and with 
 that tact natural even to the most in- 
 considerate of women, she would have 
 drawn even something more explicit; 
 but his lordship, aware of the danger, 
 affected surprise at the lateness of the 
 hour, alluded to the suspicions which 
 their longer absence might excite ; and
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 237 
 
 so they hurried homewards and entered 
 the Castle by different ways, as though 
 they had not been together. 
 
 Isabella found her cousin in musing 
 melancholy, with the miniature of her 
 lost lover in the one hand, and an 
 affectionate letter from her imprisoned 
 father in the other. Isabella was now 
 both elevated and comparatively at rest 
 in consequence of the inuendo of Lord 
 Gerald, and, therefore, she approached 
 her cousin with more kindness than 
 she had displayed for some time ; but 
 under that kindness there was an ex- 
 pression of condescension, so new to 
 Isabella, that her unsuspecting cousin 
 did not perceive it. She hailed the 
 returning kindness of her playmate as 
 a boon ; attributed her recent absence
 
 238 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 to the alleged cause — .the pain of being 
 present, took her blooming relative 
 again to her arms, and again they 
 wept together over the woes of the 
 house of Glenmore. 
 
 Lord Gerald went to his apartment, 
 not to sympathize with suffering — for 
 the suffering of others served but to 
 point the arrows of his derision, but to 
 gratify his curiosity, and haply some- 
 thing worse than curiosity, by a pe- 
 rusal of that favourable answer which 
 he never doubted would be awaiting 
 him from the melancholy and deserted 
 daughter of the absent Chief. Of the 
 strain and tendency of that answer the 
 reader must judge.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 239 
 
 "MY LORD, 
 
 As my father's guest, I have 
 treated you with respect ; as my father's 
 daughter, I know you will treat me 
 with the same. Your first proposal, 
 even though unengaged, I would have 
 rejected, because it was made ere you 
 could know me, or I could know you. 
 Your second proposal is unreasonable, 
 both on account of the greenness of 
 that sorrow which 1 cherish much 
 more fondly than any thing which the 
 world has now to offer me, and of the 
 unfortunate absence of that father, 
 whose will, under any circumstances, 
 must now be the arbiter of my conduct. 
 Allow me, therefore, to consider both 
 proposals in the same light as if they 
 had never been made, and very res-
 
 240 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 pectfully to add a hope that another 
 one may never be made. 
 
 Flora." 
 
 Hackneyed as was Lord Gerald in 
 the ways of womankind, and success- 
 ful as he had been in his inroads upon 
 their peace, his pride was stung to the 
 quick at having those powers foiled by 
 a simple lass in a Highland glen, 
 which had done notable disservice 
 among the finished and manoeuvring 
 dames in the squares of the metropolis. 
 Pride and policy, however, both con- 
 spired in concealing his disappoint- 
 ment, and as the cards of female con- 
 duct sometimes turn up odd chances, 
 he resolved to abide his time, and if 
 possible, profit by it, when it came.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 241 
 
 But the affair of the money requisite 
 for Glenmore^s relief, rather puzzled 
 him, as he was left but the two alter- 
 natives of sacrificing it or sacrificing 
 his promise. He redoubled his en- 
 quiries and his politeness. Flora got 
 better, and in a short time Castlecrea- 
 ghy was the bearer of good news. 
 
 Some person, unknown, having 
 lodged the requisite sum of money in 
 the hands of the sheriff, the doors of 
 the prison were thrown open, and the 
 Chief, without saying farewell either 
 to Mac Skinner or the Baillie, was on 
 his way to the Castle. " Some gene- 
 rous incognito," said Castlecreaghy, 
 fixing his eyes upon Lord Gerald, 
 " has done this deed, and gained the 
 blessing of the whole clan." 
 
 VOL. I. M
 
 242 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 Lord Gerald blushed, and Castle- 
 creaghy, setting himself down for a 
 wizard, instantly prepared for the re- 
 ception of the Chief. The banner was 
 hung out, the clan was mustered, 
 tears and whisky mingled in torrents 
 in the kitchen ; all the horses were 
 put in requisition, that the gentlemen, 
 including Lord Gerald, should ride, 
 and the gillies girded themselves to 
 run gn foot, in order that the Chief 
 might be received at the boundary of 
 his dominions. Old Chirstan, the 
 cook, threw her old brogue at the 
 party to procure good luck ; old Rory 
 lifted the curtain of the future ; and 
 Hope threw her thickest mantle over 
 the past. 
 
 Glenmore came, and the meeting
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 243 
 
 on all sides was joyous ; but the joy 
 was of but short duration. The fe- 
 males of the clan began to avoid the 
 castle, and dark whispers went abroad 
 that Flora had been walking by moon- 
 light, and in solitary places, with the 
 stranger Lord, which was an injury^ 
 both to the memory of Strathantin, and 
 to the laws of Highland decorum. 
 Written hints to the same effect were 
 occasionally sent in; and messages 
 were ever and anon arriving to put the 
 Chief in mind, that all his debts were 
 not yet paid. It was in vain that the 
 gillies swore, that if ever another " most 
 particular friend" should come near the 
 castle, they would " meet her at the 
 scridan, and give her beef to the 
 crows;" the admonitory letters were 
 
 M 2
 
 244 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 not on that account one the fewer. 
 Among these, there was one dated In- 
 verness, but without any clue to the 
 author, which excited a considerable 
 degree of uneasiness, as well from the 
 frankness with which it was written, 
 as from the strength of the accusations 
 which it pointed against their guest- 
 It ran thus : — 
 
 " CREDULOUS GLENMORE, 
 
 The castle of your illustrious an- 
 cestors is disgraced by crime. Ingra- 
 titude and seduction inhabit your walls ; 
 intrigue passes under your very eyes, 
 blinded as they are by interest and am- 
 bition ; your foes insult you, while your 
 real friends are kept aloof, and blush. 
 Distant as we are from the great and 
 dissipated metropolis, we are not igno-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 245 
 
 rant of its inhabitants, and their man- 
 ners. Be upon your guard : 
 
 Latet angui3 in herba ! 
 
 This snake will mar your peace and 
 sully the honour of your name. Be 
 watchful: nay, spurn him from your 
 gate. Many are the women whom he 
 has already deceived ; and one lady in 
 particular has committed self-destruc- 
 tion on his account. He is a very de- 
 mon — a second Don Juan. Away 
 with him ere it be too late. Can you 
 frame no excuse ? Can't you leave your 
 castle to visit a friend ? Every instant is 
 precious. Meantime, question and com- 
 mand your daughter ; examine your 
 servants ; and clear, if you can clear,
 
 246 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 your sullied character. Such is the 
 advice of 
 
 A Son of the Mountain. 
 
