128 SCOTLAND ILLUSTRATED. 



familiarity received its reprimand by a look which at once restored the balance 

 and preserved the distinction of station inviolable. He felt and acted as a king, 

 and thus set an example for the direction of his subjects. Some of the latter, 

 however, either from ignorance of the royal character or of their own duty, 

 displayed a well-meant but ill-timed officiousness — at once detected in the 

 king's expression, wliich, though long and weU tutored, became more and 

 more, as he advanced in Hfe, the index of his mind. Displeasure, however, 

 was rarely if ever felt at any violation of the mere forms of court etiquette, unless 

 where it was evident the individual ought to have known better, and erred 

 rather from disregard than ignorance of the " majesty that doth hedge a king." 

 In several instances, where the rough but manly highlander approached him 

 with the frank greeting of a loyal subject rather than the grace of a finished 

 courtier, he was occasionally amused by the contrast, and would have laughed 

 heartily " had he not been a king." 



As the old Celtic chiefs, in plaid, and philibeg, and flowing tartan, passed in 

 review — each with the badge of his clan — the dress that had distinguished 

 his name for centuries — colours that had been so oft paraded in those very 

 apartments— the picture v?as full of martial show and animation.* The basket- 

 hUted sword — the Ferrara of other times, the hereditary palladium from father 

 to son — recalled the part}^ feuds and patriotic struggles in which it had been 

 so often displayed as the sole arbitrator from which there was no appeal. The 

 richly inlaid pistols, generally of the famous Doune manufactory, and the 

 dagger of Damascus metal — all arranged in the girdle, gave the wearer more 

 the aspect of a corsair jirepared for a cruise, than of a courtier in the presence 

 of his sovereign. But the native beauty, on whicli they were here only as 

 krjghts-attendant, threw a hallowing lustre over the scene, and where wounds 

 were to be inflicted, reserved that privilege to itself. 



A profusion of military and other orders sparkhng on the scarlet and tartan 

 uniforms, told many a tale of service done " i' th' deacUy breach" — the 

 morning and the midnight bivouac. Family badges that had not seen the 

 light for centuries, were here made available. Bijouterie that had been worn, 

 perhaps, to welcome the first James, was now burnished up for the reception of 

 George IV. Some, while they oflfered the meed of loyalty to their lawful 

 sovereign, thought with bitterness on that unhappy prince who, in the last 

 generation, had here received their family allegiance, and in his own ruin 

 involved so many illustrious followers. 



* The national costume and badge were still more general at the levee tlian on the present occasion. 



