Till within this last century the farmers, even of a respectable condition, dined with their work-people. The difference betwixt those of high degree was ascertained by the place of the party above or below the salt, or sometimes by a line drawn with chalk on the dining-table. Lord Lovat, who knew well how to feed the vanity and restrain the appetites of his clansmen, allowed each sturdy Fraser who had the slightest pretensions to be a Duinhewassel the full honour of the sitting, but at the same time took care that his young kinsmen did not acquire at his table any taste for outlandish luxuries. His lordship was always ready with some honourable apology why foreign wines and French brandy, delicacies which he conceived might sap the hardy habits of his cousins, should not circulate past an assigned point on the table. ↩
In the Irish ballads relating to Fion (the Fingal of MacPherson) there occurs, as in the primitive poetry of most nations, a cycle of heroes, each of whom has some distinguishing attribute; upon these qualities, and the adventures of those possessing them, many proverbs are formed, which are still current in the Highlands. Among other characters, Conan is distinguished as in some respects a kind of Thersites, but brave and daring even to rashness. He had made a vow that he would never take a blow without returning it; and having, like other heroes of antiquity, descended to the infernal regions, he received a cuff from the Arch-fiend who presided there, which he instantly returned, using the expression in the text. Sometimes the proverb is worded thus—“Claw for claw, and the devil take the shortest nails, as Conan said to the devil.” ↩
The Highland poet almost always was an improvisatore. Captain Burt met one of them at Lovat’s table. ↩
The description of the waterfall mentioned in this chapter is taken from that of Ledeard, at the farm so called, on the northern side of Lochard, and near the head of the lake, four or five miles from Aberfoyle. It is upon a small scale, but otherwise one of the most exquisite cascades it is possible to behold. The appearance of Flora with the harp, as described, has been justly censured as too theatrical and affected for the ladylike simplicity of her character. But something may be allowed to her French education, in which point and striking effect always make a considerable object. ↩
The young and daring adventurer, Charles Edward, landed at Glenaladale, in Moidart, and displayed his standard in the valley of Glenfinnan, mustering around it the Macdonalds, the Camerons, and other less numerous clans, whom he had prevailed on to join him. There is a monument erected on the spot, with a Latin inscription by the late Doctor Gregory. ↩
The Marquis of Tullibardine’s elder brother, who, long exiled, returned to Scotland with Charles Edward in . ↩
Flora Macdonald’s song.
“Ye sons of brown Dermid, who slew the wild boar,
Resume the pure faith of the great Callum-More.”
There was no Callum-More; the name is Mac Cailean Mohr, Dermid should be Diarmaid, in Irish apparently Diarmuid. For the slaughter of the boar by the mythical father of the Campbells, see The Pursuit of Diarmuid and Grainne. Ossianic Society, Dublin, . The modern Irish have anglicized Diarmuid as Jeremiah. —Editor ↩
Good sooth, I reck nought of your Helicon;
Drink water whoso will, in faith I will drink none.
This ancient Gaelic ditty is still well known, both in the Highlands and in Ireland. It was translated into English, and published, if I mistake not, under the auspices of the facetious Tom D’Urfey, by the title of “Colley, my Cow.” ↩
“The Pope’s legate.” See Mr. Hume Brown’s Early Travellers in Scotland, p. XII The legate visited Scotland in . “His name and identity are still a disputed point, and he is variously known as Peter Francis Contareno, Mark German, and Marcus Grymanus, Patriarch of Aquileia.” —Editor ↩
The thrust from the tynes, or branches, of the stag’s horns was accounted far more dangerous than those of the boar’s tusk:—
If thou be hurt with horn of stag, it brings thee to thy bier,
But barber’s hand shall boar’s hurt heal, thereof have thou no fear.
This garb, which resembled the dress often put on children in Scotland, called a “polonie” (that is, “polonaise”), is a very ancient modification of the Highland garb. It was, in fact, the hauberk or shirt of mail, only composed of cloth instead of rings of armour. ↩
Old Highlanders will still make the “deasil” around those whom they wish well to. To go round a person in the opposite direction, or wither-shins (German wider-shins), is unlucky, and a sort of incantation. ↩
“A charm, which in English ran thus.” The charm, as given by Reginald Scott (), is—
“Hail be thou, holie hearbe
—The Discoverie of Witchcraft, book XII ch. XIV (edition of , p. 198)
Growing on the ground;
All in the mount Calvarie
First wert thou found.
Thou art good for manie a sore,
And healest manie a wound;
“In the name of sweete Jesus
I take thee from the ground.”
—Editor ↩
This metrical spell, or something very like it, is preserved by Reginald Scott in his work on Witchcraft. ↩
On the morrow they made their biers
—Chevy Chase
Of birch and hazel grey.
The author has been sometimes accused of confounding fiction with reality. He therefore thinks it necessary to state that the circumstance of the