 P. S. You are offending your credi- 
 tors as well as your friends ; therefore 
 have a care.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 247 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 " My father he fell sick, and my Jamie was at sea, 
 And auld Robin Gray came a courting o'lue.'* 
 
 It was well, both for Glenmore and 
 his gratuitous monitor, that they stood 
 not face to face during the reading of 
 this epistle ; for then most assuredly 
 it had been the death-warrant of one 
 of them. It was a* libel on his name, 
 — on his family ; it was unjust, it was 
 uncalled for ; it was an insult. Dis- 
 honour was not of his clau ; and, as for 
 Flora, he could see nothing in her 
 but purity and propriety. It must have 
 arisen from/ malevolence, or from the 
 wounded pride of some disappointed
 
 248 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 female ; and yet, where was the man 
 that could with justice harbour a ma- 
 levolent feeling towards Glenmore, and 
 where the woman that could presume 
 to come in competition with his 
 daughter ? Not within the range of 
 Highland intelligence. 
 
 Still, however, he could not feel 
 easy ; and so he resolved to consult 
 not only with his usual confidant Cas- 
 tlecreaghy, but even with Lord Gerald 
 himself. Toward the latter consulta- 
 tion, he had indeed pretty strong in- 
 ducements, because it afforded a pre- 
 text for sounding his lordship upon the 
 sincerity of that affection for Flora, to 
 the consummation of which the chief- 
 tain would not have had much ob- 
 jection.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 249 
 
 Still there was an anguis or snake in 
 the letter as well as in the grass, — the 
 allegation that Lord Gerald had caused 
 a lady to fall by her own hand : 
 and the chief and his friend, upon re- 
 solving to submit the anonymous epistle 
 to his lordship's perusal, fixed upon the 
 temper with which he should read this 
 passage, as the touchstone at once of his 
 character and the truth of the letter. 
 
 That letter was accordingly given to 
 him ; but, though he grinned in deri- 
 sion over it, it stirred no perceptible 
 sediment of remorse. 
 
 " Psha ! some idle trifler," said he ; 
 u if there be no fools in this country, 
 folly is, at least, imported. But, neither 
 you nor your daughter, must heed such 
 things : they are the price you pay for 
 
 M 3
 
 250 THE HIGHLANDERS, 
 
 superlative merit. With regard to my» 
 self, this idle story of the lady's suicide 
 has been repeated till almost even the 
 very carmen whistle it. Yet, what is 
 it to me ? If a lady did die of decline, 
 and say it was all for the love of your 
 humble servant, ' she never told her 
 love ;' it was babbled about by gossip- 
 ing dowagers ; and, if she had taken it 
 into her head to fall in love with me, 
 and execute sentence of death upon 
 herself for the crime without my know- 
 ledge, how can I possibly be involved 
 in the matter V 
 
 This reasoning was perfectly satis- 
 factory to Glenmore ; — Castlecreaghy 
 declared, that Lord Gerald Was not only 
 a very wealthy, but a wise and wondrous 
 man ; and, after his lordship withdrew,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 251 
 
 the chief and he had a speculation, tete- 
 a-tete, as to the honour and happiness 
 which would result from the match, 
 should circumstances fortunately bring* 
 it about* 
 
 On the same day, however, a cloud 
 obscured this prospect, by his lordship's 
 announcing, that but three days more, 
 and he must leave happiness and the 
 Highlands, and again banish himself 
 into the crowded solitude of the fashion- 
 able world. This produced a depres- 
 sion in the spirits of Isabella, which was 
 attributed by Glenmore to a wrong 
 cause — that of sorrow at the interrupt- 
 ing, if not the final destruction of, the 
 anticipated honour to him and his 
 house. Glenmore, however, anxious 
 to be honest with his guest, but, at the
 
 252 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 same time, to fix an interest in him, 
 took him apart, explained all the cir- 
 cumstances and causes of his late arrest, 
 and, in fact, laid open the whole cata- 
 logue of miseries which hung over him 
 and his family, — adding, that he wished 
 to take his lordship's advice, as to whe- 
 ther the life-rent of a chief could not be 
 made the basis of a temporary loan. 
 
 Lord Gerald said the point was im- 
 portant — begged to talk over it wiih 
 him alone next day, and again retired. 
 
 "There goes a real friend," said the 
 chief ; " he will never deceive us. He 
 is none of your Mac Skinners or your 
 Baillie Mac Vergers, or your fel- 
 lows who have whipt thousands of 
 pounds out of the backs of slaves in the 
 West Indies."
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 263 
 
 "That he isn't/ 5 rejoined Castle- 
 ereaghy ; "and only think how he (for 
 it must have been he) paid down the 
 price of this very wadset, about which 
 the old rascal Mac Skinner came so 
 long a journey, without so much as one 
 scrape of a pen, or even saying a word 
 about it. I like the open heart and the 
 open hand. He is half a Highlander 
 already, and the sooner he becomes a 
 whole Highlander the better. Speak, 
 — would not that ugly badger-sounding 
 title, De Brooke, merge in the grand 
 patronymic of Glenmore, if he were to 
 be married to our J?han Tighierna ?" 
 These were points which Glenmore, 
 skilled as he was in Highland etiquette 
 and Highland pedigree, could not solve 
 altogether upon the nonce, and so
 
 254 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 they loo were adjourned until the next 
 day. 
 
 It has been observed, that the night 
 often brings, without any apparent 
 cause, a change of feeling both to the 
 joyous and the sorrowful ; — when the 
 head of affliction is laid down on the 
 pillow, that pillow will sometimes 
 preach peace, nay, even hope ; and the 
 head of joy not unfrequently presses a 
 pillow which, ere morning, is the pil- 
 low of care. It was thus with Glen- 
 more: he retired to his chamber full, 
 not only of Lord Gerald, but of Lord 
 Gerald's character. But, as the reveries 
 of the night gave different trains to his 
 ideas, they exhibited that character in 
 different lights, — or perhaps it would 
 suit better with the scene and the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 255 
 
 changes to say, different shades of dark- 
 ness. The first exhibition was that of 
 a generous guest, of a high-born spirit, 
 proffering an honourable alliance ; but 
 anon came the cold indifference which 
 his lordship had displayed, when human 
 suffering was the topic ; the levity with 
 which he had treated sacred feel- 
 ing's and sacred subjects, and the cruelty 
 that he had exercised toward a noble 
 animal, which had but just before been, 
 in all probability, the means of saving 
 his own existence. Glenmore made a 
 syllogism : " The good man regardeth 
 the life of his beast," said he : " but Lord 
 Gerald de Brooke did not regard the 
 life of his beast ; ergo, Lord Gerald is 
 not a good man."
 
