314 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1800. 



of his countrymen. His army was 

 entirely composed of Highlanders 

 — a singular people, of whom it is 

 not sufficient barely to mention' the 

 name. Amidst the clouds and dark- 

 ness which envelop the high and 

 remote periods of historic antiquity, 

 it appears from strong presumptive 

 evidence, that at this sera the High- 

 land nation exhibited the unmixed 

 remains of that vast Celtic empire 

 which once stretched from the pil- 

 lars of Hercules to the sea of Arch- 

 angel. The Highlanders were com- 

 posed of a number of tribes or clans, 

 each of which bore a different name, 

 and lived upon the lands of a diffe- 

 rent chieftain. The members of 

 every clan were connected with 

 each other not only by the feudal 

 but the patriarchal bond; and each 

 of them could recount with pride 

 the degree of his affinity to the com- 

 mon head. The castle of the chief- 

 tain was open and easy of access to 

 every individual of the tribe. There 

 all were hospitably entertained in 

 times of peace, and thither all re- 

 sorted at the sound of war. Tiiey 

 lived in villages built in glens or 

 deep valleys, and for the most part 

 by the sides of rivers. At the end 

 of spring they sowed their grain, 

 and at the commencement of winter 

 they reaped their scanty harvest. 

 The rest of the year was all their 

 own for amusement or for war. In 

 the short interval of summer they 

 indulged themselves in the enjoy- 

 ment of a bright and lengthened 

 sun, and in ranging over a wild and 

 romanticcountry,frequentlypassing 

 whole nights in the open air among 

 the mountains and the forests. They 

 spent the winter in the chase while 

 the sun was up; and in the evening, 

 assembling round a blazing hearth, 

 they entertained themselves with 



the song, the tale, and the dance. 

 Their vocal mu sic was plaintive even 

 to melancholy, but their instrumen- 

 tal was bold, martial, and anima- 

 ting. In order to cherish high senti- 

 ments in the minds of all, every 

 considerable family had an historian 

 who recounted, and a bard who 

 sung, the deeds of the clan and its 

 chieftain, or on more solemn occa- 

 sions the glorious exploits of their 

 heroic ancestors. The vastness of 

 the objects which surrounded them, 

 lakes, mountains, rocks, cataracts, 

 seemed to expand and elevate their 

 minds; and the severity of the cli- 

 mate, with the nature of the coun- 

 try, and their love, in common with 

 other semi-barbarous nations, of the 

 chase and of war, forced them to 

 great corporeal exertion s; while their 

 want of regular occupation on the 

 other hand led them to contempla- 

 tion and social converse. They re- 

 ceived the rare and occasional visits 

 of strangers withagenuine and cor- 

 dial hospitality, never indulgmg in 

 a rude or contemptuous ridicule of 

 manners opposite to their own. — 

 Considering the inhabitants of the 

 Lowlands in the light of invaders 

 and usurpers, they thought them- 

 selves entitled to make reprisals at 

 all convenient opportunities. What 

 their enemies therefore called vio- 

 lence and rapine, they termed right 

 and justice; and in the frequent 

 practice of depredation they became 

 bold, artful, and enteqirising. An 

 injury done to one of the clan was 

 held, from the common relation of 

 blood, to be an injury to all. Hence 

 the Highlanders were in the habi- 

 tual practice of war ; and hence 

 arose in various Instances between 

 clan and clan mortal and deadly 

 feuds, descending from generation 

 to generation. They usually went 



