Corresponding to the Lowland saying, “Mony ane speirs the gate they ken fu’ weel.” ↩
These lines form the burden of an old song to which Burns wrote additional verses. ↩
These lines are also ancient, and I believe to the tune of
“We’ll never hae peace till Jamie comes hame;”
to which Burns likewise wrote some verses. ↩
“Whatever were the original rights of the Stewarts.” Scott has been accused of “blind Jacobitism.” The extent of his blindness may be estimated from Waverley’s reflections in this chapter. Scott was interested as an historian and as the descendant of “Auld Beardie” in the Jacobite cause. He admired—as who does not?—the self-sacrificing loyalty of the Highlanders, never so nobly displayed as after Drumossie. He felt the poetic charm of the unhappy and ungrateful Honse of Stewart. But his writings might be searched in vain for even a sentimental approval of “plunging a kingdom into all the miseries of civil war for the purpose of replacing upon the throne the descendants of a monarch by whom it had been wilfully forfeited.” —Editor ↩
A Highland rhyme on Glencairn’s Expedition, in , has these lines—
We’ll bide a while amang ta crows,
We’ll wiske ta sword and bend ta bows
The Oggam is a species of the old Irish character. The idea of the correspondence betwixt the Celtic and Punic, founded on a scene in Plautus, was not started till General Vallancey set up his theory, long after the date of Fergus MacIvor.85 ↩
“Oggam,” generally spelled “Ogham,” a system of writing by means of lines incised, at various angles, on the edges of a squared stone. The researches of Professor Rhys do not support the Punic hypothesis of General Vallancey. —Editor ↩
The sanguine Jacobites, during the eventful years –46, kept up the spirits of their party by the rumour of descents from France on behalf of the Chevalier St. George.87 ↩
“The sanguine Jacobites, during the eventful years 1745–46, kept up the spirits of their party by the rumour of descents from France on behalf of the Chevalier St. George.” See Tom Jones, book XI ch. VI Mrs. Fitzpatrick asked Honour “who were come!” “Who?” answered she, “why, the French; several hundred thousands of them are landed, and we shall be all murdered and ravished.” … “Ay, ay,” quoth the landlord, smiling, “her ladyship knows better things; she knows the French are our very best friends, and come over hither only for our good, They are the people who are to make old England flourish again. … His Honour’s Majesty [Charles Edward], Heaven bless him, hath given the duke the slip, and is marching as fast as he can to London, and ten thousand French are landed to join him on the road.” —Editor ↩
The Highlander, in former times, had always a high idea of his own gentility, and was anxious to impress the same upon those with whom he conversed. His language abounded in the phrases of courtesy and compliment; and the habit of carrying arms, and mixing with those who did so, made it particularly desirable they should use cautious politeness in their intercourse with each other. ↩
The Reverend John Erskine, D. D., an eminent Scottish divine and a most excellent man, headed the Evangelical party in the Church of Scotland at the time when the celebrated Doctor Robertson, the historian, was the leader of the Moderate party. These two distinguished persons were colleagues in the Old Grey Friars’ Church, Edinburgh; and, however much they differed in church politics, preserved the most perfect harmony as private friends and as clergymen serving the same cure. ↩
“The Engagers, and the Protesters, and the Whiggamore’s Raid, and the Excommunication at Torwood.” These are various persons, parties, and incidents in the history of the Covenanters. The “Engagers” entered into the Engagement with Charles I at Newport in the Isle of Wight in . They were reprobated by the severer sect, “the Protesters,” for “intercommuning with prelatical malignants.” The “Whiggamore’s Raid” was a march of Westland Whigs on Edinburgh from Mauchline (). See Hill Burton’s History of Scotland, VII 238–243. Near the Torwood oak, in , Cargill excommunicated Charles II —Editor ↩
The clan of MacFarlane, occupying the fastnesses of the western side of Loch Lomond, were great depredators on the Low Country, and as their excursions were made usually by night, the moon was proverbially called their lantern. Their celebrated pibroch of Hoggil nam Bo, which is the name of their gathering tune, intimates similar practices, the sense being:—
We are bound to drive the bullocks,
All by hollows, hirsts, and hillocks,
Through the sleet, and through the rain.
When the moon is beaming low
On frozen lake and hills of snow,
Bold and heartily we go;
And all for little gain.
This noble ruin is dear to my recollection, from associations which have been long and painfully broken. It holds a commanding station on the banks of the river Teith, and has been one of the largest castles in Scotland. Murdoch, Duke of Albany, the founder of this stately pile, was beheaded on the Castle-hill of Stirling, from which he might see the towers of Doune, the monument of his fallen greatness.
In –46, as stated in the text, a garrison