 256 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 What with syllogism, what with 
 sentiment, Glenmore passed a sleepless 
 night, and was up by grey dawn, re- 
 solving that the mountain air should 
 so brace his faculties, as that he might 
 settle the question between the hopes 
 of the evening, and the suspicions of 
 the night. The sun rose upon him, 
 and as the suspicions were far more 
 congenial to darkness and demi-sleep, 
 than to the exhilarating brightness of 
 the rising sun and the kind heart of 
 the Chief, the hopes triumphed, and he 
 returned to the castle, anxious for the 
 appointed meeting with his Lordship. 
 
 Lord Gerald had that morn break- 
 fasted in his own apartment, although 
 he sent notice that he was quite well,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 257 
 
 and would be happy to receive the 
 Chief there. Glenmore obeyed the 
 summons, and was not a little asto- 
 nished to find his guest arrayed in the 
 full costume of the Clan ; and, bating 
 the unequal length of the new-made 
 Highlander's legs, he could not help 
 paying him some compliments on his 
 personal appearance. 
 
 " You may well be surprised, my 
 much honoured Chief, and kind and 
 hospitable entertainer," said his Lord- 
 ship, u at finding one of the degenerate 
 and town-made nobility, putting on 
 the garb of those who date their ori- 
 gin from the beginning of memory, 
 and derive their honours from nature 
 herself; but the time which I have 
 spent among your Clan, though felt
 
 258 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 short in the spending, will be long and 
 imperishable in the remembrance ; and 
 therefore, though I could not bear to put 
 the tartan upon my enervated limbs, 
 during the time of my happy sojourn 
 with you, yet may I be pardoned for 
 appearing in it on the eve of my de- 
 parture, just to shew, that though I 
 soon return to be among the heartless 
 idlers of the court, I retain at least an 
 external badge of the generous spirit 
 and manly feeling of the mountains." 
 
 " Your Lordship does us honour, 
 replied Glenmore ; " a very imposing 
 and a very worthy clansman you would 
 make." 
 
 " May I presume to suggest an 
 amendment on the last word but one," 
 said his Lordship, bowing, taking
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 259 
 
 Glenmore by the hand, and seating 
 him by his side. 
 
 After they were seated, he conti- 
 nued, " My dear Glenmore, (for you 
 are dearer to me than I can express, 
 and for reasons which haply I dare 
 not express) if we are not now of the 
 same Clan, we are of the same garb, 
 and we are the same in suffering." 
 
 " What I" interrupted Glenmore, 
 hastily, having two reasons for the 
 exclamation, " has your Lordship re- 
 ceived bad news ? and must you, too, 
 for all your rank, and all your gene- 
 rosity, be at the mercy of some Mac 
 Skinner ?" 
 
 " There you mistake me," rejoined 
 his Lordship ; "I believe I am safe 
 from the Mac Skinners, and I earnestly
 
 260 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 hope and seriously trust, that you too 
 are the same ; but my sorrow lies a 
 little deeper, — it is in a region which 
 all the Mac Skinners in the world can- 
 not reach, and cannot heal." 
 
 Glenmore lent his ear, but spoke 
 not. Lord Gerald drew his chair 
 nearer to him — laid his hand upon 
 his shoulder, and said, " My malady 
 admits but of one physician, and that 
 physician I know is under your con- 
 trol. I reck not what else I part with, 
 provided I could call Flora of Glen- 
 more mine." 
 
 It was some time ere the Chieftain 
 could return an answer. For though 
 this was a declaration which he wished, 
 and almost expected, he felt rather 
 singular at its being made. The grass
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 261 
 
 upon Strathantin's grave would not 
 yet be green, — memory had wept for 
 him but one little month, — Flora had 
 not, at least in so far as her father knew, 
 been consulted ; and it might be pos- 
 sible that Lord Gerald was not pre- 
 cisely the man he seemed. The reve- 
 ries of the night again came over the 
 Chief, and they came with this addi- 
 tion, that high and rich as was the 
 proposed match, there was something 
 mercenary in it — it looked very like a 
 selling of his daughter for the saving 
 of his house. Had he replied at that 
 instant, perchance, the reply had been 
 a negative; but Lord Gerald, who in- 
 terpreted his looks more quickly than 
 the Chief could interpret words, hast- 
 ened to bar so perilous a consequence.
 
 262 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 " Yes," said he, " twenty thousand 
 pounds, which I can well spare, will 
 relieve all your difficulties, and the 
 hand of Flora will supply all that I 
 can wish for ; but mark me, my dear 
 Glenmore, our marriage, which shall 
 be performed at De Brooke Abbey, 
 must be secret; for one hundred 
 thousand pounds, in ready cash, hangs 
 upon the will of an old uncle of mine, 
 and he has declared, that he will give it 
 to another, unless I marry, not with his 
 approbation merely, but one of the 
 heartless and headless turfs of nobility, 
 which he shall be pleased to select for 
 me. This is too much to lose for 
 forms' sake. Our private marriage 
 will be just as binding; indeed, where 
 the heart is bound, the mere legal tie
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 263 
 
 adds no security — and when the uncle 
 pleases to walk off, where he cannot 
 carry his wealth along with him, then 
 shall Flora of Glenmore shine out in 
 all the splendour of Lady de Brooke ; 
 a splendour, which, though catching in 
 the eyes of fools, can never rival that 
 in which she shines by her own native 
 worth and your honorable connection." 
 
 Glenmore looked a little stern, and 
 looked as though he thought one hun- 
 dred thousand pounds too small a price 
 for the private marriage of his daughter. 
 Lord Gerald, again perceiving the 
 stumbling-block, again made an effort 
 to remove it. 
 
 " I care nothing for the filthy lucre 
 myself," said he, " but you know as 
 well as I, how necessary it is when we
 
 264 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 have a clan. I know the nobility of your 
 blood ; but think you, ray pound- 
 amassing uncle can judge of the redness 
 of that ? Nay, nay ; hejudges of nobility 
 by the book — looks into the muster- 
 roll of patents ; and you know that to 
 those mean collectors and hoarders up 
 of pelf, those blind idolators of Mam- 
 mon, an angel would plead in vain." 
 
 Glen more was not altogether satis- 
 fied. He hesitated ; said something 
 about the memory of Strathantin ; the 
 delicacy of breaking the matter to 
 Flora; put an absolute veto upon the 
 secret marriage, and concluded by a 
 sentiment which tended not a little to 
 undo all the others — viz. that, though 
 highly improper to hint at the sub- 
 ject to her at present, it might be
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 265 
 
 done without impropriety at some 
 future period. Lord Gerald bowed 
 submissively, and they separated. 
 
 The result of this conversation was, 
 
 to leave Glenmore in circumstances of 
 
 greater embarrassment than it had found 
 
 him. True, Lord Gerald made a formal 
 
 declaration of his love for Flora, but he 
 
 had clogged it with the unpleasant 
 
 qualification of a private marriage ; true 
 
 again, he had assigned a reason for 
 
 this clog, worth a hundred thousand 
 
 pounds ; but true, he had gone off 
 
 without pressing the subject with that 
 
 warmth which Glenmore could have 
 
 wished ; true, a fourth time, he had 
 
 been bred in the fashionable circles, 
 
 where etiquette kept the feelings in 
 
 subjection, and the very choicest eha- 
 
 VOL. I. N
 
 266 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 racters had to play even their most virtu- 
 ous parts in masks ; but true, also, that 
 Lord Gerald had declared his detesta- 
 tion of that world and all its practices. 
 Such were a few of the doubts 
 which disturbed the Chief, and made 
 him pause ere he sought an eclaircisse- 
 ment with his daughter. He knew 
 that she had been devoted to Strathan- 
 tin while alive, and that she cherished 
 his memory with fondness ; he knew 
 too that the match, if made up at the 
 present time, would be set down, not 
 only by his neighbours, but by his own 
 clan, as one of heartless ambition and 
 needless haste; but while he knew 
 those things, he saw the storm which 
 was gathering around him, and, saving 
 that hand, which, though stretched out
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 267 
 
 for him in the dark, he fancied he 
 could not have mistaken, he could 
 think of none other that would be 
 raised for his relief. To advise, and far 
 more to command Flora, to this pro- 
 jected union, might be a serious lace- 
 ration of her feelings, and through 
 them, of his own ; and to reject it, or 
 even to leave Lord Gerald to the hun- 
 dred loop-holes of London and ab- 
 sence, might be involving him, herself 
 and the whole honour of his house, in 
 irretrievable ruin. The thought of 
 being parted from his only child, was 
 painful to him, and brought to his 
 recollection the memory of her who 
 had given him this daughter at the ex- 
 pense of her own life ; and while he 
 wished that his daughter could be 
 
 N 2
 
 268 THE H/GHLANDERS. 
 
 placed above the reach of pecuniary 
 want, there was a feeling, he knew not 
 what, or whence it came, that whis- 
 pered to him a doubt as to Lord 
 Gerald's being the best person for 
 affording her this security. 
 
 Perplexed by these thoughts, it was 
 long ere he could summon resolution 
 sufficient to see Flora ; and after he 
 had seen her, it was longer ere he 
 could summon resolution to broach the 
 subject — so long, indeed, that we must 
 pause, and tell it in the next chapter.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 269 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 One sad losel stains a name for aye." 
 
 CHILDE HAROLD. 
 
 In order that Glen moie might the 
 better break to his daughter the pro 
 posal relative to Lord Gerald, he in- 
 vited her to walk with him by the 
 bridge, and along the bank of the foam- 
 ing rivulet, which descended from the 
 hill. Having gained a considerable 
 elevation, the father and the daughter 
 looked down upon that venerable pile, 
 which had, for so many geaerations, 
 been the habitation of their race; and
 
 270 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the Chief, who knew not well how to 
 break the subject, dwelt in raptures 
 upon the ancient seat, and the im- 
 portance of preserving it and the clan ; 
 and this naturally led to the melancholy 
 recollection most at his daughter's 
 heart. 
 
 When the mind is deeply tinged 
 with melancholy — when we treasure 
 up a cherished sorrow, and hug it to 
 our hearts, the most acceptable comfort 
 flows from conversation upon the sad 
 but dear subjects, from blending our 
 own sympathies with those of them 
 whom we love, and having our sighs 
 echoed by the sighs of those who 
 we know will neither deride nor de- 
 ceive us. 
 
 Aware of the truth of this, the fond
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 271 
 
 parent, ere he attempted to hint at 
 any future alliances, dwelt upon the sad 
 loss which his daughter and himself 
 had so recently sustained, — expatiated 
 on the virtues of Strathantin, paid a 
 just tribute of praise to his memory, 
 and deplored the fatal consequences of 
 his untimely fall. Such topics were 
 well suited to the gentle though dark 
 gloom, which had now succeeded to 
 the storm of affliction in the breast of 
 Flora : for, as Providence " tempers the 
 wind to the shorn lamb," so are our 
 woes and trials marked out to us, 
 that when their first pressure ceases to 
 bend us under its seemingly insupport- 
 able weight, there succeeds an aching 
 feeling, mingled with that hope of the 
 just, which tells us that our sorrows
 
 272 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 are but fora season ; and that, though no 
 rest remain for us upon earth, we shall 
 find a resting-place in the mansions 
 of everlasting peace. 
 
 From those topics Glen more turned 
 to his own blighted hopes, by the loss 
 of him to whom he had looked with 
 such fond anticipation for the building 
 up of his fortunes and his house, — to 
 that fatal casualty which had almost 
 placed him in the world, " like a bro- 
 therless hermit, the last of his race:" 
 for, after his own demise, and that of 
 his Flora, the castle and the lands 
 would go to a distant branch of the 
 family, who would be unable to re- 
 move the incumbrances, or sustain the 
 honour of the Glenmores. 
 
 He dwelt upon this melancholy sub-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 273 
 
 ject ; and yet further upon that more 
 touching one, that the clan would see 
 no young buds from the genuine old 
 tree ; and it was this hope alone which 
 could enable his people to struggle 
 with, or to survive their difficulties. 
 
 Either the exquisite tact of Flora saw 
 the mark at which this pointed, or she 
 had knowledge of the dalliance which 
 her father had had, respecting the 
 proffered suit of Lord Gerald ; for 
 she shrunk from the idea as the sen- 
 sitive plant does from the touch, and 
 declared, that now the sole object of 
 her affections was " in the cold grave," 
 she would never be joined in wedlock 
 to any one breathing. 
 
 This was enough for Glen more, for 
 he had too much, both of delicacy and 
 n 3
 
 274 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 of sensibility, to probe into the un- 
 cicatrised wound, which he but too 
 plainly saw would bleed afresh at the 
 least touch ; and which was even now 
 pouring its purple tide of sorrow over 
 the fondled recollection of every youth- 
 ful scene, every point which marked a 
 growing attachment, and every object 
 and event which recalled a plighted, 
 and, as Flora still believed, unshaken 
 and unsullied constancy. Hence he 
 instantly changed the subject, and, 
 while he commended the fidelity of his 
 daughter, which remained true even 
 in death, and blossomed over the 
 grave, he took occasion to inculcate 
 resignation, and put her in mind of 
 the affections of her father and her 
 people. These filled not up the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 275 
 
 void which Flora felt in her bosom, 
 but they were all that a father and a 
 kindred had to offer, and, as she knew 
 their sincerity, she appreciated their 
 worth. 
 
 This had consumed more time than 
 either the father or the daughter was 
 aware; and, upon their return, the 
 former might have found Lord Gerald 
 pacing his room with much anxiety, 
 and weighing the chances of success 
 in his conquest. Of this, indeed, he 
 would, but for the calm indifference 
 with which Flora had received his at- 
 tentions, and returned his billet, have 
 had but little doubt ; for his opinion 
 of women, drawn from the ranks of 
 heartless and fashionable levity, was
 
 276 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 not high. With these he had uni- 
 formly succeeded, although they were 
 inured to manoeuvring and intrigue ; 
 and, as he was not aware that there ex- 
 isted in the female hosom any steady 
 principles of resistance to vanity nvA 
 pleasure, he could not well imagine 
 that arts, which had again and again 
 succeeded, with dames accustomed 
 to flattery and schooled in all the ways 
 of the town, could be inefficient with 
 a simple and unsuspecting daughter of 
 the mountains. He saw Glen more 
 enter the Castle with his daughter 
 hanging fondly upon his arm ; and as 
 lie never doubted the success of the 
 proposal which he had made, hacked 
 as it was by the necessities of the fa-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 277 
 
 ther, he grinned triumph as he heard 
 the sound of footsteps approaching his 
 apartment. 
 
 His hand was already at his purse 
 to toss a guinea to the messenger, in 
 case it should he one of the domestics, 
 when the white locks of old Rory 
 caught his e\e. There was an air of 
 triumph in the old man, which Lord 
 Gerald had never before seen ; and he 
 triumphed over the haughty peer, while 
 he said, " Glenmore bade me to tell 
 the Sassenach lord, that she has re- 
 turned to the Castle, and will see her 
 by and by.-" 
 
 This message was, however, merely 
 a ruse de guerre ; for when the chief re- 
 turned, he felt that he was expected to 
 make a communication, and having one
 
 278 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 not of the most agreeable description 
 to make, he was not a little embarrassed. 
 Never doubting that the heart of Lord 
 Gerald was as honourable as his own, 
 and that his overtures towards Flora 
 were of that kind, which, granted or 
 not, should always be treated with 
 respect, it cost him no small delibera- 
 tion. The result of that deliberation 
 was a letter to Lord Gerald, couched 
 in the most respectful terms, but yet 
 stating* firmly, that the sentiments of 
 Flora were not only such as to preclude 
 all hope in the meantime, but to ren- 
 der any further allusion to the subject 
 improper. This letter was committed 
 to Allan Glass, who, with his best bow, 
 laid it upon his Lordship's table. 
 The pride of Lord Gerald was deeply
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 279 
 
 wounded ; but there was in bis nature 
 a masterly duplicity, which could not 
 be thrown off its guard — a hate of 
 mankind, which no suffering on the 
 part of his victim could disarm — an 
 " odio in longum jacens" which no 
 time could efface — and a power of fea- 
 ture, which was fearfully deceitful, and 
 which no internal working of the 
 spirit could disturb. So that, instead 
 of giving way to the working of disap- 
 pointment, he brightened up ; and, 
 when the dinner-bell rang, he was the 
 first to enter the hall ; and he met with 
 many members of the family with a 
 gaiety of heart that astonished all who 
 were in the secret, — at the same time 
 that it delighted the deluded Isabella, 
 who, though she was not wholly in the
 
 280 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 secret, was yet aware that there had 
 been a cloud upon her good fortune, 
 which now appeared to be removed. 
 To Flora it might have been indifferent ; 
 but the character of Lord Gerald was 
 too strong for allowing the exercise of 
 that feeling. Under the mask of his 
 studied civilities, there was the scowl 
 of contemptuous anger, and the half- 
 srnile of haughty coldness; his polite- 
 ness was an evident mockery ; his as- 
 sumed condescension was an indirect 
 insult ; and the whole of his acted 
 part marked insolence and vindictive 
 disappointment. 
 
 The following day he sent off all his 
 retinue, save one servant and three 
 horses ; and, having done so, he af- 
 fected a levity and carelessness, which,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 281 
 
 to those who viewed him in the cha- 
 racter of a disappointed lover, were 
 wholly inexplicable. When the hour 
 of retiring to rest drew near, he shook 
 Glenmore by the hand, saying, 
 
 " I feel the kindness which you have 
 done me, and it has, in part, recon- 
 ciled me to man, of whom I have long 
 had cause to be sick. I must now leave 
 you, to find solitude in crowds, and 
 disgust in the hollow rites of fashion. 
 Allow me to pass unheeded, for there 
 is something in the words, " Fare thee 
 well," which I never could, and never 
 can bear. I shall never forget you, — 
 but forget me if vou can, for Gerald de 
 Brooke is not worthy of your remem- 
 brance," Saying this, he bowed most 
 gracefully to Flora, but accompanied
 
 282 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 his bow with a look of withering scorn ; 
 and, when he took his leave of her fair 
 cousin, it was with two or three half 
 articulated words of a language which 
 the family did not understand, but 
 which brought the blood to her cheek, 
 and made her cast toward Flora a 
 glance of conscious superiority, which 
 was ill placed and worse merited. 
 
 As his lordship retired, he caused 
 his trusty mameluke to give large pre- 
 sents to the servants of the castle, with 
 an injunction that they were to take no 
 notice of his starting for an early ride. 
 Pleased with this personal mark of 
 the bounty of him, who was, by com- 
 mon consent, allowed to be the un- 
 known friend who had delivered Glen- 
 more from the jail of Inverness ; under
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 283 
 
 those circumstances, their taking no 
 notice of so trivial an occurrence as an 
 early ride, could not be regarded as a 
 breach of fidelity to their chief. 
 
 During the latter part of the night, 
 the sleep of Glenmore had been dis- 
 turbed and broken ; he had been 
 awakened a little after midnight, by 
 sounds, as if his Castle had been as- 
 sailed by a hostile clan ; and the whole 
 early morning after, he lay in a reverie, 
 between sleeping and awake, ever and 
 anon starting at what seemed the 
 sound of clashing swords and crack- 
 ling flames. At last he went to the 
 casement, and looked out, first upon the 
 court of his Castle, and then upon the 
 loch, — all was still on the former, 
 and he saw nothing, save the bold out-
 
 284 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 line of the towers, projected by moon- 
 light upon the wide area. The loch, 
 too, was in a state of the most perfect 
 tranquillity, — not a breeze ruffled its 
 surface, not even a smuggler's ski If 
 divided its waters, and the fires of the 
 mountaineers along its shores were all 
 out. There was, in short, so mild and 
 so perfect a stillness upon the face of 
 nature, that Glen more himself seemed 
 the only thing out of accordance 
 with the scene. He chided himself 
 for his woman ishness, and again went 
 to his pillow, but sleep was not there. 
 Uncouth sounds filled his ears, and 
 formless visions of sorrow flitted before 
 his eyes ; a hand pressed against each 
 ear was no shield against the former, 
 and his eyelids could not conceal the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 235 
 
 latter from his sight. Glenmore, having 
 been educated abroad, was not deeply 
 imbued with the superstitions of his 
 countrymen ; but still it was impos- 
 sible to live among them and love them 
 as he did, without, at least, a leaning 
 toward those superstitions, — the more 
 so, that he was continually put in mind 
 of them by Rory the seer, who saw 
 more visions, dreamed more dreams, 
 and gave more interpretations, than an 
 ancient Chaldean. 
 
 The state of Glenmore's mind and 
 affairs gave fearful force to the visions 
 of the night. The fondest hope of 
 himself and his daughter was in the 
 grave, all untimely, and under circum- 
 stances which could be concealed, but 
 not contemplated with pleasure. A
 
 286 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 second hope, and that too momentary, 
 yet not the less flattering, while it 
 lasted, had been cut down in its ear- 
 liest leaf. The levity which Lord 
 Gerald had shown, immediately upon 
 hearing that refusal, which would 
 have touched any other man to the 
 quick ; the haste with which he had 
 prepared to be gone ; his going with- 
 out either the exacting of an adieu, or 
 any hint that he wished an acquaint- 
 ance, which had been begun by hos- 
 pitable kindness to him, to be conti- 
 nued by both ; and perhaps above all, 
 the belief, that he had been a benefac- 
 tor in time of extremity, under cir- 
 cumstances which made it a matter 
 of extreme delicacy, if not of utter 
 impossibility, to return thanks ; all
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 2 87 
 
 stung the bosom of the kind-hearted 
 and lofty-minded Chief. 
 
 The trains of thought which passed 
 through his mind, were such as to 
 beggar all description. Shreds of 
 half-formed resolutions were worked 
 into a strange mental mosaic, with 
 patches of dreams ; and the whole 
 made the very nearest approach to 
 those rackings of the mind, amid the 
 reveries of strong imagination, and 
 weltering insanity, when the state of 
 the judgment is clouded, and the rud- 
 der of the understanding knocked from 
 its hinges. 
 
 In the midst of these unformed phan- 
 toms of thought, old Rory rushed into 
 the apartment of his Chief, wringing his
 
 268 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 hands in the very bitterness of agony 
 and despair : — 
 
 " Och Glenmore ! oh, ray kind and 
 honoured Chief !" exclaimed he, fall- 
 ing upon his knees at his master's bed- 
 side, while the pale moonlight which 
 made him dimly visible, conspired 
 with his own wasted and haggard form, 
 to give the emphasis of a thing not of 
 earthly mould — " Och Glenmore! I 
 have again seen the bodach glas ! and 
 she has come and rapped at the castle 
 yett, and the yett has been opened, and 
 the wraiths of Strathantin, andtheleddy 
 and yourseP, have gane wi' him, upon 
 black horses, and a black road. The 
 house of Glenmore is i' the dust ; and, 
 Och ! that pour auld Rorie, wha' lias had
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 289 
 
 his bit and his drink, his coat and his 
 covering, so long and so well in these 
 halls, should have been the man to tell 
 of it ! Oh ! if my dear Chief, or my 
 young lady — if the powerful stem or the 
 lovely blossom had been but spared, 
 little would it have signified, though 
 auld Rory Bain, the seared branch, 
 had been cut away !" 
 
 " Silence, you old disturber \" said 
 Glenmore; " in my own real state, I 
 am troubled enough ; and why would 
 you tell all the nonsense of your idle 
 visions?" 
 
 " Gch, spurn not the auld man ; make 
 not light of the voice of Providence^ 
 hang me up upon the gallows tree to- 
 morrow, and welcome, if it be your 
 will, but hear me this night, and take 
 
 VOL. I. O
 
 290 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 council and conduct from wisdom 
 greater than mine !" 
 
 " I will do you no harm, Rory," re- 
 plied Glenmore, softly ; " but," added 
 he, in a more stern voice, " I am your 
 chief; and, as your chief, I command 
 you instantly to go back to your own 
 rest, and leave me to mine." 
 
 " The blessing of heaven upon you I" 
 said Rory ; "it shall never be said that 
 I disobliged my chief. O, take your 
 rest, you will need it ; and mine, yours, 
 that of all your race, will soon be for 
 ever." 
 
 So saying, Rory left the apartment 
 of his master, to vent his sorrows and 
 read his dreams to the drowsy ear of 
 night; and the chief again tried, and 
 again failed, to find repose.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 29' 
 
 CHAP. XI. 
 
 " hey gar iide, and how gar rin, 
 And haste aDd find thae traitors agen ; 
 For scho's he brunt, and he's be slain." 
 
 THE WEARIFU' GABERLUNZIE-MAN. 
 
 If there be any thing in external na- 
 ture which can bring life to a heart 
 that is rending, and calm a head that 
 has found no rest upon its pillow, 
 most assuredly it is the first sparkle of 
 the morning clew, and the first undula- 
 tion of the morning breeze, — the tear- 
 drop which is flung from the opening 
 eyes of the young day, and the earliest 
 sigh which he heaves at the anticipation 
 of that mass of human calamity and 
 
 q a
 
 292 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 crime, which he must witness ere he 
 be permitted to hide his head in the 
 silence of the west. 
 
 Glenmore felt the truth of this, as, at 
 grey dawn, he measured, with hasty 
 strides, the little esplanade in front of 
 his Castle. There the strength of his 
 mind returned to him ; and with that, 
 also, even a little of its weakness. All 
 the revolting' shapes in which the dark- 
 ness had arrayed his noble visitor, were 
 gone ; and he now appeared in the 
 character of a high and noble spirit, 
 who had done good so completely by 
 stealth, as to avoid the blush of finding 
 it fame; and who, rather than invade 
 the grief of Flora, or weary her with 
 the repetition of addresses of the most 
 honourable kind, and which any lady
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 293 
 
 might deem an honour, had gone 
 mourning into banishment, and yet 
 had the dignity and delicacy to conceal 
 the bitterness of his disappointment 
 from those who had been the cause 
 of it. 
 
 Under this impulse, the chief sought 
 the chamber of his titled guest, to hold 
 some farther communings, or, at any 
 rate, to insist that their parting* should 
 be according to the best usage of High- 
 land hospitality; and, that a stranger 
 who had done so much credit to the 
 Castle, and who had made to its heiress 
 the highest compliment that a man 
 could make, should not leave theCastle 
 without the stranger's cup and the 
 stranger's convoy. He tried to open 
 the door of Lord Gerald's chamber, —
 
 294 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 it was locked : he called again and 
 again, but there was no answer. " 1 
 must wait a little," said he; "for why 
 should I break to others that sleep 
 which has been broken to myself?" 
 
 So saying, he descended the stair- 
 case, at the bottom of which he met 
 his trusty factotum, Allan Glass, who 
 informed him that Lord Gerald had 
 gone early for a morning's ride. " It 
 must have been early, indeed," thought 
 Gl on more to himself; u for the clock 
 has numbered, in my own ear, every 
 hour upon this side midnight." 
 
 " I shall ride too," said he to Allan ; 
 "and haply we may meet," added he 
 to himself. The horses were brought, 
 and as wide a circuit taken as the rites 
 of hospitality at home would permit ;
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 295 
 
 but the return was made without auy 
 tidings of Lord Gerald, or any know- 
 ledge of the route which he had taken. 
 On his return, he found his daughter 
 in the breakfast parlour, ready to pre- 
 side over such a morning's feast as 
 Glenmore gave to his friends. Her 
 brow was unclouded, and the eclair- 
 cissementy which had so lately taken 
 place, had conduced not a little to the 
 tranquillizing of her mind and the 
 renewal of her beauty ; for next to the 
 enjoyment of a beloved object itself, is 
 the possession, the secure possession of 
 our grief for it ; and, as Flora was now 
 to be allowed to indulge fully in that 
 for her lover, it proved a pleasure of 
 no common sort. The father told of 
 his gloomy and disturbed night, and of
 
 296 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 the untimely visit of the seer ; and the 
 daughter endeavoured to sooth and 
 comfort him till the usual hour of 
 breakfast had so long gone by, that 
 the chief began to talk of not waiting 
 for his guest ; before he did so, how- 
 ever, he sent out a scout to see whether 
 he, for whom they were waiting, was 
 in the way ; and, added he, " Go, 
 Flora, my love, fetch your cousin ; if 
 we have not the company of the 
 stranger, we may yet be all together 
 ourselves." 
 
 Flora went upon this message of 
 friendship, but found the same recep- 
 tion that her father had met with at 
 the chamber of Lord Gerald, — the door 
 was locked, and no answer was made 
 to her calling.
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 297 
 
 " And has she gone upon a morning's 
 ride too ?" said the chief: " if she has, 
 it must have been an early one, — so 
 early as to pass for a moonlight flit- 
 ting. She, however, had no horse of 
 her own, and she could not catch a 
 sheltie in the copse ; so look if the old 
 mare be in the stable ; — for that is the 
 only means of removal that she could 
 command." 
 
 The little stable was locked, and the 
 old mare was resting her bones in such 
 a manner, as made it clear that she 
 had not been disturbed during the 
 night ; nor had any one of the servants 
 heard the least symptom of Isabella's 
 departure, although some corroborat- 
 ed Rory's tale of the bodach glas 
 having, just as twelve struck, knocked
 
 298 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 at the Castle gate ; all admitted the 
 participation of the stranger's gold ; 
 and one heard him and his servant 
 mount their horses and ride off, not 
 very long after the visit of the bodach 
 glas. 
 
 The cry was now, " Where is Isa- 
 bella ?" but nothing answered to it 
 save empty walls. The chamber was 
 burst open — she had not slept there for 
 the night ; Lord Gerald's was then burst 
 open — as little had he slept in it; and 
 it afforded no trace of him save a slip 
 of paper, upon which these lines were 
 written : — 
 
 " Fare ye well— -perchance for ever; 
 
 Fate commands, and friends must sever." 
 
 These lines were a sort of indirect proof 
 that Lord Gerald had taken his final de-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 299 
 
 parture, and had taken it in the night, 
 to spare the feelings of the family as 
 well as his own ; and here the chief 
 burst out into an encomium upon the 
 delicacy of his guest, not unmingled 
 with regret that he had thus gone, and 
 haply a hint or two to put Flora in 
 mind of her coldness to the haughty 
 stranger. " Well, but my dear father, 
 where is Isabella all this time?" said 
 Flora, with much sweetness, and no in- 
 considerable emotion. 
 
 " And what has that to do with the 
 departure of Lord Gerald de Brook ? 
 who, among the fox-hunting gentry of 
 his own country, would be said to have 
 ' stolen away/ but, in our plain lan- 
 guage, may, I fear, be said to be ' scorn- 
 ed away/ " As he uttered the last part
 
 300 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 of this sentence, he fixed a very scru- 
 tinizing look upon his daughter. It 
 produced nothing, and revealed nothing ; 
 for, in the same strain of feeling, she 
 said : — 
 
 " Nothing, my dear father, but that 
 they have happened at the same time, 
 and possibly " 
 
 " Possibly! nonsense!" said her 
 father, interrupting her, and at the same 
 time endeavouring to interrupt the sus- 
 picion which he was now ashamed of 
 himself for not having at first entertain- 
 ed ; " but how would she go with him, 
 who so lately made so honourable a 
 proposal to you ?" " And was so very 
 little affected by the rejection of it, that 
 he has derided me in every word and 
 every look since," said Flora,
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 301 
 
 Conviction gained upon the chief; 
 but he threw up, at the very point of 
 surrendering, a defence of despair, — 
 " She had no horse," said he. 
 
 " Lord Gerald had three horses/' 
 replied Flora. — " And the deevilafoot 
 o' them is in the stable noo \" exclaim- 
 ed the henchman, who, at that moment, 
 entered the room. 
 
 Conviction now set its seal to the 
 black deed. Flora, who had borne up, 
 in hopes that her fears might be un- 
 founded, now gave way to grief for 
 the fall and loss of a relation, who, 
 though lately estranged, had once been 
 the fond companion of her amuse- 
 ments, and her faithful confidant in 
 her honourable love. She fainted as 
 the words, l ' Poor lost Isabella !" escaped
 
 302 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 from her blanching lips, — and had to 
 be carried to her own chamber. 
 
 The brow of Glenmore darkened 
 for revenge ; the clan were summoned ; 
 and a pursuit of the fugitives was 
 agreed upon. Battle was to be offered 
 forthwith, in case of resistance; and 
 the great Glenmore vowed not to re- 
 turn to his dwelling ere he had seen a 
 marriage performed, and the stain 
 wiped from the name and honour of 
 his race. So much time, however, 
 elapsed in preparing for the pursuit, 
 that the fugitives had the start by at 
 least twelve hours, and even then they 
 were better mounted than their pur- 
 suers. The road was, however, taken, 
 without any certainty of its being the 
 right one ; and, after an hour or two of
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 303 
 
 hard riding, they met Donald Kennedy, 
 who told them that they were wrong, 
 for " twa shentlemens in ta tartan o' 
 Clanroore," whom he took for " ta great 
 Glenmore hersel, an' the bra* bonnie 
 laird of Strathantin, come hame wi' a 
 kistfu' o* siller to coort ta leddy Flora, 
 were riding fast for Innerneish alona 
 wi' ta leddy hersel, to be married in 
 ta mickle kirk." 
 
 We need not inform the reader of 
 the part which Donald Kennedy had 
 played in this game; nor who was the 
 bodach glas that had a second time 
 alarmed old Rory ; but Glenmore and 
 his clansmen were not in possession of 
 this information; so they listened to 
 the tale, and pursued the wrong road, 
 till hunger and mutiny as to the faith
 
 304 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 to be put in Donald, brought them and 
 night to the castle together. It is true, 
 indeed, that neither the hunger nor the 
 mutiny would have damped the ardour 
 of Glenmore, or prevented him from 
 following the deceiver of his clanswo- 
 man ; but it chanced that Donald, who 
 had undertaken to pilot them the (wrong) 
 way, hinted that " Ta Sassenach deevil 
 might be comin' to the castle when they 
 were frae hame, and brought avvaa ta 
 leddy Flora hersel." There was dan- 
 ger in this ; and they sped their re- 
 turn as rapidly as they had advanced. 
 
 Neither the honour, nor the military 
 skill of the clan, however, were to be 
 foiled in this single enterprise ; for, 
 though the chief was constrained to re- 
 main at home with his daughter, retain-
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 305 
 
 ing as many men as should keep both 
 her and the castle from the visitation of 
 any more Sassenach lords, or " most 
 particular friends" of Edinburgh, wri- 
 ters to the signet; yet Castlecreaghy 
 swore upon his dirk, to " follow the 
 limmer to the world's end, and force 
 her, dead or alive, to make an honest 
 woman of the chiefs kinswoman and 
 relation." 
 
 But the protecting powers of Glen- 
 more were destined soon to be para- 
 lysed. His anxiety, his fatigue, the 
 wretched prospects which hung over 
 him, so preyed upon him, that he was 
 soon stretched upon a sick bed, and de- 
 lirious from the violence of an inflam- 
 matory fever, which, to a man of his 
 temper and habits, was of the most im- 
 vol. i. p
 
 306 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 minent danger. Every attention which 
 a child could bestow upon a parent, was 
 bestowed upon the suffering Glenmore 
 by his suffering daughter ; but to all 
 consciousness, and, indeed, to all hope, 
 it was bestowed in vain ; nor was 
 the skill of the Highland Escula- 
 piuses of more avail. The chiefs fever 
 continued to increase, and the aberra- 
 tion of his mind knew no moment of 
 interval ; and the only articulate sounds 
 which he for many days uttered, were, 
 " What has become of my poor orphan 
 Isabella ? and what shall become of my 
 poor orphan Flora ?" 
 
 While the chief of the Clanmore thus 
 lay upon a bed of fearful sickness, his 
 clansmen pursued their journey to In- 
 verness, but without hearing of one
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 307 
 
 trace of the fugitives ; and long ere 
 they arrived, the shepherd brought 
 to Flora a letter, which Donald Ken- 
 nedy had given him, saying he had 
 it from a Sassenach, upon a great 
 horse. It had no da'e or post-mark, 
 but it was in the hand-writing of Isa- 
 bella. 
 
 " MY DEAR AND AMIABLE COUSIN, 
 
 " Forgive your poor, but now 
 happy Isabella's want of candour ; 
 forgive her husband's seeming incon- 
 sistency. They were practised to try 
 my constancy, and please my Gerald, 
 who, though the wildest, is the kind- 
 est of men. Bless Glenmore for me. 
 Tell him that my Gerald blesses him, 
 and blesses you, for having made this
 
 308 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 addition to his happiness. He is the 
 friend of the orphan, and the orphan's 
 friend will never desert him. I can 
 write no more, for my husband calls 
 me. The smiles of heaven be upon 
 your roof. Your 
 
 Isabella. 
 
 tc P. S. Address to the Countess de 
 Brook, St. James's Hotel, London." 
 
 Flora was so delighted with this ge- 
 nuine letter, that she did not analize 
 it more carefully ; and she was more 
 delighted, when, upon entering the 
 chamber of her sick father, his reason 
 had returned. He called her to his 
 bed-side, heard the letter with appro- 
 bation, ordered wine, drank to the
 
 THE HIGHLANDERS. 300 
 
 health of Lord and Lady de Brooke, 
 and gave orders that the pursuit should 
 be given up. Flora was more over- 
 joyed at the rapidity of his recovery 
 than she had been cast down at the 
 soreness of his malady ; and she was 
 about to leave the room for the purpose 
 of communicating the pleasant tidings, 
 when he called her back, to lay some- 
 thing on his feet, for they were very 
 cold. At this moment, the light fell 
 upon the chiefs face more fully than 
 it had for some time done, and his eye 
 seemed intently fixed upon the picture 
 of Flora's mother. Fl ora spoke to him, 
 — his lips moved, but not his eye, and 
 there was no voice. She felt his hand 
 — it was chilly ; his forehead — it was 
 bedewed with cold and clammy drops ;
 
 310 THE HIGHLANDERS. 
 
 his breast — but no heart beat there ! 
 Glenmore had paid Nature's last debt ; 
 and his orphan daughter was the child 
 of sorrow not to be told. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 CREEN, PRINTKR, LEICESTER'S! 1 . LBICBSTER-8Q.
 
 MLUNOIt-URBANA 
 
 
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